Chapter 845 - Wiped Out
Chapter 845: Wiped Out
It seemed that everyone else on the other team did not agree with him. As such, Wang Zhong frowned and didn’t bother to refute them anymore. Instead, he turned around to discuss the situation with Feng and Oscar.
Seeing that the other team no longer objected, Kevin Dalton abruptly waved his hand and put a stop to everyone’s conversations. Anyway, the Wanderlust Team had good intentions and was just taking the safety of everyone into consideration. He also appreciated this cautious attitude. It was just that their strength was too weak and that they had no confidence in themselves when it came to frontal attacks. Everything could only be viewed from the perspective of the weak. This was the sad thing about them.
He said calmly, “Okay, it’s all settled now. Let’s turn back.”
“I stand by my opinion,” Wang Zhong suddenly said.
Kevin Dalton frowned. If he had appreciated Wang Zhong’s prudence before this, this feeling was now shattered. His unwillingness to cooperate was truly annoying. If it was necessary, he didn’t mind teaching these people a lesson so that they would know who had the final say in this group.
“What we mean is, we’ll split up.”
Before Kevin could start raging, Oscar finished Wang Zhong’s sentence. “Our team will circle around the swamp and attack from the rear. If you insist on a frontal attack, maybe you guys can wait for a few more days in the outer periphery. If we corner them from both sides, the results will be better.”
The KD Squadron quieted down instantly, and Kevin was stunned. After a long while, he couldn’t help but laugh loudly. Wait for them for a few days and then attack from both sides? What a joke!
He was about to mock them, but he suddenly thought of something. In the first place, he didn’t expect any help from this wandering brigade in the battle. He only brought this ‘burden’ along due to Great Teacher Sophia. Now that they had taken the initiative to leave the team, wasn’t it just great? His team would have already handled their enemies long before the Wanderlust Team could get to the rear of the energy mine. Then, he would tell the truth in the mission report, and the Wanderlust Team wouldn’t be able to get any credit! All the rewards, including the precious soul crystals in the energy mines, would belong to the KD Squadron!
“Alright!” Kevin outrightly agreed.
“We will split the two bombs between us. When we arrive, we will activate the bomb at the rear. After hearing our signal, you guys can attack from the front.”
Their mission was to blow up the mine. With the power of ‘Kenso’s Stink Bomb’, one was definitely enough, but they were issued two in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Kevin was definitely confident of his team’s strength. Thus, he had no problem with the suggestion. He immediately agreed, divided the two stink bombs among the two teams, and said, “The battle steeds would definitely be a burden in the swamp for you guys. We’ll take them to help you guys reduce your losses. When we complete the mission, all our losses will be our own.”
The Wanderlust Team had already lost Feng and Small Eyes’ horses and were left with seven. It was indeed inconvenient to pull them all the way through the swamp. The three women also didn’t want to experience the horse killing again.
As such, both sides came to an agreement. Previously, the two teams had almost come down to blows, but when it came to splitting up, there were, as expected, zero objections. With that, Kevin took out a Kenso’s Stink Bomb from his spatial bracelet and handed it to Oscar. After some preparations, the two teams immediately split up.
It wasn’t until the people of the Wanderlust Team walked far away that Osha gave Kevin a thumbs up. “Awesome, Captain! You rock! It will probably take them at least six to seven days to travel through the swamp, and by then, we will have completed the task without them. At that time, we won’t need to give any credit to them. If we pull back these seven battle steeds and hand them over directly after we complete our mission, we won’t experience any losses at all!”
When Kevin heard the first few sentences, he smiled a little, but when he heard the last one, he rolled his eyes at Osha. “Excuse me. We, the KD Squadron, aren’t shameless people. Also, do we even need the money from these horses?! Don’t let others get the wrong idea! As for completing the mission without them… Hehe, it’s indeed difficult for so many of us to hide from the enemy, so it wouldn’t be our fault if the enemies spotted us before they arrived.”
……
“Wang Zhong, I think that Osha dude seems shady. Will he cheat us of our horses?”
“That’s a trivial matter. Even if they took the horses, it would be better than letting the horses die in the swamp. Also, Team Captain Kevin doesn’t look like a petty person. But I think they are unlikely to wait for us to reach our destination. They will most probably attack from the front tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” said Feng.
