Chapter 39: Consolidating the Defense
Gunpowder smoke hung over the entire Black Mountain frontline like a layer of gray-black gauze. The stench left by the previous night's bloody battle lingered, a nauseating mixture of rotting flesh, scorched carapaces, and the pungent odor of earth burned by explosives. Whenever the wind blew, it all rushed into the nostrils at once.
As dawn barely broke, the gray morning light barely pierced the thick dust and fog, falling upon the devastated battlefield. The ground was littered with the mangled corpses of scaled beasts—severed claws, cracked scales, and limbs shattered by artillery fire were scattered around the outer perimeter of the trenches. Engineering squads had entered the site overnight, wearing gas masks and wielding high-temperature incinerator guns, meticulously clearing the wreckage. If the corpses were left to pile up, they would quickly breed toxins and even attract lurking subterranean kin, bringing additional trouble to the outpost.
The repair of the fortifications had not stopped for a moment. Where a three-meter-thick concrete retaining wall had collapsed under the beast tide's assault, engineers and logistics soldiers worked together to haul prefabricated steel plates and stones, rebuilding and reinforcing the structure. All damaged sensor-warning probes were dismantled and replaced. Metal rods extended outward along the trenches like nerves buried in the wilderness. Behind the positions, soldiers at the energy cannon emplacements were calibrating the barrel angles and repeatedly checking the power supply lines, the low hum of machinery continuous.
Lin Yan leaned against the corner of a relatively intact rock wall, sitting cross-legged in meditation. He was in no hurry to mobilize his Sea of Consciousness for forced cultivation. After the grueling battle last night, his barrier had been repeatedly torn with fine cracks by the third-tier scaled beast's psychic impacts. Forcing his power now would only worsen his internal injuries and leave permanent hidden dangers. He activated the ancient martial arts breathing techniques; long, even breaths flowed in and out through his nose and mouth, the qi slowly traveling through his meridians, soothing the muscles that had been tense all night and calming his wildly beating heart.
Turning his awareness inward, he inspected his Sea of Consciousness. The second-tier peak mental barrier was covered with dense, minute cracks. As his mind settled, the cracks were slowly healing at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. These scars were not a bad thing. Every time he withstood psychic pressure, his Sea of Consciousness grew tougher through the cycle of breaking and repairing. However, Lin Yan knew clearly that there was still a massive threshold before the third tier. Forcing a breakthrough now would only result in a shaky foundation. War zone records were filled with cautionary tales: many warriors, eager for quick success, had attacked the bottleneck before their Sea of Consciousness was stable, only to shatter it. The mildest consequence was permanent mental weakness, turning them into useless personnel unfit for the frontline; the worst was complete mental derangement.
"Lin Yan."
Footsteps approached. Old Chen, a veteran of the squad, walked over carrying two metal meal boxes, bent down, and sat beside him, handing one over. Inside were compressed nutrient paste and a small bottle of warm water. Rations on the frontline were always simple and coarse, serving only to maintain basic stamina.
"Can't sleep?" Old Chen asked in a low voice as he tore open the nutrient paste packaging.
"Regulating my breathing," Lin Yan replied, taking the box but not eating immediately. "Is the fortification reinforcement done?"
"Mostly finished," Old Chen said, raising his eyes to look toward the distant rift valley, his expression grave. "We received a communication from the war zone at dawn. Headquarters judges that the previous three waves of the beast tide were merely probes. The things underground are testing the upper limits of our firepower and the endurance limits of our psychic warriors. The real hard fight is coming soon."
Lin Yan nodded slightly. After the battle ended last night, the command room had reviewed the battlefield data overnight, and this assessment had been notified to all remaining personnel. The third-tier scaled beast's command capabilities completely surpassed the records in human databases. Ordinary scaled beasts only charged on instinct, but this one knew how to commit forces in batches, apply alternating pressure, and specifically target new recruits with weak Seas of Consciousness for psychic attacks. Its tactics were so clear it was as if someone was coordinating from behind. Yet, most people in the outpost simply assumed the mutant beast had developed higher intelligence. No one imagined that beneath the thousand-meter rock layers underground, there were Lizardmen acting as the hidden controllers.
