On the ground, above the high walls of the base built by the Transcendent faction. Several minutes before the arrival of the Sky Destroyer.
Fu Xuefeng and Nangong Yi were standing next to people like Lu Yan, Xiao Ming, Luo Ning, Kang Lan, etc. This group was small, but they were all powerful soul evolvers who during the absence of Bai Zemin and most of the faction’s top warriors had not stopped improving themselves even with all the work they had had to do.
Xiao Ming had the lowest level among them but he was already a level 39 soul evolver, and it probably wouldn’t be long before he reached level 40 considering the situation they were currently in.
“Luckily we managed to finish the moat two days ago or else even the walls would have been smashed by these damn mutant beasts.” Xiao Ming spat down as he said those words, fouling the corpse of a nearly 2-meter tall mutant dog that had been skewered by more than a dozen of bone arrows.
“However, these have all been Unclassified mutant beasts.” Lu Yan pointed with a frown. There was a tinge of worry in his voice as he said carefully, “Even though the moat is deep enough, I fear that if the number of enemies continues to grow, there will come a point where they will build bridges of corpses even in the water.”
With the help of the little pink dolphin Xiao Xiao, Lu Xiaoyao managed to move huge amounts of water from the sea located farther north and filled the moat that currently surrounded the entire base, making the terrain easy to defend but difficult to attack. Although Xiao Xiao did not feel comfortable around anyone except Bai Zemin, small kids like Luo Ning and the Wen twins could touch her a little and even talk to her without the little pink creature shooting a stream of freezing water in their faces and then ignoring them.
However, Lu Yan was right. In fact, when they all looked at the moat filled with mutant piranhas that were as big as a human head they noticed that the corpses were slowly starting to pile up.
“How many bone arrows did we prepare before?” Kang Lan suddenly asked.
The bone arrows did not have much attack damage, however, the bones they had been forged from were all bones of First Order mutant beasts and a large portion of those bones had some kind of energy in them such as frost-type energy that slowed down enemies or restricted their movements, poison-type energy that weakened and even directly killed those that were hit, fire-type energy that dealt constant damage, etc.
Of course, even though these arrows had been forged using bones of First Order mutant beasts, at the end of the day, they were nothing more than arrows from a dead creature, therefore, their effect was limited. At most, creatures below level 20 would be affected but beyond that they would only cause damage depending on many different factors such as the archer’s overall power, speed, falling strength, enemy defense, etc.
“We were only able to forge just over 250,000 bone arrows,” Fu Xuefeng shook his head and said with a frown, “It’s only been about 20 minutes since we’ve been under attack but 25,000 arrows were destroyed or fell into the moat, we only managed to recover about 27,000 of the ones we released earlier.”
When a group of mutant beasts was killed, Fu Xuefeng and several other soul evolvers would immediately rush forward and while slaughtering their way through they would recover as many arrows in good condition as possible before quickly returning to the base.
“At this rate, we won’t even last 1 day.” Nangong Yi pointed out the obvious.
“Uncle Nangong Yi, why don’t we use bullets?” Luo Ning asked while biting a fingernail and trying to think of a solution.
Everyone’s expression became a little uncomfortable upon hearing Luo Ning’s question. Actually, it had been a while since Bai Zemin had opened the arsenal Wu Yijun had pointed out, and although he had managed to find ammunition from the different settlements he conquered, the number of armed soldiers and weapons also grew, therefore, the spend had still been too high.
“That’s because we have too few bullets.” Kang Lan answered Luo Ning’s question indifferently as she used her dark eyes to observe the surroundings. “Besides, normal firearms don’t have that much effect on mutant beasts above level 15 unless hundreds of shots are used.”
“Ya… and what about the-“
“Second Order!”
The words Luo Ning was about to say were cut short when Fu Xuefeng shouted out loud as he pointed towards the back of the group of mutant beasts trying to cross the only available land line.
Everyone’s face changed abruptly when they saw a mutant cat with emerald green eyes leaping hundreds of meters in an instant and quickly approaching the base walls.
Kang Lan’s expression was serious but her eyes were relatively calm. She pointed forward and while clenching a purple-colored First Order Soul Stone activated one of her skills.
“Sleep Paralysis!”
