A Rattling Monster - Chapter 140：A Hero Trapped?

A week now, and I still can’t leave this room. I gained 3 levels, but that’s not what I really want, I want more blood. Especially when I hear the reports of all my zombies describing the rivers of blood stagnating in front of the wall. Well, it is an infected blood, dirt, yellow or green sometimes, but blood in the end. Good news is, the collection of fresh blood from the dwarves was generous. Everybody who is an adult and not fighting had to give, except the pregnant women and the children. With this, I created more wraiths, because I have only 13 wraiths now.

Two were destroyed in that week, a trap created by the ratmen. They were constructing a cannon when my wraith attacked the engineers. Who all immediately exploded. Killing my undead in the process. Another one was when he was hunting the assassins. The same thing, some kamikazes died in the process, but the damages were done. But the intensity of the battle is near zero those days.

After the initial attack that was a disaster for Salazar, during four entire days, humans, undead, dwarves, and ratmen fought on the ramparts of the Heart of the Mountain. In the end, 10 000 more casualties from our side, most of them being humans. But we killed nearly 500 000 ratmen. They had to throw all their slaves just to pierce the defenses, but when that happened, only my undead were dying. And they are replaced quickly by my 100 lich that are working permanently.

So after all those defeats and useless death, the ratmen retreated and searched for an alternative way to enter. Fat chance again, the stone is hard as hell, they tried to dig but quickly abandoned the idea. They finally found the secret tunnels, but they are even harder to capture than the wall. What can you do when only two ratmen are capable of walking side by side and thousands of dwarves and zombies are expecting you? The answer is nothing, and the piles of dead ratmen are the proof.

After that, the servants of Salazar tried to just attack the rest of the mountains controlled by the dwarves. The thing is, I asked Oslo to scout those fortresses for me. And those two contain the entire army of the dwarves not located in the capital. And if they begin to attack those two fortified points, they will have to stay close to the walls. Because otherwise, the artillery from the capital is capable of destroying them from afar.

Those two fortresses are also capable of attacking the ratmen army, but they are apparently conserving their ammunition in case of a siege. They don’t have the same stock as the capital, meaning that every shot will not be wasted. So after all of this, during two days, the ratmen are just trying to build more weapons and bring all their dark secrets hidden from their city. And that was the reason why I am creating more wraiths, because they are the only thing capable of harassing the enemy, besides the gyro-copters.

-Ghost Sleek, what a happy surprise to see you here.

Hum, I look around me. And I see Bori Longbeard, not wearing his armor. I guess that with the calm, he can rest. Most of the warriors are still on alert, but after two days, more and more are getting half a day to properly rest and eat. The battle exhausted everyone, even the dwarves, and their important vigor. I wave my hand at the former commandant of a fortress. He managed to survive this far, it is very good for someone sent to die and retard the enemy.

-Greetings commandant Bori. Do you have any idea when I will be able to leave this golden prison and maybe cast a spell or two?

He laughs at my last remark. In truth, yes, I am very well protected. Besides the fact that I spotted an assassin managing to reach this location. And if I die, there is a lot of chances that all my undead will disappear. I am not 100 % sure about that, but seeing the consequences after the death of a lich, I am confident about that hypothesis. Therefore, my protection is more important than even the king. Without me, no spirits scouting the enemy position, no communication between commandants thanks to the talking spirits. No zombies shield, weird creatures blocking the way, no wraiths to hunt the assassins.

-You know very well why we can’t allow you to even leave this place. First, the enemy doesn’t know your position. Then the king order …

SHLUMP CLUCK SRHUMP

WHAT IS HAPPENING?!! OSLO!!!

(Calm down, it is just Salazar getting angry. Remember the arena where you fought the Prophet of Krieg. Welcome back.)

But why is he using this? It doesn’t make any sense, he doesn’t know that I am your Hero or even the Hero of Aria, so why is he attacking me?

(In fact, I think he doesn’t care at all about you. What is extremely important, is the fact that all your undead are transported here. So, in the real world, they no longer exist. Meaning that now the ratmen will attack with your sudden disappearance.)

So, he basically sacrificed his Hero, just to negate all the things granted by my undead. No more meat shield, communication, information, assassination. Damn, that’s a smart move. I really didn’t expect that.

(Me neither, and with the sudden surprise caused by the disappearance of your undead, the ratmen will attack hard and fast. They need to destroy enough of the defences before you come back. Because let’s be real, the Hero of Salazar is doomed to die. Even without a [Death Ray], just your wraiths are capable of killing it. How is your mana level?)

1763/2000, I was waiting for another wraith. I have 16 of them, my dozens of spirits and a horde of zombies. As for my lich, if they create a new zombie, will he be created in the real world?

(Yes, whatever you will invoke here, the moment you leave, it stays with you. So let them keep focusing on the undead production. Now, to end this masquerade quickly, where this little ratman is hiding. Let me see, F*CK YOU SALAZAR!)

Wow, that’s harsh, why are you so angry?

(Because that bastard created a huge arena just to slow you down. Basically, the entire cave is the arena. How much did he sacrifice to do this, normally the arena shouldn’t be that big? Best I had done one time was 10 kilometers and the other god insulted me for doing this.)

Let me guess, the same situation as Salazar is in?

(Yes, my Hero was a weakling in front of the other, but my army would have won without the intervention of both of them. So, I did that, my army crushed the other, and patiently waited for the arrival of the enemy Hero. Trapped, surrounded, he was crushed under thousands of arrows, swords, and spells. But an arena this huge, and with the natural ability of a ratman, it will be a pain in the ass to scan everything. Let me take care of this, you can roam around in the meantime. Who knows? Maybe you will be lucky.)

I activate my [Veil of Darkness] and leave the fake audience room with number one. Outside, I can see my legions of zombies spreading in all the direction. With such a big army, most of the ground will be in sight. The only problem will be the hidden caves or tunnels that we don’t know. For hours, everyone is searching for a small ratman.

I checked the exits of the cave, and as expected, they are the limits of the arena. So he can be anywhere, I see my spirits searching the ceiling if the ratman was brave enough to climb that. But still no trace of him. And we have no idea how long a minute here is in the real life. But Oslo assured me that it is always slower, not faster.

If we manage to grab that vermin well hidden in less than a day, the damages won’t be that big. But after that, neither I or Oslo have a lot of hope for the dwarves. Mostly because they arranged their defenses while taking care of the zombies. And without them, a lot of things are either useless or too weak.

Even after an entire day, we still didn’t manage to grab a single trace of that Hero. He is even better at hiding and retreating than me. That’s a first, but I am really angry now. I try to see what I can do, acid or plague, useless. Shadows are not covering enough ground; my moon will kill too much of my zombies. I still have my [Death Ray] that is totally useless. I look at my mana, full. Well, let’s try it, what can I lose?

Bzzzt, Bzzzt, Bzzz- KRAKOW

IT WORKED!