Chapter 916 - The Ugliest Rat People
Chapter 916: The Ugliest Rat People
As expected, when the captives set off again and passed by the foundry workshop, the grain depot, and the barracks that had been half-built, a supervisor came forward and pointed at the crowd, choosing the slave workers that he liked.
The warriors of the capture team, on the other hand, bargained with the supervisors.
They pried open the mouths of the captives so that the supervisors could see how sharp and beautiful the teeth of the captives were.
Then, they kneaded the captives’ bones so hard that they made cracking sounds. The captives bared their teeth to prove how healthy and strong they were so that they could ask the supervisors for more bone coins that were made from the bones of totem beasts.
However, the strongest or most agile captives were not for sale.
The warriors put bags made of mandrake leaves on the captives’ heads, indicating that they were not for sale.
Soon, seven members of Leaf’s team were taken away by the foundry workshop and construction site.
Leaf heard the gasps of his friends behind him and knew that they were doomed.
In the glorious era, they were destined to build the glorious path for the elders to the ancestral spirit temple with their corpses.
The Minotaur warrior carried a bag made of mandrake leaves and walked over with a smile.
Leaf’s heart was pounding.
The other party had indeed put the bag on his head.
Leaf’s vision was dark. The last thing he saw was the Minotaur warrior’s encouraging gaze.
The other party was still by his shoulder. He patted him lightly and said in a low voice, “Do your best. If you survive, it will be hard for me to kill you.”
Leaf was drowsy, and he was led into Black-corner City by someone else.
He could not see anything. He could only hear with his ears and smell with his nose.
He heard the thunderous snorts of the warriors, the ear-piercing clangs of hammers and felt the thousands of Turan warriors training as their massive bodies collided violently with each other. There was a roar of applause.
He smelled the strong smell of blood, the sour smell of sweat, the stench of freshly forged, red-hot weapons that had sunk into his urine, and the smell of fried mandrake fruit sticks that drilled into his nostrils like pythons.
The fried mandrake fruit sticks in Black-corner City seemed to contain seven or eight different kinds of totem beast oil and more added spices. They had a very strong smell.
When it was sucked into his stomach, it was as if someone had punched him in the stomach.
However, the fried mandrake fruit strips made by his mother were still delicious.
He missed his mother.
Leaf heard his weak sobs.
He felt a salty liquid sliding across the corner of his mouth.
Fortunately, there was a deafening roar around him, and he was covered by the mandrake leaves again.
No one noticed that he was crying.
Otherwise, such a weak rat person would definitely be thrown out of Black-corner City and into the bloody mouth of the totem beast.
He did not know how long he had walked in the maze-like Black-corner City.
The Blood Hoof warrior in front of him stabbed Leaf’s chest with the goat horn spear and ordered him to stand still.
Leaf took a deep breath and shook his head hard to get rid of the tears on his face.
Someone used a dagger to cut the rope that was deeply embedded in his wrist.
He tore open the mandrake leaf on his head.
The midday sun was particularly dazzling.
Leaf’s eyes hurt, and he felt dizzy for a long time before the scene in front of him became stable and clear again.
During the long journey, his companions who were tied up with him were all gone.
The captives who were able to hold on until this point were all the tallest, most cunning, and most ferocious of the rat subjects.
Other than Leaf, many of them were covered with crisscrossing scars. Their palms and tails were covered with thick calluses, showing signs of proficiency in using weapons.
Their auras were also different from ordinary rats.
They were somewhat similar to the Blood Hoof warriors.
That was… the aura of a predator.
And in front of them was a tall and lofty building that was resplendent like a palace.
Layers upon layers of circular arches supported the curved outer walls that were as high as a dozen layers of huts. It was pitch black like an indestructible fortress.
Under each of the circular arches, there was a totem beast skull that was naturally branded with a totem in a ferocious and ferocious form.
There were hundreds and thousands of circular arches, which meant that there were hundreds and thousands of skulls.
They used their dark eye sockets to stare at the rat people who were at a loss. It was like a huge wind chime that was emitting a “hualala hualala” sound.
And in the middle of the building, under the largest circular arch, there was a huge skull that was completely scarlet in color. There were seven horns growing on the top of the skull. The totem was exceptionally gorgeous, as if it was burning eternally.
Looking at this giant blood-colored skull, Leaf’s eyes widened.
Even the young rats living in the remote villages knew what this iconic skull represented.
Blood Skull Arena!
Black-corner City’s largest, highest grade, cruelest and most glorious Holy Land!
In the lives of the Turan people, there were only two things that were most important.
Fighting and gambling.
The gladiator arena perfectly combined the two.
It became a place of heroes that the Turan warriors flocked to.
Even the rat people, who lived by planting and gathering, would take turns to hold the gladiator competition between Half Mountain Village and the surrounding villages.
Every gladiator competition was the rat people’s biggest festival.
The clan warriors, who had the blood of fighting flowing in their bodies, treated the gladiator arena as the best place to bury their bones during the prosperous era between the battles.
There were at least a hundred arenas in Black-corner City, big and small.
The Bloody Skull Arena could definitely be ranked in the top ten.
Countless heroes of the Blood Hoof Clan, warriors who had been praised by the war song for more than a hundred years, had fought their way out from under the giant bloody skull.
Leaf and his brother had heard about the legends of the Bloody Skull Arena since they were young.
In countless dreams, they had imagined themselves ascending to the top of the Bloody Skull Arena in glory, purifying the unclean blood, obtaining the power of totems, and becoming the warriors of Turan who were the focus of everyone’s attention.
