SML Ch 17

Chapter 17

“What the—?! Are you out of your minds?! The Ratmen are coming, so why the hell are you turning back instead of running away?!”

“It’s not the Ratmen that are the problem right now! It’s the Lycanthropes! Those damned wolf bastards have surrounded the village—how are we supposed to escape?!”

Hearing that, Volant’s mouth fell open. The youths who had checked outside shouted that they needed to find somewhere in the village to hide, but even that wasn’t exactly a feasible option anymore. The area was already swarming with Ratmen—where could they possibly hide now? The screeching of the Ratmen sounded alarmingly close, and it was only a matter of time before they were discovered.

“This way, for now!”

Reynald quickly looked around and led the youths. The priority was to hide somewhere—anywhere. After a brief moment of hesitation, Reynald shoved the young men into the nearby abandoned houses. In one of the cramped homes, which looked like it could barely house four or five people, twenty brawny young men squeezed in, shoulder to shoulder.

Reynald was the last to slip inside, slamming the door shut just as a swarm of Ratmen came pouring through the alley. With his back against the door, he panted, trying to catch his breath.

“A-Are they coming in? Did they spot us?”

“Keep your damn voice down, idiot! They’re all too focused on the Lycanthropes right now to pay us any attention. Just don’t stick your head out the window and stay hidden!”

Footsteps shuffled frantically past the house. The youths, pale as ghosts, clung to the walls, breathing shallowly and silently. Each time a door creaked somewhere outside, the young men flinched violently, but thankfully, no Ratmen tried to enter the house they were in. Since the house had been vacant for a while, the creatures probably had no reason to check it.

The home appeared to be used only for sleeping—rough blankets and wooden pillows were scattered about, but there was no other furniture. Reynald was relieved. Had there been weapons or leather armor lying around, the Ratmen might have come looking for them, and that would’ve been even more nerve-wracking.

“For now, we’ll probably be able to hang on without being discovered. But if those Lycanthropes break into the village… then we’re in real trouble…”

Fortunately—or unfortunately—the Ratmen seemed to be holding off the invading Lycanthropes for now. With the tall wooden palisade in place, defending from inside the village clearly gave the Ratmen an advantage.

Still, it was uncertain how long their defense would last. If they broke through and the village became overrun with Lycanthropes, escaping would become nearly impossible.

“If only the Ratmen could hold out until dawn… we might have a chance to get away.”

“Seriously. We can always shake off the Ratmen somehow, but the Lycanthropes… Damn it.”

“My Lord, I’m sorry. We had plenty of food—we didn’t need to come out here and steal grain.”

“No, there’s no need to apologize. It’s not your fault. What worries me more is that I have no idea how we’re going to escape now.”

Reynald tried to peer outside through a crack in the door, but the gap was too narrow to see anything clearly. He sighed quietly.

The whole point of the mission had been to steal without getting caught, so most of the youths hadn’t brought weapons or armor. How were they supposed to run now? The dim interior of the cramped house was as bleak as their future.

Reynald rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. The tension had left his entire body stiff, though it wasn’t fear that gripped him. He’d faced countless dangers like this throughout his life. Still, if he wanted to seize the right moment to escape, he needed to stay hyper-focused.

He mentally recited a familiar military marching song over and over to keep track of time. It was a two-minute song—he’d run through it 31 times already. No, now it was the 32nd. That meant roughly an hour had passed.

The problem was that he had no way of knowing how much longer it would be until dawn. He wanted to check the position of the moon, but the window was misaligned, making it impossible to see it from inside the house. Sticking his head out to look was too risky.

“The best-case scenario would be if those things go all-in on a fight and retreat once the moon sets and the Lycanthropes weaken.”

If that happened, Reynald and the youths could make a surprisingly clean escape. The Ratmen would be exhausted from the fight, and the Lycanthropes, drained of power by the setting moon, would retreat to their own territory. They wouldn’t bother chasing humans. Reynald secretly hoped the Ratmen could hold out until dawn—just a few more hours.

“W-What was that sound?”

“Didn’t something just collapse?”

But of course, things were never going to go that smoothly. A loud cracking sound echoed outside—wood snapping violently. The youths stirred with panic. Reynald didn’t feel at ease either. That was the sound of the palisade breaking. It seemed the Lycanthropes had succeeded in breaching it.

“Chiiiiiirp—!”

The terrified screams of Ratmen and the guttural howls of wolves erupted all around them. With the destruction of the wooden palisade, the advantage once held by the Ratmen vanished. The battlefield was now the Lycanthropes’ domain. From the window, bodies flew—Lycanthropes leaping effortlessly, Ratmen being skewered on claws or dragged by their necks.

Reynald’s face turned pale. It was the worst possible outcome. The Ratmen had collapsed too quickly, and if the Lycanthropes, still under the full moon’s influence, started rummaging through the wreckage and found humans—then there’d be no chance of escape.

Even Reynald, a brilliant knight and commander, would find it nearly impossible to overcome this kind of numerical disadvantage. Handling hundreds of human soldiers would be tough enough—but hundreds of Lycanthropes?

“Do we run now?”

Sure, if they ran now, they’d have to pass through the thick of both Ratmen and Lycanthropes. But still, would those monsters really join forces just to hunt down twenty humans? In this territory, humans were nothing more than parasitic squatters struggling to survive. If anything, they were like stray dogs or alley cats.

