096 Blood Feud!

On the fourth day of the war, one day after breaching Highgarden City, at dusk, Xue Hui and his officers stood atop the central tower on the city wall, gazing down at the boundless sprawl of Highgarden below.

At that moment, a subordinate came racing up to the battlements in great haste.

"Report to the chieftain! Our allied vanguard has entered Highgarden City and encountered fierce enemy resistance. We have suffered heavy losses!"

At those words, the entire cadre froze. They had just been celebrating victory, and none of them had imagined that the ratmen still had such a trick up their sleeves.

"Heavy losses? If you're lying, I'll execute you on the spot!"

Liu Wei rushed forward, seized the messenger by the collar, and shoved a weapon against his throat, bellowing at him.

"Those ratmen are far too cunning. They have used the terrain to their advantage, building all sorts of traps and defenses inside the city, breaking into small groups to ambush our forces!"

"And because those ratmen are so small, there are places we simply can't get into. We can only watch them escape. They shoot an arrow and vanish behind us, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. We don't know this place at all, and there's nothing we can do!"

Liu Wei stood rooted to the spot, and before he realized it, his grip on the messenger had loosened.

By then, how could he still not understand? These cunning ratmen had never expected the city walls to stop the assault. They had long since spread themselves through Highgarden City, ready to fight to the death.

Only now did Liu Wei realize how gravely he had underestimated the ratmen's resolve. They were willing to sacrifice the royal city itself if that was what it took to strike back.

"Call the entire army back. We need to reorganize as well."

Xue Hui gazed silently at Highgarden before him, hands clasped behind his back, deep in thought.

"Yes, sir!"

The messenger accepted the order and descended the wall.

"After the troops pull back today, reorganize them. Reassign what needs reassigning and concentrate our fighting strength. We have suffered greatly in this battle too. Of the more than ten thousand men, I estimate four thousand are already gone, and our own commander, Gaurik, has also been killed!"

"I underestimated these ratmen. I underestimated their willingness to fight us to the bitter end."

"So! I must destroy them here!"

"Spread the word. Prepare fire attacks! Start burning the city from the outskirts. Let's see whether these ratmen can still sit still!"

"Yes, sir!"

A herald behind Xue Hui departed at once to carry out the order.

"Boss, no sign from the dark elves yet?"

The speaker was Feng Wanqing. Unlike Xue Hui, he could not remain so calm. The two thousand men he had brought with him had suffered terribly; between the seriously wounded and the dead, more than half were gone.

"Just now they contacted me. On the enemy's side, the lizardmen reinforcements set out at noon. Their numbers are around two thousand, and the dark elves have already locked onto them!"

"Boss, you're brilliant! Luring the enemy into a siege and then striking the relief force is truly a masterstroke!"

Feng Wanqing offered his praise without the slightest reserve. In his eyes, the boss was a godlike being, all but omnipotent.

Listening to his subordinates heap praise upon him, Xue Hui could not shake the feeling that this expedition was steeped in conspiracy.

He wondered why the ratmen's preparations could be so thorough in advance.

At the same time, in a narrow alley in the commercial district of Highgarden City.

Wu Fan was brandishing a bamboo blade in his hand, thrusting again and again at the ratman clinging to his arm, blood spraying across his face.

"Filthy vermin!"

"You still dare bite me?!"

"Die for me! Die!"

A ratwoman clamped her jaws tightly around Wu Fan's left arm, staring at him with savage eyes as he continued to shout.

What Wu Fan did not know was that the ratwoman before him had long since died; only her corpse still hung from his arm, her jaws locked around him and refusing to let go.

In the dim, cramped alley, ratmen and human corpses lay strewn everywhere, most of them belonging to Wu Fan's own human soldiers.

After entering Highgarden, Wu Fan and the remaining two hundred-odd men had originally hoped to loot the place and strike it rich. Instead, they ran straight into the ratmen's fierce resistance, far beyond anything they had imagined.

After half a day of searching and fighting, the force of more than two hundred was now down to fewer than thirty men, and every one of them was wounded. Not only had they found nothing worthwhile, they had suffered such heavy losses that, with dusk closing in, they could no longer even tell which way to go home.

The gulf between expectation and reality left Wu Fan furious and deeply frustrated. At last, after wiping out a ratman ambush squad that had come for him, he vented all his resentment upon the ratwoman hanging from his arm.

"Captain, what should we do with these ratmen?"

One of Wu Fan's followers pointed to an upside-down bamboo basket nearby.

Inside it were more than twenty rat pups, their mouths and limbs bound with fine hemp cord and stuffed into a wicker cage normally used for chickens. Even so, the pups still struggled constantly on the ground.

"Where did you catch so many of them? What are you still tying them up for? Just smash them to death."

Wu Fan shot the soldier a contemptuous glance, speaking as casually as if he were discussing drinking water.

"Uh... I found them in a burrow. You know what? They were making arrows at the time."

The soldier looked somewhat stunned, and there was even a trace of admiration in his voice for these ratlings no bigger than a palm.

"They're just a pack of animals. Smash them all to death."

Wu Fan's tone brooked no objection.

"Captain, they're still so young. Why don't we just dig a hole and bury them alive..."

The soldier knew Wu Fan's temper well, yet he still could not bring himself to do it. He reached into the cage and pulled out one of the pups, gripping it by the back while hesitating.

Wu Fan snatched the pup straight from his hands and lifted it with one arm, intending to smash it into the ground.

But he failed to notice that the instant the pup was hoisted up, its eyes turned a blazing red.

Ultimate Frenzy activated!

