Helping each other with countless me.

Chapter 558 Tunnel War

Karenina seemed to have been freed from heavy shackles.

After confirming the passing of Wild Grass Brother and accepting Li Zhongren as a completely new presence, her personality seemed to subtly change.

No longer the submissive, dim-eyed witch, she was like a bird finally freed from its cage, filled with endless curiosity about Li Zhongren and the bizarre "past life" world he spoke of.

In a moment of carelessness, Li Zhongren inadvertently revealed that he was a time traveler.

Of course, times have changed, and in his view, there is no need to keep the secret of time traveler status so closely, so he will not flaunt it.

But since I've already brought it up, I might as well say it, just as a way to relieve my stress.

"Li, is that 'car' you're talking about really faster than the fastest warhorse without being pulled by horses?"

"Yes, it's powered by something called gasoline."

"What about the 'cell phone'? It can hear the other person talking even from thousands of miles away? And... and even see their face?"

"Pretty much, transmitting information through something called electromagnetic waves."

"Wow...isn't that even more amazing than the most powerful communication magic? Doesn't your world...have magic?"

"We don't have magic, but we have another power called 'science.' It allows us to fly into the sky, dive into the deep sea, and even... step onto the moon."

"The moon?! You mean that silver disc in the sky? You can go up there? You're lying! Doesn't the moon goddess live up there?"

"Heh, at least in my world, no gods live up there, only desolate stones and dust..."

Such conversations often took place deep within the dry, warm caves, amidst the clanging sounds of soldiers digging new tunnels.

Karenina's eyes sparkled, as if filled with stars.

Li Zhongren found that he did not dislike this kind of venting.

In this strange world where power reigns supreme, talking about that distant, technologically advanced homeland has become a strange form of solace.

His goal of becoming stronger has always been pure and simple: to live freely.

To be free from oppression, enslavement, and becoming a pawn on someone else's chessboard.
In times of chaos, freedom must be defended with the strongest force.

Therefore, he never indulged in this fleeting warmth.

His time management was like that of the most sophisticated war machine.

During the day, he led elite warriors with 100% loyalty and over 15 attribute points in high-intensity training.

Using a micro-management approach from a wartime perspective, he incorporated the special operations and guerrilla tactics he had seen in his previous life, training them in coordination, infiltration, and ambush capabilities in complex terrain.

Karenina used her precise control over flames to reinforce key points, melt specific rocks to widen passages, and even create hidden "fire traps" during the excavation process—she could spew out high-temperature air currents or scorching flames from specific locations with just a thought.

At night, he was like a tireless engineer, designing and directing the excavation of a vast, complex, and three-dimensional underground network from a wartime "God mode" perspective, with the huge main cave where they were hiding as the core.

The passageways are narrow and winding, with numerous forks like a maze, and are also equipped with a large number of trapdoors, rockfall mechanisms, and "suffocation zones" created using the unique humidity of the misty forest.

His goal was clear: to transform the underground of this misty forest into a vast hunting ground exclusively for him! A death labyrinth capable of devouring any invading enemy!
He's going to play a tunnel warfare game in another world!

Surround the place to call for help!

And that "point" is himself!
He knew the temperament of the third prince, Keynes, very well.

Rolling Stone City was destroyed, Chekhov was killed, and if the mercenaries with huge bounties were to suffer further defeats... The successive losses and humiliations were enough to make the proud and irritable prince lose his mind and recklessly devote more resources to trying to crush this "annoying bug".

Every pursuer who steps into this fog and enters this cavern will become nourishment for him and his team to grow—experience points, attribute points, and new skills!
Three weeks later.

A small team of seven moved like ghosts along the edge of the misty forest.

They were well-equipped, moved silently and efficiently, had eyes as sharp as eagles, and emanated faint energy fluctuations.

This is none other than "Shadow Daggers," one of the most elite hunting squads under the renowned mercenary organization "Shadowfang."

Captain Barton, nicknamed "Rock," is as burly as a bear and carries a massive tower shield engraved with runes, making him an impenetrable bulwark for the team.

Vice-captain "Silver Fox" Alice is agile and a master of stealth, traps, and poisons.

"Flame Hammer" Groom, a berserker, wields a warhammer engulfed in flames.

"Hawk Eye" Thorin, a sharpshooter, can snipe targets from a kilometer away.

Evelyn the Whisperer, an elemental mage, specializes in wind and frost magic.

"Holy Hand" Reno, a priest of light, provides healing, purification, and powerful protective divine spells.

Vic the Hound, a tracking expert with an enhanced sense of smell and danger perception.

The Third Prince's huge bounty of one thousand gold coins was enough to make them accept this seemingly "simple" task: hunting down a lucky farmer superhuman and his witch accomplices. This was a small lord's gross income for a year. In fact, after deducting taxes, a small lord's annual income was only a few hundred gold coins.