The Ratmen might be pissed that some petty thieves snuck in, but the Lycanthropes wouldn’t bother with them. They were logical creatures. Rather than splitting their forces to chase a few fleeing humans, they’d focus on wiping out the Ratmen.

So…

“Get ready. We’ll have to run soon.”

“A-Are you out of your mind, my Lord?! How can we run in the middle of this chaos?!”

“Chaos is exactly what we need. If we wait until the Lycanthropes have cleaned up the mess, it’ll already be too late! I’ll clear a path—you just follow me.”

The youths looked like they might faint on the spot, but Reynald didn’t seem to care. He surveyed the outside seriously. When he cautiously peeked through the window, the monsters were still too busy fighting each other to notice him.

Reynald’s plan was simple: the moment the monster activity outside waned, they’d bolt. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy. Monsters aside, the youths behind him were frozen stiff with fear.

They’d come grain-raiding often, but this was clearly the worst situation they’d ever been in. The fear of total annihilation had them deeply rattled.

Still, they couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer. When the monsters that had been clustering near the house finally scattered, Reynald jumped to his feet. The others, realizing they had no choice, scrambled after him. Now was their only chance. If they missed it, it might be too late. With that in mind, Reynald reached for the door.

But Reynald didn’t notice—didn’t realize why the monsters that had been locked in battle had suddenly scattered.

[BOOM!]

Before Reynald could even open the door, a rush of cold air blew in from outside. A gaping hole had appeared out of nowhere. Reynald and the youths stood frozen, confused. The ceiling and wall crumbled, revealing the full moon overhead. From outside, Ratmen and Lycanthropes stared into the house in stunned silence.

And inside, two Lycanthropes who had smashed through the wall now stood wide-eyed, blinking in confusion at the humans before them.

“W-What the…?”

Oh, the Lycanthropes must’ve crashed through the house while fighting each other. That was all Reynald could think. He looked out through the massive hole in the wall. This must’ve been unexpected for both the Ratmen and the Lycanthropes.

The Ratmen wore expressions like, “Why the hell are there humans in our house?” and the Lycanthropes looked equally baffled, as if wondering why humans were hiding in a Ratman village. Everyone was so stunned that they just stood there, frozen. It took Reynald several seconds before his brain snapped back into motion.

“Right… we need to run.”

But the youths still looked dazed. To snap them out of it, he’d have to shout—but doing that felt like it would shatter the strange silence that had fallen over the once-chaotic Ratman village. Reynald hesitated. Just moments ago, the place had been in absolute pandemonium, and now it was dead silent.

Seconds passed in stillness. Behind him, Alex shot Reynald a glance, and only then did Reynald truly make up his mind to flee.

But before the humans could move, the Lycanthropes did—surprisingly.

The largest among them, seemingly a leader, growled lowly, communicating something to its comrades.

And then, moments later—

The Lycanthropes suddenly sprang into action.

They began destroying the Ratmen’s homes.

“S-Chiiiirp?!”

Next to move were the Ratmen. As their homes collapsed around them, the panicked Ratmen launched a frenzied counterattack. Reynald realized what had happened.

The Lycanthropes must’ve misunderstood—thinking the Ratmen had stashed reinforcements inside their homes to launch a surprise attack. They were tearing the houses apart to root out any hidden enemies.

But that wasn’t important now. What was important was that they finally had a chance to escape.

“Damn it—run!”

Reynald threw the grain sack over his shoulder and sprinted through the collapsed wall. The youths hesitated briefly, but once Alex followed, the others started screaming and bolting in terror.

A few monsters tried to pursue them in confusion, but most were too preoccupied fighting amongst themselves to give chase. In the end, only a handful even noticed the humans fleeing.

During that time, Reynald and his companions made it to the broken section of the palisade. Thanks to the Lycanthropes smashing it down, they could climb over it without any ladders.

“Run! Hurry!”

Even while carrying grain sacks, the youths leapt over the wreckage. Reynald, amused that they still clung to their stolen loot, recalled that he too was lugging a hefty grain sack—and chuckled wryly to himself.

Of course, there wasn’t much time to laugh. He had to move quickly to help the others over the fence safely. After handing his sack off to another youth, Reynald turned back to fend off the monsters.

The Ratmen had finally realized that their grain was being stolen and came rushing after the youths. Reynald swung his sword, cutting down any who got close. There was no need to kill them all—whenever he knocked one down, nearby Lycanthropes would finish them off, only to get beaten down by other Ratmen in turn.

“My Lord! Hurry!”

At last, all twenty or so youths had made it over the palisade. From afar, Volant shouted urgently. Reynald drove his sword deep into a charging Lycanthrope’s maw, then kicked its body hard.

The Ratmen coming for him flinched as the corpse toppled toward them. Seizing that moment, Reynald hurled himself over the collapsed wall.

A few Ratmen gave chase, but from afar, Volant shouted, “Duck!”

Reynald dropped his head just in time for something sharp to whistle past. A Ratman let out a shriek and collapsed, and the rest immediately lost their nerve.

“Run! Before they come after us!”

With their hard-earned spoils slung over their shoulders, Reynald and the young men bolted toward the fortress. Perhaps the rush of surviving a brush with death had gotten to them—someone started laughing, and soon the others joined in, chuckling as they ran.

Someone muttered that they’d grabbed plenty of grain and that was good enough.

Reynald laughed as well.

In all his 47 years, he’d never had a more absurd, chaotic escape than this.