"Reinforcements will arrive during the day today," Old Chen continued. "Two main combat companies, plus six heavy mobile artillery vehicles. All small outer sentry posts will be abandoned, and personnel will be consolidated back to the main outpost to construct a multi-layered defense in depth. Our squad will continue to guard the western trench. That area is low-lying and is the most vulnerable point on the entire defense line."
"What about the others?" Lin Yan asked.
"Su Qing is at the medical station for a Sea of Consciousness recheck; she suffered a psychic impact yesterday and had a headache for half the night. The other two new recruits are helping the engineers lay sensor mines." Old Chen sighed. "This round of general offensive will likely far exceed the scale of the previous three. Many new recruits won't survive it."
Lin Yan fell silent. He had witnessed death on the battlefield firsthand—comrades who had fought side by side one second, only to be torn apart by scaled beast claws the next. There was never any luck in this world; flesh and blood, and the Sea of Consciousness, were the only capital they had to fight the subterranean monsters.
After a simple breakfast, the assembly horn sounded. All combat personnel gathered in the open area behind the trenches. Instructor Zhou stood at the front of the formation, his combat uniform covered in dust, his face showing unmistakable fatigue, yet his gaze remained sharp as it swept over every warrior before him.
"Announcing the latest orders from the war zone," Instructor Zhou said, his voice not loud but clear enough for everyone to hear. "Abandon all scattered outer patrol missions; all personnel will hold the main outpost. After reinforcements arrive, the heavy firepower positions will be taken over by the main combat companies. Our new recruit squad is responsible for close-range interception in the western trench. Once the beast tide breaks through the area covered by long-range artillery fire, we will have to rely on our Sea of Consciousness barriers, firearms, and close-quarters combat to hold back the enemy."
He paused, emphasizing his words: "I remind everyone again, do not overdraft your Sea of Consciousness power. Once you feel stinging pain in your Sea of Consciousness or your vision starts to black out, retreat immediately and let a teammate take your place. Do not force it. The consequence of stubbornly enduring is permanent damage to the Sea of Consciousness. We need living people to hold the defense line, not dead bodies who fought to the death."
The formation was completely silent; no one whispered to each other. Having been tempered by three waves of the beast tide, these new recruits had long shed their initial hot-blooded recklessness and truly understood the cruelty of the battlefield.
After being dismissed, the squad entered specialized combat training. The training ground was in the safe zone behind the trenches. The two veterans simulated the beast tide swarm, continuously releasing layered psychic interference to replicate the psychic erosion of the scaled beasts. Su Qing practiced long-range precision shooting, prioritizing the elimination of low-level scaled beasts at the forefront; Lin Yan was responsible for flank vigilance, practicing maintaining Sea of Consciousness early warning under continuous psychic pressure while also handling close-quarters defense.
The training had no flashy moves; it was entirely composed of survival skills applicable to the battlefield. Lin Yan adjusted the way he used his Sea of Consciousness over and over again. Spreading out psychic perception over a large area consumed a massive amount of power and made it easy for the psychic impacts of high-level scaled beasts to find weak points. He had explored a model that suited him: releasing only a few hair-thin perception tentacles from his Sea of Consciousness to monitor only nearby anomalies, while keeping the main Sea of Consciousness firmly contracted to fully construct a defensive barrier. He sacrificed perception range in exchange for greater endurance and more stable resistance.
"Your Sea of Consciousness control is truly unique." After a round of training, Su Qing walked over, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, her face still somewhat pale. "At the same second tier, when others spread out their Sea of Consciousness, it's perception of the entire area. You only guard a small area around you, and your consumption is far lower than ours."
"Large-scale perception is a burden in massive beast tides," Lin Yan said slowly. "When the psychic fluctuations of countless scaled beasts mix together, large-scale perception only forces the Sea of Consciousness to endure tens of thousands of interferences simultaneously, and it will collapse quickly. Guarding the immediate vicinity and identifying danger is enough."
Old Chen nodded from the side: "Well said. Many new recruits like to pursue large-scale perception, thinking stronger is always better. But in true massive beast tides, the most taboo thing is spreading the Sea of Consciousness too thin. Lin Yan's fighting style is very suitable for defending trenches to the death."
