A Rattling Monster

Chapter 44: A New Ritual

Right after saying this, a huge explosion occurs in the middle of the ritual. Dark light can be seen exiting the gem inside the prince's chest. Those lights seem to target the priests that were chanting. One after the other, they begin to scream horribly, like someone that is being tortured. Even the high priest that was trying to repair the damages that I caused was not spared. He begins to kneel and then slowly disappears. The runes and sigils on the floor were not spared. Multiple shadows could be seen attacking them, tearing them apart. I guess the heart of a sorcerer-king was a lot more powerful than I thought. Well, he was still the representative of a god, when he was still alive. I can see that even without my help, just letting the heart do his job is enough to ruin everything that the djinns have built.

But while he is helping me deal with the priests and the ritual, the nearby guards and the emperor are out of reach apparently. And looking at me like they want to kill me. I wonder the reason.

"You! YOU! YOU DESTROYED IT! TOMPAS! KILL THIS WORM!"

Better let his hunting dogs do his job. And he runs toward the stairs, like the coward he is. Before his captain even come close to me, I launch on him one of my orb of acid. Seeing the projectile, he has no choice be to retreat. But instead of destroying the ground and melt everything around it, the orb just exploded and create a small hole. That was not planned. What is happening?

(The ritual is currently disturbing any magic nearby, I think. So your spells will be ineffective as long as the battle between my forces and Salazar ritual is not completed. I suggest you run.)

Thank you for the reminder, otherwise, I would have defied in a duel that strong warrior right in front of me. Can something go as I planned it one time? But after seeing my supposed strong spell do nothing, all the guards begin to rush toward me. Do I have to flee inside a closed room, located underground?

"HE IS TRAPPED! MY ETERNAL GUARD KILL HIM! KILL HIM FOR THE TREACHEROUS GOD!"

Apparently, even the emperor doesn't fear me anymore. He doesn't rush toward me but at least he is not fleeing like before. I bet that if I am caught I will suffer by his hand a miserable fate. I am currently circling around the ritual with a bunch of guards behind me. But the problem is, other guards are coming from the opposite way. So in a few moments, I will be stuck between two groups. What should I do? What should I do?

(I can cancel your fake mark if you want.)

Great, and what is the purpose of this?

(A chance, if you enter the ritual with my mark, the sorcerer-king won't attack you. But if just one of those dirty djinns dare to set a foot, you will enjoy a magnificent spectacle.)

Well, I don't have a choice. I will do as you say. I really hope you know what you are doing. And as I put my foot inside the ritual, I strangely feel an odd feeling. Not a bad feeling, just an odd one. One just like when you enter a very old house, with numerous secrets and memories. When you are out of time, back in the past. I kept walking toward the middle of the circle. And as I walked I could hear someone talking in a strange language. I can't understand it. But I should, I mean, my comprehension of all the language of Astria is perfect. The system never failed me on this one.

And then I realize why I don't understand it. It is because the humans talking it are not from Astria. Inside the heart were the memories of an entire race. Sometimes I understand it, sometimes the memory is from a very long time ago. I can see outside the ritual, the emperor screaming and shouting toward the guards. But no one moved. Shortly after I understand why. I can see a good chunk of armors and sabers lying on the ground, near the edge of the ritual. They were not as lucky as me.

I am now closer to the center. The memory that I can see right now is when the sorcerer-king broke his heart with his hands. Damn, I knew his heart was broken, but doing it with his own hands. That's the definition of a tough guy. With his last force, he incrusted the last part of his chair and died. Shortly after, I can see the legion of ratmen surging on the Necropolis. Am I supposed to fight this? They are millions, and it was just an army. I can see some machine guns or at least something like it. An even some snipers. They are using the monster cores to fuel it. Vials of acid are launched too. But the damage done to the Tomb Kings are minimal since all the lich are inside the council room. They are only killing the undead created by them.

But after thinking about this, I see what happened next. Hundreds of assassins leaving the darkness and launching an assault on the lich and the banshees. Even if the number looks huge, only a handful are the true threat. Every time one of them strikes, another undead is resting for eternity. And when the meat bags are all lying on the ground, the deadly group disappear, leaving the survivors in fear. That small group was the one I met.

Finally, I reach the final meeting. But the moment I see this, a shadow appears near me. Someone I never saw. Well, it's hard to distinguish anything since he is really just a shadow, not even an aspect of a body or something like that. He is just extending his hand, just like the second prince did one time.

(Take his hand, give him your mana. That way, the ritual will be inverted.)

Why do I feel like it's a trap, and by the time my mana is empty you will take my life too?

(I still have to make the ratmen and Salazar pay, you are my only hope for this. I will never try to double crossed you.)

Yeah, they all say this. I will do like you said but I will keep a part of my mana.

(That's fine, just allow him to use a part of your power. You are a lot more powerful than a normal ratman. You could have done so many good things, if you hadn't gone toward this road.)

You mean the natural road of a reincarnated rat? Whatever. Here, take my hand. So I accept his offer and I can now feel my power leaking. I see on the System my MP going down quickly 200/350, 150/350. It stopped at 10/350. Guess they were fair after all. But now you have to use it right? Am I in danger inside the ritual?

Probably not, since the reaction of both the Eternal Guard and the emperor are obvious. Some of their flesh, and by flesh I mean sand, are flying toward my location. So they used me to increase the range of absorption. That will probably affect the entire imperial palace. And yes, on the door that was closed, I can see multiple rivers of sand rushing here. As for the innocents working here, well there is no innocent in a war between two gods.

"You, you are just a little. And small RAT!"

I am already regretting the soundproof barrier than was previously activated. The sound of his voice is literally horrible to hear. The fact that his mouth is disintegrating is probably the main cause.

"Ke.the. rat... men. KA... SA.LA.ZAR!"

I think he wanted to say more, but unfortunately, he was not as resistant as his son. And as I turned toward the shadow that was holding my hand, I can't help to feel that he really was looking like the second prince. But that's probably just my imagination. Except for the size, the lack of details prevents me from verifying this theory. I just hope that he will still learn that his father got was he deserved. He was a funny lad.

(It's over, we can go now.)

Oh really, no more guard will hunt us?

(I can't say that the guards on the walls will be affected, but everyone in the proximity of the palace is dead. The citizens that you saw happy are probably absorbed too. The desert should have his size reduced to half of its original size.)

So what should we do? Hunt ratmen?

(No, absolutely not. The djinns were never really favored by Salazar, so it is logical that they haven't learned of your existence. But I have seen some assassins looking for you since Ronta. And after they report it, the Clan Masters will know that you exist. You won't be able to fool them. And, they are a lot stronger than the djinns, just remember those memories. It was just an army, not the army.)

So crystal hunting?

(Crystal hunting.)