YM778.TV Chapter 21: The Cornered Rats
Outside Northpeak Shaft, a covered wagon filled with goods had stopped beside the tattered inn at the foot of the winding mountainous path.
Several adventurers looked at the rising smoke from the mountain in astonishment.
“Is that… an earthquake?”
“Doesn’t seem like it. I’ve never heard of any earthquakes near Thunderbuzz City, and the shaking is too weak to be an earthquake.”
A more experienced adventurer looked toward the forest, where resting birds remained perched on branches. They didn’t flee in alarm.
Clearly, the quakes were limited to just the mines.
“Is someone developing the mines?” a long-haired man carrying a shortbow asked.
A middle-aged man wielding a dagger shook his head and replied, “That’s impossible. That place has been infested with demonic creatures since eight generations ago.”Jack, the party leader, quietly weighed the pros and cons with a frown. He was evaluating whether it was worth braving the danger for an old associate whom he had worked together with for years.
The old coach looked at the frowning Jack and nervously asked, “Sir, I dropped them off here last time. Can I leave now?”
He was just a coach. If not for Black Serpent knocking on his door, he would have never mentioned his encounter with Silver Scimitar last night with anyone.
Seeing that it was getting late, Jack made up his mind and tossed a coin into the wagon and said, “Wait here till sunset. You can only leave after the sun has completely set.”
The coach revealed a bitter face.
He didn’t want to get involved with this matter, but as his family’s breadwinner, he dared not to offend these thugs who lived their lives on the edge. He could only meekly accept the request.
Jack waved his hand, gesturing to his brothers to follow him up the mountain. It was then he noticed the oldest adventurer in his party staring at the inn with a tight frown.
“What’s wrong, Velo? Did you spot something?”
The old adventurer nodded. “Someone has been to this inn recently.”
……
The stalemate inside the mining shaft was broken, replaced with a one-sided slaughter.
With the tunnel’s collapse, the army of ratmen charged mindlessly at the labyrinth covered in spider webs, which resembled black waterfalls in the abyss.
The crypt spiders occupying the labyrinth’s first floor were overjoyed with the food delivered to them. They leaped into the ratmen’s midst and voraciously gobbled whatever was within reach.
The ratmen were helpless against the crypt spiders’ hunt, so it ended up becoming a one-sided slaughter.
As time passed, the ratmen seeking to overrun the demon king domain suffered more than 50% casualties. Seeing that victory was now out of their reach, the remaining ratmen lost the morale to sustain their concentrated assault and scattered in all directions.
There were ways to overcome rat stampedes too.
When most ratmen were no longer forced to advance, their charge would swiftly lose the devastating momentum that destroyed their enemies and themselves.
The crypt spiders in the labyrinth were somewhat full by this point, so they no longer feasted straight on the ratmen but instead tightly wrapped them up with their web as emergency food supply.
It was their habit to stock up on food supplies.
White spider webs flew everywhere in the pitch-black hall like machine guns. It was a majestic sight to behold.
Some players felt like sanity was swiftly eroding.
Some clasped their lower jaw and gagged, though nothing came out.
Some paid the gore no heed and cheered excitedly for their hard-earned victory… though most of them only served as meat shields and hardly killed any ratmen.
Looking at the web-shooting spiders below, Dogshit suddenly remarked enviously. “Turning into a crypt spider suddenly doesn’t look that bad.”
Peerlessbear looked at him in surprise. “Are you sure? I’d scare myself to death looking into the mirror if I turn into that thing.”
Dogshit: “Heh. That’s not the point.”
Peerlessbear: “…?”
Meanwhile, Explodingknowledge, who was reviving for the nth time, rose in the vicinity of the demon king domain’s core and shook off the mud on him.
“Brothers, I have returned! Kakaka!”
Not far away, Pooppool emerged from beneath a heap of ratmen and shook his groggy head.
“I have also—”
Before he could finish his sentence, one of his dynamites suddenly exploded. His bones dissipated amidst a blinding flash of light, and his ashes scattered along with the shockwave.
“…”
It was so embarrassing that the nearby players all pretended not to see him.
Roan, the MVP of the battle, exhaled deeply with his arm supporting his waist. He slowly walked over to a nearby stone stool and sat down.
It was exhausting to cast so many spells in quick succession right after advancing to Steel-tier, but the important thing was that he had managed to fend against the enemy.
The slave rats had escaped from the labyrinth, only to return there again.
‘I’ll deal with the crypt spiders another day. I can at least take a break for now.’
Roan opened his character page and found that he had leveled up.
