Chapter 12

【12】

A night has passed.

Slair could not finish reading and fell asleep on the Book of Dragons . He dazedly dreamed about Alex and Rhett. The two dragons brought out a large table full of delicious food to comfort his stomach. As they were enjoying the food, the two dragons suddenly disappeared. Instead, he saw Grieve’s face, twin lotus, and the Book of Dragons floating in the air. And then, they fell and incapacitated Slair on the ground. The last piece of a cookie was 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 sneezed.

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

Slair followed Grieve downstairs to eat breakfast. Many warriors had gathered on the first floor and watched something in the snow.

「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, we caught three! 」

Cyanrats were a type of magic monster. They knew a little earth and wind magic to help them dig faster. They could also summon wind blades to attack others. Cyanrats were twice as big as giant squirrels. They had a very long tail covered in tiny cyan scales, their bodies were covered in grassy green bristles, and they got a pair of wicked black eyes. Their teeth were powerful. With a single bite, it could leave a mark on the bones. When a group of cyanrats gathered, a few would become mutants. The mutation caused the body to grow till the food could no longer meet its needs. When the cyanrats were under the leadership of the mutated cyanrats, their wind blades could be superimposed on each other. The little magic that was not a threat will become terrifying after the stacking forces.

They multiply in the spring and summer, stock up on food during the fall, and in winter, they would leave some members in their nest while the other half would attack human settlements– humans meant food.

「This year’s rat tide is going to be rough.」 Enya said worriedly. She did not kill those three cyanrats but hung them outside the kitchen. The rat’s scream would warn other cyanrats to stay away from them.

「Yes, it’s time to work.」

The warriors picked up their tools and threw on their coats. Slair sat at a corner and finished his breakfast in silence——The food was still terrible, but he started to get used to the favor. He saved a small piece of the pie and planned on feeding the squirrels later. However, Grieve tossed him a coat and then grabbed his hands, and dragged 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, and we need to get ready. You need to get up and work too.」

For generations, the residents at Wall built a stone wall to prevent monster attacks. It was crucial during winters. Every year, the stone wall would get destroyed multiple times. And when the rat tide was here, the stone wall was not so valuable either——The cyanrats would step up each other’s bodies to climb up, and some would dig a tunnel underground. No matter how well built the stone wall was, it could not handle the giant populations of the cyanrats.

The warriors were split into two groups: one gathered firewood, and another went to the wall. They used snow to fill the gaps between the stone block, then set up numerous buckets to melt snow. And 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 was sick and did not eat much in the last few days. After working 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 and found no one was paying attention to him, so he lay on the shovel and panted.

「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. 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 and a little frightening.

「Squeak.」 Slair replied quietly.

「Squeak!」 The 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 with a rhythm.

「Squeak!」 Suddenly, it opened its mouth. Three more cyanrats jumped out from the snow and 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 lucky enough to hit the cyanrat’s fragile neck and kill it. However, the other three rats did not move by their companion’s death. They showed they sharpened long teeth and 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. He had yet to put the gloves on, and his hand was red with cold.

「 Don’t get 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 you and eat you.」 Grieve took off his left glove, then held 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