I Became the Commander in a Trash Game Who Copies Skills

Chapter 155. Plague City (5)

After Randal showed the miraculous skill of blasting the tunnels with a few pebbles, a battle immediately began in the cavern.

Hidden weapons poured in from all directions.

Flashbangs and smoke grenades disoriented the eyes and ears.

Randal stood steadfastly, deflecting and dodging everything.

Occasionally, he would catch a flying hidden weapon and throw it back, and it would fly at an invisible speed, hit the wall, and explode.

'Boom! Rrrrrumble...!'

I was observing this whole situation in my mind.

While heading to the location of the Weird Priesthood's Archpriest, following the Ratman priest.

The experiences of the clone resonated in the main body's mind like an imagination.

In fact, it was quite difficult to explain the sensation of controlling two bodies, and there was no exact analogy for the sensation in a combat situation like this.

If I had to express it, it was similar to how, in the dead of winter, when you stick one hand out the window from a warm room, the temperature sensation in your left and right hands feels extremely different.

Just because your left hand is being battered by the winter wind doesn't mean your right hand gets cold, or that you can't play the piano with your right hand, but it's natural for the brain's nerves to be relatively focused on that side.

It was a natural result that my main body's speech became less frequent.

However, the Ratman priest was talkative.

“Chitter-chi-chi-chitter. You're quiet. Lost in thought?”

“……”

“Chitter, chi-ki-kik. It's only natural for the low-born to fear the Weird Priesthood. I don't know how a mere Warchief came to be a sacred relic bearer, but your courage is, is commendable.”

“……”

“Don't worry. The Archpriest will personally take care of you. Kik-chitter-chitter…”

He should just stick to either giggling or chittering.

Still, thanks to him, I confirmed a few things.

First, he didn't know I was in disguise.

He didn't know I was human.

Judging by his attitude, a 'Sacred Relic Bearer' was literally a Ratman tasked with transporting a sacred relic.

Having a position and a mission meant systematization and repetition.

It meant there were Ratmen assigned to bear or collect sacred relics, and that such missions had occurred several times before.

It wasn't strange, given that the Weird Priesthood had the most cult members.

Perhaps I could extract knowledge about the sacred relics from them.

With that in mind, I walked on, ignoring the Ratman priest's chatter, and soon arrived in front of a massive door.

The door opened without a sound.

I followed the Ratman priest inside.

A space decorated like a temple revealed itself.

Even the Ratman priest, who had been chattering nonstop on the way here, fell silent.

“……”

It was that kind of place.

Torches hung on every pillar, burning and casting ominous shadows on the smooth stone floor.

Beneath the shadows were grotesque symbols.

A sphere with a black aura writhing inside.

A crystal carved jaggedly, as if improperly processed.

A desk with thinly crafted bone fragments neatly arranged.

A magic circle drawn with red blood, and so on.

The further I went into the vast hall, the more grotesque and numerous the symbols became, until it reached the point where specimens of Ratmen, humans, Beastmen, Orcs, and the like were taken and mixed together.

The Archpriest of the Weird Priesthood, Rakkash, was working on one such specimen on an altar.

He placed human skin on orc muscle, and attached Ratman teeth to the skin like the spines of a pufferfish.

Amidst the pungent smell of chemicals and the reek of blood, the creature, holding a tooth dripping with blood with tweezers, glanced this way.

“Chiiik, o, glorious A-Archpriest Rakkash Papuccino Kallas…”

The priest couldn't finish his words.

The moment the Archpriest made an unpleasant ‘chitter’ sound, the priest began to scream.

“Chitter! Chiiik! It's, it's burning! My whole body, chiiiiik!”

[[Lord’s Unyielding Mind] deployed.]

The sensation of an ominous mana brushing past.

The manifestation of [Lord’s Unyielding Mind].

“Tsk, I told you not to come in when I'm creating a masterpiece. I told you art is worship, but you just don't listen.”

The Archpriest's monologue as he carefully glued a sharp Ratman tooth to the human skin.

Feeling my sixth sense sound an alarm for the first time in a long while, I looked back at the priest.

“Chiiiiik! Chiiiiik! B-burning! Kill meeee!”

He wasn't on fire.

He was screaming and flailing his gaunt limbs, but there was no flame burning his body anywhere.

