Chapter 547: The Land of Buried Bones

In mid-June, in the County of Count Spinor, the noon sun spilled into the forest. The air felt as if it had been boiled, so hot it was suffocating.

A light cavalry squad of ten was struggling through the woods. Their horses' hooves trod upon the thick layer of fallen leaves, making almost no sound.

The cavalryman in the lead was named Clark. He was the captain of the Raven City Citizen Cavalry and a native "Spinorian."

At this moment, he was vigilantly scanning his surroundings, the rifle gripped tightly in his hand gleaming with a grim light beneath the mottled tree shadows.

That was the newest weapon issued by the Principality of Campbell—the Roxay Model 1054 bolt-action rifle.

For citizen cavalrymen accustomed to spears and crossbows, this fire-spitting "fire poker" was both expensive and precious, but it was said that as long as one pulled the trigger, one could pierce a werewolf's skull from two hundred meters away.

He liked this thing very much.

Ever since he received it, he carried it on his back every single day.

"... You can't even see a single rabbit in this godforsaken place."

The young cavalryman behind him grumbled in a low voice, wiping the sweat that had flowed into his eyes from his forehead. The veteran riding beside him also grinned and complained.

"It's not that I don't trust the people of Campbell Castle, but would those damn rats really set up their nest in a place where birds don't even lay eggs?"

Three days ago, Spinor Castle received a distress letter from the Royal Railway Company. An exploration team active in the Iron Peak Town area had been attacked, and the direction in which the attackers retreated pointed toward the forest on the north side of Raven City.

Daring to rob the royal family meant they were certainly no ordinary bandits. And according to the clues left at the scene, that was indeed the case; the attackers were clearly Ratmen from the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range.

The conflict between human kingdoms and Ratmen was nothing new. The grievances between the two sides could even be traced back to the ancient era before the First Epoch.

However, because the habitable regions for humans and Ratmen were different, and Ratmen preferred to prioritize competing with Dwarves for territory, the two sides had lived in relative peace.

Listening to the whispers behind him, Clark did not look back, merely raising a finger to signal for silence. His comrades stopped talking in unison, regaining their vigilance.

Suddenly, an unnatural rustling sound came from the waist-high thorn bushes on the left.

That was definitely not the sound of the wind!

Almost subconsciously, Clark raised the rifle in his hand, his index finger flicking off the safety, and the pitch-black muzzle instantly locked onto the swaying bushes.

He shouted sternly.

"Who's there! Come out!"

The nine cavalrymen behind him also raised their rifles at the same time, ready for battle.

The bushes shook violently, and immediately after, a ragged figure crawled out on hands and knees.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! My lord! I'm not a bad person! I'm human! I'm a living person!" Looking at the rows of pitch-black muzzles, the man's knees went weak, and he collapsed directly onto the ground, raising his emaciated hands and trembling in surrender.

Clark narrowed his eyes, and through the sunlight spilling from the gaps in the canopy, he saw the man's appearance clearly.

It was a young adult male.

His eye sockets were deeply sunken, his cheekbones were high, and he wore only a piece of hemp cloth wrapped around his waist. His exposed skin was covered in shocking bruises and scars... but he was indeed human, not a Ratman.

Clark relaxed slightly, lowering his muzzle a few inches, but he did not fully let down his guard, shouting coldly.

"Tell me your name? And, judging by your accent, you don't sound like a local."

"I... I'm called Hailage'er." The young man's teeth chattered, and he trembled for a long time before finishing a complete sentence. "I am indeed not from here..."

Clark narrowed his eyes. Years of border life had taught him how to distinguish lies and the scent of evil.

He could not feel the rot of Chaos or the chill of the undead on this young man; he only smelled the stench of urine from someone who had been scared out of their wits.

"Where are you from? Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng?"

"Roland City..."

The forest was quiet for a short while, with only the sound of cicadas remaining.

Clark was stunned for a long time, and only when his deputy coughed did he come back to his senses.

Roland City?

The capital of the Kingdom of Lain?

