Chapter 48: Mutated Rat

"Pay attention, all of you! Don't let these rats get away!" Leiende said angrily. "Do you really expect those rookies to stop many of them? If we don't clear them out thoroughly, another wave will come next year. Nobody wants to go into the stinking sewers every single year, right?"

"These damn rats are just too cunning," a few veterans said with ill intent. "Captain, it wasn't our fault."

In the dim Sewers, Zhuguli and the others heard the squeaking of rats; the sound was sharp and grating, like fingernails scratching against a chalkboard.

Usually, hearing this kind of sound wouldn't make one feel terrified, let alone creeped out.

But hearing it now, it only made one's skin crawl.

Not far away, several pairs of red eyes seemed to have spotted something interesting and were jumping about incessantly.

Most of those rats were as tall as a human's calf, and some even reached the height of a thigh. Seeing those rats, Zhuguli at the tunnel entrance immediately called over a few familiar friends to stand guard.

"How come they feel bigger than the rats we saw before?" Seven Calabashes, standing at the back of the group, muttered.

"You've seen rats before?" Grape Skin, nervous, stood at the very front of the group. "This is my first time seeing one."

These rats moved too fast.

So fast that people could barely see them clearly.

One second they were in front of your eyes, and the next second they were right in your face.

Grape Skin instinctively tried to catch one, waving his short sword wildly; in any case, he had no intention of dodging.

Besides, he couldn't run away anyway.

The rat had originally intended to take a bite at Grape Skin's neck, but because he didn't dodge and defended well, there was simply nowhere to bite.

Clang! The rat's large teeth bit directly onto Grape Skin's blade, scaring it into jumping backward.

But things weren't easy for it backward either.

Seven Calabashes, wielding a spear, pierced it straight through, then gritted his teeth and said, "Who's to say? Before, I didn't have defensive gear, let alone a weapon, and these guys really messed me up. I was the server's first kill!"

"Uh, nice one, buddy, watch out!" Two more rats came from behind, but the players didn't look like rookies doing this for the first time at all; one by one, they were eager to have a go.

Some players were bitten, but they were quickly saved by the players following behind.

The players didn't feel much pain; the only one truly feeling pain was Chen Zhi.

Most players, seeing this kind of hand-to-hand combat, were even more excited.

There were also a few players who were startled at first, but then became a bit crazy.

Isn't it fun to go on a rampage?

Besides, most new players didn't know what death meant yet, and they hadn't experienced being unable to log in for 24 hours, so they didn't care at all.

The Sewers were suddenly filled with sounds of high morale.

"Charge!"

"Crush them!"

"Demacia!"

"Orcs will never be slaves!"

Everyone shouted something different, but the morale was definitely extraordinary.

Leiende, standing at the very front, wiped the blood from his face.

Then he turned back to look at the battlefield behind him.

At this moment, the first wave of rats had been mostly cleared, and not many had leaked through to the back.

But looking ahead, those Xiahui People were about to rush to his position.

"What are those bumpkins doing?"

"Are they crazy? Daring to take on those Mutated Rats wearing only leather armor?"

"Can they still kill rats after being bitten?"

The players, who were already full of rage upon entering the Sewers, were now killing like madmen.

Of course, the combat losses were also quite significant.

A total of seven rats had taken out three players, with a dozen or so players injured.

Some even fell and got injured on their own.

It didn't look like much—a few rats causing deaths.

But the momentum was truly impressive.

"I thought at least five or six would die, I didn't expect so few to die." Leiende nodded with satisfaction upon hearing the news from the rear. "Tell them to hold the line; we'll let a few more rats through."

"But Captain, if we let more through, their mortality rate will go up."

"What are you afraid of? They have plenty of numbers; aren't there plenty of down-and-out Xiahui People? Besides, combat ability improves gradually. You can't expect them to learn how to fight on the battlefield without fighting at all." Leiende had only intended to recruit 100 Xiahui People anyway; now that there were 125, a few deaths here and there didn't matter.

It was also a good chance to see if these Xiahui People were useful. If they were, they could be put to greater use on the battlefield; training them now was just right.

Zhuguli, panting for breath, rubbed his arm, which had nearly been dislocated. He had heard people say these rats were tough, but he hadn't taken it to heart; after all, no matter how tough a rat was, how tough could it be?

Since they were mobs that rookie players could beat up as soon as they entered the game, no matter how strong their combat power was, how strong could it really be?

He had forgotten what kind of game this was; this game didn't play by the rules at all.

"Are you okay, brother?" Grape Skin picked up Zhuguli from behind, then said with a weary face, "They said up front they're going to let a few more monsters through for us."

"Forget it, we can't let them have all the monsters to kill. Go call a few more people over, we'll stand in the back." Zhuguli had been charging at the very front just now; fortunately, his reaction time was good, or he might have died to rat mouths again, just like Seven Calabashes.

"Then why don't we take turns? The space isn't big anyway, and crowding together makes it hard to ensure killing efficiency." Grape Skin still understood a bit about games; he said directly to the people behind, "Leave two or three to guard the entrance, the rest come here, twenty people per wave!"

"Alright!" The few people who had been guarding the sewer entrance were already feeling annoyed that they couldn't rush up to kill the enemy immediately, so they could only jeer.

Now it was great; everyone had a chance.

Soon, they let more through at the front. This time, the veterans didn't intentionally let them through to the back, but because the second wave of rats was larger in number, thirteen rats ended up remaining for the back.

Fortunately, most of them ran out from the same tunnel and didn't scurry into other passages.

This was also a characteristic of the Mutated Rats; they were aggressive and wouldn't flee because of human attacks; instead, they would become excited by human attacks.

The new squad that had just taken over was in good shape; they had been watching for a long time and had a certain understanding of the Mutated Rats' attacks.

At most, it was just that their minds were thinking too fast, and their hands couldn't keep up.

But no matter how flustered they were, once one or two people died, they would know what to do.

So, round after round after round, the players themselves didn't even know how many Mutated Rats they had killed, but they finally managed to clear out the Mutated Rats near the railway before three o'clock in the afternoon.

"Well done." Covered in blood, Liande looked at those new recruits and expressed his satisfaction.

Although thirteen people had died, it was still much fewer than he had expected, and he didn't even need to recruit any more new soldiers.

(End of this chapter)