Rust - Chapter 511



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-511

The kingdom of the Steel Tomb Rat has fallen.

Ordinary rats. If it were a normal group, the king of the rats would be closer to a stallion with good genes. A puppet king with no real power, who only spreads seeds endlessly and becomes food for one meal when he gets old.

But the king of the Steel Grave Rats was different. Judging from the last appearance he showed, he was definitely not a scarecrow. Maru swung Eclipse, which was vibrating weakly, and shook off the drops of blood and dregs.

‘huh?’

The blood and debris stuck to the corroded surface of the mountain had turned into scabs that formed on a wound.

‘what?’

Maru suppressed his curiosity and instinctively thought, ‘Should I try to tear it apart?’ and checked the situation. The steel tomb rats where the king died began to scatter, and the tribute rats were fiercely chasing and eating the running acid rats.

Maru shook his head at the sight of a rat following him and eating him after vomiting and dying after eating something he had eaten wrong. It was a scene where he thought it would be nice if they could communicate, but it just clicked.

‘This is it. Will this work as a plan or anything?’

Fortunately, or perhaps not, the rats that were obsessed with meat did not come near the floor. Instead, they were lying face down as if they had surrounded the floor in a circle.

While the other guys were having a meat party, the rats were curled up in a circle around the floor and bowed their heads in a reverent manner.

Jjieeeek-

Jjieeeek-

It felt like he desperately wanted something. Maru, who couldn’t understand what he was saying, took a step back.

Perhaps judging it as permission, one of the tribute rats at the very front cautiously came out and bit into the halved carcass of the king rat.

Squeak- squeak-

The tribute rat, which had been foaming at the mouth and collapsed as if suddenly poisoned after only taking a few bites, gradually froze over.

Rats that were waiting for permission from the floor, even though they had seen a dead rat right in front of them. They looked like they had some status, judging by their shiny fur and larger size than the others.

‘It’s right for rats to do what rats tell them to do.’

As Maru moved away, the rats that had been in a circle rushed towards the king in the center and the corpses of the chieftain who had just died.

The slimy sound of dying and dying dyed the hangar floor red.

The Steel Tomb Rat horde, having lost its king, was divided.

Among the group centered around the king’s direct descendants, some fought, some fled, and others surrendered.

[It’s amazing. The rat demands negotiation and surrenders.]

“You know, the guys we killed near Texas last time? The ones with flashcards.”

They were guys who seemed to have focused their abilities on intelligence. They even had thumbs that were unusual for rats. Among them, there was a large and dull-looking guard.

That meant that other cases were possible. That even among acid rats, there could be a smart one.

“I guess that means a particularly smart guy has come out.”

[There was a reason the Empire cared more about swarms of rats than flocks of birds.]

In terms of generational change speed, mice would be at the top of the mammalian species. The rapid generational change means that traits acquired through mutation are quickly classified, stabilized, and expressed.

“I guess so.”

That was why the Empire was trying to exterminate the rat swarm. It was revealed that rat swarms are something that can mutate to any degree if left alone.

Even now, the number of rats that have developed resistance to VX gas is increasing, and it doesn’t end with simply ‘they’ve developed resistance to VX gas.’

As they became resistant to the nerve gas, rats began to produce explosive amounts of adrenaline. They became more aggressive and faster than the original rats.

It was already a swarm of monster rats, but now they have increased attack power and attack speed. It wasn’t easy to handle.

As the rats began to counterattack, led by the Adrenaline Rats, the Empire was forced to expend its forces fighting the hordes of rats.

“It’s not just the Empire. The tribute rats here are also mutating.”

It was clear when I saw the thumb starting to grow.

[Oh. That’s what happened. You said something had changed, and it was the thumb.]

It was no small feat that not just one or two, but all of the tribute rats had thumbs, because it meant that the tribute rats would be able to tie knots.

[Are you saying you can make a trap?]

“Yeah. That means we can set traps.”

What if it also absorbed the characteristics of an acid rat?

[There seems to be a need for restraint.]

“It would be better to avoid the tribute rats growing without limit.”

It seemed like a good idea to accept the acid rats’ offer of surrender and let them keep each other in check.

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The thirty-sixth prince of his father made a decision. The group that followed him was very small. A group that was small and weak like himself.

They would have become part of the Iron Tomb Kingdom in a matter of days if the mad fire rats had not overrun them.

Tick-tick-tick-? (Your Majesty, are you really going to surrender?)

Click- (Okay.)

Surrender was an extremely dangerous act among rats. Surrender meant putting one’s life in the hands of the other, and rats generally had no qualms about eating those who surrendered.

Jjiiik- (There is no other way now.)

Escape was impossible. There were still sounds of fighting here and there, but one bang would be all it took. Surrender was the best option, with the mad fire rats blocking the passage and chasing after us.

Tsk-tsk- (We will surrender to the god of death they believe in.)

Tick-eeee- (Will the fire rats open the way?)

If you fear the god of death, I will open it for you.

The day the Iron Tomb Kingdom collapsed, the thirty-sixth prince saw with his own eyes a crimson blade rising from the empty air.

Death had torn the king in two, and the mighty guards were torn apart in the blink of an eye. There was something there that the mad fire rats were bowing down to worship.

It was also because of the emperor that he was able to become equal to the monster seagull. The kingdom of the Iron Tomb became the hegemon of the surrounding area due to the power of the father. Considering that he killed the father in one go, it seems that he was not lacking in power.

Jik-jik-jjik-jjiik- (It’s a shame that I couldn’t inherit my father’s abilities. If I survive, there will always be a chance. Will you follow?)

Jjik-jjii- (I will follow.)

