From Skaven to God of War

Chapter 371, Patience and Pain
This province, this land was also changed by the new emperor.

But war is still the first problem they have to face.

The war not far away has not stopped, and their work is full of risks, but this area always needs people to stay, cultivate the land, and stop the intruding rats.

Amid shouts, men walked up to the city wall one by one, and torches were lit on the wall built by the wizard masters.

The figures of the rats have appeared outside the town, in the darkness in the distance, and pairs of red eyes are dim in the darkness.

While running wildly, such noisy sounds and various voices appeared in my ears.

There are many ratmen gathered under the flag, and the chances of victory for this town are not very good.

Although these militiamen, these farmers, and these men standing on the city walls have great fighting spirit, unfortunately, their chances of winning are still too slim.

The madly running rats emerged from the darkness with shouts, and ran excitedly under the continuously falling magic energy beams. The gun-carrying team began to fight back, but in the excessive excitement, most of the attacks were hit into the sky, on the ground, and on the buttocks of the madly running rats.

These guys are so excited.

But it is true that an exciting looting and carnival is about to begin.

The rats rushed to the not-quite-tall city wall outside the town and climbed up excitedly. Dense crowds of rats continued to pour into the town.

The gun-carrying teams even gave up shooting and started running wildly, dragging their overly long guns.

Everything was in chaos, and the town began to fall in this chaos.

The rat warriors had already climbed up the wall outside the town. After they got together, no one pulled the trigger and started hand-to-hand combat. These militiamen were waving their war hammers. Their equipment was not bad, and a fierce fight began.

Everything is becoming chaotic and disorderly.

But no matter what, it is too extravagant to send out a rat warlord just for a small town.

The two sides are not at the same starting line at all.

In the chaos, one fighting figure after another fell under the siege of the ratmen. The city walls were completely occupied by the ratmen warriors, the gates were pushed open, and the ratmen began to celebrate.

Dense swarms of ratmen poured into the town. There was no massacre, no more unnecessary killing.

Living sacrifices are the most valuable things to the rat people.

Not long after, the town was completely alarmed. Those who arrived here this time were not those rat knights with no siege capabilities, but a legitimate rat warlord and part of his army.

Amid the cries, the sacrifices were tied up with long ropes and dragged out of the house one by one.

Of course, there are some that slip through the net.

In an ordinary room, in a long cabinet, a woman with red eyes was holding two chubby boys tightly.

Outside the house, messy sounds were heard.

Not all ratmen are able to capture sacrifices. At this time, it is necessary to find something pleasing to the eye as trophies.

Unfortunately, a group of ratmen came to this room.

If this goes on, when these guys come in, they will all be discovered in the room.

That would not be a good outcome.

The woman with red eyes made a decision. She hugged the two half-grown boys and spoke to the older boy.

"Don't make any noise, Nova!

Protect your brother!"

After saying these two sentences, the woman with red eyes pushed open the cabinet, pushed the wooden bed to block the cabinet, grabbed the rolling pin on the table, and rushed out hysterically.

"You damn rats, damn rats, damn rats!"

Outside, there was a chaotic noise.

The woman never came back.

Simultaneously.

The mother also successfully saved her two children.

A sacrificial ceremony was being carried out in the center of the town. There was no excessive killing, and the sacrifices were all made of the militiamen who had fought the rats on the city wall.

The bodies of the militiamen were piled up together.

The noisy and chattering rats suddenly became unusually quiet at this moment. They huddled together and stood outside the crude altar, trying to raise their heads higher to see the sacrifice more clearly.

The ceremony was not complicated, and it ended with a loud shout.

"Great God! Great God!"

After shouting loudly and devoutly, the looting came to a temporary end and the next thing to do was not complicated.

Run away.

The human army is coming.

The rats fled in all directions tacitly, carrying the large and small bags of looted things, dragging one slave after another, disappearing in all directions, leaving behind a ruin, a ruin burning.

Soon after, a human army arrived riding on war horses. Judging from their equipment and demeanor, they were a very elite army. Unfortunately, they were unable to save anything.

It all happened too fast. They were unable to save the town. The sound of the leaping flames was mixed with screams of fear, and the angry commander could only roar in frustration.

"damn it!"

Half the army was left behind to fight the fire and rescue those who survived.

The other side dispersed. They had dealt with Qi several times before and they knew what Qi would do. This was the best time to chase those fleeing ratmen.

Those greedy guys who are lugging too much stuff can't run far.

This way, more ratmen can be killed and some people who have been kidnapped by the ratmen can be saved.

But the commander also knew very clearly that no matter how hard they tried to chase those guys, they would not be able to catch the leader of the invading ratmen, that damn cunning guy. He was much more cunning than ordinary ratmen and was better able to restrain his greed.

The arriving troops dispersed and chased after the fleeing ratmen.

Those who stayed behind began to put out the raging fire.

Even though the mages left behind many early warning measures and set up one response network after another, the response troops left in the buffer zone behind the front line were too few.

The moment he received the news, the commander did not hesitate at all and almost immediately started to run with his troops, but he still could not save everything.

Listening to the faint wailing coming from the flames, the commander gritted his teeth and left with his troops.

He has tried his best.

It was already too much for them to just maintain those main battle lines. Perhaps they really had to launch a large-scale conscription. They needed more warriors to fight the ratmen and could not retreat for long. No matter what, he didn't want to roar like this anymore.

Amid tremendous pressure to maintain the front line, military generals fighting on the front lines recently jointly launched a petition.

