Chapter 107 Chapter 105: A Surplus of Rats
Jima took a deep breath to gather her emotions. She stood up and shouted at the ratmen above, “Call Kuiluoke! Just tell him I’m Puchuan! I need to see him.”
One of the ratmen on the tall city wall leaned out and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“I already told you, didn’t I?” Jima said fiercely. “I’m here to escort the dimensional stones! I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
As she spoke, she swished her tail and waved it at the other party, inflating the blue aura of greed in his chest.
The ratman in charge of the city gate first felt that there seemed to be something to this; although his memory was fuzzy, he still had a vague impression. Then he realized that it was likely the arrogant ratman below who was bribing him, possibly with dimensional stone coins.
Even though the higher-ups had issued several orders strictly forbidding the opening of the city gates, he felt unusually bold today. He thought that to make a living, one had to take risks; how could one get rich without taking chances? Did he want to spend his whole life as a minor official?
He nodded and said, “There is some truth to this. Trust me, open the gate quickly.”
His subordinate hesitated, “But…”
“Trust me, they said no one is allowed in immediately, but they planned to return before the gate was shut; they just executed the plan a minute too late.”
With a rumble, the city gate swung open, allowing a convoy of nearly a hundred ratmen to swagger right into the city.
Once inside the fortress, Jima used her status as the escort of the dimensional stones to take out a bag of dimensional stone coins for the ratman to inspect, satisfying his greed.
The convoy advanced across the stone slabs laid out in the maze, with sturdy, reliable city walls behind them, blocking all dangers, including an elite ratman troop, from pursuing them.
A weight lifted from Jima’s heart, and she bragged to herself, “I’m just too strong.”
Nearby, the other ratmen came and went, and no one objected to her words, as this was considered normal in ratman society.
George remained silent behind her, as he was currently playing the role of a mute.
Jima looked at him and thought mischievously:
“My abilities are truly exceptional. Unlike certain combat professions or duelists, who may be formidable one-on-one, they can’t compete with a proper military formation, high walls, or deep moats. It’s all about physical confrontation; once they’re not tough, they shatter into pieces.”
George cast her a glance but said nothing, as he had to play the mute role.
The fortress buzzed like a busy gear, even more bustling than when Jima left, noisy and chaotic, with ratmen coming and going. White rat Eve Frostleaf covered her ears.
Several ratman guides led the logistics convoy to the unloading area.
“Oh, I’m so tired,” Jima said, sitting on the cart and rubbing her shoulder. “My shoulders feel like rusty gears, creaking away.”
Saying this, Jima raised her hand, flicked her middle finger in front of George’s face, and said, “Come here, my mute servant, give your master a shoulder rub.”
George stretched out his hand and placed it on her shoulder.
“Not too hard, not too hard. Hmm, that’s about right; it feels really good.” Jima tilted her chin up, smiling broadly, showing her white teeth, grinning rather arrogantly. “You’re such a good boy. It’s good I adopted you back then; being your dad was a good business decision.”
Jenna had been signaling to Jima to stop, but Jima completely ignored her.
They had already arrived at the unloading area, where there were far fewer people. They got off the cart, and a ratman was leading them, saying he would take them to queue up to cross the stone bridge.
Even after getting off the cart, Jima wanted George to massage her shoulders as they walked.
A group of nearly a hundred ratmen entered the fortress, and it was truly chaotic inside. There were ratmen talking everywhere, and footsteps echoed from outside the walls. Eve Frostleaf appeared somewhat anxious, looking left and right.
Jima had bribed her way to get in line quickly.
Before long, a new ratman guide walked over and said, “Someone has arranged for me to take you to a new place.”
The efficiency was impressive; it seemed that dimensional stone coins were indeed effective in ratman society.
Jima acted like a nouveau riche, waving her hand and saying, “Quick, everyone, follow me. We’ll go rest and sleep across the street tonight without having to wait in this line.”
The ratmen in rusty armor shouted, “Yes, yes, boss.”
“And you,” Jima pointed at George and then to her shoulder, “Keep massaging me while we walk.”
George gave her a rare eye roll and extended his hand to continue pressing on her shoulder.
“Feels great.”
Under the guidance of the guide, they walked through the maze-like fortress; the further they went, the quieter and wider it became, indicating that they were heading outside.
Jima asked, “How did we get outside?”
The guide replied, “Shortcut.”
“Oh, the road planning needs improvement,” Jima said. “Winding around like this isn’t good at all.”
As soon as her words fell, the hand pressing on her shoulder suddenly tightened, causing Jima to nearly jump up in pain.
To maintain her image, Jima held back her reaction and glanced back at George.
How petty. I’ve given you so many chances, but you still aren’t satisfied.
She said, “If you don’t want to press, then don’t.”
Just as she turned back, the hand on her shoulder tightened again, causing Jima to jump up. She was about to speak when George quietly said, “He’s lying.”
An ambush?
Jima immediately looked at Eve Frostleaf, her hearing being the sharpest. Eve nodded and shook her head, indicating indecision, suggesting there might be a problem.
Jima smiled and kicked the guide in front of her, saying, “Hey, you’re not planning to lead us into an ambush, are you?”
The guide turned his rat face and asked suspiciously, “What are you joking about?”
George had not tightened his grip, indicating it was serious.
Jima surveyed her surroundings; the terrain here was open and seemed to be a training ground, with troops training nearby. Even at this late hour, they were quite diligent, and arrow towers stood imposing all around.
Jima was still uneasy; she had ample experience deceiving George, so she asked, “You’re not leading us to cut in line at the stone bridge, are you?”
“No, we have to deal with the dimensional stones.”
Suddenly, George’s hand on her shoulder tightened painfully, like an iron clamp pinching flesh, causing Jima to jump.
Before she could get angry, George’s furious roar came from behind:
“Prepare for battle!”
The ratmen were lying! Jima immediately reacted, conjuring a “branch axe gun.” Spreading her wings, she flapped hard and flew up, gaining four or five meters in height, her view expanding.
Jima saw that the city walls, arrow towers, and battlements were almost filled with ratmen, alongside others getting into position.
Just as she was about to turn invisible, she saw several ratman assassins suddenly emerge from the shadows around her, shooting green projectiles while making some unknown gestures with their other hands.
Green flames erupted harmlessly on Jima’s body, outlining the silhouette of her invisible form and breaking her invisibility.
At the same time, countless ratmen spun their slingshots, cast spells, and fired guns, unleashing green stones and lightning from all directions, creating streaks of green in the dim air.
Jima poured her magic into “Extraordinary Charisma,” causing thousands of projectiles to deflect around her, spinning halfway. However, at the same time, some stray shots struck her hard, piercing her wings and leaving several wounds, causing sharp pain, and blood flowed from her.
Below was even more chaotic; although the firepower targeted Jima, nearly half of the ratmen died from their own fire before understanding what was happening.
“Kill all the ratmen in the logistics team!”
“Leave not a single one alive.”
“Those who survive are the biggest enemies.”
The ambushing ratman officer roared, and even the ratman who had been acting as the guide unfortunately fell to a sabot round.
Under the indiscriminate fire, Jima felt like a butterfly caught in a storm, desperately trying to fly without direction, but it was futile. There were always stray shots hitting her, causing hair and blood to fall from her body.
She gritted her teeth and held on. She didn’t use the highly mana-consuming “Puppet Substitute,” because she needed to save her precious remaining magic for something significant.
Since she already had a strong cursed medium, and since the rumors about the Greatsword Flute Player had already taken root, having spent so much magic to set the stage, it was time to unleash it.
Jima flew high enough that most of the firepower couldn’t reach her. A trickle of crimson blood flowed down her forehead, dripping along her cheek.
She shouted, “I curse you all!”
Dozens of ratmen were directly affected by the curse, their bodies weakened, and their eyes widened out of fear.
“Spread it!”
Using her saliva as a strong medium, the curse spread rampantly among the ordinary ratmen, effectively halving their ranged firepower.
As Jima flew around in circles, her wounds ached, and she gritted her teeth furiously. “Next step! Death! The Greatsword Flute Player descends.”
Bald-headed Qiang crashed to the ground like a war god, smashing into the city wall, instantly crushing three ratmen. He swung his giant sword in a circle, causing the heads of nearby ratmen to fly off. The fear and brilliance radiated around, making every ratman look towards him in terror.
A city wall was filled with ratmen.
Bald-headed Qiang raised his iron-gloved hand: “Die!”
An invisible wave surged forward, beheading everyone it touched.
Jima found it pleasing to the eye; those cunning ratmen should witness her might. The fear of death would lead them to imagine the rumors of the Greatsword Flute Player, and the rumors would in turn make them more afraid, creating a cycle. The ratmen on the whole city wall would surely not escape, all beheading together would be such a satisfying sight.
But this invisible wave stopped after advancing several meters.
“How is this possible? What went wrong?”
Simultaneously, a dozen ratman spellcasters countered her curse, not only halting its spread but also turning the strong medium against Jima.
Jima could only sever the connection, watching her curse head toward its demise.
They must have prepared ahead of time, already ready to counter my curse.
As for the method used to break her rumor, Jima immediately thought of many, divine gifts, uncovering lies, extraordinary abilities, the list is long. The answer was the Great Horned Rat God chose Chuanluo, imploring the Great Horned Rat for blessings, breaking Jima’s rumor.
But Jima didn’t know the answer and realized this indicated that the other party was very familiar with her abilities, having prepared countermeasures.
Jima could only accept the bleak reality; all her groundwork had become useless. To conserve her magic, Jima had to withdraw Bald-headed Qiang, glancing at her personal interface, her magic remaining at only twenty-six percent.
It seemed that in this battle, she might just have to coast along as a battlefield journalist. Jima turned her head and saw the fortress gates opening not far away, a troop of ratmen pouring into the fortress…
