The Last Line of Defense

Demon Sharks, Red-backed Shrimp, Hammerhead Beasts...

More and more Level 3 monsters emerged from the surface of the far sea zone, multiplying like algae in the water!

Having run out of ammunition, Yu Xiao lost all means of ranged attack. He could only control three mechs to engage in close-quarters combat with the monsters!

"Too many!"

Yu Xiao already sensed something abnormal. Judging by the sheer numbers alone, this attack had reached the scale of a "beast tide"!

The monsters didn't give him time to ponder further.

As the Hammerhead Beast let out its first roar towards the night sky, the monsters that had broken through the water simultaneously locked their gaze onto the three mechs!

This unusually eerie uniformity sent a chill down Yu Xiao's spine!

Swish, swish, swish!

Surging waves crashed against the rocks on the shallow shore. In almost the same instant, all the monsters charged towards the mechs' position!

The entire scene was like a locust plague, making one's scalp tingle!

Scorpion took the brunt, being the first to engage the monsters!

For a Level 3 mech, eliminating a single Level 3 monster was not a difficult task.

Scorpion's arms suddenly transformed. The wrist armor folded outwards, revealing six mini-turbines.

Surging power instantly injected into Scorpion's fists!

As the sixty-meter-tall Red-backed Shrimp raised its giant pincer, which was larger than its head, Scorpion chose to meet the attack head-on with its fists!

BOOM!

A colossal shockwave, powerful enough to distort the air, rapidly churned up waves exceeding ten meters on the sea's surface!

The Red-backed Shrimp's seemingly indestructible giant pincer was instantly shattered by Scorpion, the entire process as clean and swift as smashing an egg with a hammer.

Severely wounded, the Red-backed Shrimp inevitably retreated. But after only a few steps, Scorpion's other giant fist swung directly towards its cylindrical head!

Before the Red-backed Shrimp could even let out a scream, its head was smashed into its flat body like a rivet!

Instantly, green blood gushed from the Red-backed Shrimp's cracked body like a spring, falling into the sea.

But this was only the beginning.

Facing the death of their companion, the charging monsters showed no sympathy. Instead, they became even more frenzied!

A Hammerhead Beast stomped on the Red-backed Shrimp's corpse and charged at Scorpion!

The Hammerhead Beast was one of the prototype bodies of the Aggregate Beasts that Xing Tian had seen in the Black Sky.

The Aggregate Beasts' battering ram-like hard heads were derived from the genes of the Level 3 monster, the Hammerhead Beast.

But this time, Xing Tian, an outdated first-generation mech, was no longer facing the Hammerhead Beast. It was the third-generation mech, Scorpion!

[Giant Claw Heat Cannon activating]

As the system prompt sounded, Scorpion opened its right hand. The five fingers made of Giant Force Alloy retracted backward, revealing a scorching cannon muzzle hidden at the wrist joint!

"Fire!"

A dazzling orange beam directly hit the Hammerhead Beast's head, blasting it into a pulp!

The headless Hammerhead Beast finally stopped its charge, flipping over on the shallow shore not far from Scorpion like a runaway truck!

On the other side, Cobra had just severed a Red-backed Shrimp's giant pincer with its wrist blade!

Although Cobra's power wasn't as strong as Scorpion's, its "Venom Fang" chemical wrist blade could easily cut through the skin and bones of any Level 3 monster!

Xing Tian, standing behind the two third-generation mechs, continuously used the [Harden] skill to reinforce the Slashers' wrist blades, using their sharp tips to cut open the vital points of each monster.

Yet, after only three minutes of battle, Yu Xiao felt his computational memory was nearing its limit!

Scorpion was simultaneously entangled by four monsters. Even if it could quickly eliminate one, new monsters would immediately swarm in!

Cobra's situation was even worse. Due to its low physical resistance armor and severe damage from previous battles, its mobility had significantly declined!

As for Xing Tian, it was in an even more passive state. Because the [Harden] skill had a cooldown period, this first-generation mech, on the verge of its limit, could only engage in hit-and-run tactics with the monsters when [Harden] was unusable!

All three mechs were currently overloaded, and each faced a complex situation!

"Mech Soul Synchronization!"

Yu Xiao decided to directly activate the Mech Soul skill. His memory was already about to collapse anyway, so he might as well kill more monsters while he was still lucid!

Three blue lights immediately appeared on different parts of the three mechs.

Scorpion's turbo-powered fists were enhanced. All six mini-turbines broke through their rotational speed limits, increasing the power level of its fists by a full hundred percent!

BOOM!

With its enhanced power, Scorpion took a monster's life with every punch!

Cobra's enhancement was applied to the power units connecting the mech's skeletal structure, causing a qualitative change in their elasticity and density.

Cobra, originally a light-type mech, became even more agile, able to dodge all attacks even when facing multiple monsters!

Xing Tian's enhancement was applied to the strength of its Slasher wrist blades, allowing it to use [Harden] to focus on reinforcing its defenses, preventing further damage to the mech!

Monster after monster fell before the three mechs fighting valiantly. The shallow waters beneath their feet were already completely dyed green by beast blood!

Yet, the more they killed, the more monsters appeared!

Finally, with a sound like a snapped guitar string, Yu Xiao's memory crashed.

The effect of the Mech Soul Synchronization immediately vanished.

All six mini-turbines on the Scorpion's arms simultaneously stopped spinning. The accumulated waste heat, unable to be contained, directly blasted out from the armor's joints, emitting wisps of white smoke!

The Cobra, attempting to dodge an attack, plummeted directly from mid-air. But as it tried to stand, it found all its muscle units worn out, emitting groaning sounds under the immense strain.

Xing Tian's Executioner greatsword failed to cleave through the Redback Shrimp's massive pincer. The broken blade spun halfway through the air before embedding itself straight into the sandy shore.

Sleepiness washed over Yu Xiao like a tide, his brain warning him to rest immediately!

Yu Xiao knew that if he closed his eyes now, the next time he opened them, he would be back in the hangar of Xuanse Cangqiong.

But even now, Yu Xiao still hadn't encountered the unknown monster with an energy level of 5 on his radar—even though this massive red dot had already filled the entire radar screen!

The ground continued to tremble, and the howling wind and surging waves relentlessly battered the monsters and mechs on the shallow shore!

"If this is truly a beast tide, why didn't the Alliance receive an early warning?" Yu Xiao struggled to keep his eyes open, his mind racing. "Deep-sea probes cover all oceanic areas; such a large-scale group migration couldn't have gone unnoticed!"

But Yu Xiao no longer had time to ponder.

The monsters surged onto the beast-blood-stained green coast like a tide, gradually engulfing the three fallen mechs.