Chapter 307 Chapter 305 The Piper (Part 2)
On the walls of the administrative hall and atop the building, several ratmen holding rat-stings were laughing madly, completely ignoring the smoke that was billowing from their weapons, making a “da-da-da-da” sound as they sprayed green laser lines toward the distance.
The sword saint of Scarli, Henry, was filled with dread. This night was truly chaotic, with so many ratmen emerging from underground, along with terrifying magical machines. Strange and eerie music wafted from afar; it must be that group of ratmen engaging in some malevolent agreement.
Thankfully, in the current chaos, they hadn’t noticed that a batch of imperial soldiers was preparing to counterattack.
Without giving it more thought, Scarli Sword Saint Henry turned his head and shouted, “Put down your shields! Charge!”
With that, he pushed through the pain from his injuries and charged first toward the administrative hall a hundred meters away. He stepped over the shattered body of a soldier, his chainmail riddled with bloody holes glowing faintly with green light. There were many such bodies, and seeing them made Henry’s heart race faster as he ran.
He could only hope for good luck; it would be best if the ratman carrying the multi-barrel magic machine hadn’t noticed them, until he could slash his greatsword down onto the opponent’s head.
That hope shattered just a second later.
He heard a loud call from behind: “Kill! Charge! For Sigma!”
He witnessed with his own eyes that the ratmen with “magic machines” on the wall turned around, aiming their multi-barreled devices at them; there were not just one, but six in total, including those on the balcony above them.
“Da-da-da-da!”
The barrels spat out green flames, and green dots flew out, forming a web of electricity and light, a net of firepower that showered down on them, hitting the ground in front of Scarli Sword Saint, with splintering stones hitting his breastplate. Through the visor of his helmet, he could hear a chorus of screams coming from behind him.
It was an extremely wrong decision to charge while putting down his shield! Perhaps the shield could have blocked those magical bullets.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry felt a pang of regret, but fortunately, the hail of fire came quickly and went away just as fast.
The rat-stings were reloading.
A group of clan rats clad in iron breastplates huddled together in front of the imperial soldiers. They bent at the waist, shorter than the imperial men.
These clan rats had just been looting the spoils; although there were fleeing ratmessengers warning them that the piper was coming with his greatsword, they thought it was just a trick to keep them from fighting over the loot.
Therefore, they were timid and trembling, their spears shaking in their hands.
If they engaged, surely the enemy wouldn’t shoot at them anymore.
Henry thought to himself, driven by the instinct to survive, and directly swung his sword, cleaving the clan rat blocking his path in half, armor and all. The imperial soldiers beside him charged in with shields, stabbing with short swords, and at least twenty clan rats were stabbed in the chaotic moment.
Under the eerie music, they were so terrified that they scrambled away from Scarli Sword Saint, giving him room to swing his greatsword, killing even more rats as they fled even faster and in greater numbers.
Upon seeing the ratmen fleeing, Scarli Sword Saint felt a pang of anxiety; if all the enemies ran away, wouldn’t he be mowed down by the “magic machines”?
He shouted frantically, “Don’t run!”
With that, he stepped on a rat’s tail, causing the clan rat to tumble to the ground and curl up in a ball.
Green dots kept whizzing past his head.
Frightened, Scarli Sword Saint neglected to swing his sword and, enduring the pain from his wounds, strode toward the cluster of ratmen ahead, running toward wherever there were more of them.
In the eyes of the clan rats, Scarli Sword Saint Henry, with a rat’s head hung from his waist, looked like a killing god they wished to avoid; they pushed and shoved their way backward in fear.
“Run!”
“The Piper! It’s the Piper!”
“No, no!”
It was complete pandemonium; the number of clan rats was roughly double that of the attacking imperials. They embraced their heads and scampered away, surging into the entrance of the administrative hall.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry breathed a sigh of relief; as long as he followed the fleeing soldiers inside, perhaps he could deal with those magic machines.
At that moment, a large swarm of slave rats poured out from the doors, colliding head-on with the retreating clan rats.
After the slave rats, the rat-stings sprayed fire at their butts, shouting: “Either you run outside, or you die!”
