Chapter 98: Goblin Musket Team

Foul-smelling water flowed slowly in the brick channels, with indescribable grease and rot floating on the surface. The arches were high, enough for Gnolls to straighten their backs, and on both sides were narrow side paths for maintenance walking.

Deeper inside were the roaring main trunk channels and intricate pipe networks. The air was filled with swamp gas, mold, and the sweet, mixed scent of the Abyss, enough to make alien creatures dizzy.

Ye Kemu's claws stepped on the slippery brick surface, silently. His troops spread out in this man-made rock cave like the dark water flow itself.

Gnolls occupied the center of the passage and key intersections. Their formation appeared unusually crowded in the sewer, like moving rocks. Water droplets condensed on the iron-clad leather armor, and weapons hung low.

But every pair of eyes glowing in the dim light stared vigilantly at the dark corridors ahead, the bottomless sewage channels on both sides, and the pipe cracks dripping with slime above. Here, attacks could come from any direction.

The Goblin Mobile Corps Commander squads had completely blended into the environment. Their lean bodies clung to the recesses of the brick walls, clinging to rusty iron ladders and pipes like geckos, and some even suspended in the shadows of the arches with the help of rough ropes.

They were Ye Kemu's eyes and ears, and also the setters of deadly traps. Poison-dipped blowpipes aimed at every drainage outlet, and under some seemingly ordinary puddles or bricks, animal traps or fragile poison gas bladders were hidden.

The Goblin musket team was placed on high platforms or stable trestles that were relatively dry and had slightly better vision. They were restless because the humid air in the sewer was a threat to gunpowder.

The thick-barreled muskets they held tightly in their arms, loaded with "explosive bullets," appeared even more dangerous in this confined space, not only killing enemies but also potentially shaking down rubble or causing unpredictable swamp gas backfire.

In a huge circular confluence hall, which was originally the hub of water flow, it had now become a hotbed for demons, and it was the target to be cleaned this time. Dark red, pulsating fungal mats covered most of the walls and the bottom of the pool, with countless demon eggs attached to them, like a pile of cysts emitting filthy, faint light.

The sewage here became sticky, shimmering with unnatural phosphorescence. And the demons guarding this place were not the ordinary swamp varieties on the surface, but variants completely adapted to this humid, dark, and rot-filled environment.

Nauseating Drown-Gut Monsters emerged quietly from the sewage; they were like a combination of half-melted amphibians and worms, without eyes, only a giant mouth filled with spiral sharp teeth, able to slide silently and spray digestive fluid with strong corrosiveness from their mouths.

Plague-Mold Spore Demons born from the fungal clusters on the arches, like floating rotting jellyfish, had pus-yellow spores flowing within their translucent bodies, moving slowly; wherever they passed, they would scatter toxic mold that caused skin ulceration and lung fibrosis.

A Rust-Corrosion Lurker disguised as an abandoned pipe suddenly launched an attack on a Gnoll on the side, disrupting Ye Kemu's deployment; they were a specialty of the sewer, shaped like giant steel centipedes, a twisted combination with carapace creatures, and the shell was rust-red.

They were skilled in suddenly ejecting from the side or maintenance ports under their feet, launching attacks with sharp hook claws and mouthparts capable of secreting rust-corrosion enzymes, posing a great threat to the Gnolls' metal weapons and armor.

"Formation, hold position!" Ye Kemu roared, his voice echoing in the corridors.

The Gnoll troops instantly contracted, giant shields moved forward, and long-handled weapons stabbed out from the gaps, forming a barbed embankment, blocking the pouncing of the Drown-Gut Monsters and the corrosive liquid. The corrosive liquid splashed on the shields and bricks, emitting "sizzling" sounds, and white smoke rose.

"Guerrillas, point-kill the Spore Demons, clear the ambush points!"

The Goblins on the arches and walls moved. Blowpipes and short bows aimed at the fragile spore sacs of the Plague-Mold Spore Demons, attempting to shoot them down before they spread large amounts of toxic mist. Others used long poles or grappling hooks to risk exploring suspicious pipe outlets and shadows, attempting to disturb or mark the Rust-Corrosion Lurkers in advance.

"Musket team..." Ye Kemu looked at the demons writhing and reinforcing in the fungal mat, as well as the potentially larger shadows in the depths of the confluence hall, and ordered decisively: "Volley, bombard the egg clusters and fungal mat nodes! Watch out for the echo above!"

"Hehehehaha——!" The Goblin musket men laughed frantically, lighting the fuses.

"Boom! Boom boom boom——!"

The explosion produced terrifying loud noises and echoes in the confined space of the sewer, shaking the bricks and stones to fall rustlingly. The explosive bullets bloomed on the fungal mat, tearing the demon eggs into pieces in swaths, and sticky pulp splashed everywhere.

The flames ignited the fungal mat itself and the swamp gas that might have accumulated, triggering a short-lived deflagration in the confluence hall, the strong light instantly illuminating the entire filthy hall, and also reflecting more strange shadows surging from the depths.

