Chapter 40: The Rift Tide
The trembling of the earth gradually became distinct, no longer the faint, muffled rumble from before.
The mud beneath their feet quivered slightly. Gravel from the side walls of the trenches cascaded down continuously, falling onto the soldiers' helmets and shoulders. In the distance, the rift in the valley gaped like a massive, pitch-black wound, constantly vomiting forth low, mingled roars of beasts. Wave after wave of cold, frenzied psychic tides expanded outward from the depths of the earth.
The outpost's early-warning alarm abruptly tore through the night.
A piercing, prolonged wail echoed across the entire defense line. The red warning lights on the command tower flashed incessantly, and the communicator carried the frantic shouts of the duty officer: "All positions, attention! A massive scaled beast swarm is bursting from the main rift! Estimated numbers exceed seven hundred, including at least two third-tier scaled beasts. All personnel, activate Sea of Consciousness defenses! Long-range artillery teams, prepare to fire!"
"Take your positions!" Old Chen roared in a deep voice, shoving Su Qing toward the firing position inside the trench. "Lin Yan, guard the left flank gap! Do not rashly push forward; prioritize intercepting any that slip through the artillery barrage!"
Lin Yan swiftly turned sideways, pressing tightly against the steel plate cover. His left hand gripped his short blade, and his Sea of Consciousness instantly contracted. A few fine mental tentacles probed outward, locking firmly onto the wilderness ahead. Unlike the other warriors who forcibly spread out large-scale Sea of Consciousness barriers, he stuck to the fighting style he had honed: keeping the main body of his Sea of Consciousness defensively contracted inward, retaining only short-range perception to minimize mental consumption and resist the incoming collective psychic erosion.
Beside him, several new recruits had pale faces, the veins on their temples bulging. The overlapping psychic pressure released by the swarms of scaled beasts crashed against everyone's Seas of Consciousness like a freezing tide. Someone let out a muffled groan, their head throbbing violently as their Sea of Consciousness barrier instantly cracked. They could only lower their heads, grit their teeth, and swallow a Sea of Consciousness stabilizer.
"Hold steady! Don't break formation!" Instructor Zhou ran quickly along the trench, shouting to reassure them. "Long-range artillery fire is about to cover the area! Endure the first wave of psychic impacts!"
The heavy mobile artillery vehicles on the high ground opened fire first.
Boom! Boom!
Blazing artillery fire tore through the pitch-black night sky. The shells, trailing orange-red tail flames, slammed into the beast swarm at the rift's exit. The explosions sent mud and shattered scales flying into the air. The dozens of low-level scaled beasts at the forefront were instantly blown to pieces, their dark green, foul-smelling blood splattering everywhere.
The lethal effect of the artillery was considerable, but the sheer number of scaled beasts was simply too vast.
Endless waves of scaled beasts behind them continued to charge forward over the corpses of their kin. Their low, stout bodies were covered in thick, gray-black scales. Their four limbs and sharp claws dug into the dirt, and their long snouts opened and closed continuously, emitting piercing shrieks. They had clear divisions of labor: some absorbed the artillery fire to deplete human ammunition, while others dispersed and flanked toward the low-lying gaps of the western trench.
"Left side! Over thirty scaled beasts are flanking around!" Su Qing shouldered her rifle and calmly pulled the trigger.
The bullet precisely pierced the weak point of a scaled beast's eye socket, and the beast collapsed heavily. But the beasts behind it didn't pause in the slightest, charging forward fearlessly. Individually, low-level scaled beasts weren't formidable, but once they swarmed close to the trenches, their claws and fangs could still quickly tear through soldiers' flesh.
Using the smoke generated by artillery explosions as cover, three scaled beasts leaped onto the edge of the trench.
Old Chen immediately stepped forward, swinging his alloy short knife horizontally. The blade sliced into the soft armor of the beast's neck, and dark green blood gushed out. But another scaled beast seized the opportunity to pounce at his side. Lin Yan shifted his footing, executing ancient martial arts footwork in the narrow trench. He slid sideways, his short blade precisely stabbing into the gap beneath the beast's jaw.
The scaled beast struggled violently, its massive head thrashing wildly. Lin Yan exerted force in his wrist,顺势 (following the momentum) drawing his knife back and dodging its wildly swinging claws. Thick, foul-smelling blood splattered onto his combat suit, warm and sticky.
"Careful! High-tier psychic fluctuation incoming!" Su Qing suddenly warned in a panicked voice.
A cold, sinister consciousness, several times stronger than that of ordinary scaled beasts, crushed down forcefully.
It was a third-tier scaled beast.
Hiding in the middle of the swarm, it did not rashly rush to the front lines. Instead, it continuously released large-scale psychic impacts, specifically targeting the warriors in the trenches. Several new recruits instantly dropped to their knees, clutching their heads. Their Seas of Consciousness suffered severe trauma, and the agonizing headaches left them unable to maintain their defenses, rendering them combat-ineffective.
