Chapter 114: Chapter 112: Gone (Part Two)
The rat ogre stood in a pool of blood, occasionally lifting its feet to shake off the annoying blood that clung like leeches, drawing out the discomfort. Nearby, the ratmen, under the whip’s lash, carried building materials to pave a road across the stone bridge and over the gap.
The red-armored ratmen warlord rested on the rat ogre and observed the numerous ratmen and the ratman medics tending to the injuries of his subordinates.
“Master! Master!”
Amid the entourage of ratman guards, a ratman secretary with round glasses and a bag containing several scrolls approached.
The red-armored ratmen warlord grasped the hilt of his sword and looked at him.
The ratman secretary’s whiskers trembled in fear as he lowered his head slightly and said, “Great… great Master, the great Chu Luo is not happy after hearing the latest battle report. He… he wants to ask you why you’re not pursuing?”
The red-armored ratmen warlord drew his sword, feeling quite relaxed and peaceful, as he could tell that this ratman secretary was merely a scapegoat pushed forward to question him.
“I am waiting for my storm rats to arrive,” the red-armored ratmen warlord said calmly, “They consist of six strong warriors, three of whom are above diamond tier.”
“But… but they are already heavily injured, their lives are not long. Those human and elf things are on the verge of death.”
The red-armored ratmen warlord could confidently assume that Chu Luo was roaring from afar, shouting at him.
The red-armored ratmen warlord snorted inwardly; Chu Luo, safely far behind, naturally wished the ratmen in front would disregard their lives and rush to their deaths.
“Yes, yes, they will die.” The red-armored ratmen warlord said, “That’s why I’m not forcing them. I’m waiting for reinforcements to chop those things into pieces.”
“Then why don’t you pursue?”
“Stop whining. Can’t you keep quiet at the right time, like my brothers?” The red-armored ratmen warlord pointed at the ratman head impaled on his back, “Since they are going to die, how could they possibly break through a fortress?”
“What if something unexpected happens—”
“That’s also your group’s fault.” The red-armored ratmen warlord said firmly: “Who let them in? If the gate were tightly closed, they would have to attack the walls and wouldn’t have encountered so many problems.”
The red-armored ratmen warlord raised his sword and pointed at the fortress on the opposite bank.
“Why aren’t the guards in that fortress coming out to deal with those soon-to-die things? Why are they just holding their fortifications? If they provided cover, I would have led my guards to cross this short gap to chase them.”
A drop of sweat trickled down a tuft of rat fur on the face of the ratman secretary.
He knew, of course. The guards in the fortress opposite were certainly unwilling to take risks; as long as they held their fortifications and secured the gate, those things couldn’t possibly pass over the walls together.
The red-armored ratmen warlord was not an idiot; how could he risk his life to pursue?
The red-armored ratmen warlord asked, “Not speaking now? Do you think what I said is wrong?”
The ratman secretary hurriedly replied, “No, no, no, your response is reasonable, very reasonable, indeed.”
“Good, relay that to Chu Luo,” the red-armored ratmen warlord said. “I will also hold you guards accountable; accountability goes both ways!”
“Okay, okay.” The ratman secretary said urgently, “I will communicate it to the great Chu Luo.”
At that moment, a bell rang.
A ratman jumped on the newly constructed bridge, which wobbled slightly, shouting, “The bridge is finished! It’s done!”
The safety standards of the ratmen’s creations were not as paranoid as those of dwarves; as long as it worked, it was fine—the number of ratmen being dead was plenty, so who cares if some died?
The red-armored ratmen warlord commanded, “Let’s go!”
He led the way, ordering the rat ogre beneath him to jump over the temporarily constructed bridge, and the other subordinates followed suit as they crossed the bridge.
The clan rats from the guard unit walked onto the bridge without issues; it was shaky but at least didn’t collapse. The red-armored ratmen warlord then commanded a contingent of storm rats to cross.
Riding on the rat ogre, he moved to the front, leading an army. Behind him, the clan rats chattered while carrying their weapons, whispering to each other and sharing information.
“…That demon who flies in the sky, killing rats with her songs, truly tormented my troops; they nearly got wiped out by her.”
“What… what does that count for?” another clan rat with a knife said, “That pale, chubby human thing is the real terror. Pushing a gigantic ball of light, one touch could burn you alive, and she can turn into light, crossing the entire abyss in a single leap to the other side.”
“I think that iron-skinned thing is the scariest. I saw with my own eyes that his sword glows, and whoever gets hit with it dies; it’s invulnerable and enjoys stomping heads into a bloody mess.”
The red-armored ratmen warlord initially wanted to order the incessantly chattering clan rats to be quiet; their discipline was appalling, discussing who among the enemies was scarier while spreading fear.
At that moment, at a safe distance of ten meters ahead, a white smoke exploded.
From the white smoke emerged a ratman assassin, his face covered in black cloth, half-kneeling as he said, “My great master, that group is heading towards the high platform.”
“High platform?”
