Chapter 23: The Broken Line Holds On
The third-tier scaled beast rested its front limbs on the earthen rim of the trench, its heavy armor pressing down so hard that the dirt crumbled and cascaded down in a steady stream.
The shadow cast from above loomed over the few remaining defenders like a heavy, iron-black coffin. Its vertical pupils were icy, devoid of any bestial frenzy, containing only the pure, apathetic indifference of a predator. The intelligence of high-level scaled beasts was far more terrifying than what the recruits had learned in their textbooks—it knew perfectly well that the humans below were broken soldiers. Their ammunition was nearly gone, their Seas of Consciousness were overdrawn, and the wounded lay everywhere. With just one final crushing wave, it could completely tear this defense line apart.
"Everyone fall back five meters! Rely on the corner cover!" Instructor Zhou suppressed the searing pain of his injured Sea of Consciousness and roared through gritted teeth. Half of his body was numb; the previous directed psychic impact had torn fine cracks into the surface of his Sea of Consciousness. Every time he mobilized his mental power, his skull throbbed with a piercing ache. But he could not retreat; he was the sole command core of this broken formation.
The only two third-tier veterans who were still in relatively intact condition exchanged a glance and simultaneously stepped forward, taking the forefront of the line.
This was a suicidal stance.
They both knew that with just the two of them, fighting a third-tier scaled beast was entirely hopeless; at best, they could only delay the inevitable with their lives.
"It just completed a directed impact. There is a three-second gap in its Sea of Consciousness! Distract it! Don't let it jump into the trench!" the veteran on the left whispered hoarsely, gripping his standard-issue short blade with both hands. His armor was taut, and every muscle in his body was coiled like a spring, ready to strike.
The two did not recklessly charge. They strictly adhered to the safest distraction tactics of the front line: one person would lure the enemy out of position, while the other would focus entirely on attacking its weak points.
As soon as the words were spoken, the veteran on the right raised his hand and pulled the trigger, firing all his remaining energy charges. The dazzling energy beams accurately struck the soft scale area around the third-tier scaled beast's eyes. The explosion ignited, scattering tiny, charred scales and instantly enraging the giant beast with intense pain.
The third-tier scaled beast violently threw its head back, letting out a deafening roar as it unleashed a short-range psychic shockwave.
It wasn't a large-scale crushing wave, but a close-range, violent, instantaneous impact.
The two third-tier veterans could barely stabilize their Seas of Consciousness, but the few remaining new recruits in the rear were instantly overwhelmed. Su Qing's body went limp, and she collapsed directly into the muddy water, clutching her temples as her consciousness flickered in and out. The other two new recruits groaned, their hands trembling violently as they held their guns, completely losing their ability to shoot.
Lin Yan was not entirely spared either.
The core of his extremely contracted Sea of Consciousness trembled violently. The tiny red fissures that had appeared from previous pressure tore and expanded once again, sending a severe wave of dizziness straight to his head. His vision briefly whitened, and his eardrums buzzed as if countless evil spirits were screaming in his ears.
But he did not fall.
The unyielding mental fortitude forged over decades of life-and-death combat in his previous life fully manifested in this moment. Even though his Sea of Consciousness throbbed with unbearable pain and his body felt stiff and numb, he stubbornly guarded his mind. He did not let his consciousness go blank, nor did he panic and flee.
Standing in the blind spot on the side and rear, he kept his eyes fixed on the battle, observing every single movement of the third-tier scaled beast without missing a second.
Enraged by the firepower, the giant beast leaped into the air with its massive body, bringing a sky-full of foul wind as it pounced straight down toward the two veterans. Its claws were spread wide, gleaming with cold light; this single strike was enough to tear through thick alloy armor and shatter human bones.
The veteran tasked with luring the enemy had anticipated this. His feet slid rapidly sideways, barely avoiding the fatal pounce. Mud and rubble were sent flying by the claws, leaving a trench several inches deep gouged into the ground of the trench.
It was in this fleeting moment of evasion!
The other veteran closed the distance, lowering his body to the absolute extreme, and drove his short blade fiercely into the gap between the scales on the beast's front limb!
Pfft—
Black, foul-smelling blood gushed out, splattering across half of the veteran's face.
Stung by the pain, the third-tier scaled beast flew into a frenzy. Its massive body twisted violently, and its thick tail swept out like a steel whip. The veteran didn't have time to pull his blade and retreat; he could only raise his arm to block.
Crack!
The crisp sound of shattering bones was exceptionally piercing amidst the din of battle.
The veteran's entire arm bent at a grotesque angle. His armor completely shattered, and his flesh tore open. The massive impact sent him flying backward, slamming heavily against the earthen wall of the trench. After hitting the ground, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His short blade slipped from his hand, and he was entirely unable to rise.
