Chapter 30: Sacrificing Rats

Sito Jukunkle.

This being, who lives beneath the city of mages, Afros, is one of the creations made about three hundred years ago by the Black Sage Zoma—considered one of the greatest archmages in history—to manage the city’s rats and waste.

“Squeak.”

The Rat King answered my greeting with an air of arrogance befitting his title.

Of course, in person, he appeared more cute and comical than haughty.

“First of all, I offer my sincere respects in the name of the Black Sage Zoma.”

However, the moment Zoma’s name left my lips, the Rat King immediately removed his crown and bowed his head, expressing deep and solemn reverence toward his creator.

Even after three centuries, he still upheld his vow of loyalty and respect to his creator.

“I am Anak, the Deceiver of Summons, who aided Hero Lowell in the battle against the Demon King Thanatos and the God Nyx.”

Now, I hadn’t summoned him as an ordinary familiar.

The Rat King, as a creation of the Black Sage Zoma, and at least in terms of official title, is one of the twelve guardians who protect the city of Afros.

No matter how skilled a summoner might be, they cannot contract with him or force him into obedience.

Only negotiations are possible, depending on the situation.

“Squeak squeak squeak squeak.”

At my introduction, he quickly changed his attitude.

He likely assumed at first that some petty summoner had called him for aid, but as one of Afros’ guardians, he remembered the relentless assaults from the Demon King’s army—and no doubt, he also remembered how crucial our help had been in those brutal battles.

“Do you see that cave over there?”

At my gesture, he looked toward the cave and nodded.

“I need to go inside—but as you might guess, it’s a trap. That’s why I’m asking for your help in dealing with it.”

At that, Sito Jukunkle shot me a sharp look.

Of course, this was conveyed through the mental link we shared.

“Squeak. Squeak squeak squeak?”

He questioned me indignantly—where were my other summons, and why was I asking him to do this?

The tone, however, wasn’t one of pride but of subtle reprimand, as if to say I was sending his soldiers into certain death just to spare my own.

It was a fair point.

Usually, when summoners called on Sito Jukunkle, they asked for simple scouting or waste disposal.

Scouting was low risk and required few rats, and waste disposal gave the rats more food—no harm done.

But now, I was asking them to walk straight into a trap.

It was, quite literally, asking them to die.

Still, I knew this was just part of the negotiation.

“Don’t you already regularly order a set number of rats to jump into fire to maintain balance? Besides, everyone knows the king has no sentimental attachment to his fellow rats, so let’s not bother with the obvious act.”

Zoma created Sito Jukunkle to manage the rat population and keep their numbers in check.

He had no desire to breed and was nearly human in intelligence.

How could he possibly see normal rats as anything more than… well, exactly how we humans see them?

I doubt his feelings toward them were much different from how we feel about rats ourselves.

“Squeak.”

At my words, he grinned rather cruelly and admitted the truth.

The emotion that briefly came through the mental link was that of a ruthless ruler—nothing less.

“I’m not asking you to send rats in until all traps are cleared—just to send the ones scheduled for fire this month into that cave instead. Surely that’s a small favor, one you can do as goodwill for someone who helped save not just Afros, but the world.”

He stared at my face for a moment, as if weighing something, then nodded—reluctantly.

It seemed he had intended to demand gold or jewels, as he usually did from other summoners, but had I expected that, I would’ve just sent in a few expendable familiars and taken the losses.

“My gratitude, King of Rats.”

Before I even finished my thanks, he severed the mental link and jumped from my hand.

No doubt he had sensed through the link that my gratitude was less than heartfelt.

Once on the ground, he raised his trident—made from a dinner fork—high into the air.

His eyes glowed blue, and mysterious runes spread across his body.

The legend that the Black Sage Zoma had completed his own unique magical system didn’t seem like a lie.

Even I couldn’t make sense of the runes on his body.

A powerful mana current swirled around him, and small black portals opened on the ground.

These were not a summoner’s portals—they were fully functional, two-way portals.

“Squeak!”

And through them, the rats arrived.

At the Rat King’s irritable, merciless command, they charged toward the cave without a second’s hesitation.

Their unified charge was like a raging torrent.

Thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of black rats surged into the cave.

Occasional explosions and mechanical noises could be heard, but they were muffled beneath the endless stampede of claws and squeaks.

Even after a long while, the rat swarm kept rushing in, until the torrent began to weaken.

Then, the mental link reopened—Sito Jukunkle was signaling that he would now return.

“Squeak. Squeak squeak squeak.”

He informed me that he had deployed far more troops than I had asked for, and that he considered his duty fulfilled.

“Squeak squeak squeak squeak.”

Although the rats hadn’t yet reached the end of the cave, all the mechanical traps in their path had been disabled, and all trap-based magic circles had been erased.

He promised the cleanup would continue until the last rat had perished.

“But some of your soldiers might survive, right?”

“Squeak?”

So? he replied, amused.

