"Fire!!!" The cannon roared, tearing dozens of ratmen into pieces with its blasts.

This only relieved the pressure temporarily; the sword and shield soldiers and long spear soldiers were exerting all their effort to resist the ratmen's assault. These human soldiers used swords, shields, and long spears, struggling to fend off the enemy's attack.

The musketeers continuously fired in volleys, forcing back the ratmen's aggressive moves, but the cunning Skaven ratmen sent large swarms of slave rats to feign attacks while the clan rats and storm rats hid behind.

This is the ratmen's tactic, the cunning and cruel ratmen deploying a massive number of slave rats to the frontlines to drain human military stamina and ammunition reserves.

Chaotic, weak in combat, and having extremely poor morale, the slave rats are never expected by the ratmen to accomplish any task. But now, these slave rats have been pushed into desperation; in front of them is the human army, behind them are the clan and storm rats.

Fight, or die, these are the only options for the slave rats.

The human army continued to resist desperately. They crafted a fragile frontline using wooden carts, market stalls, and wagons. The soldiers fought valiantly, each soldier having slain many rats, yet the ratmen's numbers were simply too overwhelming. The soldiers despairingly realized that even if they could face twenty foes each, they were still at an absolute disadvantage in numbers.

"Captain Huber! These rats' tactics are exactly like those of the Brittania people!" a soldier shouted loudly.

"Shut up! If those on the other side were Brittania knights, we'd be finished a hundred times over! No matter what, we must not retreat; behind me are innocent civilians!" The Imperial Captain Huber angrily shouted, "Hold the line! Reinforcements will come!"

This very unit was the Mackensen Musketeers; today, they were simply carrying out their regular training in camp, but the Skaven ratmen forcibly breached the camp gate with the dimension cannon, and then the tide of rats inundated the entire camp, massacring most of the soldiers inside before they even had time to react.

Clearly, the ratmen were well-prepared; their objective was to immediately destroy Hemgart's entire defensive force.

The ratmen's plan mostly succeeded, with only one Imperial Captain Huber leading over a hundred remnants to break out of the camp. Knowing the situation was dire, in his sorrow, Huber directly blew up the camp's armory.

Better everything destroyed, than leave the ratmen a single gun or bullet!

"Reinforcements? Captain, where would reinforcements come from?" a musketeer shouted in despair; the camp was destroyed, and most of Hemgart's garrison was stationed on the city walls, leaving no troops available.

"The Count! Count will come to our aid!" The Imperial Captain's voice was noticeably lacking confidence. His hands didn't stop moving, and his sharp longsword consecutively killed seven or eight slave rats.

More slave rats crossed the frontline, climbed over fallen wooden tables, and even overturned wagons. They howled as they approached but were quickly killed back. The Imperial Captain gritted his teeth, so hard his gums started bleeding.

The ratmen are being strategic! They're waiting for us to tire out and run out of ammunition! At this rate, these remaining defenders are bound to lose!

Almost as if responding to Huber's words, explosions were heard from the Count's castle on the mountain, its outer walls half collapsed, and rubble fell from the heights, crushing many houses below the castle.

This situation brought even deeper despair to the people.

No reinforcements will come.

Hemgart is finished.

"Dong~ dong~ dong~" The bell rang out.

"Dong~ dong~ boom!" At that moment, the brick house beside them suddenly exploded, and a Holy Grail Knight wearing silver masterwork power armor came out from the side with a few others!

"For the Lady!!!" Mjolnir crushed several clan rats into pulp, whether they used shield blocks or not, the only outcome was shattered shields!

"Thunder Strike!" Laine's warhammer struck the ground heavily, causing all the rats in the east to find their bodies lifted off the ground. Laine's enormous strength single-handedly repelled all the ratmen near him, swinging his warhammer back and forth, preventing any clan rat, slave rat, or storm rat from coming close. On the contrary, when he released the spiritual storm on the streets, the dense ratmen could only leave patches of charcoal on the pavement.

Where Laine's warhammer passed, death followed instantly; he single-handedly drove back hundreds of ratmen.

"For the Lady!" Glistening in brilliant radiance, Surya joined the battle, the female knight wielding the flaming Leonais Divine Sword. All rats touched by that fire evaporated immediately.

"Kill her! The human woman!" The storm rats instantly gathered towards the female knight, wielding long halberds, charging in unison.

"The Lady grants me victory!" Surya showed no panic, immediately dodging aside. The sword light from the Leonais Sword transformed into a dazzling glow, severing five long halberds in the blink of an eye. Surya forcefully chopped off two storm rats' heads, while other clan rats surged in to launch a siege on Surya.

The sharp sword in her hand cut through the storm rats' necks like a judgment.

Gruesome heads split open by the sword's blade, Surya defeated storm rats one by one. Before the female knight had time to catch her breath, Abel shouted immediately: "Lady Surya! Be careful, it's the plague monks!"

Raising her head, Surya saw a few plague monks dressed in green robes with pale skin, covered in pus, sores, and lumps, rushing at her, daggers glowing green!

"Go!" From Veronica's palm appeared a burning skull. Smirking coldly, she gestured with her hand, and the skull instantaneously transformed into a giant Flaming Skull, spitting flames, engulfing several plague monks and scorching all rats along the street. Then, Veronica cast another spell.

"Light of Conquest!"

The Wind of Light surged around Hayhee, as Veronica summoned glorious energy to calm the despondent hearts of the remnant troops. The magical energy filled them with renewed courage.

After casting the spell, Veronica panted slightly, as the Jialan Witch had been continuously casting multiple spells, her Mana Reserves starting to thin.

At this rate, it won't work. Veronica's mana is limited, but the ratmen far outnumber expectations!

"Slay! Slay! Slay these heretics! Purge the land!" Demon Hunter Abel fought bravely, rushing to face a plague monk, plunging his rapier into its skull: "Fight! For Charlemagne, for the Empire!"

The appearance of these individuals immediately turned the tide of the battle. As the ratmen forces now faced attacks from both sides, the leading storm rats and plague monks got decimated by Laine and others, causing severe chaos in the ratmen army. The ratmen, who surged like tides, now retreated just as fiercely.

The human army finally managed to catch its breath, Imperial Captain Huber came to stand before Laine, relieved: "You must be Lord Laine Macado? I am Huber, captain of the Hemgart Mackensen Musketeers. Thank you for saving us."

"You kept saying Count will come to support you; I'm honored to have heard your call for help." Laine made a joke of sorts: "Perhaps you were disappointed; I am the Count from across the mountain."

"Please don't say that." Huber felt a blazing embarrassment on his face, half of which was burnt by the ratmen's fire guns, wrapped hastily, looking very intimidating. The Imperial Captain grimaced, in great pain: "Thank you for coming to aid us. We will forever remember your kindness."

"Well, no more talk. Captain Huber, what do you plan to do next?" Surya sheathed her sword at her waist, the female knight asked softly.

"I'm not sure; the camp is destroyed, the Count's castle seems overrun. If possible, I want to protect some civilians and break out, seek help from nearby towns." The Imperial Captain looked at the burning Hemgart, sighed softly.

Laine noticed these armies protecting some civilians, roughly around a hundred people.

"In that case, Surya, Veronica, Mr. Abel, and Captain Huber, gather as many of the defeated troops, militia, and uninfected civilians as you can and proceed to the Justice Church on the cliff."

"What about you, Laine?" Surya asked in surprise.

"I will head alone to the ratmen's emergence point, drawing their attention. Abel, help me pinpoint the location of the Ratman Warlord, and I'll take care of it!"

"Let's split up!"