Chapter 43: The Plague of the Rat Tide
Within the boundless mist, an endless tide of rats surged forward. Even the two elite legions—the Sacred Legion and the Dark Legion—felt a tremor of fear in their hearts. Yet no matter how terrified they were, they had to take up their arms and kill these magical beasts.
If the beasts didn’t die, they would!
“Kill!” Arrows rained down like a storm, covering a small patch of the rat tide. However, the bodies of the Stone-Eating Rats were too tough, and the Shadow Rats were too fast. Only a few Shadow Rats were struck down.
Finally—
The rat tide collided with the forces of the Radiant Church and the Dark Church.
“Crunch, crunch~” The sound of chewing sent chills down everyone’s spines.
Countless magical rats surged forward. Any human soldier standing in their path was bitten to death. Not only was their flesh devoured, but even their bones were consumed. The Sacred Legion and the Dark Legion combined had nearly ten thousand seventh-level warriors.
Yet before the rat tide, these ten thousand seventh-level warriors meant nothing.
Because within the rat tide, the number of seventh-level rat-type magical beasts was terrifying in itself. Moreover, ordinary fifth-level Stone-Eating Rats and Shadow Rats could swarm together and bite a seventh-level warrior to death. Ten thousand seventh-level warriors… before hundreds of millions of magical rats, they were like a single wave, vanishing in an instant.
“Run!” some soldiers screamed in terror as they fled.
One ran, and many frightened soldiers immediately followed. They simply couldn’t withstand the rat tide.
But…
Even running was useless!
Shadow Rats and Stone-Eating Rats were both extremely fast—far faster than a human could run. The fleeing soldiers were quickly engulfed. Countless warriors were devoured. Even Gilmore and Visport turned pale with fear and immediately fled.
“Hurry, hurry.” Visport and Gilmore had no thought of fighting back.
Under the assault of the rat tide, nearly half of the million-strong army was wiped out in just a short while, leaving not even bones behind.
“Linley, as long as they surrender, there’s no need to keep slaughtering like this,” Delia said, unable to bear it.
Linley turned to look at the three purple-gold rat kings beside him. One of them grinned at Delia. “Fine. Hey, Linley, let them know—if those people kneel and raise their hands in surrender, the rat-type magical beasts won’t attack them.”
Linley nodded slightly.
“Everyone listen! Kneel down and raise your hands in surrender, and the magical beasts won’t attack you!” Linley’s voice boomed like thunder across the battlefield.
As soon as the words rang out, the despairing soldiers immediately knelt and raised their hands.
At the same time, the purple-gold rat king opened its mouth: “Yooo~~”
A high-pitched, piercing shriek tore through the sky. All the rat-type magical beasts seemed to receive an order. Strangely enough, every soldier who knelt and raised their hands was bypassed by the rats, who went on to attack the others.
…
“What do we do?” Gilmore looked panicked. Both he and Visport cast defensive magic to protect themselves.
“How should I know?” Visport was terrified too.
At that moment, ten magical rats, each nearly a meter long, were staring at them. These ten rats were either purple or gold in color. The purple ones had a faint golden sheen, while the gold ones had a faint purple glow.
Under normal circumstances…
The highest-level Shadow Rats were purple. Once they reached the seventh level, they became seventh-level purple Shadow Rats.
The highest-level Stone-Eating Rats were gold. Once they reached the seventh level, they became seventh-level gold Stone-Eating Rats.
And as they progressed from the seventh level to the Saint Domain, purple Shadow Rats would gradually develop a ‘purple-gold’ hue, while gold Stone-Eating Rats would also shift toward ‘purple-gold.’
These ten rats were clearly eighth-level or ninth-level magical beasts.
“Squeak~~” A ninth-level Stone-Eating Rat suddenly lunged forward and bit through Gilmore’s ‘Light Guardian’ in a single snap. Visport’s defensive magic was similarly destroyed. The ten magical rats didn’t attack immediately.
Their intelligence was no less than a human’s.
Gilmore and Visport exchanged glances. Sweat beaded on their foreheads, and their backs were soaked. They understood—if these ten magical rats charged, they would be torn apart in an instant, not even leaving bone fragments behind.
Just then, Linley’s voice rang out.
After exchanging another glance, they didn’t hesitate.
“Thud!” They both knelt and raised their hands.
Eight of the ten magical rats immediately left. The remaining two stayed to watch them. The rats were clever—they had quickly identified Gilmore and Visport, both ninth-level experts, as the enemy leaders.
Such leaders were, of course, to be taken alive.
*******
When the faint morning mist dissipated, Linley and the others could clearly see the vast number of enemy soldiers still kneeling. Surrounding them were magical rats ten or even a hundred times more numerous. The sheer visual impact of that density was enough to make anyone’s heart tremble.
“Whoosh!” A streak of light flashed by as a golden rat with a faint purple glow darted over and let out a low squeak.
“What? Only a little over three hundred thousand soldiers survived?” Bebe exclaimed in surprise. Naturally, Bebe could understand the language of rat-type magical beasts.
The three purple-gold rats squinted their small eyes smugly. One of them looked at Bebe. “Bebe, how about that?” Bebe glanced at the endless rat tide and sighed in admiration. “That’s really something. If only all these magical rats would obey my commands.”
With hundreds of millions of rat-type magical beasts, who could stand against them?
“That’s easy.” The leading purple-gold Shadow Rat immediately let out a high-pitched cry, and Bebe grew excited in turn.
Linley looked at Bebe in confusion.
“Boss, from today on, these hundreds of millions of rat-type magical beasts will follow my orders, haha.” Bebe was immensely pleased. He also let out a loud cry that echoed across the battlefield. Countless rat-type magical beasts bowed their heads respectfully to Bebe.
Linley was inwardly shocked.
