Chapter 402 - 399: Tansen City’s Doomsday

Chapter 402: Chapter 399: Tansen City’s Doomsday

With her own eyes, Amira couldn’t tell just how many Otherworldly monsters were in this area.

Since this was already a blind spot for the Yin Country’s regular army, monsters emerging from the contact point had been accumulating nonstop.

Some of the lower-tier monsters in Kaslopa’s harsh environment survived primarily through their reproductive abilities. After arriving on Earth, many began to multiply rapidly. This was especially true for creatures like Ghouls; if a "Flesh Warm Bed" was available, their reproductive speed could increase significantly.

It was less a blind spot for the Yin Country military and more a temporarily abandoned zone. The high command believed there were surely no survivors left in these border regions. While there might be a few scattered survivors like Amira and her group, sending the army to rescue them would not be worth the cost.

At this moment, the enormous monster army was moving at high speed, weaving through the forest and crossing ruined cities with their powerful bodies.

Their faces were grotesquely ugly, terrifying, and bizarre. The variety of strange and freakish Otherworldly Demons was simply endless.

Amira and her companions’ hearts were constantly seized with tension. Their emotions were extremely complex, a mixture of fear and anticipation.

The massive Yin Spirit constantly followed close by, making the three remaining survivors feel a perpetual chill.

Even knowing their chances of survival were nil, they still instinctively feared it would suddenly devour them. Even if these monsters had intelligence, they were still irrational Demons.

However, while the giant Yin Spirit was eager to savor human souls, it exercised some restraint. It was only following them so closely because it was afraid other Magic Creatures would poach these three humans.

They were its private rations and also its navigation tools.

The endless green before it was starting to get irritating. It had once ordered other monsters to destroy the forest, but the vegetation was massive, dense, and seemingly infinite. The effort only slowed them down and wasted their strength.

The only upside was that the canopy overhead blocked most of the sky, so the hated sunlight rarely shone directly down.

It was rare for a Magic Creature to emerge from a low-tier Demon colony like the Ghouls. Once one did evolve and gain Magic Power, it was usually not weak. But that was all relative; the brutal environment of Kaslopa could claim the life of any Magic Creature that wasn’t powerful enough at a moment’s notice.

Compared to the constant, nerve-wracking vigilance required in Kaslopa, this Otherworld that had suddenly collided with it made the Great Faceless Ghost feel like a true king.

Kaslopa had been in decline for a long time, its connection to the Void Realms long since severed. Ghouls on Kaslopa had evolved into many different branches. Through a process that Earth science might call metamorphosis, Ghouls gave rise to beings like the Great Faceless Ghost.

After the physical body of its original Great Ghoul form died, it metamorphosed into a Faceless Shadow Ghost and awakened its Magic Power. It grew continuously and even gained the ability to reproduce.

Even the Great Faceless Ghost itself didn’t know exactly how many Demons were here now, as other Magic Creatures controlled their own vast territories.

This world was so wonderful. These weak yet delicious things were plentiful, which meant their reproductive capabilities must be quite impressive as well.

First, it would eat its fill. Then, it would sire more children and start farming a batch of humans.

On Kaslopa, it had been a relatively low-tier existence. There were too many dangers there that could easily snuff out a Great Faceless Ghost. But here, a mere dozen or so days had been enough for it to feel its own overwhelming power.

The truly terrifying things couldn’t cross over. And even though it couldn’t go back either, none of the Magic Creatures around it missed Kaslopa in the slightest.

Its ambition swelled along with this feeling of power. The first-mover advantage gave it the confidence to back this ambition.

’As long as I keep eating and eating! I can quickly accumulate soul essence! I can keep getting stronger, and then even if those terrifying beings come over in the future, I won’t be afraid anymore!!!’

Its terrifying, cold face glanced contemptuously at the trembling Amira and her two companions.

The human race... their souls were so pure, yet they were born so weak. Weakness is the original sin—this was true on Kaslopa, and it was true in any world. They were fundamentally a species meant to be food. Possessing intelligence only deepened their tragedy.

