Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 410 - 401: First Battle
The Snake-man troops did not advance all at once; the initial wave of about seven or eight hundred soldiers formed a skirmish line, slithering toward the city walls.
These warriors from the Northern Territory were tall, generally over two meters when standing upright. Although their racial growth potential was similar to humans, their physical condition at comparable levels surpassed humans.
Moreover, this expeditionary force was the elite of the Snake-man Race, freshly tempered by war. Their average level was a notch above that of the city’s defenders!
In mid-air, a member of the Winged People cautiously held a Puki while flying forward.
He didn’t dare to rush too fast; being overly reckless and misjudging the distance would result in what happened to a fellow tribe member earlier—a water arrow from a Snake-man mage in the rear struck, forcing an awkward landing and getting killed.
Once he felt ready, he vigorously tossed the Puki from his claws into the midst of the Snake-man group.
The Puki tumbled through the air, its short legs fluttering wildly in the wind, about to fall.
Boom——
A small patch of open ground exploded amid the Snake-man crowd below, propelling two Snake-men soldiers into the air, but the defensive scales only inflicted light injuries.
At the same time, on the city wall.
"Are you an idiot? Why did you detonate it early?"
"I... I thought it was fine! If it were later, it would have splattered on the ground!"
Angela stopped the arguing Puki Masters: "Stop it, use all the Pukis! Use them all!"
This temporary lady commander was not a Puki Master by training; she now hoped these cheap magic pets could deplete the enemy before the full engagement, even if only their Physical Strength.
There were still over four hundred Puki Masters within the city, and nearly eight thousand Pukis swarmed out from the open city gates.
Then, a stampede occurred as expected.
The Puki Masters, participating in battle for the first time, had long forgotten their trained tactics, mechanically repeating charge commands to the Pukis.
Fortunately, these round and light Pukis didn’t cause significant casualties among themselves during the stampede.
Initially, seeing the field of white pour out of the gates, the charging speed of the Snake-men slowed visibly.
The sight of the Pukis surging like a tide was indeed visually impactful.
But when they realized what was coming, the Snake-men erupted into hissing mockery, speeding their charge once more.
When the first Snake-man soldier encountered the Puki array, it went as expected; he casually swung his spear, and five Pukis turned into scattered remains.
This scene only made the Snake-men soldiers more disdainful.
The next moment, black and white torrents collided together.
"Shoot! Crossbowmen, shoot quickly!" another commander shouted loudly.
"But, the Pukis are still..."
"Are you crazy? Who cares about the Pukis! Shoot!"
The sporadic rain of arrows, mixed with Puki shots from the Mushroom Cannons on the walls, began indiscriminately attacking both combatants below.
It must be said, these eight hundred Snake-men had the ability to launch a charge.
Arrows from the defenders either bounced off their scales or barely broke through to cause non-lethal injuries. But when accidentally hitting Pukis, it always resulted in instant death.
With the dual gaps of racial values and levels, letting the Snake-men reach the walls would undoubtedly quickly crush the defenders’ morale.
Still, the Snake-man vanguard commander had already sensed something was wrong.
His thick snake tail abruptly contracted, narrowly avoiding a steel fork stabbed from the side.
The fork-holder was a fellow Snake-man soldier, who hastened to squeeze out an apologetic smile upon realizing and pointed to a nearby passing Puki, indicating he intended only to attack that little creature...
While this fool attempted to explain, the commander witnessed another Puki dart out from behind and latch onto that soldier’s tail.
The soldier immediately convulsed as if electrocuted, his body twisting uncontrollably before collapsing heavily.
He wasn’t dead, but paralyzed on a chaotic battlefield, it was hardly different from being dead.
The commander quickly speared two Pukis trying to approach, scanning the battlefield swiftly.
Similar situations were unfolding everywhere!
Initially, when the armies were clearly divided, it wasn’t apparent. But once the battle line intertwined, he suddenly felt as if they were trying to stomp on cockroaches scattered all over the ground.
These diminutive mushroom creatures navigated agilely through the tall Snake-men, with pathways everywhere for them to traverse.
Every swing from a Snake-man risked injuring a comrade, forcing their actions to become hesitant and restrained, greatly reducing their attack frequency.
They couldn’t ignore these Pukis!
Electrifying, self-destructing, poisonous - they made the Snake-men miserable!
They were brave tribal warriors, not all-capable special forces. They were entirely unprepared for these endless unconventional tactics.
The Puki’s lethality was most astonishing! 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
A wound on the tail of the Snake-man commander bled steadily; it was inflicted when he swatted a rapidly spinning Puki to death with his tail.
The sharp edge had easily cut through his hard scales, leaving such deep wounds.
He was baffled as to why the humans on the walls, although weak, had pets whose attacks were stronger than their arrows?
Should they retreat?
Just because of these walking mushrooms?
"Cough, cough..." While the Snake-man commander hesitated, he suddenly started coughing violently, uncontrollably.
A sense of weakness spread from his chest throughout his body, and he alarmingly realized his grip on his weapon inexplicably weakened.
He looked up sharply, noticing the countless dead Pukis leaving the air filled with visible spore dust, hovering over the battlefield like a thin mist.
Who knew how many toxins were mixed into those floating particles!
As he raised a hand to issue a retreat command, a sharp hiss symbolizing retreat came from the Snake-man main force behind him.
Though wounded, the Snake-men withdrew in an orderly fashion, even helping heavily wounded comrades, using strong bodies to assist the injured Snake-men in retreating.
On the city wall, Viscount Knight, excited, wanted to order a pursuit, but Angela and another commander firmly restrained him.
Many soldiers in the defending army erupted into cheers of relief from having survived, hardly believing they’d repelled such a ferocious Demon Race attack!
A tally showed over three thousand Pukis dead, killing around a hundred Snake-men.
Angela wasn’t too pleased, knowing so many more Snake-men remained, and one or two more waves of attack would break their defense.
...
Across the way, the Snake-man leader regarded the battered vanguard returning and looked equally grim.
He had thought this was just a small city easily breached, not expecting to lose over a hundred warriors without even reaching the walls!
"Chief, we’re running short on Antitoxic Potions!"
The returning Snake-men mostly showed varying degrees of poisoning. After all, they weren’t a regular army of the Demon Race; their logistics weren’t as comprehensive.
"Use it for those most poisoned; as for the less poisoned... tough it out!"
The vanguard commander was also poisoned but didn’t claim any precious antidote, lugging his weary body to the leader’s side: "Boss, do we keep fighting?"
The leader didn’t respond immediately, instead glancing at the Priest beside him, eyes closed and sensing.
The Priest’s hands were clasped, magic power circulating around, linked closely with the Floating Eye of perception high in the sky.
After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes: "Inside the city, large clusters of these white creatures remain, likely all this kind of magic pet."
Upon hearing the report, the Snake-man leader made his decision: "Pass the order, veer west. I remember there’s a town there."
Although angry at the loss, once confirming this was tough to crack, he certainly wouldn’t continue bleeding his people here.
This solo operation away from the main force was already a reward from the Demon Race for their assistance.
If they suffered heavy losses for this, it would be counterproductive.
As the troops moved out, the leader specifically reminded the Priest: "Next time we encounter these damned walking mushrooms, warn me in advance. Our tribe’s blood shouldn’t be wasted in places like this!"
