Skaven Ratmen yesyes
The cave was filled with a foul, putrid stench, like the smell of food waste fermenting together in a sewer.
After calming down, everyone could smell the odor.
They had been crawling in the cave for who knows how long; their elbows and thighs were already raw and bloody.
The searchlight's Magic Energy was almost exhausted; the light dimmed, darkness descended, and their sanity was being slowly eroded.
Under the dual torment of mental and physical exhaustion, they were on the verge of collapse, their only motivation coming from the primal instinct to survive.
Some people held octopus head pendants in their hands, praying for the protection of the great being of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.
Some people also prayed to the Wandering Doom, that it would descend upon this place and take away their sins.
However, all of this was in vain. Beings less than ants would not attract any attention.
However, the one who was crawling at the very front, the one who first discovered the anomaly, and also the one holding the octopus head pendant, was...
His ears twitched; he seemed to hear a strange sound coming from some passageway.
"There's a voice! I heard a voice, something is calling to us!"
Since they climbed into the cave, they seemed to have entered a silent world.
The previous squeaking of mice and any other noises completely disappeared.
Besides the scraping sounds of their climbing, he could now hear other sounds again, strange yet pleasing to him like heavenly music.
The people behind them still heard nothing, but this time, they all chose to believe.
"Where! Quick, we might be getting close to the ground, there might be someone there!"
Although the odds were slim, and they were well aware of it, this beautiful fantasy was their only solace.
Following the sound, they quickly climbed through the cave, which was almost completely dark and where most of their senses had been lost.
Completely unaware that instead of crawling towards the surface, they were going further and further down, deeper and deeper into the labyrinthine underground caverns.
They climbed for an unknown amount of time, until they were completely exhausted.
A huge, constantly flashing light suddenly appeared ahead.
The light shone into their eyes, highlighting their dark pupils.
That was a rekindled hope!
"Light, it's light! Is that the ground?"
"It definitely is! It's true!"
Exhausted bodies were revitalized, and they crawled over in contorted postures.
Moreover, the closer you get to the front, the wider it becomes.
They could even stand up with their backs bent, but their legs were already too weak, so they could only kneel on the ground and drag themselves forward.
But the closer they got, the more they realized that the light was very strange.
It flickered and dimmed, not a normal light at all, but rather like firelight.
Moreover, the putrid smell was becoming increasingly strong.
As they approached the end of the passage, ready to investigate further.
The passageway beneath their feet suddenly collapsed, and they tumbled down with the rubble.
After a dizzying spin, they saw the scene before them.
They saw the source of the light, but they also saw despair.
This isn't the surface at all; it's a huge underground space.
All around were piles of burning red ore, and in the firelight, the walls here were also densely packed with cave entrances... or rather, cave exits.
This place is like the center of the underground world; it seems that every underground passage that can be discovered will eventually lead here.
A twisted, ugly, irregularly shaped the Tower- like building is displayed in the very center.
Even a haphazardly piled-up twig seems more beautiful than this the Tower.
This could not possibly have been built by humans; even the most basic human aesthetic sense would far surpass this.
Its ability to remain standing here is nothing short of a great miracle.
The building's surface was covered in filthy, disgusting grime, which aroused a strong sense of revulsion.
But at the very top, there is a bell that is the exact opposite of filth. It is completely free of any stains and instead reflects an ancient and solemn radiance in the firelight.
Around the firelight, beside the twisted the Tower, pairs of glowing green eyes were watching them.
The owners of these eyes were all enormous, deformed rats.
The mutated rats here, along with the architecture and space, must be connected in some way.
But they couldn't connect the buildings and spaces here with the fact that they were dug and built by these lowest-level rats.
However, this thought quickly dissipated as a large group of shadows surged out under the firelight ahead.
They witnessed scenes they had never dared to imagine!
Disorganized, silent footsteps, rustling scratching sounds, and the swaying of a tail.
Every minute, every second, it grew louder and louder.
Dirty fur gushed out of the dark, gloomy cave like boiling water.
What came head-on was a frenzy of mutated rats.
Amidst this frenzy, several even taller figures were mixed in, drawing considerable attention.
Those were several rats, each about half a person's height, standing upright and walking.
No, then it shouldn't be called a rat anymore.
They are similar in size to humans, lean, covered in hair, with round eyes, a narrow mouth and nose, and extremely sharp teeth.
Both in size and appearance, it has transcended the category of a rat.
It's like a fusion of humans and rats... a rat-man!
These four people never imagined that one day they would actually encounter such a being.
How long have these rats been lying dormant and hidden, and how much have they grown?
Strange sounds came from the rats' mouths as they watched in horror.
"×&%￥#@yesyes..."
They don't understand, but they know.
Their death, the death of this world, has finally arrived.
There was no calm, no tranquility, only fear and trembling.
After everyone died, there was silence for an unknown period of time.
The dull tolling of bells echoed through the vast underground space, reverberating through caves large and small.
Since their first contact with humans, the ratmen have remained hidden in the underground world.
The ugly structures in their lair were built under their guidance, using materials brought back by the mutated rats.
The purpose of building it was to respond to the wisdom that it brought them.
The being that brought them wisdom was naturally Shen Hui.
Every time Shen Hui uses the World Origin Power to help these rats evolve, the bell rings once.
But these rats didn't know who it was; it was a mysterious entity. All they knew was that after the thirteenth chime of the bell rang from this underground the Tower.
They will gain wisdom far exceeding what they currently possess.
And this is now the ninth chime.
As development continued for several years, the underground bell has now rung for the eleventh time.
The number of mutated rats is decreasing, and they are being replaced by more rat-people.
They have now evolved to a very high level.
They have developed a physical form that is increasingly resembling that of humans, along with cunning intelligence, and have even learned some human languages.
He named himself Skaven Ratmen.
They also began attacking remote, marginalized towns among humans.
Plundering human resources and technology.
They spared no human being, and their existence was never openly revealed.
However, as the number of occurrences increased and time passed, rumors about rat people began to circulate in some places.
Anyone would find rats disgusting.
They are signs of disease, rummage through our garbage dumps, and frighten the children.
The filthy Skaven Ratmen stand up in a wicked mimicry of humans.
Rats as tall as humans are blessed with evil wisdom and cunning.
He is the dark side of our human soul, destroying us with our sins.
The person who initially spread this rumor was burned at the stake for spreading harmful rumors.
In this world, talking about the Eldritch Beings is forbidden, and spreading fear is even more so.
But it won't be long before humanity discovers it.
This is not a rumor, but the truth.