For a bumpkin like Clark who had never left the vicinity of Raven City in his life, that so-called "capital" was as remote as a story from a bard.

To be honest, if this guy had said he was from Torrent Pass, he might have believed it a little.

"Take him back."

Clark put away his rifle and ordered in a deep voice.

Regardless of whether this guy was crazy or not, since he appeared at this sensitive location at this sensitive time, he had to be interrogated clearly.

A young sentry dismounted, helped Hailage'er onto his horse, and then climbed up to sit behind him.

The group did not continue deeper, but immediately turned their horses around, retracing their steps, and soon returned to the outpost located north of Raven City.

This was a simple outpost built with rough logs. There was only one lonely watchtower on the fence wall, with an aged smoothbore cannon placed beside it.

Ever since everyone had been serving here, they had never heard that cannon fire, which showed how remote this place was... even during the Winter Moon Coup, the Spinor family had forgotten about them stationed here.

Clark poured a glass of clear water for the young man named Hailage'er.

The young man drank frantically, as if he hadn't had clean water in lifetimes, until he choked and coughed violently, only then finding a trace of his soul in the warm liquid.

Then the sentries brought dry rations and found him a clean set of clothes.

After some soothing and being bribed with a few pieces of bread, the Lain man named Hailage'er finally revealed his identity tremblingly.

He was a survivor of the Winter Moon Fire.

Although none of the sentries present had heard of any Winter Moon Fire, they only knew that their Count and the Duke of Campbell Castle had fought a war last winter.

"... That damn fire burned down our houses and all our savings. We lingered on in the ruins until that kind old master appeared."

Mentioning that disaster, deep fear and despair appeared in Hailage'er's murky eyes.

According to his intermittent recollections, during the chaos and famine after the fire, a well-dressed steward found him and his family, as well as hundreds of other homeless refugees nearby.

That steward claimed to represent a benevolent great noble, stating that as long as they were willing to sign a contract of indenture, he could take them to a new settlement in the south to reclaim land.

"Do you remember the steward's name? And the lord he served, the noble's title, and the location of the territory?" Clark opened his notebook, dipped his quill in ink, and asked in a tone that tried not to sound like an interrogation.

The young man shook his head.

"I don't know..."

The quill in Clark's hand paused, and his expression became strange.

"You don't know?"

You dared to go without knowing?

He suspected that this guy was either joking or hadn't finished making up his story.

Hailage'er was very serious, not as if he were joking, but trembling as he said.

"My lord... if you were in my position, you would definitely be the same as me. At that time, there was simply no way to care about so much."

"The steward told us their manor was in the south, where there was fertile land, newly built houses, and enough bread to get us through the winter. As long as we were willing to go there, we would definitely survive. His master would not watch us suffer in the cold wind."

He paused and added in a low voice.

"To be honest, I even thought he was a Campbell noble."

"Haha, then I guess he must be a pious Mr." The young sentry sitting nearby joked, but he didn't expect this joke meant to ease the atmosphere to stimulate this tightly-strung fellow instead.

"Pious?! Saint Xisi is above, I have never seen anyone more blasphemous than them! There is no settlement there at all!"

Hailage'er widened his eyes, gripping the cup tightly, spraying spittle far away.

He continued to speak at a rapid pace.

"We got on their carriage and kept heading south. At first, we could still see the Torrent River, but later we couldn't. Some people felt something was wrong, but since we were already there, we thought those nobles couldn't possibly lie to us... As a result, the carriage arrived in the mountains."

"There is no settlement at all!"

Speaking of this, Hailage'er seemed to recall something unpleasant.

His body trembled violently, the cup in his hand fell onto the table with a clatter, water spilled all over the floor, but his hands hugged his head regardless.

"They... drove us off the carriage! No one expected that what greeted us was not houses and farmland, but a group of rats walking upright!"

The outpost was silent.

Everyone looked at each other, and after hearing this guy's story, they even forgot to breathe.

Clark frowned, his quill writing and crossing out on the paper, unable to tell which part of this guy's story was true and which was false.

