|
.png)
As the eastern sky began to show a faint grayish hue, the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean churned with the presence of numerous massive black figures.
Moving at incredible speed, they broke through the waves and shattered the reefs, with white foam swirling around them and spurring them onward.
When these ferocious mutated beasts gathered at the harbor of the East Sea, a force of nearly ten thousand evolved beings had already assembled and awaited their arrival.
This time, the lowest rank among the mutated beasts was clearly C-Class. The thunder cannons hidden ten kilometers outside the harbor roared across the sky, yet they barely caused any casualties among the beasts and only injured a small portion of them.
This outcome was something Professor Qi had anticipated from the start.
The man that were just past fifty, had already gone completely gray at the temples.
And this time, he did not hide in the emergency shelter at the rear. Instead, he stood fearlessly on the monitoring platform atop the embankment with his expression cold as he watched the endless stream of mutated beasts gather from the horizon and turn the azure sea into a dark, ominous mass.
Three months of hell training had turned the entire force into a well-organized machine.
Faced with such an overwhelming enemy assault, no one felt fear or panic.
They had transformed into the most cold-blooded and resolute soldiers with their eyes fixed solely on the enemy and focused only on the attack.
To retreat was to die!
Jing Xia stood at the front of the second echelon.
He watched as the massive SS-Class mutated beast leading the army halted one kilometer from the shore, then turned to exchange a glance with Ji Chuancheng. After receiving the other's approval, Jing Xia turned to the Five-Sense Type evolved being beside him and nodded to signal for the latter to relay his words.
"Mutated Orca, the three months are up. Humanity is giving you one last chance to surrender and retreat. We will let bygones be bygones."
The response came in the form of a cold, cruel sneer from the Mutated Orca: "Humans! Has three months of barely clinging to life not made you realize the precarious situation you lowly creatures are in?! How pathetic!"
As soon as it finished speaking, a series of deafening roars erupted from the ranks of the mutated beasts, as if cheering their leader's words. However, not a single person in the evolved beings' force was moved by the Mutated Orca's speech. This iron-willed army remained coldly focused while staring straight ahead and awaiting orders.
Seeing that it had not elicited the response it desired, the Mutated Orca wasted no more words: "Humans, my King has given you three extra months to live. But starting today, your fate is sealed. There will be no more chances to live as slaves! Death is your only end!"
Jing Xia coldly regarded the massive beast: "Is that so? Your arrogance cost you dearly last time. It seems you've already forgotten?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jing Xia raised his left hand. Instantly, a remote-controlled electromagnetic cannon fired from the high embankment!
"Whoosh—"
"Boom—"
"Humans!!!" the Mutated Orca roared!
Just one kilometer away from it, an ordinary S-Class mutant was reduced to bloody pulp by the electromagnetic cannon.
"You will pay the price!"
"Screech!!!"
"Roar!!!"
"Boom—"
Countless frenzied Mutated Beasts began their assault on the shore.
Led by the Mutated Orca, they seemed to have lost all capacity for thought as their vision clouded by hatred and driven only to attack, attack, and attack!
Seeing this, Jing Xia tightened his grip on the long blade in his hand.
He then turned to exchange a glance with Ji Chuancheng before he divided the entire team of Evolved Beings into four squads and launched a counterattack from four directions along the beach.
The clashing of swords, the roars of beasts, and the blood flowing from the bodies of both Mutated Beasts and Evolved Beings soon dyed the dark sand a vivid red.
One by one, lifeless bodies fell onto the cold beach with most of them Mutated Beasts, but there were also the bodies of Evolved Beings who had met their end.
On the embankment, the artillery unit continued to aim and fire relentlessly.
Whenever an S-Class Mutant or an SS-Class Mutated Orca attempted to retaliate against the artillery unit from a distance, other high-level elite Evolved Beings would immediately intervene and ensuring the safety of the artillery unit—
Even if they could only eliminate Mutated Beasts below A-Class, the existence of the artillery unit, in some ways, guaranteed the possibility of a one-hit kill.
Jing Xia raised his long, sharp blade and struck directly at an A-Class Mutant.
The shell of this Mutated Hermit Crab was extremely tough, and Jing Xia's blade became lodged in its shell and unable to be pulled out.
So, he decided to abandon the blade.
Jing Xia raised his hand, and in his palm instantly appeared a long Water Sword.
It seemed soft and flexible, but when the hermit crab's claw attacked Jing Xia, it was instantly sliced in two by the seemingly delicate Water Sword!
After quickly dispatching the A-Class Mutant, Jing Xia hurried toward the Mutated Orca at the center of the beach.
The spot where it had landed was quite far from Jing Xia's location, and whether intentionally or not, it was even farther from Ji Chuancheng.
Jing Xia swiftly cut down every obstacle in his path, but he was delayed by an S-Class Mutant.
