"The military camp! The military camp is on fire!"

"By Charlemagne, what is all this?!"

"It's bad! Rats! So many rats!"

"Help!!!"

The streets of Hemgart were in chaos, as hordes of Skaven Ratmen surged out from the shadows like a tsunami.

Most of these Ratmen were clad in tattered clothes, wielding simple weapons. In theory, humans should have been able to resist.

But there were just too many rats! Far too many, with hundreds of Ratmen visible to Laine's naked eye! They were so densely packed that they jostled and even slaughtered each other!

"Damn it! What's happening?!" Rudolph and Wagner were still donning their armor with the help of the Knight's Squire, their minds in a fog: "Ratmen? But... why?"

"Don't ask why, get ready to fight!" Laine rushed to the inn's entrance, launching a Spiritual Storm!

The powerful Spiritual Storm swept through the alley, tearing the flesh from the bones of the Skaven Ratmen, incinerating them into fiery ash.

Laine's first Spiritual Storm took care of over a hundred Skaven Ratmen.

"Damn, what's Count Reinhardt doing? How could such a massive Chaos army silently invade his city while he's oblivious?" Rick Guard Rudolph roared in anger: "And the garrison! What are they doing?"

"The garrison is clearly compromised, look at the direction of the military camp!" Wagner, with the chest armor of his plated armor fastened by his subordinates, pointed toward the camp.

Thick smoke billowed, covering Hemgart's military camp from the explosions. It's obvious to anyone with half a mind what happened there.

"Light of Exile!" The women chatting on the second floor noticed the city's upheaval. Veronica leaned out the window, unleashing a powerful offensive spell, sending three beams shooting into the Ratman swarms, causing massive explosions.

Nearby Skaven Ratmen were cleared out by Laine's Spiritual Storm and Veronica's Light of Exile, but this was only temporary. The entire city was drowning in a vermintide!

Teresa cast an Ice Wall Technique to block the alley entry, and many militia units attempted to resist the Skaven Ratmen's assault, but these scattered resistances were quickly overwhelmed by the tidal wave of Ratmen.

Taking the chance, the group hastily donned their gear, with Surya not understanding what's happening: "Skaven Ratmen? Why attack Hemgart?"

"Hemgart has neither adequate food nor a dimensional stone vein," Veronica, now in a fiery red combat dress, knew a bit about Skaven: "This is bizarre, Laine, are you cursed? Why does every place you go end up in battle?"

"These Ratmen are well-prepared." Laine didn't answer Veronica's question, quickly donning Masterwork Power Armor and raising Mjolnir: "They struck the camp first, quickly crushing the garrison. We don't know how many in the garrison survived, but as it stands... there may not be many."

"Your assessment seems correct." The group reached the inn's third floor: "The town is collapsing!"

Apart from smoke and collapse, there was little reaction from the camp. Sporadic gunfire was retreating toward the city center, as the entire city fell to the Skaven Ratmen assault, with flames and smoke everywhere.

"What do the Skaven Ratmen want with Hemgart?" Laine furrowed his brows, turning anxiously to the innkeeper, asking: "Are there any places in the city that can be defended?"

"There's... the barracks and... the Count's castle." The innkeeper, struck by a falling wine bottle, had a bump on his head, stammering: "Just those two." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"The camp is already lost, the Count's castle?" Laine shook his head repeatedly: "Impossible! The Skaven can't overlook the Count's castle! Please think carefully, is there anywhere else?"

"There's... a Justice Church on a cliff!" After thinking for a moment, the innkeeper added: "The Justice Church is on the city wall side cliff! It's easy to defend and hard to attack, and the Justice Church Cathedral is heavily guarded, with dozens of Paladins and several Combat Priests stationed!"

"On one side a mine, on the other the sewers, excellent! Rudolph, Wagner, and Teresa, you escort the servants and horses, gather civilians, rally defeated troops, and organize all survivors and resistance forces to the Justice Church Cathedral for defense!" Laine instructed first.

"Understood!" Both Rick Guards nodded, knowing the seriousness in such urgent times.

"Surya, Veronica, come with me. We're headed to the Red Hundred Fruit Inn two streets west to find Abel." Laine told Veronica and Surya: "The Demon Hunter can pinpoint the Ratman Warlord. We must find the Warlord; only by defeating him can we end this vermintide. Otherwise, under the Warlord's command, the Ratmen army's numbers are infinite."

Teresa's conjured ice wall clinked, as the Ratmen outside had discovered humans within, furiously attacking the solid barrier.