"Old Chen!" The last remaining veteran's eyes nearly tore from their sockets, his mind instantly wavering.
In that brief moment of distraction, the third-tier scaled beast had already turned its body. Raising its head slightly, it completed the charging of another targeted psychic impact, locking dead onto the last veteran standing in its way.
The invisible psychic tidal wave crashed down.
The veteran's Sea of Consciousness instantly overloaded. His face turned as pale as paper, his eyes bloodshot. Clutching his head, he staggered back, his footing unsteady; even standing was an immense struggle. Enduring the agonizing pain of his Sea of Consciousness fracturing, he refused to fall, still stubbornly blocking the front of the line.
In just a few breaths, both main veteran fighters were severely injured and removed from the field.
The front line was completely undefended.
The combat power within the trench had completely collapsed.
Looming high above, the third-tier scaled beast scanned the trembling, wounded humans below and let out a low, almost mocking hiss. It did not pounce immediately, seemingly savoring the moment its prey fell into absolute despair.
Meanwhile, on the flanks, the crisis had never ceased.
Taking advantage of the gap while the front line was distracted, two escaped low-level scaled beasts bypassed the main battlefield and darted rapidly along the blind spots at the edge of the trench, diving straight for the defenseless wounded and medics in the rear.
The wounded could not move; they could only watch in despair as the ferocious beasts approached, their desperate gasps echoing back and forth.
At this moment, the formation had no one to spare, no troops to send as reinforcements, and no bullets left to fire.
The only person who could still maneuver, maintain their mental stability, and execute effective actions was Lin Yan.
He still did not impulsively try to solo the high-level giant beast, nor did he overstep the boundaries of a new recruit.
The psychic suppression of the third-tier scaled beast was an absolute forbidden zone for him right now; stepping forward was nothing but a death sentence.
But the low-level scaled beasts on the flank were the only gap he could realistically hope to hold.
Suppressing the searing pain in his Sea of Consciousness, Lin Yan's body suddenly shot forward.
His ancient martial arts footwork was pushed to the absolute limit within the narrow trench. His movements were light yet ferocious, and in an instant, he arrived at the breached flank. His energy gun had only three charges left. He did not spray blindly; with extreme calm, he locked his sights onto the soft flesh of the first scaled beast's eye socket.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three energy bullets. Precise, steady, and without a millimeter of deviation.
The continuous, burning pain instantly interrupted the low-level scaled beast's charge. Agonized, the giant beast roared, its movements halting abruptly as its ferocity surged. It turned and pounced straight at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan did not press his advantage, nor did he engage in prolonged combat. The moment he landed his strike, he immediately retreated and evaded.
He knew very well that he could not kill this scaled beast on his own. His goal was never to kill; it was to delay, to distract, and to protect the wounded in the rear.
He constantly maneuvered, constantly pulling the enemy, using his footwork to evade the beast's claws and bites, paying the smallest possible price to死死 (firmly) drag out the offensive rhythm of the two low-level scaled beasts.
Every time he got close, he had to face the psychic turbulence attached to the low-level scaled beasts.
The sensation of fine needles repeatedly washed over his contracted Sea of Consciousness. The pain continued to stack, and the dizziness grew heavier. Yet, he gritted his teeth and endured it. Under the immense pressure of life and death, he unconsciously made micro-adjustments to the degree of his Sea of Consciousness contraction.
If it was too tense, it would quickly drain his mental power; if it was too relaxed, the psychic turbulence would shatter his defenses.
It was precisely within these repeated moments of extreme pressure that his mastery over his Sea of Consciousness was improving at a slow, solid pace that the training grounds could never achieve.
Seeing this, Instructor Zhou endured the pain in his Sea of Consciousness, shifted his arm, and threw his two remaining standard-issue short blades toward Lin Yan: "Catch the blades! Hold them off! Backup is arriving soon!"
Backup was still far away, but this was their only lifeline in this moment.
Lin Yan turned his body and caught the spinning blades. They were cold and heavy in his hands.
He still did not take the initiative to engage in close-quarters combat. Relying solely on the deterrent of the short blades, he continuously forced back the scaled beasts' pouncing range, firmly locking down the gap on the flank and ensuring that not a single beast got near the wounded in the rear.
The third-tier scaled beast in the front finally lost its patience.
Channeling power into its four limbs, its massive body suddenly took to the air, carrying an overwhelming, unstoppable momentum as it leaped down toward the ruined trench!
The entire world seemed to hold its breath in an instant.
Catching this scene in his peripheral vision, Lin Yan's heart clenched violently.
He was still insignificant; he was still powerless to stop this high-level giant beast.
All he could do was continue to hold on, continue to learn, and continue to extract every ounce of survival experience from this endless bloodbath.
Deep within the rift, a new, even more surging chorus of beast roars once again echoed across the heavens and earth.
