626 Into The Sewer

Meanwhile, Wang Tong and Michaux had led a group of mastery casters and entered the sewer. 

"Michaux, are you the first Divine Master to have used a sewer to enter a city?" Guan Dongyang asked abruptly.

"Why? Are you going to write a book about it?" Michaux asked.

"Maybe…Hehe."

"Make sure you add in your book that I did it with the heir of the Blade Warrior, as well as the fire lord." The field medics couldn't suppress their snickers. Right down here in this sewer were gathered some of the most powerful casters on Mars. 

The war had started to favor the humans, and each battle was the mastery casters' chance to reinstate their importance in the human world.

"I am impressed, Michaux! You can actually tell a joke... Haha! I thought you are the same as that long-face Lie Jian." Tan Bu blurted out.

"You idiot! Don't you know it is an affront to call the Divine Master by name?" Guan Dongyang gave Tan Bu's head a knock.

"Haha, can you write that into the book too? Haha" Tan Bu laughed like an idiot.

"Buzz off!"

Everyone threw banters and jokes at each other in hushed voices while also keeping a tight hold on their soul energy so that the Zergs above them wouldn't detect them. 

The Zergs' attention was all on the invading human force at the city gate. The humans had been increasingly conspicuous in their attacks as their fear toward the dark ones receded.

The dark ones were at a loss once they noticed that the EB units were no longer adequate against powerful human warriors. What had happened?

As the dark ones were turning over the question and trying to improvise a defense plan, the sky turned darker despite being midday.

The EB unit might have worked in a one on one situation. However, when they faced a group of legendary warriors, the EB units were not able to counter their combined might. Plus, the direwolves made the EB unit's task even more difficult to manage.

Once the EB unit failed to contain the human warriors, it was the Zergs' turn to be scared.

The dark ones' flaw was evident: they lacked any sense of strategy. Their defect had given the human warriors opportunity to focus on one or two weak links in the Zerg ranks. 

In the eyes of the dark ones, these invaders were not human at all; they were the punishment the god had sent down on them.

"Sh*t! There are so many of them, my arm is feeling sore!" Lie Jian cursed after each move. He had been at it for a few hours, and fatigue was slowly creeping into his body. Despite their advantage in strength, this battle could not be won by the METAL warriors alone.

Lie Jian was very curious about the forbidden power. What a shame that he had fallen asleep when it was at display last time.

As a METAL warrior, Lie Jian had limited appreciation for the casters. They were too weak in one on one combat, and that was true for Michaux as well. However, if the new spell was really as powerful as people claimed, he might regard the casters in a different light from then on.

Lie Jian's mistake was not his conceit, although he was; instead, it was his shortsightedness. He had observed the mastery in its nascence, and quickly made a conclusion about its power. Little did he knew that this new power would grow to be too powerful to comprehend.

By then, the Zergs' defense was in tatters. Wang Tong didn't even throw all of his best METAL warriors at them, bringing a dozen or so with him down to the sewer. When they finally got to their destination, Wang Tong felt a strange gratefulness toward the Zergs for keeping the entire sewer so clean. They were not that useless after all.

Wang Tong nodded to Tan Bu and Lun Duo, who then launched toward the ceiling of the sewer chamber. 

KOM!

The ground cracked open, releasing a dozen human warriors. The dark ones felt the scene ironically familiar. Surprise attack from underground was the Zergs' most loved battle tactic.

The warriors didn't hesitate for a second and threw themselves at the dark ones as soon as they emerged, leaving the mastery casters behind, who hauled themselves out of the crack one after another.

"Nice day! Let's get ready, bros!" Wang Tong emerged under the sun. 

"Hey boss, you forgot about us girls! Are we...bros as well, or are you calling me a man?" Xiao Lin the nosy medic asked. 

"No time for political correctness, move!" Wang Tong groaned in a good-humored impatience. The mastery casters attacked, summoning a sudden downpour of ice arrows at the Zergs. 

Tan Bu's blade was only one inch away from a dark one when an ice arrow took the dark one's life. "Bullsh*t! I had been at him for a while…You can't steal a kill from me like that!" Tan Bu bristled.

"Oh, yeah? Someone is feeling sad. You want a rematch then?"

"Like I am afraid of you. Yes, it's on!"

The medic whom Tan Bu was bickering with had been unusually close to the young soldier when the two were not competing on the battlefield. Over time, a lot of medics and developed special feelings for METAL warriors.

"Heidi, Lie Jian, we have cleared the area. Come here now."

"Roger that!"

"Balls, can you be any slower?" Lie Jian slapped at a dark one's temple, smashing in his skull as it was in his way. Lie Jian then turned and shouted at his soldiers: "Bug out! NOW!"

Heidi also issued a command to her warriors, "Evacuate the area and head toward the muster point." It was evident that the Kaedeians fought with discipline and honor, unlike their human counterparts. Nonetheless, the same enemies had united them together. 

Thanks to the Kaedeian aviation units, Wang Tong didn't have to worry about the airborne strikes constantly.

Once Lie Jian had given the order, the human warriors spurred their direwolves toward the city. The direwolves could cover a few meters in one leap, and their scales protected them from most of the attacks. Therefore, they charged into the city gate effortlessly. 

Lie Shan trailed behind Lie Jian like he always did in every battle. His duty was to protect the heir of House Lie. He had noticed Lie Jian's effort in exercising constraint while in front of Wang Tong, which was so out of the young lord's character. Although he did not know Wang Tong very well, he marveled at his prowess nonetheless.

In addition, he alone had noticed the occasional flickering guilt in Lie Jian's eyes. He had brought two thousand warriors with him, and now, there were only less than two hundred still alive. It was a hard lesson, and feeling guilty was part of the healing process. Lie Jian was not a psychopath; he had compassion and empathy, and most important of all, desire to make a positive impact on the world. Therefore, he would not back down from his sworn duty to protect humanity and drive out the Zergs.

The first half of his mission had been a complete flop because he had underestimated his enemy's strength; the guilt aside, Lie Jian had learned to be circumspect and careful in future operations.

He was a very competitive warrior, and his instincts would spur him to lash out at even the hardest enemy without a second thought. However, as a commander, he could not rest his soldier's lives on his whims.

Wang Tong, on the other hand, was much more pragmatic and realistic in setting his goals than Lie Jian. This was what made Lie Jian in the thrall of the earthling warrior.

Lie Shan watched Lie Jian grew up. He knew better than anyone that despite his flaws, Lie Jian was fiercely protective of his family. 

Ever since Lie Jian came to terms with his personal flaw and handed over the commanding rights to Wang Tong, he felt relieved. It wasn't the rights of commanding an army that he had forfeited, it was his selfishness, and ultimately, cowardice. 

No one was braver than the man who saved his soldiers' lives.

As Battle Wolf and Kaedeians charged into the city, the Zergs followed suit.

Wang Tong had taken over a structure as a shelter for the soldiers. Although it was not as sturdy as Antonio's Torch, it should do to protect the humans from harm.

"Mastery casters, take your position!" Wang Tong issued a command. 

As the mastery casters got ready, the METAL warriors secured the perimeter and formed an impenetrable line of defense around the casters. In the air, the Kaedeians also formed a defensive formation. Wang Tong was grateful for these female pilots to cover their blind spot above them. He looked up and gave Heidi a thumbs up, who blushed under her visor.

"Who goes first?" Wang Tong asked Michaux and Guan Dongyang.

"I will. Although I am weaker, my fire element can boost the damage significantly." Guan Dongyang volunteered.