A young and vigorous Campbell lad nearby couldn't help but interject.

"You're lying! How could anyone sell themselves? It's not that I don't believe you... the point is, where did you put the money you were sold for? Did you deposit it in a bank?"

"My lord, I have a family."

Hailage'er said with a bitter face.

"And if we didn't sell ourselves, we wouldn't have survived that winter at all. Although our Majesty is benevolent, he can't conjure food... Ten thousand copper coins, this money is enough for my wife and daughter to survive until next year. If I could settle down in that noble's manor, maybe I could bring them over..."

"This doesn't sound like a lie." A veteran lowered his arms and nodded reluctantly. "Most serfs don't sell themselves for money, but to survive. The only thing I don't quite believe is the ten thousand copper coins. Count Spinor's territory also has serfs, at least last year it did, but I've never heard of any serf being sold for that price."

This wasn't exactly a hot commodity; if you waited, you might even find free ones.

He didn't hold a prejudice against Lain nobles, but rather a consistent prejudice against all nobles. Especially after seeing what happened in the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng, he had even less affection for those nobles who abandoned their sacred duties.

How fresh, a person who had never done a good deed suddenly started doing charity; this sounded like a lion giving up meat.

"I still can't believe it." Another young lad shook his head, looking at the Lain man with suspicious eyes. "Even if you were really sold to the Ratmen by that black-hearted noble, you should be on the north side of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range. This is the south side of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range, separated by such a long distance... Don't tell me you flew over on a Griffin."

"At first I was indeed in a cave on the north side, but later... Dwarves seemed to have come there."

Hailage'er explained, a trace of fear flashing in his eyes.

"I don't know the specific situation, I only know they fought very fiercely, with each side having wins and losses. Later, the Ratmen couldn't handle it, so they transferred us here..."

To be honest, he suspected that if it weren't for the Dwarves and Ratmen fighting, he would have been slaughtered by the Ratmen half a year ago.

Those guys seemed to need him to do something, so they kept him alive without killing him, and even fed him rat meat.

Regardless of whether it was rat meat or not.

Looking at this terrified young man, Clark's expression remained full of suspicion.

"Although the Principality of Campbell has abolished serfdom, it's not like we haven't seen slaves. Forgive me for saying so, but your claim is too exaggerated."

He didn't doubt the evil of the Ratmen, he just couldn't understand the logic behind it.

What is the benefit of selling serfs to Ratmen?

For both the Ratmen and the Lain nobles, this seemed to be an unprofitable thing.

After all, Ratmen have their own slaves, and most Ratmen clans themselves are divided into Clan Rats and Slave Rats, the latter being both labor and food.

In comparison, humans are really not suitable for working in the caves of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range, and even Hell Dwarves prefer Ratmen prisoners of war rather than stocking up from human slave traders.

This deal was unprofitable for the Ratmen, and the same for the Lain nobles.

Even if they had forgotten the Holy Light flowing in their blood and abandoned all morality and bottom lines, there had to be enough profit for them to risk going to hell to do this, right?

This didn't conform to common sense.

Clark would rather believe that this guy had done something illegal, such as smuggling or researching black magic, ended up being double-crossed, and finally made up an absurd reason to cover up his crime so as not to be sent to the Tribunal.

Hailage'er looked at those pairs of suspicious eyes and smiled weakly.

He no longer had the strength to argue; the exhaustion of his body made him just want to fall asleep, and he felt tired just from saying one more word.

"Just pretend I made it up..."

"Listen, I don't care how you appeared among the Ratmen, nor do I care what shady business you did in the Kingdom of Lain; that's your business."

Clark stood up and walked in front of this Lain man to look at him.

"I only care about one thing—the Ratmen attacked our exploration team and killed our people. Since you escaped from there, tell me, where is their nest?"

Hailage'er raised his head, his eyes somewhat unfocused.

"Just to your north... that cave is very close to here. I remember that not long after I escaped, I encountered you..."

Suddenly, as if he had remembered something extremely terrifying, he fell off the chair.

