Chapter 478, Section 477: The War of the Internet
Although the first exploration team failed, once Ern mobilized the people in the two demon camps, the underground situation was quickly roughly understood, and the existence of Puji was discovered.
"Pfft?" Vesalius leaned back in his chair and asked, "Are you sure it's those mushrooms?"
“It’s absolutely true, Your Highness.” Ern knelt on one knee. “They’re digging tunnels deep beneath the battlefield, stealing corpses and breaking them down into magic and nutrients. I suspect…”
"Are you worried that someone is manipulating things behind the scenes?"
"Your Excellency is wise."
"It's not hard to guess that you know about the Puji Master in Golden Valley City, but..."
He suddenly raised his hand, and a line of blood shot out from between his fingers. He pulled out a secret report from the scroll rack behind him and it floated lightly to Ern's feet.
"You probably don't know the details of the Battle of Dragonroar Valley. Take a look, this is an explanation sent by Sigismund."
Ern unfolded the parchment scroll, his gaze quickly sweeping over its contents, his expression turning strange: "These pugs... are they really that powerful?"
Unstoppable, employing numerous methods, and unafraid of death, the beginning was alright, until the very end, when no matter how much you cut it down, it was impossible to kill, and it could blow up the entire canyon in one blow...
Ern's first reaction upon seeing this intelligence was disbelief!
“To be honest, I’m also skeptical.” Vesalius, controlling the blood, put the scroll away, intending to take it to His Majesty for verification later. “The level of threat posed by the Puji described by Sigismund is vastly different from that of the Puji in Golden Valley City. Is there something truly strange about these mushrooms, or is someone just making excuses for their crushing defeat…”
Ern looked up: "My lord, whether it's true or false, we'll find out soon enough!"
Vesalius nodded: "Yes, that's what I was thinking too. I'll leave the matter to you, but don't underestimate them. I don't want to see any more surprises now."
"yes!"
...
Ern soon experienced firsthand the true meaning of the phrase in the battle report: "uninterrupted supply, numerous methods, and no fear of death."
He never imagined that he would end up distributing poison resistance potions to goblins, these cannon fodder, for a single day, and in such a luxurious way, three bottles per goblin.
Unfortunately, after several rounds of intense conflict, the entire underground network tunnel was completely filled with deadly hallucinogenic spores.
Even the dug-out holes were constantly emitting purple poisonous mist. If no medicine was distributed, these goblins would just be throwing their lives away if they went down there.
Along with the goblins, a small number of magical pets and twenty elite vampires also entered the underground.
Ern repeatedly instructed these vampire commanders that if the battle turned unfavorable, they should immediately use the goblins as cover to evacuate.
However, the situation was far worse than expected.
Of the twenty vampire elites who entered, only six survived, and the accompanying goblins were almost all killed or wounded.
According to their description, goblins are no match for Puji.
In the early stages of the engagement, the casualty ratio could be maintained at one for two or three.
But as the battle continued, faced with heavy casualties and an unknown number of goblins left, the already timid goblins easily lost their morale, and even the vampires' execution of deserters on the spot was powerless to reverse the situation.
Without the assistance of cannon fodder, the safety of the vampires themselves becomes a problem.
The narrow terrain forces them to maintain their bat form, and apart from [Blood Manipulation], they cannot use many other abilities, greatly reducing their combat power.
Puji will also emerge from the side passages, attempting to block the way back, or even self-destruct.
Those who failed to assess the situation immediately and retreat in time were all left inside.
After suffering heavy losses and achieving little in the first round of attacks, Ern immediately changed his strategy.
He recalled the information in the Sigismund battle report that the creep feared non-magical flames.
After sending a small team to risk verifying the intelligence, Ern immediately mobilized all the oil in the military camp and even specially requested the prince to urgently allocate a batch from the rear supplies.
Large amounts of kerosene were poured into the underground tunnel, and with a command given, raging flames instantly engulfed the entrance.
Thick columns of black smoke shot into the sky from each of the cave entrances, alarming even the garrison of Sanshan City, who remained on high alert for half a day.
When the oil finally ran out, Ern sent people down to check and discovered that the terrain of the passage below had been dug up and changed again at some point.
All the kerosene leaked into the specially prepared pit, what a waste!
However, the thick smoke from the fire unexpectedly replaced the toxic spores that had filled the passageway, temporarily clearing away the underground air pollution.
However, things haven't improved much. Now, to enter the underground network tunnels, soldiers must rely on mages to cast a "breathing spell" on them.
What angered Ern even more was that the reconnaissance teams he sent out later were attacked by Puji in retaliation.
Although the losses were not significant, this clearly meant that his fire attack strategy had been completely ineffective.
It was clearly unrealistic to mobilize a large number of troops to completely wipe out these underground cultists; the army's primary objective was always to capture Sanshan City.
If too much energy is spent underground, it will play right into the hands of humankind.
Since it was difficult to eradicate, Ern had no choice but to switch to a defensive strategy, focusing all his efforts on destroying these underground passages near the demon camp.
He personally led his mage army, using "Great Earthquake" to collapse shallow passages, "Mud Swamp" to flood key nodes, and "Fossils Turned to Sand" to dismantle the reinforced cave walls.
Meanwhile, a large number of simple yet effective sensing arrays were set up around the camp. As soon as any attempt by Puji to dig was detected, it would be immediately eliminated.
To be honest, Ern has only encountered combat power at the level of Golden Valley City so far, and he already finds it very troublesome.
He sincerely hoped that Sigismund's battle report was indeed an exaggeration to shirk responsibility; otherwise, he couldn't even imagine how much trouble it would cause later.
Fortunately, after he destroyed all the passages close to the surface, Puji seemed to finally give up.
Although they are still stealing corpses from the battlefield, at least they are no longer active near the demon camp.
However, what he didn't know was...
Deep underground, several fat, burrowing Puji are gestating, and they've even brought in a few digital Puji to make cameo appearances.
Lin Jun didn't expect these little guys to make a big contribution in this extraordinary battle; the main reason was to bring them out to see the world in this rare, grand spectacle.
To avoid being chased and eaten by Little Black every day, my combat ability hasn't improved much, and I've only spent learning how to play hide-and-seek.
Upon hearing that the Mushroom Lord needed them, the Mushroom Clan members were all extremely excited, wishing they could rush out right now to fight alongside the Mushroom Lord!
Especially Number One and Number Two, although neither of them said anything, both of them were holding back their energy, looking like they wanted to have a showdown.
...
On the ground, the demons continued their fierce attack on the second city wall of Sanshan City.
The Sword Saint, who had almost recovered, did not join the defense.
He and the archbishop were both waiting, waiting for an opportunity.
According to the original plan, they would leave a loophole when the second wall was half breached to lure Vesalius.
However, the appearance of the Pink Puji team brought this opportunity forward! (A bit choppy today, three updates tomorrow)
(End of this chapter)
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