The slave rats, barely clothed in rags, fell in droves under the concentrated bullet fire. Driven by fear of the supervising rat-stings, they desperately fled out, merging into a bundle with the fleeing clan rats. They bit and clawed at each other, just to escape faster.
The mass of ratmen effectively blocked the imperials.
The rat-stings cackled madly as the green fire spewed from the barrels illuminated their yellow teeth: “Yes, yes, just like that.”
Then, aside from one malfunctioning rat-sting, five others indiscriminately pointed downwards and unleashed a barrage.
When the gunfire rang out.
Both ratmen and imperials fell under the hail of bullets.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry could hardly believe his eyes; the enemy was firing without distinction, a direct fire assault.
Some ratmen spotted Scarli Sword Saint, crouching on the wall as they pointed their weapons at him, yelling: “There! He’s over there! The Piper is there!”
The rat-stings all adjusted their aim, blowing fire toward Scarli Sword Saint Henry.
Seeing a green line sweeping toward him, he instinctively inserted his sword and lifted the clan rat blocking his path.
“Da-da-da-da!”
The ratmen thrashing around before him quickly stopped. Scarli Sword Saint felt countless fists striking him, and he fell to the ground, his head slamming into the earth, the sound of his helmet buzzing, and through the slits in his visor, he could see that both ratmen and imperials were falling amidst a downpour of green rain.
An imperial soldier with a shield was overwhelmed; the shield shattered, piercing straight through him as he collapsed.
The rain of bullets ceased.
As the smoke cleared, the ground was littered with corpses.
The ratmen, holding their smoking and heated rat-stings, cheered loudly: “The Piper is dead! Dead!”
Before the words were out, Scarli Sword Saint pushed aside the ratman that had made him into a helpless mess, pulled his foot from beside a dead body, found his greatsword nearby, and stood up again.
The ratmen screamed in fear, and the shooters hurriedly pointed their guns at Scarli Sword Saint, shouting: “Reload! Reload!”
“The rat-stings are going to blow up.”
“I know, reload quickly, or I’ll die! I’ll die!”
The ratmen behind hastily cranked the handles on their metal boxes, refined green dimensional oil flowing into the hot rat-stings. Unsurprisingly, the rat-stings immediately burst into flames, and the shooter quickly tossed the rat-sting aside, causing it to explode on the ground.
Two out of the remaining five rat-stings were blown up.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry began to charge again. He saw the remaining rat-stings aiming at him, glimpse the manic faces of the ratmen, and see the yellow teeth bared in their mouths.
Then, he witnessed the ratman holding the rat-sting, his head burst open by a battleaxe, the weapon smashing down onto the smoking rat-sting, disappearing in an instant.
The ratman pulled the trigger, and the rat-sting exploded on the spot, a fireball rising into the air.
“Ah! The Piper’s magic! It’s the Piper’s magic!”
The remaining two groups of rat-stings directly discarded their weapons and fled. Scarli Sword Saint and the remaining imperials charged into the administrative hall, chasing after the fleeing ratmen.
The blood-stained songstress sang on the rooftop, and the entire building and courtyard echoed with eerily chilling music.
However, the imperials felt nothing; they were blood-frenzied, stabbing and slashing at the ratmen. The ratmen desperately scrambled over walls, some even digging holes to escape, suffering heavy casualties.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry did not participate in the chaos; he leaned against the wall, his legs weak, feeling a wave of anxiety wash over him. He was sure someone was secretly helping him; otherwise, things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.
What was the enemy’s intention? Would they continue to assist? If they stopped helping, wouldn’t he die?
He recalled the green arrows shot by the ratmen’s magical machines as he charged forward, trembling at the memory.
“Thank you!”
Scarli Sword Saint suddenly snapped back to reality to see an imperial soldier with a blood-stained sword, his face flushed and unsure: “You… brave, I’ve never seen anyone as brave as you… a hero.”
Scarli Sword Saint Henry couldn’t help but say, “I was terrified, truly, I was very scared.”
The soldier, however, didn’t believe him: “You’re being humble. I saw it with my own eyes; you charged forward while a barrage of green points flew, as everyone around you perished, but you stood up and kept going.”
