CH 12

A night has passed.

Slair could not hold it in the end and fell asleep on the 《Book of Dragons》. He dreamed about Alex and Rhett in a daze. The two giant dragons brought out a large table full of delicious food to comfort his stomach. As they were enjoying the food, all of a sudden, the two dragons disappeared. Instead, he saw Grieve’s face, twin lotus, and the “Book of Dragons.” were all floating in the air. And then, they fell from the sky, and Slair incapacitated him on the ground. The last piece of a cookie is right in front of Slair, and no matter how hard he tried to grab it, it was still a finger away.

When Slair woke up, he found himself on the bed, and then he let out a sneeze.

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「 It’s snowing.」 Grieve pushed open the window, and a cold wind rushed in with snowflakes. The temperature dropped dramatically one night, and a layer of white snow accumulated on the ground.

Slair followed Grieve downstairs to eat breakfast. A lot of warriors had gathered on the first floor. They formed a circle and seeming to be looking at something.

「Morning, Grieve!」 The warriors greeted him,「The Winter came early this year, so do cyanrats. No one found any trace of them the day before yesterday, and yet, last night, there were three! 」

Cyanrats were a type of magic monster. They knew a little Geo and Anemo magic to help them dig faster. They could also summon wind blades to attack others. Cyanrats were usually twice the size of a giant squirrel. It has a very long tail covered with tiny cyan scales. Its body was covered in grass-color bristles with a pair of wicked dark eyes. Their teeth were strong; they would leave a mark on the bone with a single bite. In a group of cyanrats, there were always a few of them would mutant. That mutated cyanrats would keep growing in size until the food could no longer satisfy their body size. When the cyanrats grouping up and under the leadership of the mutated cyanrat, their wind blades can be superimposed on each other. The little magic that was not a threat will become quite terrifying after the stacking forces.

They breed in spring and summer, hoarding food in autumn, then leave part of the population in the next during Winter. At the same time, the other part of the population gathers in rat waves, attacking the human establishment. Where there were humans, there was food.

「This year’s rat wave is not going to be easy,」 Enya said worriedly. She did not kill those three cyanrats but hung them outside the kitchen, letting them scream 「Keep——Keep——」 The sound could warn other cyanrats to stay away from them.

「Yes, it’s time to work.」

The warriors picked up shovels, axes and thrown on their coats. Slair sat at a corner and finished his breakfast in silence——The food was still terrible. However, he started to get used to the favor. He saved a small piece of the pie and planned to feed the squirrels. However, Grieve tossed him a coat and then grab his hands, and took him outside.

「What are you doing?」 Slair questioned,「I don’t know how to hunt.」

「We are not hurting today,」 Grieve said,「the Winter is here, we need to get ready. No matter how weak you are, you will get to work as long as you are a man.」

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There was a stone wall at the outmost layer of the city of Wall. It was built by generations of residents to defend against the monster waves, especially in Winter. But, every year, this wall would get destroyed multiple times. When the rat wave is here, the wall was not so valuable either——The cyanrats would step up each other’s body to climb up the wall, or some of them would dig a tunnel under the wall. No matter how great the wall was, it could not handle the giant populations of the cyanrats.

The warriors were split into two groups, one went to gather firewood, and another went to the wall. They used snow to fill the gaps between the stone block, then set up numerous buckets. They used the buckets to melt snow, then pour the snow water from the top of the wall. Slair did not have the strength to chop the tree, so he was ordered to shovel snow. He worked slowly, far less efficiently than the warriors.

Slair did not eat much in the last couple of days, and he was sick. After worked for a while, he felt cold and tired. He felt his hand was numb with cold, even with the gloves on. The group in front of him was moving along the wall and kept some distance from him. Slair peeked at the group, found no one was paying attention to him, so he lay on the shovel and pant.

「Squeak!」

That was a tiny and soft squeak from cyanrats. Slair checked his surrounding but did not see any cyan color.

「Squeak! Squeak!」

The snow in front of him suddenly bulged up, and then a cyan head emerged from it. The cyanrat and Slair looked at each other, then the cyanrat turned around and ran. After the cyanrat ran for a while, it saw no one was chasing him, and it stopped again. Cyanrat tilted his head and looked at Slair as Slair stared at it in a daze.

An ordinary cyanrat. When it stood up, its height was about to Slair’s knee. The fluffy fur coat made it look larger than it actually was and a little frightening.

「Squeak.」 Slair replied quietly.

「Squeak!」 Cyanrat replied with a resounding sound. It moved a bit closer to Slair.

Slair tried to grab the pie hidden in his jacket, but the thick gloves hindered the touch. So he took off one of the gloves and finally found that piece of pie he left for the squirrels.

The cyanrat got a bit closer. Its tail was wiggling in a rhythm.

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「Squeak!」 Suddenly, it opened its mouth. Three more cyanrats jumped out from the snow, and they shot wind blades toward Slair together. Slair held tight the shovel and dough to the side. However, his hand was rubbed by the wind blade and left a minor wound.

The cyanrats rush towards him as he was not standing still. Slair raised his shovel and slammed it at the head of the cyanrat in the front.

That cyanrat was smashed into the snow. Since Slair was a little slow, he slammed it right at the neck and was just lucky enough to hit the cyanrat’s fragile neck and killed it. However, the other three cyanrats were not moved by their companion’s accident. They showed they sharpened long teeth, and they were about to bite Slair.

「Swish——」

There was one sound, but three arrows came. They flew by Slair’s neck, waist, and armpits, then pierced those cyanrats’ abdomen and nailed them to the snow.

「Are you alright?」 Grieve ran over with a bow to check on Slair. Slair gasped, staring at the dead cyanrat. His right hand was still out, and it was red with cold.

「 Don’t be too far away from everyone. The beasts won’t dare to come over when they see people in groups, but if you are alone, they will attack and eat people.」. Grieve took off his left glove, then hold on to Slair’s right hand as they walked back. His hands were steaming hot due to heavy labor, and they were as warm as the summer sun