Chapter 135 Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two The Outer City Falls
The battle did not cease.
The intense siege warfare lasted for twenty-six hours. The ratmen launched twelve waves of attacks, and the dwarves, undaunted by death, repelled them all.
Whenever the dwarves thought of the ratmen trampling their ancestors’ city with their filthy claws, they were driven into a frenzy, swearing to stop the ratmen’s advance.
The bell tolled three more times, and three sections of the city wall collapsed. In the gaps between the twelve troop assemblies, countless slave rats, driven by hunger and drugs, charged toward the dwarven lines, exchanging their lives for ammunition, giving the dwarves no respite.
At the end of the twenty-sixth hour, the ratmen launched their thirteenth attack. A mixed force made up of clan rats, rifle teams, galloping rats, rat ogres, and plague monks overwhelmed the dwarven phalanxes in the streets, leaving behind neatly arranged corpses, with none of the dwarves breaking their oath.
But all oaths felt powerless in the face of the ratmen’s onslaught.
With the outer wall breached, the remaining dwarven forces were forced back to the second wall. The ratmen’s rifle teams climbed to the high ground, with one ratman holding a shield at the front as the sharpshooters rested their long rifles on the shield and opened fire on the orderly retreating dwarven army.
Bullets whizzed through the dim underground, drawing green lines as they pierced the proud armor of the dwarves, knocking injured dwarves to the ground.
“Number thirty-nine!” A ratman sharpshooter shouted excitedly, moving his eyes to the scope: “Alright, this time I’m going for a headshot.”
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew by, and a poleaxe embedded itself into his rat head, getting stuck for a moment.
“Dammit, I missed.”
He cursed, using pain magic to blast open the wound and stepped on a ratman to pull out the poleaxe, then swung back at the shield-holding ratman, who had just turned around and immediately lost his head.
A dagger was thrust toward her from behind, misaligned, missing the vital point and merely stabbing into her back.
Without turning her head, she swung the poleaxe behind her and kicked off the ratman, soaring high into the air, utilizing pain magic to fly quickly.
Below, bullets flew in from all directions, accompanied by the sound of ratling guns and rifle fire.
Ji Ma immediately cranked up her protective “Extraordinary Charm” to maximum power. Bullets whizzed past her, curving around her body.
The “Branch Poleaxe” extended its sharp teeth and long tongue toward the corpses below, shouting in her mind: “Blood!!!!”
With several loud pops, a few bullets blew the tongue into pieces.
Another trap had captured her.
A piercing pain shot through her thigh; she had been shot.
Ji Ma gritted her teeth, her speed undiminished, drawing graceful curves in the air, soaring over the second wall and managing to create some distance.
There was no other way; facing the ratmen’s conventional attack methods, expending a large amount of magic to use “Substitute Dolls” or limited-use “Refrigerators” was not cost-effective. She could only rely on flying and her physical prowess.
She straightened her wings, spinning in the air, blood staining her tight pants, each drop falling. Ji Ma scanned the chaotic battlefield for teammates who could heal her.
Ahead, a flash of white light caught her eye.
Ji Ma spotted George bravely fighting at the front; he was jumping down from the body of a rat ogre, the slowest moving person, undoubtedly risking himself to play some heroic role.
Naturally, behind every successful hero, there is a silent female hero providing healing. Jenna was the female hero behind the scenes, knocking away ratmen with her tower shield while raising her hand to support George with additional shields.
Her wound continued to bleed, and the dimensional stone in her inner thigh felt hot, gnawing at her nerves.
For the moment, two teammates capable of healing themselves were busy being heroes, so she had to rely on herself.
Ji Ma didn’t drink healing potions because healing wounds would seal the bullets inside her body.
She held a healing potion, the bottle labeled “Topical Use,” and poured it roughly onto her wound on her back.
The cold potion, upon touching her wound, boiled up like water meeting sodium, and the pain made Ji Ma curse.
Something must be obstructing the healing process.
Using her third healing potion, the wound gradually began to heal.
But the injury to her thigh still needed surgery; the wound continued to bleed profusely.
She looked toward George and Jenna, only to find that they, who had initially retreated, were charging again to cover the retreat of another dwarven squad.
Blood dripped from her heels, her wings were riddled with holes, torn and tattered, almost reduced to a skeleton; fortunately, she didn’t rely on aerodynamics when flying.
I’m really unlucky to have followed him; why can’t he just fall?
Ji Ma tightened her grip on the potion bottle.
Just then, the ratmen ambushing the dwarven army launched a joint attack, surrounding George. The dwarven troops behind wanted to help, but all the bullets turned toward them.
Ji Ma immediately flapped her wings, wanting to support, but George broke through faster, executing an unadorned Holy Slash in a sea of light pollution, slaying the lead ratman hiding in the back and leaping to escape.
But as he broke through, he was backstabbed by a ratman assassin, clumsily falling to the ground. Blessed Maiden Jenna rushed forward to cover him, allowing him to escape danger.
Why struggle so desperately?
Ji Ma’s knuckles turned white as she watched the retreating dwarven troops below.
Although many ratmen had died, the dwarven forces below were few compared to the rat tide outside, akin to the beef in instant noodles.
