The Demon King is Unfathomable

Chapter 18: The Vengeance of the Rats!

Once the players started trying, the labyrinth’s spiders and mining shaft’s ratmen didn’t stand a chance anymore.

Upon finding a reliable ally, Autumnleaf decided to farm the crypt spiders, which offered the highest returns.

While the crypt spiders looked like they weren’t to be trifled with—he had previously estimated them to be between level 10 to 20—it also dawned upon him that the game’s extreme degree of freedom meant that level was not everything.

Stats and health bar were really just for reference!

The crypt spiders might boast formidable fighting prowess, but their intelligence was so-so. They were also highly territorial creatures who would devour even their own spawns if they carelessly approached.

There was no question that the crypt spiders were highly dangerous, but conversely, these traits also meant that as long as the player didn’t venture too far in, the chances were that they would only have to face a crypt spider at a time.

A crypt spider reaped ten times the reward of a ratman, and he could claim the rewards for the nearby spider eggs too.

Other than that, Autumnleaf also noticed another detail.

Clearing the spider nest was the only mission available that had no ceiling to the contribution points one could earn.

Given their current growth rate, it wouldn’t take long before they reached the level cap of 3. Thus, their priority should be obtaining contribution points!

But aside from Autumnleaf and a few other ambitious players, most players still chose to hunt down the more ‘adorable’ ratmen.

Ratmen struggled to deal with skeletons as the latter wasn’t part of their diet, and they had a shorter health bar and dropped equipment.

The only problem was that ratmen were prone to fleeing frantically whenever they were at a disadvantage, and it didn’t help that the living was intrinsically averse to the undead. This made hunting them a huge pain in the ass.

Unfortunately, the players were also too low-leveled to have any AOE skills, which would have been extremely convenient against the ratmen.

…

Even though Thunderbuzz City worshiped Saint Sisto, there were also places where the holy light didn’t shine.

For instance, Thunderbuzz City’s underground street was a place where thieves and pirates sold their loots, black-hearted merchants offered high-interest loan, and smugglers made illegal deals with their clients.

Some said that even the netherworld’s demon kings would be robbed of their kidneys there.

There were even rumors that evil outer god worshipers dwell in those shady alleys…

In any case, the underground street was no place for upstanding civilians.

In the tavern neighboring the Thief Guild, three brutes, who looked like typical rogues, sat around a glistening oak wood table, busy ‘fighting the noble’. (T/N: Parody of a famous Chinese card game called doudizhu aka fighting the landlord)

Of course, they couldn’t be truly beating up a noble.

It was a card game with over a thousand years of history. It was even popular in Lyon Kingdom’s royal court for a period.

Sometimes, Jack would wonder which masochistic king came up with this name. Was it that fun getting beaten up by others?

“I haven’t seen Chris around for a while.”

He was from Black Viper, which had business dealings with the Silver Scimitar.

In particular, Chris, despite being an Iron-tier thief, was exceptionally skilled in kidnapping and extortion.

He recently received a job that required her expertise, but somehow, the intermediary was unable to reach her. And it was not just her. The entire Silver Scimitar had disappeared from Thunderbuzz City. ??

This made him wonder if those scums had offended someone powerful, such as the Andes Clan…

“Chris, that fellow whose chest is flatter than mine? Think someone saw her in Sword and Broken Blade yesterday.” A man with a sword scar on his face guffawed.

Another man exhaled a stream of smoke as he threw out a club king to steal Jack’s cards.

“”The tavern beside the Adventurer Guild? What is she doing there?”

“Who knows? Looking for prey?”

The smoking man paused for a second before replying, “She might have found one. Someone saw her with a noble at the north gate’s wagon stand.”

“Hahahaha! Which family’s scion has such a heavy taste?!” The man with the sword scar laughed.

“The north gate’s carriage stand? All right, thanks for the intelligence,” Jack replied as he tossed out four fours.

The smoking man casually waved his hand in response. He removed the cigar from his mouth as he asked, “You can’t find anyone else for the job?”

“There aren’t many skilled female thieves around. I could probably find someone else, but I prefer to work with people I’m familiar with.” Jack paused for a moment before adding, “I’m also curious to know what she got herself into.”

The man with the sword scar suddenly reined in his smile and gave him a deep stare, saying, “…There’s been unrest in Thunderbuzz City recently. I suggest you lie low.”

But Jack was unbothered. “That’s for the commercial streets to worry about. It’s none of our underground street’s business.”

…

North of Thunderbuzz City, deep inside Northpeak Shaft, a plump ratman sat on a throne of white bones.

