Coastal Defense

After contacting Major General Lu Xiangsheng of the Jinnan Military Region in advance, Ji Yun took the train the next day to the region's headquarters.

Jinnan Military Region!

This was the largest military region in the north. Since the original Jinmen City bordered the sea and had merged with Kyoto to become Kyoto Base City, this land became the critical point for defending against marine monsters.

The Jinnan Military Region spanned nearly the entire coastline of three sub-cities, bordering the Liaonan Military Region of the Northeast Base City to the north and extending hundreds of kilometers to the south. Its defensive area was vast, and the pressure of defense was equally immense.

Because it hugged the Bohai Bay, where the land area within the bay was insufficient, there were fewer King-ranked monsters here. The main monster threat came in the form of beast tides. Massive beast tides struck the coastline every week. Even though the monster lords driving these tides knew sending monsters was nothing but suicide, each wave of defense still drained human warriors considerably.

The train pulled directly into a military camp set up by the Jinnan Military Region on the coastal defense front. This camp was built behind a steel fortress, blocking a section of the river that once flowed from Jinmen into the sea. That stretch of water was completely choked with rocks, rebar, and concrete, and atop it stood an enormous small-scale war fortress forged from steel and cement!

Countless thick cannon barrels gleamed with cold light, extending from firing ports.

The fortress and camp were only a few kilometers apart. A general-rank warrior at full sprint could cover the distance in minutes, and the war fortress housed a large garrison ready to repel sudden beast tides.

Marine monsters generally couldn't come ashore directly, so they sought rivers to invade inland. Rivers were the key invasion routes for intelligent lord-level and king-ranked monsters. In the decades since the Great Nirvana, countless beast tides had widened the rivers, even allowing lord monsters to enter.

But even lord monsters charging in directly would die. The war fortress's laser cannons could cleanly kill lords and even king-ranked monsters. These monsters usually sent low-level lords and beast general-rank monsters, commanding hordes of beast soldiers to assault the war fortress.

Inside the war fortress.

In the highest room, a middle-aged man with a slightly stooped frame but sharp, gleaming eyes stood by the window. His face was grim, and he remained silent.

The rising sun in the distance cast light across the sea, making the waves shimmer. It looked calm on the surface. But everyone present knew what currents lurked beneath that placid water.

The undercurrents were fierce!

"Commander, this beast tide seems unusual," said a major general in the room.

"Yeah, it's too calm right now. So calm it makes my heart uneasy." The middle-aged man sighed. "I'm afraid this time will be a trial." The calmer it was, the more prepared the monsters were.

Grand displays were always a facade. For a war fortress of such scale and power, the only thing that could destroy it was a lethal strike from the shadows, not a head-on assault.

Ji Yun stayed in the camp for a short while. After registering his information, he headed straight for the colossal war fortress.

The sea breeze stretched for miles, making the road damp and salty. Mixed in was a faint smell of blood.

He wrinkled his nose. The salty sea breeze wasn't pleasant, and Ji Yun, who had never been near the coast before, found it hard to adjust. As warriors improved their physical abilities, their senses sharpened across the board—some discomfort was only natural.

He called Major General Lu Xiangsheng and arranged to meet in a room inside the war fortress.

Within minutes, Ji Yun met Major General Lu Xiangsheng in that room. In just a few short months, a few strands of white hair had appeared on Lu Xiangsheng's head!

Lu Xiangsheng laughed heartily, a hint of relief in his eyes as he looked at Ji Yun.

"I knew I wasn't wrong about you. You really came."

"The world often says that only our Chinese military region can rally nearly all forces to withstand great disasters and dangers. Only our Chinese base cities have never been breached in decades. Only our Chinese civilians, as long as they live within a base city, are utterly safe. Why?"

"Because we Chinese warriors carry on the legacy of our ancestors. We fight for our country and our survival. As long as a single breath remains, we dare not retreat."

