Alien world

Chapter 1653, Section 286: Insight
Smoke and rat carcasses desecrated this verdant grassland.

After eliminating the rats that outnumbered them five to one, the soldiers' morale improved significantly.

But their emotional recovery could not change their situation of being thirsty and scorching hot. Soren thought for a moment and suddenly ordered them to peel off the rat skins and wear them to block the sun.

The soldiers, draped in rat skins, became like savage "rat-skin cans," though it did provide some relief from the heat.

Soren walked up to the two remaining survivors and asked, "Where are the nearest forest and water source?"

“River? No. Woods? There…” A ratman pointed north.

“You’re lying. Your people are over there,” Sauron said coldly.

"No kidding, they're human creatures, driving us away..."

The slave rats weren't very bright and couldn't explain themselves. Sauron simply assumed they were stragglers who had been scattered by the army of the Kingdom of Dimon and had slipped through the net.

However, now that he had confirmed the information, he drew his short sword and sent them to see the Great Horned Rat.

Normally, Sauron might have been interested in capturing a prisoner, but now the mission was urgent, and he couldn't bring along two burdens.

Then Sauron raised his head and shouted, "There's a forest to the north; we can rest there!"

……

"Huchi... Huchi... Huchi..."

Frank's panting sounded like a bellows.

As a graduate of a military academy, he had naturally been exposed to some training and mastered breathing techniques, but in the end, he was just a civilian.

Wearing at least twenty pounds of clothing without any special lining to relieve the pressure on his shoulders, Frank quickly felt his arms becoming disembodied, as if they were about to fall off.

A complaining soldier's voice rang out from the side: "If you can't have it, give it back to me."

"Why not? I haven't had enough of wearing the Hellfire armor yet, which is a rare treat." Frank said exaggeratedly, quickly becoming one of the soldiers.

The soldiers felt a surge of respect for Frank. They knew it was all an act, but Frank didn't know that he was genuinely leading by example to reduce the soldiers' complaints—if even they, whose physical abilities were far inferior to theirs, could persevere, what right did the others have to complain?

At this moment, the scouts ahead reported that they had spotted rat-men two or three miles away.

This is within the territory of the Kingdom of Dimon, how come there are ratmen here?

Frank sensed something was wrong, watched for a while as the swarm of rats approached them, told the soldiers to form ranks, and then had the complaining soldiers shout.

"Why didn't you shout?" the complaining soldier reflexively nitpicked.

"Huff... It feels like there's a huge rock pressing on my chest, I can't scream."

"Never mind, just give it to me."

He interrupted the soldier's resistance as he went to remove Frank's plate armor: "You are our temporary political commissar; you have more important things to do."

He's the main character in this assessment, why is he trying to steal the spotlight?

"Thank you."

Frank stopped refusing. After taking off his plate armor, he felt much lighter and could jump several meters.

Seeing the swarm of rats approaching from two or three hundred meters away, Frank shouted in the rat-man language: "Rat-man bastards, can you communicate?!"

The ferocious ratmen charging towards them quickened their pace.

"Looks like this won't work." Frank shouted, "Prepare for battle! Kill anyone who dares to charge, and capture anyone who tries to escape!"

Having just fought a major battle in the far north, the hundreds of slave rats charging towards them now seemed almost adorably weak.

The battle lasted only a few dozen seconds. The dozen or so ratmen that couldn't be caught were killed, those that resisted were killed, and the three that pretended to be dead were dragged back. "How did you get here?" Frank asked them.

"Human creatures, chase us away."

It seems that it wasn't the ratmen who invaded the Kingdom of Dimon, but just a scattered group of rats.

Frank then asked, "Do you want to live or die?"

"I don't want to live."

A soldier nearby who understood a little bit of ratman language sneered, "Pretty tough, huh?"

Frank chuckled: "It actually means something quite similar."

In the language of the rat people, "no" is an auxiliary word. "No" means "cannot" but "cannot" means "cannot" or "cannot agree"; "disagree" means "disagree" or "agree"; "don't want to live" means "want to live".

"Then follow us. If you keep up, you live; if you don't, you die. Understand?" Frank tossed a bag of dry rations to the three ratmen.

"Why keep them?" the complaining soldier asked.

"If there's a large swarm of rats ahead, they might be able to help."

On the other side, the trainee political commissar, who was also advancing in a straight line, encountered a swarm of rats. He took the same action as Soren, choosing to kill the rats to boost morale.

In any case, it's never wrong to fight off a swarm of rats.

On Adam's side, although there were complaints that the soldiers were deliberately finding fault, they did not encounter any ratmen. If the practical assessment was likened to an examination hall, Adam was leading his troops away from the examination hall at this time, and naturally far away from the methods arranged by his adjutant, Lockren.

"What about Lokeren?"

At Hellfire Camp, someone discovered that someone was missing.

"Did you go to patch it up?"

If Adam manages to get a warhorse in Firepot Town, the assessment won't need to continue.

Normally, even if someone deviates from the exam scope and isn't judged as a failure, they'll still get a low score from the "judges." However, none of the officers cared; they were more curious about whether Adam could succeed despite the interference from Lieutenant Lockeron.

The approach of Adam and his group of soldiers of unknown origin quickly attracted the attention of the heavily guarded town of Firebowl. After their identities were confirmed, they were given a warm welcome.

The magic muskets were genuine, and who would dare to claim that the Hellfire Legion had just accomplished something big, boosting human morale, with most of the town's residents coming out just to catch a glimpse of the renowned Hellfire Legion?

The deep red, high-quality plate armor, the graffiti representing the number of ratmen killed, were indeed as rumored... Those unfamiliar with the Hellfire Legion were somewhat puzzled as to why this legion, with few professionals, could wipe out a ratman clan.

But they were in the far north just a few days ago, how come they're suddenly here in the kingdom? Could it be...?

When Adam approached the person in charge of Fire Pot Town, he revealed his identity as the temporary commander of the squad and explained that he needed to deliver a letter to the northern pass in order to borrow a batch of warhorses.

The person in charge summoned the quartermaster, who, having dealt with the Free City transport team all day, readily agreed and went to the camp to allocate warhorses.

Shortly after, the quartermaster returned with bad news: "I'm sorry, the warhorses have just been requisitioned..."

"It's alright," the manager said warmly. "I have some old horses in my stables; they should be enough to get you there—"

"no!"

The quartermaster suddenly interrupted loudly, saying awkwardly, "Your Excellency Fafnir, those old horses have also been requisitioned."

The person in charge was taken aback, and Adam frowned slightly.

When they entered the town, they saw a horse ranch at the camp outside. How could there be no horses? The quartermaster, who had been so easygoing just moments before, suddenly became tough…

"Did someone tell you not to help us?" Adam suddenly asked.

(End of this chapter)