Chapter 203: Reweaving the Spiderweb
The one-and-a-half-hour window slipped by in a flash of tense vigilance.
Lin Yan was the first to notice the anomaly.
The spiderweb consciousness, which had been continuously decaying and falling apart, began to gather and take shape deep within the cavern. The severed main trunk mycelia connected and intertwined one by one. Pale gray consciousness veins spread outward along the main channel. No longer spreading to every corner of the city as before, it retained only two main lines: one connected to the buffer rock hall, firmly held in the grasp of the Beast Commander; the other extended toward the anchor points in the near suburbs of the bastion where spore concentrations were the highest, completely abandoning the scattered, fragmented nodes within the city.
The Spiderweb Ancient Being was in no rush to deploy its control comprehensively. Having suffered a loss from the neutralizing serum previously, it had become much more conservative this time.
"Seventy percent of the core spiderweb links have been repaired. It has abandoned the far-end peripheral branches, prioritizing the beast herd's command and the activation of the near-suburb anchor points," Lin Yan immediately reported to the command center. "They can now resynchronize to mobilize the beast herd. They are not far from a full-scale war."
Scholar Su immediately ordered the entire line to elevate to Level 1 combat readiness.
The Sea of Consciousness cultivators, who were in the middle of rotating meditation, abruptly opened their eyes. They swiftly assembled by the pillars corresponding to the main breach on the left flank. Following the previously established grouping, they split into two batches to take turns bearing the psychic assault. Engineers halted their final reinforcement work and stood guard at the energy control consoles, their fingers hovering over the overload power valves. Soldiers in the trenches all returned to their firing positions, and the piercing cannons were recalibrated to aim at the rift's exit.
The sweeping squads within the city made an emergency withdrawal, leaving only a minimal number of personnel to monitor the high-risk anchor points in the near suburbs. If any were ignited, they were to suppress them on the spot. Everyone knew that, having learned from their previous setback, the ancient beings would undoubtedly adjust their tactics and not repeat the exact same strategy as the last round.
Within the cavern, the consciousness of the five ancient beings began to resynchronize.
The Beast Commander's heavy consciousness swept across the buffer rock hall, taking inventory of the reorganized scaled beasts. After a round of rest and consuming the injured soldiers to replenish their strength, the beast herd still maintained a scale of over 180, including eleven third-tier scaled beasts. It no longer divided its forces evenly between the left and right breaches. Instead, it concentrated and concealed the majority of the third-tier scaled beasts in the hidden intersections inside the rock hall, using them as a vanguard for a decisive strike, and arranged for ordinary scaled beasts to initiate probing attacks first.
The Sharp-Sense Ancient Being had not fully recovered from its injuries. Its sharp fluctuations remained relatively weak, so it abandoned the idea of unleashing a large-scale overlapping impact in the short term. Instead, it prepared for continuous, highly targeted psychic stabs. Rather than indiscriminately covering all cultivators, it specifically targeted those with pre-existing wounds to their Seas of Consciousness during their rotation gaps, slowly eroding the defense forces.
The Illusion Ancient Being continued to lie dormant near the rift entrance, with several small illusion array nodes lying in wait. It no longer pursued large-scale illusion engulfment; instead, it switched to short-range, instantaneous illusion ambushes. The moment anyone approached the rift, it would suddenly unleash a split-second hallucination to disrupt the rhythm of counterattacks and drain the durability of anti-illusion equipment.
The supreme ruler's consciousness slowly rippled, issuing a brief synchronization command.
This time, the tactic was no longer a simultaneous, dual-front assault aiming to tear the defense line apart in one breath. Instead, it was a gradual progression: first, use waves of small-scale probing attacks to deplete ammunition and exhaust the cultivators' stamina. Once the flaws in the defense line's rotation were identified, it would release the sealed main force of third-tier scaled beasts to achieve a concentrated breakthrough at a single point.
"They've changed their tactics," Lin Yan said, his brow furrowing as he intercepted the tactical signals transmitted between the ancient beings. "They are no longer in a rush to tear open two breaches. They intend to take turns probing, slowly grinding down our defense line."
A heavy, oppressive silence fell over the channel.