Stubborn, conservative, weak, and useless, all for this damned bunch of dwarven rabble.
Ji Ma forcefully tossed away the empty potion bottle, which shattered on a dwarven steel helmet.
“Why couldn’t you have died earlier?”
She cursed a few times, and after calming her emotions, she noticed the city gate closing, providing temporary safety, before stopping her spiral and descending, keeping vigilant and always ready to use the Substitute Doll.
As George carried Jenna over the city wall, cheers erupted from the dwarves. No matter how exhausted they were, they all crawled up from the ground, removed their helmets, even the wounded lying on the ground struggled to get up.
Ji Ma crossed her arms, leaning against the wall, a shadow casting over her face as the light of the fire illuminated the blood that dripped to the ground, particularly bright red.
George and Jenna approached; George looked excited, his face flushed, and Jenna was the first to speak: “Ji Ma, you’re bleeding.”
Ji Ma looked at George and said:
“The great hero has returned triumphantly. Next time, you could save a few more people, so when you come back, you can see the evil demon blood out and die, and we all get to be happy.”
“I’m sorry,” George said, “Next time you can just ask for healing directly.”
“And then have Jenna perform surgery on me amidst the rat pile?”
George said, “You can say whatever you want directly.”
“I really hate that you go save a bunch of useless people. We need to conserve magic and prepare to seek an opportunity to break through, not play this hero game.”
Ji Ma looked at the deepest dent on George’s armor and imagined the damage that attack would inflict on his life when it pierced through his armor.
Jenna asked, “Do you need surgery, Ji Ma?”
“Yes, I was shot in the back of my thigh,” Ji Ma said, “I don’t need to lie down or be anesthetized; I want to continue talking to George.”
Jenna showed her surgical knife and asked, “Really?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll be in a lot of pain standing.”
Ji Ma waved her hand and directly activated the “Tranquil Secret Barrier.”
Although Jenna was skeptical, she still respected Ji Ma’s wishes and said, “Take a step forward and take off your pants.”
George said, “I’ll step aside for a bit.”
“We’ve seen everything; no need to waste time.”
George, helpless, stared at Ji Ma’s golden eyes.
“I won’t let everyone die here.”
“I was just going to say, you’re acting like a spoiled child, letting everyone die.” The cold tip of the knife entered her skin, and Ji Ma bit her teeth, staring at George’s face:
“But it’s easier said than done. Given your various heroics that are utterly foolish, you must swear to me that you will not let the lives of the dwarves hinder your steps to lead us in retreat.”
“Under any circumstances?”
Ji Ma replied, “Yes, under any circumstances. Even if that dwarf saved you a thousand times, now his whole family is in the ratmen’s hands, desperately pleading for your help; you must not stop.”
George was displeased. He frowned and said: “This is my choice; I’ll bear all the consequences myself.”
“And then Jenna stops, Frostleaf stops, and everyone dies together.” Ji Ma said: “I want to see you before you get stabbed to death by a ratman dagger, watching as the ratmen surround Frostleaf, gnawing at her long ears, tearing off her pale skin, exposing the crimson flesh underneath.
“Will you be so excited that you smile? Don’t look at me so angrily; I’m just talking nonsense. To be honest, I understand you well enough to know that you’ll feel very guilty, and yet the more guilty you feel, the more secretly proud you are.
“Because it shows how precious the sacrifice you make for your sense of justice is.”
George didn’t get angry but raised his hand, pointing at Ji Ma: “Ji Ma, you hold a deep prejudice against me. You are actually venting your emotions.”
“As long as you don’t go out there to seek death, dragging the whole team to die together,” Ji Ma said: “I believe you’ll swear; the moment you swear, I will smile at you immediately and won’t be sharp-tongued.”
“No.”
The throbbing pain in her thigh continued; Jenna’s palm gently touched the wound, as the dimensional stone bullet slowly moved outward from deep inside the wound.
But Ji Ma ignored the pain; her eyes locked onto George, looking at his proud face, and he showed no signs of yielding.
She suddenly realized that George only didn’t want her to feel that she could coerce him.
“Forget it.” Ji Ma feigned weakness: “I can only trust you now, George.”
George replied: “Don’t worry too much about safety; I won’t let anyone die here.”
Ji Ma smiled at him; just then, Jenna stood up and said: “The surgery is complete.”
Ji Ma stretched her thigh and felt no pain; she said: “Alright, maybe I was too anxious, fearing someone would die here.”
“I never worry about not being able to retreat.” George said: “I just worry about not being able to obtain the Demon King’s Crown fragments.”
Ji Ma replied honestly: “Not getting it wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Then the disaster our world suffers will be even more brutal.”
You’d better pray that you can’t grab it, while I…
Ji Ma recalled her memories from Earth, which were already hazy but poignant.
“Alright, let’s conserve magic and prepare for the next breakthrough.” Ji Ma dismissed the Tranquil Secret Barrier.
At this moment, a sound came from not far away, coming from the direction of the gate.
Ji Ma spread her wings and flew up, seeing the ratmen doing explosive work on the collapsing tunnel at the gate.