In the astonished gaze of everyone, he hugged Clark's thigh, knelt heavily on the ground, and begged desperately.

"My lord! There are others in that cave, please save them, some are still alive! At least a hundred people! For the sake of Saint Xisi! For the sake of us all being servants of the Holy Light!"

That desperate crying didn't sound like acting, and the atmosphere in the outpost dropped to freezing.

If it were just the ramblings of a madman, they might have laughed it off. But if there were really a large number of human survivors in that cave...

Clark's expression gradually became solemn, and his adjutant walked to his side, lowering his voice.

"Whether what he said is true or false, this is no longer something our outpost can handle..."

"We will soon know whether it is true or false. Watch this guy... don't let him die, and don't let him run away."

Clark made a prompt decision and ordered his subordinates.

"Immediately release the carrier pigeons, report this clue to Spinor Castle, and let the people from the Royal Railway Company come... preferably bring more people."

Regardless of whether the intelligence is true or false, since there is a witness, it must be verified.

After giving the instructions, Clark looked back at Hailage'er kneeling on the ground, his eyes as sharp as a dagger.

"You said there are many people there... then tell me, what do they keep you for?"

Hailage'er raised his head blankly, his pupils sometimes unfocused and sometimes tightening, as if searching for fragments in his mind.

"I don't know... those rats don't always communicate in a language we can understand, and they don't let us see what they are doing."

"I only heard a guy who was taken away and thrown back say that the rats are holding some kind of ritual and need many sacrifices... Most of the people taken away don't come back, and the used sacrifices are mostly eaten. He luckily escaped a disaster because he didn't meet the conditions of the ritual, but next time he might not be so lucky."

His Adam's apple moved, and looking at the crowd holding their breath, he said in a trembling voice.

"I was the one who escaped on the way... when I was taken away."

The outpost outside Raven City was silent, with only the increasingly loud sound of cicadas outside the window.

At the same time, in the forest sea at the southern foot of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range, four vigorous figures were moving along the trail of messy hoofprints.

Walking at the very front were two skeletons draped in black robes, one tall and one short, with ghostly green soul fire jumping in their eye sockets.

Following closely behind were two burly Lizardmen. Although they had the appearance of cold-blooded animals, their posture of carrying weapons was very similar to that of humans.

The four "people" were not locals, but players from another world, and they were proper T0-level high-end players.

Ordinary players were still rolling around near the Bronze level, while the brother in the lead had broken through to the Gold level as early as last year, and was only a hair's breadth away from the first-layer Labyrinth BOSS "Lizardman Corpse Demon Warrior" Oakeduo—

Platinum and Gold only differ by one rank, so calling it a hair's breadth was no big problem.

Besides Brother Ye Zhiqiu, the Ratman assassin "Hu Wan" walking beside him was not bad either, also reaching the Gold level at the beginning of this year.

As for the two Bai Yin-peak Lizardmen behind, they were 【Tauren Warrior】 and 【Pig-headed Knight】, belonging to the more useful tools under the Demon King.

The four were ordered by the Demon King to secretly sneak into the northern border of Spinor County to investigate the movements of the "Rotten Flesh Clan."

After a year, they finally waited for the follow-up of the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng Ratman side quest, and the four players were very excited, rushing here day and night.

"... These are the footprints of patrol cavalry. They probably encountered a survivor and then retreated with the survivor... If my speculation is correct, this should be the plot."

"Are we going to the border outpost?" "No need. This is not the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng, the title of Holy Spirit doesn't work... and, it's hard to say whose actions are faster."

Ye Zhiqiu squatted down, his finger bones gently brushing over the traces on the ground.

Besides a string of hoofprints retreating south, there was also a string of human barefoot footprints extending north, and... claw marks covering these footprints.

"The rats are nearby."

The soul fire in the skull flickered slightly, and he withdrew his finger bones and stood up.

At the same time, Hu Wan had already nimbly jumped to the treetops, the soul fire in his skull shrinking into a point, his vision sweeping through the pine forest like a sickle.