A large purple colored magic circle appeared in front of Kang Lan, and at the same time as the magic circle lit up, the power of the First Order Soul Stone in her left hand which was a Soul Stone with poison-like energy was quickly absorbed by the magic circle.
The mutant cat that was clearly an agility-type Second Order beast was rapidly approaching and in a maximum of 5 seconds would close the distance enough to jump over the walls. However, because it could only charge in a straight line, the beast had no choice but to continue advancing toward the purple mist flying in its direction.
The beast was so fast that the gusts of sharp wind blew aside a big part of the purple mist, but it was not enough to blow it all away. As its body moved into the purple mist, the intelligent creature suppressed its breath and a glint of disdain flashed in its eyes.
Seeing this, however, Kang Lan’s lips curved slightly as she said to Lu Yan, “Lu Yan, it’s your turn.”
“War tanks number 1 to number 3, open fire with the mutant cat as the main focus!”
The war tanks that had been hiding on top of the walls advanced and their cannons immediately identified the target. The mutant cat still had that confident expression on its face, but the creature had stopped its movements almost completely, slashing the air with its claws and tearing apart the mutant beasts that passed by it.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The 125 mm cannons boomed and the three type 99 tanks fired almost at the same time. However, only a second or two had passed before another short burst of three shots echoed across the battlefield.
The area around the Second Order mutant cat was filled with flying dust and a dense cloud covered the surrounding area. The mutant beasts in the area were turned into a pile of minced meat, broken limbs and pieces of bones flew everywhere and the piranhas closest to the earth road immediately feasted on the bodies that fell near them, devouring them in mere moments.
“Did it die?” Luo Ning asked quietly and with some fear in her eyes. She was fully aware of the terror of the Second Order beasts, even now that she was level 44 she couldn’t fight one of those monsters and many older brothers and sisters had died facing them.
“It did.” Kang Lan nodded confidently, her pupils faintly reflecting various green characters.
She had obtained a small portion of the Second Order mutant cat’s Soul Power from being part of the previous raid. As for the rest of the Soul Power…. Most of it was definitely wasted.
Fu Xuefeng jumped off the wall upon hearing Kang Lan’s confirmation, several mutant beasts came across his path towards the place where the mutant cat was killed but were cut down by either his light sword or his dagger. He entered the dust cloud and picked up a skill scroll before returning to the wall, walking along the walls and occupying his previous position again in an instant.
He passed the scroll to Kang Lang and she read the records of the skill called Wind Edge. She shook her head and asked, “Do any of you want it?”
They all looked at the skill but none of them wanted the scroll. Even though it was a First Order skill, they all had their own paths and were following Bai Zemin’s advice, which was to choose and learn skills that suited their fighting styles or complemented their current skills; this would boost the power of all of them a great notch in the future.
Time passed amidst terrifying roars, explosions resulting from some clash between mutant beasts or between mutant beasts and soul evolvers, bone arrows continued to rain down from the top of the great wall of mana-filled trunks.
In just an hour of combat, the human group had been forced to go out and fight the mutant beasts several times while the logistics team prepared by Lu Xiaoyao tried to clear the surroundings; the number of mutant beasts that had been killed had reached such a high point that even with the elevated bridge raised the creatures were using the corpses of their kind to jump up and hit the wall!
Fu Xuefeng was in the middle of a whirlwind of flashing blades with lightning sparking around him. He was like a meat grinder and for every second that passed, there were at least a hundred mutant beasts falling to the ground with their bodies full of deep cuts. The Unclassified beasts were being slaughtered at the speed of light and their advance was halted for a brief moment.
Next to Fu Xuefeng, Nangong Yi had already activated his Second Order Dragon Transformation skill and was currently facing more than a dozen First Order mutant beasts by himself. Although he took several hits, the golden scales covering his body were so tough that he didn’t even have a scratch on his skin. His fists were so heavy that a single blow was enough to kill one of his enemies and his tail fierce enough to cut them in two.
It was only thanks to the two of them that the other soul evolvers of the Blood Spear Legion were able to retreat after fighting enemies at a proportion of about 1:20 each. Although Bai Zemin was not present, he had left Kang Lan temporarily in charge of the Blood Spear Legion.
