614 Into The Sewer

"Although we have fewer numbers, our mobility has improved because of that. Plus, we still have enough men to destroy Zerg cities." Michaux said.

"However, if we want to really change the situation, we will have to go meet the dark lord himself."

"I agree! We paid a steep price to get so close to Moye…We can't leave without making him feel pain. Moye's castle might be too much for us to take on right now, but we can make him feel annoyed at least by harassing the surrounding cities." Lie Jian grinned. He still had many tricks up his sleeve to use on the Zergs.

"What's your plan?"

"Hehe, let's take one city at a time. The first target could be Antonio. I know that city well…spent a lot of time there while I was...you know...getting around. I wonder how many of my girlfriends are still alive in there."

"Sounds good! Let's go after Antonio then." Michaux smiled. He did not mind the harsh military life, since his life in the tower did not boast comfort either. Unlike the public's imagination of a carefree life at the top of the ivory tower, Michaux's life consisted of only one thing: ascetic cultivation.

Anyway, despite his deep understanding of the Divine Path, he lacked the skills as a commander, in which Lie Jian excelled.

The two were almost a match made in heaven.

"We need to give the Zergs a surprise this time. Antonio has a complex sewer system, and I think we should use that to our advantage." It was needless to say that the dark ones would not sit around and let the human soldiers attack them unprepared. Therefore, it was essential for Li Jian and Michaux to use wits and gain the element of surprise. 

In the night, Antonio City glowed under the starlit city. The defenders had left the city before the Zergs had arrived; therefore, the city had never seen war. Not only was the human city well preserved, but the Zergs also had added a lot of their own modifications, particularly around the downtown area, where the dark ones lived. Due to the smaller population of the dark ones, only a small portion of the downtown had been converted into Zerg style. The rest of the primitive Zergs lived at the outskirts of the city. Right now, even those areas were empty, since most Zergs were fighting at the front line. 

Lie Jian and his men entered the sewer system. They were surprised to find out that it was cleaner than it was during the human occupancy. A few level twenty warriors moved in dead silence in the sewer; they were trained in the arts of sneaking around unnoticed among Zergs.

Lie Jian had been down here before, not alone of course, since he was always accompanied by his girlfriends. One of them was even a popular singer at the time. 

"Get the bomb ready. We have ten minutes."

"Yes!"

While two soldiers were busy installing the explosives, the Zergs had detected the commotion and were on the move. However, they had not been able to pinpoint the human soldiers' exact location.

The dark ones would never come down into the sewers; those were the dirty jobs for the primitive Zergs. Luckily for the human soldiers, there weren't a lot of primitive Zergs in the city.

As soon as the explosives were installed, they pulled out of the sewer. The explosion would be the signal for the main force to attack when the city fell into chaos.

When the warriors returned from the sewer, Lie Jian noticed something was amiss the way the Zergs moved about in the city, and so did Michaux. Since they didn't have enough evidence to prove that they should ditch the plan, they brushed the thought off and carried out the attack. 

However, ever since the two returned from the sewer, the nagging sensation became even stronger.

"Something is not right."

"Captain, something has gone wrong with the bomb. The first one should have detonated by now." A soldier announced.

"Pull back!" Lie Jain ordered firmly. Everything had been too easy; it was as if the Zergs had let them come into the city intentionally.

KOM!

At that moment, the ground broke apart as heaps of Zergs crawled out from the crevasses. Meanwhile, the sky was suddenly awash with dark ones; they were all charging toward the small group of human soldiers.

A large golden dark one was at the front of the flying formation. "Haha! I had been expecting Wang Tong, but it turns out to be Lie Jian. How disappointing! You think you can just come to my city, set some bombs up, and leave? "

There were a kind of zergs that were bred for sweeping bombs. They would swallow the bomb once they found it and denote in their incredibly sturdy belly.

This was a trap!

The dark lord had given the order to all the city lords to kill any human intruders on sight.

"Remember not to break their heads. Dark Lord wanted to suck on their brains. Haha!" The leader of the dark ones laughed.

It wasn't the first time that Michaux and Lie Jian had walked into a Zerg's trap, so they ordered the emergency retreat with aplomb. Their plan looked good on the paper, but it had overlooked one important fact that the Zergs were already on high alert after so many raids. By then, it was impossible to repeat surprise tactics. That was the exact reason why Wang Tong had started to attack the cities openly. The element of surprise was no longer with the human soldiers, but Battle Wolf was able to make up for it with their mobility and strength.

Lie Jian and his men were ill-prepared for such turn of events, so they were quickly surrounded by enemies. The METAL soldiers formed a line of defense in front of the casters as the latter prepared spells.

The fighting was brutal as the Zergs were determined to kill all of these intruders.

The dark ones were not stupid, and even if they were, the dark lord had made sure only the smart ones ran the city. After the few defeats, the dark lord had executed all dark ones whom he thought were unfit for their role, and promoted a number of more competent minions. He had promised heavy rewards for whoever was able to kill the leaders of these human insurgences.

After taking a long hard look at the dark ones as a whole, Moye realized that he needed to help his race bring out their potential. Executions were not his first choice, but it was effective in spurring the dark ones to think harder and use more wits. Moye was sure that mother supreme would be happy when the dark ones were able to step up their intelligence. 

Moye was always under the impression that the mother supreme favored dark ones since only the dark ones were a hundred percent Zergs. There were too many variables in the power of an immortal: the host, the parasite, and the environment. Anything could go wrong.

Although Moye conceded that the dark ones seemed to fell short compared to the immortals at the current stage, he was confident that the dark ones would prevail in the long run.

Lie Jian and his soldiers retreated toward some cover as they tried to defend against the attacks. Thanks to Michaux's powerful counterattack, the dark ones had not yet had an opportunity to unleash a sudden downpour of bone shards on the human soldiers.

Their escape route had already been cut off, and the only way that was open to them was forward and into the city. Lie Jian didn't hesitate as he ordered the soldiers to rush into the city and find shelter.

These soldiers were not only elite warriors, but also survivors; they possessed both mettle and wits. After a few minutes, they had successfully entered the city and found protections under large buildings. 

The Zerg Lord B-Jiezhe was furious at the development. He had been certain that they could kill all the humans outside the city wall. However, he had forgotten one person: Michaux, the most powerful human caster.

Michaux cast a large aerial spell: the Flame Light, which was meant to disorient enemies in a large area, and it worked wonderfully.

Once the spell was complete, it summoned a blinding light that shone more intensely than the sun. The light and the noise startled the attackers and broke their formation. When they gathered themselves again, the human soldiers were already retreating into the city, hiding under covers.

Suddenly, the Zergs' advantage in the open field was gone, and the battle turned into a street fight in which the power of each individual trumped the advantage in numbers.

Michaux and Lie Jian pulled their troops into a sturdy and large structure, while the Zergs quickly surrounded the building, trapping them inside. 

B-Jiezhe was pleased by the development. He could almost see the change in his rank from B to A. He had mobilized all Zergs in the city to surround the humans on the ground, in the air, and even under the earth.

Wave after waves of Zergs threw themselves at the building, but they were pushed back by the resistance of the soldiers. The mastery casters rained deadly ice storm onto the mass of Zergs and managed to somewhat thin the Zergs' ranks.

These casters were particularly precious for the sect, since only a very few Martians could master the ice element. Michaux conceded that it would be a pity for them to die here.