Too Much

The salty sea breeze blew in, but the warriors along the shore wore grim expressions.

The seawater churned incessantly, clearly indicating that a Deep Sea Beast was swimming beneath the surface, ready to come ashore at any moment.

"Damn it, this is the sixth time today! These beasts are getting more and more numerous!" a warrior muttered in anger.

Two full months had passed since Guen first arrived in Eastsea Province. Over these two months, the Deep Sea Beasts had grown increasingly active. Even the warriors stationed here understood that the most critical moment was approaching.

If they held out, the next year would be much safer.

If they didn't, they would be forever laid to rest in Eastsea Province.

"Prepare, consume the Sea Gel!" an officer roared from the stone wall, issuing the order.

The warriors pulled out large chunks of foul-smelling, yellow, turbid gel, tearing off big bites and swallowing them down.

Sea Gel was a specialty of Eastsea Province. It not only provided strong satiety but also contained vast Life Energy. While it might not compare to Essence of Vegetation, its advantage lay in quantity. During peacetime each year, over a hundred thousand jin of Sea Gel could be harvested from the sea daily. Without this Sea Gel, the Aoyu Empire's numbers of both Planetary Level and Apprentice Level Fighters would be less than a fifth of what they were now.

Thus, even if Eastsea Province was hard to defend, it had to be held!

As long as they endured the annual outbreak of sea beasts, they could begin harvesting Sea Gel—an irreplaceable and vital cultivation resource for the empire.

"Let's stop here for a bit and help them kill off the Apprentice Level 9 sea beasts." Guen and Cal paused above the stone wall, speaking calmly.

Cal nodded and looked down.

Over the past two months, the two of them had subtly come to regard Guen as the leader.

In these two months, Guen's record was outstanding. Whenever Guen was present, Deep Sea Beasts found it hard to escape, and when encountering Fighters from other Factions, Guen easily thwarted them.

Among high-level Fighters, if no sea beasts appeared, Guen was unmatched.

This was a reputation earned through battle after battle.

"Sea Gel—pity that by Tier 7 Apprentice, it's no longer impressive. Actually, starting from Apprentice Level 5, unless you consume hundreds of jin at once, its help for cultivation is limited," Guen remarked with a sigh.

Guen himself had once used Sea Gel for cultivation.

Cal said, "That's not entirely true. Without Sea Gel, the empire's warriors would need to spend enormous effort and resources hunting beasts just to have enough food. After all, high-level Apprentice warriors have big appetites. But with just over ten jin of Sea Gel, a high-level Apprentice warrior's daily needs are met. That's how the empire thrives. Otherwise, just feeding all these warriors would be impossible."

Guen and Cal chatted leisurely, waiting for the sea beasts to come ashore. Once on land, the beasts' combat effectiveness would naturally drop by twenty to thirty percent, making them easier to kill.

Especially since Guen and Cal noticed many new faces transferred from other provinces who still lacked training, they saw no rush to act.

Eastsea Province was not only the Aoyu Empire's granary and warrior resource base but also a massive training ground. Here, a warrior could undergo the bloodiest tempering. No wonder Eastsea Province had topped the trial rankings year after year.

"Wait." Guen and Cal's gazes suddenly sharpened. The waves before them rolled more violently—this was the sign of a Planetary Level sea beast about to land.

"Moto, send out word that a Planetary Level sea beast is suspected to appear here." With a thought from Guen, Moto immediately carried out the order, spreading the message through the Smart Watch.

"Master, I've received seventeen messages simultaneously. All these locations are suspected to have Planetary Level sea beasts." After completing Guen's task, Moto immediately relayed another piece of information back to Linde.

At that moment, Cal's Smart Watch also buzzed incessantly. Cal looked puzzled, raised her watch to check, and her expression instantly changed.

"So many places are suspected to have Planetary Level sea beasts?" Cal was deeply shocked.

In Eastsea Province, aside from the East Guardian, there were thirty-seven Planetary Level Fighters stationed here, spread across different Armory Camps, monitoring almost the entire province. Yet now, all these Fighters were sending out reports of suspected Planetary Level sea beasts. Such a large-scale movement of sea beasts was extremely rare in the province's history.

Just as Cal was about to discuss countermeasures with Guen, several massive figures suddenly emerged from beneath the sea surface. Without pausing, they crashed into the stone wall alongside a swarm of sea beasts, tearing through this seemingly solid defense.