This tactic was far more tormenting than a single, furious charge. A charge at least offered a chance to bet everything on a desperate gamble. But this endless war of attrition and probing would slowly drain their ammunition, physical stamina, and Sea of Consciousness power, until a fatal oversight inevitably appeared somewhere in the defense line due to sheer exhaustion.
Before long, a low growl echoed from the shadows of the rift.
The first wave of probing beasts—over twenty ordinary scaled beasts divided into three small squads—charged out in sequence. Stepping over the piled corpses from before, they slammed into the left flank of the barrier.
Boom. Boom.
The sounds of the collisions were not as frantic as the previous round. The rhythm was scattered; one wave would stop, and after a brief pause, the next would arrive. The piercing cannons in the trenches fired calmly, precisely harvesting the scaled beasts at the forefront. The fallen corpses continued to pile up in front of the barrier.
"Don't fire blindly. Conserve ammunition, and aim carefully," a frontline non-commissioned officer instructed in a low voice.
The Sea of Consciousness cultivators maintained their retracted defenses, not actively spreading their perception outward. They only collectively resonated in minor blocks when the Sharp-Sense Ancient Being's psychic stabs arrived. Tiny, sharp spikes of consciousness occasionally pierced into the array. A cultivator whose old wounds had not yet healed shuddered at the shoulder, stifled a groan, and turned pale. He immediately stepped back according to the rotation sequence, and a replacement quickly filled his spot.
The probing lasted for half an hour.
The scaled beasts came in waves and fell in waves. They did not cause any major crises, but they firmly kept everyone's nerves taut. Every time a scaled beast charged out, everyone had to brace themselves. Just as they were about to catch their breath after the attack receded, the next batch would arrive right on its heels.
The far northern defense line was relatively quiet. The Beast Commander had not dispatched any scaled beasts to flank and ambush there again. It was using the north as bait, forcing the garrison to continually divide their forces to maintain vigilance, preventing them from moving all their personnel back to the main breach.
Seizing this gap, the Spiderweb Ancient Being gently plucked an anchor point in the near suburbs.
An alarm sounded. A spore outbreak occurred at an abandoned storage site in the near suburbs, and several nearby residents immediately experienced dizziness and auditory hallucinations. The remaining squad rushed over and deployed calming agents to suppress it. The alarm was lifted shortly after. But this single act of harassment had once again diverted their already scarce reserve forces.
"A near-suburb anchor point has been activated. The harassment is successful," Lin Yan reported simultaneously. "This is a harassment tactic coordinated with the probing assault. They intend to continuously apply alternating pressure."
Leaning against the cover, Old Zhou held his oscillation stinger with one hand. His wounds throbbed with pain due to the continuous tension. He stared at the rift opening. Beneath the gray fog, it was terrifyingly quiet. He knew that the main force of third-tier scaled beasts was still hidden in the dark intersections, waiting to strike. That was the greatest blade hanging over their heads.
At the rear medical station, Qin Kai's injuries were too severe for him to return to the frontline. Yet, he still insisted on wearing a simple perception receiver, listening in on the entire command channel. He transmitted a low-frequency message to Scholar Su: "They are waiting for us to become numb. They are waiting for us to get used to these small-scale assaults and let our guard down. Only then will the main force strike."
This was exactly what Lin Yan was worried about.
Deep within the cavern, the supreme ruler silently observed the data from the probing.
The barrier's energy replenishment rate, the cultivators' rotation intervals, the ammunition consumption rate, and the blind spots in fire coverage—all these pieces of information were aggregated. The other four ancient beings continuously fine-tuned the rhythm of their probes, slowly compressing humanity's margin for error.
Above the wasteland, smoke rose and dissipated repeatedly.
Sporadic beast tide assaults continued incessantly. Psychic stabs occasionally ambushed the Sea of Consciousness array, and the near-suburb anchor point alarms rang out at regular intervals. An invisible consumption was accumulating in silence.
Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness remained locked onto the thermal signatures of the eleven third-tier scaled beasts in the hidden intersections.
They were still dormant. Waiting for a single command from the supreme ruler, they would unleash a new, devastating assault. And the defenders of the West Bastion could only endure the attrition in this endless cycle of probing, bitterly awaiting the moment when the general offensive would eventually descend.
