The Devil"s Evolution Catalog Chapter 161: The Ratman Captives (draft)
"This…" That was a thousand rats, a thousand rats burnt to death by a single attack, that"s just imbalanced! Clearly, my companions agree with that statement as well!
Puppy dog eyes wide open in disbelief, Violet Snow was just as shocked as I was. "Isn"t that Shadowfang of yours an epic weapon as well, can you do that?"
"..." You"ve got to be kidding me!? If I could pull such a stunt, do you think I would still be here? I would"ve wiped out that demon hunter team who forced me back to h.e.l.l in the first place.
From across the pond, the remaining 4000 over rats were witness to this terrifying spectacle. Seeing the lethality of that attack, their faces immediately paled with a portion of them promptly breaking ranks. No matter how much the rat leaders tried to threaten them, none of them would have it.
"Don"t let them escape!" I hurriedly reminded my army: "Numila, Elena, take your teams and stop them, the medusas can handle that front alone. Don"t care about those on fire, prioritize the rats who managed to escape."
"Got it." Elena was the first of the two to react. Signalling to the rest of her kinsharpies, they took to the skies, abandoning the desolated ratmen in favor of chasing down the deserters.
"Harlow, Majosha, make sure you guard that side, don"t let any of them escape."
"Alright, Sis." As she said that, Majosha smiled at her husband. With the aid of the remaining harpies, they got a lift to the other side of the inferno and blockaded it.
Thanks to Numila"s fearsome display, the ratmen"s morale was basically non-existent. All I could do to salvage this situation was to get them to focus on capturing the deserters.
Truly, that strike of hers was just too fearsome for its own good. Having burnt a couple of four-star lieutenants to a crisp in one strike, even Numila was stunned by its effectiveness. It took that reminder/yell from me to bring her back to senses. Truth be told, she only intended to fend off the two rodents with that strike. Seeing as they were both four-stars, she felt that she had to put in her 100% for that strike in order to stand a chance at all. However, things clearly didn"t proceed as she had envisioned.
Wasting no more time, she rushed off with Flametail in tow and chased down the fleeing rats, her rea.s.suring voice echoing across the battlefield as she flew off: "Don"t worry Dearest, just watch this Harpy"s performance!"
"Amazing!" It was then that Mimiya chimed in with her excited cheering. Perhaps it was due to the tension of the battle, she had remained silent up till now. Vick on the other hand, wasn"t affected by it at all however, he was promptly restrained by Mimiya when he tried to float away.
Seeing how Numila wiped out a pair of four-stars in one strike, the already excited Mimiya practically erupted in flames as she exclaimed: "That epic weapon is AWESOME! Do you have another one? You do, right?"
"There"s still Shadowfang." I pointed at the blade slung over my back and shrugged: "It was given to me by Harlow and Habona. Even though I still haven"t unlocked its true power, wielding it felt really natural."
"Ah, can"t you give it to Mimiya?" Her eyes began to water up as she prepared her puppy dog eyes for an attack.
"If I find another epic weapon that suits you, I"ll consider giving it to you." Given that Julia and Mo En had basically sold their lives to me, there"s no reason for me to be stingy with their granddaughter, besides, she"s pretty cute.
"Let"s be clear about one thing though, epic weapons are something you encounter by chance, not something you search for. I can"t guarantee that we will find one that suits your attributes."
"No problem, as long as you remember that!" With that promise in the bag, she happily skipped about, her adorable little devil wings flapping about as she bounced up and down. Her body lifted off the ground and did a strange twirl in the air. "Hahaha, Mimiya"s going to get an epic weapon as well!"
Aren"t you getting a little ahead of yourself here? I remember saying that I would only give it to you if it suited your attributes, didn"t I…
There was nothing much to talk about regarding the remainder of the battle. Thanks to the harpy nuke known as Numila, the majority of the rodents who she flew over smartly chose to surrender instead of resisting…
Even if they had over 10 four-stars on their side, these leaders had completely lost all of their confidence. I couldn"t blame them for that either, that skill which wiped out a thousand rats was just that terrifying; as expected of a weapon that can support an entire kingdom!
Roughly half an hour after the battle ended, the battle report was compiled and ready to be submitted. With those rough numbers in hand, Violet Snow began her report:
"We lost 11 harpies in that battle, there were no losses within our cavalry unit, no losses for the medusas, no losses for the guardsmen...in total, we captured approximately 6000 Abaddon Rodents...the exact number is still being tallied."
Given that the guardsmen were basically on guard duty throughout that whole battle, it wasn"t strange that none were lost. After all, I didn"t even step into battle for a second so they had no reason to either.
