Loser System and Berserker Me

Chapter 160: I’m Just Taking a Detour

The Lizard Queen was distraught, refusing to believe that Shu Yichao was single-handedly controlling hundreds of thousands of terracotta soldiers.

Fed up and anxious, the Antlion Whisperer urged, “My queen! It doesn’t matter how the other party pulled it off! We need to focus on breaking out of the encirclement right now!”

The Antlion Whisperer was horrified by Shu Yichao’s means too, but he understood what their priorities were. It didn’t matter how the Tangs were controlling the terracotta soldiers; figuring it out wouldn’t stop them from getting killed.

There was no point wallowing in disbelief and anger.

What they had to do now was to find a way to break out of the enemies’ encirclement, or else they would die miserably here!

Hu, hu! The Lizard Queen took two deep breaths before finally regaining her composure. “Have your antlions open up a path!”

The antlions stationed at the outer perimeter had dug deep pits to cushion the impact of the terracotta soldiers’ charge, but these smooth and wide pits would hinder the sand monitors’ movements too.

“My beautiful queen, I have already made preparations for that.” The Antlion Whisperer nodded. “Do you see that path over there?”

The Lizard Queen took a closer look, and indeed, there was a path between two pits that was wide enough for the sand monitors to maneuver through.

She knew that they were in a precarious position, and she couldn’t afford to devote troops to rescue the buried sand monitors. She had to retreat with her remaining sand monitors right now.

Wu, wuuu!

A chilling wind relayed the Lizard Queen’s flute order.

The sand monitors, who were struggling with the terracotta soldiers, quickly retreated upon hearing the flute.

The terracotta cavalrymen attempted to give chase, but…

“My servants!” The Antlion Whisperer struck a little drum he was carrying. “Stop them!”

The antlions began spitting out gravel they had rolled into a ball with their saliva.

Pu pu pu!

The gravel balls were ejected at incredible speeds, smashing into the terracotta cavalrymen with frightening forces.

Pah!

The terracotta cavalrymen didn’t have time to dodge or attempt any defensive maneuver before they shattered as broken bones and mud clumps. Under the gravel bombardment, they couldn’t even slow down the escaping sand monitors.

Some of the luckier cavalrymen who weren’t struck by the gravel charged to the corner of a pit, when their steeds suddenly lost their footing on slippery sand and tumbled in. Awaiting them at the bottom of the pit was an antlion with massive pincers.

Kacha!

The terracotta cavalrymen were snipped into halves.

Kacha kacha!

In just a few snips, the terracotta cavalrymen crumbled.

Having stopped the terracotta soldiers for the time being, the Lizard Queen let out a relieved sigh. However, she nearly suffered a heart attack when she checked on her casualties.

“Damn it!”

Of her 400 sand monitors, she had lost around 70 to 80 of them.

That was a huge blow, but thankfully, she should be able to recover with sufficient time. She glared hatefully at Shu Yichao and growled, “Just you wait, you brat! I will be back! Once I’m ready, I’ll thoroughly crush you and properly ‘educate’ you!”

She turned to the Antlion Whisperer and shouted, “We’ll retreat toward Khotan! Have your antlions slowly move southeast. Remember to leave sufficient space for my babies to charge down those lousy mud clumps!”

The Lizard Queen had finally regained herself.

The terracotta soldiers weren’t a match for the sand monitors in a normal fight; the only way they could take down the sand monitors was to drown them with their sheer numbers. As long as the terracotta soldiers’ formation remained loose, they wouldn’t stand a chance at all.

So, the method to break out of the encirclement was apparent to the Lizard Queen.

They would first have the antlions bombard the terracotta soldiers with their gravel balls, thinning their formation, before the sand monitors charged forth to reap them. Each time they cleared a new plot of land, a portion of the antlions would rush over to occupy the area.

Just like that, they would fight the terracotta soldiers while retreating their forces southeast.

“We’ll be safe once we combine forces with the garrison troops stationed at Khotan!”

Khotan had nigh impregnable walls, and their lightning defense towers could zap the terracotta soldiers to ashes.