These sea beasts were all enormous. No number of Apprentice Level warriors could withstand their assault.

Among them, the largest was a Four-Claw Red Crab, towering over fifty meters tall.

Unlike humans, beasts grew larger with strength. A Four-Claw Red Crab over fifty meters tall was already a fearsome beast above Planetary Level 5.

"One, two, three... a total of eleven sea beasts!" Cal instinctively wanted to relay this information to gather reinforcements, but at that moment, her Smart Watch rang even more urgently.

"Here, White Sea Ferry needs support. Fifteen beasts here, two over fifty meters tall. It's just me and Azhit!"

"Oak Ferry, nine sea beasts, one over fifty meters. Only me here, requesting support."

"Xiang River Outlet, over fifty sea beasts here, half over fifty meters, the tallest two over ninety meters. There are five of us here, requesting support."

One distress call after another spread rapidly through the Goddess Temple's members via Smart Watch.

Cal felt a bit lost, especially upon hearing that at the Xiang River Outlet—the province's only river exit—the majority of sea beasts were high-level. A chill ran down her spine.

"Kill! First, let these warriors retreat!" As Cal turned back, Guen erupted with fierce battle intent and lunged straight at the Planetary Level sea beast.

Cal snapped back to reality. If they didn't stop these beasts, the Apprentice Level warriors would be helpless against the Planetary Level beasts' slaughter. A single level difference meant a one-sided massacre, and these Planetary Level beasts were surrounded by an endless, surging tide of sea beasts!

Guen charged directly at the strongest Four-Claw Red Crab. The massive crab, just by running, could crush countless human warriors to death, and even many sea beasts couldn't dodge in time, trampled into pulp.

Like a bolt of lightning, Guen flew to the side of the Four-Claw Red Crab. His fastest strike, Liaohuo, slashed out, leaving a wound over ten centimeters deep on the crab's body.

"Tough defense." Guen was startled. Against a lower-level beast, this strike would have carved a meter-deep wound, but the Four-Claw Red Crab easily withstood it.

The crab's eyes fixed on Guen with ill intent. Its four massive claws, seemingly clumsy, moved with incredible speed. Guen couldn't dodge in time and was struck by the edge of a claw, sent flying backward.

Power... so strong!

Guen landed, smashing a deep crater into the ground. When he flew back out, his face was full of solemnity, but inwardly he had already spat a mouthful of blood.

The strength of a fifth-tier sea beast far exceeded Guen's own.

That Guen could even fight at all was thanks to his techniques and the sharpness of the Meteor Light Blade. His pure physical foundation simply couldn't compare to these fifth-tier sea beasts—especially this one, a sea beast with a massive body and strength far surpassing that of a human Fighter at the same rank.

"What a pity. I haven't had time to cultivate Star Body Forging yet. It's a Secret Method that tempers the flesh and makes the body stronger, but it requires too many special resources. I only just advanced to Planetary Level, so I have no stockpile. I can't even start training yet," Guen sighed inwardly.

Star Body Forging was a Secret Method on the same level as Flame Slash—perhaps even slightly superior. It used many special resources to temper the body, making it tougher. Once tempered to a certain degree, crossing ranks to fight would be even easier than with Flame Slash. Flame Slash still required comprehension; Guen was currently stuck on the third move. But Star Body Forging only needed enough materials, and the body would keep growing stronger.

The only problem was that the special resources required were too rare and expensive. Some of the needed materials could be found in the Goddess Temple's Contribution Hall and Armory Camp, which was why Guen needed to complete Contribution Hall missions.

Without Star Body Forging now, Guen simply didn't dare to clash head-on with a fifth-tier sea beast.

"Good thing I didn't bring the Kejia Beast. Even after feeding it so much Planetary Level sea beast flesh, it's still only at Apprentice Level 9 peak. Useless to me," Guen thought. With a flicker of intent, he pounced again, skirmishing with the Four-Claw Red Crab. Speed was Guen's advantage, and the Four-Claw Red Crab was also extremely wary of the Meteor Light Blade. It was actually being held in check by Guen.

But to kill it? Even if Guen slashed until he was exhausted, he would at most severely wound this defensively astonishing Four-Claw Red Crab. And the Four-Claw Red Crab wasn't a stationary target—it would counterattack. Once hit, even the Flame God Armor couldn't fully absorb the force of the blow.