【Shadow Vision!】

That was the skill of an undead assassin, allowing the caster to ignore physical obstacles and search for the breath of the living!

Soon, he jumped down from the treetop.

"Found them."

The Pig-headed Knight grinned and carried his battle axe on his shoulder.

"Get to work!"

According to the clues searched by Hu Wan, the four players quickly pushed forward. Not long after, chattering arguments came from the bushes ahead.

A few Clan Rats wearing ragged leather armor were pushing each other, seemingly shirking responsibility because they had lost their prey.

"It's all you! You let the human thing escape!"

"Blame you, blame you!"

The chattering sound was mixed with Ratman slang.

"Do it."

Ye Zhiqiu's voice had no ripples, and as the words fell, he had already raised his bone finger wearing a gold diamond ring.

At the same time, several pale bone spears had already condensed out of thin air, shooting out with a sharp whistle that tore through the air.

"Puff, puff, puff!"

The three Clan Rats didn't even have time to scream before their chests were pierced by the bone spears, nailed firmly to the tree trunks.

Only the last small-sized scout remained, scared out of his wits by the bone spear that flew past his scalp, screaming and scrambling to escape into the depths of the dense forest.

"Stop! Monster, don't run!"

The Pig-headed Knight screamed excitedly, preparing to rush up, but was stopped by the skeleton hand raised by Brother Ye Zhiqiu.

"Calm down."

Ye Zhiqiu withdrew the ring flashing with magic light, and the bone spear that was deliberately shot off-target also turned into dust and dissipated at the same time.

"I let it go on purpose, it can't escape."

Just when releasing the bone spear, he also released a Wind Bird to fly into the sky, and his vision, sharp as a peregrine falcon, had already firmly locked onto that rat.

It can't escape!

Tauren Warrior: "666! As expected of Brother Ye, unfathomable!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "... Cut it out."

The crowd didn't say anything more, and according to the direction pointed out by Brother Ye Zhiqiu, they bit tightly onto the little rat that was fleeing east and west.

About twenty minutes later, they tracked to a hidden stream. The terrified Ratman plunged into the vines between two giant rocks and disappeared.

"Hiding quite deep."

Ye Zhiqiu nodded to Hu Wan beside him.

The latter, who had a tacit understanding, became blurred, as if merging into the shadows, and sneaked into the cave entrance.

Not long after, a few muffled groans and the crisp sound of mechanisms being dismantled came from inside the cave.

Immediately after, the rusty iron fence door was slowly opened from the inside, and Hu Wan made a "safe" gesture in the shadows.

"Watch my eyes—"

"Roar!!!"

"Kill!!"

The two Lizardman beasts, who had long been unable to hold back, roared and rushed up screaming.

The interior of the cave was a different world; this was clearly a long-established underground stronghold.

The Tauren Warrior brandished his spear and rushed in first, a cold light arriving first, followed by the spear shooting out like a bull!

The Pig-headed Knight followed closely, the battle axe in his hand craving blood, rushing into the Ratman crowd and swinging a semicircle.

Dozens of Ratmen who were resting were stunned by this sudden attack.

The two Bai Yin-peak heavy-armored warriors were like tigers entering a flock of sheep, spears sweeping and battle axes hacking, instantly setting off a bloody storm!

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

This group of little rats was no match at all, and could only scramble to stand up, dodging left and right behind the stalactite pillars, and looking for opportunities to fight back.

However—

Struggling was just futile.

Facing Bai Yin-level powerhouses on the frontal battlefield, the mere fifty or sixty Ratmen had no chance of winning at all, let alone these two Bai Yin-level reckless men also launching a sneak attack.

The unprepared Ratman soldiers died in droves, and an elite monster that seemed to have awakened extraordinary power rushed up brandishing a long knife, but was split in two by an axe.

"Hahaha! My head count!" The Pig-headed Knight screamed excitedly, fighting more and more bravely in the stalactite cave.