Henry was about to refute, but seeing the sparkle in the soldier’s eyes and his ordinary clothing, he realized he was just an armed civilian who feared death, needing a battling hero for encouragement.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry composed his fearful expression and smiled, saying, “Yes, those dim-witted and cowardly ratmen almost scared me. The more scared I am, the more I have to charge. The enemy is more afraid than we are.”
The soldier’s hands stopped trembling.
The great chase lasted for twenty minutes, with many terrified ratmen vanishing without a trace. As they ran, they spread the rumor of the Piper’s approach, embellishing the details.
Before long, the rumor circulated that the Piper stood three meters tall, carrying a hundred rat heads, unfazed by barrages from rat-stings. When bullets hit him, it felt like peas hitting a wall; not a single hair on the Piper fell as he strolled into the administrative hall and claimed thousands of rat heads.
The morale of the rat army faltered. Clutching their spoils, the ratmen felt it would be safer to flee back to the underground sewer; after all, underground was safe. On the surface, the Piper was so strong he didn’t even pretend to be vulnerable, attacking head-on.
They even decided to abandon the slaves, fearing that if the Piper caught up, everyone would be slaughtered.
“You! You’ll die! Cowardly things!” The rat warlord shouted as he cleaved the heads of many ratmen, proclaiming, “We must face them in battle! Yes, a battle!”
This was a great achievement; how could he simply flee?
Besides, the main force was with him; after just slaughtering the imperial guards, why fear a single Piper?
Amidst the well-equipped storm rats, the rat warlord stepped over numerous bodies and arrived at the front of the administrative hall, where the ratmen’s flag had been lowered, replaced by the imperial banner.
The main door was tightly shut, concealing what was happening inside.
A ratman assassin covered in a black hood rushed over to report, “There are only about a hundred human creatures inside, thirty are soldiers, half of them injured. The Piper is inside, yes, yes, it’s him, it’s him.”
The rat warlord gazed around; the rat army surrounded the administrative building, and the naturally timid ratmen gained immense courage at this moment. The fleeing ratmen returned on their own. A rough estimate showed there were at least four thousand ratmen, effectively sealing off the area.
The streets were filled with rats, and the rooftops were also packed with them; occasionally, a ratman would tumble down from above, startled.
Yet, none dared to approach the administrative building, staying at least fifty meters away, while eerie music emanated from within. Many ratmen whispered to each other that this was the music of the Piper, and listening to it would eventually end badly.
The rat warlord, having killed imperial generals, felt bold; he wasn’t afraid. He turned his head and asked, “Is the fire ready?”
“We’ve ignited the combustibles, waiting for your command. We can burn all the human creatures!”
With a wave of his hand, the rat warlord ordered, “Burn it down.”
The rat assassin nodded, but on the other side of the wall, decapitated rat bodies were thrown out. Clothed in black, upon seeing them, the rat assassin called out: “My subordinates!”
Before he finished, his head was severed by an invisible force, his rat head tumbling to the ground, eyes wide with shock.
The surrounding storm rats—these battle-hardened, brave (by rat standards) warriors—felt fear rise and instinctively cowered.
The rat warlord yelled furiously, “You fools! You fools! If he could kill all our ratfolk, why would he hide inside? I’ll face him myself.”
After saying that, the rat warlord felt he was too impulsive and should send someone to scout. With a wave of his hand, he commanded a team of clan rats, totaling two hundred twenty-four ratmen, to dash forward to scout, while the rest held the rear.
Under the persuasive swords and blades of the supervising team, this group of clan rats surged toward the administrative building.
Then another wave followed.
For the imperials entrenched in the administrative building, this was truly a fierce battle. The ratmen arriving in waves were all trained clan rats, donning armor as well. In contrast, most of the imperials were common civilians armed only with weapons they used for self-defense.
Watching from the shadows, Jima had to exert more magical power to turn lies into reality, making the rumors that the rats believed manifest as truth.
With the power of lies amplifying his courage, Scarli Sword Saint Henry fought more fiercely, the rat heads falling on their own, and the ratmen fled in droves. The rat warlord personally brandished his weapon, and in the end, the imperials managed to survive this wave of attacks.
