Chapter 176: Mole Lair

Chapter 176: Mole Lair

“Did those moles burrow into the ground?”

Shu Yichao scratched his head as he looked at the holes that had appeared on the ground.

Beside him were sand monitors lying with bulging bellies and blissful expressions.

They had been chasing the mole army, only to find them swiftly decreasing before vanishing altogether all of a sudden. So, he traced the final red dot on the mini-map and found the holes they had escaped by.

“This...” Miazova assessed the sizes of the holes. “We can’t enter at all.”

It was not without reason that the moles had survived so many years despite being sandwiched between Great Tang and the Tibetan Empire. The moles only had to lower their backs to enter these holes, but a human would have to crawl on their knees.

And if a human entered on their knees, they would just become easy targets for the moles.

“Should we retreat?” Miazova asked.

Previous attempts from the Tangs to hunt down the moles had also ended similarly.

They had already defeated at least 70,000 of the 100,000 mole soldiers anyway, so it was about time to wrap things up.

“Retreat?” Shu Yichao looked at Miazova in confusion. “We haven’t wiped them out yet. Why should I retreat?”

“How do you intend to enter then?” Miazova pointed at the hole. “None of us can enter this hole, be it humans, terracotta soldiers, or sand monitors.”

“Hahaha!” Shu Yichao burst into laughter. “Have you forgotten that I can summon specters?”

...

Deep in the pit...

“Your Majesty, we’re safe now! We’re safe now...”

The mole king, who had been running in a trance, was finally stopped by one of his aides.

“Ah?” The mole king finally snapped out of his trance.

It was a tragic defeat. An unprecedentedly tragic one.

The mole king had already forgotten how he escaped from the battlefield. The only thing he remembered was how those terrifying sand monitors had leaped into their formations, bared their huge mouths, and swiped their sharp claws.

The moles cried and howled. Squeaks and horrifying crunches filled the battlefield.

“Your Majesty!” The mole king’s aide couldn’t hide his sorrow. “I did a quick tally of the soldiers who returned with us... There are only hundreds of us left. As for the others...”

It wept silently.

“...we don’t know where they are.”

“...” The mole king felt a violent squeeze in his heart.

He knew what ‘we don’t know where they are’ meant—it was safe to say that they were dead. This was a wipeout. A wipeout!

“...” Seconds of silence later, the mole king finally spoke up. His wild ambitions were gone with the wind, and the only thing he wanted now was to return to the dark underground world. “Now I know why the elders were opposed to the war.”

Their 100,000 troops were wiped out in a single day.

These skull-faced specters suddenly lunged at the moles.

“GHOSTS!!!”

“RUN!!!”

The moles frantically fled, but there was nowhere for them to escape to in the narrow tunnels. They felt cold winds on their back as the specters drifted up to them like wisps of smoke.

“Die!”

“Go to hell!”

The desperate moles swung their weapons at the specters, but they felt no resistance against their blades as if they were slashing clouds. Their attacks only distorted the specters’ faces, but they didn’t seem to deal any damage.

The specters wrapped their hands around the moles’ necks, forcing the moles to open their mouths while whimpering in agony. Then, they dove into the moles’ bodies and started tearing them apart from within.

Witnessing the comrades whom they had just escaped from a terrible battlefield with being sliced apart by ghostly hands drove the remaining moles to the brink of insanity.

With ferocious howls, the moles desperately swung their weapons as if it would drive out their fears, but it was futile.

Jip jip, jip jip!

Seeing several specters rushing at him at the same time, the mole king was so terrified that he forgot to even beg for mercy. The moment he opened his mouth, the specters dove inside him. His eyes widened as his chest and stomach started inflating...

Psh!

Soon, all the moles dropped dead. There were no survivors.

More translucent, skull-faced specters emerged from the fallen moles, and they snickered creepily as they ventured deeper into the tunnels.

...

“Are there that many moles inside the tunnels?”

Shu Yichao could only remotely command the specters as he couldn’t enter the tunnels. Soon, he spotted more red dots appearing on the mini map.

“It looks like I have gotten into their den. Let’s eradicate all of them. The tunnels are like a labyrinth; I should properly explore the map.”

【Oh my! My host, you caught my drift!】

System 12345 was overjoyed to see Shu Yichao at the foot of Tianshan.

It was afraid that Shu Yichao would continue heading southeast, which would result in him missing Weryomahners. Luckily, its host had changed directions and was steadily progressing toward her.

【Hu! My host, you mustn’t let her escape this time!】

System 12345 released the reward.

【If you bump into her, bind her with the Soulseal Chains right away. It’ll be much easier to deal with her once she can’t use her spells...】

【Eh? Why did Weryomahners run into the Mole Tribe’s lair? Tsk! That cunning woman!】

System 12345 clicked its tongue.