Fear appeared on the faces of all the Ratmen, but their nightmare was far from over, and a cold light was silently reaching for their necks.

"Psh—"

Blood splashed!

Before the Ratmen could see what happened, one head after another jumped into the sky like fleas.

Hu Wan, who was wandering on the edge of the battlefield, nimbly waved his dagger, ruthlessly harvesting one fresh throat after another.

This guy mixed into the Ratman pile and harvested continuously; in the blink of an eye, the other Ratmen couldn't recognize this "traitor."

Until they met his gaze, they were scared half to death by the ghostly green soul fire, screaming and fleeing everywhere.

"Undead! Damn it! It's the undead!"

In the chaos, a few Ratman priests wearing dirty robes emerged from the rear.

They roared angrily, brandishing the bone staves in their hands, and a few clusters of strange transparent flames whistled toward the two Lizardman players.

The flames had no temperature, but they carried a chill that penetrated to the bone marrow, as if reaching the depths of the soul.

"What the hell? What kind of magic is this?"

The Tauren Warrior was grazed on the shoulder by a cluster of soul fire, but didn't feel the pain of burning; instead, he felt half his body go numb, and his movements instantly slowed down.

"There's actually magic that attacks the SAN value?! There's no such slot!" The Pig-headed Knight was also startled, hurriedly raising his battle axe to parry.

Seeing that the attack was effective, those Ratman priests were preparing to chant the second round of spells, but the ground suddenly shook violently.

"Crack—"

Countless sharp bone spears protruded from the rock beneath their feet without warning, like white flagpoles rising from the ground, instantly skewering those fragile casters like candied haws.

Blood flowed down the bone spears, and the priests' screams stopped abruptly.

Witnessing the tragic death of the priests, the remaining Clan Rat warriors around completely collapsed.

They dropped their weapons and screamed, fleeing into the darkness in the depths of the cave, leaving behind a mess of corpses.

"Damn! These rats are really not tough!" The Pig-headed Knight cursed and spat on the ground.

He had just started to enjoy himself, and the battle was over.

"Clearly, these little guys are just the first wave."

Ye Zhiqiu snapped his fingers, dispelling the bone spears he had raised, and at the same time lit the torch that had fallen on the ground, handing it to his teammates beside him.

"Let's go, let's see what's hidden inside?"

This side quest had been buried for long enough.

As early as in the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng, they had discovered traces of Ratman activity near the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range, and in the later decisive battle, those Ratmen even revealed their identities and joined in.

Now the Ratmen appeared again in Spinor County to the south, and they had reason to believe that the clues for the next expansion pack were hidden in this cave.

With a feeling of anticipation, the group walked forward holding torches. However, the further they went, the heavier their hearts became.

The firelight dispelled the darkness in the cave, and the white bones on the ground became increasingly shocking, with broken ribs and skulls discarded at random in the corners of the cave.

The little rats were eating the leftovers left by the big rats, not even leaving a mouthful for the cockroaches, and even squeaking and fighting.

The group finally walked to a relatively open clearing.

And the scene that came into view, even for players who were used to mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the game, couldn't help but feel a sense of physiological discomfort.

The Pig-headed Knight, who was always the most unserious, couldn't help but swallow his saliva after a moment of silence, cursing in a low voice.

"Saint Xisi is above..."

That was a bloody altar.

It was hard to say whether its main body was stone, bone, or meat that hadn't been gnawed clean. A crystal covered in filth was placed in the center of the altar, strange runes were carved on the floor tiles, and the runes emitted a hair-raising aura.

Ye Zhiqiu walked up, his right hand wearing a diamond ring snapped his fingers, and the fire basin around the altar burst into flames.

The flickering flames coated the copper basin with a layer of greasy luster, and the Tauren Warrior suddenly felt his stomach churning.

"... I don't want to know what those candles are made of."

Ye Zhiqiu glanced at him.

"No one asked you."

Brother Hu Wan was the calmest.

Perhaps because he had done a lot of sorting materials, he skillfully walked to the corner and rummaged for a while, dragging out a corpse wearing a uniform.

