Chapter 92 - Mining Disaster

Chapter 92: Chapter 90: Mining DisasterLu Hong was just about to leave when he suddenly remembered something, "Right, Louis, where are my classmates?"

Louis laughed. "Them? They’re mining for me."

"What? Mining?!" Lu Hong had specifically asked Caesar before leaving in the middle of the night why none of his classmates had come back, only to be given evasive answers by Caesar.

"Yes, Old Tu told me he had a batch of laborers, so I paid to have them mine for me."

"Damn! You made my classmates mine? Then how come they didn’t come back tonight?" Lu Hong was somewhat dissatisfied; Caesar was doing a surprisingly good business.

"Not come back? How is that possible? I don’t exploit my workers." Louis was actually perplexed, so he pressed the magic bell, and soon a trusted member was knocking at the door outside.

"Come in."

With Louis’s consent, the trusted female member pushed the door open, a flash of surprise in her eyes when she saw Lu Hong, but she didn’t linger on him and walked directly to Louis, bending down and saying, "Vice Captain."

"Tukuru said that the group that went mining today hasn’t come back. Check what happened."

"Alright." This trusted member acted very quickly, and in just a few minutes, rushed into Louis’s room with a report: "Something’s wrong, Lord Louis!"

"What happened?" Louis scanned the report and was immediately furious, "That fool from Harg Mountain, I must kill him!"

"There’s trouble?" Lu Hong also sensed that something was not right and asked with a solemn voice.

"Harg Mountain withheld the news about the discovery of Ratmen in the mine, trying to suppress them by himself to gain benefits, and now they are surrounded by Ratmen, and your friends are buried in the mine, alive or dead I don’t know." Louis looked guilty. If Lu Hong hadn’t asked in time, Harg Mountain would probably still be hiding it.

Hearing Louis’s response, Lu Hong’s face immediately darkened as he said, "Take me there immediately, and also notify Old Tu."

"Notify him?" Louis was puzzled, but still followed Lu Hong’s arrangements and instructed the trusted member, then hurriedly put on his coat and rushed to the mine with Lu Hong.

The horns of war sounded from atop the high buildings, as groups of mercenaries walked out of their barracks, following Louis’s pace in a unified manner.

When they nearly arrived at the mine, they saw a mercenary who had fortunately escaped rushing towards them.

"What’s the situation in the mine now?!" Louis grabbed the escaping mercenary and asked loudly.

"Ratmen... there are too many." The mercenary stammered, unable to specify the situation, and Lu Hong, lacking the patience to wait further, said, "Forget it, it’s pointless to ask."

"Take him down to rest." Louis nodded and then ordered, "All hands, draw your weapons, prepare for battle!"

"Yes!" The members of the Wartrace Mercenary Corps shouted in unison.

"Advance! Suppress the Ratmen in the mine, exterminate all alien races on the spot!" After issuing the order, Louis turned to Lu Hong and said, "You shouldn’t go, just wait for my news at a safe place, rest assured I will definitely rescue your companions."

"No, I want to go myself." Lu Hong refused Louis’s good intentions as he suddenly remembered a dungeon from a game, the Rat King’s Nest!

Lu Hong decided to investigate personally, for if it really was the Rat King’s Nest, then this could be a huge find. Inside the Rat King’s Nest lay a rare treasure, though what it was specifically, Lu Hong wasn’t clear.

"Kill!"

Arriving at the mine site, Ratmen had already filled the area outside the mine. The members of the Wartrace Mercenary Corps didn’t hesitate and charged right in; these Ratmen were short, hardly exceeding a meter in height, but they were extremely agile. The level of an average adult Ratman was around level five, equivalent to the Early Stage of the Second Transition for humans.

Louis led nearly a thousand men like a sharp sword into the Ratmen crowd, smashing a multitude of skills down upon them.

Soon, the Ratmen around the outskirts of the mine were almost completely cleared out. Just as Louis was about to lead the team deeper into the mine to rescue others, another large swarm of Ratmen surged out from within the mine, in even greater numbers than before.

"Attack!" Louis’s fist continuously gathered inner breath, and then a massive lotus blossomed suddenly, sweeping the incoming Ratmen aside.

"Vice Captain, we can’t hold on, there are too many." Even though the Wartrace Mercenary Corps members were generally higher in level than Ratmen, the endless swarm could almost exhaust them to death.

Lu Hong, who had been watching the battle, was now certain that there had to be a Rat King’s Nest beneath the mine; otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many Ratmen.

Lu Hong was not intimidated by the large number of Ratmen, passing by Louis and saying, "I’m going in first."

"Tukuru! Don’t be impulsive, there are too many of them!" Louis just tried to stop Lu Hong, but the swarming Ratmen quickly surrounded her again.

Seeing three Ratmen pounce toward him, Lu Hong whispered, "Blood!"

Then, a red sword appeared in Lu Hong’s hand, and wherever the blade pointed, the bodies of the Ratmen were cut open like tofu.

"Kill!" Watching the endless stream of Ratmen pouring out of the mine entrance, Lu Hong leapt forward, wielding the Blood Holy Sword and rushing straight into it.

Wielding the Blood Holy Sword, Lu Hong was unstoppable, taking down gods and demons alike. Although the Ratmen had substantial defense capabilities, enhanced further by their earth elemental talents, none of these were effective against the Blood Holy Sword.

"Get out of the way!" In the pitch-dark mine tunnel, Lu Hong was completely surrounded by ratmen. He couldn’t stop for a moment; he had to keep charging forward because any pause would result in being overwhelmed by the ratmen horde.

