Chapter 41 In the Face of Death (1/2)
Chapter 41 In the Face of Death
Cloudhawk’s thoughts were slowly being consumed by this terrifying possibility. Had the giant rats been spying on the mercenaries during the past few days? Had they first gotten a handle on how the mercenaries were behaving, then set a special trap to wipe them all out in one go?
Impossible. He had to be imagining things. This idea was shocking, ridiculous, impossible, and unbelievable. But when Cloudhawk took another glance at the rat hair, then at the local geography, he couldn’t help but turn even paler. The only way the little bastards could’ve set up a trap like this was if they were almost as intelligent as human beings!
Giant rats were amongst the lowest type of mutabeasts in existence. In both the Old Times and in the modern era, they were at the very bottom of the food chain. Cloudhawk refused to believe that rats could come up with a scheme like this. This entire world has gone mad!
The unsteady look on Slyfox’s face suggested that he had the same thoughts as Cloudhawk, even though neither voiced them. Still, Slyfox was a very experienced man who had encountered many dangerous events in his life. He didn’t hesitate in the slightest as he immediately called out, “Withdraw!”
Everyone came back to their senses. Right at this moment, a series of noises could be heard from the entrance to the valley. A pair of gunshots could be heard, followed by miserable screams. The mercenaries stationed outside were in trouble!
Mad Dog immediately ordered, “Cooke, Woola, go take a look!” Woola was the fastest member of the mercenary squad, his six legs allowing him to bound forward with the speed of a cyclone. Right behind him were eight wastelander cavalrymen riding their bigfoot birds, with the other mercenaries frantically running towards the entrance to the gorge.
That uneasy feeling in Cloudhawk’s mind grew stronger and stronger. Something really bad was going to happen!
Just a few minutes later, Woola came bounding backwards. His body was covered with wounds, and only six of the eight mercenary cavalry came back, with Cooke supporting an injured one. The injured cavalryman’s chest was torn apart with bite marks, and it looked as though they had chewed their way into his innards. The most deadly wound was the one on his neck, where it looked as though his carotid artery had been severed.
“I need a medic!”
Several mercenaries frantically ran over, wanting to help, but the man’s injuries were catastrophic. There was no way to stop the bleeding, and blood continued to spew out of him. He struggled to open his eyes, then reached out with a mangled hand to weakly clasp a nearby mercenary. He summoned all of the energy he had to say: “We’re completely surrounded outside. I’m not gonna make it. Leave me and… get the hell… out of…”
Right at this moment, a tidal wave of strange squeaks suddenly rang out from outside. These were the sounds the giant rats made… and it seemed as though there were countless rats right outside! The mercenaries all felt as though they had been doused in cold water as the final strand of hope they had felt was extinguished!
“What the hell is going on?” The furious Mad Dog charged straight towards Cooke, grabbing him roughly. “Where are the others? What happened to the others?!”
Cooke just shook his head, a bitter look on his face. Just as Mad Dog was about to launch into an enraged tirade, the worst case scenario happened.
A large number of giant rats began to flood into the gorge, surging towards them like a tide. Some were burrowing under the ground while some were crawling on the walls. There had to be at least five or six hundred of the critters at a minimum!
Damn. This is almost as bad as a beast wave! Although the mercenaries were quite powerful, how could they possibly deal with such a large-scale attack by so many giant rats? The mercenaries began to withdraw, not even thinking about stopping to fight. Slyfox moved to grab the heavily injured cavalryman, only to discover that he had already passed away just a short while ago.
The countless giant rats around them continued to surge closer and closer towards them.
“Screw it, withdraw!”
“Withdraw!”
“Withdraw!”
The twenty-plus mercenaries all began to frantically retreat. While withdrawing, Cloudhawk stared wide-eyed as the dead mercenary on the ground was dragged like a ragdoll into an entire pack of savage giant rats. It was like he had been dragged into the hands of a horde of murderous children, and just a few seconds later the corpse had been completely torn apart.
Cloudhawk had spent roughly a month and a half at Blackflag Outpost. By now, he knew and was very familiar with every single mercenary in the Tartarus mercenary company. They loved to tease and torment him… and now, one of them had just died in front of Cloudhawk, with his body torn into shreds. Cloudhawk couldn’t help but feel miserable. Although he still really didn’t like Blackflag Outpost, he had to admit that he truly had become a member of the mercenary company.
One of his comrades had just died in front of him, and there hadn’t been a thing he could do about it. This induced a sensation of rage and grief as he powerlessly tightened his grasp around the black tri-bladed staff!
Cloudhawk’s eyes were completely bloodshot by now. Right at this moment, one of the dog-sized giant rats pounced straight towards him, its mutated claws and fangs as sharp as knives. These creatures were incredibly deadly; if he allowed himself to be knocked down, he would be doomed.
Cloudhawk lashed out with his staff, and the blood-splattered giant rat came crashing down to the ground. Alas, the creature was incredibly tough and tenacious. Although it had been heavily injured, it didn’t retreat; instead, it moved to attack in an even more berserk fashion. Right at this moment, two more giant rats appeared next to Cloudhawk. They were as agile as panthers and as savage as wolves, launching a pincer attack on Cloudhawk.
“Fuck off!” Cloudhawk brandished his tri-blade staff, managing to just barely beat back two of the rats. The third one managed to make it past his defenses, leaping onto Cloudhawk and pouncing onto him, using its hooked claws to dig an enormous tear on the back of Cloudhawk’s leather armor.
Cloudhawk spun his tri-blade staff backwards, using it to stab towards his own back! Several bloody wounds appeared on the giant rat’s body, but it continued to obstinately maintain its grip on Cloudhawk. It even attempted to climb upwards and tear at Cloudhawk’s neck! Right at this critical moment, the six-armed Woola came charging over. Woola grabbed the giant rat, threw it to the ground, then delivered a crushing bite to the giant rat’s head.
“Let’s run, Woola!” Cloudhawk stabbed to death a giant rat which sought to ambush Woola. The creature’s foul, pungent blood spurted onto his face, but he didn’t even have any time to wipe it off. They were completely surrounded by giant rats, all of which were leaping towards them.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Three cracks rang out as Slyfox turned to fire off three shots in their direction. Three of the giant rats toppled to the ground. Cloudhawk and Woola hurriedly took advantage of the opening to follow after the rest of the mercenaries.
“Don’t panic, rookies! Don’t panic! All of you, stay close to me!” Slyfox fired repeated long-distance shots, killing several of the deadly acid rats which were hidden amongst the many other giant rats. “Cooke’s up ahead searching for a place for us to hide!”
Mad Dog was like a windmill meat grinder, swinging his snow-white machetes in every direction as he hacked open a path for the others. It didn’t matter how ferocious the giants rat were or how many of them attacked; all of them were hacked into mincemeat by Mad Dog’s deadly dance of machetes.
Several of the wastelander cavalry on the bigfoot birds led the vanguard in their breakout attempt. Cooke led them through various twists and turns, somehow actually managing to discover a cave.