Chapter 25: The Rat Assassin in the Shadows

Some of the rats mustered their courage, which in turn emboldened even more of their kin. Clutching crude blades, wooden spears, and rotten clubs, they swarmed toward the group.

Seeing this, Kana didn't hesitate; he sliced his own forearm with a knife and shouted a command: "Blake, charge in! Be ruthless."

Blake wanted to protest, but after catching a glimpse of Alirise beside Kana, he nodded and lunged into the fray. The first rat to summon its courage had already been struck through the head by one of George’s arrows. The clever young hunter seemed to have grasped the rats' weaknesses.

As Blake charged, he swung his sword in a sweeping arc, the blade cleaving through three rats in a spray of blood and gore, sending them flying back into the crowd of emboldened rodents. The sight of the flying corpses and fresh blood shattered the courage the rats had so painstakingly gathered.

"Run! It’s the Iron-Men! We can't beat them, run!"
"Boss? Where's the boss?"

The panic-stricken swarm, having only just found their nerve, was immediately scattered. They fled in every direction like a routed mob.

"Pursue them! Don't let them escape, or they’ll just go back to the town to steal and pillage. Wipe them out!"

Kana’s blunt and brutal words bolstered the morale of his men. The four soldiers and the hunter charged off.

"Blake, you go too."

Blake, who had just begun to sheath his weapon, nodded. "As you wish."

The camp fell silent, save for the wooden cage hanging from a nearby tree, which still held a white rat and the little girl with her mouth covered.

"Watch out, big guy. That stinking rat hasn't run away yet."

*As if I didn't know that,* Kana thought. *Why else would I have sent everyone else to chase the others?* "If you yell like that, you're just tipping him off!"

Kana sighed, but his reflexes were lightning-fast. He spun and raised his shield in one fluid motion. A dagger emerged from thin air, slamming heavily against the shield. The force of the impact pushed Kana back two steps, but he had successfully blocked the lethal backstab.

Kana clearly saw the look of disbelief in the eyes of the rat as it materialized. It couldn't believe that its ambush—striking from the shadows as an assassin against a weaker opponent—had failed. It was as if this puny human had eyes in the back of his head. The assassin, stunned that its sure-fire kill had missed, froze for a split second.

That moment of hesitation cost the creature its chance to vanish back into the shadows.

Beside him, Alirise swung her blade with fury. The rat tried to dodge, but it was too late. It barely managed to twist its body, avoiding a fatal strike, but the sword still slashed across its abdomen.

Black smoke billowed as the rat’s silhouette flickered and faded.

"The scent of blood," Kana reminded her.

Alirise was already beginning to awaken the blood magic within her. The wound she had inflicted on the rat provided enough of a scent for her to track its location. She could not let this rat escape; to do so would be an indelible mark of shame. As a guardian knight, she had nearly allowed Kana to be assassinated. If the Prince hadn't been so capable, she would have been left with nothing but a corpse by the time she reacted.

A crimson hue began to spread through her pupils. Alirise strode forward, the scent of blood in the air seemingly visible, acting as a trail for her to follow. She lunged, driving her sword tip into the shadows beside a large tree.

*Clang!*

The rat reappeared, its two daggers crossed to parry the blade. Its stealth had been unmasked yet again.

*No way,* the rat thought. *I am a master assassin, wielder of shadow magic, expert in the arts of concealment. How is it that every one of you sees through me so easily? Is everyone here a natural-born assassin-killer?*

As a knight, Alirise possessed far greater strength than the rat. When her thrust was parried, she immediately pulled back and slashed again, forcing the creature back several steps. A long, slender tail whipped out, a dagger bound to its tip. It moved with as much dexterity as an arm.

Caught off guard by a form of combat she had never encountered, Alirise was forced to raise her sword to parry. Seizing the opportunity, the rat pulled something from behind its back and threw it over Alirise’s head.

Kana’s pupils contracted as he saw the object flying toward him. "Damn it! An alchemical bomb!"

He immediately raised his shield.

*BOOM!*

The explosion erupted in the air. Kana was blown backward by the blast, and the sudden concussive force behind her caused Alirise to stumble forward.

"Aaaah!" The little girl in the cage shrieked.

Seizing the chaos, the rat scrambled up the nearby tree trunk and leaped, pouncing toward the spot where Kana had been thrown. The previous skirmish had shown it that Kana was the leader; in the rat's mind, killing the leader was always the right move. Humans always let the weak lead; perhaps by taking the leader hostage, it could still escape.

Moreover, the fact that its guaranteed assassination had failed—and against an enemy clearly much weaker than itself—felt like a humiliation too great to bear. That was the rat’s simple, direct, and effective logic.

However, in mid-air, the rat felt something tug at it, and it was yanked down to the ground.

"Blood?"

The rat looked at the wound where it had been slashed earlier. The blood flowing from it had surged, binding the rat and dragging it from the air to the earth.

Alirise had scrambled to her feet, her eyes glowing with a blood-red light. Her left hand formed a claw, and she gestured toward the rat, controlling the blood from its wound to drag the creature toward her. The rat struggled to its feet, running on all fours toward Kana. Alirise followed, relentlessly controlling the blood to reel it in.

"Stop! Or I'll kill him!" the rat roared, raising its weapons toward Kana, who lay on the ground.

The rat turned its daggers toward Alirise, while its tail pressed against Kana’s body, the dagger bound to it glinting with a cold light. "Take one more step and I'll cut him down!"

The rat was truly terrified. Its own blood was being controlled—what kind of monsters were these? Using such sorcery made these humans seem even more evil than the rat-men themselves. It knew that if it fell into their hands, it would be doomed. The thought made its rodent heart shiver; it would fight to the death to escape.

However, the prone Kana suddenly reached out, grabbed the rat’s tail, and jerked it backward with a violent tug.

Caught off guard, the rat was completely unprepared. Kana bent his waist, rose, slammed his shield into the rat’s head, and rolled to his feet.

Alirise, who had stopped, immediately yanked her left hand backward. A massive amount of blood erupted from the rat’s body, shimmering like spider silk in the air, forming a crimson web that was pulled toward her.

"Impossible!"

The rat couldn't believe it. Its alchemical bomb had clearly detonated right in front of the enemy. How could such a weak human still be moving freely after being blown away? Had it misjudged the situation? Was the leader actually the strongest of them all?

Kana checked his health.

[HP: 8/14]

*Hmph,* he thought. *Good thing I’m a cut above the rest, and my skills are top-notch.*