Lu Xiangsheng led Ji Yun to a window facing the sea. The glass had long been shattered, leaving only a bloodstained frame. The sea wind howled at this height, blowing Ji Yun's now-long hair.

"What do you feel?" Lu Xiangsheng pointed at the sea. The morning sun slanted down from the east, shining on their eyelids.

"A storm is coming." Ji Yun sensed something unusual. In his perception of the wind, he felt it dancing wildly.

"Yeah, a storm is coming." Lu Xiangsheng sighed.

"This beast tide will probably be led by a large number of lord monsters." The sea wind whipped through Lu Xiangsheng's short, neat hair and swirled around the room.

"Ji Yun, do you know? Last time a large number of high-level lord monsters led an attack, the nation lost a War God." Lu Xiangsheng's voice carried bitterness.

"That was two years ago, right after I was promoted to major general."

"That attack was like mountains collapsing and seas roaring. You see how massive this war fortress is? Yet under the assault of so many lords, it nearly crumbled. Dozens of high-level lord monsters, one after another, slammed into the fortress, using their bodies to try and carve a path inland."

"But could we let them through?" Lu Xiangsheng said softly.

"If the monsters got through, what would happen to the base cities? What would happen to our Chinese people?"

"In the early days of the Great Nirvana, our ancestor Dong Nanbiao single-handedly killed the 'Tiger-Headed Monster Dragon' by the Yangtze River, saving hundreds of thousands of civilians and allowing them to evacuate to Jiangnan Base."

"And now, there are also sons of China using their lives to fill the gap, blocking the path of these monsters."

Evening was the most exhausting time of day.

Soldiers in the war fortress were changing shifts. The setting sun, which had shone all day, was about to fade, releasing the darkness.

Ji Yun lay in a room. Beside him was a new "Wind Lifter."

This spear, bought to fight high-level lords, cost a full 1 billion Huaxia Currency. It was an S-rank spear, able to clash with mid-level lords without damage.

The spear tip gleamed coldly.

If you can't find the book by title, try searching by author—maybe it just changed names!

The war fortress, forged entirely of steel, echoed the winter's chill. Warriors weren't afraid of the cold, but the atmosphere sent chills down the spine.

Ji Yun hadn't forgotten Lu Xiangsheng's words from earlier. He could also feel that this beast tide was no small matter.

Every time a large number of lord monsters attacked, a king-ranked monster was always behind it. And if a king-ranked monster struck, then two beast emperors were surely pulling the strings—the same two beast emperors who could even contend with humanity's peak powerhouses, Hong and Thor.

The Bohai Bay never froze. The warm ocean currents and the monsters' strong life force kept the water temperature like spring—the monsters' favorite temperature.

In the twilight night, a spine-chilling roar echoed faintly from the depths of the sea.

"Boom!"

The war base shook violently. A water cup on the table fell to the ground, glass shattering everywhere.

Alarms blared from within the war base. Lights flickered on across the forward units. Personnel moved quickly inside the base, while a flood of martial artists poured out of their quarters and surged into the coastal combat zone.

Ji Yun stepped out of his quarters and headed straight for the front line. As a High-Level War General, already considered high-end combat power, he was duty-bound to stand at the very front, blocking the attacks of powerful monsters and creating conditions for the laser weapons behind.

The war base's massive lights, stretching for several kilometers, lit up in sequence, illuminating the estuary as if it were broad daylight.

As his vision cleared, the sight before him left Ji Yun stunned.

Countless aquatic monsters, blotting out the sky and covering the earth, either launched themselves from the shore or crawled out rapidly. Among them were ferocious arthropod monsters, the most land-adapted reptile monsters, bizarre coelenterate aquatic monsters, echinoderm aquatic monsters, and the overwhelming majority—fish monsters blanketing the area!

In the process of evolution, these monsters had even developed a certain ability to survive on land, quickly adapting to the environment!

Their numbers were immense, their abilities bizarre beyond measure!

