NOVEL NEXT 225. The World Doesn't Wait (Book Three)
After returning to our fortified mud city and then spending a few days sending the rescued people back to the surface, we continued pushing on ahead with careful yet many uses of the V word.
I wouldn't say we were winning just yet, because I knew there were far more heavy hitters deep in the ant colony, and far more ants to kill overall than what we've already dealt with. But we were making progress.
A couple more mud cities were freed, and we didn't run into any more ant sympathizers so the freeing of them was smooth to say the least. I hadn't been paying much attention to the relocation process going on above ground, but from what I've heard, the people were just being sent to the various cities across Earth.
The problem with that though is that the cities weren't built to sustain millions of people each, so a lot of rapid expansion was taking place. Thankfully the manpower to make something like that possible was also multiplying as people were evacuated. Plus, things like being a Body Tempering construction worker tend to speed things up.
Anyway, that was for the council and Ozal to worry about. My role and the role of my clan at the moment was to be down here and focus on the ants. I briefly considered bringing human forces down here as well, but I realized very quickly that empty numbers wouldn't help with something like this.
At least not numbers that didn't match the force of Infernals I had with me. Anything less than that in quality would just be adding to the death toll by becoming fodder for the ants. There were likely just a handful of humans here that could actually provide some assistance, but a handful wouldn't shift the tide in any way. It was better for them to stay put.
And just like that, I continued the fight against the ants. With how much I used the V word there were plenty of times I needed to rest, but for the most part the battles never seemed like they were ending.
I've now been down in these tunnels for over a year, but the ants literally don't stop coming. I know it was likely that just from the end of the Tutorial to the time where we officially began the battle against them, they were probably able to swell to a disgusting amount of ants.
Worse yet, I highly doubt their ant queens had stopped producing even more of them. But what else could I do but stand in and battle? For as long as it took, I would fight against these ants until the infestation was removed or until I was satisfied.
But that's when it happened.
We were currently resting way back in our fortified city of mud, when a feeling I had no plans of experiencing again so soon descended on the world around me. It was something I hadn't experienced for over 10 years now.
That feeling of helplessness.
Knowing there was nothing you could do, nothing you could say, nothing at all that would change reality just to make you feel better. The words that accompanied the feeling only made it sink in even more.
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"Finally found you."
There was no one but Infernals around me. And unless the ants roaring out of the tunnels could talk, then that voice had to come from a massive distance away from me…and the type of being who could speak such clear sounds from such a distance isn't the type of being I'm ready to face.
Before I could fully cope with the situation, the walls around me shook with such force it felt like everything was about to cave in around us, but that didn't happen. Instead, the sound of what appeared to be stampeding could be faintly heard initially, but only a few seconds was all it took for the faint sounds to grow significantly in intensity.
Then…BOOOOOM!!!
Holes burst out from all the walls around us and loud screeching filled the area as ravenous beasts poured in all around us.
Only…these beasts were not more ants.
No. They were rats.
Rats the size of large dogs continuously poured out from the holes and attacked both the ants and us without a care in the world. There was no clarity in their eyes either. Just madness and hunger. That was all I saw as I watched them charge after the ants and the members of my clan.
"You dared to rebel against someone as magnanimous and glorious as I and thought there would be no consequences? Fool! The time has come to pay for your sins against royalty! A peasant should know their place, and it is time you were reminded of yours!
"Do not worry though, foolish mortal. Once the necessary price has been paid for your transgressions, I am willing to once again accept the unquestioned and rightfully deserved loyalty of this planet. Isn't that quite merciful of me? Never let it be said I am not the most benevolent master!"
It was the rat man.
The fucking rat man.
The Infernals all around me sprang into action quickly and immediately began fighting off against the rats who were apparently no less of a threat than those of the ants, but I knew it was all for nought.
There was an Immortal on Earth.
My drive wasn't broken or hampered but I was truly caught off guard by this. I knew I would have to deal with the rat man eventually, but for some reason I felt like I had time. That I would be able to fight him and possibly his people on my own terms. That all I needed was to spend the next few years handling these ants, then I would move on to try and find and eliminate the rat man.
Not easy, but manageable.
When did I become so arrogant? I thought I noticed this arrogance and curbed it long ago, but it appears I've been blind to my own mind.
Why did I think that the world would wait for me to grow before things happened to me? When has life ever been so fair? The answer was never.
"Ah this won't do. For your crimes, far more desperation is needed."
I then heard the sound of snapping fingers, and what I saw caused my heart to weep.
Hundreds of Infernals who were all in the midst of fighting the way Infernals were supposed to fight. Not caring about the strength of the enemy, only recognizing that there was an enemy to be defeated and moving to defeat them. Hundreds of them…hundreds of bodies fell limply to the ground without a single chance to fight back.
Just like that.
One snap of someone's fingers and they were dead. It was as if they were puppets and someone just cut the strings to their bodies. No.
No…
My heart began to ache far more than it ever had in my life. More than even the pain I felt when I lost my parents.
As flames darker than the void itself unconsciously began to gather around my body, the voice of the rat man could be heard again.
"Who dares to interfere!"
"Patriarch Raizen. I will take this as a favor to be paid back. The Immortal rat shall be removed from this planet, their subordinates are yours to handle."
I don't think I heard anything that was said, only barely registering the fact that I heard the voice of the mermaid Immortal.
Instead…rage…blind and unfiltered rage was the only thing filling my mind.
The world…the world shall know the Eternal Flame.