Raid on Ratstein Island! (2)
The thick fog rising from the lake pressed heavily upon the island's forest.
In that damp, oppressive air, a young elf noble from Adlerheim and the escort mercenaries he had hired snickered as they leisurely pushed through the underbrush.
"Where have all these barbaric Untermensch scurried off to? Did they get scared and dive into some rat hole?"
The elf noble struck a cocky pose as he worked the bolt of his air gun and fired a blank into empty air.
"It's no fun if I don't get to watch them run. Shooting them while they flee is half the pleasure."
Arrogant hunters intoxicated by the bloody thrill of human hunting. They firmly believed themselves the absolute masters of this island, and that the helpless beastmen were nothing more than moving targets.
"Grrrr!"
The two hunting dogs leading the search through the forest suddenly bristled and stopped cold.
"Oh-ho. So you've found the little rat, have you?"
The elf noble halted at the sight. Just as the dogs, snarling as if they had caught some alien scent, were about to open their mouths—
Thwip!
"..."
Not even a short scream escaped. The two hunting dogs collapsed on the spot as if their bones had been removed.
"!"
An unexpected situation. The noble and his attendants froze. Embedded in the thick napes of the hunting dogs were small steel arrows.
"What the hell! Where did that come from! And what even is this!"
The elf noble who had been so full of leisure just moments before yelped in fright and scrambled behind his escort mercenaries.
Something like this should never have happened. The ones released into the forest were mere prey. Prey harming the hunter was not supposed to happen. Which was why they had only been handed cheap toys for their amusement.
"It's an ambush!"
The mercenaries hurriedly drew their weapons. What they held were the latest model repeating rifles that could take five rounds. They raised their guns and scanned their surroundings, but the fog-shrouded forest was unnervingly silent. They checked the branches above, but no enemy shadows were visible.
"Damn it! Something's wrong. We have to get back to the mansion and report—"
By the time they realized it, it was far too late. The Rat Rangers had already surrounded them, using their uniquely small builds as rodent beastmen and their instinctive agility. The girls were perfectly camouflaged among the dense thickets, in the crevices of moss-covered rocks, and among the roots of giant old trees.
The cool hour of role reversal had arrived.
Thump! Thud!
"Gyaaah!"
"My ankle!"
From the lowest and most concealed blind spots in the undergrowth all around, the rapid fire of Ratpid Bowguns poured down mercilessly. Arrows flew without pause, cutting through the darkness! The shots precisely pierced the necks, legs, arms, and torsos of the escort mercenaries. The men screamed as they collapsed one by one, rolling on the ground.
"Where are they! Just where the hell are they shooting from!"
The elf noble sprayed his air gun into empty air.
Thwip!
"Die! Die!"
The elf man screamed like a madman. The enemy remained invisible, yet the bodyguards he had trusted were dying right before his eyes, spouting blood. The arrogance vanished completely from the elf noble's face. Pale terror slowly swallowed its place.
"This... this can't be! This isn't the kind of hunt I signed up for!"
The noble's jaw trembled.
I, of noble elf bloodline, am being hunted?
In a complete panic, the elf noble lost all reason, discarded even his gun, spun around, and began fleeing madly into the fog.
"No! No...!"
But his escape drama did not last even ten steps.
Twang!
Something caught his ankle. He lost his balance and slammed face-first into the ground.
"Ugh, aaaagh!"
Looking back, he saw a rope cleverly strung among the bushes.
"Aaaagh! S-save me...!"
As he struggled, a shadow loomed over his vision, parting the dense thicket and walking out. A small figure with round ears and a black hood pulled over its head.
"Save you?"
A chilly voice. A mouse-eared girl with a green beret pressed low looked down impassively at the noble while honing the edge of a gleaming dagger. The elf reeled in shock at the sight.
"I-impossible. How could an inferior species...!"
"In the name of the Hamster Wheel!"
There was no mercy.
Thwip!
The dagger traced a silver arc and slit the elf noble's throat. A spray of blood dyed the fog crimson.
"What? Where did everyone go!"
"Hey! Answer me!"
The nobles who had been enjoying a mad hunt while chasing the fleeing rat beastmen began to panic as they noticed the strange silence of the forest. The voices of their companions who had confidently scattered into the woods were cutting off one by one. Even the screams coming from within the forest were not the thin, high voices of young girls. Normally those would have come accompanied by gunshots from time to time, heightening these men's amusement. Instead, what they heard were the screams of adult humans.
"Gurgle...!"
One merchant lord who turned his head at a rustling sound clutched the arrow stuck in his neck, foamed blood at the mouth, and collapsed.
"Enemy! Shoot! Shoot them!"
