With Guo Yi’s command, the soldiers of the Auxiliary Army of Chenhai donned their weapons and equipnt, ard to the teeth.
They also carried containers similar to oxygen tanks on their backs.
Strangely, they did not bring any underwater combat weapons but still held close-range weapons such as chainsaw halberds and chainsaw swords.
The Centurion donned steam armor on the carriage, shouldered a crossbow and a chainsaw axe, and approached a carriage.
"My lord, I beg of you, fight one more battle for the Empire!" the Centurion knelt on one knee, his voice deep and hoarse.
If this task hadn’t been of utmost importance, he would not have considered awakening this formidable warrior—a veteran who had endured from the Expeditionary Army to the present day.
From within the carriage ca the sound of chanical movents, followed by a quiet voice, "Are Hou Junji and Zhang Liang, those traitors, dead?"
Guo Yi and the other Auxiliary soldiers changed their expressions at this; the armored warrior dared to directly call out the nas of the Regent King and the General, even calling them traitors.
The Centurion did not deny this but after a mont of silence said softly, "Not yet. But now it has reached an irreversible point. Please, my lord, fight one more battle for the bloodline of the Empire!"
"Hmph... bloodline, eh? So be it. After I complete this task, I’ll kill those two traitors myself!" With that, the carriage door opened and out stepped a warrior clad in black armor with gold trimmings.
That was... the steam armor of the Thousand Cattle Guard. He was actually a general of the Thousand Cattle Guard?
All he had in his hand was a chainsaw sword as he looked around.
Finally standing before the Centurion, he was even half a head taller.
"I rember you, the Auxiliary Army Tribune of Right Brave Guard, Yang Ming. We are both veterans of the Sixteen Guards. I will not trouble you, go ahead and lead the way." The Thousand Cattle Guard in armor commanded in a deep voice.
"Yes, sir!" The Centurion saluted with his fist.
Guo Yi and the other Auxiliary soldiers had puzzled looks on their faces. Right Brave Guard? Veterans of the Sixteen Guards? These were matters they had never heard of.
However, the Centurion offered no explanation.
After leaving so people to guard the inn, he led the remaining armored warriors and Auxiliary soldiers, who filed into the well one by one.
At this mont, they were unaware that as the last armored warrior entered the water, a blurry figure appeared on the surface of the water.
The armored warrior seed to sense sothing and turned his head instantly but saw nothing at all.
"An illusion?" muttered the armored warrior.
Beneath the well, the armor of both the Auxiliary soldiers and the armored warriors was not light.
They sank straight to the bottom. Holding oxygen tanks, they advanced along the rock wall of the underground river.
The underground river was extrely dim, and the Auxiliary soldiers took out so glowing minerals to serve as a light source as they stealthily moved through the river.
For so reason, the originally cold underground river water now surprisingly brought them warmth.
Guo Yi and the others, who were moving stealthily in the water, were amazed at the change in water temperature and carefully recorded this information.
Li Changhe, trailing far behind them, laughed to himself in his heart, wanting to say that this was the protection of their General’s wife.
Since the Queen of Xuan City’s possession of won’s minds prevented Xiao Nan from entering the so-called Bottom Nest with Li Changhe,
in these water-rich river channels, she was able to bestow her blessings and protect these soldiers of the Second Empire. She had increased the water temperature slightly, making their movents much more convenient.
Li Changhe was dressed in a black outfit, following them from afar.
Ever since he had consud the Begonia Fruit given by the Moon God, Li Changhe had gained the abilities to breathe underwater and adapt to water pressure.
At this mont, he felt no discomfort in the water, and with the young lady warming the river, there was a comfortable feeling as if soaking in a hot bath, except for the fact that... one might carelessly blow bubbles, which was a bit ridiculous.
As he moved forward in the warm river, after passing through a sowhat narrow crevice, Li Changhe activated his Hawk Eye Magic Eye. Bubbles erging from his breath, he silently surveyed the traces left on the riverbed.
Many footprints flashed by, so from ages past, likely the remnants of a team dispatched by the Chenhai Empire years ago.
So were recent footprints, probably left by the vanguard.
However, Li Changhe did not see any trace of the so-called water ghosts.
"Water ghosts, are they referring to sothing in the lake? But why couldn’t Chen Yu detect their presence before?" Li Changhe pondered while looking at the footprints. Chen Yu had previously scanned the underground river with his perception and found no sign of any water ghosts.
Could this an that the enemy possessed the ability to block perception? That would an Brother Ting couldn’t sense them either.
"This is really troubleso. It seems impossible to find them one by one." Li Changhe thought to himself. He had intended to secretly locate those ’water ghosts’ and quickly take them out before allowing the team to proceed safely. It seed he had to abandon that idea for now.
Subsequently, Li Changhe continued to follow the team, keeping a distance of tens of ters behind them.
About ten minutes later underwater,
He discovered that they had passed through a chainsawed iron fence and arrived at a cavern where they could surface. There, they successfully regrouped with the soldiers who had gone underwater before them.
They kept their voices very low, fearing that they might startle sothing, so low that even Li Changhe could not hear them clearly.
At the sa ti, Li Changhe in the water spotted several corpses placed on the shore.
Two of them belonged to the Auxiliary Army; their bodies were severely mangled, and despite wearing thick scale armor, they were still bisected at the waist by sothing.
Another corpse was that of an armored warrior. One of his arms had been cut off, and his helt bore a hole the size of a bowl. Even his steam armor could not protect this warrior’s life.
Afterward, Li Changhe noticed that these soldiers had discarded their oxygen tanks on the shore.
"It seems there’s no water route ahead," Li Changhe thought. With a flash of spatial fluctuation, he changed into an Auxiliary Army suit he had acquired in Great Tang. After lowering his faceplate, he was indistinguishable from the Auxiliary soldiers.
Then taking advantage of the dim light in the cavern, he used Shadow Step to follow behind an Auxiliary soldier.
That soldier even turned around and nodded at Li Changhe, not noticing the extra person who had joined them.
Elsewhere.
Guo Yi silently arranged his fallen comrades’ bodies and quietly took their military tags.
They had now entered the territory where the water ghosts were active and needed to be as quiet as possible.
Afterward, the team continued to follow the cave, with the head of the Thousand Cattle Guard leading in front along with the Centurion. Li Changhe, mingling among the Auxiliary soldiers, listened intently to any sound nearby.
Suddenly, Li Changhe’s expression changed subtly, and he reached out to hold a nearby Auxiliary soldier, whispering, "Raise your weapons!"
The Auxiliary soldiers did not recognize the voice, but the commanding presence it carried made them subconsciously raise their weapons.
anwhile, the Thousand Cattle Guard leader at the front halted for a mont.
They had reached the spot where the vanguard had encountered the water ghosts; three soldiers from the vanguard had died before killing the water ghost here.
Now, however, no corpse of the water ghost could be found—only a trail of blood dragged into the water.
"Are you certain you killed that creature?" asked the Thousand Cattle Guard leader, lifting his chainsaw sword.
"Absolutely certain, but... it’s clear we underestimated their intelligence," an armored warrior said, raising his chainsaw axe.
The next second, several massive figures burst out from the water of the cavern.
"Ambush!"
(My apologies for coming late today, I was held up by so issues that left my head spinning.)
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