Chapter 70 - The Demon Rat Horde

The Demon Rat Horde
I moved the lantern to look at the rest of the area and saw that there was a horde of demon rats.
And all of them were very large.
Serulis unsheathed her sword and said,

These are some big rats. And there are so many of them.


Yes, I can see how this would have been too much for two people.

I said and Ario nodded.

Yes, we ran out in a panic.


Just the thought of being eaten alive by those rats gave me a chill.

It was just as Josh said. It would be one of the worst ways to die.

Ario. Use fireballs. I will charge into them at the same time.


Understood.


Josh, you support us with arrows.


Of course.


Serulis, you get any that I miss.


Leave it to me.

And then I unsheathed the Devil King Sword.

Groof?

Grulf looked at me with eyes that seemed to ask the question, ‘why don’t you give me any orders?’

Grulf, your work begins when the rats start trying to escape. I want you to work with Serulis to get any that leak through the cracks.


Grr!

Grulf puffed out his chest. His tail was wagging excitedly.

Ario. Let’s start.


Understood!

Ario’s fireballs began flying.
They landed and exploded inside of the demon rat horde.

SQUEEKI-KI-KI-KI-KI-KI-KIIIIIIIII!!!!

The shrieking of the rats echoed around us.
Over a dozen of them had died from the blast.
And so I charged into the confused swarm.
I swung the Devil King Sword with all of my strength and cut into five of them.

SQUEEKI-KI-KI-KI-KI-KI-KIIIIIII!!!!

The rats cried noisily as they grouped together and jumped at me.
But I cut them all down.
I had thought that most of them would try to run away, but they were mostly jumping towards me.
Perhaps their appetites for food were stronger than their instinct for self-preservation.
The demon rats were even eating the dead rats that I had killed.
To them, it didn’t matter if it was a monster of the same species. It was just meat once they were dead.
I could sense an intense hunger throughout the whole horde.
It all felt very horrifying.
What if they had managed to get out of the sewers?
They would have begun to attack and eat people immediately.
They may have been rats, but they were as big as medium-sized dogs.
An adult may be able to kill one of them.
But they would be hard pressed against two or three. A child would not be able to fight even one.

We’ll kill them all!


Yes!

Ario shouted in reply.
Josh unleashed his arrows, killing the rats one by one.

Ario. Try not to waste your magic.


I know!

The power of a Sorcerer was not unlimited. It was important to use it wisely.
I too was swinging my sword as to not let a single rat escape.
However, there were just so many of them.
Not only that, but they were attacking from all sides.
It would be impossible to defeat them without using magic.

Leave this side to me.


Groof!

Serulis and Grulf were fighting the rats that got passed us.

Thank you.

I continued to swing my sword.
By the time there were over a hundred corpses surrounding us, the battle ended.

It looks like it’s over for now?


No. I think there are more of them deeper in.


Is that right.

Serulis said with a serious expression.

Grulf. Stay on your guard.


Groof!


And you can mark your territory.


Groof-groof!

We had Grulf watch for more rats as we collected the magic stones from the rats.
They were small and of terrible quality.
Still, they were at least bigger than the ones from normal demon rats.

Serulis. Look at my hands as I work.


Yes.

Serulis looked at my hands intently as I removed the stones.
After that, I had her try it.
As an Adventurer, taking out the magic stones was a necessary skill.
The demon rats reeked and were filthy. Normally, you wouldn’t even want to touch them.
But Serulis never showed any hesitation or disgust as she removed the stones.
At the same time, Grulf was carefully sniffing out the area.
And he would occasionally squat and mark his territory in different places.
And he was a wolf. A spirit beast wolf. Most rats should be too afraid to come close to that scent.
After taking out all of the magic stones, we gathered the corpses into a pile.
And then I explained to Serulis,

They might turn into undead or start to rot if we leave them here. And so they must be dealt with.


I see.

Serulis was a very capable fighter but had very little experience as an Adventurer, and so she listened attentively.

It would be easy to burn them if we were outside, but this is the sewers. I suppose we will just have to put them in my magic bag.


But what should you do when you don’t have a magic bag?


Find a way to burn them down here…or take them outside a little by little and burn them.

I said and Ario nodded.

Yes. When Locke fought the goblins with us, we had to drag a few dozen goblins outside to burn them.


That’s right. It was really hard work.


It was, but we had no choice but to do it.


I see.

Serulis said as she listened.
Grulf was nodding his head next to us.
And then I asked Ario,

What do you two usually do?


Well, we usually only have to kill a few of them. So we drag them outside and burn them.


I see. Yes.

After that, Josh seemed very interested in my magic bag.

By the way, Mister Locke. That is a very impressive bag.


And his mansion was huge. I believe Locke to be a very rich man!


Well, maybe.

And then I said to them,

There are likely still more of them.


I agree with Locke.


Yes. I think the likelihood of that is quite high. It is no use unless we crush them all at the source.

Everyone looked very serious.
And with that, we descended even further into the sewers.