"At last you show courage, daring to enter the mine tunnel alone," Caesar’s voice came to Lu Hong’s ears, followed by a snap of his fingers, and the mine tunnel was instantly lit up.

"You finally made it. I was worried that you wouldn’t come," Lu Hong glanced around at the ratmen crawling on the stone walls and slightly relaxed. Inside the mine tunnel, it was best not to use skills if possible; otherwise, a careless collapse would spell disaster.

"Don’t worry, your classmates are all safe," Caesar stood beside Lu Hong. "I just went to scout a bit. There seems to be a ratmen den beneath this tunnel."

That settles it, the Rat King must be inside! Lu Hong nodded, "Since there’s a den, help me eliminate it."

"Heh!" Caesar sneered, "What do I care about their den? My only job is to ensure the safety of your classmates."

"That’s fine, my classmates are all in your hands," Lu Hong carried the Blood Holy Sword and continued deeper into the mine tunnel.

With the lighting spell that Caesar cast, Lu Hong was no longer blindly groping along as he had been at the start, and he could better keep track of the ratmen’s movements as they swarmed to attack him.

With nearly every step Lu Hong took, two or three ratmen corpses would lay at his feet. Anyone else would probably be worn down to death in the mine tunnel, but Lu Hong was an exception; his endurance in battle was too strong. Wounds inflicted by the ratmen would start to scab and heal before he had taken many steps.

"Squeak squeak squeak, squeak squeak squeak," the ratmen became more panicked as they fought, eventually calling out loudly for help.

"Move!" A rough voice came from deeper inside the mine tunnel, belonging to a giant ratman almost as tall as Lu Hong!

The giant ratman, carrying a massive mace, looked down at Lu Hong dismissively, "My subordinates tell me you’re tough to deal with."

Lu Hong was also surprised, "You can speak our language?"

"Hmph! I am one of the four great generals under the mighty Rat King, the Wolf Fang Mace General. Come and meet your end obediently!" The Wolf Fang Mace General clearly didn’t take Lu Hong seriously, showing no caution whatsoever.

Taking me lightly, huh? Then don’t blame me for not being polite. Without another word, Lu Hong lunged forward, the Blood Holy Sword in his hand becoming a red streak of bloodline, slashing directly across the Wolf Fang Mace General’s throat.

"How... how is that possible?" The poor Wolf Fang Mace General fell, not even a minute after appearing.

"Squeak squeak squeak!" As the Wolf Fang Mace General fell, the surrounding ratmen became even more panicked. They didn’t dare attack Lu Hong anymore and all pulled back, apparently to seek a stronger ally.

Lu Hong didn’t care about the ratmen’s intentions; he just hacked his way through to the very depths of the mine tunnel, where the ratmen had originated.

Seeing Lu Hong killing his way towards them, the general guarding the entrance to the Rat King’s Nest wielded two large iron hammers and shouted, "Who goes there?!"

"Cut the chatter, take this!" Lu Hong, who was in full killing spirit, immediately launched an attack at the general.

"Seeking death!" The ratman general roared with anger, swinging his iron hammers to meet Lu Hong in the fray.

After just a few clashes, the ratman general bellowed, "Stop, I concede, I concede!"

"Concede?" Lu Hong hesitated, pulling back the Holy Sword from the ratman general’s neck, "Aren’t you supposed to defend the Rat King to the death?"

"Answering the hero, the Rat King has bullied our tribe for years, often conducting inhuman experiments with our people. This time, when the outer walls of our nest were blown open, the Rat King ordered us to fill the breach with our lives; those who died outside were the best of our young men."

Hearing the ratman general’s response, something didn’t sit right with Lu Hong.

"If those outside were all your people, then shouldn’t you hate me for killing my way in here?" Lu Hong rested the Holy Sword back on the ratman general’s neck.

"No, no, no, take it easy, hero. Your weapon is rather sharp, any accident would be unfortunate. Please, just move it away a bit, a little farther," the ratman general trembled, distancing his neck from the blade’s cold edge, and then let out a sigh of relief, "What are you talking about, hero? Dying by your hand is a privilege for them. Besides, all blame lies with the Rat King. He did not take responsibility for his own people, sending us to die instead. Hero, you must be the one we’ve been waiting for, someone who can overturn the Rat King’s rule."

After much talking, Lu Hong got the gist: This old rat general was looking to rebel.

Lu Hong smiled, "Why should I help you?"

"This...," the ratman general’s eyes swiveled before he spoke up again, "The Rat King has hidden many treasures dug up from the underground, including two Space Rings. You know what a Space Ring is, right? They’re especially valuable. The Rat King has two; how about we overthrow him together and take one each?"

"Wouldn’t it be better for me to kill you and take both?" Truth be told, Lu Hong was tempted by the mention of Space Rings, but thankfully he had tested Caesar earlier and confirmed he wasn’t coming, so the spoils would be his.

"This... Hero, you don’t have to kill me to take both," the ratman general quickly said, "They’re all yours, I want nothing."

"What you’re saying still isn’t quite valuable," Lu Hong decided to press the ratman general further.

"I have a piece of top-secret information that concerns your country," seeing Lu Hong still uncompromising, the ratman general reluctantly revealed his last resort.

"What information?"

"Ten days ago, we received a very tall beastman who is still a guest of the Rat King; they say he’s from the Lionheart royal family. Hero, does that information weigh enough?"

"The Lionheart royal family?" This time Lu Hong was truly startled. A male lion from the Lionheart royal family appearing within the empire?

Lu Hong wrapped an arm around the ratman general’s shoulder, "Come, let’s discuss a collaboration."