Chapter 193 The Tide of War

The distant sea stirred. The heavily armored rock turtle resurfaced, its shell cracked and thick scales on its head shattered, yet it was still alive.

The one who inflicted such wounds wasn't a tank-class Berserker, but the mecha Berserker it had previously targeted!

Since the battle began, it was the first beast king to face a mecha Berserker head-on and not be killed. Coiled within the gaps of its shell was a tiny sea snake, a cerebrum-type sea snake. It was because of this snake that the rock turtle beast king had managed to evade the mecha Berserker's electromagnetic rays several times.

This combination of spirit possession and cerebrum intelligence allowed both beast kings to unleash peak combat power.

On the other side, the legs and shoulders of a mecha Berserker were damaged. The rock turtle beast king possessed great attack power, but this damage didn't impede the mecha Berserker's movements. If one zoomed in, they could see countless finger-sized mechanical engineering insects repairing the damaged areas.

Self-repair was a crucial function of the mecha Berserker, similar to an evolver's self-healing ability. As long as the core energy source remained unharmed, it wouldn't fall!

"Don't keep guarding me here," Li Tianran said, standing up and looking at the distant, once again churning sea. "The beast tide will launch a second attack soon. Go defend the line."

Li Tianran had adjusted his mindset. He wouldn't allow his heart to be influenced by negative emotions any longer.

Seeing this, Lu Chi drew his blade and headed towards the front lines of the steel city walls.

...

The time was 4:40 PM.

The grayish-brown earth outside the steel walls of Mad Breath Island was now unrecognizable, replaced by a sea of blood red. Corpses piled up on the land and sea, and mutated beasts, their bodies severed and still alive, lay among the corpses, emitting pitiful roars. The dying beast kings whimpered feebly, but their voices were drowned out by the deafening roar of cannon fire. Within this mountain of corpses and sea of blood made up of mutated beasts and beast kings, the mutated beasts in the rear continued to charge forward relentlessly.

On the steel city walls, heavy machine guns and autocannons roared. So far into the war, single heavy machine gun barrels had been replaced more than ten times due to heat deformation, and below, bullet casings had accumulated into a small mountain.

It was hard to describe such a terrifying scene.

The steel walls outside Mad Breath Island stood eighty meters tall, but now, the height of the accumulated mutated beast corpses outside the walls was nearly level with the walls.

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

Suddenly, a large number of black shells were hurled towards the outside of the city walls, and the moment they made contact with the pile of corpses, soaring flames blazed, turning the entire sky red.

The mutated beast corpses were rapidly burned to ash, their bones cracking in the flames with a spine-chilling sound.

"Awoo!"

Amidst the flames, mutated beasts, charred all over, charged out and pounced towards the pioneers on the steel walls.

*Pfft!*

A gleaming, cold blade pierced through its skull.

"Hoo..." A pioneer warrior lifted his mask, wiped the sweat from his brow, and muttered, "These beasts, they're like an endless horde!"

Indeed, after a brief respite, the overwhelming beast tide launched a frenzied counterattack against the defensive line. They focused their attacks on Mad Breath Island with a simple goal: to pressure Li Tianran, forcing him to recall his forces spread across the vast sea for defense and rescue, thereby creating a gap in the otherwise unbreakable defensive line!

The entire beast tide numbered around 700,000, and Mad Breath Island alone was now enduring the onslaught of at least 300,000 monsters.

And how many pioneers were left to defend Mad Breath Island?

One thousand!

Even with the layers of firepower forming a defensive line outside Mad Breath Island, it was impossible to completely block the massive beast tide. The pioneers standing on the steel walls had each swung their blades no less than 30,000 times in the first hour of the war!

An average of nearly ten swings per second.

And the beast kings hiding within the mutated beast horde would launch sneak attacks from time to time. Dealing with a single beast king required at least ten or even a hundred times the stamina expenditure of killing a mutated beast.

"Our numbers are fixed, but the numbers of the beast tide keep increasing!" Li Tianran narrowed his eyes. Although, according to Qin Yiming's monitoring, there were only five major beast tide attacks against the Mad Breath Island defensive line, after the war began, as time passed, monsters from other sea areas would slowly move towards here, joining the war in small batches.

Therefore, in this war, the remaining number of enemies didn't equal "the total number minus the number killed," but rather "the total number minus the number killed, plus the number of monsters coming from other sea areas to join the war."

From the start of the war until now, Mad Breath Island and the entire defensive line had eliminated nearly 100,000 monsters, but the remaining number of the beast tide wasn't 600,000, but 630,000, 640,000!

In other words, if they continued to fight like this, by the time the Allied Association completed the recapture of all 17 strategic points, Li Tianran might have to face a beast tide of over a million!

"Help me contact the Allied Association's operation commander and ask about their progress," Li Tianran said in a deep voice into the intercom system.

Soon, Qin Yiming's reply came.