Witnessing their companion’s death had clearly terrified these poor little things. But it wasn’t just relying on Amira’s guidance. Intuitively, a faint, wispy feeling told it that there were indeed many delicious treats waiting for it there—and that the meal would be easy, pleasant, and safe.

After marching for the better part of a day, night had fallen. Faint sounds of gunfire and artillery could now be heard in the distance.

This made Amira and the others’ hearts tighten. It seemed they had, intentionally or not, overlooked something.

...

BANG! BANG! BANG!...

BOOM—

After a rifle grenade exploded, the largest of the tentacled Salamanders was finally blown to bits.

Looking at the surrounding craters and monster corpses, a dozen or so Nippon Country soldiers wiped the sweat from their brows and breathed a small sigh of relief.

This wave had consisted of several dozen monsters that had poured out of a suddenly appeared fissure. By the time they killed the last one, night had fallen.

"Major, is the area around Tansen City clear now?"

The bearded officer slung his AK rifle over his back and took a swig of water from his canteen.

"Should be. Hopefully, we’ll have some peace for a while! We’re lucky here near Tansen City; there aren’t any major contact points. I hear the fighting in the Capital is intense, and a lot of troops have been sent as reinforcements. Sigh, it’s a shame our country is so weak, with so few heavy weapons..."

As a small nation sandwiched between the two great powers of the Yin Country and the Hua Country, Nippon Country was fated to be a place neither power would allow to develop a strong military.

Of course, Nippon Country’s economy couldn’t support a strong military reserve anyway. Even its air force was an empty shell, basically amounting to an army aviation unit.

It had no navy to speak of, its armored forces were scarce, its heavy firepower was both limited and outdated, and ammunition reserves were a huge problem.

In some of the harder-hit areas, many refugees were already trying to cross the borders into the neighboring countries, hoping to flee to the Yin Country or the Hua Country. There was no telling how they were faring.

A helicopter circled the city’s perimeter. It was one of only two aircraft in the entire garrison.

The pilot and crew were exhausted.

The onboard Radar was not very advanced. It was a long-wave system, the type that was easily susceptible to interference during the Dark Tide.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP..." The alert sounded.

The pilot jolted, his exhaustion vanishing in an instant.

"What the hell! So many! What are they?"

The Radar screen showed a dense cluster of ground-based heat signatures over ten kilometers away, so thick they were starting to merge into a solid red mass.

As the sound of the helicopter’s rotors filled the sky, many of the Ghouls and Demons on the ground below instinctively looked up.

Through the dense canopy, they could see the piercing beam of a searchlight in the sky.

The pilot carefully descended, using the searchlight to get a better view. When he saw what was in a forest clearing, the faces of the entire crew turned pale.

"Look out!!"

SWOOSH—

An entire tree, like a launched projectile, suddenly shot toward the sky.

"Pull up, pull up!!!"

By a hair’s breadth, the pilot barely dodged the attack and then rapidly climbed.

Soon after, several even faster boulders flew past, but the now-alert pilot managed to evade them all.

About ten seconds later, the entire crew’s blood ran cold. The endless sea of forest below was shaking, and the sound of countless footsteps grew louder and louder. Below them... there was nothing but monsters.

"The Radar wasn’t malfunctioning..."

"Report to command, now!! Gunner, open fire, open fire!!"

This aircraft wasn’t a true gunship, but it was equipped with a Gatling rotary cannon.

As the pilot banked the helicopter to head back, the gunner flipped off the safety and unleashed a barrage on the forest below.

BRRRRRRRRT...

A muzzle flash several feet long erupted from the barrel as a curtain of bullets rained down. There was no need to aim; the ground below was swarming with monsters.

THWIP. THWIP. THWIP. THWIP...

Several smaller Ghouls and Demons caught in the barrage were instantly torn to shreds. Larger ones raised their arms to block for a moment before collapsing heavily to the ground.

