Chapter 319: The Terrified Ratman
"Prepare yourselves!"
Lin Ke issued a command, and the knights tightened the lances under their arms, channeling their thoughts to their steeds and holding their breath in concentration.
"Rumble..."
The massive rocks seemed slow, but in reality, they moved almost at supersonic speed.
The giant rocks rolled to a stop in front of Lin Ke, splitting apart and halting.
From the round rocks emerged arms and legs made entirely of stone, standing up to form stone creatures.
They split and turned to face the approaching Ratmen.
It appeared as though they and Lin Ke were enclosing the Ratmen in a reverse pincer.
Lin Ke stood apart, observing the Ratmen.
Whenever he saw the Ratmen, the image of Ove fading away in his arms resurfaced in his mind.
The Ratmen as the culprits and the Wild Boar-men as accomplices!
The Naseng Plane, unlike his previous life, often viewed things through the lens of race and power.
In Naseng, especially within the Holy Life Alliance, a tribe or a race often shares the same fate.
If you kill someone from a tribe, the entire tribe will see you as an enemy.
In his past life, if someone disappeared from your neighborhood, you wouldn't consider them an enemy.
Lin Ke did not judge the values of shared honor and shared misfortune.
However, once the Ratmen and Wild Boar-men high-ups set this strategy, it meant that their entire race had decided to be enemies with Lin Ke, Azanen, and the Great Wilderness.
Because Ove was Lin Ke's teacher and also a member of Azanen and the Great Wilderness!
Back then, Lin Ke was weak and helpless while his father Garoce was trapped in a sub-plane.
Ove determinedly stayed and bound himself to the Azanen Clan.
Back then, Ove was star-level; why bind himself to a mere peripheral Viscount Clan?
Because of Lin Ke.
Therefore, upon seeing the Ratmen now, a fervent anger surged within him.
"Books from sub-planes, I come from the mighty Naseng Plane, I am a demigod..." An epic level eighteen Ratman hovered in the air, looking down at Lin Ke with arrogance and indifference.
Complacency!
After Lin Ke eliminated the strongest and most prominent Ratmen, those that remained were suddenly liberated.
No longer oppressed by their superiors, these Ratmen acted recklessly and lawlessly.
When encountering powerful beings, like those above Faser's twenty-first level, they would avoid them.
But when facing those below twenty-first level, they would ravage and plunder.
For the time being, no one could restrain these Ratmen.
After all, in the eyes of the Faser Gods, although these outsiders had different heads, they were considered the same force.
They did not know that the Holy Life Alliance was not a monolith.
There was competition among different races and tribes.
As a result, these Ratmen had been having the time of their lives recently.
However, they encountered Lin Ke.
Lin Ke had already informed his people that eastern forces were not unified but fought battles on their own.
So they were fearless at this point.
The Ratman's words were cut short as Lin Ke suddenly leaped and punched the leading Ratman.
"... Interrupt me? How presumptuous." The Ratman snorted, his round little eyes filled with disdain. "Get lost."
With a backhand slap, Lin Ke's body flew back faster than he had come.
"Boom!!!"
The once high-spirited army felt as if they were doused with a cold bucket of water in winter, chilled to the bone.
Their strongest, Buck, was sent flying with a single slap?
Yet, at that moment, Buck rose from the ground, his voice resounding through the army: "He is strong..."
The troops felt even more demoralized.
"But should we surrender because of this?" Lin Ke's voice rang out with determination: "When one day, these strong beings descend upon our cities, driving our friends and family like cattle, and commanding us as slaves, should we surrender because of that?"
The Ratmen in the air were dumbfounded.
What, just a slap and you're giving a speech in front of the formation?
You're just a native, why do you have so much to say?
However, Lin Ke didn't stop. He wanted to take this opportunity to teach his second Great Wilderness army well:
"We came here from afar, not to fight the weak, not for profit, but to protect! To liberate!"
"What distinguishes enemies from allies is not whether they are powerful, but whether they share our beliefs! Whether their will is similar to ours!"
"The strong draw their blades against the stronger, while the weak draw their swords only against the weaker!"
"We seek common ground while preserving differences! We embrace all! We believe in the Gods! But when they point their butchers' knives at our kin, at our fellow citizens, and when their cages smother our freedom and will, then..."
"If gods block us, we'll slay gods!"
Lin Ke mounted the nearby Black Gold Volcano Demon Bull.
Flames blazed on the Black Gold Volcano Demon Bull's body, spewing thick sulfurous fumes from its mouth and nose. It let out a bellow: "Moo!!!"
"For the glory of the Fan Ye Party! Liberate all of Faser!!" Lin Ke shouted, taking out his Thunder Arm Strength Ball from the Space Ring, transforming it into a lava form:
"Charge with me!"
Massive streams of lava erupted from the ball, with not a trace of lightning escaping.
"For the glory of the Fan Ye Party! Liberate all of Faser!"
"For the glory of the Fan Ye Party! Liberate all of Faser!"
"For the glory of the Fan Ye Party! Liberate all of Faser!"
The army, previously demoralized, began to raise their arms and shout, their eyes filled with incredible spirit.
They were engaged in a great cause!
They were performing an act that would go down in history!
They were not acting for the glory of the mage, nor for the dignity of the Gods, but for themselves, for their fellow kin!
The astonishing momentum erupted from these mortals, their beliefs continuously converging onto Lin Ke.
This scared the Ratmen above.
"Charge with me?! Charge?!"
"Why does that sound so familiar?!"
"Could it be that person!! Run!!"
"Earl Lin Ke is here! Flee for your lives!"
The Ratmen looked at Lin Ke's imposing presence, terrified, with several even trying to flee on the spot.
"Shut up! It's just a native!" The leading Ratman was initially scared too but on second thought, realized the person below was just a native.
Probably imitating Earl Lin Ke.
"Yeah, yeah... just a native."
"He scared me. I thought Earl Lin Ke had arrived."
"Damn it, I'm going to kill this native."
The Ratmen also came to their senses.
If it were Earl Lin Ke, they wouldn't have so many chances.
At the first encounter, they would fall under the charge of the Great Wilderness Knight Order.