His name was Jaki.

Up till a few days ago, he was a ratman reared by the demon king on the labyrinth’s first level, but in a twist of fate, he had become the chief of thousands of ratmen.

‘I shall create my own clan soon, just like other great races. To fulfill this noble goal, I have to quickly store as much fats as possible!’

Placed before him was food his underlings had stolen from human farms. There was pork, beef, mutton, bread that was baked to be crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and a bunch of glistening fruits.

As Jaki feasted on the food, his waist and height grew like a balloon pumped full of water. Amazingly, he didn’t get bloated from his ravenous eating. Instead, he gained greater power.

This was one of the ratmen’s unique traits.

They could devour food far surpassing their mass and swiftly assimilate a portion of it to build their body.

This ravenously gorging also served as a ritual to delight one of the Three Rat Gods—’Gluttony Rat’ Gerlo!

Jaki, who was just obeying his instincts, didn’t realize he was inadvertently carrying out the Gluttony Rat’s god elect ritual. His ritual was clumsy and messy, but it still delighted Gerlo, so the latter bestowed him with a greater appetite and power surpassing ordinary slave rats.

The other slave rats eyed their feasting leader with ravenous red eyes. They were tempted to rush forward and sink their teeth into the meat too, but their fear held them back.

Once, a foolish ratman attempted to lay its paws on the food, only for their leader to chomp off its head right away.

While Jaki was feasting his fill, a ratman dressed in rags rushed into the cavern and shrilly squeaked, “Bad news, Your Majesty Lord Jaki!”

Jaki let out a long burp before replying with a lazy voice, “What’s wrong? Don’t bother me if it is just adventurers…”

A meaty smell wafted across the cavern, causing the ratmen to salivate.

The ratman dressed in rags pressed its head firmly against the ground as it squeaked in fright, “No, it isn’t the adventurers! It’s the demon king!”

“Demon king?!”

Jaki’s fat shook in fright. He even dropped the chicken thigh in his hand. He anxiously climbed to his feet, but he was so heavy that it nearly caused an earthquake.

Panic engulfed the ratmen serving Jaki, and they immediately fled in all directions while squeaking in fear.

Jaki hurriedly swiped his paw to capture the deserters.

“Don’t you dare run! Come back! Where can you escape to? Will you return to the labyrinth to become food for the spiders? Or are you hoping that the human farmers will take you in? I am your only shelter!”

His furious roar intimidated the spineless cowards, stopping them in place.

He then glared at the ratman dressed in rags and coldly hissed, “You’re lying! The demon king is dead! We saw it with our own eyes! Otherwise, those spiders wouldn’t dare occupy our den!”

At Jaki’s gesture, a few ratmen wielding spears and clubs marched forth to take down the ratman dressed in rags.

The ratman dressed in rags trembled. Its head was so firmly pressed to the ground that blood began oozing from its black, furry forehead. “I’m not lying, Your Majesty! The previous demon king is indeed dead—we saw it with our own eyes! B-b-but just last night, another demon king slaughtered his way back with a party of adventurers… and he is a necromancer!”

Jaki was stunned.

‘Another demon king came with a party of adventurers? You must be joking! And a necromancer, you say? What can a couple of skeletons do? I could have easily beaten ten of them even before I gorged myself to this size!’

“This scum is taking me for a fool! Dice him!” Jaki roared.

The ratmen lunged forth and diced the squeaking ratman into meat paste before gobbling its carcass.

Meanwhile, Jaki sat atop white bones as he contemplated the situation.

‘A new demon king… That could just be true.’

In truth, he was prepared for this possibility. It was only a matter of time before the netherworld sent someone over to clean up the situation. He just didn’t expect the helicopter boss to land in his turf.

He had already escaped from the labyrinth. Was he supposed to flee deeper into the mountains?

But there wasn’t enough food there. He didn’t want to and couldn’t stray too far from human settlement!

‘I can’t let my underlings learn about this.’

So, he turned to the ratmen and bellowed, “If you’re done eating, get into the mining shaft and drag those humans out! The mine is our territory! Anyone who dares invade our turf shall face our wrath!”

“JIP JIP!”

The ratmen raised their weapons with their oily hands as they squeaked battle cries.

Looking at his huge army of underlings, Jaki’s nervous heart settled down.

‘Maybe the situation isn’t as bad as I thought. The demon king might be weaker than I expected, or else the other party wouldn’t have been wandering at the labyrinth’s entrance. Not to mention I have an army of ten thousand with me. Everything is still under control!’