Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship

Inside the central warehouse, the war among the rats was still ongoing, though it was already nearing its end.

The small and adult settler rats had been the most numerous, and they had also suffered the heaviest casualties. Corpses covered the ground everywhere, almost blending into the battlefield itself. Fewer than one in a hundred had survived.

But their achievements were remarkable. At least seventy percent of the casualties had been caused by these settler rats, including their own losses.

By burrowing into the flesh of the giant rats and wreaking havoc inside, the settler rats had killed large numbers of rat thralls and even conjoined rat nests.

Now only a small number of rat thralls and conjoined rat nests remained alive, fewer than three hundred in total, fighting back with firearms.

They had reached a strange agreement with the remaining settler rats: first focus all attacks on the ugliest and most vicious presence on the battlefield, the Rat King.

“The reason for your defeat is simple, you’ve got the biggest and ugliest rat head here. Die!”

One rat thrall squeaked wildly as it fired a shell toward the enormous rat nest in the center of the warehouse. The explosion blasted down a pile of severed limbs, trash, and fragments of settler rats.

The gigantic nest was made of human bodies and garbage, with rats crawling all over it, constantly going in and out, destroying everything.

As for friendly fire… there were no allies here. Everyone present was an enemy.

They focused their attacks on the Rat King simply because that enormous rat head of his was the ugliest, the most punchable, and the hardest to deal with.

“Hurry and bring more ammo! I’m out of bullets!”

A large, conjoined rat nest, supported by seven or eight arms, was carrying a rotary beam cannon and using it like a rifle. Its aim was terrible, firing wildly in every direction. After all, hitting anyone counted as a gain.

Nearby settler rats and rat thralls working alongside it shouted back.

“Yes! Yes!”

Several small rat thralls, probably blasted off from a conjoined rat nest earlier, responded and brought over some magic stones.

Some settler rats were mixed among them as well, acting as porters.

One particularly clever little rat ran over carrying a grenade in its mouth and handed it to the large, conjoined rat nest.

“This is…”

The massive rat head on the nest, half its face missing, froze for a moment.

Then the grenade suddenly lit up, firing out countless dazzling beams of light. In an instant the rat head was riddled with holes like a honeycomb.

After that, the grenade began spinning like a top. The beams moved with it, forming a web of death that sliced apart nearby conjoined rat nests, rat thralls, and settler rats alike.

Yang Yi stood at the edge of the battlefield watching. He withdrew his gaze and shook his head.

For some reason, he could once again understand the rats’ speech. He could hear them clearly, as if they had learned human language, even speaking foreign words.

And he had also found the true culprit behind the damage to the bottom hull.

It was the Rat King.

The creature was badly injured. A third of its face had been blown away, one eyeball hanging out of its socket in a bloody mess.

Large numbers of settler rats were gnawing at its face, some even burrowing into its flesh.

Yet its vitality was astonishing. It showed no sign of dying. Instead, it seemed highly excited, controlling the enormous mountain-like conjoined rat nest and firing back with a large number of firearms.

The nest moved like a serpent, rolling through the piles of garbage and churning them up, creating tremendous commotion.

From the Rat King’s mouth extended two parallel metal rails, with arcs of electricity flickering between them. It appeared to be an electromagnetic railgun.

Any settler rat that tried to damage the rails was instantly turned to charcoal by the electric current running through them.

Bang!

A bullet struck the metal rails, fired from the Roaring Flintlock.

But the shot merely made the rails wobble slightly. It did not even leave a scratch.

“So tough?

What kind of material is that made from?” Yang Yi muttered in surprise.

Meanwhile, the Rat King began to act. Muttering strange words, it turned and aimed at the loudest conjoined rat nest in the warehouse, preparing to fire.

If that shot landed, another hole might appear in the bottom hull.

“Die! Die~~~”

The electric arcs along the railgun grew denser and brighter, about to fire.

But at that moment, a black figure appeared in front of the muzzle, holding an absurdly large greatsword.

It was Yang Yi.

Wearing the Penitent Armor, he relied on his agility and swordsmanship to leap into the air and launch a strike. His target was the electromagnetic rails.

“Oathbreaker Slash!”

A blasphemous gray radiance burst forth.

The electromagnetic rails were warped by the strike, bending on the spot. The shell fired at that moment slammed into the distorted rails and exploded, scattering fragments everywhere.

Both Yang Yi and the Rat King were caught in the blast.

Yang Yi was thrown far away, crashing into a pile of damp garbage.

The Rat King did not fare much better. Its entire lower jaw had disappeared, and only a few teeth remained. Cables dangled from its mouth, and its body began twitching uncontrollably, leaving it unable to move.

“Good!”

“Shoot it!”

“Attack now!”

“It’s not moving!”

The remaining rat thralls and conjoined rat nests seized the opportunity and unleashed attacks on the Rat King. Explosions rang out one after another.

The powerful firepower tore apart the Rat King’s body, which was formed from thousands upon thousands of human bodies. Like peeling skin, layer after layer was blasted away, until parts of the structure were completely severed.

Then a strange object several meters in size fell out from inside the Rat King’s nest. It was tangled with numerous cables and components, and inside it a rotor spun continuously, surrounded by arcs of electricity.

If Suna had been there, she would have recognized it immediately. It was a generator, though its energy source was unknown.

The Rat King had swallowed the generator and hidden it inside the rat nest to power the electromagnetic railgun.

The generator fell into the garbage heap and touched water. Large arcs of electricity burst out, spreading through the filthy water.

“Hahaha! Die! Die! Die!”

Even while smoke rose from its body due to the electricity, the Rat King continued shouting wildly, trembling all over.

Rat thralls and conjoined rat nests caught in the current collapsed one after another, convulsing violently before quickly falling silent.

Yang Yi jumped out of the garbage pile. He had suffered some injuries, losing more than twenty points of vitality.

The power of the railgun was beyond imagination. Broken shrapnel had even pierced the Penitent Armor, leaving multiple wounds on his body as blood flowed down.

Fortunately, the armor also offered protection against electricity, blocking most of the current. He only felt a slight numbness rather than suffering electric shock.

Yang Yi looked at the sparking machine and immediately felt uneasy.

The rotor was spinning faster and faster, emitting a rising humming sound, as if it were about to explode.

If it actually detonated, it might blast open a massive hole in the bottom of the ship, letting seawater rush in and instantly flood the entire warehouse.

At that point, the Sanctuary would be finished. There would be no time to repair it.

“Suna, do you recognize this thing?

It’s leaking electricity, and I feel like it’s about to explode.”

Yang Yi snapped a photo and sent it to her.

She replied immediately.

“It looks like some kind of generator, and it’s already out of control. You should leave as soon as possible!”

“Is there any way to stop it?”

“No.

It’s a runaway generator. You can’t expect to stop it easily without even understanding how it works.”

“How long will it last?”

“How would I know? It might explode immediately, or maybe in ten minutes.

If the power unit detonates, the explosion will definitely be powerful. You’d better get out quickly!”

“Got it.”

Yang Yi ended the call and looked again at the generator.

A red indicator light on it was flashing at a steady rhythm, but the flashes were becoming faster and faster. A faint, broken warning tone sounded.

“Warning… rotational speed out of control… please… evacuate… will… explode… countdown… 300 seconds… 300…”

Yang Yi heard it clearly.

Then he shifted his gaze to the trembling, twitching Rat King nest.

The power source should still be inside its body, though it was unclear what kind of energy was driving the rotor to spin so wildly.

Yang Yi watched for a moment.

Suddenly, a bold idea formed in his mind.

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