They wanted a massive call-up, a real counterattack.

However, the proposal stalled with Caesar and did not receive the final nod.

Everyone knows that such retreat will not bring victory, but now the Human Empire is no longer qualified to gamble. Being stuck in these key places and being constantly consumed and bled, although it is very embarrassing, it at least provides a stable space and rear, and if a counterattack is launched.

The worst case scenario is that the battle line is stretched out and collapses completely, and then the ratmen can advance unhindered.

The empire cannot afford such a risk. It's not that they don't have any chances. The magic industry has not yet reached its limit in the empire, and the decisive battle is still a long way off. Even if the rotting and festering wounds are extremely painful, they must and can only endure it.

Dawn moment.

The flame ignited by the flag was finally completely extinguished.

One after another, gray figures climbed out from the ruins and gathered at the entrance of the town, waiting with hope and gazing with expectant eyes at the country roads connecting all directions.

Soon, another group of cavalry came back, bringing back some people captured by the ratmen. In the turbulent night, everyone was terrified.

Maybe this description is not appropriate, but some people are indeed luckier.

At least when they come back, they can see the people who are waiting for them, hug each other and cry bitterly in front of this town that has turned into ruins.

But not everyone is so lucky.

This is the last batch of human knights to return.

The two dusty boys looked at the bearded commander with hope.

"Uncle Cooley, will the other uncles come back? Will they bring mom back?"

Faced with such an expression and such words, the commander was really overwhelmed. He was silent for a long time, opening and closing his mouth, not knowing what to say or what he should say.

This happened several times, but in the end, no word was said.

It was difficult for him. He was obviously a fierce guy who was so ferocious that he had the title of "killing a hundred people" on the battlefield and could fight with the rat people from morning to night standing on the city wall. But at this moment, he didn't even know what to say.

The two chubby boys seemed to understand something and lowered their heads.

Then a pair of big hands covered with calluses and scars fell on the heads of the two boys.

"Don't be so depressed, you are all men!"

"We can be just like you, Uncle Cooley!"

"You are still too young, but you can go to military school for a few years first."

"What's that, military academy?"

"That was founded by His Highness Caesar. I don't know what it is, but if you go there, you will become very powerful after a few years."

"Can you go to the battlefield?"

"can!"

………….

Once again, the Ratman Council was held in the underground Rat City in the Desolate Mountains.

As expected, this time the parliament was also accompanied by quarrels, accusations, abuse, and dragging, without a trace of decency.
Fortunately, Sheng Qi has been gradually adapting to such situations, or it can be said that he is just like a fish in water in such situations.

The rat lords routinely mocked the temple guards, and the atmosphere became tense from the beginning of the meeting.

Next came the captain of the temple guards from Prairie City, a rare debate master among the temple guards, who started to curse each other without any hesitation.

Then there was the mutual accusations between the two loyal ratman priests. From these meetings, it can be seen that the conflict between the two loyal ratman priests was gradually intensified.

Because of some disputes over territorial rights.

Sheng Qi had no intention of acting as a peacemaker. After all, although these two loyalists nominally belonged to the Ratman Council and were under Sheng Qi's control, the actual situation was that they protected the Ratman Council but did not necessarily care about Sheng Qi's existence.

Sheng Qi is happy to see the conflict between these two guys. No matter which side loses in the dispute in the end, it will be Sheng Qi's opportunity.

While the two guys were blaming each other, the ratman assassin hiding in the shadows threw out some intelligence about the front line and the movements of the human empire.

The Skaven Assassins, a highly independent and secretive organization lurking in the dark, have never given up on infiltrating the Human Empire, or rather, they have never given up on infiltrating anything.

It's chilling, but we can't live without them.

This information was circulated among the ratmen councillors present.

What is rare is that Qi's name appears in this intelligence, including the strategies Qi used in the Youyan human buffer zone.

This is a mixed bag for Qi. The good thing is that his name has been mentioned and he may get more support. The bad thing is that he has come into the sight of the rat assassin.

Regarding the decision to go to war, the attitudes of the thirteen ratmen councillors present were surprisingly unanimous. The war could not be stopped and must continue.

No one is so ignorant as to oppose this matter in such an occasion. Even Huishi, the most insignificant guy, knows to raise his hand at this time.

War is the absolute right thing in the Ratman Empire, and no one can violate it.

Of course, even with a firm attitude, these ratmen councillors had no better solutions to the stalemate.

After shouting a few slogans, they sat down again.

Just like that, the quarreling session ended and something more practical was brought to the table.

The Big Claw Priest requested more blood mushrooms for the maintenance and expansion of the underground rat city.

Representatives from the Gear Church requested more blood mushrooms to update the Skaven warships.

The seventh generation steam tank has entered the research and development stage and requires the participation of more blood mushrooms and gray stones.

The dominance of the Ratman University needs to be defined, whether it should be returned to the Ratman Council or allowed to be established by all Big Claw Priests on their own.

The expansion of major trade routes and whether steam engines were put into use for road transportation.

Distribution of shares for the next batch of young ratmen and storm rats.

Unknown changes have occurred in the soul skeleton. Should more careful observation and experimentation be conducted?

Each of these topics was raised at the long table and decided through participation and voting by the thirteen rat men and Rope Seven.

After the appointment of Sheng Qi, the not-so-strong-enough Ratman High Priest, the framework of the Ratman Parliament was gradually being established.

(End of this chapter)