The creature, who had been screaming his lungs out, soon collapsed, soiling himself.

Only then did I notice it.

The faint smell of something burning.

Looking closely, his eyes and mouth were parched, and his fur was shriveled.

Yet there was still not even a spark of fire, let alone a flame.

“Surprised?”

The Archpriest laughed.

I turned my gaze to him.

The creature, having put down the tweezers, slowly walked around the altar and down the stairs.

“You've heard the rumors about us, I'm sure. Haven't you?”

“Chitter…”

“No need to be reserved. You don't have to make the chittering sound. After all, you and I are both blessed by the Outer Gods of the universe, are we not?”

The Archpriest, coming down the stairs, opened his robe.

In the center of his chest, an object with a texture different from the surrounding fur was visible.

The shape of a beetle with twelve slimy tentacles instead of legs.

It was a sacred relic of the church, sewn onto his chest.

“You have received the same grace as I. Have you not? Sacred Relic Bearer, you who serve the Nameless Tentacle.”

He knew my identity.

***

The Ratmen could be called the final boss faction of Warlord Conquest.

Strictly speaking, they were the boss role of World Scenario 2.0, but their underlying power didn't change in 3.0, and more importantly, the boss role of 3.0 was the church.

The church's characteristic was to not be confined to a specific faction, but to plant its roots here and there, revealing its true colors as the game approached its final stages.

So, the church was closer to a 'mastermind' than a 'faction,' and the Ratmen were a better fit for the final boss faction.

Anyway, the reason these guys sat on the final boss throne was thanks to a few features that surpassed others.

There were things like their nomadic nature, strong disease resistance, and living underground, but the two most important were:

First, their numbers.

Fundamentally, war is a numbers game.

Every time a weapon of mass destruction like the machine gun, chemical weapons, or nuclear bombs emerged, scholars claimed that the face of the battlefield would change from that day on, and that technology, not numbers, would decide the victor of wars.

They weren't wrong, but what they overlooked was the fact that technology could be copied.

From firearms to hydrogen bombs, all weapons and technologies quickly fell into the hands of enemy nations.

Moderately powerful weapons like the machine gun were used by both sides, creating a balance.

Nuclear weapons, which promised only destruction, were sealed by both sides.

As a result, the importance of numbers in war didn't particularly diminish.

In wars between superpowers and small nations, there were often cases where technological and capital power overwhelmed the difference in numbers, but superpowers crushing small nations was nothing new even before the development of firearms.

The Ratmen were unparalleled in terms of numbers.

Despite growing to a size comparable to humans, their reproductive power remained that of rats.

Modern zoologists would probably have been shocked to witness their ecology.

The principle that the larger the animal, the slower its reproductive rate and the fewer offspring it can produce in a single pregnancy, would have been like the law of universal gravitation to them, an immutable law.

Of course, the Ratmen didn't become the second most powerful faction after the church just by numbers alone.

Their second advantage was their technology.

Here, technology didn't just mean engineering.

It included gunpowder, magic, and even curse arts whose principles were hard to understand.

Each of the three great Ratman priesthoods developed its own technology and reached a level that was among the best on the continent, east and west.

Let's hear about the 'technology' of the Weird Priesthood directly from their Archpriest.

“As you know, the weapon of our Weird Priesthood is the curse. It is to drag the byproducts and dregs of the Outer Gods, the excrement-like remnants of the worlds they have destroyed, into this land.” For more chapters visıt novel~fire~net

'Excrement? Ugh. Filthy bastard.'

'Tick-tock…'

“People burned to death, frozen cities, soldiers swallowed by monsters, countless victims betrayed and killed by their parents, friends, and comrades.”

'Why is that my fault? Look at him spouting whatever he wants with that open mouth?'

'Hoho… Eyeball, calm down.'

'Kiiing.'

“When the time comes, the Outer Gods will reveal their holy, glorious nakedness themselves, but as a missionary, my duty is to spread even the fragrance of their arrival before their advent.”

'Crazy bastard… perverted bastard…. Why does that damn beetle bastard always stick to him…'

'A sacred relic cannot refuse a qualified guardian. We are just lucky to have met our master.'

'Hmph…'

'As always, if there's a guardian you really don't like, you can just step on them and kill them when you get a chance to descend later.'

