Sage pulled out a map and spread it onto the ground in front of the two Centurions and their twenty Squad Commanders. He quickly pointed to area in the center, “This is the compound.”

Then he pointed out a few landmarks to make sure they could orient themselves, then he marked out two spots on the map, “9th Century, I need you to send four squads to each of these two locations. There will be a tunnel hidden underneath a rock marked with this symbol,” at which point he traced out a small shape on the ground, “Find the tunnel and cause a ruckus at the entrance. Don’t overcommit. The tunnels will be narrow and likely filled with traps. I don’t want you to die in there, just try to get their attention and then guard the exit from outside.”

Then he pointed to another two spots, “10th Century. I need four squads at these two spots. Same orders. Draw their attention and don’t get killed in there.”

The Squad Commanders and Centurions nodded, and Sage continued, “Last and most importantly. Centurions, pick your two best squads and come with me,” He pointed to another spot on the map, “We’re going in here, and we’re after the person causing this whole mess.”

He indicated the battle going on with the tar people a few hundred yards away, “It’s not going to be easy, but the space in the tunnels is limited. I don’t want to leave this down to attrition, especially since we don’t know how many of those damn things can be made. We’re going to sneak in and cut the head off the snake.”

After explaining the mission, it became quite obvious by ‘best squads’, Sage meant the ones most willing to risk their lives. Of course, that applied to all the Hoplites, it was more a matter of the most brave Squad Commanders that would lead them. He also needed the Centurions because they were the strongest on the force save for the Legionnaire, Zhang Tu. Zhang Tu was a level 43, but he was needed to back up the main forces if something unexpected happened. Each Legionnaire had to be in the fourth rank, while Centurions were at least in the later half of rank 3 and Squad Commanders in the early half of rank 3. Hopefully, those standards would rise in the future, but for now they had to take what they could get.

He also had a whole horde of insects and birds he could bring out as reinforcements, but that wouldn’t be a very good test for himself or the Horde. It would also expose his secrets to the men of the Jade Horde or worse yet, his enemies.

The Centurions quickly divided up their squads to the task and gathered with twenty men each. Sage led them to the location where he’d already uncovered the most remote of the secret entrances. The Warp Worm had scouted things out as quickly as it could, and after finding five underground entrances, Sage couldn’t waste any more time and set to work. The hope was that with four other squads drawing attention and causing a fuss, the enemy would lose trust in their secret exits. That could give them time to move in and let Sage battle with the boss. Or, it might scare them out and get them to escape from another tunnel. With the backup legion to prevent them from getting away, it would be just as good. Either way, they needed a way to get at the source of the tar people.

When they arrived at their destination, they found a large hole on the side of a hill. It didn’t look to be formed of natural stone, and was far too round and smooth. Sage didn’t tell them that the Warp Worm carved it out for them. He didn’t want to enter using one of their normal entrances, and instead had added a tunnel of his own to their network. They traveled quickly into the darkness and they all swallowed a ‘Night Eyes’ pill to improve their night vision. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they weren’t sure what to do, but then Sage showed them a hidden bend. Behind that bend there was a small hole that led into another tunnel. The new tunnel was lit with torches with wooden beams bracing the ceiling every dozen or so feet. The two Centurion’s faces lit up, but then they gripped their weapons tighter. They had really found the enemy’s secret exit!

They crept down the passageway as quietly as possible, following behind Sage. Thankfully, these two squads really were quite skilled and there was only a soft rubbing of cloth and leather and the occasional scuff of a boot to give them away. They started to hear loud yells from up ahead and they almost instantly pressed their bodies up against the walls. The noise died down and they started to move again. When they reached a four way intersection, they could hear yelling and fighting down some of the tunnels. From the sounds of battle the Centurions smiled and they nodded to Sage.

The distractions had started.

They took off down another one of the corridors. Sage had gathered a rough layout of this place from the Warp Worm, so he’d tried to plan the distracting attacks on places that wouldn’t intersect their path towards the center. It wouldn’t do for them to pull guards towards their own path. Of course, that plan was far from foolproof and they ran into two groups of guards along the way. Too bad for those guards, Sage was there. After a volley from Stumblebows, Sage fired a Net Gun down the corridor and caught all the stragglers.

When they finally reached a larger chamber, they were astounded to find a cavern that looked like an underground mining quarry. It was a few hundred feet wide, with the vast majority of it made up of a huge crack in the ground. On either side was a comparatively narrow path, only about twenty feet, which switchbacked down the sides of the huge crevice, trailing down into the darkness. Or at least, that’s what they thought since they could only see the path trailing down on the other side of the crevice from where they were at. There was also a series of a half dozen different rope bridges spanning the chasm to cross from one side to the other. Along the walls where the paths passed were many carved out chambers with bars blocking them. It was a huge underground jail complex.

Sage had gotten a decent look at this place earlier with the Warp Worm, but seeing it with his own eyes was far more impressive.

I’m pretty sure there isn’t a place like this underneath every one of the distribution points. This must be the main rallying point. No wonder there was so much resistance.

At that point a smile crawled onto Sage’s lips without him realizing it, and he led the Jade Horde into the cavern. The chamber here was quite large, but the paths were very narrow, which was why he’d only brought forty men. He considered bringing along Vulture Geckos, but their numbers were still limited and he wasn’t sure if they would be a liability in the small space. Traveling down the path for a while, they had to hide in an empty side chamber when patrol groups passed by. Then they saw a large gathering of people.

There was a pool of black tar with a sort of large dais at the edge of it. The dais extended up and out over the pool of black tar like a sort of diving board with a podium on it. There was a single person standing on the end of that dais behind the podium and waving their arms madly. The person was dressed in a heavy black cloak with a glazed black ceramic mask over their face. The mask had only a pair of holes for its eyes, and the rest of its facial features were like melted wax.

Around the tar pool, men with weapons were standing guard over people who had their hands tied together. Slavers and their captives. Just then, the person on the dais pointed towards one of the slavers and that man pushed a trio of people into the black tar. A bubble formed in the tar and then popped, releasing a loud scream. At the same time, some of the black tar in the pool defied gravity and slid up a chute on the wall like it was being poured down a drain in reverse.