Amid the chatter of the crowd, members of Haicheng’s Spiritual Energy Bureau arrived on the scene without delay.
Because they had anticipated this day from the very beginning, there was no panic—instead, they quickly began their combat preparations.
High above, countless drones zipped through the air. Among the tide of sea beasts rushing toward the city, a massive mutated sea turtle raised its head. Streams of water gathered upon its shell, then coalesced into a serpentine dragon that shot toward the drones.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
With several explosions, a large number of drones struck by the water jets burst apart, turning into balls of flame that lit up the night for but an instant.
Nor was it just that sea turtle—mutated sea snakes, mutated crabs, and others all used their own means to take down the drones in the sky.
And this action of theirs marked the official beginning of the battle.
“Brothers, open fire!”
“Open fire!”
One after another, officers roared out their commands, and then countless flashes of fire blossomed.
Boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
Boom—rumble—!
The terrifying roar of artillery rang out in succession, slamming into the direction of the beast tide.
Boom—rumble!
Boom—rumble—rumble!
The ground began to quake. Smoke from the shelling shrouded the entire battlefield, and the acrid smell of gunpowder filled the air.
A massive number of mutated sea beasts perished in the barrage, while others scattered in all directions to evade the strikes. The ground was pockmarked with craters, each filled with the corpses of sea creatures.
These low-level evolved sea beasts stood no chance at all against human firepower.
In an instant, crimson blood soaked the earth—and this was only the beginning.
The drones gradually withdrew, replaced by fighter jets stationed around Haicheng. After pinpointing the positions of the mutated sea beasts, missiles tore through the void and hurtled toward the ground.
Boom!
Boom—rumble!
Boom—rumble—rumble!
Explosions rang out one after another, and the earth trembled once more.
Faced with human artillery, a great number of mutated sea beasts showed fear and dread. If not for the fact that the threat from the ocean was even greater than that from humans, they would have long since chosen to retreat back into the sea.
In addition, there were a small number of powerful mutated sea beasts. Human attacks landed on them, causing pain but no serious injury—yet even with their formidable defenses, they couldn’t withstand repeated barrages of firepower.
Under the suppressive fire, the advance of the beast tide came to a halt.
The soldiers within the city couldn’t help but show looks of relief at the sight. They had forgotten—this wasn’t a beast tide erupting from within the city, but from outside. While some weapons couldn’t be used, a firepower suppression like this was still easily achievable.
At this rate, even if the number of mutated sea beasts reached a million, it would only mean holding out a little longer.
With that thought, their tense hearts let out a sigh of relief.
However, they did not know that the beast tide was not the true crisis this time—the massive shadow lurking in the ocean was their greatest threat.
Out at sea, that enormous coiling shadow seemed angered by the human artillery fire.
Its black tentacles thrashed wildly across the water, and finally, its entire body surfaced above the sea. Dozens of colossal black tentacles twisted together into a circular ring, and within it, a pitch-black energy began to gather.
Roar!
Boom—rumble—!
With a bellow, a deep, dark beam of light erupted forth into the night.
Beneath that black pillar of light, the endless ocean seemed to be torn apart, a deep trench forming below as countless waves surged to both sides.
Boom—rumble—rumble—!
Without a moment’s pause, the black beam carried its terrifying energy forward. The instant it touched the mutated beast tide, every sea creature it came into contact with simply dissolved—vanishing from the air. And even then, the black beam had only lost about a tenth of its power.
“What is that?!”
“No, no, no—this can’t be right. This has to be a joke.”
“Wasn’t the mutated beast tide already bad enough? How could there be energy this terrifying? How is that possible?”
“The ocean… what kind of monster has the ocean given birth to?!?!”
The soldiers who had been fighting the mutated sea beasts froze in place, stunned, as they witnessed the black beam obliterate the beast tide in an instant.
They couldn’t fathom what they were seeing.
Before they could even react, the black beam, having pierced through the beast tide, surged forward without pause toward the city.
Boom—rumble—!
With a deafening explosion, the sturdy city walls were shattered straight through—and behind them, everything that had been protected…
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—
Countless explosions erupted within the city. Flames spread, smoke swirled.
A vast number of buildings were destroyed by that black beam. And many civilians, too, perished within its path.
Roar…
Out in the deep sea, that massive black figure showed no excitement over the destruction it had caused. It seemed to be waiting for something—but after a long silence, receiving nothing it sought, it let out a disappointed sound and sank back beneath the waves.
As for what disaster that black beam would bring, it did not care. It did not concern itself at all.
This was a calamity. This was terror. This was the price that had to be paid at the dawn of spiritual energy resurgence!
Chaos!
Absolute chaos!
For both humans and mutated sea beasts alike.
Those sea beasts that had scattered and avoided the black beam, now driven by sheer terror, charged madly toward Haicheng.
The surviving residents, upon seeing the devastation caused by that black beam, were utterly dumbfounded.
Just one strike.
Just one beam.
Half of Haicheng—countless lives—all gone.
The flames and explosions were merely collateral damage. At the very center of the beam’s path, there was nothing left at all. People, buildings—everything had vanished without a trace.
As if erased by some mysterious force.
Such power…
Silence. The entire city fell into silence.
Grief, pain, even despair.
But compared to the anguished and desperate humans, the now-frenzied mutated sea beasts had already launched their assault on the human military—and even pushed into Haicheng itself.
Crunch!
A mutated crab used its massive claw to slice a human cleanly in half.
Boom!
A mutated sea turtle withdrew its entire body into its shell, then spun like a sharpened gear, reaping human lives as it went.
Hiss—hiss—hiss—
A mutated sea snake’s cold, reptilian eyes gleamed with bloodlust, its crimson maw swallowing its prey whole.
…
Without the suppression of technology, without the protection of the walls, direct contact between humans and mutated beasts turned into a slaughter—humans being crushed with overwhelming force.
Even though many ability users fought back desperately and managed to kill a number of the mutated beasts, they could not stop the carnage.
