Let go of that monster girl!

Molen gave a wry smile, gripped his sword with both hands, and assumed a starting stance.

"Miss Rose, I still prefer how you look in the flower field."

The fungal knight did not respond, but a terrifying growl burst from its hoarse throat as it slashed down with its greatsword!

Its speed is far beyond that of ordinary fungal corpses; it is swift and fierce!

Sword skills are gone, leaving only brute force and speed, but the sharpness of the rune greatsword itself remains undiminished.

The sword, carrying scorching wind pressure, swept past Morren and slammed into the ground, carving a trench without resistance. The sword's momentum was swift, then it turned into a horizontal slash.

Moren dodged to the side and swung his sword at the fungal corpse's right shoulder.

The blade struck the plate armor with a dull thud. The runic armor was much harder than ordinary plate armor, leaving not even a mark.

Unaware of what was happening, the fungal knight advanced and swept his greatsword, which whistled through the air as it hurtled toward Morren's waist.

Morren bent down, his sword grazing the armor plate, slicing it almost in two like butter.

He shifted to the side, and without his left arm, his left side was a complete blind spot. Moren aimed at the gap at the joint of the plate armor and thrust out his sword with all his might.

The sword tip pierced the hinge gap of the shoulder joint, and the withered tendon shattered instantly.

The Corpse Knight's right arm jerked violently. The greatsword was still firmly bound to his hand with the cloth straps, but his entire arm had completely lost control.

Moren gave it no chance to breathe, turning his sword to the side and slamming the blade into the fungal corpse's breastplate.

The enormous impact propelled the weightless, withered body backward.

The fungal corpse staggered, its shoulder wound sprouting new hyphae, and tried to raise its weapon again.

But Morren stepped forward, gripped his sword with both hands, and slashed with all his might from right to left!

The blade cut along the edge of the neck armor, slicing into the withered neck, all the way to the bottom!

The head rolled to the ground, and the body inside the plate armor swayed twice. Then it collapsed with a thud.

The red and green flames engulfed the remains of the fungal corpse, leaving only a charred mess.

The nauseating smell of burning flesh and fungus filled the air, causing the nearest few rat girls to gag.

The lemming guards had already dispersed, chopping up the remaining fragments of the fungal corpses that had not yet completely lost their mobility, and burning them to ashes.

The militia rats, still shaken, leaned on their spears, panting heavily, their short legs trembling uncontrollably.

Morren crouched down and picked up the rune greatsword from the ground.

The rat girl's greatsword was just a longsword to humans. He carefully wiped the mycelium and ash off the blade, and the runes remained bright.

As the excitement of facing life and death faded, the militia rats began to cry.

Morren stood up, sheathed his rune sword, and raised his arm.

"Those aren't them, they're just monsters possessing corpses."

"go ahead!"

Moren led the way into the streets of Flower Town, leading the lemmings as they kicked open the doors of buildings along the way.

He would kick open each door and rush in to sweep around, slashing at any stray fungal corpses he encountered with his sword.

He then chopped the last few fungal corpses into pieces in a fit of rage and burned them to ashes.

Finally, it was safe. Only a few pale myceliums remained hanging on the corners of walls and eaves. The militia rats all wore expressions of relief.

"We won, we really won?"

"Of course we won! Look, those monsters are all burned to ashes!"

"I was so scared just now, I almost fainted."

"Me too, my legs are still shaking."

The giant cargo rat slowly trudged along the streets of Flower Town, dragging its flamethrower along its chubby paws.

The rat girls, still shaken, followed behind the giant rat, their round eyes fixed on the buildings on either side.

Lyme lay on the copper pot behind the giant rat, and when Morren walked to the jet train, she obediently leaned out and let Morren gently stroke her head.

Molen looked at the desolate scene around him and explained:

"Advanced fungal beasts cannot survive on the outskirts of the woodland, and chimeras will not approach the fungal woodland. The town is currently safe."

Lem blinked, seemingly understanding, then closed his eyes to enjoy the warmth of his palm.

Just as Morren was preparing to choose a safe place to set up camp and arrange the logging work for tomorrow, a militia rat came running from the end of the street with a shout. The rat fell flat on its face with a thud, and the things it was carrying scattered all over the ground.

"Your Excellency! Look at this squeak!"

It was full of sparkling gems and gold coins.

?

Chapter 15 We're Going to Get Rich!

Wow, there's even a scene of looting civilian homes.

Molen never imagined that he would live a life of doing good deeds.

The first time I experienced the thrill of searching, attacking, and dismantling was actually on my own territory.

When making the plan, he was so focused on figuring out the safest way to approach the fungal forest that he didn't even notice that Flower Town, abandoned so hastily, was itself a treasure-bearing ruin.

With a wave of his hand, he immediately gave the order:

"Don't just stand there, go door to door and search everything. Bring out everything you can carry, and dismantle and move anything you can't carry."

"Also, after searching the wooden houses, just knock them down, collect all the timber, and transport it back to the hill!"

The rat girls cheered, and the bandits rushed into the city, squeaking and charging towards the streets and alleys in all directions. Demolishing houses was much more rewarding than killing fungal corpses.

Moren personally carried the rune sword to the front of the first row of wooden houses, aimed at the central pillar, and swung the sword, severing it with a single blow.

A dozen or so militia rats immediately tied ropes to the roof beams, lined up in several rows, and pulled backwards while chanting slogans.

"One, two! One, two! One, two!"

The entire wooden house collapsed with a roar, raising clouds of dust. The rat girls chattered and scrambled to rummage through the ruins for any good stuff.