End of Chapter.
Lin Yan was the first to notice the anomaly.
The spiderweb consciousness, which had been continuously decaying and falling apart, began to gather and take shape deep within the cavern. The severed main trunk mycelia connected and intertwined one by one. Pale gray consciousness veins spread outward along the main channel. No longer spreading to every corner of the city as before, it retained only two main lines: one connected to the buffer rock hall, firmly held in the grasp of the Beast Commander; the other extended toward the anchor points in the near suburbs of the bastion where spore concentrations were the highest, completely abandoning the scattered, fragmented nodes within the city.
The Spiderweb Ancient Being was in no rush to deploy its control comprehensively. Having suffered a loss from the neutralizing serum previously, it had become much more conservative this time.
"Seventy percent of the core spiderweb links have been repaired. It has abandoned the far-end peripheral branches, prioritizing the beast herd's command and the activation of the near-suburb anchor points," Lin Yan immediately reported to the command center. "They can now resynchronize to mobilize the beast herd. They are not far from a full-scale war."
Scholar Su immediately ordered the entire line to elevate to Level 1 combat readiness.
The Sea of Consciousness cultivators, who were in the middle of rotating meditation, abruptly opened their eyes. They swiftly assembled by the pillars corresponding to the main breach on the left flank. Following the previously established grouping, they split into two batches to take turns bearing the psychic assault. Engineers halted their final reinforcement work and stood guard at the energy control consoles, their fingers hovering over the overload power valves. Soldiers in the trenches all returned to their firing positions, and the piercing cannons were recalibrated to aim at the rift's exit.
The sweeping squads within the city made an emergency withdrawal, leaving only a minimal number of personnel to monitor the high-risk anchor points in the near suburbs. If any were ignited, they were to suppress them on the spot. Everyone knew that, having learned from their previous setback, the ancient beings would undoubtedly adjust their tactics and not repeat the exact same strategy as the last round.
Within the cavern, the consciousness of the five ancient beings began to resynchronize.
The Beast Commander's heavy consciousness swept across the buffer rock hall, taking inventory of the reorganized scaled beasts. After a round of rest and consuming the injured soldiers to replenish their strength, the beast herd still maintained a scale of over 180, including eleven third-tier scaled beasts. It no longer divided its forces evenly between the left and right breaches. Instead, it concentrated and concealed the majority of the third-tier scaled beasts in the hidden intersections inside the rock hall, using them as a vanguard for a decisive strike, and arranged for ordinary scaled beasts to initiate probing attacks first.
The Sharp-Sense Ancient Being had not fully recovered from its injuries. Its sharp fluctuations remained relatively weak, so it abandoned the idea of unleashing a large-scale overlapping impact in the short term. Instead, it prepared for continuous, highly targeted psychic stabs. Rather than indiscriminately covering all cultivators, it specifically targeted those with pre-existing wounds to their Seas of Consciousness during their rotation gaps, slowly eroding the defense forces.
The Illusion Ancient Being continued to lie dormant near the rift entrance, with several small illusion array nodes lying in wait. It no longer pursued large-scale illusion engulfment; instead, it switched to short-range, instantaneous illusion ambushes. The moment anyone approached the rift, it would suddenly unleash a split-second hallucination to disrupt the rhythm of counterattacks and drain the durability of anti-illusion equipment.
The supreme ruler's consciousness slowly rippled, issuing a brief synchronization command.
This time, the tactic was no longer a simultaneous, dual-front assault aiming to tear the defense line apart in one breath. Instead, it was a gradual progression: first, use waves of small-scale probing attacks to deplete ammunition and exhaust the cultivators' stamina. Once the flaws in the defense line's rotation were identified, it would release the sealed main force of third-tier scaled beasts to achieve a concentrated breakthrough at a single point.
"They've changed their tactics," Lin Yan said, his brow furrowing as he intercepted the tactical signals transmitted between the ancient beings. "They are no longer in a rush to tear open two breaches. They intend to take turns probing, slowly grinding down our defense line."
A heavy, oppressive silence fell over the channel.
