System's POV
chapter-496-2

Badarr and Kesari, as well as the other officers of the Ratmen army, gathered for a meeting.

They had just relocated three miles away from the burning forest, and the thought of evacuating for a second time was making them quite annoyed.

"For the time being, we need to address the most important concern, which is our food supply," Badarr stated. "The Beasts have run away because of the fire, and hunting is proving to be a very difficult task for our hunting parties. As such, I need every able-bodied Ratman to form teams with each other and hunt for the time being."

Kesari and the other officers nodded their heads in agreement. They still hadn't eaten anything since they left their previous camp, and frankly, Ratmen were incredibly voracious eaters.

While they could eat almost everything, they preferred to eat meat more than anything.

This was why the lack of food was uncontrollably making tempers rise even though it was still early in the morning.

"Those Lizard bastards sure hit us where it hurts," one of the Captains of the Ratmen replied.

"I'm starting to think that the Lizardmen aren't the ones who instigated this forest fire," Kesari commented. "They're not the type to burn forests just to drive anyone away from their domain."

"You think so too, huh?" Badarr, who had the same thought as Kesari, crossed his arms over his chest. "I also don't think that this ploy came from the Lizardmen."

"If not from them, then who?" the Captain of the Scouting Parties asked.

"Who else?" Badarr scoffed. "Humans, of course."

The fact that their captives had been rescued last night was proof that there had been a third party involved.

Lizardmen would not waste their time in saving humans because they were not part of their race.

This was also the reason why Kesari doubted that the Lizardmen were the ones responsible for the forest fire that forced them to abandon their camp.

"Humans can be more ruthless than Ratmen. This is the reason why our expansion toward the East is not making any progress," Kesari stated.

"So, what should we do?" the Captain of the Scouts asked.

"First is to secure food," Badarr replied. "We can't launch an attack now. We have to wait until the fire dies out first. But judging by its size and the way it's spreading, it might last for days."

The Ratmen all nodded in agreement. This was the first time they experienced something like this, and frankly, they hadn't been prepared to handle such an event.

The only thing they could really do was wait until the fire had calmed down before they launched their counterattack.

Several hours later, the Ratmen who had been sent out to hunt Beasts returned empty-handed.

"The Beasts have run farther than we expected," Kesari said after hearing the reports of his men. "Unless we head farther back, we won't have anything to eat for the rest of the day."

"It's that bad?" Badarr frowned. "I thought we were already far enough from the fire."

"That's what I thought as well, but there's simply no beast even after searching for miles," Kesari replied. "Unless you want to starve, we can't stay here for long."

Badarr's frown deepened, but in the end, he ordered his men to evacuate for a second time.

What the Ratmen didn't know was that Thirteen had ordered Rocky to scare off the Beasts that lived in the Forest and force them to run farther away by releasing his killing intent in a wide range.

Rocky had done this after Thirteen had returned to the Lizardmen Camp, making sure that the Ratmen would be forced to retreat farther away from the Ratmen Camp.

Even now, Rocky was still driving away the Beasts, and herding them in the direction of the Varesti Tribe, where the Ratmen wouldn't find them.

Once Thirteen decided on something, he would push his enemies to the brink of despair, making them unable to think or strategize properly.

The next day, while the Ratmen were still unable to find any food anywhere, tragedy struck them for the second time.

One of their hunting parties found themselves surrounded by dozens of Lizardmen. Naturally, the latter didn't show any mercy and massacred them to the last Rat.

Even from a distance, Badarr and Kesari could hear the screams of their men, forcing them to take their subordinates to the location where they heard the screams.

When they arrived at the scene, they only saw the dead bodies of their Hunting Party.

"Lizardmen!" Badarr hissed after discovering the footprints on the ground, as well as the familiar scent of their enemies.

"Could it perhaps be another Tribe?" Kesari asked.

But just as Badarr was about to answer his comrade's question, more screams reverberated in the surroundings, coming from different directions.

"Return to the camp now!" Badarr ordered. "We must regroup with the others!"

The Ratmen didn't hesitate and obeyed their Commander, swiftly heading straight back to their camp.

Along the way, they could hear the screams of their kin, and it was making the two Ratmen Commanders feel anxious.

"Do you think the other Tribes decided to surround us?" Badarr asked Kesari, who was more level-headed than him.

"The possibility exists," Kesari replied as more screams spread inside the forest. "Drazzat is on the other side of the Forest Fire. It is impossible for him and his men to cross over to our side, much less stab us from the back."

Badarr nodded in agreement. "Then it is indeed another Lizardmen Tribe. We must break through before they surround us all."

"Let's regroup with the others first," Kesari. "We will need more people if we want to survive this."

Once they arrived at their camp, they found a few hundred Ratmen who had already taken up arms and were waiting for their enemy to strike.

When these warriors saw their two Commanders return, they were finally able to breathe a lot easier. It gave them peace of mind to see the strongest Ratmen in their army return.

"What happened?" Badarr asked. "Where are the others?"

After taking a good look at his men, Badarr and Kesari realized that more than half of them were not in their camp.

"They left to hunt for food earlier," one of the Ratmen Warriors replied. "But they still haven't returned."

"Curses!" Badarr knew that the chances of his men coming back alive were nearly zero, so he decided to put all his focus on the soldiers who were still inside their camp.

"Gather your belongings. We are heading to Clan Rakoz!" Badarr ordered. "The other Lizardmen Tribe are trying to create an encirclement to trap us. We need to break through now!"

But before they could even obey their Commander's orders, whistling sounds reached the Ratmen's ears.

A moment later, countless arrows descended upon their camp, making the disorganized Ratmen fall into further chaos.

Drazzat, who was standing beside Thirteen, watched as his archers decimated the enemy forces from a safe distance.

The Lizardmen Commander had decided to trust the teenage boy and made him their strategist.

In order to gain his trust, Thirteen insisted that the two of them have a blood pact, which would make the Drazzat and Thirteen become Blood Brothers.

Once that sacred ceremony was done, Thirteen ordered Drazzat to take his most elite warriors with them to raid the Ratmen Camp.

Although he didn't know how they would be able to attack the Ratmen with the forest fire still ablaze, he decided to trust the teenage boy whom he had now recognized as his Blood Brother.

It didn't take long for him to understand how they were able to traverse the distance between them and their enemy.

His subordinates were just as surprised as him when they met the Rank 7 Magma Bal-Boa, who took them inside his Mobile Fortress.

The rest was history.

They ambushed the Hunting Parties and decimated half of the Ratmen who had gone out of the camp to hunt Beasts for their food supplies.

Since the Ratmen were exhausted and hungry, they were weaker than usual, so the Lizardmen made short work of them without too much problem.

In fact, none of them suffered any casualties, only minor injuries.

But, since the Troll Shamans were there to heal them, they were able to recover from their injuries quickly.

Thirteen made the Lizardmen, who accompanied them, take the warrior's oath to keep everything they saw as a secret.

Of course, this oath wasn't binding, but it was better than nothing.

But now that their enemies were right in front of them, the Lizardmen unleashed their pent-up fury and rained down arrows upon their enemies without mercy.

"Don't forget what I told you earlier, Drazzat," Thirteen said. "You will not engage the enemy commanders. I will deal with them, do you understand?"

"Yes," Drazzat replied.

Thirteen knew that one of the Rank 5 Sovereigns within the Ratmen Camp could potentially kill the Lizardmen Commander.

But as long as he was around, he would not allow this to happen.

By letting his trusted subordinates deal with the two Rank 5 Ratmen, he was confident that the threat that had burdened the Varesti Tribe for so long would finally disappear before the sun had set over the horizon.