48: The Death of the Drilling Rat

"Drill Mouse, you damn bastard, you still say you didn't lead us the wrong way?"

Evil Axe carried Red Hammer on his back, following closely behind Drill Mouse.

"Boss, I'm sure of it. There's no way my markers are wrong."

As Drill Mouse spoke, he tightened the blood-stained bandage on his left arm and asked tentatively,

"What about the Captain?"

"We get out first, then come back for support."

Evil Axe couldn't help but touch his injured abdomen, his expression darkening slightly,

"Can you even tell who's real and who's fake right now?"

Before this, they had been running wildly and hadn't noticed at all that Ronan, carrying Ash Leaf, hadn't followed them.

Because Ronan and Ash Leaf had been following behind them the whole time.

It wasn't until they reached a fork in the road and everyone stopped to look for markers.

The Ronan and Ash Leaf behind them suddenly launched an attack on them.

If not for Drill Mouse's timely warning, the injuries on the two of them would be much worse than they were now.

Seeing the Polluters reveal their true forms after death, they finally realized that the three of them had long since become separated from Ronan.

"I can't tell, but I've thought of a way..."

A flash of inspiration struck Drill Mouse's mind, and he said,

"The next time we suddenly run into someone we know, we'll attack first and see."

Seeing the veins bulging on Evil Axe's forehead as if he wanted to pummel him, Drill Mouse hurried to explain,

"Not a real attack, but a preemptive strike to make the other person think we're attacking, while shouting things like 'It's you fake again!'"

"If it's the real Captain, he definitely won't strike back. The one who strikes back is definitely the fake."

Evil Axe thought for a long while and felt this method was actually quite reliable, so he couldn't help but praise,

"You kid, you do have some brains after all."

Just as both of them were feeling very satisfied with this plan, the firelight ahead illuminated Red Star and the Puppet carrying him.

Evil Axe and Drill Mouse looked at each other, and in that exchange of glances, both understood the other's meaning:

The chance for a preemptive strike has come!

Red Star ahead sensed someone approaching,

Turned his head,

And saw one dwarf carrying another dwarf, with a Halfling beside them, rushing toward him while brandishing axes and a dagger.

"It's you damn fake again!"

Evil Axe's roar seemed capable of shattering the passage, showing his imposing might.

"What fake?" Red Star said with a face full of confusion.

Evil Axe's figure paused.

He turned his head to look at Drill Mouse. "Does this count as real?"

Why was this different from what they had envisioned?

"It... it should be, right?" Drill Mouse said, lacking confidence.

"Of course it's real!" Red Star laughed.

Immediately after, his right hand transformed into a blood-colored long whip, delivering a lashing strike toward them.

Evil Axe's expression changed, his blood energy surging as he raised both axes to block the strike.

"Real my ass!"

He roared, quickly closing in on the fake Red Star. Coordinating with Drill Mouse, who suddenly appeared behind him, the two formed a pincer attack from front and back.

Puchi.

Evil Axe was hit by an even thicker blood-colored whip shadow and was instantly sent flying backward.

The fake Red Star, disguised by a Polluter, stood frozen in place.

It was like a still frame, holding its attack stance, but its head fell off along a blood line at the neck.

Watching the scene unfold before his eyes, an unprecedented chill rushed from the soles of Drill Mouse's feet straight to his crown.

He held his breath, moving his body bit by bit, slowly and mechanically turning his head.

A massive figure appeared in his peripheral vision.

Four-legged, its entire body was wrapped in thick blood vessels, with fragments of cloth still on it—it clearly lived on human flesh.

"Drill Mouse, run in different directions."

Evil Axe had been whipped away, and feeling the intensity of the power contained within, he knew immediately that he was no match for this monster at all.

If they didn't run now, all three would end up buried in this monster's mouth.

Evil Axe's heart was in a state of panic.

'Why are there other ghostly things besides the Polluters?'

'I have to find the Captain quickly...'

He turned firmly and fled with large strides back the way they came.

As for Drill Mouse, with the enhancement of invisibility, his escape ability was even stronger than his own; there was no need to worry at all.

Drill Mouse thought so too.

With the Four-legged Creature at his side, he didn't hesitate to activate his most proficient skill, 'Hidden Stab'.

His figure vanished in an instant, charging forward in another direction.

With invisibility plus his current speed, getting past the Four-legged Creature would be no problem at all.

Who would have thought that at this moment,

The Black Pollutant that had been hidden behind his back all along suddenly seemed to have a consciousness of its own, mysteriously climbing up his limbs.

This caused Drill Mouse's sprint to be obstructed, as if he had fallen into a quagmire.

His invisibility state also ended prematurely, and he abruptly materialized right next to the Four-legged Creature.

Immediately, a long, slender tongue accurately wrapped around his neck.

No matter how much he struggled, he could not escape.

Damn it... Drill Mouse took out his most precious dagger and kept stabbing and hacking at the tongue wrapped around his neck.

This weapon, which Ronan had exchanged points for to give to him, was actually unable to cause even a tiny bit of damage to the slender tongue at this moment.

The tongue tightened bit by bit.

In his despair and suffocation, Drill Mouse experienced the revolving lantern of his life before death.

I clearly didn't have to come here... I should have known not to keep it from everyone... It's all my fault... Captain... Boss... be careful... Drill Mouse's bloodshot eyes quickly turned black, and the pollutant rapidly crawled over his entire body.

His face withered visibly, his limbs shriveled, and his entire life force was rapidly draining away.

The Four-legged Creature seemed extremely repulsed by this type of pollution.

Its slender tongue sensed the Black Pollutant and let go of Drill Mouse, whipping around in the air for a while before retracting.

But it was too late by the time the tongue retracted.

Drill Mouse was dead.

With endless regret and resentment, his life force was completely extinguished.

But as his entire body was covered by the Black Pollutant, he miraculously stood up again.

The pollutant writhed, making his withered face gradually become plump again, returning to his original normal appearance.

He looked up at the slowly departing Four-legged Creature, turned around, and hurried toward the passage he had come from... Ronan and Ash Leaf didn't know how long they had been walking.

Strictly speaking, it was Ash Leaf who didn't know how long she had been walking.

Ronan lay on her back holding a torch, using his Spiritual Power net to identify the road conditions and direction.

There were quite a few forks along the way, but he never found the markers left by Evil Axe and the others before.

"Are we lost?" Ash Leaf keenly noticed the problem.

"I have some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"What time is it now? Just tell me the bad news."

"The bad news is that not only are we lost, but we're also very likely walking backward."

"How is that possible? I didn't turn around!"

"Do you know that the Earth is round?"

"What?"

"My point is... this road is very long, and the turns are always in the same direction."

"So if we keep going like this, we're very likely to end up back where we started?"

"It's not likely; we've already returned to where we started."

Through his Spiritual Power net, Ronan had already discovered the corpse of the fake one whose head had been split open earlier.

"Oh my god!" Ash Leaf saw it after running a few steps and immediately held her forehead and wailed.

"What about the good news? What about the good news you mentioned?" She urgently needed some good news to cheer her up.

"The good news is, your feeling was right." Ronan nodded, giving her affirmation.

Ash Leaf: ?

"Let's try walking back," Ronan suggested.