The daytime passed in a flash. Reinforcements arrived at the outpost one after another. Heavy mobile artillery vehicles roared onto the high ground positions, their thick, dark barrels aimed at the distant, gloomy rift. Ammunition boxes were continuously transported into the various trenches, and medical stations stocked up on Sea of Consciousness stabilizers, trauma bandages, and hemostatic agents. The entire outpost was like a war machine with its spring slowly tightened, every component entering a state of combat readiness.
As dusk arrived, the gray sky gradually turned ink-black. The wilderness fell completely silent; there were no insect chirps, no wind. From deep within the earth came a faint, muffled vibration, intermittent yet continuous. It was the sound of rock layers resonating as the subterranean scaled beast army moved. The blue lights of the early-warning array flashed incessantly; the intensity of the monitored psychic fluctuations was slowly and steadily rising.
Everyone returned to their respective posts, donned their combat gear, and checked their firearms, ammunition, and Sea of Consciousness stabilizers. Lin Yan stood in the western trench, leaning against the cold steel plate cover, his gaze fixed on the pitch-black valley in the distance. The fine tentacles of his Sea of Consciousness quietly spread out, capturing the cold, frenzied psychic aura emanating from underground. He was still at the second-tier peak, without a breakthrough. But after several life-and-death battles, his Sea of Consciousness foundation was far thicker and more solid than that of warriors at the same tier.
Old Chen stood beside him and spoke in a low voice: "They're here."
Deep within the distant rift, countless tiny points of light slowly lit up—the faint reflection of the scaled beasts' compound eyes. A massive, dark beast tide was slowly crawling out of the subterranean rift.
Deep underground, within a vast, gloomy cave hall, the tall Lizardmen chieftain stood quietly atop a stone dais, his vertical pupils staring at the psychic images transmitted from the surface. Beside him, several Lizardmen priests continuously released psychic links, commanding the scaled beast swarms on the surface. The human combat power data collected from the previous three rounds of attacks had been fully aggregated. This time, there would be no more probing; it was a full-force assault.
Humanity did not yet know that what they were fighting against was never the instinctual tide of beasts. Beyond the rift lay a meticulously planned general offensive.
Lin Yan gripped the short blade in his hand, his heart beating steadily. Inside the trench, his comrades breathed heavily, ammunition was chambered, and Sea of Consciousness barriers were raised one after another. The last moment of peace on the Black Mountain defense line had come to an end.
As dawn barely broke, the gray morning light barely pierced the thick dust and fog, falling upon the devastated battlefield. The ground was littered with the mangled corpses of scaled beasts—severed claws, cracked scales, and limbs shattered by artillery fire were scattered around the outer perimeter of the trenches. Engineering squads had entered the site overnight, wearing gas masks and wielding high-temperature incinerator guns, meticulously clearing the wreckage. If the corpses were left to pile up, they would quickly breed toxins and even attract lurking subterranean kin, bringing additional trouble to the outpost.
The repair of the fortifications had not stopped for a moment. Where a three-meter-thick concrete retaining wall had collapsed under the beast tide's assault, engineers and logistics soldiers worked together to haul prefabricated steel plates and stones, rebuilding and reinforcing the structure. All damaged sensor-warning probes were dismantled and replaced. Metal rods extended outward along the trenches like nerves buried in the wilderness. Behind the positions, soldiers at the energy cannon emplacements were calibrating the barrel angles and repeatedly checking the power supply lines, the low hum of machinery continuous.
Lin Yan leaned against the corner of a relatively intact rock wall, sitting cross-legged in meditation. He was in no hurry to mobilize his Sea of Consciousness for forced cultivation. After the grueling battle last night, his barrier had been repeatedly torn with fine cracks by the third-tier scaled beast's psychic impacts. Forcing his power now would only worsen his internal injuries and leave permanent hidden dangers. He activated the ancient martial arts breathing techniques; long, even breaths flowed in and out through his nose and mouth, the qi slowly traveling through his meridians, soothing the muscles that had been tense all night and calming his wildly beating heart.
