In that boundless expanse of mist, a seemingly endless tide of rats surged forward. Every warrior present—including the elite forces of both the Church of Light and the Church of Darkness—felt terror grip their hearts. Yet no matter how afraid they were, they had no choice but to raise their weapons and slaughter these magical beasts.
Either the beasts died, or they did.
"Kill!" Arrows rained down like a storm, blanketing a small section of the rat tide. But the Stone Devourer Mice were far too tough, and the Shadow Mice moved far too quickly. Only a handful of Shadow Mice were shot down.
At last— The rat tide collided with the combined forces of the Church of Light and the Church of Darkness.
"Crunch, crunch~" The gnawing sound sent shudders through everyone's hearts.
Countless magical beast mice surged forward. Every human soldier who stood in their path was bitten to death—not only was all their flesh devoured, but even their bones were consumed. The Holy Guard and the Dark Guard combined had nearly ten thousand seven-level warriors.
Yet against the rat tide, those nearly ten thousand seven-level warriors were utterly insignificant.
Because within the rat tide, the number of seven-level rat-type magical beasts alone was staggering. And normally, even five-level Stone Devourer Mice and Shadow Mice could kill a seven-level warrior simply by swarming him. Ten thousand seven-level warriors... before hundreds of millions of magical beast mice, they were nothing but a splash of foam—instantly swept away.
"Run!" Some soldiers screamed in panic and fled.
Once one broke and ran, many terrified soldiers immediately followed. They simply could not hold back the rat tide.
But...
There was no escape!
Both the Shadow Mice and Stone Devourer Mice were incredibly fast—far faster than any human could run. Fleeing warriors were swallowed up in an instant. Countless soldiers were devoured. Even Gilmore and Vispoth turned deathly pale and immediately fled.
"Quick, quick!" Vispoth and Gilmore had abandoned all thought of resistance.
Under the rat tide's onslaught, this army of nearly a million was more than halved in the span of moments, leaving not even bones behind.
"Lin Lei, they're surrendering—there's no need to keep slaughtering them like this." Dilia could barely stand to watch.
Lin Lei looked toward the three purple-golden Rat Kings beside him. One of the purple-golden Rat Kings grinned at Dilia: "Fine. Hey, Lin Lei, give the word—as long as those people kneel and raise both hands in surrender, the rat-type beasts won't attack them."
Lin Lei gave a slight nod.
"Listen, everyone! Kneel down and raise both hands in surrender, and the magical beasts will not attack you!" Lin Lei's voice boomed like thunder across heaven and earth.
The moment those words rang out, the desperate soldiers immediately dropped to their knees and raised their hands.
At the same time, the purple-golden Rat King opened its mouth: "Yooo~~~"
A shrill, piercing shriek soared to the heavens. All the rat-type beasts seemed to receive the command—in a truly eerie display, every soldier who knelt with both hands raised was bypassed by every rat-type beast, which redirected their attacks to the remaining soldiers.
"What do we do?" Gilmore looked panicked. Both Vispoth and Gilmore cast defensive magic to protect themselves.
"How should I know?" Vispoth was terrified too.
At that moment, ten magical beast mice—each nearly a meter long—were watching them. These ten rat-type beasts had fur that was either purple or golden. The purple ones shimmered with hints of gold, and the golden ones shimmered with hints of purple.
In normal circumstances— The highest-level Shadow Mice were purple. Once they reached the seventh level, they became seventh-level purple Shadow Mice.
The highest-level Stone Devourer Mice were golden. Once they reached the seventh level, they became seventh-level golden Stone Devourer Mice.
From the seventh level to the Saint Realm, purple Shadow Mice's fur gradually shifted toward "purple-gold." Likewise, golden Stone Devourer Mice gradually shifted toward "purple-gold."
These ten rat-type beasts were clearly eighth- or ninth-level magical beast mice.
"Squeak squeak~~" A ninth-level Stone Devourer Mouse lunged forward and, in a single bite, tore through Gilmore's "Light Guardian" shield. Vispoth's defensive magic was destroyed just as easily. Yet these ten magical beast mice didn't rush to finish them off.
Their intelligence was no lower than that of humans.
Gilmore and Vispoth exchanged a glance. Sweat beaded on their foreheads, and their backs were drenched. They understood—as soon as these ten magical beast mice charged, they would be shredded in an instant, without even bone fragments remaining.
And just then, Lin Lei's voice rang out.
The two exchanged one more glance, then didn't hesitate any further.
"Thud!" Both dropped to their knees and raised their hands.
Instantly, eight of the ten magical beast mice departed, while the remaining two stayed behind, watching them. The magical beast mice were clever—these ten had quickly deduced that Gilmore and Vispoth, both nine-level powerhouses, were enemy commanders.
Commanders like these, of course, were to be captured alive.
When the faint morning mist finally dissipated, Lin Lei and the others could clearly see the vast numbers of enemy soldiers kneeling, and surrounding those kneeling soldiers—ten times, a hundred times their number—were dense masses of magical beast mice. The sheer "visual impact" of those numbers alone was enough to make one's heart tremble.
"Swish!" A streak of light flashed past. A golden mouse with a faint purple glow dashed over, then squeaked in a low voice.
"What? Only about three hundred thousand soldiers are still alive?"
The three purple-golden mice, on the other hand, squinted their small eyes with smug satisfaction. One of them looked at Bei Bei: "Bei Bei, what do you think?" Bei Bei gazed at the endless rat tide and sighed: "That really is impressive. If only all these magical beast mice would follow my orders."
With hundreds of millions of rat-type beasts, who could possibly stand against them?
"That's easy enough." The leading purple-golden Shadow Mouse immediately let out a loud cry, and Bei Bei grew excited.
Lin Lei looked at Bei Bei with confusion.