He had heard since childhood how terrifying the Stone-Eating Rat and Shadow Rat swarms could be. But he had always imagined the rat tide to be a few million at most. If it were hundreds of millions… that was truly horrifying.
“With hundreds of millions of these rats, what army could possibly stop them?” Linley shook his head inwardly.
It was like the magical beasts of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts breaking out—even Fenlai City had been breached in an instant, and nearly a third of the Sacred Alliance and Dark Alliance had been occupied. The power of a beast tide was unimaginable. The Dark Forest… the lair of the rat-type magical beasts.
Even a small fraction of these rats would be enough to sweep through an empire.
Of course, that was assuming no Saint Domain experts intervened.
The leading purple-gold rat king smiled at Linley. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Harry!”
“I’m Hart, the second in line,” another purple-gold rat king immediately added.
The last purple-gold rat king was about to speak when Linley cut in. “You’re Harvey, right? I’ve heard Bebe mention you often.” Among the three purple-gold rat kings, Bebe had truly befriended only Harvey in the Dark Forest. The other two had no real connection with him.
“Three of you, you’re really entrusting this rat swarm to Bebe?” Linley asked.
The rat swarm was enormous. Were the rat kings simply handing it over to Bebe?
The purple-gold rat king ‘Harry’ waved a paw dismissively. “You don’t understand. In the Dark Forest, every so often, different rat swarms fight each other. The weak are culled, and more than half die.”
“More than half die?” Linley was surprised.
The third purple-gold rat king, ‘Harvey,’ explained, “It’s simple. The lower-level rat-type magical beasts reproduce too fast. A single litter can have a dozen or several dozen offspring. That can’t go on. If it did, the Dark Forest wouldn’t have enough to feed them. So they fight, eliminate the weak, and reduce the numbers…”
Linley understood.
If the rat-type magical beasts were allowed to multiply unchecked, they might devour the entire Dark Forest. Their numbers had to be controlled.
“So, Bebe.” The purple-gold rat king ‘Harvey’ put a small paw on Bebe’s shoulder affectionately. “Use these swarms however you like. It doesn’t matter how many die. The rat-type magical beasts in the Dark Forest must be kept within a certain limit. Sooner or later, the weak ones will die anyway.”
Linley sighed inwardly.
No wonder there were so many fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-level magical rats in the swarm. The weak had long been weeded out. The gray Stone-Eating Rats and black Stone-Eating Rats were probably still in their growth stages.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get the job done and make sure more than half of these rats die,” Bebe said with a grin. Then he turned to Linley. “Boss… how about we use these rat swarms to unify the Chaos Territory?”
“Unify the Chaos Territory?”
Linley was momentarily stunned, then smiled.
“Sir, the two enemy leaders have been brought here.” Visport and Gilmore were escorted over.
“Gilmore?” Linley looked at him. This was an old acquaintance.
Gilmore forced a smile in front of Linley. Linley said calmly, “You Radiant Church and Dark Church really cornered me this time. Because of the agreement, I had to watch the battle without lifting a finger.”
Gilmore and Visport’s hearts trembled.
“It’s fine. I’ll make sure your Dark Church and Radiant Church taste the same bitterness.”
Linley turned to Bebe and smiled. “Bebe, from today on, you’ll work with Barker and the others. Have the rat swarms and the human army split into ten groups and start conquering the remaining territories of the Dark Church and Radiant Church in the Chaos Territory.”
“Yes, I, Bebe, will get it done.” Bebe puffed out his small chest and gave a very sloppy military salute.
Barker’s eyes gleamed. “Rest assured, Lord Linley. With hundreds of millions of rats, unifying the Chaos Territory will be a breeze.” Now that the elite Dark Legion and Sacred Legion of the Dark Church and Radiant Church had been wiped out, what could stand against the rat tide?
Gilmore and Visport’s faces turned deathly pale.
They exchanged glances, their eyes filled with terror. They could fully imagine what was about to happen.
******
In September of the year 10022 of the Yulan Calendar, the war historically known as the ‘Plague of the Rat Tide’ began. The hundreds of millions of rats were divided into ten groups. Each ‘sub-swarm’ still numbered in the tens of millions—a terrifying figure—and each operated alongside twenty thousand soldiers of the Baruch Kingdom.
Hundreds of millions of rat-type magical beasts and two hundred thousand kingdom soldiers, split into ten forces.
These ten forces each attacked the territories controlled by the Dark Church and the Radiant Church in the Chaos Territory.
Eighth- and ninth-level high-grade magical rats could understand human speech. Moreover, some eighth- and ninth-level experts in the Baruch Kingdom had formed soul contracts with powerful magical rats, making it easier to manage the swarms.
The rat tide was unstoppable!
When the rat tide struck, even if the defenders sealed the city with boulders, the Stone-Eating Rats—who fed on stone—could easily gnaw a hole through the city walls and flood in like a torrent. The defending troops had no way to resist.
Wherever the rat tide passed, cities fell.
Even the Sacred Legion and Dark Legion had been annihilated in an instant. Who could stand against such a terrifying rat tide?
…
This war of the ‘Plague of the Rat Tide’ could only be compared to the ‘Day of Destruction’ of the year 10000 of the Yulan Calendar. But there was a difference: this time, the boundless rat tide was completely under Linley’s control.
News of this quickly reached the major powers of the continent, such as the O’Brien Empire and the Yulan Empire.
Likewise, intelligence reports were frantically sent to the headquarters of the Dark Church and the Radiant Church. How would they react? After all… Linley hadn’t sent any Saint Domain experts into battle this time. He had only deployed a magical beast army.
Even if that army’s numbers were far too horrifying.
PS: Today’s update is complete. Tomato owes everyone three chapters. One is made up today… the remaining two will be made up over the next two days.