Chapter 204: I'll Go!

He asked in surprise, “Why are you all following me?”

“We might still need a backup.” Liu Tong was a careful man. If Sun Jiayuan failed, someone had to take over his task.

So a dozen of them hurried to the riverside and had a good roll in the mud, caking themselves in three layers of mud. When they stood up again, they were unrecognizable from one another, as only a pair of eyes showed through each figure of mud.

Even Willow did the same, rolling about without a care until she was smeared from head to toe.

He Lingchuan also took the chance to refill the waterskins.

Skinny spat out a mouthful of muddy, fishy water. “Ptooey. This stinks like hell!”

He did not dare think about what might be in that mud.

They returned to their original position, the closest spot to the den. Sun Jiayuan slung his bow and quiver over his back and nodded to Liu Tong. “Ready.”

A dozen mud men burst into a sprint together, but whenever a spider drew near, they immediately stopped.

A strange scene unfolded. The burrow spiders went right past them when they stood still, treating them as if they did not exist.

Of course, the heavy reek of mud on them smothered the scent of human flesh.

Spiders that lived in the earth all day would not react to the smell of dirt.

“Go!”

No further urging was needed. Sun Jiayuan dashed full tilt to the edge of the den, dove forward, tucked his face and limbs in, and dropped.

The brocade-like silk looked splendid, but in truth, it was like an ordinary web. Every five centimeters or so, there was a sticky bead, and the adhesive was terrifying. Anything that brushes it would be bound and never get free.

But Sun Jiayuan was wrapped in several layers of mud, still wet and dripping. Each time he rolled across a layer of web, he shed a little mud, and by weight alone, he kept sinking one layer after another.

Catching a lull in the fighting, Willow glanced back, then shouted in delight, “It’s working!”

In the span of only a few breaths, Sun Jiayuan had already dropped through seven or eight layers of web. If he could just break through the final line of defense, he could lob his firebomb[1] into the den.

The spider monsters realized something was wrong and surged in from all directions. The group hurled the insect-repellent flares they had prepared; every moment gained was a moment won.

The insect smoke worked wonders on ordinary spiders; two steps after catching the scent, they went belly-up. But the spider monsters guarding the nest were far more tolerant. They gave a shake of their head, held their breath, and continued their chase.

Their favorite trick was clearly spitting silk. Right now, though, the wet, mud-soaked bodies of He Lingchuan, Liu Tong, and the others gave them the edge as the webs were unable to drag them away.

Liu Tong could not help but shout, “Sun Jiayuan, faster!”

Spider monsters were thick-skinned, powerful, and full of guile, but there were not many of them. The patrolmen could still handle two to one. The trouble was that the repellent flares would not last for long. Once the spiders came swarming, seeping through every crack, even a protective barrier of vigorous qi would not hold.

It was a race against time, yet Sun Jiayuan did not answer.

“Sun Jiayuan!” Liu Tong called again and again.

The lavish “brocade” blanketed the mouth of the burrow; no one could see what was happening below.

Just as anxiety peaked, Sun Jiayuan’s voice drifted up from below, sounding farther away now, “There’s a massive space down here. There are many more layers! I have to go down—”

Before he finished, he suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“It’s an ambush! There’s a massive army of spiders here! Get out, now!”

Then came a thunderous boom, and the light of fire bled out from beneath the brocade.

Every patrolman felt their heart sink.

Sun Jiayuan was probably gone.

Someone rushed to the edge of the brocade and hacked away with his blade. Sure enough, though the web looked weightless and gauzy, it was tougher than century-old rattan; even a saber made of a hundred-times-tempered steel infused with origin energy could only sever a few strands.

And there were still a dozen-odd layers blanketing the den.

What exactly is going on below? We’re probably going to have to send another person down to find out.

If Sun Jiayuan had failed right at the start, should they press on?

If they withdrew now, what would become of the main force?

Even if General Nanke gathered the survivors and broke away, the Baling troops lay in wait outside the Guizhen Stone Forest, ready to pounce!

A step forward led into fog; a step back dropped into an abyss. They had to decide here and now!

Several voices rang out at once, “I’ll go!”

Liu Tong, Doorboard, and two other patrolmen stepped forward.

The mud on their bodies had not dried yet, so they could immediately take up the task Sun Jiayuan had left unfinished.

He Lingchuan felt genuine respect for them. In terms of elite training, these patrolmen could not compare to the Gale Army; but when it came to raw courage, whether it be the troops of Heishui City, the Coordinating Army, or Yuan, whom he had seen, none of them were fit to even carry these people’s boots!

Skinny hesitated, then gritted his teeth. “I, I’ll go!”

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

A sparrowhawk swooped in, claws still gripping the bundle.

“No, I’ll go!” It had barely flown over He Lingchuan’s head when he beckoned to it. “Give me the firebombs!”

He held an innate edge here, and it was one that no one could match.

The sparrowhawk dropped the bundle. He Lingchuan caught it, fished out a few command arrows, and sprinted for the nest entrance, tossing the rest to Liu Tong on the way. “If I don’t make it, you take my place!”

As he shot past Willow, he also snatched the flask of lamp oil from her belt.

“Good man!” He Lingchuan had not been with them long, so Liu Tong had not expected him to charge to the front. He was moved. “Leave a last wish, we’ll do our best to see it done!”

What He Lingchuan was about to do was a leap between life and death. Yet everyone had desires, and by the custom of the Panlong City army, the living should do their utmost to fulfill the wishes of the fallen.

