Chapter 386: Ratmen's Grand Assault!

Ryan, holding Thor's Hammer and clad in Grey Knight psychic power armor, was the first to charge in. His warhammer smashed the heads of five or six clan rats in quick succession. Whether they held shields or not, Ryan shattered them into pieces.

The ratmen, who were full of morale just a second ago, were now collapsing and fleeing in terror.

This place was temporarily safe.

"Lord Ryan!" Albert put away his musket. "What happened? Why are there suddenly so many ratmen?"

"I don't know," Ryan shook his head repeatedly. "Albert, we need your strength."

"But the people here?" The demon hunter hesitated, looking at the survivors in the inn.

"Do any of you know where the Justice Church is?" Ryan shouted to the survivors.

"Yes... we do," the survivors in the inn responded quietly. "Lord Grail Knight, please save us!"

"We've cleared the nearby streets. All of you, head to the Justice Church!"

"Understood."

The survivors slowly retreated towards the high walls of Helmgart, where some remaining soldiers were still holding out.

Ahead was the Von-Kensen residential area, where gunfire could still be heard. Ryan signaled everyone to head towards the back of the residential area. Helmgart was filled with thick smoke.

The whole city was gradually collapsing. Cries for help and battle shouts filled the air. The ratmen were too numerous, their waves overwhelming the entire city. Scattered resistance couldn't stop the tide of rats.

In contrast, countless slave rats and clan rats, under the command of stormvermin, surged into human settlements. Isolated and exposed adults were torn apart by the hungry ratmen, becoming indistinct masses of blood and flesh. The ratmen's sharp teeth devoured human flesh, pulling out entrails and intestines, reveling in a horrific feast.

For those who barricaded themselves behind doors or hid behind cover, the ratmen had their methods too.

Poison wind globadiers threw gas bombs, warpfire throwers spewed flames, and gutter runners and assassin rats delighted in the sight of humans screaming in despair. They either burned into piles of rotten meat by green flames or turned into pus-filled corpses from poison gas.

Inside the inn, only a dozen survivors remained, half of whom had inhaled poisonous gas and were rotting away. Ryan found this very troublesome. These people had inhaled ratmen's poison gas and clearly didn't have much time left. They couldn't stay with the healthy survivors!

But abandoning them would go against the spirit of chivalry.

Should they risk the spread of the plague to all survivors or abandon these people to ensure no plague would spread among the survivors?

While Ryan was still hesitating, Albert took action. The demon hunter calmly pointed to the few survivors who hadn't inhaled the poison gas. "You, come with us. As for you, stay here and wait for reinforcements."

Saying this, the demon hunter raised his musket.

The atmosphere became very tense. The dozen survivors, who had barely escaped from the inn, now realized that their salvation might not have come.

"Demon hunter! You're a scum of the earth, a devil who eats people!" one adult, who had been fighting off the ratmen with all his might, shouted in anger. "I thought you would protect us? Turns out it's not the ratmen but you who bring us to our doom!"

His face was already covered with red spots and sores.

"Bang!" The musket fired, and the man was shot dead on the spot. Albert calmly aimed his musket at the remaining survivors. "Does anyone else have an opinion?"

Eight survivors who hadn't inhaled the poison gas stepped forward. The remaining ones, glaring at Albert with hatred, stayed in place, not daring to speak out.

Albert didn't care. He turned to Ryan and the group. "Let's go!"

The group quickly headed towards the Von-Kensen residential area. Thanks to Ryan and the others' previous battles, there were no ratmen on the road for the moment.

"That's not right, Mr. Albert," Sulia hesitated for a long time before speaking softly to Albert. "You didn't have to... shoot."

"We can't save everyone, Lady Sulia," Albert almost laughed at Sulia's serious expression. "If time permitted, I would have burned them all at the stake."

"But..." Sulia was still reluctant.

"Albert did the right thing, Lady Sulia," Veronica spoke up. Holding a purple staff, her graceful figure hidden in a red leather outfit, the Garland Witch said somewhat lethargically, "If it were Duke Francois, he would do the same. We can't save everyone."

"Sulia, Albert did the right thing," Ryan nodded. "There's gunfire ahead!"

In the distance, a fierce battle was taking place on Von-Kensen Street. About a hundred soldiers, leading a hundred or so militia, were fighting against the ratmen coming from all directions.

An Imperial captain, covered in numerous wounds and with half his face burned, making him look extremely ferocious, was directing the battle. The ratmen surrounded this army from all sides, like an island in the ocean.

"Fire!!" The cannon roared, tearing dozens of ratmen to pieces.

This only temporarily eased the pressure. The swordsmen and spearmen fought desperately against the ratmen's assault. The human soldiers used swords and spears to barely hold back the enemy's advance.

The musketeers continuously fired volleys, pushing back the ratmen, but the cunning Skaven sent waves of slave rats to feint. Clan rats and stormvermin hid behind.

This was the ratmen's method. The cunning and cruel Skaven sent a large number of slave rats to the front lines to deplete the human army's energy and ammunition reserves.

Disorganized, poorly trained, and low in morale, the slave rats were never expected to achieve any objectives. But now, these slave rats were driven to desperation, with the human army in front and clan and stormvermin behind.

Fight or die—those were the only choices for the slave rats.

The human army continued to resist desperately. They used wooden carts, market stalls, and wagons to form a fragile line. The soldiers fought bravely, each having slain many rats, but the ratmen's numbers were overwhelming. The soldiers despairingly realized that even if they could fight one-on-twenty, they were still vastly outnumbered.

"Captain Huber! These rats are using tactics just like the Bretonnians!" a soldier shouted.

