[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-power-of-runes":3,"chapter-power-of-runes-power-of-runes-chapter-3":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Power of Runes",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},1106168,1443,"Chapter 3 3: Fight For Life","power-of-runes-chapter-3",3,"\u003Cp>The air was damp and heavy, the stench of decay lingering in every corner. His footsteps echoed faintly, and with each step, Ash's grip on the sword tightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He followed the directions from the novel, using his memory to navigate the winding tunnels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the novel had only described the general layout—actually being here was a different story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The oppressive silence was broken by a faint scuttling noise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash froze, his heart pounding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the shadows, a creature emerged. Its form was grotesque—a Shadow Rat, about the size of a dog, with glowing red eyes and sharp, jagged teeth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash grimaced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the novel, Shadow Rats were described as low-level monsters, barely a threat to awakened individuals. But for someone with his stats…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was nothing but a death sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I never thought fighting in VR games would actually help me like this,\" he muttered, settling into a defensive stance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rat hissed, lunging at him with surprising speed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash barely managed to sidestep, his movements sluggish due to his weak body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Swinging the sword awkwardly, he grazed the creature's side, drawing a thin line of black blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rat screeched in pain, but it only made it angrier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It lunged again, this time faster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash cursed, rolling to the side. His breathing grew heavy—The fight had barely started, yet his stamina was already running dangerously low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If this keeps up… I'm going to die,\" he muttered bitterly. The thought stung. Did I overestimate myself? Maybe I shouldn't have come here…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Doubt threatened to consume him, but he bite his lips, shaking his head fiercely.No. I can't think like that.....I need to get rid of my weak mentality... If I let it control me…....I'll end up just as useless as I was back then,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly a memory threatened to surfaced in his mind, but he pushed it back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His grip on the sword tightened, his knuckles whitening, \"Fuck...This bastard now soured my mood..\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes scanned the environment with newfound fury and determination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rat circled him, readying for another attack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's when he noticed the loose rocks above—an unstable section of the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A plan formed in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the rat charged again, Ash deliberately turned his back, baiting it into following.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the last second, he threw himself to the ground, narrowly avoiding the creature's bite. The rat slammed into the wall, and the vibrations shook the loose rocks above the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a loud crack, the rock above the wall collapsed, burying the rat under a pile of rubble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash lay on the ground, panting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Eat that....fucker,\" he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was no time to rest. He needed to keep moving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>***\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash kept moving across the mine sometimes he reached dead end sometime he came across group of Shadow rat, but he managed to bypass them without alerting them,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was pure luck that Shadow Rats were low-level monsters with a weak sense of smell; otherwise, he would have been dead by now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Occasionally, he encountered lone Shadow Rats, but he always managed to eliminate them, using his surroundings cleverly and relying on the experience he had gained from hunting monsters in the game...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But no way his body was in one piece,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was bleeding from many places, and barely managed to stop the bleeding with the first aid he bought in his bag.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His stamina always hit rock bottom after every single fight and he had to rest to continue forward,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three days passed in this relentless cycle, and during that time, he hadn't been able to get even a moment's rest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The risk was too great—sleeping could mean death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, he was utterly exhausted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His blue eyes were bloodshot, red veins webbing across them from the lack of sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His silvery-white hair was now matted and stained black with the blood of Shadow rats..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bandages wrapped around his body, some fresh, others soaked through, a testament to the countless wounds he had endured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This...much...pain...is...nothing\" he said under his breath,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His muscles screamed with every movement, wounds aching as if on fire, but he tightened his grip and pressed on, his determination was stronger than the pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I don't want to.....experience the pain of losing someone...again...and for that...I need to keep moving forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought and forced his body to move,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After what felt like hours of navigating the dark tunnels, Ash finally reached a wide chamber deep within the mines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The chamber was filled with jagged rocks and signs of mining, the walls rough and uneven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the center of the chamber a rat bigger than the previous small one's was Sleeping peacefully,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its black fur glinting faintly in the dim light.....A Shadow Fang, An evolved and stronger version of Shadow rat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was barely able to fight Shadow rat let alone this Shadow Fang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash swallowed hard, his grip tightening on his weapon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, It's never easy, is it?, he thought under his breath, forcing down the knot of dread in his throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind the Shadow fang, in the wall a small white stone was embedded,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From every angle it looked ordinary, and the miners must have left it alone as it was nothing special,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that's how Runes are....always in plain sight, but difficult to identify\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced at the Rune, then at the Shadow Fang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no way he could defeat this creature in his healed state let alone in his current state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His only option was to grab the Rune and leave quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here goes nothing, he thought, Walking slowly towards the beast and the rune slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silence was suffocating, each creak of his boots against the ground sounding deafening to his ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CRACK!