Chapter 85: Diary of a Mad Rat
Lin Qi’s bloodthirsty desire grew stronger, and he looked at the enemy in the darkness.
Just when he needed to divert his attention, these little bastards came to his door.
Slave rats, covered with pustules and scars, came screaming from all directions.
The Swordmaster of Hoeth put on his greatsword, and Teclis put away the parchment.
Lynch broke through the bushes and pounced on the rats.
The strange thing is that even though they suffered heavy casualties, these ratmen did not flee.
The eleven Asurs set off a killing storm in the rat swarm, and Lynch had already piled up a mountain of rat corpses.
Until the wizard completed the spell, countless tentacles broke through the ground, strangled groups of hapless ratmen, and took them underground.
The slave rats began to flee, but those that escaped soon let out even more miserable screams.
Lynch shook off the blood on his body. He guessed that there must be important facilities of the rat people nearby and a new wave of rats would arrive soon.
As expected, the skinny slave rats attacked again, but mixed in with them were some clan rats, who used rusty scimitars to drive the rats.
It seems that this is the stronghold of the rat people. Since Lynch happened to encounter it, he doesn't mind pulling it out.
Yes, this is conducive to maintaining order.
There were no weak guards of order present, and even though he was physically weak, Teclis was a master of swordsmanship.
The dense tide of rats quickly diminished under the sword dance, but there were more than just ratmen in the darkness.
The light of a magic scroll lit up in the depths of the jungle. The flames gathered under the treetops, burned the leaves dry, and then shot straight towards Lynch.
In the fiery explosion, the lizardmen leaped out of the flames and rushed straight towards the shadows behind the rat tide.
He had no time to dodge. Lynch appeared in front of him almost instantly and cut the shadow with his scepter.
Amid the screams of pain, the shadow squirmed to reveal a human body, and blood splattered on the ground.
The sharp and old voice scared away the slave rat that was about to attack.
"What a waste! I haven't even dealt with one reptile yet. I shouldn't be wasting my energy."
The sound dissipated in another round of incoming screams.
The adventurers had just fought off the rats when a new wave of rats came sweeping in, along with some ratmen who had stopped escaping.
The ratmen with higher positions held whips, rode on giant rats, hid at the back of the rat pack, and ordered their guards to kill all those who retreated.
Lynch keenly noticed the little leader. When the lizardman looked at it, the ratman supervising the battle trembled and secreted dirty liquid, making the air filled with blood and stench even more unpleasant.
But the ratman's escape speed could not match Lynch's speed of catching up.
The ratmen along the way were smashed into pieces by the overwhelming force. Lynch easily caught up with the giant rat and killed it and its master with one stick.
The rat pack began to disperse, and the Skaven hacked to death their companions who blocked their way while running around aimlessly.
There was no unified direction, because every ratman hoped that other ratmen would attract the enemy's attention and scatter and hide at the same time.
Lynch shouted and ordered the archmage to lock onto the ratmen's nest.
As the winds of heaven gathered, Teclis shone brightly to the north.
Lynch chased the fleeing ratmen and ran north.
Asur endured the stench and followed Lynch towards the ratman's base camp.
The wizard began to chant spells while running, and when Lynch stabbed the last Skaven in front of him to death, the ground suddenly collapsed, revealing a pitch-black tunnel.
Lynch jumped in first, only to find that this was once an underground building complex of the Lizardmen.
This is normal. It is unreasonable to expect the rat people to build a solid and magnificent wonder.
They are always associated with instability, for example, the Skaven's machines could explode and kill the user at any time.
At first Lynch thought he would encounter an endless sea of rats, but this seemed to be a secret room.
Although there were signs of rat-man activities in the square basement, one could actually find some order amid the chaos.
When the wizard and the Sword Master of Hoth jumped down one after another, Lynch discovered the words.
Amazingly, it was in English.
He seemed to be an unlucky stranger, and his disordered diary proved it.
Lynch picked up a page of wood on the ground and looked at the diary engraved on it.
"Damn it! That rat actually looked at me. Luckily I killed it first, otherwise it would definitely eat me."
The records were so confusing that Lynch had to find more pieces of wood to discern what he could understand.
After piecing together the pieces, Lynch barely understood the tragedy that had happened to him.
The stranger called himself David, and the unfortunate fellow turned into a rat-man.
Based on this result, Lynch could guess that he was most likely killed in the internal strife among the ratmen.
Even the most despicable, mean, dark, and shameless human beings are like saints among the rat people.
Not to mention, this guy is a slave rat.
When the Skaven clans were defeated, their inhabitants became slaves, the lower class of the Skaven Empire.
All Skaven will try to prove themselves, rise in status, and earn a place in their new clan.
Obviously, only a very small number can succeed, the probability is one in tens of thousands, and this includes those high-level ratmen who have become slaves, who tend to be more easily promoted.
In other words, the actual number is only one in ten million.
If a slave can survive the abuse of high-level ratmen and the killing of enemies, it will become a slave that lives a few more years.
Almost all those who were born as slaves died as such.
Starved to death, exhausted to death, eaten by companions, killed by experimental plague. The ratmen’s biggest enemy is themselves, and Lynch knows this very well.
Fortunately, David is still fierce, but his brain seems to be a little abnormal. If Lynch turns into a ratman, he would rather leave the rat pack and carve out a way to survive from the endless dangers of the outside world.
But David gave up the opportunity to leave the group and wanted to make a name for himself among the rat people. With his crazy performance, he was successful at first.
After killing his companions who dared to covet him, he almost advanced to a dead slave rat.
The dead ratmen can at least serve as food for other ratmen, and the living slave rats still need to eat, but of course, there is no normal food supply for them.
It was casually "given" a wooden spear by a "big shot".
Although he was nearly nailed to death by the wooden spear, he managed to hold on and used it to intimidate other slave rats, becoming a "big shot" among the slave rats.
He was then noticed by the Clan Rats because the slave had the audacity to enjoy the adulation of the other slaves.
As full members of the clan, clan rats are more noble than slaves, but only to this extent.
Faced with the bullying of countless "powerful people", the clan rats can only pour out their own sufferings on the slaves.
The Skaven will never tire of kicking and maiming the lower-level Skaven, and no Skaven can escape this fate.
Even the Grey Prophets had endured various forms of bullying from their mentors when they were apprentices.
David was beaten half to death and couldn't even resist because he was outnumbered.
His men won't work for him at all!
Finally, the leader of the clan rats, the "big man" who had given David the spear, a "claw leader", called David into the cave.
And then nothing happened. The wood chips were covered with a layer of dust. It seemed that he had died in the internal strife among the rat people.
Maybe the mouse asked David to assassinate a mouse man to prove himself and promised him a bright future.
After that, David will be crushed to death by the fighting among the high-level rats.
This is how slave rats are used, as cannon fodder.
This diary is not without value. At the very least, it vaguely mentions that the Grey Prophet, as the leader, seems to be doing something big.
The Grey Seers annexed another clan and took over that clan's mission, building a terrible device with the help of two Warlock Engineers.
It will sink the continent! Fortunately, the Warpstone is not enough to provide energy, and the Skaven have their eyes on the terrible storm that has recently raged on the sea.
The One-Tooth Clan is ready, and all the ratmen have been notified.
Even the slave rats made the leap and had the chance to see the sea before they died.
The Grey Prophet was certain that whatever powered the horrific storm could serve as the core of the sinking device.
There are three major clans that openly support this plan.
(End of this chapter)
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