“Huh? Then aren’t we doing this for nothing?” Sharmie grew worried.
“It won’t be that easy for them to take the win alone. Man proposes, but God disposes. If we survive this, we will definitely get our chance,” replied Wang Zhong as he smiled. In fact, he didn’t think the other party was wrong. It was just a difference in judgment. It was probably for the best splitting up. Deep down, he hoped that his own judgment wasn’t wrong.
Asher nodded while Oscar and Feng both laughed. With a smile, Grai spoke, “Senior is right. There will always be opportunities for us to shine. In times of war and with our team’s strength, the first thing we have to consider should always be safety.”
“I really can’t stand you guys. How can you guys speak for our enemies? Can you guys have a little hope for ourselves?” Small Eyes was rather disdainful of the ‘overflowing love’ from these people and began to diss them. All of a sudden, she widened her eyes and added, “No, wait! We still have seven horses! What if those guys take all the credit for the mission and rob us of our horses? Damn, this trip would then be for nothing. Don’t tell me we will have to pay for the horses…”
“Haha. Then, all you can do is to pray that Captain Kevin shows us some mercy,” replied Wang Zhong as he smiled. With all this nonsense talk, the originally depressed team somewhat regained their liveliness.
It was indeed easier for them to travel without the horses, but that was only relatively speaking. There were still countless ‘traps’ under their feet. Although everyone had activated their Soul Power for protection and could remain unscathed as they walked through the muddy swamp, being covered in mud was inevitable.
The radon in the air was also getting richer and denser, almost to the point where it was impossible to breathe. Fortunately, they had considered the possibility of passing through the swamp in advance, and they were fully prepared with the antidote. It was just that the smell was a little unbearable. With that kind of stench permeating the entire swamp, let alone the three girls who had always tried to look glamorous, even Napier and Asher were frowning all the way.
However, such harsh environmental conditions were just the tip of the iceberg. On the third day, they arrived at the center region of this swamp. The poisonous insects and monsters surrounding them had also started to increase in numbers as well as appearing more and more frequently.
Horse-sized mosquitoes were nothing. In the morning, Sharmie stepped on a worm that had the width of a thick bucket. It had a soft and squirmy body, had furry green fur, and was covered in slimy mucus. Sharmie was scared out of her wits on the spot, but Small Eyes was even worse. She instantly reacted as though she had stepped on a tiger’s tail.
Women had always been afraid of such things. Small Eyes didn’t even think before she subconsciously fired a bombardment at the worms. As a result, although they were instantly destroyed by her, the sound of gunfire attracted a dozen Poisonous Kiss Giant Hornets nearby, and these things were extremely agile. If the Wanderlust Team could get into formation, they need not be too afraid of them. However, their movements were severely limited in this swamp, and therefore, it was definitely not easy to defeat those things. If they were stuck in a battle with them and the sound of fighting attracted more monsters, it would be the end of them.
With that, their entire group was forced to dive into the swamp and hide for around half an hour before those monsters were fooled into leaving. When climbing out of the swamp quagmire, both Sharmie and Mario discovered they had edema, with numerous red bumps on their body.
They were the two weakest members of the team. As such, although they had tried to protect themselves with Soul Power, they could not hold out against the toxins of the silt in the swamp. Now, their situation was worse than expected.
Both of them needed first aid. Thus, the rest set up a small tent in the swamp, and Asher used some moss and withered grass to conceal their location. After which, Small Eyes and Feng tended to Sharmie inside the tent, applying antidote and bandaging her wounds. As for Mario, he was not so particular about privacy. Napier and Asher directly stripped him of his clothes and tended to his wounds. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any other disgusting things again. After about an hour, the two wounded people were wrapped in bandages.
No matter how powerful one was or even if one had a body type that was impervious to poison, poison would always be a nightmare for soldiers. What’s more was that there were endless types of poison in the Dimensional World; it would be impossible to guard against all of them. Fortunately, the Holy Land had a lot of experience and knowledge accumulated in this area. As humans, we also naturally paid special attention to this area. As such, no one could afford to offend gourmets, who also dealt with the antidotes to these poisons.
Sharmie and Mario were both apologetic as they were becoming a burden to the team due to being too weak.