It was his form of dark humor.

Beneath that lay a bitter cynicism and shadowy sorrow that struck a strange chord within me.

“Heh… I see.”

He chuckled at my response, seemingly entertained, then turned toward one of the portals he had opened.

“Squeak squeak squeak squeak.”

Standing at the portal, he turned back to me with a short parting remark.

“Yes. Until we meet again, then.”

“Squeak.”

His final joke, half-serious, promised he’d demand proper compensation next time.

With that, he vanished into the portal, and all the portals on the ground closed behind him.

“Well then…”

I began walking toward the cave.

It was time for me to enter.

Of course, the usual approach would’ve been to just keep sending in familiars—it was safer and more efficient.

But I was curious.

Curious about that man’s goal.

And if possible, I wanted to finish this myself.

With a small orb of light floating before me, I stepped into the cave.

The inside of the cave was wider than it had appeared from the outside.

Well, I suppose it had to be somewhat spacious if someone managed to bring a horse in here.

Now that I think about it, it’s impressive they even managed to drag a horse in at all.

From experience, I know how difficult and annoying it is to bring a horse into a cave.

Especially with a floor this uneven, it’s usually harder on the person dragging the horse than on the horse itself.

At some point, a foul stench hit my nose.

The floor was littered with countless rat corpses, bloodstains, and the broken remains of arrow traps and crude stone weapons.

Sharp spikes jutted out from the ground, with rats skewered in layers upon them.

“They really did go all out. I have to admit that much.”

The fact that so many rats were impaled that deeply meant the spikes must have shot up suddenly.

To have mechanical traps like this set up inside the cave showed how much effort was put into it.

Beyond that were even more creative and precise mechanical traps and magic circles.

The deeper I went, the more rat corpses there were.

And the worse the stench became.

Covering my nose was useless.

Even though the corpses hadn’t begun to rot yet, unlike the Sito Jukunkle, these were ordinary rats living in filthy sewers or garbage heaps—and there were just too many of them.

The areas where the corpses had been burned to ash were bearable.

But in sections where hundreds or even thousands of rats had suddenly died all at once—whether from poison gas or a curse—it was hard to even breathe.

And there were several more massive traps like that ahead.

Then, suddenly, the number of rat corpses began to decrease.

“So. This must be it.”

From all directions, arrows and boulders came flying.

A barrier activated, and at the same time, black serpents rose from beneath my feet and lunged all at once.

Death Serpents—a curse spell traded via scrolls, among the strongest of its kind.

“They must’ve used at least thirty of them.”

Of course, the black serpents disappeared as they struck the barrier, breaking one layer of it, but it wasn’t a serious problem.

I wasn’t sure exactly how deep this cave was, but compared to the remnants of previous spells and damaged magic circles left by the rats, the quality and quantity of spells in this trap had increased dramatically.

No matter how many traps the rats failed to disarm lay ahead, this was definitely near the end.

The traps were certainly impressive.

Just setting them up would have required immense dedication and a huge amount of money.

The level of the traps was such that any average adventuring party, mercenary group, or knight order would’ve been wiped out within minutes of entering.

But that was only by ordinary standards.

“You targeted the others with this? That’s it?”

If they really expected to catch my companions with this, they were sorely mistaken.

Sure, some traps might have caused minor trouble for Aegina, Lauti or Orcan, if they were caught off guard.

But even then, they wouldn’t have been killed.

In the worst-case scenario, they could’ve just retreated.

As for Lowell, Medluf, or Baglos—I’m confident they could’ve gotten through all this without so much as a scratch.

Of course, it’s possible the enemy misjudged their abilities.

But unlike me, who has little known track record, the others have plenty of notable exploits that demonstrate their strength.

“So they weren’t the real targets?”

Then who was this cave made for?

As I thought earlier, this wasn’t something that could’ve been set up in a day or two.

If my companions weren’t the target, was there anyone else associated with me who would warrant such traps?

“…Don’t tell me this wasn’t even meant for me, and they just used it in a hurry?”

Maybe this was built for an entirely different purpose, but they decided to use it on me due to time constraints.

If that’s the case, then they must be quite good at improvising, unlike me.

“Well, either way, I’ll know soon enough.”

As expected, there weren’t many traps left after that.

Aside from one more layer of the barrier being stripped away, I passed through with no further damage and finally reached the end of the cave.

“So damn troublesome.”

There was nothing there.

Aside from the way I came in, the end of the cave was surrounded by crude stone walls.

No traps, no signs of anything.

It looked like a dead end.

“You don’t want me turning back anyway—couldn’t you have just opened it in advance?”

I called the spirits.

Earth spirits responded to my summons, and I had them inhabit the stone wall.

“As I thought.”

Through spiritual synchronization, I could clearly sense the awkward sections in the wall and the space behind them.

A hidden wall.

Following my gestures and intent, the stones making up the secret wall took on a vaguely humanoid shape and slowly walked out.