Warhammer Divine Throne

”Skaven Ratmen are like Green Skins, they can never be completely cleaned out. All we can do is what’s right in front of us.” Belgar shook his head, ”Victory cannot last forever; in the future, you will still need to regularly send people to inspect the mine and sewer systems.”

”Being able to do this is already good enough.” The Emperor nodded, ”Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Thirty minutes later, deep within the Hemgart Mine.

The deep mine had already been excavated deep into the mountains. Count Hemgart even built a mine cart track; humans and the Dwarves of the Gray Mountain Range were jointly developing the mineral veins here.

After being ravaged by the rat tide, now the mine was full of corpses and marks of destruction. However, because the Ratmen focused their attention inside the city, part of the mine was still usable. Belgar led Laine and the three others cautiously ahead, while Marshal Rick Heilberg led a hundred Great Swordsmen, fifty Walking Knights, fifty Oath Guards under Belgar, and thirty Rangers following from afar.

Combat within the mine is not like a battle on the plains with open formations; numbers are useless here. Belgar requires few but elite forces.

”I’ve said it before, you must listen to my command.” Belgar Iron Hammer held a torch while walking ahead, continuously babbling: ”Listen to me, buddies, I know you all may be strong, but dwarves are the people of the mountains. Facing Skaven Ratmen, if you don’t follow orders, solitary ones will die.”

”Of course, I’m not familiar with places like mines.” Laine and Surya followed behind Belgar, nodding repeatedly in understanding, ”Dwarves are experts in this field.”

”I don’t care as long as I can kill rats.” Demon Hunter Supreme Grandmaster Ernst said impatiently, ”Dwarf, instead of babbling, why don’t you tell us what to do? How should we infiltrate the Ratmen’s secret base?”

”Symbols.” Belgar brought the torch closer to the damp rock wall.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the rock wall, which was engraved with an inverted triangle symbol.

”This is a Skaven Ratmen symbol representing the beginning of Skaven Ratmen’s territory.” Belgar clasped the Hammer of Angland and the Shield of Struggle, pointing at the symbol with the hammerhead.

”If recognizing it is this simple, then we can just follow places with these inverted triangle symbols.” Demon Hunter Supreme Grandmaster murmured, ”Is this all the dwarves can do?”

Belgar regarded Master Ernst with a gaze fit for an idiot, then simply ignored him and continued to explain to Laine and the others: ”Skaven Ratmen speak in Ratmen language, which carries rapid screeches and vibrations, causing Ratmen speech to be always hurried and pronounced in very short words. Although it’s a very complex language, the majority of Ratmen can only grasp two or three hundred words, so you constantly hear yesyes, nono, youyou, diedie for this reason. Their lack of vocabulary means they can only repeat these words to strengthen context.”

”I see.” Laine nodded repeatedly; even Heilberg and Ernst seriously listened — the stubborn old Demon Hunter was just habitually brash but wasn’t truly foolish.

Imperial records of Skaven Ratmen were very few, limited to some scraps in tomes of Great Nobles. Heilberg even signaled a Rick Guard to hurry up and jot these down.

The army proceeded along the mine toward the inside, and Laine seized the opportunity to say to Belgar: ”King Belgar, I didn’t expect you to be so knowledgeable about Skaven Ratmen.”

”To defeat the enemy, you must understand your opponent, rather than recklessly charging in with manpower. That’s how my first two attempts to reclaim Eight Peaks Mountain failed.” Belgar sighed softly; the King of Eight Peaks was no longer the hot-blooded fool he had been. To regain Eight Peaks Mountain, he even spent many years learning about Green Skins’ societal culture and that of Skaven Ratmen.

After traversing the long tunnel, amidst stalactites, a frozen underground lake, and a chaotic mine pit, three new symbols appeared.

”What is this?!” Upon seeing one of the symbols, Belgar’s expression changed dramatically.

This was a circular mark with a circle inside and a long line extending behind.

”What does this mean?” Surya asked with concern.

”There is a rat mother underground!”

”Plan change! We must prioritize exterminating the rat mother!”