The enemy moved toward the rat kingdom's fortifications. Benny's team watched from their hidden positions, observing two separate enemy forces. They considered anything from the labyrinth or the Sub-Space as hostile. Simply monsters that needed to be eliminated.
They moved into position as well, having prepared a scenario that would allow Nida to be captured convincingly. But they had to make it believable. Too easy and the rats would suspect a trap. Too hard and Nida might actually die before they could extract her later.
The rat men had increased patrols significantly, with more elite units joining the defensive effort. They'd noticed the disappearances of their scouts in the areas behind the war front. Bodies vanishing without a trace. Equipment going missing. Entire patrol routes going silent.
The Royal Family had ordered Captain Vrek to investigate personally. They were certain it was those invaders from the labyrinth, the ones the commanders had claimed were dead or imaginary. The timing was shit, coming right as they faced a massive external threat, but they couldn't leave an unknown enemy operating freely in their rear territory.
With full authority granted to the Intolerance Division, it was up to Vrek to figure out what the fuck was happening inside their kingdom. The knight orders were still under scrutiny for their incompetence, but the rank-and-file soldiers had all been sent to reinforce the front lines. They needed every blade they could get.
---
The battle erupted with devastating force.
The field became a nightmare of destruction and mayhem. Buildings burned. Fortifications crumbled under siege weapons. Bodies piled up on both sides. The Four-on-Four Abominations crashed into the rat men's defensive lines with terrifying strength, their multiple arms wielding crude but effective weapons.
The rat men fought back with desperate coordination. Spears thrust into vulnerable joints. Arrows targeted eyes and exposed flesh. The plague-tails that marked their elite warriors wrapped around enemy limbs, spreading infection and weakness.
It was brutal, chaotic warfare. No strategy, just survival. Kill or be killed.
The invasion team wasn't idle during this chaos. They all had their own missions, carefully planned to cause maximum disruption. Anything that would weaken the rat kingdom's war effort would be targeted without mercy.
A small strike team positioned itself near one of the patrol routes that Captain Vrek's forces were using. Nida was with them, ready to play her part. When the enemy patrol came close enough, they would create a situation where it appeared they'd abandoned her to be captured.
Captain Vrek and his men moved through the territory methodically, investigating the areas where scouts had vanished. They didn't know they were walking directly into a human trap. The plan was simple, almost insultingly so, and it worked because the rat men expected a conventional threat.
In hindsight, the rat men weren't as sophisticated as they believed themselves to be. In certain aspects of warfare, particularly deception and psychological manipulation, humans were far superior. Their shrewd, almost evil tactics would be more than enough to eradicate the entire rat kingdom if a proper human army had been sent here instead of just twelve desperate survivors.
But twelve would have to be enough.
---
The staged battle began when Vrek's patrol entered the designated area.
The humans made sure they acted convincingly. They fought defensively, creating the appearance of a desperate retreat. Nida positioned herself where she could be isolated from the group, making it seem like she'd been cut off during the chaos.
Gustav and the others made it look like they were fighting a losing battle. Even Ripler, who normally couldn't resist showing off, restrained himself to controlled defensive attacks. They made sure to take down some enemies to maintain credibility, but they also deliberately left some alive so the rat men would fall into a false sense of superiority.
"Fall back!" Gustav shouted, making sure his voice carried to the rat men. "We can't hold them!"
The group began their staged retreat, moving in a pattern that looked panicked but was actually carefully choreographed. They left gaps in their formation, made tactical "mistakes" that a real fleeing force would make.
Nida stayed behind, isolated and surrounded. She fought convincingly, taking down two rat men before allowing herself to be overwhelmed. A spear grazed her side, drawing blood but avoiding vital organs. She'd positioned herself so the wound would look worse than it was.
She collapsed to her knees, breathing hard, as rat men surrounded her with weapons pointed at her throat.
"Capture her!" Captain Vrek ordered in the rat tongue. "Alive! We need information!"
His soldiers moved quickly, disarming Nida and binding her hands with rough cord. She didn't resist too much, just enough to make it believable. Her face showed pain and fear, though inside she was calculating her next moves.
The rest of the human team disappeared into the forest, their retreat looking chaotic and disorganized. In reality, they were already moving to their next objective.
Gustav and his group headed toward one of the rat kingdom's supply depots. Benny and Kael split off to target the supply lines directly, planning to destroy wagons and kill logistics personnel.
Meanwhile, Captain Vrek stood over the captured human, studying her with intelligent eyes.
"Take her to the dungeons," he ordered. "I will question her personally once I return. Keep her alive and unharmed until then. I want to know everything about how these creatures entered our kingdom and what they're planning."
Nida was dragged away, her head hanging as if in defeat. But she'd already counted the number of guards, memorized the route they were taking, and cataloged the weapons within reach if she needed to fight her way out.
She had poison hidden in her body. Blades concealed in ways the rat men wouldn't think to search. And she had a mission.
Find the Queen. Get close. End the war by cutting off the head.
Captain Vrek watched the human prisoner being led away, then turned his attention back to the forest where the others had fled. Something about this encounter bothered him. It had been too easy. Too convenient.
His paranoid instincts screamed that this was a trap, but he couldn't see the shape of it yet.
He would figure it out. He always did.
But by then, it might already be too late.
---
As the pieces on this three-way board game continued to move into position, the fates and destinies of everyone involved began to interweave. The rat kingdom fought for survival against the Four-on-Four Abominations. The humans operated in the shadows, striking at vulnerable points. And Nida, alone in enemy custody, prepared to execute the most dangerous mission of all.
The war had become chaos. And in chaos, twelve desperate humans might just find the opening they needed to achieve the impossible.
Or they'd all die trying.
Either way, the rat kingdom would never be the same.