So that's why so many cultists died when a part of an Outer God descended.

Since I couldn't play as the church, I thought human sacrifice was a condition, but it seems they just had a lot of people who had gotten on their bad side.

Anyway, I knew the abilities of the Weird Priesthood.

A hypnotic curse art that directly attacked the mind.

With enough mana and equipment, it was a powerful ability that could tie down and slaughter an entire army.

But that wasn't what I was curious about.

“As you know, we are holding down seven thousand elite soldiers. But you must be curious. How did we obtain such power? How do we burn an opponent alive without a single word, without a single spark?”

The curse art of the Weird Priesthood was not an ability that could be used simply.

It required an immense amount of mana.

Enough mana to annihilate a village with the overflow of pure mana alone.

That was why they developed the extraordinary technology of mana stone manufacturing, and yet they always struggled with securing and producing mana stones whenever I played.

Therefore, not even once.

I had never seen a curse art that lightly burned a target to death, like using a common fireball spell.

With limited mana, there was no reason or capacity for such waste.

“Heh heh, you're quiet. Follower of the Nameless Tentacle.”

“……”

“You must have many questions. I am a merciful sage. I will answer them one by one after placing you on the altar. Before that, I'll tell you one more thing specially.”

The creature placed a hand on its chest and raised a short rod.

“Did you know? That those who have gathered two or more sacred relics are given a special authority.”

“A special authority?”

“Yes. The power of the Warrior, the master of all sacred relics.”

Warrior.

It was the moment I was about to repeat that word.

Darkness enveloped the hall.

The scenery changed.

It wasn't a mental attack.

The physical environment had actually changed.

Was it the power of the sacred relic?

Or the power of the Warrior he mentioned?

The place where I stood was no longer a temple deep underground.

It was a desolate wasteland where strange star-like objects floated here and there in the sky, and a land without a single blade of grass stretched endlessly.

“You have brought me a gift, so I will show you something special. A battlefield where the dead rise and fight.”

The Archpriest waved his hand.

Then the earth shook, and something shot out from the ground.

Ratmen.

Tens, hundreds, thousands of Ratmen.

A horde of Ratmen, their bodies twisted by various mutations and curses, gathered on the vast battlefield.

“These are my warriors who have lost their lives until now. Half were killed by the enemy, and half by my own hand. Their souls and bodies are bound to me.”

“…I see.”

“Do not hold onto false hope. This is a battlefield created by the power of the Warrior. No one can invade, and the Imperial army that would support you will not be able to come here.”

The Archpriest laughed heartily.

It was a laugh closer to a human's than a rat's.

“I won't kill you. As I promised you time to ask me questions while you lie on the altar and become a living sacrifice.”

“I do have a lot to ask.”

“Hmm?”

“You said no one can get in from the outside, right?”

***

[[Warrior’s Binding] deployed.]

[Bound enemy summoned.]

[Summoned Forces: Lumer Chiliarch(2), Lumer Centurion(43), Lumer Cavalry(31), Lumer's Legionnaires(3,897)]

[Summoned Forces: Orc Chieftain(6), Orc Shaman(2), Orc Big'un(1042), Orc 'Un(461), Goblin Rock Lobber(41), Goblin Slave(77)]

[Summoned Forces: Indika Heavy Infantry(2), Indika Rifleman(2), Indika Archer(2), Indika Slave Soldier(4)]

[Summoned Forces: Lesser Vampire Necromancer(1), Lesser Vampire Brawler(6), Corpse Pool(1), Grave Knight(48), Necro Ogre(59), Wight(55), Vampiric Bat(18), Skeleton Spearman(588), Skeleton Swordsman(591), Skeleton Archer(114), Ratman Zombie(2), Zombie(791)]

[Summoned Forces: Minotaur Elite Brawler(5), Minotaur Warrior(10), Centaur Marauder(3), Centaur Javelin Thrower(11), Horned One Elite Brawler(18), Horned One Warrior(46), Unhorned One Archer(33), Unhorned One Infantry(31), Pigmy Supply Soldier(2)]

[Summoned Forces: Katolluk Queen Spider(1), Katolluk Soldier Spider(8), Katolluk Worker Spider(19), Katolluk Spiderling(448)]

[Summoned Forces: Paradise Elf Archer(1), Paradise Elf Longspearman(2)]