Warhammer: Return of the Dragon.

In the hollowed-out mountain, a strange giant bell is suspended in the center by chains. The yellowed copper surface is engraved with many incomprehensible evil runes. Ordinary people can hear the endless curse of the giant horned rat just by taking a look at it.

Victor, curled up at the entrance above the cave, lay on the ground, looking at the dimly glowing clock with his mouth wide open.

"This must be a squash that screams!"

"Salzpyre, your eyesight is as sharp as your faith..." Gragrim was speechless. A screaming death knell could be mistaken for a pumpkin. Was he a Sigmar believer or a blinded Vaal priest?

"Can't you have a sense of humor, brother dwarf?" Salzpyre wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling lucky that he had followed the priest's advice to look for the ratmen. Otherwise, the densely packed black-haired rats below would surely cause a lot of trouble to the empire.

"Instead of having boring arguments like yours... you should be more concerned about how to solve the trouble down there." The priest took off his mask and scanned the area below with his eye protected by a nictitating membrane.

The mutation made it difficult for the priest to notice it, but a layer of faint black fog always lingered just below the screaming bell. Judging from the structure, it must be the core of the ratmen.

"Shadow Walker, is there a way to sneak in?"

The shadow walker, who was placed with high hopes, shook his head without hesitation: "It's difficult. A ratman gathering place of this size is usually equipped with assassins from the Clan of Eshin, and... did you see that?"

Following the direction pointed by the Shadow Walker, everyone saw a strange creature hiding under the rocks. It was crawling on the ground with strong and powerful limbs, and its wrinkled skin looked very smooth. It twisted its head restlessly, and its flat nose twitched as it sniffed the scent of its prey.

"Why haven't I seen this kind of monster?" Gragrim spoke first. Kadrin would occasionally organize team-building activities with the Kislev Home Army, wandering around the Hell Pit and looking for giant rat skulls to fill his medals of honor.

It’s not that we haven’t seen all kinds of monsters, but we can only say that we have analyzed 70% to 80% of the Corruption Clan’s mutation technology. Various monsters emerge one after another, but most of them are used to make up for the lack of impact and backbone capabilities of the ratmen.

There are many mutated monsters based on ogres and trolls, but this one looks like an oversized hairless rat, something I have never seen before.

"Nest giant rats, I thought it was a rumor released by the ratmen... This is a bit troublesome." The priest quickly recognized the origin of the mutant creatures. The giant horned viper and Kislev had a war alliance against rats and could share all kinds of information about the Skaven in real time.

He knows much more about the situation in the Hell Pit than the dwarves.

He didn't wait for anyone to ask, but just told everyone he knew and analyzed possible situations.

"In recent years, a great figure has emerged from the Corrupted Clan, known as Slott the Unclean, a great beast tamer who controls the twelfth layer of the Hell Pit... The National Defense Army recently discovered that some rat trolls are more powerful than usual and are highly controllable on the battlefield. Some reconnaissance teams have also been attacked, and the traces were not left by the wolf rats.

The Hell Pit has no shortage of powerful mutation technology, and can always rely on dimensional stones to create some surprises on the battlefield... For example, in a battle sixty years ago, a rat troll that was as big as a war mammoth posed a great threat to the Patriotic Army. When the general was worried, the rat troll lost control and killed the trainer, turning the tide of the battle. "

"This doesn't seem to have anything to do with our current situation."

Gragrim reminded that he just wanted to jump down and fight the black-haired rats instead of continuing to listen to the priest's long speech.

"Be patient, future king of Karak Kadrin... I believe you have experienced the horror of the ratmen, especially the engineering and mutant weapons of the Skuri and Modkin clans. The reason why the ratmen have not yet formed a war method based on warp stone weapons and mutant creatures is rooted in the instability of technology.

Biological mutation is an extremely complex process. Even under absolute surveillance and experimental conditions where all data is collected, it is extremely difficult to reproduce a sample. The poor technical concepts and environment of the Ratman make it even more difficult to mass produce samples. But now a Ratman has solved these difficulties and can turn samples in the laboratory into products... Can you imagine how much trouble this is?"

"you mean……"

The priest nodded, and before Gragrim could think:

"Reports came in from the area near the Withered Swamp that the weapons of the Skuri clan are more stable and reliable than before, coupled with the optimization of the mutation technology of the Corrupted clan, perhaps... this is the will of the God."

"Enough! Let the big guys deal with these troublesome matters. What we need to do is to solve the current problems!" Victor didn't want to listen to the long-winded speeches between these clans. Killing a few ratmen was far more useful than lying on the ground analyzing the future.

He looked around, quickly forming an empty layout in his mind.

First of all, there is the ratman camp on the outskirts, which is still made up of rough wooden houses built on solid and reliable dwarf buildings. It looks like a large piece of dog shit stuck to a steel ingot, which is disgusting.

According to the habits of the ratmen, the outermost group must be a large group of slave rats who serve as cannon fodder and prepared food. With the help of the whips of the clan rat overseers, they struggle to carry the freshly excavated iron ore. If they unfortunately fall down due to lack of physical strength and the stones on their shoulders fall to the ground, their drooling compatriots will tear them into pieces in an instant to fill their never-satisfied stomachs.

On a higher level is the clan rat settlement in the middle area. They are busy transporting minerals... and fresh food through several secret passages.

Most of the food is locally sourced, mostly from orcs. Fighting with greenskins is a common practice for the ratmen. Greenskins are mushrooms that grow by eating the secretions of squigs, so they can be said to be green, environmentally friendly and pollution-free.

The rat people need a lot of food to fill their stomachs, but once there is too much food, their numbers will increase rapidly, and they will fall into a cycle.

The more you eat, the faster you give birth, and the faster you give birth, the less you eat.

To sum up the law of development of Rat people, the more they eat, the less they eat.

Using war to maintain the balance of clan population and food is something every clan leader must consider.

The truly popular food is human flesh and blood. Greenskins eat it with a mushroom-like stench, and dwarf flesh tastes like stone when bitten...

These precious foods will be sent to the innermost camp first to be fed to the storm rats. The next level clan rats can nibble on some of the less good parts. As for the slave rats, it is a favor from the horned rats to be able to eat a piece of internal organs.

It has three layers of structure: inside, middle and outside, and the areas are divided by clans.

Victor didn't know what clan they were specifically from, but the several long-horned gray prophets that appeared in the central area must be the leaders of the ratmen.

"Kill the Gray Prophet!" (End of this chapter)