However, their situation actually served as a reminder for Feng. “The green quagmire is poisonous. The gray kind of mud is not. We can actually smear some of that on our bodies to cover up our auras. This can reduce a lot of trouble for us. Everyone, get started.”
Speedily, the originally glamorous Wanderlust Team became a team of clay figurines. It was just that the stench of the mud on their bodies was truly unbearable. Additionally, when they were spreading the mud on their bodies, they would often spot some melted teeth or even bones within the mud. The gray mud was most likely the biological remains of those who had died in this area and were then corroded by the poisonous mud. Thus, it was no surprise that it smelled terrible.
Another day passed with everyone being extra careful of the traps under their feet. At the same time, they had to keep avoiding the creatures in the swamp. With two wounded members, the team’s speed was getting slower and slower, but the biggest problem was still the radon in this central area. Although there was a special antidote to reduce the effects, it was still causing a rapid decline in physical strength to some of them.
Now, it wasn’t just Sharmie and Mario who were finding it difficult to move. Even Feng and Small Eyes were getting more and more tired. The only people that looked okay were Wang Zhong, Oscar, and Grai.
Naturally, this was expected of Wang Zhong. From the day the team met him, everyone thought of him as a bug-level existence. It seemed that no matter what he did, the Wanderlust Team would not be too surprised by him. As for Oscar, he had been an elite member of Imperial Court, so this was expected of him as well. The only one who really surprised everyone was Grai. Not only did he not appear tired in this environment, he even maintained a steady breathing rate like Wang Zhong and Oscar. This made everyone look at him in a different light. It seemed like this newcomer had more than just his looks.
At this time, it seemed that they had finally begun to approach the central-most area of the swamp, but the entire team had also become even more tired. Coincidentally, the first heavy downpour occurred at this moment. Even with their protections, it was like everyone was in a house with a leaky roof, and thus, everyone was having a hard time. They weren’t afraid of fighting, but this kind of environment was definitely affecting their morale.
When the cold rain touched their bodies, the feeling they got was exactly like coming into contact with ice-cold water that was capable of sending a chill to their hearts. Additionally, the downpour was also mixed with many hail-like ice bombs that were the size of soybeans. Even if they were all powerful Heroic Soul soldiers, no one at that level would be able to stand being attacked by an endless rain of hailstones.
As such, the team had to pause their journey. They scrambled to set up a tent, which they then took shelter in.
“What kind of weather is this? I would rather die fighting than go through all this.” Small Eyes couldn’t help but start complaining.
Sharmie also seemed like she wanted to rant, but she was too tired. Oscar shook his head. This was the truth of a Holy Battle. He was about to comfort them when the communication crystal in Feng’s hand suddenly lit up.
In most cases, the signal would not be good, but the reason why both teams brought along such communication devices was for last-minute collaboration. Of course, they could not be too far apart from each other. In fact, from the moment they had split up, the two sides had a tacit understanding. None of them should bother the other, but now, the KD Squadron actually took the initiative to contact them.
“F*ck! Don’t tell me they really attacked without us and that the battle is over!” Small Eyes was the first to exclaim. “Damn it. All this was for nothing!”
When Feng connected to the other side of the line, all that could be heard was a ‘rustling’ sound. Of course, it was normal for the signal to be lousy as they were currently very far apart from each other. They had expected to hear Kevin’s mocking tone, but instead, they could only hear screams and angry roars among the rustling murmur.
“Retreat!” “Run for your lives!”
Sss Sss Sss…
“God! They are all dead! Dead!”
“Help me…”
Only screams and helpless calls for help could be heard. However, these did not last long. The last sound they heard was a loud bang. It seemed as though someone had stepped on the Skylink, breaking the connection between the two sides.
Instantly, the originally noisy tent grew silent.
The 50 elite members of the KD Squadron were dead? What kind of ambush did they encounter?
Ptt…
Napier, who was originally standing, plonked to the ground and landed on his butt. It was not only him, Mario, Sharmie, Asher, and the rest also instantly grew pale.
Now, it seemed like the entire KD Squadron had been wiped out. This was a level 4 exploration team with 50 elite members. Although the Wanderlust Team didn’t get along with them, they acknowledged how strong the KD Squadron was.