Chapter 123: The Siege
George’s chin was a bit rough, and he was quite rude, pressing his tongue in. The hand gripping his lower back was strong, and it was also massaging his tail.
A scent of peach blossoms overwhelmed Geema; she felt it coming, her tail perked up, and her eyes were moist. There was some pain too—her lips hurt a bit, and her waist was sore, but she remained silent, enduring it all quietly.
He really liked my body, very much, very much…
Geema thought to herself, her eyes narrowing.
They didn’t know how long they kissed before George finally let go, and the two separated.
George’s expression was somewhat complex, and Geema could only see disappointment in his azure eyes.
Perhaps this kid realized that among his three women, I was very casual with my body, but no matter how many times he entered, I remained closed off, as hard as an iron tortoise.
Geema licked her lips, her cheeks flushed, and said, “It’s been a while since we’ve been together trying for offspring; perhaps we can find a free moment while fighting.”
George asked, “Can I ask why you suddenly want to get pregnant during this time?”
Come on, just getting what you want is already good enough; asking so many questions every day.
Geema felt a bit annoyed but didn’t show it; she couldn’t help but caress her flat belly and said:
“You could use your clever mind to guess slowly; if you can’t figure it out, you can ask Shuangye. She will definitely eavesdrop on our conversation; you’ll save the trouble of explaining it to her.”
As she spoke, she turned around, her black hair covering her slightly flushed nape. She pushed off hard against a rock with her long legs wrapped in tight pants, spread her wings, and soared into the air.
The “Savior Squad” marched for nearly five hours without any further incidents after Eve Shuangye’s report. The Squad faced sixteen battles in succession and dispatched them quickly against teams averaging a platinum level or higher, continuing forward.
As the terrain of the caves went up, when Geema felt they were about to reach the surface, the cave suddenly opened up, revealing a vast underground world lit by a faint green glow ahead.
Geema turned invisible and flew forward, the stalactites above swiftly retreating; she emerged from the cave into a broad underground expanse so vast that her sight couldn’t find its boundaries.
Below the cave entrance, the terrain quickly sloped down into the distance.
In the darkness, large patches of green light flickered, illuminating spots where ratmen appeared under the light before vanishing back into the darkness.
On a overseer’s platform, there was a large clock decorated with ratmen symbols, rat slaves under whips, dimension sorcerers with long horns holding staffs, outlines of rat trolls in the shadows, lines of plague catapults standing on the ground, and neatly arranged squads of ratman infantry, their battle flags standing like trees, made of dwarf skin and many hanging with dwarf beards.
This ratman army surrounded a dwarven city that could be described as magnificent, with tall, thick walls covered in numerous arrow towers to cover all shooting blind spots, and the city gates sculpted with giant dwarf faces, with a moat made of molten lava.
However, in many places, the moat had been breached, redirecting the lava elsewhere, and several originally sturdy walls were now pockmarked with holes. Squads of ratman infantry were advancing toward a section of the breached moat, where countless slave ratmen were turning their slings with force at the walls.
Compared to the ratmen’s downpour of attacks, the retaliatory crossbow bolts were pitifully few, like water splashed out of a basin.
Ratman infantry raised their shields and carried ladders to the base of the walls; lines of ladders were tipped against the wall full of gaps, where heavily armored dwarves were pushing the ladders down with forks, yet more ratmen rushed up the ladders, continually turning into corpses under the axe blades and falling down.
In comparison, the ratman infantry’s weapons had little lethality against the armored and battle-hardened dwarves. At least Geema didn’t see any dwarves get injured.
A flash of green light passed overhead as dimension lightning struck heavily down at the dwarves gathered at the wall gaps. Finally, Geema saw a dwarf fall.
The ratman army must be using its numerical advantage, attacking continuously to force the dwarves to gather together and bombard them with spells.
Geema concluded, glancing around but not seeing many ratmen. When they arrived, there had been at least hundreds; she landed and saw a dwarf engineer standing on a rock, looking into the distance and saying:
“…They haven’t stopped attacking.”
Geema flew over to George, who raised his face guard to look at her.
“Just like the dream reconnaissance results beforehand,” Geema said. “There are way too many ratmen here; I’ve never seen so many in my life—there must be nearly a hundred thousand ratmen. It’s unimaginable how they manage their logistics.”
This quantity, even if the ratmen stood in formation, densely packed, it would take the Savior Squad a month of using spells and weapons to barely make a dent.
“A direct face-to-face breakthrough probably won’t work,” George estimated and asked, “Can you reproduce the extraordinary abilities needed for us to infiltrate the fortress again?”