The nobles hid behind trees and returned fire in a frenzy. The latest air guns and repeating rifles—their power alone was certain. But you cannot shoot an enemy you cannot see. The tide of battle had already irreversibly turned.
Squeak-squeak!
Perfect real-time information from the spirit horned mice flooded into my mind. Their positions and every blind spot in their vision were drawn transparently inside my head.
"Surround them! Stab!"
At my hand signal, the Rat Rangers—armed with overwhelming informational superiority and the rapid-fire power of their bowguns—ghosted through the bushes and cut off the enemies' escape routes. After that, a hail of arrows finished the job.
"S-save me! I'll give you as much money as you want!"
One noble who had fallen with an arrow in his leg begged for his life.
"What should we do, Captain?"
"He's one of the ones who tormented our rats."
"Understood! Squeak!"
The ranger girls burning with fighting spirit mercilessly stabbed the bastard's heart and throat with their daggers.
"To the mansion! Let's go back to the mansion!"
"Run!"
A few nobles and attendants who realized the seriousness of the situation madly dashed back the way they had come, toward the mansion, desperate to survive.
"You think I'll just let you go?"
Since they were starting to catch on, I needed to bring out something stronger than the bowguns.
Tatang!
Hilde and I pulled the triggers of our needle rifles at the same time.
"Gahk!"
At the forest boundary where the mansion's lights were faintly visible, the backs of the fleeing nobles' heads exploded like watermelons.
"Leave three of these ones breathing."
I jerked my chin at the three trembling nobles who were still surrounded, instructing Temi.
"They're excellent flagrant offenders to hand over to that old gendarmerie geezer who'll be arriving soon. Also gather up all the rat beastman compatriots who were fleeing and keep them together."
"Yes, understood! Squeak!"
Temi nodded and bound the prisoners. The Rat Rangers collected the survivors.
"W-who are you?"
"We've come to rescue you!"
The collars and such were easily dealt with.
"Crude. My spirits could undo these at their level, no?"
"Here! If you undo this ring, it can be safely dismantled!"
Hilde and Mani quickly removed the collars of the people who had been reduced to prey with their respective skills.
"Rangers! Lead the people to evacuate the way we came earlier. The dark cats will help."
"Yes!"
"And some of you go to the pier, wait for the gendarmerie, and guide them! Take those prisoners and the totems!"
At my instructions, some of the rangers moved quickly. While cleaning up the bloody aftermath of the forest and advancing forward, my footsteps suddenly stopped.
What is this?
I furrowed my brow and looked down at the soggy dirt under my feet. The blood flowing from the corpses of the dead nobles and mercenaries was being greedily sucked into the ground. The bloodstreams wriggled unpleasantly like living creatures.
"Loti! Look at this!"
Sena, who had been scouting a bit ahead in the forest, called me in a voice gone pale. Following where she pointed, we came to an empty clearing in the middle of the woods. There stood a large stone altar. It was similar to the one set up in the sewers of Oakwood in the past to call a great demon into this world. A bit different from the one used for the Dragosius summoning, though.
"This is insane..."
A chilling dread raced up my spine.
"So it really was a great demon summoning."
I looked alternately at the ground soaking up the blood and the giant totem. Hilde clicked her tongue.
"The entire forest of this island must have been one giant magic circle."
The beastman hunting had ultimately just been a process to achieve their goal, it seemed. So this was why there had been that ominous energy. They must have used the blood, terror, and despair of all who died here as fuel.
"We have to subdue the baron quickly."
I did not forget to smash every totem in sight either.
Around the time Loti's party was facing the terrible truth in the forest, Baron Schwarzenstein sat on the lavish outdoor terrace of the mansion plaza at the center of the island. Completely unaware that the slaughter in the woods had been reversed into a reverse hunt, he leisurely savored premium wine. He felt the giant magic circle beneath his feet greedily absorbing the blood of those who had died in the forest and charging up, and a bloody smile formed on his lips.
"Excellent. It's progressing very smoothly."
The baron raised his blood-red wine to the air.
"Just a little more, just a tiny bit more blood, and a great being will descend upon this squalid world."
It was right then.
Bweeeeeep!
The sharp whistle of the gendarmerie shattered the island's silence.
"W-what is this!"
What emerged through the fog were dozens of boats.
"Arrest Baron Schwarzenstein and all other personnel!"
The regular gendarmerie led by Inspector Coldwell had roughly landed at the island's pier. It was the moment when public authority finally crashed into the board Loti had prepared.
Click!
Coldwell strode into the mansion's garden leading the gendarmerie with a stern face. Without hesitation, the inspector drew the sword at his waist and pointed it at the baron on the terrace.