Turning his awareness inward, he inspected his Sea of Consciousness. The second-tier peak mental barrier was covered with dense, minute cracks. As his mind settled, the cracks were slowly healing at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. These scars were not a bad thing. Every time he withstood psychic pressure, his Sea of Consciousness grew tougher through the cycle of breaking and repairing. However, Lin Yan knew clearly that there was still a massive threshold before the third tier. Forcing a breakthrough now would only result in a shaky foundation. War zone records were filled with cautionary tales: many warriors, eager for quick success, had attacked the bottleneck before their Sea of Consciousness was stable, only to shatter it. The mildest consequence was permanent mental weakness, turning them into useless personnel unfit for the frontline; the worst was complete mental derangement.
"Lin Yan."
Footsteps approached. Old Chen, a veteran of the squad, walked over carrying two metal meal boxes, bent down, and sat beside him, handing one over. Inside were compressed nutrient paste and a small bottle of warm water. Rations on the frontline were always simple and coarse, serving only to maintain basic stamina.
"Can't sleep?" Old Chen asked in a low voice as he tore open the nutrient paste packaging.
"Regulating my breathing," Lin Yan replied, taking the box but not eating immediately. "Is the fortification reinforcement done?"
"Mostly finished," Old Chen said, raising his eyes to look toward the distant rift valley, his expression grave. "We received a communication from the war zone at dawn. Headquarters judges that the previous three waves of the beast tide were merely probes. The things underground are testing the upper limits of our firepower and the endurance limits of our psychic warriors. The real hard fight is coming soon."
Lin Yan nodded slightly. After the battle ended last night, the command room had reviewed the battlefield data overnight, and this assessment had been notified to all remaining personnel. The third-tier scaled beast's command capabilities completely surpassed the records in human databases. Ordinary scaled beasts only charged on instinct, but this one knew how to commit forces in batches, apply alternating pressure, and specifically target new recruits with weak Seas of Consciousness for psychic attacks. Its tactics were so clear it was as if someone was coordinating from behind. Yet, most people in the outpost simply assumed the mutant beast had developed higher intelligence. No one imagined that beneath the thousand-meter rock layers underground, there were Lizardmen acting as the hidden controllers.
"Reinforcements will arrive during the day today," Old Chen continued. "Two main combat companies, plus six heavy mobile artillery vehicles. All small outer sentry posts will be abandoned, and personnel will be consolidated back to the main outpost to construct a multi-layered defense in depth. Our squad will continue to guard the western trench. That area is low-lying and is the most vulnerable point on the entire defense line."
"What about the others?" Lin Yan asked.
"Su Qing is at the medical station for a Sea of Consciousness recheck; she suffered a psychic impact yesterday and had a headache for half the night. The other two new recruits are helping the engineers lay sensor mines." Old Chen sighed. "This round of general offensive will likely far exceed the scale of the previous three. Many new recruits won't survive it."
Lin Yan fell silent. He had witnessed death on the battlefield firsthand—comrades who had fought side by side one second, only to be torn apart by scaled beast claws the next. There was never any luck in this world; flesh and blood, and the Sea of Consciousness, were the only capital they had to fight the subterranean monsters.
After a simple breakfast, the assembly horn sounded. All combat personnel gathered in the open area behind the trenches. Instructor Zhou stood at the front of the formation, his combat uniform covered in dust, his face showing unmistakable fatigue, yet his gaze remained sharp as it swept over every warrior before him.
"Announcing the latest orders from the war zone," Instructor Zhou said, his voice not loud but clear enough for everyone to hear. "Abandon all scattered outer patrol missions; all personnel will hold the main outpost. After reinforcements arrive, the heavy firepower positions will be taken over by the main combat companies. Our new recruit squad is responsible for close-range interception in the western trench. Once the beast tide breaks through the area covered by long-range artillery fire, we will have to rely on our Sea of Consciousness barriers, firearms, and close-quarters combat to hold back the enemy."
He paused, emphasizing his words: "I remind everyone again, do not overdraft your Sea of Consciousness power. Once you feel stinging pain in your Sea of Consciousness or your vision starts to black out, retreat immediately and let a teammate take your place. Do not force it. The consequence of stubbornly enduring is permanent damage to the Sea of Consciousness. We need living people to hold the defense line, not dead bodies who fought to the death."
The formation was completely silent; no one whispered to each other. Having been tempered by three waves of the beast tide, these new recruits had long shed their initial hot-blooded recklessness and truly understood the cruelty of the battlefield.
