Chapter 150 : Chapter 150
Chapter 150. Duo (5)
There is an old superstition in the Empire.
That under the sewers live dwarves wearing rat skins with long claws, digging tunnels, and at night they kidnap children who don't listen to their mothers and eat them alive.
As you can guess from the kidnapping targets, this is a superstition that has been slightly adapted by countless parents.
It may be much more effective for scolding whining children, but it is a step away from the truth.
That's right.
The truth.
Like any other superstition in this crazy world, the rat-man ghost story is also very real.
Unlike the beastmen or vampires who are visible to the eye, they are dismissed as a superstition because there are almost no witnesses.
Real Ratmen kidnap old people, women, and children without discrimination.
They live by digging tunnels underground.
While building a city inside a huge cavern.
They increase their numbers by feeding on the by-products that fall from the city above, and when the time comes, they swallow the city whole and scatter in all directions.
It's a process similar to how a virus enters a host cell, endlessly replicates itself, and eventually bursts the cell itself to find its next victim.
In the process, many self-replicated kin die, but every time they find a single victim, their numbers increase by tens of times, so from the perspective of the entire group, it probably doesn't matter much.
In any case, the Ratmen's subterranean city is a parasitic form that lives on the villages, cities, or fortresses on the surface.
Its scale tends to be proportional to the city on the surface.
The Imperial Capital is the largest city in the Empire.
Therefore, the subterranean city we are heading to is also one of the largest existing Ratmen dens.
The problem is that its location is as deep underground as its size, so finding it is not an easy task.
"Viscount Ash, is there a way to find the rat-men's city?"
Therefore, the reason Randal asked while scratching the back of his head is not just because he is bad with directions.
For reference, Randal does have the [Clueless] trait.
It doesn't usually show.
This is because within his living radius, he finds his destination with a surprising sense worthy of an elf.
"There is a simple way."
"What is it?"
"We just have to go down."
Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds.
The Ratmen's tunnels are no exaggeration to call a 3D maze.
Because numerous passages overlap and go up and down like an ant hill, you have to go down while scanning all the nearby passages, not just the one that goes down immediately.
It means that even with the senses of a superhuman, you have to draw a map as you go.
Fortunately, I have a map.
A map that is updated in real-time in my head.
[[Battlefield-Overlooking Gaze] is deployed.]
[[Warrior’s Binding] is deployed.]
[You have summoned a bound enemy.]
[Summoned troops: Vampiric Bat (21)]
Twenty-one Vampiric Bats.
They are scouting the path hundreds of meters ahead of our course.
As befits bats that make caves their habitat, they are moving through the passages as freely as if they were walking in their own living room.
Thanks to them, the map in my head is being revealed in real-time.
Where a fork in the road appears ahead, which passage ultimately leads downward, where there are pits or narrow secret passages, and so on.
'A five-way fork a hundred meters ahead. Take the second path from the right. Fifty meters ahead, enter the passage that juts out to the left. Bend down and go down the narrow slope…'
After memorizing a certain range of the path, I send the group of Vampiric Bats further ahead.
In the past, I would have had to summon a vampire and borrow her ability to handle them, but now there is no need for that.
This is because the new ability of the sacred relic of the Nameless Tentacle, Kkumteuli, has been unsealed.
Before, it could only change the face, but now it's possible to change the entire body.
There are some limitations, so I can't become a Vampiric Bat myself, but it's possible to become a vampire and control the Vampiric Bats.
A doppelgänger transformed into a vampire is far ahead, controlling the Vampiric Bats and finding the way.
Of course, the condition for transformation is that I must have met the target at least once, so I chose Count Calvenia.
'Master. Even so, I mean...'
'What?'
'Is desecrating the dead a hobby of yours, master?'
'?'
'Of all the vampires, why did you have to choose the one you killed yourself? You could have used the vampires you saw in the Vampire Archduchy.'
What are you talking about?
It's safer to use one that's already dead.
In the unlikely event that Randal or the Imperial army finds out, I won't arouse unnecessary suspicion.
Since the doppelgänger disappears when it dies, it can be passed off as seeing an illusion or a ghost.
I've layered on stealth skills, but you never know in this world.
‘If that’s the case, there are also the nameless vampires you’ve seen on the battlefield so far…’
‘Vampires are biologically dead beings anyway. Aren't they?’
‘Uh…?’
‘Tick-Tock…’
I feel some kind of pitiful gaze from the subspace.
Let's ignore it.
It's all a withdrawal symptom of sugar addiction.
It's already overwhelming enough to handle the main body and the vampire doppelgänger together, control the group of Vampiric Bats with that doppelgänger, and memorize the path with the revealed map.
For reference, the sensation of directly controlling a Vampiric Bat is strangely incongruous yet familiar.
It's like controlling a drone while wearing VR, but that drone has AI installed, so it judges and moves on its own according to commands.
Thanks to that, I can control twenty-one biological drones at the same time without a drone license.
Anyway, it seems we're about halfway there.
I don't know how many hours we've been walking, but I can feel the air getting stuffy.
The oxygen concentration is thinning.
It's not that the air composition is different just because it's underground, but due to the characteristics of a semi-enclosed space, heavy gases including carbon dioxide tend to accumulate.
I know that the air composition returns to normal when we get to the subterranean city, so I guess this is about the middle zone.
Then, something unusual happened.
One of the drones just dropped.
"...Just a moment."
"Viscount, why are you stopping?"
I focused on the doppelgänger's side.
When a vampire controls a beast with blood, it can receive not only sight but also other senses roughly.