“The highest point of the fortress.”
As though to explain, a white light lit up atop the fortress, and a few black dots dropped from above. In the thermally distorted air, a nightmarish song echoed from afar.
The red-armored ratmen warlord suddenly thought of something, but the thought slipped away like a slippery eel, growing hazy in his mind.
He asked, “Is it possible to exit directly from the highest point of the fortress?”
The ratman assassin shook his head: “Not possible. Unless they can fly. Even if they could, they must pass through the fortifications, and my great master, that place is already filled with countless soldiers who can shoot those things down.”
The red-armored ratmen warlord looked at the ratman secretary, who was more familiar with the fortress’s structure.
“Great… Master.” The ratman secretary stammered, “From an engineering perspective, if there are secret tunnels by the dwarves, they would not be built at the high platform. If they are heading to the high platform, in theory, they are cutting off their own retreat.”
The red-armored ratmen warlord felt he grasped something; a terrifying idea was gradually taking shape in his mind.
He countered, “So, there aren’t any rat defenders up there, right?”
“Yes, yes.” The ratman secretary argued for the guards: “After all, all forces should be concentrated in the most critical areas.”
“Oh.” The red-armored ratmen warlord found it very reasonable. He turned his head and asked the head on his back, “What do you think?”
“Fool! Fool!” The human head began to speak: “Are they lost? If they were lost, why wouldn’t they just end up falling into the abyss?”
The red-armored ratmen warlord humbly asked, “Then what about them?”
“Think about how the saint got to the other side of the bridge fortress!”
The red-armored ratmen warlord suddenly remembered that the human thing called the saint, who could manipulate light, was able to transform into light for short-distance teleportation; he had seen it himself. The succubus holding the saint had not even flown halfway across the stone bridge when she turned into light and directly reached the other end…
He suddenly realized, and beside him, the ratman secretary was stunned for the first time to see a conversation with the long-dead head.
The red-armored ratmen warlord opened his mouth, raised his sword, and shouted at the ratman secretary: “How far is the high platform from the city wall?!”
Startled, the latter asked, “Huh?”
“I’m asking, how far is the high platform from the city wall?! If you keep looking scared, I’ll throw you down! Yes, yes, throw you down!”
“Uh… uh…” The ratman secretary was trembling and struggling to speak, and the red-armored ratmen warlord felt annoyed, “The nearest place… is two hundred meters away.”
“Throw this cowardly thing down; it’s delaying military operations.”
After saying this, the red-armored ratmen warlord immediately slapped his mount, the “muscle thing,” and raised his sword to command, “All forces, full speed ahead!”
The “muscle thing,” carrying him, sped forward on all fours.
The ratman secretary’s screams echoed behind him, followed by the soldiers cutting his throat and tossing him off the stone bridge. Subsequently, the sound of the ratmen army running easily drowned out the distant screams.
The red-armored ratmen warlord looked ahead, towards the high platform of the fortress, which was getting closer and clearer. On the high platform, there were no signs of ratmen; he vaguely saw those things standing together, holding hands, with the human thing in the middle radiating a faint silver glow.
Everything was as he had guessed. The human being called the saint could not only teleport alone but also bring everyone along in the form of light.
The dwarf head on his back spoke: “This doesn’t make sense. If those humans still had my dwarf compatriots with them and wanted to escape, why wouldn’t they move closer to the city wall? Instead, they deliberately ran to the edge of the high platform, facing us?”
“Fool! Fool!” The head of the red-armored ratmen warlord’s brother screamed: “Of course, it’s to taunt you and mock you, you fool! Yes, yes, you are a stupid fool; a cooked duck has flown away! Flew away! Quack quack quack.”
At that moment, from the high platform came a round of mocking laughter, especially from the succubus, who wiggled her hips and waved her tail at him.
A surge of anger rose within the red-armored ratmen warlord as he struck the “muscle thing” with his sword, causing it to run faster than the wind.
But it was all too late; he saw that all the figures emitted a faint silver light, growing brighter and brighter, illuminating all their forms before fading away in just a few seconds, leaving the high platform completely empty, with not a single shadow visible.
It was exactly like that human thing called the saint, transforming into light for teleportation!
At this moment, the red-armored ratmen warlord had just reached the bridgehead. The drawbridge fell, the chains snapped, and as he rushed into the city tunnel, a whiff of charred flesh overwhelmed him, with ratmen corpses scattered everywhere.
That was the masterpiece of the so-called saint. How could she be so powerful? Was her magic inexhaustible? Perhaps she possessed some extraordinary item.
The red-armored ratmen warlord thought as he headed towards the high platform.
He had no doubt that the high platform was empty, and that group had all fled. But out of caution, the red-armored ratmen warlord slowed his pace, coordinating with his subordinates to prevent falling into an ambush.
Ten minutes later, he and a group of formidable ratmen reached the high platform.
Indeed, as he had guessed, the high platform was empty; apart from ratmen corpses, there was nothing else.