The fire rats were tempted to eat this, but they gave way to the thirty-sixth prince’s words of surrender to the god of death.

The thirty-sixth prince and his group bowed their heads in front of the floor. The rippling space slowly broke apart, revealing the appearance of the floor.

‘Human? No. That’s not a human.’

At the end of the paralyzing terror was clearly death.

■■□■■■□□■—

Oh my god—

There was. Really. Death.

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It wasn’t easy to command the mice through a picture book. If they misinterpreted the picture and moved in the wrong way, the damage would certainly be severe.

It was fortunate that there was a nurse. She could see how the mice who received the picture book were interpreting it and what they were saying.

[Ah- The thirty-sixth prince says he will become the first apostle to serve the god of death(?)?]

The tribute rats strongly objected to those words. They had been serving the god of death for five generations, and where did the first apostle come from?

The thirty-sixth ignored the threats of the tribute rats. After he prostrated himself before the god of death, the mountain rats that had been scattered and slaughtered also gathered in groups of three or five.

The Iron Tomb Kingdom was such a large group that even after killing so many, there were still quite a few left. The thirty-sixth one, who had absorbed them all, raised his voice proudly.

He argued that it was more rightful for him, the thirty-sixth prince with the rightful heir to the kingdom, to become the first claw of the god, rather than the chieftain of the tribute rats who had not yet escaped the tribe.

“so?”

[I’m going to ask the god of death who is the true first claw?]

A wrinkle formed between Maru’s eyebrows.

“Don’t ask me that. Just figure out the hierarchy yourself.”

[Then it feels like there’s going to be a war. Is that okay?]

Given the nature of rats, if they go to war, the loser will become prey. When I told them to keep an eye on each other, it seemed like it would be a do-or-die fight. Why is the order of the claws so important? Are you risking your life? Maru was dumbfounded.

“War is not a seed. Pick an appropriate number of people, say 10 vs 10, or 20 vs 20, and have them fight.”

[I need to make a picture book quickly.]

The nurse and Hood created a picture book and delivered it to the mice.

The thirty-sixth rat who received the picture book responded smartly. Instead of starting a proxy war right away, he gathered the acid rats that were running away and fighting and brought them into his force.

The thirty-sixth, who had grown bigger, boldly applied for the proxy war in the scriptures (picture book). The tribute rats did not avoid it either. After a fierce battle, the tribute rats self-destructed and ended in a draw.

In the end, it was never decided who would be the first claw of the God of Death, but the tribute rats and the acid rats recognized each other as rivals.

Jjiik-(Now we are the Flame Clan that will purify everything with death!)

Jjiik-(In the name of holy death, I will melt everything!)

The west side of the shipyard was defended by the Tribute Rats, now known as the ‘Burning Flames of Death’, abbreviated as the Flame Rats, and the east side was defended by the ‘Melting Acid Death’, abbreviated as the Acid Rats.

After a power struggle among the rats, the Holy Kingdom succeeded in taking over the Newport News Shipyard completely.

“What happened to the seagull eggs?”

Kaaaak kak-

Caw—

[They say most of them were killed by napalm carpet bombing. They brought back the ones that looked okay, but I don’t know if they’re alive.]

Although they looked fine on the outside, most of the seagull eggs near the napalm flames were cooked. It would have been strange if they were fine when the flames were raging at temperatures of 1,300 to 1,400 degrees.

If we calculate the percentage of eggs that survived, it would be about 1 or 2 out of 100. Roughly a few thousand eggs survived.

Since I had plenty of supplies, I made a makeshift incubator and hatched the seagull eggs. There wasn’t much time left until hatching, and in less than ten days, the baby seagulls began to hatch from their eggs.

It was only a mere hundred or so, but if we increase the number based on these, there will be thousands of seagulls in my later years.

[The Empire expressed regret over the non-aggression pact it had concluded with the Confederacy.]

It is only natural that they are dissatisfied, since their plan to build a stronghold near the shipyard was blocked.

“It’s fine to express regret, but I told them not to do anything on my land. I’m thinking of making the area around the shipyard like Hong Kong or Macau.”

Maru planned to make the shipyard and its surrounding areas into something like a free trade zone, so he didn’t have to worry about whether the Empire and the Confederacy would fight or not, as long as he left the kingdom alone.

The United States was divided into four major parts: the Empire, the Confederation, the Kingdom, and the West. The West was not yet completely under the control of a single power, but it would not be long before a representative power emerged.

[The Charlotte Group is most likely to become the representative force in the Western region.]

Other factions were made up of cannibals or people with powers. Most of them treated ordinary people as consumables and food.

Naturally, ordinary people and those with abilities began to flock to Charlotte, and Charlotte exerted her influence together with the federal army. As a result, she took control of almost the entire LA area and was heading north, targeting San Francisco.

“The West and the South signed a non-aggression pact, so they’ll soon eat up San Francisco and move up.”

[It is expected to go up to Seattle.]

“You’ve climbed quite far. You’ll have a hard time digesting what you just ate.”

[Because once the state government is reorganized, it will be difficult to expand as easily as it is now.]

Well, it doesn’t matter.

[This is an urgent message from the Empire. We need your cooperation in securing the high-tech industrial equipment in Seattle before we can secure Seattle from Charlotte or the South.]

Such as advanced parts factories, important semiconductor and software industry facilities.

huh?

Didn’t we already cover that?

When the cannibal queen came out in Seattle, everything was wiped out.

Ahem.

“They said it would be difficult to cooperate because they are putting all their efforts into rebuilding the shipyard and building an aircraft carrier.”

[They say there is a factory related to the F-22 Raptor?]

Then the story is different.