Chapter 120: Ratfolk Crossbowmen and Catfolk Assassins
Seven days later.
Wade stood inside the earthen pit, looking up at the stone golem before him.
The mottled stone golem seemed to be telling him a lost history. During the ten days on the wasteland, he and the skeletons had used leftover stone and wood to expand the fortress deeper underground.
The sky had turned completely black. The wasteland had lost its light, as if the polar night had arrived.
Outside, there was absolute silence; even the wind had stopped.
Wade always felt a bit uneasy, so he instructed Mia to maintain the golem’s repair status, constantly connecting the runes on the golem with frost.
If any accident happened, this immensely powerful golem could at least help a little.
He wondered what the situation was outside.
He had been gone for ten days—how were the dragonkin and catfolk getting along?
The reason why those Icelanders had come near Dragon’s Spine was still a mystery. The three Icelanders branded with slave marks said they were only following their officers to carry out a mission here.
Three warships had broken through the icy sea and reached the bay.
Surely, one of their squads was among them, and several squads had gone to execute different tasks.
“Found them. Kill that dragonkin.” This was the order Wade had given when he met that Icelandic knight.
In the slave merchant’s cave, the Icelandic soldiers killed all the demi-humans.
That night, in that ice house, the dragonkin questioned three slaves.
“Our orders are to kill all demi-humans,” the slave said.
According to the slave, they were not here for the dragonkin alone but to exterminate all demi-humans at the slave merchant’s place.
As for the reason, the low-level recruits said they did not know. They were only following orders.
Regarding demons, they were also unclear.
They said they had never seen demons on the ships and knew nothing about demon rumors.
What the low-level soldiers knew was extremely limited. Probably only the frontline troops fought demons closely. For the general populace in the rear, the higher-ups still kept too much darkness hidden from the sunlight.
It had been one and a half months since the war began.
The flames of war on the front lines—no one knew how fierce they were.
How many Tanians and Icelanders had died on the battlefield?
If demons appeared, the church would also join the fight.
War, for ordinary people, was a hell they could not escape.
No one knew how many would be cruelly slaughtered like the people of Alvado, or how many would be forced to flee their homes.
Wade felt sorrowful. He wanted to do something but did not know what.
Before such a vast tide, he was so insignificant.
He himself was still trapped in a sunless subspace, in a prison-like wasteland—what could he possibly do?
Wade shook his head, glanced one last time at the golem, and returned to his bedroom in the cave dwelling.
He lay down on the stone bed, called the drowsy Mia, and prepared for the fourth transference.
In the blink of an eye, he returned to the ratfolk’s cave.
It was still the same room, the place where he had disappeared.
The room was empty. The furnishings had completely changed, with a wooden table and bookshelf added.
On the table were paper and ink, neatly folded robes, and weapons.
The dragonkin, following his instructions, had arranged his belongings.
Wade changed into his robe, fastened his belt, and buckled the Viking sword.
He heard the sound of arrows outside—someone was fighting, the clash of combat.
Wade followed the direction of the sounds and opened the iron window, overlooking the snowy slope.
Ratfolk crossbowmen, carrying their crossbows, were battling a group of people.
In the black night, the ratfolk shifted positions along the mountain slope and cliff edges. In this complex terrain, ratfolk crossbowmen were far more agile than human crossbowmen. Ratfolk could climb mountains and trees, and their small size made them hard to hit.
Besides their somewhat lower average intelligence and difficulty training them in discipline and order, ratfolk crossbowmen were excellent combat troops everywhere.
Wade observed that the people fighting the ratfolk were not Icelandic soldiers but some ragtag mercenaries with mismatched equipment.
Had another small faction come into conflict with the Black Cat Society?
Wade was a bit confused. After all, he had been gone ten days—ten days was enough for many changes, especially during such tense times.
He tried to find the dragonkin’s figure. Among the crowd, Wade spotted the dragonkin standing on high ground.
The invisible connection between them allowed him to quickly locate the dragonkin’s position.
The dragonkin wore a black robe, hiding herself in the darkness of night. She stood at the highest point, with catfolk by her side in the night’s shadow.
It seemed she was commanding the battle.
She spoke to the catfolk nearby, who then ran back and forth beside the ratfolk crossbowmen, directing them to move and change positions.
The Black Cat Society’s leader, Jessia, the catfolk with black ears and tail, drew a dagger.
Wade had seen information about Jessia. She was a silver-rank thief. Her intrinsic battle skill was Shadow Escape. According to her own description, it was a skill allowing her to completely vanish into shadows. Within the shadows, she gained increased speed and could even hide her breathing.
It was somewhat like an advanced Shadow Step but lasted much longer. As long as Jessia wished, she could remain in Shadow Escape indefinitely.
She could hide in someone’s shadow, follow that person eating, drinking, defecating, and sleeping—so stealthily that even if the person fell asleep, they would not notice her.
According to her recorded experience, she was once a battle slave under a Tania noble, often fighting fiercely in underground beast arenas against magical beasts or other nobles’ battle slaves, for the amusement and gambling of nobles and wealthy merchants.
Shadow Escape was a battle skill she comprehended during her escape that year. She used it to break through layers of encirclement, killed the noble who enslaved her in his bed under cover of night, and ran nonstop for three days and nights before fleeing that tormenting city.
After various twists and turns, she arrived at Dragon’s Spine, far from the human world, and founded the Black Cat Society.
From Wade’s vantage point, he could control the overall situation well. The ratfolk’s cave was located at a high point of the snowy mountain. The iron window opening from Jessia’s bedroom was originally designed as a lookout spot to detect danger early.
Wade was initially thinking about whether to go down and help, but after watching for a few seconds, he realized the battle was already one-sided.
This fight was nearing its end. Those ragtag mercenaries, whose origins were unknown, could not handle the ratfolk’s crossbows at all. Crossbow bolts rained down from all directions, overwhelming them defensively, while their archers and warriors could not hit the ratfolk, barely even locating their positions.
Through soul vision, Wade could survey the entire battlefield. Those people had sent troops to flank, but the dragonkin always knew their intentions in advance, making their attacks miss. Instead, they were surrounded by ratfolk and catfolk.
Only a few professional warriors still held on. Finally, Jessia flashed and vanished into the shadows.
She disappeared from Wade’s sight. Even the soul vision could only faintly glimpse her.
The catfolk moved like a gust of wind, closing in on those professional warriors. She raised her dagger and slit the enemy’s throat.
Those poison-coated daggers could kill with a single strike.
Within minutes, the fight ended.
Under the night, that hundred-strong squad was crushed by the far fewer ratfolk and catfolk, utterly powerless to resist.
Wade did not understand why the opposing leader was so foolish to bring his men into such easily defensible terrain at night.
Perhaps the dragonkin had used a trick to lure them here.
The dragonkin indeed had experience commanding troops in battle. Her decisions and commands on the battlefield were very far-sighted.