New Gods of North America.

Chapter 629 Against the Tide
Faced with the surging swarm of rats, everyone immediately took their own emergency measures.

"Close the door quickly!"

"You all need to get out of here right now!"

"Spread out! Defend!"

The cultivator and the "vines," who had just worked together to open the large wooden doors of the warehouse, quickly pushed the two thick doors back down.

Merlin, who had already put on red gloves, and his men quickly pulled back the warehouse guards around them and stepped forward to block the space they had made.

Anyone with life experience knows that once waves crash into a funnel-shaped mouth of the ocean, the water level often rises sharply.

Although the rats on both sides of the swarm were blocked by the gradually closing wooden door, as the gaps in the door continued to tighten, not only did the swarm of rats on the ground flow faster, but some rats were even squeezed onto the rising "water surface," stepping on their companions and scrambling out like flying cockroaches.

Holy crap, there are at least several hundred, if not thousands, of these rats.

If you just add up all the traffic jams that are directly visible to the naked eye, it's probably almost equal to the amount of meat the workshop buys in a day.

Are the rats in the dock area holding a rally tonight to elect a rat king?!

Wayne instead took two steps back, quickly extinguished the kerosene lamp in his hand, and then turned and threw it to the ground. "Try to make a circle of fire, don't let it spread any further!"

As he shouted, he used his feet to smear the spilled kerosene to the side, trying to draw a line on the ground as quickly as possible.

Upon hearing this, Inessa, who was standing nearby, also threw her kerosene lamp to the ground.
With a soft "bang," a burst of flames began to spread outwards, quickly catching up with the trail Wayne had just drawn, reaching the very end he was still trying to extend.

Several more kerosene lamps were thrown to the ground, and the wall of fire expanded rapidly amidst everyone's busy efforts, gradually showing a tendency to merge into one.

Those who had freed their hands continued to fire shots or use various other means to fight off the rats swarming onto them in the gradually brightening and heating circle.

Wayne dodged Merlin's "flashes," and just as he knocked a large rat away with the butt of his gun, he kicked another rat so hard that it flew through the air and crashed back into the rat swarm.
Then, sensing the raging spiritual pressure, he and the busy people nearby all turned their gazes to the same figure in the arena.

At this moment, Inessa's eyes had turned bloodshot. She raised her hand, pulled out a syringe, tossed it aside, and rushed directly into the gap in the wooden door that seemed unable to close any further.

"You guys take care of things outside! Help hold the wooden door shut, and be careful not to get hurt!"

Around the figure in hunting attire wearing a bird-beak mask, thin, almost invisible blood-red threads quickly formed, like a wound-up spring, carving out "cavities" from the dense swarm of rats leaking through the door cracks, only to be enveloped by the subsequent influx of rats.

When Inessa, braving the pressure of the swarming rats, finally managed to squeeze through the crack in the door, it was as if with a "boom," the monks, who were struggling to brace themselves against the thick wooden door and busy clearing away the rat "vines" covering their bodies, were almost sent flying by the violent tremor.

Wayne quickly understood Inessa's actions. He waved one hand forward to swatt away the swarm of rats while constantly peeling the rats off his body, and then scurried towards the warehouse door from another direction.
Then, as the heavy wooden door of the warehouse suddenly slammed open, he forcefully pushed his body against the reinforced door panel. The pressure transmitted from behind the door paused, and taking advantage of this opening, the group finally managed to close the two damned "rat swarm doors" completely.

The noise inside didn't stop immediately; in fact, it got even louder. The door panels vibrated outwards with a force as if being chopped by a giant axe, and the sharp, penetrating force made Wayne worry about whether the two wooden doors were sturdy enough.

After fastening the chains back onto the door, Wayne quickly turned his attention back to dealing with the rats that were now almost engulfing him.
He tried to infuse spiritual power into the rats, but living creatures have a natural resistance to direct "infusion." It wouldn't be difficult for Wayne to simply blow up the rats he touched, but throwing them out as bombs wouldn't be so easy.
Shooting isn't a very good method either; one shot won't kill many, and the empty spaces they leave behind will soon be filled.

Fortunately, after putting aside his initial apprehension, the rats didn't seem to be as dangerous as Wayne had anticipated.
As long as you don't stay still and don't touch their heads when they pounce with their mouths open, most of the places you can hit with your hand are actually quite "soft." And a rat's claws are really not that great; they're not even as strong as a cat's. What's more dangerous are their teeth.

Even the most dangerous "biting" action of rats actually causes quite limited damage, as rats' teeth are only so long and their mouths can only open to a limited angle.
Unless bitten on a finger or carotid artery, it would only be considered a "skin injury" or "flesh injury." Unless attacked by a swarm of rats, it would be difficult for an ordinary person with even a little energy to die directly.

But then again...

He had been bitten at least seven or eight times on his body, legs, and arms. Even with his self-healing abilities, Wayne still felt pain when it was time to feel it...

There's also the worry about getting rabies or something—but that's something to worry about later.

At this point, there must have been at least several hundred rats swarming out of the door, which would be about thirty or forty rats per person. Even if they were cooked, they might not be able to finish them all. Fortunately, not many rats chose to escape the circle of fire; the vast majority seemed determined to perish with everyone else.

So, although everyone was struggling and getting hurt, they were all well-trained and had their own weapons and extraordinary abilities. Despite the less-than-ideal sights, the battle gradually turned around.

Reality soon proved once again that even the terrifying upright apes, who had reached the top of the food chain, still had a fighting chance against smaller rodents whose numbers were not overwhelmingly superior.

Just as things calmed down outside and everyone was about to start helping each other with first aid, Wayne took off his tattered jacket, picked up the special bolt-action rifle that Inessa had left there, unlocked the chains, and poked his head into the now quiet warehouse. "Inessa, are you alright?"

Her still-red eyes were easy to spot in the darkness, and Inessa was still wearing her hunting attire. She was sitting in an open space, hugging her knees and resting, her arms crossed over each other. "I'm fine... Someone ran away just now. Maybe they weren't good at head-on confrontation, or maybe they gave up on continuing their sneak attack."

Following Inessa's gaze deeper into the large barn, there was a window that was open, positioned high up.
In the minimalist visual landscape, the warehouse shelves directly affected by the damage are in complete disarray, while those a little further away, in slightly better condition, are also collapsed. The unprocessed dried rubber looks a bit like dried bean curd sheets, some already broken into pieces, while others are still relatively intact.

A short distance away from Inessa, the ground was a bit too wet to look at closely; it was scattered and messy, and walking on it with her leather shoes felt almost like walking on sand.
Looking around again, the heavy warehouse door was actually less damaged; its back looked like the leg of a sofa that had a bunch of wild kittens living in it.

Wayne didn't have a chance to say much more. He placed the bolt-action rifle beside Inessa and asked, "How long have they been running? Is it too late to catch up now?"

“Don’t pursue them alone. Wait until everyone has rested before considering annihilation.” Inessa pointed to a relatively lighter-colored patch of flesh in the circle around her. “That person’s resurrected corpse is quite powerful. I estimate that his own rank is at least 5 or higher, and he probably has more means of self-defense. Moreover, destroying the node is more important right now, to prevent him from leaving traps.”

Professional matters should be judged by professionals, and Wayne is very receptive to advice in this regard.

He turned and walked out again, opening the warehouse door wider as he went: "I'll go check on everyone's condition first, and ask Brother Merlin and the others to come and take a look as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)