Time continued to elapse rapidly. Another two days had passed. Overall speaking, it was already the 8th day of the Windstone Highland's siege.
In the past, the Mosake clansmen had once controlled several powerful creatures from afar, and implanted their souls into those creatures to assassinate them. Sheyan and the rest had always maintained strict vigilance, and were constantly under the encirclement of hundreds of zerglings.
As for old Mourbo, he was a priest of Mother Nature Eywa. Hence, he could easily discern the differences of those parasitized beasts. Sheyan had also brought him along with him at all times.
Within these 48 hours, another 17 Mosake clansmen had managed to escape. Undoubtedly, they were exceedingly fortunate. Due to the dwindling numbers of their clansmen, and the heightened vigilance of the mighty Chieftain Cherokee, most of their fleeing clansmen had been slaughtered within these 48 hours. Their corpses had been stored as food, and amongst them, there was even a legendary Knight.
After obtaining this information, Sheyan began to congregate his forces, and deployed 800 zerglings as a reserve force to form a perimeter defense. The remaining 1000 zerglings were divided into 5 squads, each squad 200 zerglings (Any more and they wouldn't be able to display their might in such a narrow terrain, and would only be sending themselves to their deaths). Every 20 minutes, they would launch an assault against the Mosake clan's structures.
Even though every squad of zerglings would be annihilated within 20 minutes, after the 1000 zerglings had completed their assault, an entire 100 minutes had elapsed. Within this 100 minutes, the Blackthorn tribe's triangular shoal base could replenish at least 600 zerglings. In addition to the 800 zerglings in the reserve force, they had a total of 1400 mobile troops in their hands. Hence, Sheyan wasn't worried about the Mosake clan's counterattack.
More crucially, even if the thousand zerglings were annihilated, the time required for Sheyan to accumulate another thousand zerglings would be roughly half an hour after the battle concluded. He would then continue employing such a frenzied tactic of attrition; continuously unleashing 200 zerglings in an uninterrupted assault! Such a tactic of exhaustion was exceedingly cruel, yet extremely effective. Nevertheless, the impact it had on the morale of his own forces was exceedingly severe.
Fortunately, the morale of the arachnid race was solely dependent on the mood of their Overmind. Furthermore, when the Blackthorn Overmind was faced with such a massive amount of pandora energy crystals, he was practically behaving like a miser lying on a mountain of gold …..
The cruel war of attrition lasted for less than a day, before the remaining Mosake clansmen couldn't hold on any longer. Sheyan calculated the total number of zerglings killed, it actually exceeded ten thousand. The difficulty of this Golden Side Mission could be seen at a glance. However, Sheyan didn't want the spoils of war, he only wanted the final mission reward. Without a doubt, the resistance they faced was much less.
When the siege of the Windstone Highland reached 9 a.m. on the tenth day, the symbolic sacred ground of the Mosake clan – the Sacrificial Pyramid – was overrun. What was surprising was that this magnificent and towering pyramid was actually hollow. After moving a few sliding boulders, there was actually a very hidden secret passage that led underground. That day, Sheyan had rushed in and left in a hurry, hence he didn't discover this mechanism.
Nevertheless, it was gratifying to note that the end of this secret passageway should be a dead end and a land of despair. If not, the Mosake clan would've long fled along the other end of this secret passageway. What was the point of persisting till now? Sheyan wasn't in a hurry here. First, he called for a Mosake clansman who had joined the Takji clan, before instructing him to identify the corpses.
Finally, he concluded – Excluding those who perished in battle and those who escaped, the Mosake clan basically only had 20-30 clansmen remaining. It was practically impossible for them to make a comeback. With such a mindset, Sheyan pondered for a moment, before dispatching 30 zerglings into the secret passageway to scout ahead.
That secret passageway was filled with layers of mechanisms, and the 30 zerglings could be said to be wiped out cleanly. Nevertheless, those layers of mechanisms that could easily insta-kill Sheyan and the rest had been destroyed by more than half. After sacrificing close to a hundred zerglings, the path ahead was basically unblocked.
Nevertheless, after careful contemplation, Sheyan realized that according to the era of this secret passageway's mechanisms, the imaginary enemies of these mechanisms definitely weren't humans or zerglings. Instead, they were definitely of the same race. Therefore, there would definitely be hidden dangers.
With a twist of his thoughts, Sheyan didn't hold back with old Mourbo, and bluntly pouted his lips. At this moment, old Mourbo unleashed his tyrannical authority as a patriarch, and commanded the rest to enter alongside the zerglings.
After entering, they indeed tested several mechanisms before exiting. Nevertheless, due to the majority of the mechanisms having been trampled through previously, and relying on the agility of the Takji clan's warriors, there weren't any casualties. After roughly half an hour, the secret passageway was repeatedly traversed twice. Only after ascertaining that there weren't any dangers, did they inform Sheyan and the rest to enter. According to the descriptions of the Takji clan members, the space below was exceedingly vast, and utterly devoid of any abnormalities.
