Blood and Fire!

Late at night, eleven o'clock.

In the wilderness zone's night, the moon was bright and the stars sparse.

Lu Chen sat on the cold ground, gritting his teeth as he tended to the wounds on his body.

Not far in front of him, beast corpses the size of small hills were still oozing blood, a thick stench of gore filling the air.

Their deaths were brutal, their forms varied—wolf-like, rat-like, ant-like, centipede-like... they came from different beast clans.

"Li, which wave of beasts was that just now?"

He glanced at the mountain of piled corpses, then turned to look at a man applying medicine to a chest wound, asking.

"Counting the first wave of Fire Scale Three-pronged Pigs, the second wave of Silver Moon Giant Wolves, the third wave of Black Tooth Rat Generals, the fourth wave of Blood-devouring Demon Ants, and the Drilling Centipedes just now... we've beaten back five charges of beast generals."

Hearing this, the man paused his work, looked up, and replied:

"In total, we've killed about twenty-seven High-level Beast Generals, over fifty Mid-level Beast Generals, and more than a hundred Primary Beast Generals."

A young-looking man answered with difficulty, then continued bandaging his own wounds.

After enduring five consecutive waves of beast general charges, all twenty-nine members of the Dragon Breath Squad were covered in wounds.

Many of them had torn through their Combat Suits, striking vital points, mere inches from fatal.

These severe injuries came mainly from the last two waves of the Beast Tide.

When locked in a life-or-death struggle with the monsters, no matter how heavy the wounds, they wouldn't care.

Only after repelling the beast general charges did they collapse, drained of nearly all strength by the pain.

Crimson spread across the ground, revealing the brutality of those recent battles.

Even the strongest, Captain Lu Chen and the two Deputy Captains, Qin Luo and Wang Teng, had been "favored" by the High-level Beast Generals, suffering heavy damage.

"Captain, these waves of monster charges are too strange—they're coming more and more frequently. If we keep holding here, it's too dangerous!"

A man wrapped head to toe in bandages staggered over to Lu Chen. In this perilous wilderness, even battered and bruised, he wouldn't allow himself to rest.

Because the danger was far from over.

What they'd just repelled was merely the probing assault of the Beast Tide's vanguard beast generals.

The real battle was still ahead.

"Wave after wave of beast generals—will it ever end? Damn beasts!!"

Li slammed a fist into the ground, letting out a muffled breath: "And these monsters catch the scent of high-level martial artists' blood like starving wolves. At this rate, our Dragon Breath Squad's situation isn't looking good!"

The others: "..."

Seeming used to Li's constant muttering, everyone continued tending their wounds, eating and drinking to recover their strength, preparing for the next fight.

"Captain, perk up!"

Wang Teng came over and sat beside Lu Chen, pulling a crumpled pack of Huazi from a pocket soaked with blood, and offered one to him.

"Thanks." Taking the cigarette, Lu Chen lit it.

Wang Teng lit one for himself as well.

Blowing out a smoke ring, Wang Teng looked at the beast general corpses, each as big as a small hill, and said with a strange expression, "Captain, don't you think this Beast Tide is a bit odd?"

Lu Chen: "How so?"

"These beasts seem organized, charging wave after wave, not giving us a moment to breathe... like a war of attrition, constantly draining our strength!"

"Are they plotting something?"

Hearing this, Lu Chen looked up into the distant darkness, his brow furrowing deeply as a sense of crisis rose from the depths of his heart.

Tonight's battle was exceptionally brutal—a hellish mode they'd never encountered before.

Wang Teng's words jolted the other team members awake, and they all turned to look at Captain Lu Chen.

Those beast generals' wave-after-wave attacks clearly had their own order.

Obviously, High-level Beast Generals didn't have that kind of control, because the charging groups also included a sizable number of High-level Beast Generals.

But... if any monsters had that level of intelligence and command, it could only be Lord-level Monsters.

"But their vanguard has been scared witless by us just now. I think they won't act rashly for a while," Wang Teng added.