【ID: Roan
Race: Human
Soul Tier: Steel (Level Cap: 50)
Level: 31
Experience Points: 1780/310,000
HP: 1300/1300
MP: 110/3600
Constitution: 13
Strength: 13
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 36 (+1)
Psyche: 38 (+2)】
【Faith: 79
Daily Revenue: 101-120
Daily Expenditure: 100】
“…I gain 3 stat points per level after reaching Steel-tier!”
He also didn’t expect to earn experience points from farming monsters.
Before this, he thought the only way for necromancers to become stronger was through meditation. The players didn’t seem surprised by that as they thought it was a game, but it came as a surprise to him
He took a few deep breaths to regain his spirit before instructing Youyou to distribute the hell coins and contribution points to the players.
The skeleton soldiers cheered at the rewards. Their happiness was contagious as it brought a smile to his face.
‘These rascals are easy to coax.’
He hadn’t even defined the purchasing power of hell coins by stating how much a bottle of undead potion or a high-quality sword would cost.
‘Forget it, let them celebrate all they want.’
Roan noticed a piercing stare from the side, so he looked over.
Over in the stone prison, Chris and the others were staring intently at him with widened eyes. Clearly, they didn’t expect him to resolve the much-feared rat stampede with such ease. For a moment there, they felt awe for him.
Roan’s gaze fell on the prisoners, and it suddenly struck him that he had ‘blood bags’ to replenish his mana. Thus, he raised his right hand and siphoned their vitality as he pleased.
Amu: “AHHH~~~”
Chris: “GUKK—!”
Hugo: “UGHHH!”
Lakeson: “…”
The surge of energy refreshed the exhausted Roan.
‘Feels incredible! I suddenly understand why Professor Lilith wants one of those sharp-eared creatures as a pet.’
While Roan was wondering what he should do next, he suddenly heard Youyou’s voice.
“Demon King, your players discovered something incredible in the mining shaft.”
“Oh?”
“It’s a humongous rat whose size spans half a cavern! It’s a wonder how it even got in there!” Youyou’s voice was filled with fascination.
Unfortunately, that place was far beyond the reach of the demon king domain, or else it would have rushed over to take a look.
Roan easily figured out the rat’s identity from Youyou’s description.
Without a doubt, that was the culprit behind the rat stampede!
“Can you locate those players?”
“I can! I can’t pinpoint their exact location, but I can still provide you with the general direction,” Youyou replied.
Roan stood up. “Bring me there.”
Youyou: “Roger that!”
Roan held his wand in hand as he walked along the walls to avoid the tunnel’s collapsed section. At the same time, he controlled the greatsword-wielding Bant to jump over the pit too.
Several players noticed his movements and followed him, curious to know what he was up to.
Roan didn’t stop them, and he soon arrived before a cavern.
There, he saw Orcknight and Minowarrior.
The two skeletons were hiding behind a boulder as they eyed the cavern entrance not far away. They heard the noises behind and anxiously turned their heads around, only to see Necropolis’ boss standing behind them.
“Demon King?!”
“What brings you—”
“Shh.”
Roan raised a finger to his lips to tell the duo not to make too much noise. Then, he looked toward the cavern too.
A massive rat lay in the center of the dark cavern, making loud wheezing noises from its mouth. Its voice was filled with fear, yet there was also a tinge of sincerity and extreme madness.
“What a fat rat… Just how high is its level?” Dogshit murmured under his breath.
Autumnleaf examined the rat before shaking his head, saying, “I can’t tell… but my instinct tells me it is extremely powerful, possibly on par with the Demon King!”
Dogshit: “You don’t say. I can tell as much!”
Soreloser: “Duh~”
Autumnleaf: “…”
Roan shot a sideward glance at the boisterous players. He didn’t like what they were saying.
‘What do you mean that thing is as strong as me? Is there any comparison?’
Knowing better than to argue with these rascals, Roan had ‘Bant’ advance into a cavern with a wave of his wand.
The latter dragged his greatsword along the ground as he walked forward, producing a screeching noise. It didn’t take long for the plump rat inside the cavern to notice his presence.
“Who is it?!” Jaki squealed as he swiftly bounced to his feet, causing his fats to ripple like choppy waters.
When he finally saw the man standing at the cavern entrance, his eyes narrowed into slits as he growled, “You… Are you the demon king? The one who just arrived?”
“That’s me.”
Under Roan’s control, Bant spoke with a creaking voice that sounded like it would have come from the opening of a decomposing coffin. He lifted his greatsword and pointed it at the plump rat’s nose.
“Submit, or die.”