The City Falls! The High Garden Last Stand!

At the same moment, Karl also received the news that High Court had been breached.

He froze in place, utterly unable to react. The news had come too suddenly, leaving him with no time at all to prepare himself.

Less than three days after the fighting began, their greatest reliance, the walls of High Court, had been broken through just like that?

"What are you standing there like an idiot for? Retreat at once!"

Francis grabbed the dazed Karl and dragged him away, then shouted at the top of his lungs:

"All ratfolk, obey my order! Withdraw into High Court immediately!"

By then, the ratfolk were already falling back into the inner city of High Court, where brutal close-quarters street fighting was about to begin.

At the same time, dwarven and human warriors surged over the walls and poured into High Court. Muradin, the Mountain King, led the Hammer Legion down Sunset Avenue toward the city's center, while the rest of the humans split into small squads from each district and advanced in tightly knit groups.

At this very moment, the entire human battle line was pouring into High Court with full force.

The cloudless sky above them suddenly turned overcast.

...

In the central square of High Court, Old Sha stood beneath the watchtower in the middle of the plaza, feeling wave after wave of fierce wind rolling in from the west.

"Minister! The enemy has fully entered the city!"

Short Fur came over and whispered the warning.

Old Sha gave a slight nod, then turned to look behind him. More than eighty muscular ratfolk, bare-chested and ready for battle, waited in disciplined ranks.

"Move out!"

Old Sha swung a great hand, and the more than eighty minor officials immediately scattered, leading the labor ratfolk under them toward their assigned blocking positions according to plan.

These foremen were usually Old Sha's small-time overseers and team leaders. They were the true builders of High Court; every beam and brick in the city had been raised by their own hands.

Now that the great enemy stood before them and their race was in peril, they took up arms and became High Court's defenders, bound by duty.

...

Outside High Court, Xue Hui also received word that the dwarf legion at the front had broken through the ratfolk wall. He waved a broad hand and said:

"Everyone, enter the city with me!"

"Big Brother...!"

Wu Fan began to speak, then stopped himself. The meaning he wanted to convey was clear to Xue Hui.

"Go on, then. Be careful!"

"Understood, Big Brother!"

With that, Xue Hui led the remaining two hundred aged and battered soldiers toward High Court.

Wu Fan's meaning was plain enough: partly revenge, and partly to enter the city and loot, smash, and seize whatever they could!

The ratfolk had long held sway over the North Shore Plain; there was bound to be plenty of good stuff inside.

...

What Wu Fan did not know was that the ratfolk had already held a meeting the night before and arranged every preparation in advance. The breach of the wall was entirely within their contingency plans.

There was no panic whatsoever. The ratfolk withdrawing from the wall moved in orderly fashion, following the plan devised the previous night, and hurried to their defensive positions within High Court.

Seventeen ballistae bared their sharp fangs and had been placed in every corner of the city.

The human warriors, having just broken through the gates and still brimming with delight, did not know that the real battle was only now beginning.

...

At the western edge of High Court, the commercial district was already deserted, emptied out to the last rat.

Human troops streamed in one after another, beginning a wanton plunder of the supplies within the city, unknowingly pushing ever deeper into High Court...

A ratfolk warrior lay prone on the roof of his own home with a hand crossbow in his grip. On the rooftops around him, other ratfolk with hand crossbows lay in the same stance.

One ratfolk extended two fingers and gestured in sign language, meaning they were to wait until the enemy had all entered the courtyard before striking. The ratfolk beside him nodded to show they understood.

In the alley below the rooftops, a group of Liu Wei's warriors was rummaging through a compound for something.

Just then, a rain of arrows fell from above, and five men in the squad were shot through the head and dropped to the ground.

"Ambush! Hurry..."

A human soldier immediately shouted a warning. In this courtyard, the ratfolk above them fired in coordinated volleys, leaving no blind spots.

"Die, you foreign beasts!"

An old ratfolk commander gave the order, and his sons and grandsons unleashed their full firepower.

The human warriors had not even brought ranged weapons. There was no room for error at all; one after another, ten warriors fell within the ratfolk's net of concentrated fire.

"Quickly! Go down there and recover the arrows!"

A somewhat elderly ratfolk with large ears ordered the younger ratfolk to begin collecting the arrows that had pierced the humans.

Not only that, but every item of value on the human bodies was also stripped away by the ratfolk...

"Grandpa, look, what is this?"

A young rat asked the big-eared elder, holding up a dark green gemstone.

The gem gave off a faint green glow. The old rat took it at once, held it up to the sky for a look, then gnawed it with his protruding front teeth.

A local treasure of the Palando Heights: jade stone.

"Useless thing. Grandpa will keep this for you..."

The big-eared rat patted his grandson on the head and sent him away.

...

At the corner of a narrow lane, Kao Geer picked up a stone and hurled it at a human soldier just emerging from a rat burrow. This squad had searched through several rat holes in succession and found little of worth.

This squad leader, struck on the bridge of the nose by the stone, had even been hit on the head by a stone that had been wedged atop the doorframe and fell down when he pushed the door open. Now, insulted again by this young rat before him, he was furious enough to bare his teeth.

"You foreign beasts, you'll all die miserably! Our warriors will cut off your heads and hang them from the walls of High Court!"

Kao Geer kept throwing stones while frenziedly stirring up hatred.

"Filthy ratfolk, you're asking for death!"

The squad leader drew his weapon and charged. Seeing this, Kao Geer turned and ran.

By now, most of the female and young ratfolk in the commercial district of northern High Court had already been moved out. To the squad leader, the war already seemed won, so he did not think further and simply chased after him with his weapon in hand.

Kao Geer ran on all fours, using nimble and flashy footwork to keep changing direction. He dodged the arrows fired from behind one after another, bounced between the walls on both sides in triangular leaps, and finally turned into a dead-end alley.

This area was where he usually played and roamed; to Kao Geer, it was as familiar as his own home.

"Kao Geer, this way!" another young rat waved him over repeatedly.

Kao Geer slid out through a dog hole prepared in advance, then turned and blocked the opening with a wooden board.

Chirp chirp chirp, chirp chirp chirp.

Ten in all, with ranged weapons.

On the roof of the rat burrow, Black Iron held up three fingers, the universal sign for okay.

Soon, with the squad leader at the fore, the human warriors charged into the dead end.

"Hm? Where did that damned rat go?"

The squad leader looked all around but could not find any trace of Kao Geer. The surrounding silence was eerie, and a bad feeling welled up in him.

"Not good! We've been tricked!"

By the time he realized it, it was already too late. A row of rat heads rose from the high walls around the dead-end alley, hand crossbows leveled straight at them.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Arrows flew in rapid succession, and they instantly became living targets in the alley.

One human warrior raised his crossbow in an attempt to retaliate, only to see the shadow beneath his feet grow larger and larger...

Black Iron leaped down from the high wall with weapon in hand and landed squarely on the man's head.

A crow rides a plane

"Dare to invade my home? Bury them all!"

Under Black Iron's lead, the surrounding labor ratfolk all leaped down from the walls with weapons in hand.

In peaceful times, we are the builders of the city!

When the nation is in peril, every man has his duty. With weapons in hand, we are also the kingdom's guardians!

The entire commercial district of High Court, after wave after wave of human soldiers had entered, immediately plunged into brutal street fighting.

This scene was unfolding in every corner of High Court's streets and alleys. Using their mastery of the terrain, the ratfolk split the human forces apart and mounted fierce resistance against the invading enemy!

The human side never imagined that they would encounter such tremendous resistance within High Court!

...