Chapter 1 The Atrocious Battlefield

On the defense line battlefield, an aerial view reveals burning wreckage of war vehicles and tanks, thick black smoke billowing upwards, a scene of utter devastation.

Even the warplanes in the sky are few and far between.

Having lost contact with command, the air force units are in disarray.

Some pilots believe the situation is beyond salvation, the complete annihilation of the Northern Border Legion a certainty. They advocate for the air force, with its aerial advantage, to immediately retreat behind the defense lines and preserve its strength. Others argue that even if they retreat, the beast tide will breach the great city before long. Rather than abandoning their comrades, they would rather die a glorious death on the battlefield!

As a result, some planes retreated to the defense lines, while others remained to fight to the bitter end.

With no coordination from command, and a large number of high-ranking ground force generals killed in action, the internal chaos within the defense city has long reached a critical point. Warplanes are unable to return to the city for resupply after each bombing run. In desperation, pilots are forced to use their planes as final missiles, crashing them headlong into the beast tide…

Tragic and heroic are the themes of this battlefield.

"Company Commander… it hurts, it hurts!"

Behind the wreckage of a tank, a battered and bloodied young soldier lay in the arms of a military officer. His legs had been torn apart, his arm severed at the elbow. He writhed in agony, clutching his company commander's arm with his remaining hand, wailing in pain, "I can't take it anymore… kill me! Just kill me!"

The company commander's face was covered in dust and blood. The soldier's blood flowed onto his hands, making him feel dizzy.

He looked around. Countless familiar faces were now silently lying on the battlefield, reduced to incomplete corpses. The magnificent tanks and war vehicles were now piles of broken steel. The vibrant scarlet golden star flag insignia on the vehicles faded in the flames…

How could this be?

How the hell could this be happening?!

It was like a nightmare…

"Yes, this must be a dream…" The company commander gave a bitter smile, silently shedding tears. He raised the pistol in his hand and pressed it against the young soldier's chest. "Brother, I'll send you on your way!"

His finger pulled the trigger, but no gunshot rang out.

Click! Click!

The sound of the firing pin striking an empty chamber echoed. The gun had been emptied of ammunition in the fierce fighting. Now, it was just an empty shell.

The company commander was stunned. Enraged, he threw the empty gun away.

A few seconds later, he found a sharp piece of metal next to his right hand. He trembled as he lifted it and slowly placed it on the soldier's neck.

"Brother, don't… don't look!" The company commander's lips trembled as he reached out and covered the soldier's eyes.

*Thwack!*

On this smoke-filled battlefield, an extremely faint sound, like a wineskin being punctured, went unnoticed.

"Ahhhh!" The company commander knelt before the dead soldier, howling in despair. His hands and the front of his uniform were covered in blood. In that moment, he had gone mad.

To kill one's own brother, one's own comrade, even to deliver him from suffering, the psychological guilt was unbearable for a normal person!

What's more, he had used a broken piece of metal, not a gun!

He could clearly feel the sensation of his comrade's neck veins and flesh being torn open in his hand, feel his life dissipating!

Even if he survived this battle, he would be mentally broken.

He suddenly stood up, clutching the bloodstained piece of metal in his hand. He glared with bloodshot eyes, stepped out from behind the tank wreckage, and roared at the sea beasts not far away, "Come on! I'll fuck your ancestors!"

"Kill me! Kill me!"

The roar attracted the attention of many sea beasts. Pairs of sinister and ferocious eyes fell on him. Several sea beasts leaped toward him.

The company commander closed his eyes with a bitter smile, spread his arms, and prepared to embrace death.

His body had reached its limit, and he had used up all his ammunition. He no longer had any combat capability.

Actively embracing death seemed to be the best choice.

He smelled the stench growing closer, and the sound of the sea beasts' claws scraping the ground grew louder. He knew that death had reached out to him.

But after a few seconds, he did not feel the pain of broken bones and torn flesh.

He opened his eyes.

He saw the Beast Kings and subordinate-sequence Followers passing by him, seemingly ignoring him. One sea beast even turned its head to look at him, its eyes full of mockery.

The company commander stood blankly in the midst of the beast tide, letting the sea beasts pass by him. He felt like an insignificant ant.

For a soldier, this was the cruelest disregard and insult.

"Kill me! Why won't you kill me!" The company commander suddenly roared at the surrounding sea beasts like a madman. He grinned hideously, "Fine, if you won't kill me, I'll kill you!"

He strode towards a sea beast beside him, raised the piece of metal, and stabbed down.

The sea beast didn't even turn its head, but simply swept its thick tail sideways.

*Bang!*

The company commander's body was flung away like a cannonball, crashing heavily into a crater dozens of meters away.

Dozens of bones in his body were broken, and blood flowed from his mouth and nose, but he was still alive.

He was unwilling, he was furious!

"You monsters!" The company commander collapsed in the crater. He couldn't stand up again, but he could still roar, still curse!

"Sea beasts! Apostles! I'll fuck your eighteen generations of ancestors!"

"I'll fuck your grandma…"

The company commander cursed out every dirty word he could imagine. For him now, after witnessing the deaths of his former comrades and the annihilation of the Northern Border Military Region, living was a torment.

But his roars and curses did not provoke an attack from the sea beasts.

Because the situation on the battlefield was already very clear.

The ground forces of the Northern Border Legion had been almost completely wiped out. The apostles and the beast tide had set their sights on the great defense city.

Now, breaching that city was their primary goal.

As for the human soldiers like the company commander and Chakai Jin who were still alive, they no longer posed any threat to the beast tide. Their life or death was no longer important.

Like a small bug…

Even bothering to crush it seemed superfluous!

…

Meanwhile, inside the command center of the great defense city.

Some pale-faced staff members stared intently at the satellite screen.

They watched the marine apostle and the stellar apostle approach the great defense city, and a great fear instantly engulfed their entire beings like a shadow!