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When a stray stone crunched beneath his foot, he froze mid-step, panic flaring as the beast let out a low growl in its sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash didn't dare breathe, his body rigid as he watched the creature shift slightly, its ears twitching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, he was certain it would wake,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then the beast exhaled, its growl fading into a deep, rumbling snore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash let out a slow, shaky breath, his heart still pounding in his chest like a war drum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took another careful step forward, this time more deliberate, more precise,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After what felt like eternity, he passed the Shadow Fang and reached the wall behind the beast,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash was now just a few feet away from the beast, every nerve in his body screaming at him to retreat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he bit his lip and reached for the rune embedded in the wall behind the beast,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tried to take out the rune from the wall but was unsuccessful,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fuck, this body is really too weak, he thought bitterly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He reached out for his sword, the sword was now nothing but a dagger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It broke while fighting earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He used the broken sword to chip away at the wall around the rune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blade screeched against the stone, but the rune still refused to come loose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, suddenly, Ash's body froze. A cold shiver ran down his spine, and time seemed to slow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if his entire life flashed before his eyes in a single instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instinctively, he rolled to the side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>BOOM!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ground where he had been standing exploded, sending dust and debris flying through the air. His vision blurred, his lungs filled with dust, and he coughed violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cough... Cough... So much for being careful,\" Ash breathed shakily, his voice strained as he tried to catch his breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through the swirling dust, his eyes locked onto the rune, now lying a short distance away, dislodged by the explosion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He forced himself to his feet and sprinted towards the Rune, His muscles screamed in protest, pain shooting up his legs, but he gritted his teeth and pushed forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grabbing the rune, he turned and bolted for the exit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>SCREECH!!!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind him, the Shadow Fang let out a deafening Screech, the chamber shaking with the force of its anger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The beast lunged, closing the distance between them with terrifying speed..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash didn't think—he acted on instinct, diving to the side just as the creature's claws raked through the air where he had been standing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the rune clutched tightly in his hand, he ran.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fuck... If I survive this, I'll annihilate all these fuckers... someday, Ash thought, as he forced his battered body to keep moving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The chase through the tunnels was a blur. The Shadow Fang was faster, stronger, and more relentless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash's legs burned, his lungs screamed for air, but he didn't stop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, he spotted the faint light of the mine's entrance spilling in ahead of him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Shadow Fang was right on his heels, its growls and pounding footsteps closing the distance with every second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sharp, uneven floor tore at his boots, and his shoulders brushed jagged rocks, but none of it mattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only thing that mattered was the narrow light ahead—his only way out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash's mind raced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn't outrun it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right now he can outrun the mindless beast while using the surroundings but,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment he hit open ground, it would catch him, and there'd be nowhere left to hide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn it… I have to do something!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Shadow Fang lunged again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash twisted his body at the last second,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But, he was not lucky this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was tired and his body was falling apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The creature's claws grazing his side, pain shot through him as his tattered shirt grew wet with blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash stumbled, nearly falling, but he forced himself forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The light of the entrance grew brighter, just a few meters away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the last of his strength, he dived toward a cluster of loose rocks near the entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain in his side, and shoved the pile with everything he had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rocks tumbled down, collapsing part of the tunnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dust and debris filled the air, and the Shadow Fang screeched as it was buried under the falling rubble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash staggered out of the mines, collapsing onto the ground outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His breathing was ragged, his body trembling from exhaustion and adrenaline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blood dripped from the wound on his side, it was deep enough to kill him—not yet, at least.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bzzzt—rrrrk-rrrk-khhh...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!!!!!!!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ash eyes widened at the sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>***\u003C\u002Fp>",1729,"2026-06-03T11:25:58.029Z","2026-06-03T11:26:07.394Z",1,"novelbin.me","dc99de5a5e8383b77acc786cf9530a116c7a5c57387e390abae66bdf68cef5f6","power-of-runes-chapter-4","power-of-runes-chapter-2",452,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fpower-of-runes-cover.jpg"]