Apocalypse Gachapon

"Hold steady, hold steady!"

Ye Zhongming had to shout at the top of his lungs at this moment.

These warriors had indeed improved rapidly under his training, their coordination becoming increasingly seamless, and their equipment had been upgraded by Ye Zhongming—all to help them survive frontal clashes and even gain some advantages.

But first, they had to remain calm and not give in to fear.

These were all excellent warriors who had experienced life and death. Yet this situation was different from anything they had faced before.

In the past, they had faced either other cosmic races, mutated lifeforms, or parasites. But one thing was certain: they had never encountered so many enemies at once. An endless, tide-like swarm of foes—just the visual impact alone was nearly overwhelming.

The path leading to the Overlapping Water Dead Zone varied in width. The widest sections were two: one at the middle, shaped like a gourd, about several dozen meters wide.

The other was at the entrance, the First Squad now guarded. There, the width was about a hundred meters. The higher up the path, the narrower it became. At the First Squad's position, it was about fifty meters wide.

Including some Changxu Water Race members and Ye Zhongming himself, fewer than fifty people were defending this spot. They looked tiny and fragile.

Confidence could not come from words alone; it had to be proven through results.

The Fanged Heavy-Hide Beasts charged like a black cloud pressing down, quickly reaching the edge of the path. Each of these monsters was about two meters wide. To maintain spacing, they left gaps between themselves. So even with a hundred-meter width, only about thirty could charge side by side. Farther up, their numbers would thin. By the time they reached the First Squad's position, there would likely be no more than fifteen abreast.

Even so, it still felt like the mountains were crumbling. And above, the Yu Kang had already swept past them, heading toward the interior of the base, with some diving toward the First Squad.

"Ignore the sky! Ranged combatants, prepare!"

Ye Zhongming restrained a few warriors who had been about to look up.

The moment the first Fanged Heavy-Hide Beast set foot on the path, within a fifteen-meter radius, a red energy net burst into existence. It first appeared just above the ground, paused briefly, and then began to rise at a moderate speed.

The Fanged Heavy-Hide Beasts served as the vanguard for a reason: their strengths were excellent defense, strong momentum, robust physiques, and high resilience.

In short, these creatures were meant to break formations—to absorb firepower, shatter defenses, and open a path for the main force behind.

Even though everyone knew this, the small clan alliance had no choice but to attack them. They could not let them break through; defending inside the base would be far too difficult.

As the red energy net rose, the frontmost beasts collapsed to the ground.

If there was a weakness to these creatures, it was their relatively thin legs. The red energy net had strong thermal cutting capabilities. It might not sever their legs outright, but it could injure them.

Then came the stumbling, the falling… and being trampled by their own kind behind them. That was enough.

The previously orderly, momentum-filled charge immediately descended into chaos.

Along the path, there were not only defensive warriors stationed at various points but also formations everywhere.

Though not as dense or powerful as the Su Clan's, they were still highly effective.

At the same time, the Kepaisi Sky Cover began its attack. Beams of light shot out in waves. The aggressive flying lifeforms at the forefront were the first to suffer, struck down one after another.

The Sky Cover's attacks were automatically aimed and highly precise. Each beam had a clear target—hit or miss. There was no area coverage.

Even when manually operated, the only adjustment was to concentrate fire in a certain area—for example, turning a single shot into two consecutive shots at the same target. Free firing was not allowed.

The design philosophy of this device was precision at its core.

The beams were also highly damaging. Few of the Yu Kang could withstand three hits. Those threatening the defenders on the path were the first to be cleared.

The Sky Cover even provided some support to the path, with many beams striking the Fanged Heavy-Hide Beasts and the colossal Multi-Armed Wild Man Demon.

The chaos did not stop the beasts' charge. They trampled over the bodies of their fallen comrades and kept advancing. The red energy net was torn apart, the formation destroyed.

But after fifteen meters, another formation activated. It condensed ambient energy into sharp wind blades, wreaking havoc across a twenty-meter zone.

Individually, these wind blades were only moderately sharp—they would leave only small cuts on a Fanged Heavy-Hide Beast. But within that twenty-meter zone, the blades were dense. Even if shattered, another would immediately appear to take its place.

A beast charging through the wind-blade zone would suffer hundreds of cuts for every meter advanced. The one at the forefront, by the time it had covered two-thirds of the twenty meters, had not a patch of intact skin left. It let out an unwilling roar, but a blade slipped into its mouth, cutting out its defenseless tongue. It fell, becoming a stumbling block for those behind.

In the previous fifteen-meter zone, at least a dozen beasts had fallen and been trampled. In this zone, the first twenty to charge all collapsed!

Still, the wind blades had limited damage. They relied on quantity to accumulate damage. When some beasts shielded those behind, the others could cross the zone.

In an instant, the vanguard of the mutated lifeforms was now only a dozen meters from the First Squad's defensive position.

These Fanged Heavy-Hide Beasts stepped into the third formation—the last one before the First Squad.

At that moment, Ye Zhongming gave the order for the ranged warriors to attack. Simultaneously, a formation called "Lu Huai's Spring" was activated.

A thin mist spread across the formation's ten-meter range.

For the beasts, this distance could be covered in a single charge.

But the moment they touched the nearly invisible mist, their speed plummeted, and they felt their bodies weaken.