This tactic was far more tormenting than a single, furious charge. A charge at least offered a chance to bet everything on a desperate gamble. But this endless war of attrition and probing would slowly drain their ammunition, physical stamina, and Sea of Consciousness power, until a fatal oversight inevitably appeared somewhere in the defense line due to sheer exhaustion.
Before long, a low growl echoed from the shadows of the rift.
The first wave of probing beasts—over twenty ordinary scaled beasts divided into three small squads—charged out in sequence. Stepping over the piled corpses from before, they slammed into the left flank of the barrier.
Boom. Boom.
The sounds of the collisions were not as frantic as the previous round. The rhythm was scattered; one wave would stop, and after a brief pause, the next would arrive. The piercing cannons in the trenches fired calmly, precisely harvesting the scaled beasts at the forefront. The fallen corpses continued to pile up in front of the barrier.
"Don't fire blindly. Conserve ammunition, and aim carefully," a frontline non-commissioned officer instructed in a low voice.
The Sea of Consciousness cultivators maintained their retracted defenses, not actively spreading their perception outward. They only collectively resonated in minor blocks when the Sharp-Sense Ancient Being's psychic stabs arrived. Tiny, sharp spikes of consciousness occasionally pierced into the array. A cultivator whose old wounds had not yet healed shuddered at the shoulder, stifled a groan, and turned pale. He immediately stepped back according to the rotation sequence, and a replacement quickly filled his spot.
The probing lasted for half an hour.
The scaled beasts came in waves and fell in waves. They did not cause any major crises, but they firmly kept everyone's nerves taut. Every time a scaled beast charged out, everyone had to brace themselves. Just as they were about to catch their breath after the attack receded, the next batch would arrive right on its heels.
The far northern defense line was relatively quiet. The Beast Commander had not dispatched any scaled beasts to flank and ambush there again. It was using the north as bait, forcing the garrison to continually divide their forces to maintain vigilance, preventing them from moving all their personnel back to the main breach.
Seizing this gap, the Spiderweb Ancient Being gently plucked an anchor point in the near suburbs.
An alarm sounded. A spore outbreak occurred at an abandoned storage site in the near suburbs, and several nearby residents immediately experienced dizziness and auditory hallucinations. The remaining squad rushed over and deployed calming agents to suppress it. The alarm was lifted shortly after. But this single act of harassment had once again diverted their already scarce reserve forces.
"A near-suburb anchor point has been activated. The harassment is successful," Lin Yan reported simultaneously. "This is a harassment tactic coordinated with the probing assault. They intend to continuously apply alternating pressure."
Leaning against the cover, Old Zhou held his oscillation stinger with one hand. His wounds throbbed with pain due to the continuous tension. He stared at the rift opening. Beneath the gray fog, it was terrifyingly quiet. He knew that the main force of third-tier scaled beasts was still hidden in the dark intersections, waiting to strike. That was the greatest blade hanging over their heads.
At the rear medical station, Qin Kai's injuries were too severe for him to return to the frontline. Yet, he still insisted on wearing a simple perception receiver, listening in on the entire command channel. He transmitted a low-frequency message to Scholar Su: "They are waiting for us to become numb. They are waiting for us to get used to these small-scale assaults and let our guard down. Only then will the main force strike."
This was exactly what Lin Yan was worried about.
Deep within the cavern, the supreme ruler silently observed the data from the probing.
The barrier's energy replenishment rate, the cultivators' rotation intervals, the ammunition consumption rate, and the blind spots in fire coverage—all these pieces of information were aggregated. The other four ancient beings continuously fine-tuned the rhythm of their probes, slowly compressing humanity's margin for error.
Above the wasteland, smoke rose and dissipated repeatedly.
Sporadic beast tide assaults continued incessantly. Psychic stabs occasionally ambushed the Sea of Consciousness array, and the near-suburb anchor point alarms rang out at regular intervals. An invisible consumption was accumulating in silence.
Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness remained locked onto the thermal signatures of the eleven third-tier scaled beasts in the hidden intersections.
They were still dormant. Waiting for a single command from the supreme ruler, they would unleash a new, devastating assault. And the defenders of the West Bastion could only endure the attrition in this endless cycle of probing, bitterly awaiting the moment when the general offensive would eventually descend.
End of Chapter.