The square was soon piled high with chairs, tables, beds, cabinets, copper pots, iron kettles, pottery jars, wooden buckets, curtains, fabrics, pillows, quilts, and all sorts of miscellaneous and useless loot.

The mouse girls carried dressing mirrors taller than themselves, stacks of dusty books on their heads, and one mouse even dug out three whole boxes of berry wine from the cellar, which were so well sealed that they hadn't even soured yet.

"This bronze candlestick is so beautiful, can I keep it?"

"No, it has to be the public account, the Baron said it has to be all paid for by the public account."

"Reward according to quantity, let's go search for more."

Row after row of buildings collapsed with a roar thanks to the combined efforts of the Rat Girls.

They hauled various construction debris in groups of three or five, laughing and joking as they carried intact door panels, pulling nails from the dismantled planks and carefully putting them into jars.

What should I do? It seems to be relieving some stress.

Molen now understands those bottle-smashing stress-relief shops a bit better.

However, Morren certainly didn't forget the important task of chopping wood. He dispatched a considerable number of militia rats to the edge of Flower Town, near the Fungal Forest.

They brandished short swords and small axes, chopping down the tall, tree-like mushrooms.

The entire ground was covered with white mycelium, and tall, colorful mushrooms, like giant trees, blocked out the space overhead. The mushroom caps were layered and intertwined to form a bizarre dome.

Fluorescent purple and blue mushrooms dot the landscape, illuminating the interior of the woodland in a dreamlike way, with a faint blue light flowing between the mycelium.

Deeper into the darkness, one could faintly hear rustling sounds of something moving.

Molen pointed out in advance the brownish-yellow wood mushrooms that were neither poisonous nor parasitic, instructing the mouse girls to only cut down these types. However, the mouse girls still obediently put on the gas masks they had borrowed from the cat girl.

Whenever the rats swung their little axes at the mushroom stem, brownish-gray spores would fall like snow from the huge cap, quickly covering the logging rats in brown.

The mice shook their ears, trying to shake off the powder, but the more they shook, the more powder appeared.

"These spores are so annoying, they're all over my hair."

"We want to search for things too, they're all picking up treasures."

"Then hurry up and get to work. Go after you're done chopping."

The lemming guards didn't participate in the lively demolition of houses and logging. They gripped their weapons tightly, their expressions tense as they stared intently into the deeper, glowing blue light, always on guard against any fungal beasts that might appear.

"Hehehe, an oriental ceramic jar, good stuff, meow."

Jimmy sat grinning atop the towering mountain of garbage in the square, while the cat-and-mouse caravan's crew busily counted and sorted their spoils below.

She held a thick ledger in her hands, moistening her pen on the cat's tongue as she recorded each entry.

Baron Morren issued an order that all spoils of war must be recorded in the public accounts and not put into personal pockets. However, all the rats who found something were rewarded according to the amount found, so the rats were quite enthusiastic. The catgirl and the lemmings were also quite enthusiastic, and the garbage mountain was piling up higher and higher.

"The cat is going to make a fortune; this trip was definitely worthwhile."

"Your Excellency, look! Knight's Castle!"

A militia rat came running from the end of the street, excitedly pointing to a building that was completely different from the surrounding wooden houses.

The sturdy stone walls stand out prominently among the ruins, revealing that it was once a two-story stone castle.

However, the ground floor, which was originally used as a public hall and warehouse, was completely opened up, the walls were demolished and replaced with arched columns, the ground was paved with smooth stone bricks, and paths extended into the surrounding withered garden.

Even first-time visitors can easily see that this is a public bathhouse with a very elaborate design.

In the center is a large bathhouse paved with marble tiles, while the four corners of the garden are small hot spring pools separated by low walls.

The hedges in the open garden had long since withered, and the half-body of the knight rat statue could be seen directly in the middle.

All the pools were dry, and the bottoms were covered with a thick layer of dust and fallen leaves.

"A hot spring."

Lyme leaned on the stone railing at the entrance to the hot spring, tilting his head to look down, only to see a pool of withered branches and dust.

A female mouse stood at the bottom of the pool and patted the dry pool wall.

She was clearly a local rat from Flower Town, and with a rather pretentious air, she put her hands on her hips and shook a finger.

"If no one boils water, of course there won't be any hot springs."

"Huh?" Lem blinked.

"Those hot springs that heat up on their own are just from novels, or the owners pretend to have magic. They're all deceptive advertisements. All hot springs have rats heating the water."

The mouse girl put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

"I used to be a junior supervisor here, so I know exactly how to fool outsiders."

As she spoke, she cleared her throat, bowed respectfully as she had done back then, and gestured for them to proceed.

"Welcome to Miss Rose's magical self-heating bath, esteemed guest mouse! Please enjoy the warm blessings bestowed upon you by nature!"

A wicked smile appeared on Morren's face. He wasn't in a hurry to dig out the former knight's secret stash.

He rubbed his hands together and looked at the rat girl.

"Do you know how to unclog the hot spring?"

The mouse girl patted her chest, confident and assured.

"Leave it to us!"

Chapter 16 Return to the hot spring!

The former foreman, Rat Girl, pushed open the heavy wooden door to the kitchen, and a cloud of dust that had accumulated for who knows how long rushed out.

The choking made her sneeze several times, and her round, mouse-like ears twitched incessantly.

Cleaning up the hot springs wasn't a major project.

The foreman mouse turned on the iron valve of the water gate, making a squeaking sound.

The water of the Cheese River gurgled along the stone-lined underground channel.

The thick layer of grime at the bottom of the pool was washed away clean with a swish, swish, swish.

Several mouse girls stood by the flowing water pool, using long forks they had picked up to spear out the debris.