As for that impressive record of 6000 captives, don"t be fooled by it; that number included the injured rodents as well. For example, the rodents who were injured in the initial volley of javelin strikes were included as well. Not only that, the rodents who were still kept under watch by the h.e.l.lhound riders were included in that tally as well.
Frankly, the rodents had suffered a crushing blow this time. The lightly injured ones were fortunate --at the very least, they could still be fodder after some minor tending. The heavily injured ones however, those were the unfortunate souls. With no other use for them, they were basically food for the army.
"Dearest, these are the leaders of that army, this harpy has brought them all over." Chest puffed up, Numila dragged a column of ten ratmen who were noticeably bulkier than the rest of their comrades.
"Elena helped as well!" Now that the battle has ended, Elena was notably livelier. Realizing that I was in the vicinity, she immediately pounced on me and with arms wrapped around my head, shoved it into her soft weapons: "Huggles…"
"..." I"m choking here, Elena...let go of me...I can"t breath...ahhh, the scent is great and all but I"m really going to die at this rate...you want an epic weapon, I get it...don"t worry, I"ll make sure to give it to you once I get a proper one…
"Let go of my hubby right this instant, you shameless bit*h!" Seeing her pounce on me, the rather jealous Numila immediately stepped in to pull us apart forcefully before pointing her right finger at Elena. Left hand wrapped around my head, she shoved my face into her waiting mounds: "Dearest, this harpy is a lot better than ice block over there, isn"t she?"
"..." Numila, you need to stop messing around as well...I can"t breath...also, both your sizes are roughly the same…
After a round of unprofessional tomfoolery, I finally managed to pry myself from their wicked hands.
As I took in a couple of deep breaths to refill my oxygen-starved lungs, I suddenly felt a pointed stare behind me. Following that sensation, I turned around just in time to see Violet Snow coldly smiling back at me: "You seem to be having fun."
"...what"s so fun about that." By the way, when did your tongue pick up that acid ability? Even though I really wanted to ask her that, I chose not to in light of that black expression she had on. Hmph, I"ll endure your words just this once.
Directing my gaze back onto the ten rodents, I asked: "They are all four-star leaders?"
Violet Snow nodded: "That"s right, other than a few who ran away in time, they"re all here."
Apparently, not long after the battle started, a few of the more cowardly leaders turned tail and ran the moment they noticed that things weren"t going well. In fact, they even escaped with their subordinates. The only reason no one noticed this was because their numbers were relatively small and the battlefield was extremely chaotic then.
"Is your nemesis a part of this group?"
"That grudge has been settled long ago." As she flatly spat out those words, a hint of relief flashed across her eyes, however, it was only for an instant before it immediately disappeared. All that remained was a cold aloofness.
"As long as it has been settled…" Regarding Violet Snow"s private matters, I didn"t wish to pry too deeply into them. As long as she was happy, that was enough. All I could do now was support her quietly from the background.
Since her nemesis wasn"t a part of these rats, enslaving them shouldn"t be a problem. With that in mind, I coolly turned around to face the rodent leaders. As my cool gaze swept over them, they trembled, claws dancing around as they fl.u.s.tered. Finally, I opened my mouth and said: "Submit or die."
However, these rats didn"t understand the language of the devil and merely looked at each other in confusion. Sh*t, I forgot they can"t understand me, how am I going to persuade them to surrender then,? It"s not like I can suddenly pick their rodent language.
Thankfully, Violet Snow knew how to communicate with them and promptly stepped up to translate my words.
"I...I submit…" The moment they heard they could live, a number of the more spineless rodents immediately knelt and pledged their allegiance. Even though this was done in chit chits, kneeling down was the universal sign of submission.
As for the braver ones, they made the smart choice to surrender after sneaking a couple of peeks at Numila who was in the midst of arguing with Elena. Other than the stubborn rat overlord, the other nine were all on their knees begging for mercy.
As for that rodent, I didn"t appreciate his bravery at all, I was merely curious so I asked him: "Ask that fellow whether he wants to die or not."
"Chit chiit...woof…"
"Chit chhiiit chiit….chit…"
After a round of gibberish, Violet Snow turned around to submit the answer: "The rat overlord wishes to negotiate the terms of surrender with you."
"..." The f**k, who do you think you are? The Emperor or something? I swear you give meaning to the word foolhardy.
Hearing that response, I burst out in laughter. Seeing me laugh however, that rat overlord mistook it as acceptance and smirked at his kneeling compatriots, a series of chittering escaped his mouth as he bragged in their faces.
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Footnotes:
Credits:
Special thanks to Kaung Thant Win Naing!!