Chapter 319
The ratman who had opened the door stood at attention, giving a quick nod before taking his own place at the table. He was younger than the rest, his fur cleaner, and his eyes sharper, but his posture was rigid with the weight of responsibility.
The female leader, Por, gestured for them to begin. Her eyes flicked toward the oldest of the ratmen, a grizzled elder whose fur had turned almost completely white with age. He cleared his throat before speaking, his voice rasping from years spent in the tunnels.
"The hunts today were successful," he began, tapping his claws against the stone table. "Four teams went topside. Three returned with prey—boar, deer, and even a bear. The fourth team encountered a pack of dire wolves. They managed to kill two, but we lost two of our own in the process. The rest of the team is being treated in the infirmary."
Murmurs rippled around the table, but there was no surprise in their eyes. Losses during the hunt were expected, even in the best of times.
"The meat will sustain us for the next few weeks, as it all came from mana filled creatures. Mana filled meat tends to take longer for us to process but because of that we can stay filled for days off one meal, but it’s becoming clear that the prey is starting to dwindle. Our increased rate of hunting has left the usual prey no time to grow and expand." He paused, his expression grim. "We could aim for the larger, stronger prey, but that would increase our casualty rate, and we risk endangering our settlement if we anger one with enough weird magical talent to destroy our home."
To emphasize his point, he pulled out a snake fang hanging from his neck. "I don’t need to remind everyone what happened the last time we angered one of those beasts. We lost thousands before we could defeat it."
The room fell into a tense silence, the weight of the elder’s words hanging over them. Por’s eyes flicked to the fang, a grim reminder of the dangers lurking beyond their underground sanctuary. She remained silent for a moment, her sharp gaze sweeping over the gathered leaders. Each of them had witnessed the devastation firsthand, had seen comrades fall to creatures far beyond their ability to understand, let alone control. The memory of that beast—a serpent with strange magical abilities that allowed it to swim through the earth—was burned into their collective minds. It had taken everything they had: every piece of their steam-powered technology, every ounce of cunning, just to bring it down. But the cost had been nearly catastrophic. Their underground home, once thought to be safe, had felt like a prison that day.
The ratman seated closest to her, dressed in soot-stained garb and representing the steam engineers, spoke next. "Our steam rifles and gauntlets give us an edge over the smaller prey, but against creatures with mana, we’re as blind as ever. We can’t sense it. We can’t fight it on equal terms. Our only defense is our technology, but even that’s not enough against the more powerful creatures." He glanced around the table. "We need more than just weapons—we need a plan to secure resources without risking another disaster."
Another ratman, bulkier and wearing soot-stained overalls, representing the settlement’s steam engineers, spoke up next. "The workshops are pushing the limits of what we can build with the materials we’ve scavenged. Our steam rifles and gauntlets are holding up, but we’ve had three explosions today alone. If we keep pushing the machines like this, it’s only a matter of time before one of the workshops goes up in flames." He leaned forward, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. "And we’ve had no new supply runs from the deeper tunnels. Without more metal and fuel, we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel."