The originally peaceful night was broken by the clamor of an enemy attack. Clyde had been about to enjoy a happy night, but beyond his expectations, he was disturbed. He reluctantly changed into his armor and slightly adjusted the room’s amorous occupants before leaving to determine the circumstances.
By the time Clyde left his room, the enemies had been suppressed. He had to admire the guts of these fools, actually daring to attack Ferro. At present, Ferro was under the absolute control of the allied monster army. Those unlucky attackers were bloodily suppressed by monsters before they even saw their target. When Clyde arrived, he only saw badly mangled corpses missing limbs. Most of the attackers had been directly chopped into mutilated limbs and minced meat, dying without an intact corpse.
Clyde looked around and saw the human soldiers of Steinbeck Fief standing at their respective posts. They looked somewhat uncomfortable since this was the first time they had seen the terrifying and bloody massacre methods of the monster army. Although they were allies now, the scene was still too fearsome, a one-sided massacre.
Now, the giant demon guards, wolf-headed mummy imperial guards, and high-leveled Bloodkin knights patrolled in unison. Under their feet were the corpses of the attackers who were surprisingly not humans. Upon closer examination, Clyde realized that those humanoid monsters were very familiar; they were one of the humanoid monsters he had encountered in Benson Town, the underground ratmen.
After Clyde had killed the Insect Monster King and Insect Emperor Huxley, the insectmen monsters had collapsed. Because they had lost their leader, they had fallen into a chaotic state as they vied to become the new leader. Like that, since the underground ratmen no longer faced the restrictions of their old enemies, they quickly grew wanton and arrogant. This time, they directly launched a surprise attack on Ferro from underground. They had believed that a human army had occupied Ferro without ever considering that their information might be wrong. As soon as these underground ratmen had sprung out from under the ground, before they could even launch an attack, they saw the reality of Ferro. The high-leveled monsters patrolling the town had immediately noticed them, and they were “captured” on the spot. The few who remained had been beaten to the ground and cowered in Clyde’s presence.
“These damned low-leveled mobs! Who gave you all the courage to provoke the supreme existence here?”
“No… no, we… we only came to attack the Human Race! It seems… we’ve come to the wrong place!”
There were several underground ratmen who seemed to act as commanders. The demon guards grabbed their necks and lifted them high. Because of their height differences, they looked like rats caught by cats. Those commanders immediately pleaded the demons using the human language. As humanoid monsters, regardless of their level, all could speak the basic universal human language. Therefore, humanoid monsters generally used human language when communicating with other humanoid monsters, not their own unique racial language.
“Lord Clyde, we apologize. We let these lowly rats disturb your night; we’ll immediately…”
“It’s okay. I hadn’t yet started… did you all clean up all the attackers?”
“We have! Not a single one slipped through our net.”
Upon seeing Clyde, all the high-leveled monster commanders respectfully greeted this supreme ruler. Clyde casually asked the nearest demon captain to describe the situation to him, changing the conversation’s topic while concealing the awkward matter of being forced to stop before opening fire. According to the report of the demon captain, roughly 20,000 underground ratmen had attacked Ferro just now, but they had all already been annihilated by the allied monster army.
The huge gap in the monster levels between the two sides had resulted in a serious imbalance of strength. The allied monster army had easily wiped out the 20,000 underground ratmen in roughly half an hour without any casualties. In a short period, Clyde’s side had wiped out one-tenth of the underground ratmen’s population. This efficiency was unusually high because the number of monster troops stationed here in Ferro was roughly 50,000, over twice the number of attackers. From the very beginning, their ending had been fated.
“Lord Clyde, the armors of these underground ratmen, I showed them to Princess Saras. They belong to a human army. Look at this logo.”
“Eh, isn’t that the sign of Adrian Empire’s army? Andrisno, was there an accident?”
“No, it’s not a coincidence. Lord Clyde, all the underground ratmen wore this kind of equipment.”
As Clyde thought of returning to continue his wicked deeds, Ancient Demon King Andrisno appeared beside him and personally handed him an armor set seized from those humanoid monsters. Clyde immediately recognized the exclusive logo of Adrian Empire’s army. Surprisingly, those underground ratmen had worn the standard armor of Adrian Empire’s regular troops, so the weapons they had used must have also belonged to the empire’s army. This time, were it not for the presence of the allied monster army, the human troops would have been annihilated.
Although the underground ratmen had a habit of seizing and using the equipment of the human adventurers and mercenaries they attacked, Clyde refused to believe that the underground ratmen had seized over 20,000 unblemished, standard armor and weapon sets from Adrian Empire’s army. It was impossible for the equipment these humanoid monsters had seized from a human army to be this new. Clearly, someone was supporting underground ratmen from behind by providing them equipment and had secretly prompted them to launch a surprise attack. Naturally, the target was Steinbeck Fief’s army currently occupying Ferro.
“Andrisno, arrange someone to monitor Joyce Fortress. In this area, only Viscount Aaron’s side could take out so many equipment sets belonging to Adrian Empire’s army. I suspect this has something to do with Joyce Fortress.”
“I will obey your orders. Lord Clyde, I will immediately arrange someone to do this, but what about the captives?”
“Deal with them according to your usual style. There’s no need to report to me.”
“Understood, Lord Clyde.”
After giving some instructions to Ancient Demon King Andrisno, Clyde planned to return to his room and rest. All of those captured underground ratmen commanders were very shrewd and had strong desires to survive. After determining that Clyde was the supreme commander, they hastily begged him for mercy. They knew that begging those demon guards was useless. This was their final chance to survive. If they didn’t grasp it, they would be cruelly dismembered by those heartless demon guards in the next second.
“Wait! We surrender! All this was because King Braund cooperated with the Dark Shamans of the Human Race! We were forced to do this.”
“You wouldn’t even be able to perform odd jobs here. What’s the point of your surrendering?”
“I… we know a secret path leading to Joyce Fortress. Moreover, we also have confidential information on Joyce Fortress. As long as you spare us, we will tell you everything!”
“Interesting. Fine, speak, and Andrisno and I promise not to kill you all.”
Those underground ratmen commanders revealed everything. After seeing Clyde’s side’s great strength, they directly betrayed the underground ratmen’s King Braund. Clyde had heard Insect Monster King mention “Braund” when it had cursed Underground Ratmen King. According to these underground ratmen commanders, the leader of the underground ratmen, Rat King Braund, had secretly cooperated with the Dark Shamans’ Organization for over a decade already. The true name of that organization had not been revealed to these underground ratmen; they only knew that they were part of a huge force in the underground world of human nations who could influence many aristocrats.
Especially in the border areas of third-rate empires like Adrian Empire where the control of Light Church was weak, the Dark Shamans had seized the chance to expand their influence. It was unknown if Light Church was truly unaware of the Dark Shamans’ secret movements or whether some higher-ups of Light Church had colluded with them and secretly reached an agreement since they had an ambiguous attitude towards the Dark Shamans’ organization. They intentionally ignored them and tacitly consented to their development, allowing them to expand their power without scruples.
Clyde didn’t care about the plans of the Dark Shamans. However, from the information provided by these underground ratmen commanders, Marquis Charles had a connection with that organization. In fact, the special envoys Marquis Charles had dispatched to Joyce Fortress were Dark Shamans. With Marquis Charles’s expressly written orders in their hands, the Dark Shamans could easily transfer a cache of equipment and weapons of Adrian Empire’s army from Joyce Fortress and supply them to their allies, the underground ratmen, helping these humanoid monsters launch a surprise attack from underground. They had wanted to defeat Steinbeck Fief’s army via the underground ratmen and recapture Ferro.
“Lord Archfiend, everything we spoke was the truth. This is the secret route. Can you let us go now? We will escape to faraway places and never return!”
“Rest assured. We won’t not go back on our words. You all are truly very wise, able to see the situation so clearly. You all can go.”
“Thank you, Lord Archfiend! We’ll take our leave now!”
Under Clyde’s signal, the demon guards released these underground ratmen commanders and let them exit the gates. However, before they could appreciate their newfound freedom, screams emerged outside. The wolf-headed mummy soldiers hidden outside the gates brandished their huge axes, directly cleaving those underground ratmen commanders.
“No… You all went against your words… Ah!”
“That was only Lord Clyde’s and Miss Andrisno’s promise! What does it have to do with me? Lord Clyde, I’m sorry. My subordinates let their hands slip.”
“Lafania, that’s truly a shame. We can only blame the bad luck of those poor fellows.”
Undead Queen Lafania entered the hall and apologized to Clyde, but there was no accusation in his tone. He had tacitly consented to Queen Lafania’s actions. This couldn’t count as going against his promise. Besides, he couldn’t have let them spread the news of his true might. At least, he and Ancient Demon King Andrisno hadn’t made a move. Lafania had never promised anything.
“Andrisno, I’m going to go rest. Oh, that’s right! Help me inform Princess Saras and the others. We’ll immediately attack Joyce Fortress tomorrow. Now, Viscount Aaron’s authority has been limited by those Dark Shamans, messing with their chain of command. In addition, they lost over 20,000 sets of armor and weapons. It’s truly a god-sent chance!”
“Lord Clyde, your smile is so evil! I will immediately notify them. Do you have any other instructions?”
“No… by the way, if there are no further emergencies, don’t disturb me tonight! I’ve many important matters to deal with. Lucifer is no exception. You all go and keep yourselves busy.”
“Lord Clyde, I wish you a wonderful night. There is no need to care about Lord Lucifer’s side. After returning to her bedroom with the gifts you gave her, she hasn’t yet emerged. out. She will not come looking for you. At least, not tonight.”