"Hound" Vic crouched in front of a carefully concealed burrow entrance, his nose twitching as he picked up a bit of dry soil with his fingertips.

"Found it, the entrance. The traces are very fresh, no more than two days old. Inside... there's a strong smell of human activity, and... the lingering smell of flames burning rocks."

He pointed to several unnatural, smooth, glass-like rock face sections at the edge of the entrance.

"Rock" Patton nodded, his voice low.

"The target is below. Silver Fox, scout ahead. The rest of you, maintain battle formation."

"Flame Hammer, light the torches. Whisperer, prepare the illumination spell. Holy Hand, be ready to defend. Eagle Eye, watch your back and your feet. Hound, keep watch in the center."

The commands are concise and powerful.

"Silver Fox" Alice slipped silently into the dark entrance to the crypt like a melting shadow.

A moment later, her voice came through a special communication crystal.

"Safe. The entrance passage is about 20 meters long and forks at the end. There are three paths: left, middle, and right. The ground is dry and there are no traps."

The teams entered one by one.

The torchlight and the soft glow emanating from Evelyn's fingertips dispelled the darkness of the entrance passage, but the three forks in the road ahead remained as deep and menacing as gaping maws.

"Split up?"

"Ignite Hammer Grum," he asked in a muffled voice, sounding somewhat impatient.

"Do not."

Patton flatly rejected it.

"According to the data, the target possesses unbelievable battlefield control. Dividing their forces would be suicidal. Silver Fox, which route will leave the strongest traces?"

"In the middle... no, wait..."

Alice's voice carried a hint of doubt.

"The marks are strange... they seem to have been deliberately messed up. There are fresh footprints in the middle and on the left, and on the right... there is a faint smell of sulfur."

"The smell of sulfur? A witch's fire?"

Reverend Reno frowned.

"The target is deliberately creating a diversion."

The mage Evelyn calmly analyzed the situation.

"They want to scatter us or lead us into a trap."

"Go left."

Patton made the decision.

"Hound, confirm the footprints."

"The footprints on the left are deeper, as if they were carrying a heavy load, while the ones in the middle... look like they were left by someone deliberately dragging a heavy object."

The squad cautiously entered the left passage, which was narrow, allowing only two people to walk side by side. Barton held up his shield in front, and the light from the torches and the illumination spell could only light up a short distance ahead, with an impenetrable darkness deeper inside.

The air was dry, carrying the scent of earth and rock, and eerily quiet, with only their own footsteps and breathing echoing through the air.

“Something’s wrong…”

Alice whispered. "It's too quiet, and... this passage keeps going downwards, deeper and deeper..."

suddenly!

"Crack!"

A slight cracking sound came from Vic's feet as he walked in the middle of the group!

The stone slab beneath Vic's feet suddenly flipped downwards!
But beneath the flip-up panel wasn't a deep pit, but rather... a thick, black sludge that emitted a pungent stench. Clearly, it was sourced locally from the Misty Forest. Underneath the sludge, one could even see some sharp wooden stakes.

However, Vic tiptoed and floated backward. As the team's tracking expert, his agility was second only to the thief.

It's an interesting mechanism, effective against ordinary troops, but unfortunately, it's useless against us.

Captain Barton glanced at the mechanism and said casually, glancing at Evelyn in the group.

"Is there any extraordinary elemental reaction?"

"No, Captain."

Evelyn shook her head.

"This is good news. It proves that the other party's mastery of supernatural power seems to be mainly manifested in the physical body. Alright, let's continue tracking. Vic, this is yours."

"it is good."

Vic nodded, took a deep breath, and his nose began to turn red and enlarge—one of his abilities: tracking enemies by scent.
In the darkness, Li Zhongren observed all of this from a wartime perspective.

The various traps and mechanisms along the way were meaningless to this extraordinary team, as they were well-equipped.

"Looks like this is going to be a tough battle."

Li Zhongren stroked his chin as the small team steadily tracked him and his men.

"Perfect, let's test the capabilities of the military formation."

The so-called "military formation" is an ability that Li Zhongren unlocked after raising the attribute points of all his soldiers to the maximum of 20 points.

It can construct an extraordinary formation centered on itself.

Once the formation is successfully constructed, all damage will be evenly distributed across the entire formation. At the same time, Li Zhongren can also exert combat power far exceeding 60 points of strength by controlling the formation. This is the true core of why he dares to play the strategy of besieging the enemy's stronghold and attacking reinforcements.

Most importantly, the construction of this formation is based on a war perspective, rather than the traditional so-called formation.

Even after activating the formation, he could still disperse a hundred soldiers throughout the underground passage.

This is where the most terrifying part begins. Once dispersed, each soldier can be controlled and unleash their power, albeit only once in a short period. For those trapped deep within this complex and intricate tunnel system, nothing could be more nightmarish.
Dividing line

"Captain, something's wrong."

