Don't Kill Me! I'm One of You!

Seeing Rat King Aubrey faint from rage, the palace guards could only carry him out of the underground vault. Their loyalty to him wasn't because of his treasures, but because of the royal bloodline he bore. The ratmen, like bees with their queens and ants with their queens, revered their king. Aubrey's noble lineage was crucial; only he or his direct descendants could rebuild the Rat Kingdom and command the loyalty of the other ratmen.

Shortly after, they found themselves in a hidden passageway, encountering many high-ranking officials and their families along the way. One of them exclaimed, "What happened to His Majesty?"

A palace guard replied, "Someone looted His Majesty's private vault. He fainted from the shock."

The officials were stunned. None of them had anticipated that someone would dare rob King Aubrey's private vault at such a time. Even more surprising was that King Aubrey had planned to flee with his treasures. For ratmen, treasure wasn't essential—food was. In the resource-scarce Karal Desert, even gold was of little use if it couldn't be exchanged for food.

Just then, Rat King Aubrey regained consciousness. His first words were, "Damn thief! I'll find them and tear them apart! That was my life's fortune!"

A high-ranking official quickly intervened, "Your Majesty, our lives are more important right now. We can deal with the treasure later."

"Where are we?" Aubrey asked, looking at the dark walls around them.

"Your Majesty, this is the secret escape tunnel you had built. Only your guards and a few high-ranking officials know about it. Once we pass through this tunnel, we'll reach the Monlaid Highlands. Beyond that lies the Anlby Mine ruins, the territory of the Grey Dwarves."

"Yes, the Grey Dwarves…" Aubrey muttered, urgency creeping into his voice. "We must rebuild the kingdom, and we need the Grey Dwarves' resources to do it. If they agree to help us, I'll give them all my treasures!"

An official spoke up, "Your Majesty, all you have left are us and your scepter."

"Curse it!" Aubrey spat, rolling his eyes in frustration. "Let's get out of here."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the officials echoed.

The long procession continued through the dark tunnel, their steps the only sound breaking the silence. Every ratman was engulfed in despair, knowing they might never return to their kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Royal Gryphon Knights continued their purge in the Rat Kingdom. They didn't pursue those who had fled into underground tunnels; the gryphons were too large to follow. The knights focused on those ratmen who hadn't yet escaped, especially the well-armed warriors.

Despite facing resistance from small groups of powerful ratmen attempting to break the knights' siege, the outcome was always the same. The Royal Gryphon Knights swiftly dispatched them, regardless of whether they were kings or extraordinary-level fighters. Moments ago, a powerful ratman tried to escape by flying out of the capital. Within a minute, he was caught and impaled by a dozen knights.

Against the Royal Gryphon Knights, the Rat Kingdom stood no chance. Only those who managed to escape into the underground tunnels were lucky enough to evade capture.

...

"Don't kill me! I'm one of you!" a ratman cried out, raising his hands near a grand hall. He was the "Ratman Envoy," surrounded by his family, including his hefty sister, the Seventeenth Concubine.

A large golden gryphon landed nearby, its rider, a Royal Paladin, gazing coldly at the envoy. "Who are those ratmen behind you?"

He hadn't attacked immediately because he sensed the mark of a subject on the envoy, a sign given by the lord's system to distinguish between subjects and outsiders.

"Sir Knight, they are my family. Like me, they serve our great lord," the envoy quickly explained, handing over several pieces of spatial equipment. "These are treasures I stole from King Aubrey's private vault. I offer them to our great lord!"

"You're a smart rat," the knight said, accepting the equipment. "Where did King Aubrey and the high-ranking officials go?"

"I don't know," the envoy replied nervously. "After the war council, I didn't see Aubrey again."

The Seventeenth Concubine, trembling, raised her chubby paw. "Respected knight, King Aubrey likely fled through a secret passage."

"A secret passage? Show me."

"Y-yes, right away…" she stammered.

Soon, the Royal Paladin stood at the entrance of an underground tunnel. The passage was wide enough for ratmen and humans but too narrow for the massive golden gryphons. Stowing his gryphon in the mount space, the paladin summoned a few extraordinary knights and led the pursuit down the tunnel.

Watching the knights disappear, the Seventeenth Concubine whispered, "Brother, what do we do now?"

The envoy replied, "If you want to live, stay put until this war is over."

"Yes, brother," she and the others agreed, remaining motionless.

...

On the surface, the exits of numerous underground tunnels were guarded by Eternal Tree Sentinels. Each sentinel wielded a massive wooden club, nearly twenty meters long. Whenever a ratman emerged, the sentinels struck them down. One by one, the ratmen fell, their bodies piling up near the tunnel exits.