"Baron Schwarzenstein!"
Coldwell's thunderous shout rang through the plaza.
"I hereby urgently arrest you on charges of unauthorized kidnapping, confinement, serial murder! And the high treason of demon worship! In the name of the God of Order, and in the name of His Majesty the King and the law, I order you! Discard your weapons at once and surrender!"
From the forest: the Rat Rangers, the captured nobles, the freed rat beastmen, and above all the terrible demon totems. Having confirmed all of this with his own two eyes, Coldwell had obtained perfect grounds for a flagrant-offender arrest that no longer even required a warrant. Completely surrounded by dozens of gun muzzles and cold blades.
But on the face of the baron looking down from the terrace there was not a hint of fluster. Instead he began to laugh madly, his shoulders shaking.
"Puhahahaha! Heh, heh heh!"
The baron flung his wine glass to the floor and guffawed.
"Arrest? Playing the guardian of the law, are you? Insignificant things! I am a descendant of the great World Tree, a noble high elf who has inherited the glorious blood of Adlerheim!"
At the baron's arrogant shout, the nobles and assemblymen of the Winster Kingdom who had been hiding in the back also raised their voices, veins bulging.
"How dare a mere gendarmerie grunt draw a blade on the baron!"
"Do you know who we are! People who could have your neck flying off by tomorrow, that's who!"
Coldwell gripped his sword anew and answered with a cold growl to all that arrogance.
"No. You are simply criminals who have broken the law."
At the firm declaration the nobles fell silent all at once. There was also the pressure of the aimed gun muzzles.
"Everyone, kneel and surrender."
At that moment Baron Schwarzenstein burst into laughter.
"Do you think the crude laws of you short-lived, filthy inferior humans can dare to judge me?"
Sensing something wrong, just as Coldwell drew his pistol the baron pulled a grotesquely pulsing blood-red jewel from his breast and raised it high.
"I shall grant you the glory of becoming sacrifices for the great descent!"
"!"
Bang!
He immediately pulled the trigger, but a barrier surrounding the body deflected the bullet.
Fwaaaash!
An ominous red light poured from the jewel and covered the surroundings.
"G-gyaaaaah!"
"W-what is this... Baron!"
The high-ranking human officials of the Winster Kingdom who had just been raising their voices at the gendarmerie all began to foam at the mouth and roll on the terrace floor at once. Red energy streamed out like smoke from their eyes, noses, and mouths, greedily sucked into the jewel the baron held and the magic circle on the floor.
"Hmph! Did you think you were on the same level as me?"
To the baron, comrades and such were of no concern.
"Since there's a shortage of rat beastman sacrifices, I'll just use you. That's all."
Wooooong—! Kwaaaang!
Having absorbed overwhelming blood and human life force as well as dense demonic energy, the entire island began to shake as if a massive earthquake had struck. Then the mansion and the ground around it began to crack open little by little.
"O-oh god..."
The gendarmerie officers recoiled in horror. Blood-red smoke rose from the cracks in the earth. What crawled up from those fissures were terrible living creatures—chimeras grotesquely fused with a bear's torso, a snake's tail, an eagle's wings, and a wolf's head, all tangled together with flesh.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
The chimeras raised their blood-soaked bodies and roared madly at the gendarmerie.
"What are you afraid of! Open fire! Fire!"
At Coldwell's firm command the gendarmerie officers all aimed their musket muzzles.
"For His Majesty the King! For the kingdom and justice!"
Coldwell and the gendarmerie drew their swords and confronted the baron and the chimeras.
"Loti! What is that!"
Right in the middle of that pandemonium. Having broken through the forest and entered the mansion plaza, I and the Rat Ranger girls stopped dead as we came face to face with the pack of blood-soaked chimeras.
"Hold formation! Get out the holy water bottles!"
I shouted urgently and pulled out the glass bottle the cathedral bishop had packed for me, roughly smearing it on the ends of the bowgun bolts.
"Die, you horrific monsters!"
Sena raised her shortsword, drawing holy power to its limit, and charged, stabbing the front leg of a chimera that lunged at her. Taking that opening, the bolt I shot with holy water on it sank into the creature's brow.
"Kieeeeek!"
With a terrible scream one magic beast melted and collapsed. But only one had fallen. From the gaping fissures larger and more vicious chimeras continued to crawl up, radiating overwhelming despair. An out-of-spec power and ominousness that ordinary weapons could not handle was crushing the entire island.
Right now there was only one thing we could believe in. Faith is everything!
"For the Lord of the Hamster Wheel!"
We raised a war cry and charged toward the mansion.