"Found it, it's that missing Railway Bureau explorer... unfortunately, he's already dead."

Just as he dragged out the corpse, the skeletons piled on the wall collapsed, and dense things scurried out, almost causing the two Lizardmen to go offline on the spot.

"Grass—"

"What the hell is that?!"

"May Saint Xisi bless them, lend me their souls." Ye Zhiqiu, who had activated "Undead Vision," walked into the middle of the corpses.

The soul fire in his eye sockets flickered slightly, and he chanted the spell to summon the corpse demon in a low voice, preparing to call a few people up to ask about the situation.

However, a strange scene occurred; the ghostly green magic fluctuation swept across the field, but the corpses lying on the ground didn't have the slightest movement.

"What's wrong?" Hu Wan noticed the anomaly.

"A bit strange..."

Ye Zhiqiu stopped casting, pinched his chin with his finger bones, his tone full of deep doubt. "These corpses... are empty."

They have no souls...

A silent atmosphere flowed on the altar.

No one spoke, only the occasional sound from the fire basin, until a drop of water fell from the stalactite pillar, breaking the silent atmosphere.

"Empty?"

The Tauren Warrior frowned at the scales on his forehead, his fingertips scratching his scalp.

"Strange... could it be that these Ratmen even transcended them?"

In the human world, priests do this work; he had never heard of Ratmen doing such things.

They only shave the bones cleaner.

"Not clear."

Ye Zhiqiu shook his head.

"According to the mechanism of 'Calamity OL', the soul of the deceased will not dissipate immediately. Chosen ones are generally taken away by their respective gods, and nobles are mostly the same. As for ordinary people, if there is no priest to transcend them, they will either gradually transform into undead creatures or naturally dissipate over time... but these people are clearly not nobles."

The entire Aus Continent combined probably doesn't have so many nobles; the corpses lying here must be at least a thousand... and this is probably an underestimate.

He is a player who is good at researching game mechanisms, and it is precisely because of this that he can dismantle clues to trigger main quests from the details of the plot.

But the situation in front of him still made him feel a bit tricky; whether it was this altar or the sacrificial candles in the fire basin, they didn't look like something the Ratmen made themselves.

Dwarf kerosene lamps are more like decorations in a Ratman nest.

"Grass, could it be a Ten Thousand Soul Banner?!"

"... This isn't right, the style doesn't match."

Just when the crowd was still discussing this strange phenomenon, a deafening roar suddenly came from the deepest part of the cave.

"Roar—!!"

That sound was mixed with violent anger, the rubble on the ceiling fell rustlingly, and the entire ground trembled in that violent anger.

Immediately after, a suffocating and massive pressure surged like a tide, and along with it came the surging fighting spirit of the Clan Rats.

I don't know who gave them the courage, but those little rats came back to kill!

"Prepare for battle!"

The soul fire in Ye Zhiqiu's eyes jumped violently, this time cautiously taking out his staff and holding it in his right hand wearing the gold diamond ring.

"This sense of oppression..." The soul fire in Hu Wan's skull shrank slightly, the dagger held in his hand held in front of him, his voice carrying a trace of excited trembling. "At least it's Gold level!"

"Gold-level BOSS?!"

The Tauren Warrior and the Pig-headed Knight were also not afraid, but looked at each other excitedly, gripping the weapons in their hands, their eyes full of eager greed.

Work is here!

"Say it first! Leave the warrior equipment for me!"

"Grass, when the time comes to explode Ratman equipment, you have to be able to use it too."

"It's okay! If the equipment is good enough, next time I'll directly change my job to a Ratman!"

"... Awesome."

The four quickly set up a battle formation, put on all the buffs they could, and prepared to meet the surging rat tide and the map BOSS.

However, no one noticed that in a shadow depression above the altar, a pair of cold eyes were silently watching here.

That gaze penetrated the darkness, lingering for a moment on the two skeletons and two Lizardmen, with a chilling deep meaning hidden in the pupils... ===== CHAPTER 548 =====