This neglected racial skill was a death sentence once unleashed, but its effect was to make the user ignore all pain for one minute.

Wu Fan suddenly drove the pup down hard onto the packed yellow earth. Its body bounced back from the impact, and he raised his foot, ready to crush it flat.

Yet the pup twisted aside and dodged the sole of his boot.

Ultimate Frenzy had rendered it immune to all pain. Though its limbs were bound, it still managed to roll over and struggle back onto all fours.

Without the slightest hesitation, it rammed itself against the chicken cage beside it.

A cage used by country folk like this could not be forced open from the inside, but from the outside it was not difficult.

This young ratman had bought the last chance of survival for its brothers and sisters.

"Run! My little brothers and sisters!"

The next instant, a foot came down on the pup's back, crushing it hard until blood spilled from its mouth.

"Run..."

At the moment the wicker cage was overturned, the ratlings inside scattered in every direction.

Alas, their hands, feet, and mouths were all bound. They could only inch along the ground or hop on their forelegs and hind legs, far too slowly.

"Where do you think you're going? Huh?"

After trampling the pup that had overturned the cage to death, Wu Fan immediately began stamping madly on the ratlings fleeing in all directions.

"Die! Die! All of you die!"

His face twisted grotesquely. By now, Wu Fan's mentality had been completely warped; there was no humanity left in him at all.

Xia Lulu did not choose to flee at once like the others. She knew that with her limbs and mouth bound, there would be no escaping. Her target was crystal clear: the stone axe lying a foot away on the ground, smeared with blood.

As Wu Fan trampled her brothers and sisters in a frenzy, Xia Lulu painfully dragged her body forward toward that axe stained with the blood of her kin.

It was hope.

"Why are you all standing there? Come over here and stomp these beasts to death together!"

Wu Fan roared at the human soldiers standing to the side, but not one of them stepped forward. Every gaze wavered away.

The ratfolk were enemies, yes, but to butcher their young in such a manner was something they simply could not bring themselves to do.

Wu Fan was furious beyond measure. He brought his foot down again on a ratling's head, and blood spread beneath his boot.

Xia Lulu's tears had long since run dry. Those were her brothers and sisters, the ones she had grown up beside day after day. Endless rage was brewing in her chest, yet now all she could do was inch forward little by little.

At last, her fingers touched the stone axe soaked in her relatives' blood. Without hesitation, she clamped it between her feet and began grinding against the hemp cords binding her hands.

At that very moment, another ratling crawled toward her. It was her younger brother, Carol.

Looking at Carol, struggling so desperately, his eyes seemed to cry out, "Sister, save me!"

What answered him was Xia Lulu's merciless foot.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xia Lulu kicked her own younger brother Carol aside.

Thrown to the ground, Carol's tears flowed uncontrollably. He was in despair, yet he also understood what his sister meant.

I'm sorry, my brother.

Only one of us can survive. I will find a way to avenge you all.

At last, the hemp cord binding her forelimbs was severed by the sharp axe. Just as Xia Lulu reached down to untie the rope around her legs, Wu Fan had already trampled the rest of her brothers and sisters to death. All nineteen ratlings had been crushed one by one beneath his boots.

Without pausing, Wu Fan turned his gaze toward Xia Lulu.

It was over. There was no time left.

Yet Xia Lulu did not give up. She kept working at the cords with both hands.

Even if the hope of survival was faint, faintness was no reason to surrender.

I want to live.

I want revenge.

Just as Wu Fan noticed Xia Lulu, he saw Carol beside her desperately writhing toward him.

"You're asking for death!"

Without a word, he stomped down.

The crack of Carol's bones breaking rang out clearly, echoing in Xia Lulu's ears for a long time.

The instant Wu Fan fixed his gaze on her, the rope around her feet came loose at last.

With hope for life surging through her, Xia Lulu flipped over, dropped to all fours, and ran!

Live.

I have to live!

Cursing at his own men all the while, Wu Fan gave chase and hurled the axe in his hand.

A fierce wind rushed at her. Xia Lulu sensed it at once and made a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding the stone axe.

Her eyes caught sight of a small hole nearby. It was where she often played hide-and-seek.

Without the slightest hesitation, she leapt into it. The burrows ran in all directions underground; these humans would never catch her now.

Seeing the last ratling escape into the hole, Wu Fan was so enraged that his chest heaved violently. He turned on his subordinates and cursed them in a torrent.

"What the hell are you all doing?!"

No one answered. They all lowered their heads. They knew their captain had done nothing wrong; they simply could not bring themselves to do it.

"Do you know why you were sent here as cannon fodder? Because every one of you is a useless piece of trash! You can't even keep a clear head when facing the enemy. What's the difference between that and being worthless? Huh?!"

Wu Fan's furious rant bordered on the hysterical. The cannon fodder could not lift their heads. They knew he was right, but they simply could not do it.

What they did not know was that ten years later, one name would spread through the human world with such dread that it would make even the bravest men blanch.

Wherever she struck a city, she would bury a million humans alive and leave not a blade of grass standing.

She would be the only woman among the seven great generals of the Skaven Empire.

An existence spoken of in the same breath as the Guardian General, Johnny, and the Master of Death, Snitch.

The Black Queen—Monroe Shalulu.

But for now, she was only a child. Her father had died on the walls of Highgarden; her mother had been stabbed to death again and again while the humans looked on.

Her elder brother had used his last ounce of strength to overturn the cage and save her. To survive, she had been forced to watch her younger brother die before her eyes.

She was still only a child, a child who could do nothing but hide in a burrow and cover her mouth as she wept.

And so a vow was made.

From this day forth.

No more tears.