Early the next morning, Duanmu Huai led his group onward.
However, this time he didn't follow the original plan to head toward the next city.
When the girls curiously asked why—
"We've been noticed by the god of the Skaven."
Yes—he'd realized that only after thinking it over that morning. Normally, the Great Horned Rat wouldn't bother paying attention to a single warrior.
But Duanmu Huai had forgotten something—he was no longer just any ordinary fighter.
He was now a God of Oblivion, the ruler of a domain of judgment and terror.
While his divine rank still didn't quite match beings like the Lady of the Lake or Sigmar, he was on par with lesser deities.
In that case, his brazen appearance in the plague-ridden lands ruled by the Great Horned Rat was practically an act of provocation. Of course the other god would "say hello."
He had simply been careless—though fortunately, the Great Horned Rat didn't seem to take him too seriously.
"So we need to change direction."
Heading into a city now would be the worst decision possible. Cities were nests for rats and Skaven. Going there would be no different from walking under the Great Horned Rat's nose.
They had to find another route.
And Duanmu Huai already had an idea.
There was one place the Great Horned Rat could never peer into—
A fragment of the world.
Yes, he planned to use the same method he once used during the Lady of the Lake's quest to steal Nagash's crown—open a warp gate, use a world fragment to overlap with the main material plane, travel through it unseen, and exit at the desired location.
Inside the fragment, the Great Horned Rat wouldn't be able to observe them at all.
Now all that remained was to find an entrance.
Fortunately, thanks to the orbital warship stationed in outer space, he had already located one nearby.
Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly easy to access.
"Bambi… do we really have to go inside that?"
The little vampire girl frowned in disgust at the opening ahead. It wasn't just a cave—it was a dark, filthy tunnel filled with stagnant, foul-smelling water. For an aristocratic vampire princess, the stench alone was unbearable.
"Yes, it's in there," Duanmu Huai replied. "But before that…"
He glanced around and then looked back at the girls.
"You'll have to take off your clothes first."
"...Eh?!"
They all froze.
"W-what?! Why?!"
"Because the Great Horned Rat has already noticed us," Duanmu Huai said calmly. "There's a chance it might have planted rats to spy on or follow you. To make sure—"
"There are rats on us?!"
That did it.
Every girl except Olgis screamed.
Even the usually stoic Odelle went pale as paper.
For young ladies, the idea of a live rat crawling somewhere on their bodies was pure nightmare fuel.
"It's not impossible," he added, expression serious.
"T-then… uh…"
"Fine."
Sighing, Duanmu Huai extended a hand. The gravity gloves on his armor hummed, and in an instant, a small changing room materialized beside them.
"Go in and check yourselves."
This time, none of the girls hesitated—they rushed in like their lives depended on it.
Moments later—
"KYAAAAAAHH!!"
A shriek echoed from inside.
The next instant, the girls burst out, panicked and half-dressed. Their outer clothes were gone; thin undergarments clung to pale skin, glowing faintly under the sunlight. None of them seemed to care about modesty—they just pressed close to Duanmu Huai in terror.
And then Olgis emerged—calm as always, completely nude (not that there was much to see; she was a doll after all), holding a small, squirming, and very angry-looking rat by the tail.
"Where did you find it?" Duanmu Huai asked, eyeing the creature.
"Inside Miss Odelle's skirt."
"Oh…"
That explained it. Odelle, though dressed simply, favored frilly layered skirts typical of noble ladies. The rat must have hidden among the folds—too light to be noticed.
He could only imagine the shock she must have felt when she lifted her skirt and saw it crawling inside.
"It didn't bite you, did it?"
Odelle, pale and trembling, peeked out from behind him and shook her head.
"N-no… it tried to climb up, but Miss Olgis caught it in time…"
She wrapped her arms around herself, still shaking.
Just remembering that moment made her skin crawl.
Duanmu Huai looked down at the struggling rat. It squeaked angrily—until it met his gaze.
Then its body went rigid. It screamed once, a high, pitiful sound—before exploding into a bloody lump of meat.
Silence.
"Anyone else got a rat? Check your hair, maybe."
"Please don't scare us, Sir Knight!"
Lorena looked like she was about to cry. She raised her hands to her hair, hesitant to even touch it. Bambi and Odelle were the same—terrified that they might feel something furry inside.
In the end, Duanmu Huai inspected them himself—one by one.
It was… awkward. But necessary.
Being touched was embarrassing, yes—but the thought of a rat crawling somewhere unmentionable was far worse.
When he finally finished checking—
"All right, we're clear."
He pretended not to notice their flustered, accusing stares.
Honestly, he felt more wronged than they did.
If he had actually copped a feel, fine—but his hands were covered in power armor. He couldn't feel a damn thing. Yet they still looked at him like a pervert.
He wanted to cry.
"You can go in first."
Activating Soul Resonance, Duanmu Huai reached out.
A radiant shimmer appeared in the dark tunnel—a portal of light.
Bambi, Odelle, and Lorena hurried in. Then Olgis followed.
Finally, Duanmu Huai glanced around one last time, dropped a small metallic disk onto the ground, and stepped through the gate.
The moment he vanished, a faint rustle came from behind the rocks nearby—
Another rat crawled out, silent as a shadow, darting after him—
BOOM!!
The entire passage erupted in a thunderous explosion.
The blast obliterated the tunnel, hurling the rat backward.
It hit the ground with a squeal—then a falling stone crushed it into pulp.
A sharp, furious shriek echoed briefly… before being swallowed by the roaring fire.
Then—light shifted.
When Duanmu Huai lifted his head, the sight before him made even him exhale in awe.
"Beautiful…"
Lorena murmured beside him, eyes wide.
And she wasn't wrong.
They stood within an enormous underground cavern—so vast that the edges were lost in mist. If not for the faint view of the ceiling far above, one might mistake it for a sunken valley beneath the open sky.
But no—this was the world beneath the earth.
It looked like something straight out of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth: a subterranean expanse filled with ancient, alien life. Towering prehistoric plants crowded the floor, glowing faintly. There were even rivers and lakes glimmering under the dim light.
At the cavern's heart stood a single, colossal tree, hundreds of meters tall, its golden leaves shedding radiant light that illuminated the entire underground world.
Yeah… Duanmu Huai thought, that thing would make a fantastic bonfire.
"Where are we?"
"No idea," he admitted. "Let's move forward and find out."
But before they could take more than a few steps—
"Squeak! Squeak-squeak-squeak!!"
A chorus of sharp voices rose from the nearby brush.
Moments later, small figures leapt out, blocking their path.
They were armed—wearing crude armor, wielding short swords and shields.
"Who are you?! Why have you invaded our kingdom?!"
Standing before them were not humans—
but a patrol of Skaven soldiers.
(End of Chapter)