While engaged in the struggle, he managed to glance over and saw Wu Jiqing's Ice Cannon being swept aside by the orca's tail, followed by a barrage of water spears that severed Wu Jiqing's left leg at the thigh!
"Ahhh!!!"
The agonized scream sent a shiver through Jing Xia's heart, and he immediately quickened his pace to finish off the S-Class Mutant.
In the end, it was Ji Chuancheng who reached the Mutated Orca first.
With a furrowed brow, he directed others to carry away the writhing Wu Jiqing, then expressionlessly raised his head to meet the orca's gaze.
The orca's massive eyes stared back at Ji Chuancheng.
It paid no attention to the Evolved Beings relentlessly attacking its body and instead wasting time locking eyes with Ji Chuancheng for a long while before finally speaking:
"Humans, it was you and him who captured me last time."
Jing Xia had just arrived when he suddenly heard the orca's words.
"Because of you, I was punished by the King."
A hideous scar ran across the orca's right eye. From the eyelid down to the jaw, exposing the white bone and flesh beneath, and seemingly never to heal.
Jing Xia's expression turned serious upon hearing this, but inwardly he thought: Given the Mutated Beast's freakish self-healing ability, the wound on this Mutated Orca still hasn't healed... This proves that the King's strength is truly at a monstrous level.
Ji Chuancheng calmly looked up at the Orca's wound and suddenly asked, "Where is that Mutated Conger Eel? And... where is S1?"
Jing Xia was stunned by the question.
He turned to Ji Chuancheng in surprise while completely baffled as to why the other would bring up Qi Yang's long-deceased experimental Mutated Beast at this moment.
But the Mutated Orca's terrified voice immediately gave him the answer: "How do you know the King's name!"
Jing Xia stood frozen in shock.
He finally understood the things he had never comprehended or bothered to ponder before.
Why Qi Yang had let this King go, and why this King had spared Qi Yang in return.
Because it was S1, that Mutated Beast that once trembled in the corner of the black box, with its body rotting and decaying!
Ji Chuancheng's eyes darkened: "Where are they? Why are you the only one here today?"
The Orca quickly regained its composure before sneering at Ji Chuancheng, "You have no right to know that. Enough talk, now I'll show you my true power!"
As if to prevent Ji Chuancheng from speculating further, the Orca unleashed a barrage of ice arrows without warning.
Jing Xia swiftly erected a Water Wall, which shattered as soon as the arrow rain ended.
Jing Xia exchanged a glance with Ji Chuancheng, and then—
Their three months of training and tacit cooperation came into play.
They had previously speculated four possible scenarios for today's battle.
The first, and most dangerous, was that the King, the Orca, the Conger Eel, and other unknown S-class or higher Mutated Beasts would attack together. This would be a near-hopeless situation, with humanity struggling to survive.
The second was that the King wouldn't appear and giving them a slim chance of survival.
The third was that only the Orca and Conger Eel would lead the attack, increasing their odds of victory to fifty percent!
The fourth and final scenario was the current one, and also the most... perilous.
Only the Mutated Orca was leading the assault, while the Conger Eel, other high-level Mutated Beasts, and even the King remained hidden.
With the enemy in the shadows and themselves exposed, this violated a major military principle, leaving humanity with no room for maneuver.
They could only hold their ground and seize opportunities as they arose.
This time, the combined efforts of Ji Chuancheng and Jing Xia didn't restrict the Mutated Orca's abilities much.
Perhaps due to the vast gap in their Special Abilities, or maybe because the Mutated Orca had made significant progress over the past three months, Jing Xia could only occasionally hinder its movements and relied mostly on his own strength.
Ji Chuancheng, being much stronger than Jing Xia, primarily took on the task of restraining the Orca's mobility and giving Jing Xia opportunities to launch sneak attacks.
This guerrilla-style battle had been going on for quite some time.
The Killer Whale's massive body made it an easy target for Jing Xia, yet he couldn't land a decisive, fatal blow. On the other hand, the Killer Whale found it frustratingly difficult to deal with the small, agile humans that were constantly spinning around in a flurry of activity.
"Roar!!"
A furious bellow erupted from the Killer Whale as its long tail suddenly lashed out toward Jing Xia.
Caught off guard, Jing Xia hastily deployed a Water Net to protect himself but was still flung over ten meters away with his chest aching from the impact.
A shadow of anger crossed Ji Chuancheng's deep, handsome features.
In one swift motion, he withdrew the Water Net that had been restraining most of the Killer Whale's movements. And the next second, he lightly stepped onto the creature's iron-hard body and nimbly made his way to its head. As he ran, he quickly assembled the Annihilation Machine in his hands.
A dazzling white light flashed from the barrel of the A-9 cannon in Ji Chuancheng's grip.
"Boom—"