Fairy Tail: You said you were just acting, are you serious

"What's going on? Why isn't it moving...!"

The three people behind him frowned, peeked out, and their eyes widened instantly.

The three people behind them saw the same thing and all gasped in shock.

They could smell the mineral-smelling stench of the scaled rats' mouths, as well as the stench of their urine.

The lead miner looked at those pairs of vertical pupils, and a chill ran down his spine, his mouth trembling uncontrollably.

"Quick, turn around! Run!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the miners turned around, did a 180-degree turn, and retreated along the original path.

They retreated around the corner and scrambled away as fast as they could.

Squeak squeak squeak~!

A series of tremors came from the ground, and the scaly rats rushed out of the abyss.

The lead scaled rat rushed to the corner, turned sideways and crashed into the rock wall, but still kept chasing after the miners at a brisk pace.

The other scaled rats followed suit when they reached the corner, catching up with the lead scaled rat and chasing after the five miners.

The miners glanced back at the swarm of scaled rats charging towards them, and were so frightened that they didn't even have time to pick up their fallen safety helmets.

"Stop carrying those sacks! Aim for their feet and throw them to slow them down!"

Upon hearing the miners say this, they quickly threw all the sacks they were carrying at them, trying to hinder their progress.

Unfortunately, the scaled rats were not tripped up by the magic crystals in the sacks. The lead scaled rat dodged the sacks, walked on four legs, maintained a steady pace, and kept its eyes fixed on the miners.

Some of the scaled rats even tore the sacks open with their teeth and threw them away, letting the magic crystal ore fall to the ground, without slowing down their pursuit.

"Why won't they stop!"

As the miners watched the swarm of scaled rats gradually close the distance, cold sweat poured down their foreheads.

Even though the miners ran as fast as they could, they couldn't shake them off.

Although the scaled rats are slow-witted, they have developed hard claws from living in the mines for many years, allowing them to walk on the rugged rock walls with ease.

As the scaly rats continued their charge, the distance between them had long since shrunk to only ten steps.

Just then, six white grasshoppers flew over the miner's head and leaped toward the leading group of scaled rats.

"drink!"

The six white grasshoppers jumped onto the heads of the first three scaled rats, and just as they were about to touch the rats' eyebrows, they all emitted a dazzling white light.

Boom!

The violent explosions overlapped at the same moment, and the faces of the first three scaled rats were blown to pieces, with their charred flesh emitting a burnt smell.

The three running bodies suddenly froze, their charred and smoking heads falling to the ground.

The three broken bodies lying on the ground tripped up many of the scaled rats that were chasing after them, slowing them down.

The cold sweat on the foreheads of the five miners was instantly dried by the sound of the clay bomb, and their faces showed expressions of shock.

"Keep running, don't stop!"

They turned around and looked in the direction the sound came from, and saw a figure dressed in a red cloud-patterned black robe, who looked like a strange child.

Ron frowned slightly, the veins on both sides of his temples were bulging, and two small white birds were perched on his shoulders.

Upon seeing the large group of scaled rats appear, he focused on manipulating the clay animals.

He no longer used verbal tics when shouting at the miners.

The clay grasshoppers and spiders continued to swarm toward the scaled rats behind the miners, each finding their target and unleashing the last glimmer of their lives.

As explosions resounded, the tunnel continued to shake.

Seeing that the rocks above were still falling and that the number of scaled rats had not decreased, Ron stopped throwing out clay.

He then waved his arm vigorously at the miners, signaling them to follow.

"Hurry up and catch up with me before they catch up!"

After saying that, the little birds on Ron's shoulder took flight, and he himself ran towards the entrance.

Ron followed the birds to find his way and ran off.

The miners nodded in agreement, their hopes rekindled, and they continued running forward with all their might, following in Ron's footsteps.

As Ron ran, his hands were still in his pockets, frantically channeling magic into him and quickly conjuring one round spider after another.

He temporarily stopped activating the spheres and continued to accumulate them in the bag until the first bag of magic clay was used up.

Squeak squeak squeak~!

Ron looked back and saw that the scaly rats were still hot on their heels, clearly determined to catch them.

Ron slowly started the clay spiders, moving them one by one towards the lead scaled rat, just to slow them down until the miners escaped safely.

After running for a while, Ron finally reached the cross tunnel where he separated from Laxus.

After the miners had all escaped from the side tunnel, he quickly warned them.

"You should move away from the cave entrance now!"

Immediately afterwards, Ron waved his hands, releasing all the clay spiders.

The clay spiders stretched out their eight legs in mid-air, forming a horizontal line before landing safely.

Instead of heading straight for the scaled rats, they dispersed and formed a circle around the outline of the burrow entrance.

Squeak squeak squeak!!

The scaled rats continued to move forward, their intelligence not yet sufficient to make them realize what was about to happen.

Just as the scaled rats were only a dozen steps away from them, Ron quickly formed hand seals.

Once everything was ready, he finally felt at ease and unconsciously smiled.

Goodbye, drink!

At the same time, the spiders on the cave entrance revealed mini magic circles. The circles of white light magic circles strung together on the cave entrance to form a bright white halo, instantly overshadowing the blue light that emanated from the cave entrance.

Boom! ...

The fragile load-bearing rock layer at the tunnel entrance collapsed instantly, and the entire tunnel floor exploded, causing the largest tremor in history.

The ground where Ron and the miners were standing was shaking continuously, and the sound waves kept hitting their faces. Huge rocks next to the cave entrance gradually fell down and kept hitting the ground.

boom!

As the massive rocks continued to fall, the squeaking of the scaled rats gradually subsided, and a stone wall eventually formed at the entrance of the side tunnel.

Until the last rock fell, the sounds of the tunnels ceased to be heard, and the side tunnel entrances were completely sealed off.

The stone wall continued to tremble, and the rain of falling rocks continued unabated, relentlessly attacking the scaly rats, whose screams echoed through the air.

Ron breathed a sigh of relief and turned to face the miners, reverting to his usual verbal tic.

"The tunnel is now sealed off, you are safe now, um."