“No need!” He Lingchuan sluiced water from his skin over his head, soaking the mud on his body anew. After that, he unleashed the Swallow’s Return movement technique, slipping lightly past several spider monsters that tried to cut him off, dashed to the rim of the nest, and then, just like Sun Jiayuan, he jumped straight in.

The others saw the brocade billow and swallow He Lingchuan whole. Only his voice drifted up from below, “When we’re back, buy me drinks at the Tianshuang Tavern!”

Liu Tong shook his head. “That rascal!”

He’s so sure that he isn’t going to die that he isn’t even leaving a last wish?

But He Lingchuan’s optimism proved infectious. The patrolmen’s spirits lifted, and even the fog of panic and doubt seemed to thin.

Barely a few breaths later, they heard He Lingchuan again, startled, “There’s a whole world down here. It looks like a forest!”

Doorboard and Skinny traded a glance amid the chaos, both equally baffled.

Had He Lingchuan knocked his head silly in the fall? What forest could there be underground?

“I don’t see Sun Jiayuan!” He Lingchuan’s voice floated up. “I’ve set it ablaze. Zhu Erniang is taking heavy losses!”

Skinny hurried to the edge and peered down. Sure enough, searing red light flickered beneath the brocade canopy, as if a great fire was raging below. Yet with the brocade blocking it, he could not feel a lick of heat.

The fireproofing of this spider silk was uncanny. If He Lingchuan had not jumped down to set the blaze himself, even the sparrowhawk dropping an arsenal from the sky would not have done a thing.

Seeing the nest burning, Skinny shouted in delight, “He Lingchuan, climb back up! Quick!”

“An army of spiders is pouring out!” He Lingchuan’s voice was taut but steady. “You guys retreat! Move!”

Move?

Skinny froze, and then a massive spider monster burst from the heaving brocade and launched straight at him!

It was the size of a mountain goat. With a spring of its eight legs, it covered about seven meters in a single bound, nearly pancaking Skinny beneath it.

He had never seen a spider that could leap like that, and at such absurd speed.

Luckily, he was quick himself. He tumbled aside in a scramble and dodged it, shouting, “Spider monsters are climbing up! There are over a hundred of them!”

Yes, behind the jumper came an entire army of spider monsters, each as large or larger, all in different colors and markings. They streaked along the web toward the mouth of the den, every one of them bristling with fury.

The biggest of them was larger than a brown bear, its body flashing in iridescent hues. It was clearly not something to trifle with.

Only then did they understand that the spider queen had left her elite guards at home to watch the den. It was probably only then that she could leave with an easy mind.

And these prized creatures’ orders were likely simple. They were simply to hold the burrow and not to emerge. Only when He Lingchuan lit a great fire did they surge out to tear the arsonist apart.

A hundred-plus, well-rested spider monsters that were spoiling for a fight were simply not something that some ten-odd patrolmen could contend with. In the blink of an eye, two were struck down, screaming as they were dragged deeper into the den.

Once a spider caught a human, it reenacted the classic kill of a spider, pinning their prey before rolling and kneading them, winding layer upon sticky layer of webbing until they were completely wrapped.

“Damn it!” The cries of their comrades thinned abruptly. Furious, Willow felled two web-spinning spiders with as many arrows. But the swarm surged like a tide, about to close around them.

Worse, the insect-repellent flares she had thrown were about to burn out. The little spiders were already stirring.

If they did not run now, they would be no different from fish in a barrel. Drenched in sweat, Liu Tong seized Willow’s arm and barked, “Retreat! Now!”

Willow shouted one last “He Lingchuan!” into the burrow.

The vast hole gave no reply.

Doorboard clamped a hand on her shoulder and rumbled, “We can’t get him back! If you don’t want to die, move!” The burrow was on fire, and the spider queen would likely race home. This was no place to linger.

He and Liu Tong took an arm each and hauled Willow away at a run toward the far side of the slope.

Their horses were hidden there. If they mounted a moment sooner, they might yet break free.

Just then, fireworks flared again on the horizon.

Doorboard risked a glance back in the chaos and brightened. “Rockets beyond the stone forest! Could be reinforcements!”

The fireworks were far off, though still to the northeast. Judging by the distance, they seemed to have been set off outside the Guizhen Stone Forest.

After a whole night of waiting, there were reinforcements at last.

* * *

The Gale Army advanced on Wei City.

Just as the Red General had predicted before the battle, the march from Puxi Gully to Wei City, which was several tens of kilometers, was smooth and easy. There had not been a soldier in sight, only two giant eagles circling overhead.

Commandant Sun personally drew and shot one down.

Aside from owls, birds of prey were typically pretty poor when it came to seeing in the dark, and turning into monsters had not improved their ability in this regard by much. In daylight, that bird would likely have dodged a killing shot like this without trouble.

The other eagle, terrified, beat its wings and climbed, no longer daring to fly low.

Wei City at night lay quiet. Only four or five pinpricks of fire glowed atop the gates, as if the watch were lax.

But the moment the Gale Army began its assault, a volley of arrows swept down from the gate, and horns blared across the fields as an enemy force charged the Gale Army’s rear!

An ambush.

Those Baling troops had lain in the open half the night, swallowing wind and sand and not daring to light fires. Frost clung to their beards and sleeves, and they rushed in brimming with pent-up fury.

Every Gale Army soldier seized their bow and loosed two storming volleys into the ambushers.

1. I’m personally assuming these are the explosives that were supposedly attached to the command arrows. ☜