"They said the battle is underway. The operation commanders in Luxembourg, Katia City, and Bonkhang reported that their troops estimate they can complete the full recapture of the cities and kill all the monsters occupying them within fourteen hours at the earliest!"

The three locations Qin Yiming mentioned were precisely the three operational strategic points behind the Mad Breath Island defensive line, and Li Tianran's task was to ensure that the Allied forces at these three strategic points wouldn't be attacked by sea-based beast tides during their engagement.

Fourteen hours...

Li Tianran rubbed his chin. This time was already very fast.

As for the previously estimated forty-eight hours, that was the operational time for the full recapture of all 17 strategic points.

"Within fourteen hours, not a single fish spawn is allowed to break through our defensive line," Li Tianran said in a deep voice. "Notify the leaders of each area of the defensive line to guard their areas well. If any problems arise, they can expect to be dealt with!"

...

Terrifying roars echoed across the sea.

The shell of the heavily armored rock turtle was severely cracked, with a large amount of blood seeping out. Directly in front of it lay the mechanical wreckage of several tank-class Berserkers.

Just thirty seconds ago, it had endured a heavy blow from a mecha Berserker, tearing apart seven tank Berserkers and sinking a warship.

Its power was indeed immense, possibly making it the top predator among the beast king ranks.

At this moment, a mecha Berserker hovered silently on the sea surface several kilometers away, its crimson electronic eyes locked onto the location of the heavily armored rock turtle.

"Major threat individual detected, entering annihilation mode, overload operation, time... thirty seconds!"

The core temperature of the mecha Berserker rapidly increased, boiling the surrounding seawater and sending large amounts of steam into the air. Its mechanical arm raised high, and the giant pike that seemed capable of cutting through the entire sea pierced the sky.

*Boom!*

It was as if a thunderclap had exploded on the sea. A massive shockwave erupted from the mecha Berserker's body, and it vanished from its spot in an instant. Hundreds of meters of the sea surface violently caved downward at this moment, and the terrifying engine thrust reached its peak.

The mecha Berserker broke the sound barrier at twice the speed of sound, like a giant meteorite, crashing towards the heavily armored rock turtle.

Under such extreme speed, a large number of mutated beasts and ancestral beast kings didn't have time to evade and were instantly crushed by the mecha Berserker. The giant pike came down, targeting the heavily armored rock turtle!

...

Inside the EU Presidential Palace.

"President, the beast tide onslaught against Mad Breath Island as an interception line has exceeded the estimated values. Based on the current situation, we estimate that Mad Breath Island will be subjected to the full force of 1.3 million monsters before the three major strategic points are recaptured. I'm concerned whether he can hold this defensive line. Should we provide Mad Breath Island with long-range intercontinental missile support?" A strategic expert, watching the brutal war unfolding on the Mad Breath Island defensive line, said to the president with some unease.

"That is his due obligation," the EU President said coldly. "The great powers helped him build Mad Breath Island, and he is responsible for guarding this defensive line. These were the conditions agreed upon in the meeting! Our operational mission is not on Mad Breath Island!"

"But if the Mad Breath Island defensive line collapses, the subsequent war at the three strategic points will also be affected," the strategic expert said.

"Rest assured," the EU President sneered, "Before the subsequent three strategic points are affected, his island will definitely be destroyed by the beast tide first. When he can't hold on... he will definitely ask us for help!"

"As long as he asks us for help, we can talk to him about how many transformation fruits are needed to purchase a single intercontinental missile artillery support!"

The strategic expert suddenly understood.

In this war, although humanity is nominally united, the intrigue and scheming will not disappear. Within a controllable range, the EU now hopes that Mad Breath Island will bear as much pressure as possible, preferably to the point where it can't withstand it!

Indeed, although they are currently members of the Allied Association, the EU can't forget Li Tianran's bombing of the EU aircraft carrier. Given the opportunity, the EU is constantly thinking of ways to extract this loss from Li Tianran!

"Look at that giant turtle beast king, I think it can severely damage Li Tianran's forces..." The strategic expert said with a laugh, pointing to the clear image on the satellite monitor.

"I think so too!" The EU President nodded and smiled.

But just as those words left his mouth, in the satellite image, the mecha Berserker's pike came down, and the heavily armored turtle was directly cut in half, its head shattered, and blood splattered across the sea!

The smile on the strategic expert's face froze.

The EU President hesitated.

"I think this giant whale king is also very strong..." The strategic expert felt a little awkward and pointed to another beast king in the image.

The next moment, the giant whale king was pierced through by the giant pike, its mournful cry echoing through the sky.

"This tiger shark..."

"This sea lizard..." The strategic expert stammered, pointing to one powerful beast king after another in the image, but each time he pointed one out, it would be killed by the mecha Berserker in less than ten seconds!

In the end, he was a little dumbfounded!

This was too coincidental!

"I think this one..." The strategic expert bit the bullet and continued.

"Mr. McPherson, please shut up!" The EU President's face was very ugly, his expression gloomy:

"Are you reading me a list of the dead?!"