But the assault was not over; frantic, the rat warlord launched a second attack with another wave of ratmen, but again, he failed. The number of fleeing rats was far greater than those who had perished, and the rat warlord could no longer initiate an attack.
He had to pause the offensive.
However, he did gain valuable information: the Piper was injured, a cut on his calf causing him to limp.
With a glint in his eye, the rat warlord looked at the watching Kuro, asking, “Let’s go together, I’ll take the lead, you cast spells.”
Kuro snorted, saying, “You’re the warlord here.”
The rat warlord recognized that he was unable to deceive Kuro; in a sense, he was just like the ratmen he had sent forth to attack, a mere pawn for Kuro to gauge the depth of the opposition.
Amidst the throngs of storm rats, the rat warlord stepped over the bodies strewn about, arriving at the administrative hall’s entrance, and shouted in the common tongue:
“Imperial scum! There are more rats than you! If we keep fighting… it’ll be pointless bloodshed. I promise, as long as you come out and duel me, if you win, I’ll let you all go. If you lose, you’ll be treated with kindness! Kindness!”
Jima, lurking and observing, sneered; the ratmen had no credibility at all. However, anything was better than continually sending ratmen to attack. Her magic was already down to thirty-nine percent; if the Lighthead Strongman unleashed his full power, she would reach a critical point.
For those struggling to defend the building behind the door, the ratmen’s challenge was incredibly tempting.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry looked around. There were only eleven humans left standing with weapons, while the wounded lay inside the administrative hall, crying out, and occasionally someone would call, “Save us!”
The comrades still fighting alongside him had looks filled with hope for life.
Scarli Sword Saint Henry pondered if the emperor, like himself, was being pushed by everyone to be a hero.
He announced, “I’ll go duel him.”
With that, he limped forward to the main entrance.
Everyone sighed in relief.
An imperial soldier, whose head was wrapped in white cloth, said, “Be careful, he might trick you.”
Scarli Sword Saint Henry replied, “No worries; I’m not that foolish.”
The imperial soldiers opened the door, and the firelight from outside illuminated Scarli Sword Saint Henry’s visor. For a moment he couldn’t see clearly, only noticing a robust ratman standing alone at the entrance. Behind him was a dense crowd of ratmen, causing Scarli Sword Saint Henry to take a sharp breath.
The ratmen opened their mouths, roaring at Scarli Sword Saint Henry, and it seemed they were about to tear him apart.
At that moment, everyone, both humans and ratmen, could hear the terrifying music echoing, as if the corpses on the ground would rise again at any moment.
“You’re scared, you’re scared,” the rat warlord taunted, his height towering over Scarli Sword Saint Henry. “Are you brave enough? Are you brave enough?”
“What’s there to be afraid of?”
Scarli Sword Saint Henry held his breath, summoning his extraordinary abilities; his muscles surged with strength, the pain in his leg lessening. He sprinted towards the rat warlord.
The rat warlord raised his weapon and charged toward him, but midway, he suddenly crouched down, shouting: “Open fire!”
Behind him, the shooters with rat-stings raised their weapons from the ground, aiming at the charging Scarli Sword Saint Henry and pulling the triggers.
“Da-da-da-da-da!”
Green flames illuminated the maniacal faces of the rat-sting shooters.
Six rat-stings unleashed a barrage of green bullets, flooding toward Scarli Sword Saint Henry, who, with a white blur in his mind, instinctively dropped to the ground. It was his first encounter with such disregard for honor in combat.
Bullets completely consumed the place where he fell.
“Ha ha ha! He’s dead, dead! The Piper! Dead!”
The rat-stings roared with laughter, completely unaware that they had just been pulled into a dream, the barrels inadvertently rising an inch.
Amidst the smoke, Scarli Sword Saint Henry stood up; he had taken several hits to the shoulder, so he could only wield his greatsword with one hand, slowly walking out.
The ratmen gasped in astonishment.
The rising rat warlord sensed the scent of weakness; the Piper was not so formidable after all; he could bleed, just an ordinary human, not at all like the legends described.