"Hold your Seas of Consciousness! Don't let its psychic power seize your minds!" Instructor Zhou roared as he activated his own fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness barrier, stubbornly enduring the pressure. He raised his gun and fired toward the third-tier scaled beast.
The third-tier scaled beast let out a long, piercing shriek, and the psychic impact intensified once again.
Lin Yan felt a sudden, icy sting in his mind. The surface barrier of his Sea of Consciousness trembled, and fine cracks reappeared. He immediately gathered his focus, the breathing technique operating quietly, anchoring his mind. The mental fortitude cultivated through years of ancient martial arts took effect now. While others were thrown into mental chaos by the psychic interference, he remained calm, observing the battlefield.
He saw that on the distant wilderness, another third-tier scaled beast had emerged from a small side rift, its target directly aimed at the weak flank of the western trench. The two third-tier scaled beasts cooperated perfectly: one was responsible for large-scale psychic suppression, while the other waited for an opportunity to find gaps in the defense line, commanding countless low-level scaled beasts to charge in relays.
This was no longer a beast tide driven by animal instinct.
Coordination, containment, and pinpoint breakthroughs—the entire tactical approach was methodical. The soldiers in the trench fought desperately, and the artillery fire poured down ceaselessly, yet the beast tide was like an endless black ocean; as soon as one batch fell, another immediately took their place.
A new recruit not far from Lin Yan had just had his mind disrupted by a psychic impact. Seizing the chance, a scaled beast pounced into the trench, its sharp fangs biting straight through his shoulder armor. A scream pierced the gunpowder smoke. Comrades nearby frantically opened fire to kill the beast, but the new recruit was bleeding profusely and had lost the ability to move. He could only be dragged backward by logistics medics to evacuate.
Casualties were steadily increasing.
"This won't work. We're consuming ammunition too fast. If we don't eliminate the two third-tier scaled beasts, we'll eventually be worn to death," Old Chen said in a panting whisper as he swung his knife to slay another leaping scaled beast.
Lin Yan's gaze locked onto the third-tier scaled beast responsible for the psychic suppression in the distance, silently estimating the distance.
He was only at the second-tier peak. He absolutely could not kill a third-tier scaled beast alone. Ancient martial arts combat techniques could help him deal with low-level beasts, but against such a high-tier monster, his physical strength, scale armor defense, and psychic attacks were all insurmountable chasms. To eliminate it, he had to rely on artillery fire and teammate coordination, seizing a fleeting opportunity.
A voice came through the communicator from the command tower, laced with anxiety: "Western position, the second third-tier scaled beast is moving in your direction! The main artillery group is adjusting coordinates; we need you to briefly contain the target!"
"Received!" Instructor Zhou replied, turning to look at his squad. "We need to stall it! Everyone, conserve ammunition; prioritize killing the low-level scaled beasts approaching the trench. Do not actively chase the third-tier target. If your Sea of Consciousness overloads, retreat immediately!"
The beast tide continued to charge. The mud was soaked with blood, making it slippery and sticky underfoot. The air was thick with the choking stench of gunpowder smoke, explosives, and rotting scaled beast blood.
Lin Yan constantly maneuvered along the left flank of the trench, slaying the low-level scaled beasts that slipped in, while continuously enduring the waves of psychic impacts from the third-tier scaled beast. His Sea of Consciousness was pressed upon repeatedly; the barrier cracked with fine lines, only to be barely maintained through his stable mind. Every act of resistance silently tempered his Sea of Consciousness foundation, bringing him closer to the absolute limit of the second-tier peak, though he still had not touched the threshold for breaking through to the third tier.
A thousand meters beneath the earth, the Lizardmen priests quietly perceived everything happening on the surface.
Through the psychic links of the scaled beasts, every skirmish on the battlefield and the distribution of human warriors' strengths and weaknesses were clearly fed back into their consciousness. To them, the desperate resistance of the surface humans was merely a pre-planned war of attrition.
In the surface trenches, no one knew that the beast tide they were fighting to the death against was being calmly controlled by an intelligent subterranean race.
An exceptionally stout low-level scaled beast used the corpses of its companions as a springboard, leaping fiercely into the air and lunging straight for Lin Yan's face.
Lin Yan's pupils contracted slightly. His feet twisted, and his body swayed like a falling leaf in the wind, narrowly avoiding the claws. His right hand reversed the grip on his short blade, thrusting it upward precisely into the unprotected area of the beast's chest and abdomen.
The scaled beast let out a miserable shriek and fell heavily into the mud of the trench, convulsing violently.
Lin Yan drew his blade and looked up toward the distant darkness.