The members of the Blood Spear Legion numbered around 4000 at this point, but in reality, 50% of them were still growing. However, that remaining 50% were powerful warriors with especially pure Soul Power that were nurtured under Bai Zemin’s guidance; in fact, more than half of them had been survivors on the verge of starving to death but thanks to Bai Zemin were now respected by everyone.
Each and every one of them was loyal to Bai Zemin, some more than others but there was definitely not one of them who was not willing to sacrifice a part of their body for his cause. After all, they all knew in their hearts that the position they were in, the power they had, the bed they slept in, their families… all had been obtained or regained through that young man whom they all awaited his return.
“You two, return to the wall quickly!”
Kang Lan’s voice rang out from the distance followed by the sound of the drawbridge falling heavily to the ground.
Fu Xuefeng and Nangong Yi looked back over their shoulder and the two men were startled when they saw the Transcendent faction’s metal fleet moving forward.
Modified buses, bulldozers, modified cargo trucks…. Over 40 heavy vehicles were being led by 6 war tanks and approximately 20 IFVs with the kings of the earth at the front.
“Shit- Nangong Yi, you go first!” Fu Xuefeng bellowed as the engines of the metal beasts began to sound.
“Oh!” Nangong Yi didn’t plant himself on ceremony. He brandished his claws and ripped apart as many nearby enemies as possible before slamming his tail hard into the ground and stomping down, turning into a cannonball that soared hundreds of meters in a matter of seconds.
Fu Xuefeng continued to slaughter for a few more seconds before the war tanks and IFVs began to open fire with their machine guns. Fu Xuefeng turned into a gust of wind, sneaking between the military vehicles and running over the walls before stopping right next to Kang Lan.
“Ah! Elder Brother Fu Xuefeng, your armor was damaged!” Luo Ning pointed with wide eyes as she looked at the large cut on the abdominal area of the leather armor.
“Ah, this? It’s nothing, don’t worry little Ning.” Fu Xuefeng waved a hand, trying to make it look like it was no big deal.
Even though he was strong and fast, being an assassin his defense was disgustingly low and when fighting so many enemies at the same time with his limited mobility zone it was natural to get hit at least once or twice. He had done well enough considering he had been fighting hundreds of Unclassified and several First Order mutant beasts.
The metal fleet advanced.
The battle tanks fired several times alongside the IFVs; the First Order mutant beasts were turned into meat paste in the face of the 125mm and 90mm cannons while the heavy machine guns were the bane of the Unclassified beasts as no matter how many of them came they were all riddled with gunfire.
The water in the pit had turned completely red at this point and the smell of blood wafting in the air was so thick that even the strong winds could not completely blow it away.
As they advanced 2000 meters, the bodies of the mutated creatures were crushed by the war tanks, IFVs, and by the flattening machines. As for the larger corpses, they were all reduced in size using Infinite Reduction and with various Strength-type soul evolvers, they were loaded onto the modified trucks that had been practically rebuilt using materials from mutant beasts.
Just as the captain of one of the war tanks received the order to return to the base, a bright fireball flew directly towards the fleet. The size got bigger under the terrified eyes of the soldiers, and before they could even turn back, one of the battle tanks and two IFVs were engulfed by the fireball.
Boom!!!
The battle tank and the two IFVs were immediately turned into a pile of scrap metal and the resulting explosion hit an IFV that was too close, as well as two of the bulldozers. In just one second, six of the vehicles that were part of one of the trump cards of Bai Zemin’s faction were destroyed by an enemy attack, and with it, several lives were lost.
The others began to retreat quickly and under the cover of the Type 99 battle tanks that fired their weapons without rest they managed to return to the base, and in the whole course they were only attacked by another fireball on one occasion, but fortunately, the enemy did not manage to aim well so there was no major damage except for one of the IFV’s cannons which was unusable now.
The lift bridge was raised and the fleet entered before the bridge fell again, closing the connection to the outside world.
In the sky, thousands of kilometers above, sitting in the command room of the Sky Destroyer, Bai Zemin who had just arrived a minute or two ago wanted to shed tears as he watched his precious battle tanks suffer such a miserable fate but he could not complain as it had been his own choice to wait and see.
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