“Are you suggesting to go into a trap again?” Geema shook her head, as another green lightning strike flashed from afar, her shiny black horns reflecting the green light. “All extraordinary abilities can be countered and suppressed; it’s fine against unprepared enemies, but I suspect all ratmen already know about my abilities. If they’re prepared, it’s hard to sneak in.”
George instinctively stroked his chin in thought; he raised his hand, pointing at a large clock among the ratman army and said, “How about we raid that big clock?”
Geema followed his finger. That big clock was heavily guarded, surrounded by three temporary fortifications, and the ratmen were continuously reinforcing them. The number of powerful ratmen like dimension sorcerers and chieftains was as numerous there as regular soldiers.
Geema asked curiously, “George, is your head alright? This place is harder to break into than the dwarven city.”
“Exactly. I think that clock must be very valuable,” George said. “We could give it a try.”
“I don’t want to have to rely on my astonishing willpower to perform anesthesia surgery.”
Saint Janna spoke up: “We could try it.”
“Hmm?”
Geema looked at the oval-faced Saint Janna, curious about her thoughts.
“We could raid it and then negotiate with the ratman leader to let us into the city,” Saint Janna said. “Otherwise, if we keep mounting harassment attacks, even though ratmen are notorious liars, we have various means to ensure they keep their promises.”
Geema’s gaze fixed on Saint Janna’s face, the latter smiled shyly and said softly, “Is this proposal very ridiculous?”
So ridiculous that it would firmly occupy the tenth spot in “The Most Absurd Military Proposals I’ve Ever Heard” list. You’re likely just defending George’s suggestion, right?
However, considering Saint Janna’s broad-mindedness, Geema decided to respond with high emotional intelligence and said:
“In military meetings, rigidity is taboo; sometimes many innovative ideas that break from traditional thinking can bring fresh perspectives.”
If someone else said this to Geema, she would definitely retort with, “What nonsense,” and label the other person as an amateur who loves to talk nonsense. Strictly speaking, this was not incorrect, but the probability of success being “possible” was so small that even the cost of thinking about the feasibility of the proposal would be a loss.
After hearing this, Saint Janna smiled.
George said, “Let’s not raid after all.”
“Ah?” Saint Janna asked, “Isn’t that proposal good?”
George took responsibility for the team and said, “It’s ridiculous.”
“Ah?”
Saint Janna’s smile disappeared.
“What’s there to discuss in a meeting?” Butcher Troik approached, panting and huffing, “Didn’t we just dig our way out of Duolong City? We can go back the same way, can’t we? You holy folks, do you always just think about holding meetings?”
“If I’m not mistaken, you were killing your way out, right?” Geema said. “Won’t the ratmen fill in the hole you came out through?”
“There must be other holes,” Butcher Troik said. “Much better than you humans bunching up here for a meeting, as if we had an army behind us.”
In the end, everyone agreed with Butcher Troik’s suggestion and planned to go see.
The group followed the dwarves, learning about the situation in Duolong City as they walked.
This underground world was like a funnel, and Duolong City was blocked at the mouth of the funnel, which had two layers: one above ground and one underground, with the main city underground.
Geema asked, “What about the part above ground?”
Butcher Troik fell silent for a moment and said, “We used slabs and granite to block off the upper passages.”
In other words, it had already fallen, but the dwarves didn’t want to broach this painful matter directly.
Eve Shuangye interjected, “Fallen?”
The other three dwarves cast a glare at Eve Shuangye in unison.
Geema asked, “Since we have to pass through Duolong City, haven’t the ratmen tried to dig a new path to bypass it?”
“Impossible,” Butcher Troik said. “The rocks here are either granite or obsidian; digging around Duolong City is simply not feasible.”
“All are rocks.”
“You little demon, know nothing about the underground,” Butcher Troik said. “Aren’t there steep terrains on the surface? A fortress plugs up between two peaks, surrounded by sheer cliffs, and there’s no small path around it. Duolong City’s terrain is even more treacherous. Unless you walk on the surface and scale obstacles, there’s no way to bypass Duolong City.”
“Is there a surface exit here?”
“Still very large.” Butcher Troik said, “In the past, countless trade caravans went to the surface from there; at that time, Duolong City was thriving, and we dwarves built a wide road that was far smoother than any race has built on the surface.”
Eve Shuangye interjected again, “That time” was definitely older than my grandmother.
The three dwarves again glared fiercely at Eve Shuangye.
This former ally, engaging in an unprecedented bloody battle against each other, was not without reason.
