Chapter 1025: Chapter 706: Eating, Sleeping, Exterminating Rats

"Is this the last barrier for these mice?"

Blake gazed distantly at the mice’s final defense, murmuring to himself.

The scene before him could truly be described as "exaggerated."

A wall about twenty to thirty meters high stood in the distance, perfectly blending with the surrounding rocks and forests.

If it weren’t for the mice’s poor construction skills, making this wall look like a pile of rubbish, it might actually qualify as a spectacle.

This was the mice’s last line of defense, located thirty kilometers away from the Mouse City.

It cleverly utilized the unique environment around Mouse City, merging seamlessly with nature, forming a unique architectural defense line.

"So, the rat nest is in this place." A United Army commander standing nearby spoke softly.

"This shouldn’t be a secret, right?"

Blake found the commander’s exclamation a bit strange.

After all, the rat nest’s location had already been deduced earlier.

Moreover, the Cloud-Piercing Tower where the Evil Rats resided was quite conspicuous, clearly visible even from a distance.

At the moment, looking far off, the towering rat nest appeared before them, its height even surpassing the Night Watcher’s Tower of Trial, though lacking the grandeur of the Tower of Trial.

The Tower of Trial stood like a giant black wall against the sky.

While the Evil Rats’ Black Tower resembled a sharp needle piercing the clouds.

"It’s just a bit nostalgic; when I was a child, I came to this place with my father’s rat extermination team."

The commander said.

"Oh?"

Blake looked curiously at the commander beside him, and others also cast curious glances, eager to hear what interesting stories this commander might share.

"Don’t look at me like that; it was just an ordinary rat extermination operation, nothing more than that which happens every year."

The commander laughed.

Indeed, that was the case.

For the people of the Lebia Continent, mouse extermination activities had long become an essential annual event, quite routine.

Unlike creatures like Goblins, mice have a horrifying breeding capability, and compared to Goblins, they are much smarter.

Though mice, like Goblins, are timid and cowardly, they manage to cause considerable trouble in the dark, such that they could be considered a "superior existence" over Goblins in some respects.

The mouse infestation wasn’t a problem that emerged only this time.

Since the Race of Mice was born, whenever they first appeared in the world, a large-scale mouse infestation was sure to occur.

It’s just that in the past, they lacked Protection from a God and couldn’t rely on the Evil God. Even though they caused significant damage, compared to now, it was like child’s play.

"This place, as my father said, was the source of the first mouse outbreak and the first city destroyed by the mice."

The commander said slowly.

Hearing this, a Snake-man nearby couldn’t help but clap his hands: "Ah, now that you mention it, I remember."

It’s understandable why many people don’t recall this event.

The exact time Ratman was born is almost unverifiable, because not every Race can have a clear historical heritage spanning hundreds or thousands of years like the Elves.

Moreover, as the world is constantly in turmoil, civilizations of many nations and Races, having undergone generations, have long experienced discontinuities.

For the numerous Races on the Lebia Continent, Ratmen have already become a part of their lives and worldview.

Eating, sleeping, and exterminating mice, practically made up their daily life.

Even though forces across the continent have been vigorously combating the mouse infestation for years, the mice remain a hidden, immense threat in the shadows, showcasing their underestimated potential in warfare.

"I see."

"Now that you mention it, could that Black Tower be..."

"Yes, it’s the Monument of Vigilance," one of the commanders affirmed.

Upon these words, all the Lebia commanders present fell into silence.

"What is that?"

Raelia asked curiously.

She had never been interested in the history of the Lebia Continent, let alone those ancient historical legends.

Blake, however, knew of this information, and he explained: "Legend has it, when the Ratmen triggered the first mouse disaster, no one survived the city they invaded, a very famous metropolis, reportedly the capital of a certain country, which overnight became a sacrificial offering to the mice.

"We can’t precisely know the extent of the disaster caused by the Ratmen back then, only that after the war ended and the rat nest was cleared, all forces involved in the war deliberately preserved this destroyed city.

"In the center of the city’s ruins, they erected a stone monument of vigilance, allowing everyone to see it clearly from afar, as a warning to all to forever remember the terrible disaster brought by the mice."

As Blake spoke, he recalled related information in his mind.

It’s said that after that, minor and major mouse disasters still occurred from time to time, and because of this, the Lebia Continent gradually formed a stable tradition of mouse extermination.

Admittedly, even after going through so much, as long as the Evil God and Evil Rats lurk behind the scenes, the mice could easily trigger another catastrophe.

The countless cleansing operations conducted in the past now seem futile and meaningless.

This inevitably reminded Blake of the conversation he had with Kana before taking on this mission.

"Why does there exist something like Ratmen that can never be completely eradicated?"

Blake felt deeply perplexed by this. In terms of martial strength, the Lebia Continent is considered relatively strong, as it was among the few places not entirely dominated by the Elves during their peak.

Although there are various reasons and issues, this fact is undeniable and suffices to prove the resilience of various Races and forces on the Lebia Continent.

Of course, it’s hard to say if this situation is due to having to contend with varying magnitudes of mouse disasters every few decades or centuries.

At the time, Kana’s response was: "If you broaden your view to the entire world, you’ll find that for a world with instinct and will, a place is needed to contain the ’filth’ between Races.

"There aren’t many choices, just like the Abyss; it serves as a convergence for the filth of the whole Star Realm. There has to be a place to store this ’garbage,’ right?"

The Ratmen were born in such a Rule dictated by the world’s instinct, which is why they are commonly perceived as inherently evil.

And the reason this mouse disaster became so rampant, even giving rise to the formidable Evil Rats, is fundamentally because this world can no longer care for its balanced development.

The Descent of the Evil God accelerated the entire world’s process of degeneration, and various negative emotions proliferated as a result.

In such an imbalanced and self-sufficient situation, these negative elements naturally accumulated within the Race of Mice.

A few Evil Gods, with a slight plot, nurtured in a forceful manner akin to harvesting wild crops, forcibly produced an Evil God originating from this world.

The birth of most Evil Gods generally follows this process, although the specifics may vary, the essence remains the same.

It’s hard to say whether the fact that the Elves never fully occupied the Lebia Continent is because they didn’t want to directly face the daunting issue of the mice.

After all, nominally occupying the Lebia Continent is easy, but addressing the myriad issues of the continent would still require the involvement of the native inhabitants of Lebia.

Should the Elves fully occupy it, they would have to face both the resistance of the various Races of the Lebia Continent and the mouse infestation simultaneously.

It’s also possible that the Elves discerned the essence of the Ratmen and thus slightly loosened their grip on the Lebia Continent.

After all, an essential reason for the Elves’ path to prominence was the choice by the Dragons of Salvation to support them.

These Star Realm Giant Dragons, forced to stay in the mortal world, presumably understood more about the world’s secrets.