At present, it was already evening. The setting sun was like blood, as it smeared a layer of gentle afterglow over the entire Mosake clan's structures. However, the chilling chill of the night had already surfaced, as though the sun was helplessly retreating in defeat under the pressure of darkness.
Sheyan stared at the pitch-black entrance of the secret passageway, and was about to step in when he suddenly inhaled deeply. His heart was brimming with vigilance, and he was momentarily hesitant. After all, he had personally faced the formidable Cherokee, and personally experienced the mysteriousness, brutality and bloodthirstiness of his main body!
At this moment, Mogensha and Reef noticed Sheyan's hesitation. Reef couldn't help but exclaim.
"Boss, we're after all undertaking a Golden Side Mission! We mustn't be careless. "
This sentence instantly jolted Sheyan awake. He took a deep breath and slapped his own cheeks with both hands. "Pa!" He exclaimed.
"You guys are right. Our progress in invading the Mosake clan is indeed too smooth. Hence, I'd rather delay a little more for stability, and avoid risks as much as possible."
Mogensha nodded and replied.
"That's right, boss. You're in a hurry to conclude this mission, and seize the opportunity of controlling the arachnids to head to the RDA base to see if there are any side missions right? There's really no need for that. To be able to properly complete this Golden Side Mission, that's already an unexpected reward! More haste, less speed, and greed will only lead to failure! "
After the trio reached an agreement, they discarded their plans to enter the cave. Rather than waste more time, they had to avoid risks. After a brief discussion, they decided to directly dispatch their zerglings. No matter how vast the space inside was, they had to explore every nook and cranny before deciding. In the end, even after dispatching 500 zerglings, they still hadn't managed to thoroughly explore the surrounding environment.
It turned out that the underground space was astonishingly large. It was estimated that the entire top of the Windstone Plateau was just a thin layer of crust. This kind of geographical environment was almost impossible to appear on Earth, but for this planet rich in Pandora ores, mountains floating in the air could be found everywhere. Therefore, it was not strange for such a strange geographical structure to form.
Gradually, the exploration of the underground cavern became more detailed, and after a detailed study of the map, the trio suddenly glanced at each other in dismay. Perhaps the entire Windstone Highland was actually a dormant volcano that had been dormant for an unknown period of time!
As previously mentioned, the Windstone Highland's external appearance was like a sawed off tree stump magnified by a thousand times. Its ceiling appeared flat. However, this flat surface was actually a facade. The thinnest surface of the Windstone Highland was roughly 10 metres thick, like a drum's skin covering the massive crater of the volcano.
Of course, densely packed natural pillars formed beneath the crater of the volcano as support, as though concealing the secrets of the volcano. Such an environment could be described as a work of the gods. Nevertheless, Sheyan's mind seemed to have grasped onto something extremely crucial.
The corrupted na'vi race, divine arts that were similar to Goddess Eywa's, or perhaps even more formidable. An overly coincidental and bizarre geographical environment, a Tree of Souls that grew in the water …..
All these fragments flitted across Sheyan's mind, as though he was only lacking a single clue to link them all together. Yet while he was contemplating, he suddenly felt a tremor coming from underground. Sheyan's first reaction was an earthquake. Following closely, incessant rumbling sounds of collapsing drifted into his ears. Very quickly, old Mourbo ran over in a flustered and exasperated manner as he yelled.
"Dammit! That damned secret passageway actually collapsed. My five clansmen are still exploring inside!! "
The trio glanced at each other, cold sweat trickling down their backs. In their hearts, they rejoiced at the fact that they had survived a calamity. Indeed, their previous cautiousness wasn't in vain! How could there be such a coincidental matter, why would this secret passageway collapse now of all times? Most likely, Cherokee, who had escaped inside, possessed the ability to control the mechanisms of this secret passageway!
Most likely, he was already feeling powerless against those 500 zerglings. Hence, to ensure that the trio wasn't fooled, and merely dispatched cannon fodders, he was forced to resort to his trump card – sealing off the passageway to buy time.
At present, old Mourbo was already frowning miserably, as he sighed in despair. Because his nephew was buried within the collapsed passageway ….. according to his estimations, to excavate the collapsed passageway would require at least half a month. By then, even if his nephew didn't perish in the collapse, he would've starved to death. Of course, the most terrifying outcome would be being devoured by the famished Cherokee.
Instead, Sheyan heaved a long sigh of relief. One must understand, that secret passageway wasn't merely their marching route, but was most likely Cherokee's only escape route. He was forced to blow up his own escape route, one could tell he was truly at the end of his rope. As for the collapse of the passageway, Sheyan wasn't worried at all ….. even though he lacked heavy construction tools, he could still casually deploy dozens of arachnid drones! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian.com to vote for me. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
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