He raised his green-glowing sword and shield and charged toward Scarli Sword Saint Henry, exclaiming: “Alright, you can fight me like this. Yes, yes.”
Scarli Sword Saint Henry grit his teeth, focusing all his strength into his greatsword and swinging it single-handedly at the rat warlord. This was his only hope—the rune sword issued by the empire, combined with a giant swordsman like him, could cleave an armored warrior in half—if only he could strike the “weak point.”
Yet he still underestimated the ratmen’s moral code.
As Scarli Sword Saint’s sword struck out, the four storm rats crouched on the ground suddenly sprang up, leaping from all directions to envelop Scarli Sword Saint Henry, seizing around his waist and legs, each biting his arms. The pain made Henry shout, nearly causing him to drop his greatsword.
He had become a living target, eyes wide with fury as he watched the rat warlord swing his weapon down.
The rat warlord laughed with delight, swinging his sword toward Henry’s neck.
“Shit! Throw down the tiles!”
A solemn feminine voice shouted in explosive tones: “Lighthead Strongman!”
Faster than her voice, a towering black figure appeared behind Scarli Sword Saint, with the Lighthead Strongman’s chipped lips glowing red, holding an axe-spear. He almost teleported to the side of the rat warlord and swung his axe blade.
This sneak attack severed the rat warlord’s head, which spun through the air with wide-open angry eyes.
Truly an unprincipled human!
The rat warlord’s head fell into the rat army, his headless body collapsing in front of many witnesses.
For a moment, it seemed like someone had pressed mute; only the Piper’s eerie music echoed on.
The storm rats clutching Scarli Sword Saint were stunned, saying, “What’s going on?”
Which one is the Piper?
Scarli Sword Saint Henry was also bewildered.
To maintain the Piper’s image for Scarli Sword Saint, Jima imitated his voice, saying, “Heh, I have to reveal my true form.”
“What?”
The four storm rats were struck with terror, then their heads fell on their own.
With twenty-three percent magic left, Jima ordered: “Use the giant sword to cleave one apart.”
Scarli Sword Saint Henry instinctively complied, swinging his giant sword sideways while the Lighthead Strongman proclaimed: “You’re scared now.”
An invisible force spread from him, igniting the fear within the ratmen; terror consumed them, and no matter how strong their will, it was difficult to resist.
The first layer of ratmen heads fell off, landing on the ground, followed by the second, then the third… layer after layer, heads dropped.
Jima glanced at the rapidly dwindling magic power, now down to twenty-three percent, feeling a bit of relief.
Even maximizing the intimidation of the ratmen, this strike consumed too much magic. Now, the ratmen should scatter; if they didn’t, she would need to make a run for it. She didn’t want to endure the pain of her soul injury flaring up again.
Suddenly, a dimensional lightning bolt struck down from the sky toward the invisible Jima. Fortunately, the Lighthead Strongman quickly shielded her with his body.
Kuro chuckled, “I see through your ridiculous tricks.”
Jima’s heart pounded; he was a rat magician, decorated and evidently not weak. She had little magic left and needed to retreat.
As Kuro strode forward, heading straight for the “Piper,” some ratmen hesitated to retreat, causing a slight halt in the collapse of the rat army. Many paused, deciding to wait and see, wasting Jima’s hard work.
Kuro, in full view of everyone, walked toward Scarli Sword Saint Henry, scoffing: “Did you really think we rats were as foolish as you humans? As long as I—”
Before he could finish, he tripped over the corpse on the ground, crashing down and sprawling out, the dimensional stone staff falling from his hand.
The observing ratmen immediately scattered in a frenzy. The large army dissolved into chaos, with ratmen falling victim to conflicts in their scramble to flee.
“Thank you so much,” the Lighthead Strongman proclaimed in line with Jima’s intent, casually raising a finger that easily severed the heads of dozens of nearby ratmen: “They’re more scared now.”
With that, the Lighthead Strongman rushed toward Kuro. Unfortunately, Kuro was well-versed in escape tactics, easily evading amid the Lighthead Strongman’s furious assault, quickly opening a portal and disappearing from sight…
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Today, I shamelessly ask for monthly tickets.