The tug-of-war had not stopped. And his growth had not ceased.
The shadow cast from above loomed over the few remaining defenders like a heavy, iron-black coffin. Its vertical pupils were icy, devoid of any bestial frenzy, containing only the pure, apathetic indifference of a predator. The intelligence of high-level scaled beasts was far more terrifying than what the recruits had learned in their textbooks—it knew perfectly well that the humans below were broken soldiers. Their ammunition was nearly gone, their Seas of Consciousness were overdrawn, and the wounded lay everywhere. With just one final crushing wave, it could completely tear this defense line apart.
"Everyone fall back five meters! Rely on the corner cover!" Instructor Zhou suppressed the searing pain of his injured Sea of Consciousness and roared through gritted teeth. Half of his body was numb; the previous directed psychic impact had torn fine cracks into the surface of his Sea of Consciousness. Every time he mobilized his mental power, his skull throbbed with a piercing ache. But he could not retreat; he was the sole command core of this broken formation.
The only two third-tier veterans who were still in relatively intact condition exchanged a glance and simultaneously stepped forward, taking the forefront of the line.
This was a suicidal stance.
They both knew that with just the two of them, fighting a third-tier scaled beast was entirely hopeless; at best, they could only delay the inevitable with their lives.
"It just completed a directed impact. There is a three-second gap in its Sea of Consciousness! Distract it! Don't let it jump into the trench!" the veteran on the left whispered hoarsely, gripping his standard-issue short blade with both hands. His armor was taut, and every muscle in his body was coiled like a spring, ready to strike.
The two did not recklessly charge. They strictly adhered to the safest distraction tactics of the front line: one person would lure the enemy out of position, while the other would focus entirely on attacking its weak points.
As soon as the words were spoken, the veteran on the right raised his hand and pulled the trigger, firing all his remaining energy charges. The dazzling energy beams accurately struck the soft scale area around the third-tier scaled beast's eyes. The explosion ignited, scattering tiny, charred scales and instantly enraging the giant beast with intense pain.
The third-tier scaled beast violently threw its head back, letting out a deafening roar as it unleashed a short-range psychic shockwave.
It wasn't a large-scale crushing wave, but a close-range, violent, instantaneous impact.
The two third-tier veterans could barely stabilize their Seas of Consciousness, but the few remaining new recruits in the rear were instantly overwhelmed. Su Qing's body went limp, and she collapsed directly into the muddy water, clutching her temples as her consciousness flickered in and out. The other two new recruits groaned, their hands trembling violently as they held their guns, completely losing their ability to shoot.
Lin Yan was not entirely spared either.
The core of his extremely contracted Sea of Consciousness trembled violently. The tiny red fissures that had appeared from previous pressure tore and expanded once again, sending a severe wave of dizziness straight to his head. His vision briefly whitened, and his eardrums buzzed as if countless evil spirits were screaming in his ears.
But he did not fall.
The unyielding mental fortitude forged over decades of life-and-death combat in his previous life fully manifested in this moment. Even though his Sea of Consciousness throbbed with unbearable pain and his body felt stiff and numb, he stubbornly guarded his mind. He did not let his consciousness go blank, nor did he panic and flee.
Standing in the blind spot on the side and rear, he kept his eyes fixed on the battle, observing every single movement of the third-tier scaled beast without missing a second.
Enraged by the firepower, the giant beast leaped into the air with its massive body, bringing a sky-full of foul wind as it pounced straight down toward the two veterans. Its claws were spread wide, gleaming with cold light; this single strike was enough to tear through thick alloy armor and shatter human bones.
The veteran tasked with luring the enemy had anticipated this. His feet slid rapidly sideways, barely avoiding the fatal pounce. Mud and rubble were sent flying by the claws, leaving a trench several inches deep gouged into the ground of the trench.
It was in this fleeting moment of evasion!
The other veteran closed the distance, lowering his body to the absolute extreme, and drove his short blade fiercely into the gap between the scales on the beast's front limb!
Pfft—
Black, foul-smelling blood gushed out, splattering across half of the veteran's face.
Stung by the pain, the third-tier scaled beast flew into a frenzy. Its massive body twisted violently, and its thick tail swept out like a steel whip. The veteran didn't have time to pull his blade and retreat; he could only raise his arm to block.
Crack!
The crisp sound of shattering bones was exceptionally piercing amidst the din of battle.
The veteran's entire arm bent at a grotesque angle. His armor completely shattered, and his flesh tore open. The massive impact sent him flying backward, slamming heavily against the earthen wall of the trench. After hitting the ground, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His short blade slipped from his hand, and he was entirely unable to rise.
"Old Chen!" The last remaining veteran's eyes nearly tore from their sockets, his mind instantly wavering.
