Birth of the Demonic Sword

The army of Rats created a staircase with their bodies to lift the throne higher in the sky. The crown on the leader's head kept on sliding away, but the creature repeatedly adjusted it with its claws.

The scene almost looked funny, but the threatening aura radiated by the middle tier Rat made the whole situation too tense for those kinds of thoughts.

"I am the Rat King, you hateful invaders," The middle tier Rat announced once it reached its opponents. "I suggest you leave my domain immediately. I don't mind unleashing the full power of my pack to send you away."

"You have already tried," Noah replied while spreading his arms. "We are still here."

The Rat King snorted before giving voice to a faint squeak. The beasts under it echoed its cry, and multiple powerful auras surged from different spots of the region.

Those auras carried a power that Noah knew far too well. They belonged to magical beasts in the eighth rank, and some of them were in the middle tier.

The pack of Rats had kept its true power hidden until now. Its platoons had been in different areas of the Land of the Fallen. Yet, they had managed to gather around the invaders during the previous battle.

'They are more than us now,' Noah concluded after a quick inspection of the threats that had surrounded his group.

The situation was still in his favor. There were only six auras with power in the middle tier, and less than twenty in the lower tier. The four middle tier Snakes were still enough to fend those creatures off, but the battle would be far bloodier now.

"Tell me," The Rat King continued. "How long will you take to refill these losses? My species doesn't need much to improve and give birth to new beasts. I bet your kind needs thousands of years to obtain a new creature in the seventh rank."

The leader of the Snakes wanted to hiss in anger. The creature hated Shandal because he had managed to steal a valuable egg from its pack. It had the same feelings toward Noah since he had killed two powerful underlings. The Rats had entered that list, but the Snake would only suffer significant losses if it were to attack now.

Noah had long since reached the same conclusions. The Eternal Snakes were nigh-immortal creatures capable of insane physical might and a threatening innate ability, so they had to have heavy limits on their fertility. Their pride had even forced them to pursue Shandal, which had led them to that situation.

Noah didn't know the details behind Shandal's achievement, but he could understand how mad the Snakes were. Their situation kept worsening and continued to put them into spots where their superior prowess was useless.

The leader of the Snakes could only glance at Noah again. The creature didn't know how to handle that situation. It could only rely on its canny companion to get what it wanted.

"You would have already attacked if you felt confident in defeating us," Noah said, ignoring the pressure radiated by Snake. "It's clear that you want us to cooperate on a certain level. What's your price?"

The Rat King's eyes sharpened when Noah's words reached its ears. He was right. An all-out battle wouldn't benefit its pack either. It might even force those creatures to abandon the Land of the Fallen.

Many packs sought to conquer the Land of the Fallen due to its strong foundation. The energy leaked by the many Inheritances kept the environment rich in resources and allowed the Rats to expand almost endlessly.

Any other region would have already transformed into a wasteland. The Crystal City also helped the Rats keeping their domain intact. Their cooperation served multiple purposes, especially when it came to preserving those areas.

Still, the magical beasts were prideful beings. No number of benefits could force them into submission for longer than a few millennia. The Rats had endured that cooperation to build a pack capable of running freely through the Immortal Lands, but they had reached the point when they wanted to separate themselves from those fanatics.

An all-out battle against Noah's group would delay their plan by many millennia. The Rat King could lose the support of its underlings if it forced them to wait for so long before reclaiming complete freedom. It was a risky approach that the leader didn't want to test.

"What makes you think that we know the new location of the Crystal City?" The Rat King asked.

"I wasn't sure that they had changed location," Noah replied while wearing a cold smile. "Thank you for confirming that."

The Rat King immediately recognized its mistake. The news of the attack on the Crystal City had spread throughout the whole human domain and many bordering regions. Any magical beast interested in an invasion knew about that.

"You are a tricky one," The Rat King said.

"And you have yet to name a price," Noah replied.

Noah and the Rat King stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before the latter heaved a helpless sigh. A squeak escaped its mouth, and the rank 8 auras in its pack disappeared.

"How can you be sure that we know their location?" The Rat King asked even if it had already accepted to negotiate.

"I know that you have spies in the nearby regions," Noah replied honestly. "I would be disappointed if you didn't send a few of them to follow your human allies."

"It seems that we aren't ready to devour the human domain," The Rat King sighed. "It would be a problem if we were to meet other smart existences like you."

"You can always give me that crown and make me your new leader," Noah replied, but the Rat ignored his words before descending toward the surface.

The army of Rats opened an ample space on the terrain, and Noah nodded at the rest of his group. They descended toward that empty spot and waited for the enemy leader to name its desires.

"We don't need much to thrive," The Rat King said once everyone landed, "But I have many mouths to feed. Satisfy our hunger for a while, and I'll give you what you need."

Noah took out the corpses of the two rank 8 Eternal Snakes. Those creatures were so big that they could probably meet the Rat King's requests.

The leader of the Snakes shot a hateful glance toward Noah, but he ignored the creature. That wasn't the time to be angry about the dead.

"Wonderfu-!" The Rat King exclaimed before suppressing its excited voice. "This satisfies us. Go, my children. Eat, reproduce, and grow!"

The army of Rats jumped toward the two corpses, but Noah promptly stored them back inside his separate space. The creatures remained dumbfounded, and countless questioning gazes landed on him.

"First, you need to tell me the new location of the Crystal City," Noah said in a cold tone. "Second, I want one of your middle tier underlings as a guide."

"Do you dare to question the value of my word?!" The Rat King shouted, and its underlings echoed its angry cry.

A series of soundwaves engulfed Noah's group, but they didn't carry any harm. The Rats were trying to scare their opponents, but they failed in the task.

"These are my conditions," Noah said once the angry cries went silent. "Also, you might want to consider your current situation before attempting something like this again. My friend there doesn't like this behavior."

The Rat King turned toward the leader of the Snakes and realized how angry that creature was. It appeared on the verge of exploding. The slightest push would make it forsake those negotiations and resume a mindless assault.