Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 284 - 82 Seeking Help

"No, that’s not right," Miel, with the sniper rifle and the sharpest vision, was the first to detect the subtle actions of the rat swarm: the rats were dragging the bodies of their dead companions and pushing them into the fire wall, attempting to block the kerosene in the trenches.

Strictly speaking, rat corpses are also a kind of combustible material, but they do not burn as fiercely as kerosene, thus the fire wall visibly flickered.

Gravity ripples! Another gravitational twist tossed the pile of rat corpses off the kerosene trench. Then, Peggy’s multiple illusions dashed out again, throwing canisters of kerosene into the corresponding spots in the trenches, successfully refueling the fire.

The rat swarm outside clearly became agitated; if the mastermind were standing here, they would probably be going insane by now.

Even though he could control countless fearless rats, he was helpless against this shameless fire wall + gravity tactics strategy – rats are naturally afraid of fire after all.

If the rats couldn’t get close, then neither toxins nor the plague would be of any use, unless the mastermind detached themselves from the rat swarm and, from a distance, personally unleashed a high-rank plague ability, attempting to infect the enemy through airborne diseases...

Looking at the rifle in Miel’s hands, the mastermind fell silent for a moment, deciding not to risk getting a bullet in the head. Bullets traveled far faster than the speed at which he could unleash his abilities.

After all, the 18 Transcendents who were attendants of the Wolf family had already been consumed, their Extraordinary Power greatly supplementing the rat swarm’s Extraordinary Power—it would only take a few hours to accelerate the breeding of more rats.

There was even less need to suffer losses against these cunning mercenaries. It was crucial to attack the next town as soon as possible and expand his rat legion.

So, the rat swarm gradually retreated, disappearing into the distant darkness.

The mercenaries of The Azure Longsword and the Weisbach family guards looked at each other under the night sky.

In the distance, the fire wall still blazed vigorously, casting mysterious changes on everyone’s faces.

"Have they retreated?" Mia asked.

"We can’t be certain of that yet," Medea replied, "they might just be feigning retreat..."

"Good heavens! They couldn’t be attacking Mingxing City, could they?" With Eleanor’s cry of alarm, the guards of the Weisbach family also became immediately restless.

If such a terrifyingly huge swarm of rats was targeting Weisbach Palace... then my brother and father...

"That’s impossible! Eleanor, calm down!" Thira shouted loudly, snapping the distraught Eleanor out of her panic.

"Think about it carefully – are there more rats in the mountains or in Mingxing City?"

"The reason they didn’t launch an attack in Mingxing City is that they fear the Demigod in your family!"

"You’re right, you’re right," Eleanor tried to calm herself, "They wouldn’t dare to attack Mingxing City directly, but... but they might attack other cities!"

"If a large number of citizens in the duchy are killed, then even if we deal with the mastermind, how could our family resist the subsequent attacks from the Wolf family?" She urged excitedly, "Aske, we must return to assist as soon as possible!"

"Eleanor!" Medea also spoke out, "Reinforcements are certainly necessary, but do you realize that it’s nighttime now! Rats are nocturnal animals, and what about us? Without adequate light, your family’s guards can’t even see the road ahead! If the rat swarm were to counterattack without the protection of the fire wall and kerosene, you’d just be leading people to their deaths!"

"But I can’t just sit here and do nothing!" Eleanor’s voice trembled.

Suddenly, she remembered the deceased mother and son in Constantinople, the little girl who lay dead by the roadside in Thessalonica.

The images in her mind finally rested on the little girl from Berg Village who had offered her flowers, her expression sincere and pure, utterly unaware that her life might be cut short at any moment.

"If we don’t hurry back, they, all those innocent people..."

"Do you want to prioritize the lives of your family’s citizens over the safety of your comrades? Eleanor!" Medea said sternly.

"I... I..." Eleanor staggered backward, then suddenly raised her head to look at Aske, her anxious voice emanating from the helmet’s speaker:

"Aske! You must have a way, right? A way to stop the rat horde quickly! To stop the mastermind behind this!"

She hysterically repeated, her voice trembling violently, on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

Aske, too, was speechless. Was he being treated as some kind of Doraemon? He pondered briefly and then ordered,

"The Weisbach Family guards shall hold their position here until dawn; we’ll leave enough kerosene behind."

"The Azure Longsword, follow me and track down the path of these rats."

"Aske!" Medea looked at him in disbelief, "Don’t be impulsive! In this pitch-black night where you can’t see your hand in front of you—"

"Teleportation tactics." Aske cut her off with just these five words.

The so-called teleportation tactics meant that everyone would be teleported to Fire Island, with the ancient book carried by Mia. Mia would then slip into the Shadow Realm to move around; in such pitch darkness, it was like a fish in water.

The key to the teleportation tactics was to avoid exposure. Hence, only the Weisbach Family guards could remain here, while The Azure Longsword and others set off separately to locate the traces of the mastermind.

"Right, right! Exactly!" Eleanor finally remembered, crying with joy, "We have teleportation tactics! We have Mia!"

Mia herself blushed at being the center of praise. Seeing that Eleanor was now babbling, Aske had to give a glance to Nora and Medea.

The former quickly went to comfort Eleanor, while the latter conjured a fireball and threw it down the dark road ahead.

Under the firelight, indeed, there was no rat horde.

Sigrdrifa, leading the way, used her frost ability to create a gap near the fire wall, and the girls of The Azure Longsword took their leave through it. Medea casually threw another flame, re-igniting the kerosene that had been frozen.

Once they were out of sight of the Weisbach Family guards, Medea and Nora activated their Mind Vision to confirm there were no Mind Bodies lurking around, and then everyone teleported back to Fire Island.

Mia had slipped into the Shadow Realm, sprinting swiftly along the mountain roads.

Back on Fire Island, Eleanor emerged from her Power Armor, her face deathly pale in disbelief.

She clutched Nora’s shoulders tightly, and Nora tenderly embraced her, quietly activating her "Mind Soothing" ability:

"It’s alright, Ellie, it’s alright..."

Her soothing voice calmed Eleanor down. After regaining her composure for a moment, she pushed Nora gently away.

"I’m sorry, I got too excited," she turned around to apologize to everyone for her recent behavior, and then she asked with concern,

"Aske, where do you think the rat horde will go next?"

"They could go anywhere," Aske answered, "because the rat horde can split up."

"Do you mean that all the nearby towns will be attacked?" Eleanor bit her fingernails, "But we can’t possibly save every town..."

"Indeed, we had originally planned to resolve the mastermind on our own," said Aske, "but now it seems that the strength they have shown probably exceeds what we can handle."

"A higher Level, the related Sequential Ability, those aren’t the issues. The real problem is that our adversary is well-prepared, and the number of rats has far exceeded my estimates."

"His true form can switch at will among the rats, and even if we manage to locate and kill the rat that is his current host, with a mere thought, he could transfer to any other individual in the rat horde— unless we kill every single rat, which is evidently unrealistic given the current scale of the horde."

"Therefore, to be safe, we need the help of your family’s Demigod, to pinpoint and seal the mastermind’s location and then vanquish it completely."

"What we need to do next is not to rescue any particular town, but to head to Weisbach Palace as quickly as possible to seek assistance."

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