"what is the problem?"

“My nose tells me that there are dozens, or even nearly a hundred people, and their scents are very dispersed. Theoretically, these people did not gather together, but were scattered in different places in the secret passage.”

"Isn't that normal?"

Vice-captain "Silver Fox" Alice chuckled a few times, twirling the dagger in her hand.

"In such a relatively narrow place, if people gather together, I can incapacitate them with a single alchemical bomb. On the contrary, the optimal solution is to disperse the personnel and use the terrain to ambush them. Of course, that's against ordinary soldiers, which is useless against us."

"Then what do we do?"

Vic continued to ask.

"Let's look for them one by one."

After a moment's hesitation, the captain spoke.

"A thousand gold coins? That's not as easy as it sounds."

"Yes, Captain."

"Wait, Captain, something's not right."

Evelyn, the "Whisperer," closed her eyes for a moment, a faint probing light swirling around the tip of her staff, then opened them with a hint of surprise.

"The surrounding elemental energy... flows strangely. There are no strong magical fluctuations, but... there is an invisible, enormous pressure field enveloping this area, connecting all the scattered points together!"

"An invisible pressure field? Connecting all the scattered soldiers?"

Barton squinted.

"It must be that farmer's special ability. In any case, we should be careful."

"Yes!"

The group continued walking forward, searching for the scent of a certain person.

But just then, from the shadows of a narrow side passage on their right, barely wide enough for one person to pass, a soldier wearing ordinary leather armor and wielding a rusty longsword suddenly darted out!

He moved swiftly, but his posture still appeared clumsy in the eyes of Barton and the others, his eyes were empty, like a soulless puppet!
"court death!"

Groom grinned maliciously, not even bothering to use the flames on his warhammer. He casually threw a punch, imbued with fierce battle aura, and smashed it into the soldier's chest like a heavy hammer!

This punch is enough to completely shatter the chest cavity of an ordinary soldier!

However, just as Groom's fist was about to touch the soldier's leather armor!
The soldier's previously empty eyes suddenly erupted with a chilling, inhuman light!

With an incredible speed that belied his clumsy movements, the rusty sword in his hand swung upwards with pinpoint accuracy toward Groom's unsuspecting armpit! Even more terrifying, the rusty sword erupted with a dazzling, condensed golden light the instant it was swung!
A terrifying sense of overwhelming power, as if it could split mountains, suddenly descended!

"what?!"

Groom's pupils constricted sharply! A deadly sense of crisis made the hairs on his body stand on end!

He abruptly withdrew his fist and went back to defend, instinctively blocking the flames-burning warhammer in front of him!
"clang--!!!!"

A deafening clang of metal clashing rang out in the narrow passage!
Sparks fly!

Groom felt an indescribable force emanating from the warhammer! This power far exceeded his expectations!
"Crack!"

Groom's hammer-wielding arm emitted a sickening cracking sound! And a deep gash appeared on the head of his warhammer, which he used to parry!

After the soldier unleashed his sword strike, the golden light in his eyes vanished instantly, returning him to his empty, numb state. He even appeared somewhat exhausted, staggering back a step before quickly turning around and nimbly disappearing into another side path, as if the earth-shattering attack had never happened!

"Groom!"

Renault was horrified and immediately cast a powerful healing spell on Groom, repairing the cracks in his bones.

"Damn it! That was... the power of that farmer chief?!"

"It must be that special force field."

After a moment's thought, Patton said that as an elite mercenary, he quickly figured out the reason.

"No wonder they were able to spread their people out; each of them was that farmer."

"Huh? Captain, this..."

"Don't worry, but each of these people can only unleash this attack for a certain period of time. After that, they will weaken. Evelyn, you are responsible for recording the changes in the force field. As long as that person uses this ability, he will leave a trace. By following the trace, we will find him."

"Yes!"

"However, we need to be fully focused from now on."

Barton's voice was serious and earnest, and no one else objected. After all, they were all veterans and knew what they were dealing with.
And indeed, Patton's guess came true.

Along the way, they faced one sneak attack after another.

Fortunately, the enemy only had one strike capability, and because they were well prepared, they were not injured again, but they were certainly in a sorry state.

Barton, in particular, who was in charge of defense, had taken at least ten full-force attacks from the enemy along the way. His shield was deformed, and his hands and feet were trembling slightly. If it weren't for the priest in the group restoring his health, he would have been in serious trouble.
"What a terrible enemy!"

At this point, the group no longer dared to underestimate the so-called farmer. However, they did not come away empty-handed. As the sorcerer continued to gather intelligence, they were able to evade the enemy to a certain extent and accurately locate their final target.

At this point, everyone knew that the real decisive battle was about to begin.

(End of this chapter)