Chapter 48 Phase One

After several days of fruitlessly searching for the orb by Hugh and tireless work from everyone else, it was time to actually begin exterminating the rats on a larger scale, no longer small experiments that would at most take out a few hundred of the pests.

Using the results of their investigations and the collaboration of the smartest strategists of the gathered mages, they had come up with a somewhat decent plan. It would be difficult to completely eradicate all the rats in one go, but it would drastically reduce their numbers.

It was also the plan with the largest chance of success given the time frame and the resources available. It was after all only a small, low level plane's emergency. The forces gathered in response in just a few days would only be so much. Just getting a fifth level mage to help hadn't been a guarantee, and until Hugh had shown his attitude, Amber, along with most residents of the plane had been overjoyed at the news.

The plan was made after only a few days of research and planning, with the resources gathered in almost the same amount of days. Despite that, the plan showed promise and built on the experience of the janitors and similar tactics known to be effective against species that created large-scale nests. It was devised to be an efficient way to deal with the rats, both when counting money, and when counting human resources.

It was also easy to move around the wasteland and repeat the same process to get rid of as many rats as possible with the plan. Then while most mages and explorers are doing that, others will try and find a way to make sure the rats won't make a comeback by finding a way to kill every last one of them.

And so, in small groups of three or four, most mages spread out in a large circular area of the wasteland. Everyone was within sight of everyone else, but only barely for the ones on either side of the designated zone. It was both a security measure and a way to control what was going to happen.

Almost everyone in charge of planning had agreed that trying to get every single last rat in one go would be close to impossible. Instead, it would be better to lure them in and gradually trim their numbers while at the same time trying to get all the rats in the same area.

They didn't know if there were more rats deeper in the center of the wasteland, but the border of it stretched far enough that all the rats wouldn't fit in an area manageable by the gathered exterminators.

The first phase of the plan was to slowly gather rats and concentrate them within the large circular formation they had created. To do that they used the rats' attraction to vitality and mana.

Mages of all kinds of attributes sent down mana into the ground and those with particular attributes like wood, nature, life, or anything that could achieve the same thing, infused the ground with vitality.

They made sure to spread out the mana and vitality evenly over the ground covered by the circle, to make sure the rats stay in the ground and focus on absorbing the nourishment, and not come up to the surface to directly target the source. Although they were put into small teams made of a combination of support and combat personnel that was merely an insurance in case the occasional rat crawled up, they weren't equipped in any way to deal with a full-on rat swarm.

Aside from Hugh, who made a show of appearing and overseeing the venture, and a few other mages, who were responsible for analyzing the rats' behavior, and preparing for phase two, everyone else joined in. The twins were the only two who worked in a pair as they stood in the center, working together to spread their mana through the ground.

As everyone started pumping the ground full of mana and nourishment, the ground started teeming with rat activity almost instantly, incessant chattering, the ground trembling slightly from the rodents rushing through the tunnels, from all over in excitement.

Usually, if mana was infused into the ground like it was currently, it would slowly dissipate into the ground or seep into the air. Either way, it wouldn't disappear completely as soon as it entered the ground, like it was doing when it entered the rat-infested wasteland. The mages could feel the mana they sent into the ground vanish like friends during a personal crisis.

With how fast the mana disappeared and how small a rat's capacity for it was, it was a sign that innumerable rats had gathered below the surface already. The ones with great perceptive capabilities could sense how the ground was absolutely teeming with rats. When they perceived below ground previously, they would discern the hollowed-out tunnels and the skittering rats, but after phase one was initiated, the rats had completely taken over the tunnels, filling them up, leaving no empty space.

It was a wonder how they were able to breathe, not to mention how even more rats were able to fit in and compete for the mana poured into the ground.

The rate at which all the mana disappeared wasn't the only shock. The mages with wood and life attribute magic who tried to nurture plants to boost the attraction of the rats were stunned to find the plants wither before they even sprouted.

The rats' ability to steal the nourishment was terrifying as they almost stole it directly from the mages, with them hardly being able to stop as soon as they began feeding the ground.

If it weren't for the mana and magic being dispersed throughout the circle so thoroughly the rats really might've swarmed up and tried to clean the bones of the humans until there was nothing left.

There was also another of the rats' traits that helped in the plan. After they ate their fill they would doze off and sleep for a bit before returning to the depths of the tunnels.

Phase one of the rat extermination plan was to gather as many rats as they could manage in an area using bait and food. After eating that food, the rats would fall asleep for a little while. After as many rats as possible were gathered and put to sleep phase two would begin.