The Mocking Black Rats

"... Quick, forward, further ahead! If we reach the foot of those mountains ahead and climb over them, we can escape!"

"Hurry, get moving..."

The command rang out amidst the chaotic, charging beast horde.

The voice was somewhat hoarse, and it could be heard that the Calamity Beast was shouting as loudly as possible so that as many Calamity Beast as possible could hear it.

As a result, one after another, the Calamity Beast quickened their pace.

The majestic mountains stand silently in the distance.

At some point, the Calamity Beast that had issued the command paused slightly and turned its gaze in a certain direction.

Then, he slightly adjusted his direction and roared:

"Wait, there's a Black Rat over there. Go kill it, then divide the meat, otherwise it'll harass us later!"

A roar rang out, followed by a clump of mud mixed with grass and wood being thrown up.

Whether the distant Calamity Beast heard the roar clearly is uncertain, but the vast majority of Calamity Beast saw the greenish-brown mud thrown in a certain direction.

Instinctively, they followed the pile of mud and looked over.

Then, it stopped.

In my field of vision, a Black Rat that had come to investigate after hearing the noise stood frozen in place.

"Quick, there's a guy over there!"

"Charge! Kill it..."

"Go!"

A roar instantly erupted from the horde of beasts.

One after another, the Calamity Beast slightly changed direction and charged towards the Black Rat.

The Black Rat, which had been frozen in place, finally reacted at this moment, and hurriedly and frantically turned to leave.

"Quick, don't let it get away--!" The Tier 3 Calamity Beast roared.

The pitch-black horde of beasts surged forward relentlessly.

Seemingly due to nervousness, the Black Rat, despite being Third Tier beast with strength comparable only to a small group of Calamity Beast in the horde, did not fall far behind the first and second-tier Calamity Beast in the horde.

Soon, the Third Tier Calamity Beast at the forefront was about to catch up with the Black Rat.

The Black Rat seemed to have heard the very close commotion behind it, turned its head, and looked over.

"No, no, no--"

The roars were quickly drowned out by the dark horde of beasts.

Then, almost without pause, the surging beast tide continued its advance.

"... That's roughly the situation, Chieftain!"

Black Rat Broken Tooth floated in mid-air, then lowered its head to end its narration.

"Okay, I understand!"

A response came from within.

Immediately following were those three instructions.

"Gray Whiskers, Curly Fur, you two go over there to rest first. Capture those Calamity Beast over there and see if they know who the mastermind behind this incident is."

"If they don't know... well, let's search in the direction Broken Tooth just mentioned. Although several mines have likely been affected by this incident, Broken Tooth spotted the Calamity Beast chasing after them. Searching in that direction should be faster!"

"Yes, we understand!" the Black Rat with Gray Whiskers and Curly Fur replied.

"Black Spine, Moya."

The Black Rat Chief then named two more Calamity Beast.

"Yes!" Black Spine and Moya replied.

"Go and organize the Fourth Tier clansmen. Don't take them all; just take half." The Black Rat Chief looked at them.

"Then, split into four teams. Two teams will go to the other side, two teams will stay here, and you will go with them to the other side."

"Once we get there, we'll start searching along the mountainside. If we see anyone trying to climb up the cliff to escape, we'll just kill them!"

"Yes!" Black Spine and Moya responded again.

"Furthermore," the Black Rat Chief paused, his gaze sweeping over the situation within the valley,

"By the way, tell the kids down there that if any want to go play, they can go, but don't go too many times."

"Then, this time they won't be forbidden from killing the Calamity Beast below."

"OK!"

Black Spine and Moya responded again.

After waiting a moment and confirming that their chieftain was indeed alright, they were about to turn and leave when Black Rat Broken Tooth, who had come to report on the incident, spoke up.

"Uh... Chieftain, this incident could very well have been caused by all those guys gathering together. Is it really okay to send just these few adults over?" Broken Tooth looked at the Chieftain with some hesitation.

Upon hearing its words, the Black Rat nearby all laughed.

"Haha, Broken Tooth, you're only Fourth Tier, so you don't understand. As long as we have time, let alone those guys who were captured to mine for us, even if there were twice as many, we could slowly clear them out!" Gray Whiskers, who was directed to go into the valley, laughed.

"That's right, and besides, the clan leader has sent other Fourth Tier guys like you, along with the rest of the clan, to help. Don't worry, no Calamity Beast can escape from our Black Stone Valley!" Another Fifth Tier Black Rat with Scar, who wasn't mentioned, laughed.

"Is... is that so?"

Somewhat uncertain, Broken Tooth looked at the clan leader.

The Black Rat Chief also looked at it.

"Yes, if it weren't for the possibility that some of these creatures might still be among the Calamity Beast that led the other members of that organization on their exploration last time, we wouldn't even need to patrol the rock walls; we could just send our people into the valley!"

"With those guys around, even if we reach the edge, we won't be thinking about climbing out; we'll only be thinking about finding a way out!"

"But since last time, there are probably already Calamity Beast among those guys who have a general understanding of the situation in Black Stone Valley. This incident is most likely also organized by them!"

"In this situation, knowing that Black Stone Valley only has one exit, and that we've blocked it, they're unlikely to come towards the exit. Instead, they'll likely try to climb out!"

"But..."

After a pause, the Black Rat Chief let out a cold laugh and looked ahead.

"If it were before that incident, it might have been a little more troublesome, since there were quite a few Calamity Beast in the five mines."

"But now, with just these..."

A cold laugh rang out, and then the conversation ended there.

Several Black Rat floating in the air were also nearby, laughing mockingly.

"Quickly, we need to get there as fast as possible and reunite with Rock-Backed Beast and the others. Only then..."

Amidst the charging horde of beasts, a Tier 3 Fear Beast roared hoarsely ahead.

Urged on by it, the surrounding Calamity Beast quickened their pace once more.

The Fear Beast itself also increased its speed slightly.

At that moment, it felt only excitement in its expression.

This was the first time in its life that it had commanded so many Calamity Beast!

Moreover, and more importantly...

Freedom! Future!

All of this awaits it ahead!