"I have signs of life! FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
The shout seemed to stop time as everyone processed the meaning and what would follow after those words. After that instant of stillness, everyone let go of any inhibitions or control and poured their attacks into the tunnels.
The charged fireballs and laser beams. Bathtubs of lava. Grenades. Any and all ways they had come up with that were cheap and effective in setting off an explosion were used against the volatile materials down in the rats' nest.
Everything that had been prepared for phase three was sent into the holes where the rats were about to wake up. Many of the rats had fallen asleep at about the same time and would thus wake up at about the same time.
They had used as much time as possible to guarantee the effectiveness of the extermination. Rather than rushing and doing sloppy work, it would be better to use as much firepower as possible. For that, it was necessary to use every moment to gather and generate as much as they could, even if they had to count the seconds.
The mages who had been personally attacking were drained of all their energy after their efforts and could barely move. Others who had been concentrating on not spilling the lava and setting off a premature explosion while withstanding the heat that easily surpassed what they were used to weren't much better.
The only ones who were still alert and ready to move were the designated saviors who were responsible for bringing everyone out of the danger zone immediately after the attacks were sent down to the rats. They were the only ones who weren't focused on the incoming explosion, but on getting out. They had no idea how massive the explosion would be, but they had been warned time and time again that if they were even a split second too slow they, and the mages they were responsible for would die.
As soon as the command to let loose was given, they charged. While everyone else was fully concentrated on the ensuing eruption, they moved as fast as they could, grabbing hold of their designated targets to be brought out.
The world seemed to have slowed down. The streams of fire entered the holes in the ground, moving through the tunnels, setting rats and explosives on fire, gradually igniting an inferno below ground.
The sound of lightning crackling, hooves beating the ground, and wind storming around, all echoed out in a thunderous cacophony moments before it was all drowned out.
At first, there was no sound. The shockwave had turned the world deaf before anyone could even process what had happened.
Although it was only a single instantaneous shockwave, the explosion didn't end nearly as quickly. As the fire ignited the first materials still close to the surface, a chain reaction started, but the heat expanded, igniting everything else further down so fast it seemed like a single extended explosion.
If the humans had still had their hearing they might have heard a slight irregularity in the booming, but all they could see through their bleeding eyes was the sky being covered by dust and fragmented rats.
Despite having space mages to help them travel almost all the way back to camp, there wasn't only one or two who started bleeding from their orifices as almost everyone had been struck hard by the moving wall of air traveling faster than any of them could have without the space mages.
Hugh and his two twin subordinates had been standing a tiny distance beyond the camp and along with their strength, they managed to escape any injuries but the shockwave had still numbed their hearing, preventing them from listening to the rumbling booms.
Thankfully the explosion itself was somewhat contained to the circular formation the rats were gathered in. The walls that had been blocked off during the second phase also acted to concentrate the blast to expand upward and further downward. Although it still blasted away horizontally in the ground the main force of the blast was enough to create a spout of burning dirt, disintegrated rats, and steam almost reaching the clouds.
Despite there not being any wind, the eruption blasted everything in the circle and ground out with enough force to reach the camp and splatter on the humans taking cover there.
The explosion tore open the ground, leaving no traces of any tunnels or rats anywhere.
The circular indentation had disappeared completely as the shockwave collapsed all the tunnels in the ground for several kilometers, lowering the ground level by a few meters on average.
Steam and fumes were still rising from the hole as molten rock and lava dripped down the edges of the large wound in the earth.
The water that had originally been intended to be used as insurance in addition to lubrication had been redundant. Using explosive heat to instantly turn the water into steam would have both boiled the rats alive and after expanding would have torn open the tunnels and collapsed the tunnel system. But the explosion had rendered the need for boiling the rats alive moot and had completely broken open the ground, creating a pit large enough to fit a mountain.
Needless to say, the explosion was a bit too strong, and the consequences could have been dire if they were a single step too slow when leaving the danger zone. Although no one died, thanks to the hasty retreat, there were several low level mages who would need pretty extensive care and rest before they can participate in phase four.
There would also need to be a serious recalculation and analysis of the plan going forward. It was obviously a bit over the top if they had to risk their lives every time they wanted to exterminate some rats.
With the size of the wasteland and the amount of rats still left it wouldn't be only one or two more explosions either. Their work had just begun, and it could probably take several months before they can be sure the rats are completely gone from the plane.
