[Before the humans launched a major attack on the rat nests in the sewers, the rat nests already knew about it.]
[The Ratman scout reported what he had discovered.]
[For this expedition against the Ratmen, the humans mobilized almost the entire City Guard, even transferring soldiers from nearby cities.]
[Leading them were the Administrator and an S-Rank Adventurer from the Adventurer’s Guild—a young girl who could use high-level fire magic.]
[“Fresh meat to eat again!”]
[“Who can snatch the belongings of that S-Rank Adventurer?”]
[Even though Ratmen were somewhat intelligent creatures, most of their tiny brains were pitifully small and they completely failed to understand that the upcoming enemy was extraordinary.]
[Only the Rat Mother stared silently into the void, as if unaware of what was happening.]
[More and more reports came from the scouts. Finally, a message exploded like a bomb in the Bloodmilk Mother’s nest.]
[“The Gray Queen is dead?!”]
[Upon hearing this news, the Ratmen all stopped chewing on their moldy food.]
[Soon, the atmosphere of the meal turned delicate.]
[Although the Gray Queen had always been the Bloodmilk Mother’s secret rival, the two constantly fighting over spoils, now it truly was a case of “the fox mourns the hare’s death.”]
[Of course, given the Ratmen’s nature, most of them were thinking about how to escape, or even make a quick profit.]
[As for how to make that profit, every Ratman’s tiny head was always full of various schemes, and they never thought about anything else.]
[Ratmen were even greedier than Goblins, though they didn’t have Goblins’ strong lust.]
[Compared to Ratmen, you truly possessed human thoughts, and that was why you had survived this long and lived well.]
[You understood that you couldn’t stay here long; you had to leave. But the destination was a problem.]
[Thanks to your “Forest Hunter” talent, the first thing that came to mind was the nearby forest.]
[Unfortunately, time was already too short.]
[A flash of fire erupted somewhere in the sewers. Then, fully armed City Guards charged into the sewers, killing the unsuspecting Ratmen on the spot.]
[Then a young girl wearing a fiery red robe jumped into the sewers.]
[Her generous chest seemed unrestrained, bouncing playfully with the jump.]
[A youthful cunning shone on her innocent, cute face. She was the newly promoted S-Rank Adventurer.]
[“This should be the last rat nest, right? Today’s work is really easy.”]
[With that, she casually waved her hand. A furious flame magic engulfed the Ratmen that fearlessly charged forward, and even the ones trying to slip away were roasted to charcoal.]
[As the flames advanced, the Bloodmilk Mother’s nest descended into utter chaos.]
[All exits were guarded by human soldiers; escaping to the outside was impossible. Even the sewers were now crawling with patrolling human soldiers.]
[You tried to find a weakly defended spot to break out, but it was impossible.]
[Without those mindless Ratmen to use as meat shields and cannon fodder, facing a human squad alone, you had no chance of winning.]
[By now, the Ratman army had already been dismantled by the humans. Coupled with the Ratmen’s inherent lack of group loyalty, an internal rebellion also broke out.]
[“Kill the Bloodmilk Mother, take the treasure, and leave!”]
[The Bloodmilk Mother, who had relied on her reproductive ability and treasures to barely control her children, now had no power left.]
[Ever since the S-Rank Adventurer led the humans to attack the Bloodmilk Mother’s rat nest, this trend had become inevitable.]
[Countless Ratmen still capable of fighting actually began to slaughter each other, while most crazily surged toward the Bloodmilk Mother’s nest.]
[Some Ratmen who had received favors still had a shred of sanity and guarded the Bloodmilk Mother’s door, but it was futile.]
[“Kill me.”]
[The Bloodmilk Mother suddenly said to you beside her.]
‘Kill her?’
Lai En didn’t understand why. Then he saw many frenzied Ratmen starting to devour each other.
Fortunately, they were only Ratmen. If it had been humans, to Lai En it would have been a living hell.
“I’m not like you—I’d die quickly from a throat bite. For me to die might take a long time.”
The Bloodmilk Mother’s expression gradually lost control.
“Here, stab this spot with that dagger…”
The Bloodmilk Mother used her twisted, short limbs to point at where her heart was.
Lai En had no time to think about when she had learned about his Poisoned Dagger. He just followed her instructions and stabbed down.
[You have killed the tribe’s Rat Mother “Bloodmilk Mother.” Experience +800]
[Player level increased to 7.]
The Bloodmilk Mother didn’t thank him, nor did she have any expression. She just peacefully closed her eyes.
The power boost from leveling up instantly filled his body, but Lai En had no time to savor it. Countless Ratmen flooded into the already cramped room.
To avoid being crushed to death, Lai En slipped into the treasure room behind the Bloodmilk Mother’s corpse. No Ratmen had entered here yet.
But Lai En knew he couldn’t stay here long either.
It was a pity that he was now as good as in a coffin—who knew the humans would come so fast!
Moreover, the Ratmen’s internal rebellion had erupted so unexpectedly, giving Lai En a new understanding of the Ratman race.
After entering the room, Lai En quickly grabbed some items to block the entrance, especially weapons with sharp edges pointing outward.
Perhaps the crisis heightened Lai En’s perception.
At this moment, he suddenly noticed that this room actually had a hidden compartment.
An ordinary Ratman probably wouldn’t think too much.
But Lai En found clear signs of human habitation in this room, though it was from long ago.
The most obvious was a candlestick on the wall. Though there were no candles, the rusty iron candlestick was still clearly visible on the wall.
The commotion outside the cave entrance grew louder; some Ratmen were already shouting about taking the Rat Mother’s treasure.
However, Lai En could only quickly rummage through the various loot on the ground.
Fortunately, Lai En had his Chitinous Exoskeleton for protection; otherwise, his hands would have been cut by the sharp-edged equipment and weapons.
Sure enough, as Lai En searched, a hidden secret door appeared.
Even though the hinges were rusty from age, after leveling up to 7, Lai En felt his strength had directly doubled, so he pulled the door open with one forceful tug.
The light from the entrance could no longer allow Lai En to see inside the secret door, as many Ratmen had already surged over there.
Lai En steeled himself, jumped inside, and pulled the secret door shut.
After adapting to the darkness, Lai En found that he could actually see most of the surroundings.
He had known that Ratmen had good dark vision, but he hadn’t expected it to be this effective.
What would be below the secret door?
Of course, it was stairs.
Lai En followed the stairs down and found a hidden chamber below.
A human skeleton sat slumped on the ground, and next to it was another secret door.
That door was probably the way out.
Lai En tried pushing the door and felt resistance behind it, but with his strength, he took a deep breath and pushed it open.
“Someone barred the door from the other side with an iron bolt…”
But… why didn’t this person go out through this cave?
Lai En picked up a bone fragment from the skeleton and found it had become brittle; it would disintegrate at the slightest touch.
Not in a hurry to leave, Lai En noticed many notebooks and some books in a language he couldn’t read on the table.
And… also a Beak Mask placed on the table.
This dead guy was a doctor.
Lai En curiously opened the notebook on the table.
“This is…”
A long-buried secret about the Ratmen was recorded in this notebook.