More scaled beasts were still pouring out from the rift, an endless stream.
The mud beneath their feet quivered slightly. Gravel from the side walls of the trenches cascaded down continuously, falling onto the soldiers' helmets and shoulders. In the distance, the rift in the valley gaped like a massive, pitch-black wound, constantly vomiting forth low, mingled roars of beasts. Wave after wave of cold, frenzied psychic tides expanded outward from the depths of the earth.
The outpost's early-warning alarm abruptly tore through the night.
A piercing, prolonged wail echoed across the entire defense line. The red warning lights on the command tower flashed incessantly, and the communicator carried the frantic shouts of the duty officer: "All positions, attention! A massive scaled beast swarm is bursting from the main rift! Estimated numbers exceed seven hundred, including at least two third-tier scaled beasts. All personnel, activate Sea of Consciousness defenses! Long-range artillery teams, prepare to fire!"
"Take your positions!" Old Chen roared in a deep voice, shoving Su Qing toward the firing position inside the trench. "Lin Yan, guard the left flank gap! Do not rashly push forward; prioritize intercepting any that slip through the artillery barrage!"
Lin Yan swiftly turned sideways, pressing tightly against the steel plate cover. His left hand gripped his short blade, and his Sea of Consciousness instantly contracted. A few fine mental tentacles probed outward, locking firmly onto the wilderness ahead. Unlike the other warriors who forcibly spread out large-scale Sea of Consciousness barriers, he stuck to the fighting style he had honed: keeping the main body of his Sea of Consciousness defensively contracted inward, retaining only short-range perception to minimize mental consumption and resist the incoming collective psychic erosion.
Beside him, several new recruits had pale faces, the veins on their temples bulging. The overlapping psychic pressure released by the swarms of scaled beasts crashed against everyone's Seas of Consciousness like a freezing tide. Someone let out a muffled groan, their head throbbing violently as their Sea of Consciousness barrier instantly cracked. They could only lower their heads, grit their teeth, and swallow a Sea of Consciousness stabilizer.
"Hold steady! Don't break formation!" Instructor Zhou ran quickly along the trench, shouting to reassure them. "Long-range artillery fire is about to cover the area! Endure the first wave of psychic impacts!"
The heavy mobile artillery vehicles on the high ground opened fire first.
Boom! Boom!
Blazing artillery fire tore through the pitch-black night sky. The shells, trailing orange-red tail flames, slammed into the beast swarm at the rift's exit. The explosions sent mud and shattered scales flying into the air. The dozens of low-level scaled beasts at the forefront were instantly blown to pieces, their dark green, foul-smelling blood splattering everywhere.
The lethal effect of the artillery was considerable, but the sheer number of scaled beasts was simply too vast.
Endless waves of scaled beasts behind them continued to charge forward over the corpses of their kin. Their low, stout bodies were covered in thick, gray-black scales. Their four limbs and sharp claws dug into the dirt, and their long snouts opened and closed continuously, emitting piercing shrieks. They had clear divisions of labor: some absorbed the artillery fire to deplete human ammunition, while others dispersed and flanked toward the low-lying gaps of the western trench.
"Left side! Over thirty scaled beasts are flanking around!" Su Qing shouldered her rifle and calmly pulled the trigger.
The bullet precisely pierced the weak point of a scaled beast's eye socket, and the beast collapsed heavily. But the beasts behind it didn't pause in the slightest, charging forward fearlessly. Individually, low-level scaled beasts weren't formidable, but once they swarmed close to the trenches, their claws and fangs could still quickly tear through soldiers' flesh.
Using the smoke generated by artillery explosions as cover, three scaled beasts leaped onto the edge of the trench.
Old Chen immediately stepped forward, swinging his alloy short knife horizontally. The blade sliced into the soft armor of the beast's neck, and dark green blood gushed out. But another scaled beast seized the opportunity to pounce at his side. Lin Yan shifted his footing, executing ancient martial arts footwork in the narrow trench. He slid sideways, his short blade precisely stabbing into the gap beneath the beast's jaw.
The scaled beast struggled violently, its massive head thrashing wildly. Lin Yan exerted force in his wrist,顺势 (following the momentum) drawing his knife back and dodging its wildly swinging claws. Thick, foul-smelling blood splattered onto his combat suit, warm and sticky.
"Careful! High-tier psychic fluctuation incoming!" Su Qing suddenly warned in a panicked voice.
A cold, sinister consciousness, several times stronger than that of ordinary scaled beasts, crushed down forcefully.
It was a third-tier scaled beast.
Hiding in the middle of the swarm, it did not rashly rush to the front lines. Instead, it continuously released large-scale psychic impacts, specifically targeting the warriors in the trenches. Several new recruits instantly dropped to their knees, clutching their heads. Their Seas of Consciousness suffered severe trauma, and the agonizing headaches left them unable to maintain their defenses, rendering them combat-ineffective.
