Chapter 265 Underground Maze (2/2)
Viola was very experienced. Under his guidance, the group soon noticed the differences between the paths.
It looks like the Church and the Dark Association had chosen different paths and left their respective signs at the entrance of the paths in order to avoid another large-scale conflict before they arrived at the relic of the giant dragon. It gave their reinforcements sufficient information while at the same time warned the factions following behind them. Entering the path recklessly would cause them to face their merciless attacks.
”The Cross Symbol of the Church, the Blood-colored Rose of the Dark Association, the Angus family's Eye of Dead Souls, the Blood Moon of the Wolf Troop Team… Oh, the Crystal Skull of the Beastmen and the Galaxy Sword of the Bellimore family!”
Goode's expression became more and more grave as he looked at the various symbols at the tunnels. The group might not recognize all of the symbols at the tunnels, but Goode, who was once a noble from the Banto Empire and a ex-military minister of considerable status, was familiar with the insignia of several ancient families. Every insignia at the tunnel belonged to a powerful faction!
Under Goode's explanation, the group quickly became clear of the factions represented by the insignias!
Amongst the many factions, the abilities of the Troop Team could be said to be the weakest. But under such a situation, they would naturally be able to obtain the support of the many troops. They definitely have the highest number of people, making their overall ability nothing to be scoffed at.
This was even more so for the Church and the Dark Association, as their influences ran deep beyond comprehension. The Angus family was a family of Undead Wizards rarely seen on the continent, able to command a large group of zombies, skeletons and dead Magical Beasts to do battle, their abilities immense. Over the millennia, even the Church could not do anything against them.
The Beastmen had the fiercest warriors in the continent, as well as the terrifying Beastman priests. If the elites have come out of their abodes, no one could imagine just how terrifying their battle capabilities would be.
The Bellimore family has always kept a low profile, and an average person would not have heard of their names. However, many people from large families with thousands of years of history knew of how powerful they were. Over the millennia, there had been five Domain Experts that wielded the sword in the continent. Amongst them, two of them came from the Bellimore family. The abilities of the Bellimore family was to be imagined!
Split up, or concentrate our firepower and barge into one tunnel?
Yang Ling was hesitant for the moment after understanding the abilities of the various factions. Splitting up his forces into the six different paths might allow them to collect the greatest number of Magical Beast corpses and obtain the most benefits within the shortest amount of time; However, their abilities would decrease greatly if they split up. The outcome would be disastrous if they were to suffer from an attack from the various factions.
It was alright for him, as he could retreat to safety at any time using the Wizard Pagoda's Space, but the rest of the people might die here!
Where there's life, there's hope!
After repeated deliberations, Yang Ling quickly came to a decision, prepared to head toward the tunnel the Wolf Troop Team had taken. It was simple, most of the troops that had came here in hopes of profit would have taken this tunnel, and it was easy for him to take advantage of their misfortune. Furthermore, the Wolf Troop Team, who was the most powerful faction in the tunnel, would not see them as an enemy if there were no grave conflicts of interests.
But this was not the same for the other tunnels. Yang Ling believed that the factions like the Church or the Angus family would not tolerate his group picking up the loot far behind them. He also could not guarantee that the Dark Association would not suddenly fall out with him and take action.
With this many powerful factions eyeing the prize, the first to get the Divine Weapons might not be the ones who would have the last laugh!
Even though he did not fear the various powerful factions, Yang Ling was not willing to easily engage in a direct battle with them unless it was absolutely necessary. Inciting conflict between the factions and taking advantage of the chaos was better aligned to his interests.
Under his instructions, the heavily armored Bullmen took the lead and entered the pitch-black tunnel. The Ogres followed behind, while the Medusas and forest elves stayed at the center; Behind them were the Barbarians and Galapagos Tortoisemen.
The entrance to the tunnel was not large, but there was a hidden world within. An ordinary cave would get narrower the deeper inside they went, but this tunnel got wider as they moved. Soon, it was able to accommodate twenty Bullmen warriors walking in a row. At the same time, there would frequently be small split roads that appeared at both sides of the tunnel, so dark that it seemed like sinister, bottomless pits.
As a precaution, the Ox Chief led his personal guards in lighting up torches, moving to the very front of the formation. Originally, with that many troops paving the way for them, there should not be large groups of Magical Beasts roaming around the area. Unexpectedly, the group had not travelled too far when a wave of strange cries came from the surroundings.
Hiss…
Balls of green light suddenly appeared from within the darkness following the strange cries, increasing in number. The group tossed out a few torches to get a closer look, only to discover that those were not green light, but the eyeballs of a large number of giant pythons!
Most of the giant pythons were a dozen meters long, the shortest of them around eight meters. Their red tongues flickered at high speeds, their green eyes staring straight at the group. Their bodies were coiled, slowly slithering as they prepared to strike!
”Not good, Green Pythons, quick, get into formation!”
Just as the group was about to get a closer look, Yang Ling quickly understood the situation surrounding them through the Horned Bee Beasts he had sent to scout the area. He gave a loud order as the feeling of danger got more and more obvious.
For some reason, the radius of his senses had gotten increasingly smaller from the moment he had set foot in the cave, the images transmitted back to him by the Horned Bee Beasts also getting more and more blurry. The situation was similar to the back then at the Black Forest, the deeper into the cave he went, the more serious the problem became!