On top of that, the city was surrounded by a moat that was connected to a major river that flowed through the Western Region, so the defeated terracotta soldiers would be washed away by the rapid tides. They wouldn’t be able to pile their carcasses up into a mountain.

“My queen, do you think they have other offensive means?”

The Antlion Whisperer thought that the plan sounded feasible.

However, to break the enemy’s encirclement of terracotta soldiers and retreat southeast, they would have to devote their troops to offense. This meant that their defense would be weakened. If the enemy had stronger troops that could quickly rip apart their defense line, they would be in a vulnerable position.

“Of course not.” The Lizard Queen rolled her eyes. “They would have long dispatched them if that was the case. Let’s begin our retreat.”

“Yes, my queen.”

“Oh?” Shu Yichao could tell what the enemies were planning to just by seeing their troops’ movements. “Trying to escape?”

Tzz, tzz!

A bundle of silver lightning crackled in his hands.

“Aren’t you looking down on me too much?”

Bzzzt!

A surge of lightning surged across the night sky like a roaring dragon, targeting an antlion camping inside a pit.

Bam!

Sand was blasted into the sky, and a miserable wail could be heard. The lightning pierced right through the antlion’s shell, searing its flesh and its organs… It was charred black in an instant.

One of the Antlion Whisperer’s carefully-planned defense strongholds was crippled just like that.

“Shit!” the Antlion Whisperer exclaimed in horror.

I thought that necromancer has no powerful long-ranged offensive means! Why would there suddenly be…

Damn it! Was he feigning weak to numb us, so that he can catch us off guard?

But that isn’t right. The Tang army would have no need for schemes if they wield absolute superiority in terms of military prowess; they could simply crush us right away.

The Antlion Whisperer’s head was plunged into chaos. He realized that their retreat wouldn’t be as smooth-sailing as they had envisioned.

Indeed, the earlier lightning was just the prelude.

The second and third bolt of lightning quickly followed. Soon, a rain of lightning arrows descended upon the monster armies like a furious storm.

The Antlion Whisperer’s defense line was obliterated in a matter of moments.

“This isn’t good!”

The Lizard Queen also saw through the situation. It turned out that the beautiful young man possessed powerful offensive means too, just that he had neglected to use it up until this point.

It looks like I have no choice but to abandon my babies to save myself.

“…” The Lizard Queen gritted her teeth before ordering, “Antlion Whisperer, leave a portion of your antlions behind to cover us!”

The Antlion Whisperer realized that, given how dire the situation, there was no way they could escape from here without sacrificing some of their troops. Thus, he grimly ordered a small team of his antlions to stay behind.

The Lizard Queen also left a small team of sand monitors behind.

Those two monster teams served to buy time for the others to escape.

Once that was done, the Antlion Whisperer and the Lizard Queen hurriedly fled southeast, fearing that Shu Yichao would catch up with them.

“Heh!” Shu Yichao was overjoyed. “Those are mine, all mine!”

Had the enemy ordered a all-out attack on him, he would have to zap some of the sand monitors to death. But with the direction where things were progressing, he might just be able to capture a huge number of sand monitors.

Tzla!

Silver lightning arrow descended yet again, searing the antlions into charred carcasses.

“Sss, sss!”

The remaining sand monitors first looked at the departing main army, then at their comrades who were slowly being zapped to death one by one, and finally, the endless waves of terracotta soldiers charging at them without rest.

Sand monitors were smarter than antlions. They were inclined to escape when panicking.

Wuu, wuu!

The Lizard Queen quickly blew the bone flute to calm them down.

Relax, it’s fine. I’m just taking a roundabout to encircle the terracotta soldiers from behind. I’ll return to save you very soon.

The sand monitors finally calmed down, but before they knew it, they were drowned by the terracotta soldiers, with only their heads exposed outside. They stared helplessly at their queen, praying that the latter would fulfill her promise and save them.

Then, they saw the Lizard Queen gallanting galloping off on her mount.

“Sss, ss ,sss?!”

“Hehe, I captured another dozen of them.” Shu Yichhao galloped forward on his steed. He looked at the trapped sand monitors with a satisfied smile. “Chase them! Make them spit out all my sand monitors!”

How dare these impudent thieves try to escape after stealing my mount?