Lu Chen turned his head to glance at the three defensive lines behind him.

That was the position of the Owl Wolf Regiment.

The wilderness was silent, an increasingly uneasy feeling lingering in Lu Chen's heart.

He recalled the tragedy of the Sharp Blade Squad and how the War God Xu Yong had personally warned him about the anomalies in this area, urging him to be extremely cautious of Lord Monsters.

"Just in case, I'm calling the Command Center for backup now. There might be more than one Lord Monster watching from the shadows here!"

As Lu Chen's gaze swept over the beast general corpses, his expression grew grave... at least four Lord Monsters!!

Without a moment's hesitation, he directly cut into the South Bank Fortress command channel.

"Dragon Breath's Lu Chen reporting to Command Center. A suspected Lord Monster has appeared in Jinyun Mountain's 1167 sector."

Given the Dragon Breath Captain's strength and rank, he could directly contact the Command Center to report urgent military intelligence.

Lin Ye had that authority too.

"Command Center received. Immediate investigation and deployment underway!"

The military operated with high efficiency. Orders quickly cascaded from the Mountain City Command Center to the defense zones around the Owl Wolf Regiment, pooling nearby martial power as much as possible.

The closest martial force to the Owl Wolf was the Lingxiao Squad, a hundred kilometers away—Lin Ye's squad.

In the 1167 sector.

Wang Teng gritted his teeth, iron-willed. "Captain, how about we contact Regiment Commander Jia Wangqiang and have them send heavy firepower to cover us? Just one more wave of Beast Generals beaten back—one wave, that's all!"

"Give us one breather, and we can take down two more waves of Beast Generals. If we really can't manage... isn't there still the Divine Seal?"

Wang Teng's blood-smeared face was full of bravado. He glanced at the Ember Medal on his chest, his eyes brimming with carefree resolve.

Lu Chen: "..."

He didn't answer, silently weighing the pros and cons.

If they called in strategic support now, it would likely trigger a large-scale Beast Tide.

And their new batch of ammunition and supplies was still in transit... Now wasn't the time.

He pulled his gaze back, looking out over the dim wilderness, his eyes dimming. "Alright, contact Regiment Commander Jia. Have all their weapons prepped and on standby... ready for any variables that might pop up!"

"Wherever a Lord Monster appears, things won't stay quiet for long!" A sharp glint flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.

Not long after the news of the suspected Lord Monster was relayed to the Command Center, another shadowy mass rapidly gathered and closed in from the distant wilderness—

The sixth wave of Beast Generals was coming!

"Captain, those bastards are back!" Li stared into the distance, grinding his teeth.

Lu Chen slowly rose to his feet, pulling the spear from the ground beside him. His gaze swept over the comrades who had walked through mountains of corpses and seas of blood with him.

Their wrists were twisted and injured to varying degrees, but their eyes were all so resolute, showing no trace of fear or hesitation. "Good. Let's fight these monsters one more time—settle victory and death!"

Lu Chen stepped forward, the spear reflecting a dull, cold gleam in the night.

The rest of the squad followed, forming up into four-man battle formations.

"Dragon Breath!"

"Fight!!" x28

The moment they took their first step, their hearts carried the conviction of certain death.

They existed to protect Great Xia. If the monsters pushed toward the rear defenses and shelters, they would fight to the death.

"Full speed ahead! Rush to support the Owl Wolf Regiment!"

Upon receiving the order, Qi Ling commanded immediately.

"Yes!" The Lingxiao Squad replied in unison, then accelerated their march.

At the same time.

On a small hill over a hundred and seventy kilometers from the Owl Wolf Regiment.

The Long Saber Squad, busy dissecting monster materials, received the distress signal. All seventeen members abandoned their spoils on the spot and immediately switched to full-speed march mode.

When one side is in trouble, all sides come to the rescue.

Only by sticking together like this could humanity barely survive in this dark age overrun by monsters!

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