But the shockwave of the explosion and broken bricks also threatened their own people. Some Goblins clinging to high places were shaken down and fell into the sewage below. A loosened arch stone hit a Gnoll squad.

"Advance! Don't give them a chance to breathe!" Ye Kemu ignored these costs and waved his claws forward. The regular army began to step on the filth and squeeze forward steadily. The musket team threw special smoke bombs downward in the intervals of reloading, attempting to dispel the toxic mist and interfere with the demons' perception.

The battle turned into a bloody tug-of-war in narrow, humid, and crisis-ridden pipes. Drown-Gut Monsters sneaked in the sewage, Plague-Mold Spore Demons were constantly born from new fungal clusters, and Rust-Corrosion Lurkers relied on the environment to launch deadly surprise attacks.

Every step Ye Kemu's troops advanced, they had to pay the price of blood and life, using claws, blades, poison, and explosions to painstakingly purify this huge underground tomb transformed by the Abyss.

The turbid water flow gradually turned dark red and purple-black, and the sounds of roaring, explosions, and corrosion were transmitted and echoed in the intricate pipes, as if the sewer itself was groaning in death. Ye Kemu stood in the ankle-deep foul blood, his yellow pupils coldly evaluating the battle situation.

Cleaning this nest was just one chapter of this underground war, and the pollution of the Abyss had long since seeped into the depths of the pipe network along the water flow.

In the sewer filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke and blood, Ye Kemu's hoarse laughter echoed between the brick arches. He held a thick-barreled musket that was still emitting a scorched smell, turned to the Harpy standing silently in the shadows, and patted the gun barrel with a foul claw, splashing a few points of mud.

"Hahahaha! Lady Tali, look, this group of musket men is really powerful!" He parted his long snout, his yellow pupils flashing with rare light, "When I was tinkering with this thing for them, I was still muttering: Goblins? Muskets? But now looking at it, the explosion is really satisfying! Your idea is really wisdom shining from an eagle's eye, shining into this ghost place!"

"Oh?" A low, slow cry came from Tali's throat, like a light laugh, and like a scrutiny. She tucked her stained wings, moved her gaze away from Ye Kemu's excited face, and cast it toward the chaos still exploding in the distance.

"Since even an old guy like you who crawled out of a pile of corpses says it's good, then it seems it's really not bad." Her voice was sharp and calm, like a blade cutting through the dull air. "These little things that are good for nothing except causing trouble, finally can use that bit of talent for destruction on the right path."

"Lady Tali, you also know that this sewer is a meat grinder." Ye Kemu's voice lowered a bit, his claws unconsciously rubbing the rough gun barrel, "The Gnoll main force was transferred away, and the few people I have on hand are filling it with their lives every day. This batch of musket teams... indeed played a big role."

"Want them?" Tali tilted her head, a low sound like metal friction came from her throat, as if a light laugh. "Just pay the price."

She raised a claw covered with wings and pointed vaguely at the battlefield still clamoring below. "This team didn't grow out of the soil. The muskets were modified by Gnome masters invited from the Astral city, just to let those green-skinned little lunatics hold them steady and explode them loudly. The manpower is not much..."

Her gaze turned sharply to Ye Kemu, her tone slowed down, but every word was clear:

"Of course, the most valuable things are those alchemical bullets. We can't make these things here. Every one of them is real gold flowing in from the outside."

"Uh... this," Ye Kemu's claws unconsciously tightened on the rough gun barrel, his voice lowered a bit, carrying obvious difficulty, "Lady Tali, after all... aren't we all working for Grand Duke Sakavi? If this money is to be paid by me, even if I grind my whole body into powder, I won't be able to scrape it together."

He raised his eyes, his yellow pupils flashing with embarrassment and probing light, his voice mixed with the roughness and pragmatism of a battlefield veteran: "Look, how about this, I will immediately submit a report to the top, writing down the battle results of the musket team and the casualties in our sewers clearly. This account... must be recognized by the top, right?"

"Whether your Marshal Sha Lu Te recognizes this account, I can't say for sure." Tali combed the black feathers on her wingtips slowly, her movements leisurely, but her voice carried a trace of metallic coldness.

"When this team was formed, I emptied my savings. The budget of the Interior Ministry? Didn't even hear a sound." She raised her eyes, her gaze as sharp as a knife, "No way, had to spend my own money."

Ye Kemu's jawbone tightened violently, and his canine teeth rubbed to make a clear "clucking" sound. He stared at Tali, his turbid yellow eyes churning with struggle, finally suppressed by a near-fierce decisiveness.

"... Okay." This word seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his throat, carrying the roughness of sand and stone rubbing. "You name the price." He forced half a step forward, his foul breath almost spraying in front of the other party, "My people can't be filled into this bottomless pit batch after batch anymore."

"Easy to say." A low sound near pleasure escaped from Tali's throat, and her wings folded elegantly, "This group of Goblin Mobile Corps Commander squads, just take it as a bonus I give you. As for the money..."

She tilted her head slightly, her sharp gaze pinning Ye Kemu like a hook.