The sustained fire from a Gatling gun with a rate of 6,000 rounds per minute could easily shred armored targets. A creature of flesh and blood had no hope of withstanding it unless it was incredibly powerful.

Many of the Demons caught in the stream of bullets couldn’t last more than a few seconds.

This massive, mixed horde consisted mainly of Ghouls and Demons. Most of them couldn’t fly, but there were always exceptions.

A few special Ghouls with fleshy wings flapped into the sky, riding a gust of wind as they lunged toward the helicopter. Farther away, other Demons capable of short-term flight also took to the air.

In the helicopter, the pilot was drenched in sweat.

"Watch the sides, watch the sides!! Evasive maneuvers! We’ve got monsters in the air! Oh hell, we’re dead!!!"

"Shut up! Just keep firing!!"

"BRRRRRRRRT..." "RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT..."

The other soldiers in the helicopter also opened fire with their AKs, unleashing streams of bullets.

THWIP. THWIP. THWIP-THWIP-THWIP...

Blood sprayed from several of the closer monsters. Some fled while others plummeted directly to the ground.

"Go, go, go, get out of here!! Quick, quick!!"

The helicopter fled in a panic, whipping a long lash of fire-colored light through the sky. It left a trail of over twenty corpses in its wake, some as small as humans, others as large as cars.

This encounter made Amira and the others’ hearts pound, and it also startled many of the more intelligent Demons.

The Great Faceless Ghost could sense the accelerated heartbeats of the humans beside it.

"That thing in the sky, what is it? I can sense humans on board."

Amira was trembling, unsure how to answer.

"It’s... it’s a helicopter..."

The Great Faceless Ghost looked at the guns the three of them had been clutching tightly the entire time. It seemed the humans in the sky had those things as well.

CREAK... CRUNCH...

In an instant, the three guns were twisted into mangled shapes by its Magic Power.

...

The Nippon Country military force in Tansen City now consisted of only two regiments, totaling less than four thousand soldiers. They had already suffered casualties over the past dozen days fighting the constant chaos and monsters.

Even though the remaining troops were veterans, unlikely to be wiped out by sudden panic or simple mistakes, their numbers were still far too low, and they lacked heavy weaponry.

When command received the report from the reconnaissance helicopter, the faces of all the senior commanders turned grim.

"How far are they?"

The supreme commander, Colonel Surya Balhara Sampa, asked an aerial reconnaissance scout.

"About ten kilometers. Now, probably less than eight!"

"Damn it!! How could there be so many... How..."

They were less than ten kilometers from the city. At the monsters’ speed, an evacuation was impossible unless the army abandoned the civilians and fled.

But Tansen City, being one of the safest cities in Nippon Country near the Yin Country border, had attracted a massive number of refugees over the last half-month. There were now seven to eight hundred thousand people inside and outside the city.

A dozen minutes later, the colossal horde of Demons poured out from the tree line, approaching the city’s edge.

Inside the city, countless civilians screamed in panic, fleeing in the opposite direction. The crowd was a chaotic mess of shoving and trampling...

And at the forefront stood the more than two thousand soldiers who had voluntarily remained, along with their few armored vehicles and a dozen howitzers. Their only other heavy weapons were a few machine guns and mortars.

"Ready... Fire!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...

The artillery opened fire first. The attack was just a drop in the bucket against the monsters’ front line. Although the dense monster formations meant the destructive effect was excellent, that was all it was.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...

Shells exploded around them, blossoming like flowers of flame.

Many of the Magic Creatures instantly moved back at high speed, dragging Amira and her companions along with them.

Because it was night, and because the ordinary humans’ dynamic visual acuity was poor, the speed seemed so fast that the surrounding trees blurred into indistinct shapes.

"ROAR..." "AWOOO..." "SCREEE..."

Countless Ghouls, Demons, Yin Spirits, Salamanders... all surged toward the city like a tide, one wave after another, fearless of death...

PS: First Chapter for Friday.