Over the following days, whenever rat men scouts came close to their territory, a bloodbath followed. Bodies left in the trail area, then disposed of completely. They left no evidence, no witnesses, no trail that could lead back to their base.
Through these encounters, they learned more about the situation. There was indeed a conflict brewing between the rat kingdom and another group that lived in this Sub-Space. They'd suspected it before based on overheard fragments and observed troop movements, but now they had confirmation.
Kael, the soldier, had pointed it out first. "There's a war coming. I can feel it. My blood's been boiling for days now. It's a gut feeling you get when you've been in enough battles."
None of them took it at face value initially. But soon enough, they discovered the truth through their own observations. The rat kingdom's soldiers were making frantic defensive preparations. Fortifications were being reinforced. Supply lines were being secured. Patrols had increased in frequency, though not in the areas where Benny's group operated.
Senna and Nida provided regularly updated reports from their scouting missions. Though they didn't understand the rat men's language, the pressure and fear in the soldiers' movements when they had a blade pointed at their throats told them everything they needed to know. Body language was universal. Panic looked the same in any species.
That's how they figured shit out. Barbaric methodology, but if it worked, it worked.
Zy took advantage of the distraction to trap up their perimeter even more extensively. He set up warning signals that would immediately alert the base if someone triggered them. The group would then mobilize to that area and eliminate the threat before it could report back.
Hence the bloodbath continued.
---
During one of their raids on an outlying patrol station, they found a small military camp. Inside, they discovered detailed intelligence on the enemy the rats were preparing to fight. The words were incomprehensible, written in the rat men's scratching script, but the illustrations were clear enough.
The monster was a life form that walked on all fours, but strangely, it also had four arms. Its body was half abomination of a man, half abomination of a quadrupedal beast. The proportions were wrong, unnatural. It looked like something that shouldn't be able to exist, let alone move and fight.
The diagrams depicted weak points. Joints. Eyes. Exposed flesh between armored sections. The rat men had clearly fought these things before and learned how to kill them.
Since they didn't know its actual name, they decided to call it the "Four-on-Four Abomination" for now. The name was crude but descriptive enough.
---
Meanwhile, Benny took time on his own to scout around the kingdom's exterior. They really couldn't blend into the rat kingdom through any conventional means. Their anatomy was too different. Human faces, human builds, human scents. They'd be spotted immediately.
But soon, an opportunity would arise. Not a normal one, though. It required careful planning and balls of steel.
The plan was as dangerous as it was simple. They would let one or two of their own get captured intentionally. A prisoner could go places a spy couldn't. Could see things hidden from outsiders. Could get close to targets that were otherwise unreachable.
But who would volunteer for such a suicidal mission was still up for debate.
Benny was about to raise his hand when Nida spoke up.
"I'll do it," she said simply. "I've done this type of infiltration before in the human realm. You get captured, you get close to your target, you complete the mission."
Gustav looked at her skeptically. "This isn't the human realm. These are monsters. They might just kill you outright."
"Or they might interrogate me," Nida countered. "Either way, I can get information. And if I can get close enough to their leadership, I can do more than just gather intelligence."
The implication was clear. Assassination.
"There should be a monarch leading this kingdom, right?" Nida continued. "If we take out that monarch, it'll send the whole kingdom into chaos. Especially if it happens during their war with the Four-on-Fours."
The logic was sound, but the risk was enormous.
"This plan needs to coincide with when the fighting actually begins," Gustav said. "If you get captured too early, they might execute you before the war starts. If you get captured too late, the chaos might prevent you from reaching the target."
"Then we timed it carefully," Nida said. "We wait until the enemy army is visible on the horizon. Then I let myself get caught during a patrol engagement. They'll be desperate for information about whether humans are allied with the Four-on-Fours. They'll keep me alive long enough to question me."
It was risky as hell. But it might work.
They prepared poison sacks for her, concentrated venom from the scorpions they'd been hunting. Nida apparently had a skill that let her hide objects within her body, some kind of spatial magic or biological modification. They didn't ask for details. Honestly, they didn't want to know the specifics of how she was storing poisoned blades and vials inside herself.
---
A few weeks passed in tense preparation.
Then, one morning, the drums of war finally sounded. Deep, rhythmic booms that echoed across the Sub-Space. The banners of the enemy army appeared on the crested hills in the distance, thousands of them fluttering in the perpetual daylight.
The armies of the Four-on-Four Abominations came in massive numbers. Thousands strong, maybe more. It was hard to get an accurate count from this distance, but the horizon was thick with their forms.
The rat kingdom had prepared as best they could, but whether it would be enough remained to be seen. Their forces looked substantial, but the enemy outnumbered them significantly.
Meanwhile, Benny's invasion team of twelve had completed their own preparations, though they knew it wasn't sufficient. It never would be. They were twelve people trying to tip the balance of a war between monster kingdoms. The success of their plan rested entirely on how well they executed their individual missions.
And on whether Nida survived her incredibly dangerous infiltration.
Gustav gathered the team one last time before they dispersed to their assigned positions.
"This is it," he said simply. "We all know the plan. We all know the risks. If any of you want to back out, now's the time."
No one moved. No one spoke. They'd all committed to this insanity weeks ago.
"Then let's make sure those bastards remember what happens when they fuck with humans," Gustav said. "Move out."
The team scattered to their positions. Nida headed toward a rat men patrol route, ready to spring her trap. Benny and Kael moved toward the kingdom's supply lines. Zy positioned himself near the defensive fortifications with his traps ready to deploy. The others took their assigned stations.
The war between the rat kingdom and the Four-on-Four Abominations was about to begin.
And twelve humans were about to turn it into a three-way clusterfuck that no one saw coming.
The bloodbath was just getting started.