After being dismissed, the squad entered specialized combat training. The training ground was in the safe zone behind the trenches. The two veterans simulated the beast tide swarm, continuously releasing layered psychic interference to replicate the psychic erosion of the scaled beasts. Su Qing practiced long-range precision shooting, prioritizing the elimination of low-level scaled beasts at the forefront; Lin Yan was responsible for flank vigilance, practicing maintaining Sea of Consciousness early warning under continuous psychic pressure while also handling close-quarters defense.
The training had no flashy moves; it was entirely composed of survival skills applicable to the battlefield. Lin Yan adjusted the way he used his Sea of Consciousness over and over again. Spreading out psychic perception over a large area consumed a massive amount of power and made it easy for the psychic impacts of high-level scaled beasts to find weak points. He had explored a model that suited him: releasing only a few hair-thin perception tentacles from his Sea of Consciousness to monitor only nearby anomalies, while keeping the main Sea of Consciousness firmly contracted to fully construct a defensive barrier. He sacrificed perception range in exchange for greater endurance and more stable resistance.
"Your Sea of Consciousness control is truly unique." After a round of training, Su Qing walked over, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, her face still somewhat pale. "At the same second tier, when others spread out their Sea of Consciousness, it's perception of the entire area. You only guard a small area around you, and your consumption is far lower than ours."
"Large-scale perception is a burden in massive beast tides," Lin Yan said slowly. "When the psychic fluctuations of countless scaled beasts mix together, large-scale perception only forces the Sea of Consciousness to endure tens of thousands of interferences simultaneously, and it will collapse quickly. Guarding the immediate vicinity and identifying danger is enough."
Old Chen nodded from the side: "Well said. Many new recruits like to pursue large-scale perception, thinking stronger is always better. But in true massive beast tides, the most taboo thing is spreading the Sea of Consciousness too thin. Lin Yan's fighting style is very suitable for defending trenches to the death."
The daytime passed in a flash. Reinforcements arrived at the outpost one after another. Heavy mobile artillery vehicles roared onto the high ground positions, their thick, dark barrels aimed at the distant, gloomy rift. Ammunition boxes were continuously transported into the various trenches, and medical stations stocked up on Sea of Consciousness stabilizers, trauma bandages, and hemostatic agents. The entire outpost was like a war machine with its spring slowly tightened, every component entering a state of combat readiness.
As dusk arrived, the gray sky gradually turned ink-black. The wilderness fell completely silent; there were no insect chirps, no wind. From deep within the earth came a faint, muffled vibration, intermittent yet continuous. It was the sound of rock layers resonating as the subterranean scaled beast army moved. The blue lights of the early-warning array flashed incessantly; the intensity of the monitored psychic fluctuations was slowly and steadily rising.
Everyone returned to their respective posts, donned their combat gear, and checked their firearms, ammunition, and Sea of Consciousness stabilizers. Lin Yan stood in the western trench, leaning against the cold steel plate cover, his gaze fixed on the pitch-black valley in the distance. The fine tentacles of his Sea of Consciousness quietly spread out, capturing the cold, frenzied psychic aura emanating from underground. He was still at the second-tier peak, without a breakthrough. But after several life-and-death battles, his Sea of Consciousness foundation was far thicker and more solid than that of warriors at the same tier.
Old Chen stood beside him and spoke in a low voice: "They're here."
Deep within the distant rift, countless tiny points of light slowly lit up—the faint reflection of the scaled beasts' compound eyes. A massive, dark beast tide was slowly crawling out of the subterranean rift.
Deep underground, within a vast, gloomy cave hall, the tall Lizardmen chieftain stood quietly atop a stone dais, his vertical pupils staring at the psychic images transmitted from the surface. Beside him, several Lizardmen priests continuously released psychic links, commanding the scaled beast swarms on the surface. The human combat power data collected from the previous three rounds of attacks had been fully aggregated. This time, there would be no more probing; it was a full-force assault.
Humanity did not yet know that what they were fighting against was never the instinctual tide of beasts. Beyond the rift lay a meticulously planned general offensive.
Lin Yan gripped the short blade in his hand, his heart beating steadily. Inside the trench, his comrades breathed heavily, ammunition was chambered, and Sea of Consciousness barriers were raised one after another. The last moment of peace on the Black Mountain defense line had come to an end.