After obtaining the mysterious mural in the cave, the two brothers each awakened a miraculous ‘ability’.
For a few years, the dream seemed to be within reach.
He didn’t expect his brother to still die.
On the contrary, it was his own “ability” that was weaker than his brother’s, and he was even more unable to control it. He truly stood here, standing in front of the giant blood skull.
Leaf’s hot blood was completely turned into fuel.
The flame of vengeance that was extremely dim lit up once again.
The story that his father had told the two brothers when he was still alive rang in his ears.
In the arena, he had fought his way through with his bare hands.
From a slave to a general, and even from a slave to the king of the clan.
“Brother, do you see this? This is the blood skull arena.
“I swear to you, mother, father, and all the ancestral spirits that I will survive in the Blood Skull Arena and become stronger. I will become very, very strong. In the end, I will take revenge for all of you and the entire village!”
The youth’s gaze became extremely determined.
However, in the next breath, his determined gaze was smashed into pieces by the earth-shattering roar that came from the blood skull arena.
It was as if a hard crystal had been smashed into pieces by a hammer that was a hundred times harder.
“This is… the roar of the Golden Growler!”
Leaf’s face was deathly pale, and he was in disbelief.
The Golden Growler was an extremely ferocious totem beast.
On its bones, there were three different totems.
This meant that it could change its triple form, possessing completely different but equally deadly killing skills.
The rat villagers were separated by three to five mountains. When they heard the Golden Growler’s roar, they could only find a hole in the ground to hide and pretend to be dead. They prayed that the Golden Growler had already filled its stomach and looked down on their dirty and smelly rotten meat.
It had even happened in the past when the entire rat village was slaughtered by a Golden Growler cub.
They did not expect that the Gladiators in the bloody skull arena would actually want to fight with the Golden Growler.
They also did not expect that within three to five breaths, the Golden Growler’s awe-inspiring roar would turn into a heart-wrenching scream.
Soon, there was a clear and melodious sound of bones cracking that could be heard outside the arena, and there was no sound at all.
“Ice Storm! The Invincible Snow Leopard Warrior! The Ice Queen who has won ninety-nine battles in a row! The Golden Growler is no match for her! The ice flames that can freeze everything, the sharp claws that can tear everything apart! Who Wants to challenge her? Who dares to challenge her? !”
Excited cheers came from the arena.
There were also loud cheers.
However, no matter how loud the cheers were, they could not withstand the bone-piercing coldness. They were carried away by the storm-like murderous aura and spread out of the arena.
It caused the hearts of all the rat people to freeze and tremble.
“Is this… The strength of an ace gladiator?”
Leaf felt that his courage that did not know the immensity of Heaven and Earth was once again smashed into pieces by the cruel reality.
The hope of revenge was like a faint spark, dying once again.
But he had no other choice.
He could only join the other captives and be whipped and stabbed by the blood hoof warriors, driving them into a passage that was constantly going down, as steep as a vertical well.
The passage went deep into the dungeon.
There were cages on both sides.
Many cages held hideous and brutal totem beasts.
Around the totem beasts and in the corners of the cages, there were piles of chewed bones…
The bones of the rat people.
More cages were crowded with the rat people.
The deeper they went underground, the dirtier the air and the wetter the ground. The more rat people were imprisoned in the cages, the worse the environment was.
Leaf and the others were driven to the deepest part of the dungeon.
The smell of blood almost directly condensed in the air.
The dirty water went up to the rat people’s knees.
Each cage held hundreds of rat people.
They had been in the dark for too long, and their eyes, which had been stimulated by the dirty water and the stench, had become scarlet, emitting a hungry light that Leaf had never seen in the prosperous era.
The blood-stained cage door opened with a creak.
Leaf had been stabbed in the waist and was sent into the deepest dungeon.
The rat subjects, who had been locked inside, immediately surrounded him with bloodshot eyes.
The ferocity in their eyes became even more intense.
They swallowed their saliva and rubbed their teeth hard. They even reached out their bony claws and touched Leaf’s body.
Leaf was so scared that she ran around, hiding under the red-eyed rat people’s feet.
The red-eyed rat people laughed as if they had found a great joy. They could vent their despair and fear to their heart’s content.
“Mom…”
Leaf fell into the cold sewage and choked on the smell of blood.
When she looked up, through the rusty iron fence, at the top of the shaft-like passage, there was only a light the size of a pinhole in the distance.
There was no hope of revenge.
There was no hope of survival.
There was not even a shred of hope.
The youth who had endured all the way until now was finally on the verge of collapse.
“Mom, save me!
“Tell me how to survive, how to become stronger, how to help you, your brother, and everyone else take revenge!
“Give me a little hope, dear mom!”
He wailed in his heart.
But he also felt that it was strange.
The red-eyed rat people with fierce eyes did not press forward.
Instead, they formed a circle, not too far or too close, leaving him a very spacious space at the corner of the wall.
It was as if there was an invisible barrier blocking them.
It was also as if they were looking forward to and afraid of something, something… lurking behind Leaf.
Leaf felt a chill run down his spine.
Nevertheless, he still mustered up his courage and turned his head stiffly to take a look.
He discovered that in the corner behind him, knee-deep in the dirty water, there was actually a half-dead rat citizen curled up.
After blinking his eyes for a long time, Leaf adapted to the dim light in the deepest part of the dungeon and saw the other party’s appearance clearly.
He immediately sucked in a breath of cold air.
Oh my God, how ugly is this rat person?
His hair and eyes were all black!