Alien world

Chapter 1898, Section 531: The Spider
Elder Qiurong, who had just resolved a troublesome issue, turned grim again when he thought about the losses.

They climbed out of the deep pit and, surrounded by champion rats, came to the spot where an airship had crashed that night.

The fire devoured everything, leaving only a charred ruin; nothing was left.

Elder Qiurong persisted in sifting through the wreckage, and after a long time, he pulled out a twisted iron rod from the charcoal, which had been melted into a cane by the high temperature.

Philos recognized it; it was the magic musket from Free City.

Elder Ball Velvet recognized it too, and mimicking the way a human musketeer picked it up, he murmured slowly, "An interesting weapon of humankind, powerful and requiring no magic... Why don't we imitate it?"

Let the ratmen wield magical firearms? That's not a good idea...

Philosophy said nothing.

Elder Ball Velvet threw away the melted musket and looked at Philos: "You help me get it, and I'll help you secure your position as legion commander."

……

The minister told Annan some secrets that were unknown to outsiders.

For example, an empire may appear strong on the surface, but it is actually weak—of course, this weakness is not the kind of weakness we understand in the normal sense, but rather the fact that it has no time to spare to deal with the forces of chaos.

Half of the empire's eight legions were dispatched to deal with the chaotic forces in the north, while the remaining four legions were to be stationed throughout the empire, keeping an eye on petty villains, disloyal nobles, and the unrest of hostile forces.

“I understand. The Empire is like a valiant female warrior, the undisputed champion in hunting orcs, but even she has her weak moments. Right now, she's exhausted from charging into the orc tribe and is surrounded by orcs…”

"Speak to me nicely!"

It had been a long time since anyone had managed to provoke an Imperial minister, but Annan had done it.

It means that it is strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

The Imperial Minister was still not entirely satisfied with this description, correcting him: "At least they won't be able to get to the foot of Montreal."

"Hard to say."

……

Under the cover of the Ranger Legion, the Kingdom's army successfully retreated into the Trapezoidal Mountains.

The Skaven suffered heavy losses in this attack, with the top echelons of the Moon Eater Clan almost wiped out. Although Oldval was also destroyed, it was never a major town; the Empire simply happened to choose it.

If it were to be a nail driven into the northern mountains, the Trapezoidal Mountains would be more suitable than Old Vale: it has natural defenses, is reinforced with concrete, and the Moon-Eating Clan would not be able to remove it without incurring a great cost.

But with the Rat King and many gray rats wiped out, the Rat People no longer had the "high price" to pay.

With the Moon Eater Clan wiped out, the Empire's borders are now theoretically secure, and Free City has completed the second phase of its mission.

The Kingdom's army rested on the mountaintop for a day, allowing the soldiers who had fought for more than ten days to take a break. The support from Free City was also quite strong, with all kinds of supplies being transported through the portal. Merchants with a keen sense of smell came to sell a bunch of magic potions, and even a succubus boss brought her employees for a massage.

The Kingdom's army recovered to a near-complete state in a short time, and Grand Marshal Galkin prepared to set off to support the Kingdom's army further north.

Fermi wanted to follow, but the third phase hadn't arrived from Free City yet, so he had to stay in Trapeze Mountain to deal with the swarms of rats that were wandering over.

Marshal Galkin was also puzzled, as Annan had stayed underground for five or six days and had not even participated in the final battle.

"What exactly did your lord discover underground?"

……

After walking for several days without reaching the end, Annan worried that the caves might extend for thousands of miles, all the way to the bottom of Montreal.

That really brought back the foreshadowing from the past...

Fortunately, the situation wasn't that bad. A day after encountering the roadblock caused by the gray rats, there were fewer and fewer forks in the road, and the sounds of chiseling came from all directions more often. The marks dug by the rat-man craftsmen on the rock walls were getting newer and newer.

They were nearing the end, and their current location was still on the border of the empire, not yet in the heartland.

After traveling for half a day, three paths appeared ahead, leading in different directions. To the left was a natural cave with no signs of excavation; to the right, the sounds of excavation echoed; and in the middle, all was silent except for a faint breeze blowing from ahead.

The Imperial Minister wanted to go to the right, to the area where the ratmen were.

They disagreed on the choice, and Annan felt that something on the left was subtly attracting him.

The Imperial Minister chose to follow Annan's intuition, even though a sorcerer's intuition is likely unreliable, it was still a clue.

Shortly after entering the cave on the left, Black Pearl suddenly said, "So many annoying spider webs..."

cobweb?

How could there be spider webs in a mouse hole?

Annan became alert; the rat-man didn't seem like someone who could get along well with spiders.

"A lot?" he pressed.

Black Pearl's dragon eyes peered into the depths of the dark cave and said, "More and more."

Annan hesitated, worried that if he went any further, a dark elf might suddenly appear.

"Do you know the reason?" the Imperial Minister asked, glancing sideways.

"I don't know, I've never even heard of it!" Annan denied it outright and could only continue forward.

After walking along the cave for more than ten meters, they began to see white spider webs entwined on the rock walls, and as they went further, they saw more and more of them, hanging on the rock walls and the ground like white fungal carpets.

As the spider webs multiplied, they inevitably stepped on them, the vibrations of the silk reaching deep into the cave.

rustling...

A series of faint, dense friction sounds emerged from the depths. Black Pearl was the first to stop, followed closely by Annan and the others.

Annan took out a magic lamp and shone it in front of him.

Unlike the black tide of the ratmen that crashed in—swarms of spiders the size of rats surged up.

The black pearl exuded a dragon's might, and the spider swarm did not retreat, but merely lingered a dozen meters away, completely blocking the cave.

Enraged by the spiders' indifferent attitude, Black Pearl was about to unleash her dragon power when Annan stopped her, put the evil energy stone into his magic ring, and had Black Pearl turn them into spiders as well.

"Your Excellency Minister, for the sake of the Empire's security, you wouldn't mind making this sacrifice, would you?"

What else could the Imperial Minister say?

Annan and the others transformed into black spiders of the same size and appearance, while simultaneously concealing all their auras.

The spiders swarmed over, lingering for a long time in the area where Annan and his group had previously fought. Finding no outsiders, they retreated back into the cave like a receding tide.

Annan quickly followed.

Why are there so many spiders here?

"Perhaps the ratmen accidentally dug here, found that it was full of spiders and were not to be trifled with, so they retreated..."

No wonder there were no signs of excavation in this cave; the spiders had erased them all.

The Imperial Minister, however, was not so easily fooled, and whispered slowly, "I remember there are dark elves in your territory..."

“Dark elves are dark elves, and spiders are spiders, don’t confuse them!” Annan argued louder, causing a branch of the spider swarm to split off and circle around them several times.

The silent crowd followed the receding spiders back to their nest, keeping their mouths shut.

(End of this chapter)