It was 9:20 AM on the fifth day of the operation.
Dense fog suddenly swirled around the floating island, instantly dimming the clear sky and reducing visibility to tens of meters.
Here it comes!
Everyone in the command center realized that they were crossing the "Illusion Boundary" mentioned by Haikexuode. Although this was the third day since the operation began, the real battle had only just begun!
A hush fell over the large room as everyone stared intently at the "Light Screen," their bodies tense. Even Sylvie's magic eye couldn't penetrate this barrier, meaning the path ahead was completely unknown. Whatever the outcome of fate, they would have to wait until the very last moment to find out.
For the high-ranking officers of the First Army, who were accustomed to comprehensive intelligence and thorough preparation, this feeling of unease had been a long time coming.
Suddenly, a faint caw entered everyone's ears.
Feilin and the others exchanged glances.
This was the sea, how could there be crows?
But it wasn't a hallucination. Soon more calls joined in—overlapping each other, making it difficult to tell whether they were echoes or if they had encountered a massive flock of crows.
In less than a few minutes, these calls had merged into one, indistinguishable from each other, and grew louder and louder.
A staff officer's expression suddenly changed. "That's—the cry of a Sea Ghoul!"
"Sea Ghoul?" someone asked. "That legendary creature?"
"No, they are not legends! I used to work in Daqing Port. The old sailors there, when talking about Sea Ghouls, would always describe them as black crows of the sea!"
"Hmph, what a fuss." Haikexuode crossed his arms. "These are just the lowest vassals of the Celestial Sea Realm. Their only advantage is their sheer number, making them ideal for filling the battlefield. You'll soon see what kind of enemies my clan has been fighting—"
Just as the Lord of the Celestial Vault was speaking, the density of the fog suddenly decreased, and the floating island's landing field became visible to the naked eye. Then came the distant sky and sea—the dome was still gloomy, but at least it looked normal; however, the seascape had become completely different.
Everyone who saw the scene on the other side of the "Light Screen" couldn't help but shudder.
It was definitely a sight that was hard to forget.
Countless Sea Ghouls poked their heads out of the sea, roaring at the floating island, as if a dense array of small holes had opened up on the sea. Just a glance was enough to make one's scalp tingle. Their bodies floating underwater made the seawater appear a strange black color, somewhat resembling a puddle teeming with tadpoles. But filling a puddle was not unusual; inking the sea was quite rare.
And the legendary Bottomless Land appeared in front of the floating island. Its size was similar to Sleeping Island. There was no freshwater lake, but it appeared lush and green, completely unlike what one would expect from an isolated island in the ocean.
Soon, the figures of Nest Mothers emerged from the dark Sea Ghoul swarm. They opened the ribs on their backs and sprayed clumps of green mucus towards the sky! In an instant, a rain of venom fell below the floating island—if the vanguard had been a regular fleet instead of the "North Slope Mine," the outcome would have been easily imagined.
"A total of one thousand five hundred and twenty-four," Eleanor's voice suddenly entered everyone's minds.
"You mean..." Tieaxe asked in surprise.
"The number of Acid Nest Mothers," she replied in her usual lazy tone. "Not much more than the number of shells, is it?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a roar echoed from the lower levels of the floating island!
Eleanor was the first to strike back.
A 152mm fortress cannon fired, and after flying nearly a thousand meters, accurately slammed into the body of a Nest Mother—the shell exploded after burrowing into its organs, blowing it into two pieces! The explosion also affected the Sea Ghouls around it, and flying shrapnel created a dense spray of water on the sea, but this time it was no longer black, but a ghostly blue.
In the past half-month, the biggest modification the engineering team had made to the floating island was to add a series of lower-level gun emplacements, ranging from 20mm machine guns to the largest-caliber fortress cannons—after all, the Celestial Sea Realm's main advantage was at sea. With no air defense pressure, increasing downward firepower was naturally the First Army's best choice.
The floating island was now virtually an aerial battleship, and one equipped with fire control computers.
Under Eleanor's control, more automatic turrets joined the firing, and the area below the island became a death zone interwoven with steel and flesh!
The sound of cannon fire alternated with the sound of machine gun fire, drowning out the Sea Ghouls' roars.
Although Haikexuode remained unchanged in posture, the expression on its face had unconsciously become much more complicated—obviously, it also realized how astonishing the effect would be when the traditions of different races were combined.
"Let the sky knights prepare to depart as well," Tilly said, picking up the microphone.
According to the plan, the sky knights would no longer serve as the decisive force in this operation. They would be divided into dozens of batches and hover over the Bottomless Land for a long time. Intercepting support, striking enemy main forces, and relieving pressure on ground troops were all tasks that the sky knights had to shoulder. The weakness of the Celestial Sea Realm's air power had to be exploited to the greatest extent possible.
A moment later, one biplane after another, fully loaded with fuel, slid out of the hangar and into the waiting area.
By 10:40 AM, the Eleanor had also entered the territory of the sea island. Countless monsters attracted by this behemoth were now crowding around it, stepping on the broken corpses of their comrades, and swarming towards the floating island's position, completely disregarding the fact that they couldn't cause the floating island the slightest harm.
Of course, this was also related to Eleanor deliberately lowering the altitude and enticing the enemy to try to climb onto the island. However, breaking through the blockade of the fire net was by no means an easy task under the sweeping fire of heavy machine guns.
Compared to the boiling west side, other places seemed much quieter, and it was obvious that the suddenly arriving floating fortress had attracted most of the enemy's attention.
"Let's begin," Anna said, turning to Haikexuode.
The latter snapped its fingers and disappeared from the command center.
At the same time, Chaos, who had been persuaded by the Disaster of Silence and had to perch on the top of the bridge, released its own ability—strengthened by the Infinite Sigil, this magic ripple carrying the power of true sight instantly swept across the sea island.
Through the Light Screen, the high-ranking officers in the command center clearly saw the figures of Blade Beasts suddenly appearing in places that were originally empty—their contours gradually took shape from distortion, as if they had been forcibly pulled out of their hiding places.
The next moment, the Lord of the Celestial Vault had appeared at the edge of the Bottomless Land.
It looked up at the top of the sinkhole—even without taking out the Five-Colored Magic Stone, it could recall the magnificent scene it had seen when it first arrived here.
"The fate set by the gods?"
Perhaps from the moment it witnessed all the magic light gather here, and the outcome of the Divine Will War was not destined for eternity, this day would come sooner or later. But when this moment truly arrived, it felt that cooperating with humans wasn't so bad after all.
Haikexuode sneered and raised its hand to open a huge Twisted Gate!