"Hold your Seas of Consciousness! Don't let its psychic power seize your minds!" Instructor Zhou roared as he activated his own fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness barrier, stubbornly enduring the pressure. He raised his gun and fired toward the third-tier scaled beast.
The third-tier scaled beast let out a long, piercing shriek, and the psychic impact intensified once again.
Lin Yan felt a sudden, icy sting in his mind. The surface barrier of his Sea of Consciousness trembled, and fine cracks reappeared. He immediately gathered his focus, the breathing technique operating quietly, anchoring his mind. The mental fortitude cultivated through years of ancient martial arts took effect now. While others were thrown into mental chaos by the psychic interference, he remained calm, observing the battlefield.
He saw that on the distant wilderness, another third-tier scaled beast had emerged from a small side rift, its target directly aimed at the weak flank of the western trench. The two third-tier scaled beasts cooperated perfectly: one was responsible for large-scale psychic suppression, while the other waited for an opportunity to find gaps in the defense line, commanding countless low-level scaled beasts to charge in relays.
This was no longer a beast tide driven by animal instinct.
Coordination, containment, and pinpoint breakthroughs—the entire tactical approach was methodical. The soldiers in the trench fought desperately, and the artillery fire poured down ceaselessly, yet the beast tide was like an endless black ocean; as soon as one batch fell, another immediately took their place.
A new recruit not far from Lin Yan had just had his mind disrupted by a psychic impact. Seizing the chance, a scaled beast pounced into the trench, its sharp fangs biting straight through his shoulder armor. A scream pierced the gunpowder smoke. Comrades nearby frantically opened fire to kill the beast, but the new recruit was bleeding profusely and had lost the ability to move. He could only be dragged backward by logistics medics to evacuate.
Casualties were steadily increasing.
"This won't work. We're consuming ammunition too fast. If we don't eliminate the two third-tier scaled beasts, we'll eventually be worn to death," Old Chen said in a panting whisper as he swung his knife to slay another leaping scaled beast.
Lin Yan's gaze locked onto the third-tier scaled beast responsible for the psychic suppression in the distance, silently estimating the distance.
He was only at the second-tier peak. He absolutely could not kill a third-tier scaled beast alone. Ancient martial arts combat techniques could help him deal with low-level beasts, but against such a high-tier monster, his physical strength, scale armor defense, and psychic attacks were all insurmountable chasms. To eliminate it, he had to rely on artillery fire and teammate coordination, seizing a fleeting opportunity.
A voice came through the communicator from the command tower, laced with anxiety: "Western position, the second third-tier scaled beast is moving in your direction! The main artillery group is adjusting coordinates; we need you to briefly contain the target!"
"Received!" Instructor Zhou replied, turning to look at his squad. "We need to stall it! Everyone, conserve ammunition; prioritize killing the low-level scaled beasts approaching the trench. Do not actively chase the third-tier target. If your Sea of Consciousness overloads, retreat immediately!"
The beast tide continued to charge. The mud was soaked with blood, making it slippery and sticky underfoot. The air was thick with the choking stench of gunpowder smoke, explosives, and rotting scaled beast blood.
Lin Yan constantly maneuvered along the left flank of the trench, slaying the low-level scaled beasts that slipped in, while continuously enduring the waves of psychic impacts from the third-tier scaled beast. His Sea of Consciousness was pressed upon repeatedly; the barrier cracked with fine lines, only to be barely maintained through his stable mind. Every act of resistance silently tempered his Sea of Consciousness foundation, bringing him closer to the absolute limit of the second-tier peak, though he still had not touched the threshold for breaking through to the third tier.
A thousand meters beneath the earth, the Lizardmen priests quietly perceived everything happening on the surface.
Through the psychic links of the scaled beasts, every skirmish on the battlefield and the distribution of human warriors' strengths and weaknesses were clearly fed back into their consciousness. To them, the desperate resistance of the surface humans was merely a pre-planned war of attrition.
In the surface trenches, no one knew that the beast tide they were fighting to the death against was being calmly controlled by an intelligent subterranean race.
An exceptionally stout low-level scaled beast used the corpses of its companions as a springboard, leaping fiercely into the air and lunging straight for Lin Yan's face.
Lin Yan's pupils contracted slightly. His feet twisted, and his body swayed like a falling leaf in the wind, narrowly avoiding the claws. His right hand reversed the grip on his short blade, thrusting it upward precisely into the unprotected area of the beast's chest and abdomen.
The scaled beast let out a miserable shriek and fell heavily into the mud of the trench, convulsing violently.
Lin Yan drew his blade and looked up toward the distant darkness.
More scaled beasts were still pouring out from the rift, an endless stream.