Chapter 124

Chapter 124

The defense strategy of the Southeast Base involves eight S-rank generals first heavily damaging the vanguard of the beast tide's flying beasts, followed by the main army engaging the ground beasts.

Once the army officially enters the battle, the generals rotate in and out of combat, balancing rest with active duty. They are responsible for mass-clearing the beast tide to reduce the army's pressure and casualties, as well as eliminating the S-rank beasts within the tide.

Marshall Lin Lie oversees the entire battlefield, ready to resolve sudden crises in any location. Vice Marshal Sun Dagui, on the other hand, is responsible for the safety of the civilians inside the base. Just as the second-layer A-rank protective shield is the base's lifeline, Sun Dagui is the guardian of all the civilians in the central district, second ring, and third ring.

As Fu Sui's tens of thousands of long arrows felled a dark mass of flying beasts, the other seven generals also unleashed their wide-area attacks.

Fu Sui defended the west, and from his position, the other seven generals were stationed in a clockwise manner as follows:

In the northwest was General Feng Qiang, whose spiritual being was a cactus, wielding S-rank Metal Element powers and A-rank healing abilities;

To the true north was General Du Wei, whose spiritual being was a tiger, possessing S-rank Metal and Wind dual-element abilities;

In the northeast stood General Wei Qingyuan, whose spiritual being was a water droplet, with S-rank Water abilities;

To the east was General Zhu Ding, whose spiritual being was a flashlight, holding S-rank Electric and Light dual-element abilities;

In the southeast was General Feng Zhen, daughter of General Feng Qiang, whose spiritual being was also a cactus, possessing S-rank Metal abilities and A-rank healing abilities;

To the south was General Dong Zhen, whose spiritual being was a black bear, wielding S-rank Metal and Earth dual-element abilities;

In the southwest was General Fan Li, whose spiritual being was a golden eagle, possessing S-rank Metal and Wind dual-element abilities.

Before the ground beasts arrived, the eight generals maneuvered their battle armor, flying up and down, far and near, single-handedly protecting the sixth ring's shield.

However, such wide-area attacks took a significant toll on the generals. When the flying beasts temporarily disappeared from sight, the eight generals returned to the protective shield one after another, holding S-rank crystal cores as they sat at the rear of the army, simultaneously recovering their stamina and abilities.

The ground trembled noticeably, caused by the stampede of numerous mutated beasts heading towards them.

The shield over the sixth ring transformed into a grid-like structure. The grids below were large enough to block E-rank beasts of regular size, while allowing the army to release weapons and ability attacks outward. The grids above allowed fighter jets to freely enter and exit, but if flying beasts or small mutated insect swarms appeared outside, the sixth ring's shield would change form again. If this layer of the shield was completely breached, there were several more layers of shields ready to activate across the vast area of the sixth ring.

Countless fighter jets took off from all directions of the base, each manned by a pilot with a C-rank flying spiritual being.

The jets flew toward the distant beast tide, launching A-rank energy bombs at the dense mass below. As A-rank crystal cores were fed into the jets' weapon systems and transformed into energy bombs, bloody explosions erupted within the beast tide. A-rank and lower mutated beasts and insects had no defense against these attacks.

This scene was broadcast on the light screens inside and outside the Southeast Base, and each bloom of blood in the beast tide was a flower of hope for millions of civilians.

The Mercenary Association collects various crystal cores for the purpose of developing a series of new weapons powered by crystal cores.

The fighter jets circling the sixth ring slowed the beast tide's rush toward the shield. As the first batch of jets was about to exhaust their crystal cores and prepare to return, a second batch of jets flew out to relieve them. The previous beast tide had claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of psychic warriors but left behind countless crystal cores and mutated beast materials, providing the base with ample resources to prepare for the next beast tide.

However, as the second wave of jets began strafing the beast tide below, the second wave of flying beasts appeared on the monitoring screens.

The flying beasts moved with blinding speed, capable of destroying multiple jets with a single strike.

Lin Lie immediately ordered all jets to return.

The jets continued forward for a short distance before they could turn around, but the extremely fast S-rank and A-rank flying beasts had already arrived.

At the last moment, General Fan Li's golden eagle spiritual being carried General Zhu Ding high into the sky. The next second, two intense white light beams formed a thick light curtain around the outer circle of the jets, with a diameter of about ten meters. The S-rank flying beasts that hit this curtain convulsed, while the A-rank flying beasts turned to ash instantly.

The two generals acted so swiftly that the soldiers below, who had just looked up in concern for the jets, were forced to close their eyes due to the sudden intense light in the darkness.

As all the jets safely returned within the shield, a sweating General Zhu Ding thrust outward.

The thick curtain of light turned into countless thin light snakes, shooting toward the farther flying beasts.

The psychic energy consumption was too great, and with more than half of the flying beasts still remaining in the night sky, Zhu Ding could no longer maintain the barrage of electric serpents. As he weakly lowered his hand, the countless electric serpents ravaging among the flying beasts also disappeared.

He patted the massive golden eagle spiritual being beneath him and activated his battle armor to return to the sixth ring.

The massive golden eagle, with a wingspan of two hundred meters, soared toward the approaching flying beasts. Each flap of its wings sent out arc-shaped wind blades. In the other part of the sky behind the golden eagle, a colossal Phoenix spiritual entity unfurled its resplendent wings. Wherever the Phoenix flew, flames engulfed every visible flying beast in a blazing inferno.

On one side, wind, and on the other, fire—like the two poles of yin and yang, they melded into expanding circles in the night sky outside the sixth ring, endlessly regenerating.

Inside the base's shelter, a seven or eight-year-old kid pointed at the Phoenix on the screen and shouted excitedly, "It's the Marshal's spirit!"

