A Rattling Monster

Chapter 117: Consequences of Past Rivalries

I join my army, and we march once again toward Ronta. Right before the effective range of the sniper rifles, I stop and wait for a second, hearing the description of Oslo.

(Ok, so you are now really in a huge trouble. I have spot thousands of ratmen digging tunnels under the feet of your undead. To the North, South, and West, assassins are waiting for you to retreat. I don't think that's a good idea, even reaching the gate of Ronta will be a hard task. And I am not even saying to goes through and face the army hidden behind those walls. That's just the tip of the iceberg, I am beginning to see some ratmen totally disfigured, carrying some deadly diseases. They can't hurt you, but I have no idea if they manage to create something, something to use against the Tomb Kings. And whatever works against them, will work against you.)

You know very well that retreating right now is pure madness. I know that I should not face the ratmen like that. One does not simply walk in front of them, and expect to live. Their city is guarded by more than just ratmen, there are evils down there, that no one is able to name. The battlefield will be a wasteland, filled with poison, plague, and acid. The very air they breathe is some poisonous fume. Not even the army of humans and dwarves managed to kill them.

(Exactly what I said, it is folly. Even the memories of my people, the Agorians, were filled with dreadful devilries. And that was only a small contingent of ratmen, not even possessing half the weapons that we are seeing on that wall. If you cast that spell, you will declare war, a war of attrition, and it is maybe the only time where the undead are not winning this. They will throw more bodies that you can create.)

If they try to do this, then I will create more bodies that they can destroy. Lich, stop producing the ghouls and only create the same zombies that I did. If quality will not help me win and only numbers are relevant, we will see who has the biggest army at the end of the day. But now, I have to get rid of the threat of the snipers. But for that, I need to have a clear vision on Ronta. I leave my shelter, or more commonly called, the ground, and hide behind a group of twenty lich. That way, all their magic shields will protect the rest of us, while the other continuously create more zombies.

The problem is the location of those snipers, they have been positioned far away from each other. To prevent any lucky spell from me to destroy all of them in one hit. Same for the different cannons and machine guns, not even one is close. A clear distance of at least 5 meters between each other, and from the report of Oslo, the ammunition are not all brought. Only five monster cores are present at the same time near each weapon. Not like the followers of Krieg, who brought more than thirty cores at the same time. Allowing me to wipe out the building sheltering them.

So what should I do? Create the purple moon and make it goes toward the center of Ronta? Or make it destroy the ramparts and with some luck, the cannons that are too slow to be moved?

(Ramparts!)

I was thinking the same. I begin to cast [Purple Moon], and right when I am doing that, I hear 5 clear shots fired at me. Hopefully, the magic shields protected me, and nothing happened. Since they have done that, the different rifles are overheating, and blinding a little the ratmen. It is the perfect time to provoke chaos. A huge purple sphere appears near the walls, and begin to attract the ratmen on it. I can see some that are sent flying and are screaming. I create it near one sniper rifle, to at least destroy one.

Even if that sight is pretty pleasant, the next is not bringing me any happiness. The thousands of ratmen under me, well, they decided to join the fray. With the assassins waiting to ambush me. I return to the safety of the ground, even if sometimes, I am inside a tunnel newly created. I can't risk to stay above the ground and be a target for the true assassins.

At the same time, that prevents me to use [Blood Touch] offensively, I can only wait for the end of the fight to do that. Oslo, what is happening?

(Ok, so your spell is doing some pretty good damages, I have seen two sniper rifles destroyed and one cannon. But at least three will be destroyed, they are too slow with the two closest of the purple moon. As for the rest, the machine guns and all the sorcerers, they quickly run away. Minimal loses on that side, barely three guns and five magicians. Hundreds of those are still alive and ready to unleash their terrible firepower on your undead. I think that you need to stay in the fight.)

WHAT? And be at the mercy of the assassins? No way, I am not brave enough to do that. You can't even tell me who exactly is dangerous to me and protect me. And I will not bet on my [Veil of Darkness] to do that. If they can pierce through an armor like the one that the dwarf inside the sewers of Ronta had, just my feeble shield and my condition as a ghost will no save me.

(Technically, you said that you were an elemental, not a ghost, even if you look like a ghost ratman. Ok fine, but you are not winning this battle at all. Your zombies are getting overrun by the enslaved ratmen, and your ghouls are only defending your lich against the assassins. Without you, your entire army will crumble in minutes. You have to do something, since you want to fight so badly.)

And with what? My empty mana pool? Absorb all the blood surrounding and hope that nothing will prevent me from doing so? I guess that's my only way, fine. I only put my hand out of the ground and begin to absorb the blood. I quickly fill my entire reserve of MP; I guess that the sheer number of death is helping me. If it wasn't for all the threats capable of destroying me, this battle would have ended a long time ago. After doing this, I begin to activate my new domain, filled the air with deadly shadows.

By doing this, I spare all my group of lich the threat of being destroyed. All the ratmen near me is dying, dozens of them. But the cost is still huge, I can barely sustain my domain. Why is this so hard, how many ratmen are laying dead around me, all that blood? Even if they are clearly smaller than a normal human, meaning less blood, they should still give me enough to activate my domain for a very long time. But, even if I absorb rivers of blood, I am still losing my mana.

Seeing this mystery, I look at the blood flying toward me. It is not a red, fiery and living blood, coming from a recent flesh wound or mortal wounds. No, it is weird, nearly solid, even turning green on some drops. What the hell is happening? What can provoke this, and why is this happening?

(I know the answer, damn, he is faster than I thought. Ok, you probably have guessed but me, Salazar and Krieg have fought on many worlds and planets. Sometimes one of us win, but in the end, we pretty much know everything on the other side. That allows some strange alliances, like me and Krieg against Salazar, or even the two of them against me. Because of that, that bastard created something to piss off Krieg. And you are facing it.)

Hold on, he created something specifically to deal with the Blood God? Meaning something that can probably affect the surrounding blood and reduce the potency of his spells. Like [Blood Touch] or the [Blood Blade]. Oh, bloody hell.

(Like you said, bloody indeed. He created a poison designed to destroy the blood surrounding the bearer. Of course, the ratman will die and most of the nearby fellows of that one will suffer a horrible death. In short, everything containing blood around us will suffer from this poison. Your undead are spared since they are already dead. You are spared since you are no longer a living being. But all the ratmen in this battle are sent to die, and inflict as much damage as they can.)

But how can they know that I have this spell? Salazar shouldn't know about that?

(Well, you used it pretty openly in multiple occasions. And I can't detect all the assassins stalking you, or even worst, something seeing farther than the webs of spirits you created. Just one time, you used one time the [Blood Touch] in front of a ratman, and Salazar knew that you stole this spell from Krieg.)

So, let's back to the ground?

(Hell yeah!)

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