Chapter 142: Grey Seer

Facing his teacher's suspicion, the young Grey Seer Apprentice shrank and lowered his rat head; a reserve like him was not under the protection of the non-aggression pact.

Official Grey Seers and their apprentices have a relationship of mutual exploitation; the official Grey Seer needs the apprentices to do things for him and to deal with challenges from other peer apprentices, while the newcomers need a mentor and protector.

Once an apprentice's strength is sufficient, he will want to kill his mentor, and the mentor is also constantly controlling the apprentices' strength—on one hand, they cannot be too weak to be useless, and on the other, they cannot be strong enough to threaten him.

"Krodlu must act now, act! Beard-things, die, die!" The Grey Seer closed his scroll and slammed his staff onto the ground.

"Rat-kin! We cannot delay any longer! The beard-things will search the sewers; if, if we are discovered, then more enemies will pop out!"

Krodlu was far from as calm as he appeared before his subordinates; when he heard the news of a large number of additional Dwarfs, his first reaction was also to run away.

But at the thought of the terrifying Grey Claw High Priest, that Chief of the Council of Thirteen who voted on behalf of the Horned Rat, Lord Kelitesilike, whose magic was boundless—if he disobeyed his orders, Krodlu feared he would have to cut off his horns and run to Lustria to beg for his life.

Hearing the leader's command, the Skaven lurking around began to assemble, and the Grey Seer surveyed his subordinates with a sense of near-pride.

Gathered around him was a group of Stormvermin; these Skaven were large and sturdy, their characteristic white fur sleek and shiny, matching well with the red-lacquered armor on their bodies and the black helmets painted with blasphemous runes.

They were Council Guard, the elite of the elite: well-fed, well-dressed, and disciplined, far above those low-level Clan Rats and Slave Rats, and even superior to their fellow Stormvermin.

To protect their precious spellcasters, the Grey Seers had bred these fellows who wielded two-handed halberds; under the influence of potions and strange magic, they even possessed things that should not appear on rat-kin—loyalty and courage.

"Give, give those scumbags food, a full meal!" Krodlu issued his command. "At night, when Moersilibu rises, rises, charge out, kill all the human-things and beard-things!"

"Squeak-squeak!"

"Kill, slaughter!"

The surrounding rat-kin let out strange cries in unison; they had had enough of living in the sewers, and their desire for looting and bloodlust could no longer be contained.

Sinuoli remained completely unaware of all this; in his subconscious, he still believed that the city was relatively safe. Humans and Dwarfs had lived together for so long without incident, and even if there were Skaven, they were just some stray rats.

After finishing his evening meal, Sinuoli came to the tavern's basement; according to tradition, the center of the temple here was a huge Divine Statue of Grungni, and in the niches along the walls to his left and right were smaller Divine Statues of Valaya and Grimnir.

Behind them were the statues of the lesser Ancestor Gods and the ancestors of the Dwarf Clans that made up the Helmgart settlement.

Outside the Mountain Kingdom, most Dwarf Priests were often itinerant clergy, after all, the Ancestor Gods had not manifested miracles since the Golden Age.

Therefore, which deity the sacrifice focused on often depended on which part of the ritual the presiding Priest understood; since the genuine Chosen of the Goddess had come, this sacrifice was undoubtedly centered on Valaya.

The temple did not cover a large area, so only the Council of Elders composed of the Clan Chiefs of the settlement, the Longbeards over three hundred years old, and all the female clansfolk were present.

When Sinuoli walked down the steps surrounded by several Eternal Hammer Guard, enthusiastic cheers erupted in the underground temple.

For these Empire Dwarfs, watching other people's gods manifest miracles from time to time—either healing the wounded, buffing their own side, or even directly harming the enemy—

while their own Ancestor Gods remained unresponsive, it was inevitable that they felt a sense of emptiness in their hearts; some rebellious clansfolk even began to worship human deities related to their own professions. In this situation, Sinuoli's sudden appearance was undoubtedly a shot in the arm.

The ritual proceeded very smoothly, following the same old routine: first telling stories of the Ancestor era, then praising the mercy of the Mother Goddess, and finally complimenting the efforts and piety of the clansfolk present, offering them blessings on behalf of the Ancestor Goddess.

Such a traditional style, though cliché, was undoubtedly well-received by the clansfolk. While Sinuoli slaughtered a small Rock Sheep to serve as a sacrifice to the Ancestor Goddess, he began to consider whether to spend some Revival Points to make the Mother Goddess "manifest."

The population of the Helmgart settlement was small, and there were no benchmark figures like Queen Mother Mali of Haojiaobao. Sinuoli also felt that his title as the Chosen of the Goddess was already firmly established, and he could begin to accumulate Revival Points to prepare for the rituals of other Ancestor Gods to retrieve Artifacts in the future.

Just as he was struggling with this, several huge explosions solved his troubles.

"Calm down! Do not panic."

"Ladies! Leave here through the secret passage, you go first!"

"Go, go out and see what happened, do not crowd!"

Sinuoli and the Stonemason Elder were both experienced leaders, and they evacuated the crowd in an orderly manner. This underground temple had a secret passage leading to a more secure location; to be precise, the entire Dwarf settlement was connected by tunnels.

Rushing out of the tavern's gate, Sinuoli saw that the entire Dwarf community was in chaos but with a hint of order; the old, weak, women, and children were gathering at the smithy, while the able-bodied clansfolk were either running home to retrieve their equipment or already fully armed and assembling by the roadside.

The settlement guards had closed the gates and stood at their posts with their Firearm in hand; seeing Sinuoli and the leaders emerge from the tavern, two Dwarf Ranger ran over.

"Master Sinuoli, Skaven, the explosions were caused by those filthy rat-kin, they are now scurrying all over the streets!" The Ranger reported the information they had scouted quickly.

"At your command!" The Stonemason Elder was a Stonemason and was not good at commanding battles, so he decisively ceded command to Sinuoli.

"Have any rats burrowed into the settlement?" Sinuoli did not stand on ceremony and directly began to gather intelligence.

"None discovered yet, the sewers here do not connect with the man-things'! The rats must have popped out from there!" From the way he referred to the humans, Sinuoli judged that this was a Ranger belonging to a caravan.

"That's good, settle the women and children, lock the gates and don't let them in, I'm going to the outer wall to take a look!" Sinuoli said, walking toward the outer wall of the settlement surrounded by his guards.

Thanks to Wanghou Yanhaiya for the tip, and to the book friends for the monthly tickets.