In that brief moment of distraction, the third-tier scaled beast had already turned its body. Raising its head slightly, it completed the charging of another targeted psychic impact, locking dead onto the last veteran standing in its way.
The invisible psychic tidal wave crashed down.
The veteran's Sea of Consciousness instantly overloaded. His face turned as pale as paper, his eyes bloodshot. Clutching his head, he staggered back, his footing unsteady; even standing was an immense struggle. Enduring the agonizing pain of his Sea of Consciousness fracturing, he refused to fall, still stubbornly blocking the front of the line.
In just a few breaths, both main veteran fighters were severely injured and removed from the field.
The front line was completely undefended.
The combat power within the trench had completely collapsed.
Looming high above, the third-tier scaled beast scanned the trembling, wounded humans below and let out a low, almost mocking hiss. It did not pounce immediately, seemingly savoring the moment its prey fell into absolute despair.
Meanwhile, on the flanks, the crisis had never ceased.
Taking advantage of the gap while the front line was distracted, two escaped low-level scaled beasts bypassed the main battlefield and darted rapidly along the blind spots at the edge of the trench, diving straight for the defenseless wounded and medics in the rear.
The wounded could not move; they could only watch in despair as the ferocious beasts approached, their desperate gasps echoing back and forth.
At this moment, the formation had no one to spare, no troops to send as reinforcements, and no bullets left to fire.
The only person who could still maneuver, maintain their mental stability, and execute effective actions was Lin Yan.
He still did not impulsively try to solo the high-level giant beast, nor did he overstep the boundaries of a new recruit.
The psychic suppression of the third-tier scaled beast was an absolute forbidden zone for him right now; stepping forward was nothing but a death sentence.
But the low-level scaled beasts on the flank were the only gap he could realistically hope to hold.
Suppressing the searing pain in his Sea of Consciousness, Lin Yan's body suddenly shot forward.
His ancient martial arts footwork was pushed to the absolute limit within the narrow trench. His movements were light yet ferocious, and in an instant, he arrived at the breached flank. His energy gun had only three charges left. He did not spray blindly; with extreme calm, he locked his sights onto the soft flesh of the first scaled beast's eye socket.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three energy bullets. Precise, steady, and without a millimeter of deviation.
The continuous, burning pain instantly interrupted the low-level scaled beast's charge. Agonized, the giant beast roared, its movements halting abruptly as its ferocity surged. It turned and pounced straight at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan did not press his advantage, nor did he engage in prolonged combat. The moment he landed his strike, he immediately retreated and evaded.
He knew very well that he could not kill this scaled beast on his own. His goal was never to kill; it was to delay, to distract, and to protect the wounded in the rear.
He constantly maneuvered, constantly pulling the enemy, using his footwork to evade the beast's claws and bites, paying the smallest possible price to死死 (firmly) drag out the offensive rhythm of the two low-level scaled beasts.
Every time he got close, he had to face the psychic turbulence attached to the low-level scaled beasts.
The sensation of fine needles repeatedly washed over his contracted Sea of Consciousness. The pain continued to stack, and the dizziness grew heavier. Yet, he gritted his teeth and endured it. Under the immense pressure of life and death, he unconsciously made micro-adjustments to the degree of his Sea of Consciousness contraction.
If it was too tense, it would quickly drain his mental power; if it was too relaxed, the psychic turbulence would shatter his defenses.
It was precisely within these repeated moments of extreme pressure that his mastery over his Sea of Consciousness was improving at a slow, solid pace that the training grounds could never achieve.
Seeing this, Instructor Zhou endured the pain in his Sea of Consciousness, shifted his arm, and threw his two remaining standard-issue short blades toward Lin Yan: "Catch the blades! Hold them off! Backup is arriving soon!"
Backup was still far away, but this was their only lifeline in this moment.
Lin Yan turned his body and caught the spinning blades. They were cold and heavy in his hands.
He still did not take the initiative to engage in close-quarters combat. Relying solely on the deterrent of the short blades, he continuously forced back the scaled beasts' pouncing range, firmly locking down the gap on the flank and ensuring that not a single beast got near the wounded in the rear.
The third-tier scaled beast in the front finally lost its patience.
Channeling power into its four limbs, its massive body suddenly took to the air, carrying an overwhelming, unstoppable momentum as it leaped down toward the ruined trench!
The entire world seemed to hold its breath in an instant.
Catching this scene in his peripheral vision, Lin Yan's heart clenched violently.
He was still insignificant; he was still powerless to stop this high-level giant beast.
All he could do was continue to hold on, continue to learn, and continue to extract every ounce of survival experience from this endless bloodbath.
Deep within the rift, a new, even more surging chorus of beast roars once again echoed across the heavens and earth.
The tug-of-war had not stopped. And his growth had not ceased.