"Shut up! If those were Bretonnian knights, we'd have been dead a hundred times over! We can't retreat no matter what. Behind us are innocent civilians!" Captain Huber shouted angrily. "Hold the line! Reinforcements will come!"

This unit was the Markensen Musketeers. They had been training normally in the barracks today when the Skaven used warpfire throwers to break down the gates, and the rat tide flooded the barracks, killing most of the soldiers before they could react.

The ratmen clearly had a plan, aiming to destroy Helmgart's defenses from the start.

Their plan had succeeded. Only Captain Huber led a hundred or so survivors out of the barracks. Knowing the situation was dire, Huber blew up the barracks' armory in despair.

Better to destroy everything than leave even a single bullet for the ratmen!

"Reinforcements? Captain, where would they come from?" a musketeer cried out in despair. The barracks were destroyed, the garrison mostly manned the walls, and Helmgart had no troops to spare.

"The Count! The Count will come to support us!" Captain Huber's voice lacked confidence. His hand never stopped moving, his sharp sword continuously killing slave rats.

More slave rats climbed over the defenses, over the fallen tables, and even the wagons, howling as they approached, only to be killed quickly. Captain Huber bit his lip, drawing blood from his gums.

The ratmen were waiting for them to tire and run out of ammunition! If this continued, the remaining troops would surely be defeated!

As if responding to Huber's call, an explosion sounded from the count's castle on the mountain. Half of the outer wall collapsed, rubble falling and crushing many houses below.

This sight deepened the people's despair.

There would be no reinforcements.

Helmgart was finished.

"Boom~ Boom~ Boom~" The bell tolled.

"Boom~ Boom~ Boom!" At that moment, the brick building next to them exploded. A Grail Knight in finely crafted silver power armor, leading a few others, charged out from the side!

"For the Lady!!" Ryan's Thor's Hammer crushed several clan rats into meat paste. Whether they held shields or not, their only fate was shattered shields!

"Thunder Strike!" Ryan's warhammer struck the ground heavily. All the ratmen on the east side found themselves lifted off the ground by his immense power. As he swung his warhammer back and forth, no ratmen—clan rats, slave rats, or stormvermin—could get close. When he unleashed a psychic storm on the street, the dense ratmen turned into charred corpses.

Wherever Ryan's warhammer struck, death followed. He alone repelled hundreds of ratmen.

"For the Lady!" Sulia, radiating countless bright glows, joined the battle. The female knight wielded the Leonase Sword, burning with pure flames, instantly evaporating any ratmen it touched.

"Kill her! Kill the human woman!" The stormvermin immediately converged on the female knight, wielding halberds as they charged.

"The Lady grants me victory!" Sulia moved nimbly, her Leonase Sword becoming a blur of light. In an instant, she severed five halberds, then decapitated two stormvermin. More clan rats crowded around, ready to swarm her.

With the precision of judgment, Sulia's swordsmanship slashed through the necks of the stormvermin.

Sickening heads fell from their shoulders as Sulia methodically took them down. Just as she was catching her breath, Albert shouted, "Lady Sulia! Watch out, plague monks!"

Sulia looked up to see several plague monks in green robes, their pale skin covered in pus and sores, charging at her with daggers glowing green.

"Begone!" Veronica's palm conjured a burning skull. With a cold laugh, she flung the skull, which transformed into a massive flaming head, engulfing the plague monks and incinerating every ratman on the street. Veronica then cast another spell.

"Light of Battle!"

The Wind of Hysh surged, and Veronica summoned a wave of glory that bolstered the remaining soldiers' morale, filling them with renewed courage.

After casting the spell, Veronica panted slightly. The Garland Witch had cast several spells in a row, depleting her magical reserves.

This couldn't continue. Veronica's magic was limited, but the ratmen's numbers seemed endless!

"Kill! Kill! Kill these heretics! Purify the land!" Demon hunter Albert fought valiantly, piercing a plague monk's head with his rapier. "Fight! For Charlemagne! For the Empire!"

Their presence immediately shifted the battle. With the ratmen forces being attacked from both sides and their leaders—the stormvermin and plague monks—being slain by Ryan and the others, the ratmen began to fall into chaos. Their previously relentless assault now turned into a panicked retreat.

The human troops finally caught a breath. Captain Huber, relieved, approached Ryan. "You must be Lord Ryan-MacArthur. I am Huber, captain of the Helmgart Markensen Musketeers. Thank you for saving us."

"You kept calling for the Count to come to your aid. I'm honored to be the one who heard your call," Ryan said with a wry smile. "But you might be disappointed; I'm the Count from the other side of the mountain."

"Please, don't say that," Huber felt a burning shame. Half of his face, scarred from a Skaven flamethrower, made his expression gruesome. The Imperial captain grimaced in pain. "We are eternally grateful for your assistance."

"Alright, less talking. Captain Huber, what are your plans now?" Sulia sheathed her sword, speaking softly.

"I'm not sure. The barracks are destroyed, and it seems the count's castle has fallen as well. If possible, I'd like to escort some civilians to safety, to nearby towns for help." The Imperial captain looked at the burning Helmgart and sighed.

Ryan noticed the troops were protecting about a hundred civilians.

"Alright then, Sulia, Veronica, Albert, Captain Huber, gather the defeated troops and militia, and find any uninfected civilians. Head towards the Justice Church on the cliff."

"And you, Ryan?" Sulia asked in surprise.

"I'll go alone to where the ratmen emerged, to draw their attention. Albert, point me to where their warlord might be, and I'll deal with him!"

"Let's split up!"

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