Take arthropod monsters, for example—just shrimp and crab types alone. Before the Great Nirvana era, thousands of species of shrimp and crab had been discovered in the seas, and counting the unknown, there were likely tens of thousands! After mutation, shrimp, crab, and other monsters had reached staggering numbers. As for coelenterates and echinoderms, there was no need to even mention them.

Such a massive horde of monsters flooded the beach, along with countless fish monsters forming a torrent, following the estuary, led by a Lord Rank strange fish. They slammed into the war base again and again. The impact force of tens of thousands of fish monsters was no less than that of a King Rank monster.

A large number of reptile monsters surged onto the beach, each revealing a massive body. In particular, the thirteen leading High Lord monsters stood over ten meters tall. These Lord monsters didn't pause for a moment after coming ashore. They issued sounds to command the monsters behind them while charging toward the war base.

"These Lord monsters are advancing too fast!"

"Can't aim—they're moving too quickly." On a tall building a kilometer away, an operator at one of the laser cannon emplacements said anxiously, "These Lord monsters have all become cunning. After suffering losses before, once they come ashore, not a single one stops for even a moment."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Shells from cannons with calibers exceeding 100mm bombarded the forward positions wildly. The five to six hundred meters of land between the beach and the actual base had turned into a sea of fire. Countless aquatic monsters charged madly, while the colossal war base poured out all kinds of artillery fire!

These shells were also made of Kro Alloy, using fragmentation rounds. The shrapnel released upon explosion was highly lethal to low-level monsters, but against Beast Generals and Lords, it was almost useless, only slightly disrupting them.

Twelve figures shot out from within the war base, each breaking the sound barrier.

These were the War Gods who could provide the fastest support, also belonging to the military. They had been resting in the rear camp and could reach the battlefield in just over ten seconds.

Each War God engaged one or two Lord monsters, either stalling them or seeking to kill them. Slaying a single Lord would provide a layer of safety for the artillery positions behind.

But!

Three more Lord monsters surged out of the sea, all identical in appearance.

Fiery red pincers waved in the air, their bodies covered in pitch-black scales, four pairs of eyes rotating constantly, and curved back armor carrying a large number of ordinary monsters. These three were clearly three Fire-Pincer Lobsters at the initial Lord Rank.

Driven by the High Lords, even initial Lords could only serve as cannon fodder to clear the way.

The Fire-Pincer Lobsters didn't stop. They charged directly toward the forward position, just five to six hundred meters across the beach, carrying a mass of monsters on their backs. Inside the position were numerous martial artists, and behind them were countless artillerymen.

They pushed forward through the artillery fire. General large-caliber cannons could no longer harm them. Only laser cannons could deal with Lord monsters. But with these monsters moving so fast, how could the laser cannons hit them!

Silently!

A dazzling white light shot out from one of the towers inside the war base.

This laser struck by chance, hitting one of the lobster monsters directly, piercing through and incinerating it into nothingness!

"How much longer until the War Gods arriving for support?"

A shout came from inside the base.

"The fastest ones will still take over ten minutes!"

Over ten minutes? Ji Yun's expression froze. If these Lord monsters were allowed to charge the base, the forward position would be lost in minutes, and the rear would be left wide open, completely unprotected.

Another bright white light swept across, hitting one of the lobster's thick legs squarely. The lobster lost its ability to move, and a second shot finished it off, burning it to ashes.

"The last lobster monster has already reached the position! The lobster is too close to the base—I can't fire, or I'll hit humans." An anxious voice from the tower reached the control room.

The slightly stooped middle-aged man gritted his teeth and slammed the table. "I'll go."

"I'm the last War God in the base. I'll stop it and buy time."

"But Commander, if you go, more High Lords will show up on the other side. They already know you—they know you're the commander. If you reveal the base's current strength, we might not be able to hold out until the War Gods arrive!" The person beside him tried to dissuade him.

"We still need to try to surround and kill this initial Lord. This is just a probe—we can't take risks!"