The elderly man holding the child shook his head, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "That's the old Marshal. His Phoenix's wings shine even brighter."

Psychics grow old, and their spiritual beings also gradually show signs of aging. The Lin Family's two prime Phoenixes were currently out at sea.

In the waters where the near sea met the ocean, by the time Qinchi arrived, Lin Zheng had already begun the interception of the first line of defense.

In the night sky, Lin Zheng maneuvered his fighter jet, continuously launching A-grade torpedoes at the sea surface. His Phoenix spiritual being, with a wingspan of over one hundred fifty meters, hovered in the air. Whenever an S-grade sea beast surfaced, the Phoenix would strike.

Water and fire opposed each other, and the S-grade flames of the Phoenix were enough to burn through any S-grade sea beast. However, in the vast expanse of the ocean, as long as the sea beasts stayed hidden beneath the surface, the Phoenix could do nothing. Using wind psychic abilities to forcefully drag out massive S-grade sea beasts would be a severe waste of mental energy.

The sea was vast, and the sea beasts were dense and endless. Two S-grade psychics alone could not hope to stop all the sea beasts. Their task was to kill as many S-grade sea beasts as possible.

The mutated beast detector could not detect S-grade beasts, but the radar could.

Seeing Qinchi fly over, Lin Zheng preemptively opened the fighter jet's cockpit.

Qinchi sat in the co-pilot seat and glanced at the radar detection screen. There were ten S-grade sea beasts in this area alone.

He said, "Let's begin."

Lin Zheng piloted the fighter jet to the front of the first sea beast.

A fire dragon, over a hundred meters long, suddenly erupted from the night sky into the dark sea. With a thunderous roar, it dove straight down, vanishing beneath the waves.

Deep in the waters, an S-grade whale shark was speeding forward, overtaking the schools of fish joining the beast tide.

When the golden-red, unfamiliar spiritual being appeared ahead, the whale shark flicked its tail and lunged forward, opening its massive jaws to snap at the strange creature.

Having fought alongside Qinchi for over a decade, the fire dragon was seasoned in combat and knew the mission's priority: minimize waste and take down as many S-grade sea beasts as possible. So, although it could have killed the whale shark by biting it underwater or using its psychic abilities, the fire dragon restrained itself. It slapped the side of the whale shark with its tail and darted toward the surface as if escaping.

Beasts in the tide targeted humans first, and spiritual beings with human scents were also prey. Without thinking, the whale shark chased after it.

Amid the surging waves, the golden-red fire dragon burst from the sea, water streaming down its massive, sleek body and into the gaping maw of the pursuing whale shark.

When the whale shark's body fully emerged from the water and could rise no further, its sharp-toothed mouth was still wide open. Its scarlet eyes stared unwillingly at the increasingly distant golden-red fire dragon. Perhaps, in its mind filled with the desire to kill, there was a sliver of confusion—why could this oddly shaped creature both swim and fly?

At that moment, the waiting Phoenix shot a thick fire column at the whale shark's greyish-white underside from the diagonal front.

The fire column burned a hole through the whale shark's body, and before it could fall back into the water, a gust of wind swept out the S-grade crystal core of the whale shark.

The fire dragon spiritual being had already returned to Qinchi, and the Phoenix, flying above the fighter jet, dropped the crystal core before disappearing as well.

Lin Zheng piloted towards the location of the second S-grade sea beast while continuously launching A-grade torpedoes into the sea. With the current density of sea beasts in the water, even if he were to shoot blindly, he wouldn't waste a single torpedo.

The second S-grade sea beast was an electric eel, swimming several hundred meters below the surface, making it difficult to pull out with wind psychic abilities.

Lin Zheng voiced his concern. "An S-class electric eel's strongest attack can reach up to 10,000 volts. Can the fire dragon withstand it?"

If the fire dragon was dispersed by the electric eel, Qinchi would fall into a coma for some time.

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Zheng immediately said, "Let me try an S-class torpedo first. If it doesn't kill it, it will at least severely wound the eel."

Qinchi released the fire dragon as he said, "No need."

As soon as he finished speaking, the fire dragon had already charged into the sea surface.

Mutated beasts had their own temperaments. The whale shark's first thought upon seeing the fire dragon was to bite and kill it, but the hundred-meter-long S-class electric eel, upon seeing the longer fire dragon, immediately chose to attack with electricity.

Though it targeted the fire dragon, the electric net still indiscriminately electrocuted the densely packed small mutated fish around it.

The electric eel watched the fire dragon rushing into the electric net with anticipation.

The fire dragon’s golden eyes flickered with disdain. Ever since it awakened, it had been struck by the black dragon elder’s high-voltage bolts once or twice a year. If even lightning couldn't disperse it, what was the electric eel's nearly 10,000 volts to it?

Ignoring the slight itchy sensation covering its body, the fire dragon closed in on the electric eel.

The electric eel flicked its tail and darted away. Lower-level sea beasts were driven by the beast tide; even knowing they couldn't beat certain psychics, they would still rush forward. S-class sea beasts retained a bit of rationality; if they couldn't win, they would definitely try to escape, at most taking a detour and continuing to swim toward the human base.

The fire dragon surged forward, closing the distance in an instant. Its dragon mouth clamped onto the relatively flat neck of the electric eel, its four claws sinking into the eel's body.

Even as it died, the electric eel continued to release bursts of electricity.

The fire dragon grabbed it and swam toward the surface, electrocuting wave after wave of mutated fish.

When the electric eel finally died, the fire dragon grabbed its crystal core and burst out of the water.

The Phoenix, poised to unleash a pillar of flame, watched as the lifeless body of the electric eel floated belly-up in the waves.