The senses that are transmitted are pain, dizziness, paralysis, and…
"It's a trap."
As I spoke, the vision went black.
The Vampiric Bat had died.
It wasn't because of the trap.
That trap is just a simple paralysis trap.
The kind that Ratmen place all over their movement paths to catch prey.
Since even Ratmen want fresh prey when they catch it, the poison in that trap only has the effect of slowing down the biological clock overall and causing paralysis.
What killed the Vampiric Bat was another attack.
Fortunately, the culprit was caught in its vision for a moment before it died.
The culprits were also people who had been caught in the trap.
"We have company."
I headed straight for the trap.
The two guests were waiting quietly.
Regardless of their own free will.
"You, youu. Vis-count, Ash, Wolfs… krig."
"Ha-ard to… mo-ove. Hard, ugh…"
"It's been a while, you two."
The red-haired mage, Ella Siollus.
The half-giant, half-human hulk, Karok.
I never thought I'd see this duo from the Imperial Secret Knight Order here again.
And…
"Re-lease me, now…"
I never dreamed I would see such a venomous expression on the face of the witch of mad fire.
Why are you being so scary?
This makes me look like the one who set the trap.
***
[[Miracle: Purification] is deployed.]
[[Miracle: Blessing] is deployed.]
***
The Ratmen's paralysis poison trap.
In fact, this is a very basic and easy-to-break trap.
The mold that spreads the paralysis poison spores is weak to divine power in the first place, so like the necromancy mana contamination, it can be easily washed away with a single purification miracle from a priest.
Even without a priest, if you have the basic skills of a knight, it's as good as prevented.
This is because you can escape the paralysis effect to some extent just by circulating the mana in your body.
"Randal, do you feel anything?"
"A little stiff. That's all."
Even Randal, who is not a knight, knows how to handle that much mana.
The problem is the two people in front of me.
One of them happens to be a spellcaster who is far from the training methods of a knight…
And the other is a half-giant whose brain is probably filled with muscle.
"Ugh! Refreshing! Delicious! Karok is happy!"
"You idiot, shut up and eat."
"Oh, sorry. It hurts when you hit me… Mmm, delicious."
Even if a disease has a high mortality rate, it's not considered that serious if there's a vaccine or a cure.
But being infected with such a disease in a situation where there is no cure or vaccine would be synonymous with death.
I hear they had been lying paralyzed by the poison for nearly a week.
Their communication crystal sphere was in their bag, out of reach, and the supply route of the subjugation force led by the Archduke was far away, so they couldn't request rescue troops.
I gave the two of them, who started eating water and jerky from their backpacks like they were possessed as soon as they got up, some time to rest.
After scouting the surrounding area with the vampire doppelgänger I had sent far away and even deciding on the direction and route to take, I sat down opposite Siollus.
I need information.
The Secret Knight Order would know the Emperor's latest movements.
The problem is, I have no idea what to say to this mad witch.
So I asked.
"Where is Barum of the Black? If he were here, you wouldn't have had trouble with such a basic trap."
"Hmm… How do you know that name?"
"He came to my barracks before. Right after the civil war ended."
"Even so, there's no way that guy would reveal his name. He's the type who just rattles on like a wind-up doll, saying things like 'The Emperor calls,' 'The Emperor commands.'"
“……”
Her evaluation of a fellow knight is surprisingly cold.
Well, the members of the Knight Order aren't particularly close.
It just wasn't a problem because they are a small elite group of knights, each a one-man army.
I should stop the useless small talk.
Let's get to the point.
"We have come to rescue His Majesty the Emperor."
"Oh my! Really?"
Her eyes immediately curve like a crescent moon.
Is this the woman who was paralyzed by poison for a week just a moment ago?
The reason I feel a bit reluctant is because…
"Our Emperor adores you, my lord, sooooo much. Really. Right, Karok?"
"Umm? Delicious… Ah, that's right. Viscount is the best. The bread in the Viscount's city is delicious."
"...Anyway, that's a relief. That our purpose is the same."
Our purpose is the same, she says.
Come to think of it, according to the intel old man Brol obtained, these two were deployed on a mission to rescue the Emperor.
A lot of time has passed, but it seems they are still pushing forward with that mission without any changes.
"We're on our way to rescue His Majesty the Emperor too! Let's go together. And please take care of those disgusting spores like before."
"We will go to rescue him, but let's join Archduke Gabir first. I heard the Archduke is leading a subjugation force."
"You said it just in time! About that 'subjugation force'…"
The curved corners of her eyes slowly returned.
I focused on Siollus' words.
It meant that even for her, who was mad, it was a story that had to be delivered seriously.
"There's a spy."
"A spy?"
"Yeah. To be precise, not a spy… Have you heard of the rats that control people's minds? Sounds like a lie, right? It's not. Karok and I were almost got."
As if it were by no means a made-up story, Siollus said, waving her hands.
I know it's not a lie.
I also frequently used the mind-controlling Ratmen in the game.
Thanks to that, I learned a new fact.
"So, before Archduke Gabir set out, he told us to move separately."
"Separately?"
"To go and rescue His Majesty separately. He said that in case things go wrong, His Majesty at least must be rescued."
The subterranean city under the Imperial Capital.
The fact that its scale has grown to an extent that is unprecedented in my many playthroughs.
It seems that the other two of the three major factions of the Ratmen, known along with the Technopriest Council, have all gathered under the Imperial Capital.
The grotesque priest council that erodes the mind.
The corruption priest council that spreads paralysis poison traps.