Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 420 - 362 War_1

"Mother of monsters, a city-wide monster attack?"

The moment they spotted the grey-black tide, a collective gasp rose from among the beasts. Someone said in disbelief, "Is this where the Playful Red Moon comes from?"

"...Young people nowadays are all into the latest fads, not yesterday's 'busted ship' meme. You see, you just can't keep up. Stop telling old jokes, okay? Let's all go surfing the web together another day."

"Can't I just make a comment? It's not my fault I can't keep up with the times!"

"So you admit you brought up an old meme, right?"

The bird and the leopard bickered into a frenzy, which actually helped to warm the atmosphere, clearly dispelling the shock and unease in everyone's hearts. The mood lightened a bit.

Meanwhile, the image on the screen continued to advance.

It was as if they had flown into a grey sea, with no end in sight. Even at the Phoenix's extreme speed, they couldn't penetrate any deeper into the endless grey.

Rather, even without being able to witness it firsthand, everyone could glimpse but a fraction of its terrifying momentum and madness from that mottled grey.

It was a blend of ghastly white and jet black, a grim color congealed from blood.

Each ripple, each swell, even every pixel represented the presence of an enemy. If viewed from an unreachable height above, it was just inconsequential grey.

But now this endless grey was gradually covering them, capable of swallowing all their hard-won efforts in an instant.

Even if each individual within it was insignificant, the sheer, horrific scale was terrifying—it was as if all the malice of the world had united, ready to bear down upon this lone city.

Dark clouds loomed overhead.

"Do we have more detailed footage?"

The one who asked was the fox, the representative of the Scholars.

Throughout, it sat with its tail coiled, a pipe-like metal tube clenched in the corner of its mouth, puffing on it nonchalantly. The smoke mingled with water vapor and rose from its fox head.

The heat was alarmingly high.

Behind it, illusion-like bubbles kept rising and then bursting rapidly—these were the multitude of possibilities and branches. Amidst an almost exhaustive frenzy of calculation, countless plans and solutions continuously emerged, only to be negated again and again.

POP!

It spat out a mouthful of blood.

Habitually, it lifted its tail to wipe its mouth. It then picked up its personalized water cup to rinse. Just as it was about to spit, it remembered it was inside Huai Shi's head and hesitantly swallowed, coughing twice. "Not enough reference conditions. I need something more detailed."

"None."

The Phoenix shook its head. "I wanted to go deeper, but I sensed presences that could threaten me... That feeling, how should I put it."

It paused for a moment and said earnestly, "Like a Divine Body."

In the silence, no one spoke.

"Alright, let me give a briefing," the fox said, its voice still calm. "Two days ago, our farthest outpost detected abnormal mass readings. At first, I thought... well, that a few more comrades like Huai Shi had arrived. But as it turned out, the readings were completely different from Huai Shi's. So, we had Phoenix make an emergency sortie, and you all saw the result.

Now, our outermost outpost has been silent for four hours, no messages whatsoever. Looks like it's been completely digested, huh?"

"Has its nature been confirmed?" someone asked, still in disbelief.

"Erosion species. There's no need to consider any other possibility," the fox stated calmly, delivering the bad news. "What you just saw were all Erosion species.

If I'm not mistaken, those are all the things in this Hell that can still draw breath, aside from us—I mean, everything, all of them, every single one.

I hope everyone understands one thing: the enemy now preparing to launch an 'Offensive' against us comprises all the remaining Erosion species in this Hell."

After the fox finished speaking, it emphasized once more, "All."

There was simply no need to estimate the numbers.

The inner space of this Walpurgisnacht was as large as an entire massive continent. Once the depth began to increase, the number of mutated Erosion species would surely become even more terrifying.

Besides, Erosion species also reproduce. Some, notorious for their fecundity, could birth eighty or a hundred offspring in one go as if it were nothing—salmon can lay thousands of eggs at once, and in Hell's ecology, it would only be more exaggerated.

A preliminary estimate based on the footage alone suggested numbers in the quintillions. Even judging by quantity alone, they possessed the capability to completely annihilate the current Titan Empire.

Moreover, who said Erosion species couldn't merge with Divine Bodies?

Let's consider an even more pessimistic deduction: is it possible that Explorers who have undergone Deification transformation have been corrupted by the Abyss...

Most of the time, art imitates reality—the saying 'corruption makes one three times stronger' isn't without reason.

The 'Offensive' side naturally held the advantage.

"What's their purpose?" Hydra asked. "Don't tell me it's really like game mechanics, with a wave of monsters attacking the city?"

"Isn't it obvious? They're hungry and want something to eat. And as it happens, all the steaming-hot meals in this world have jumped into the same bowl—"

Behind the fox's calm expression, the corner of its eye twitched, unable to hide its regret.

It really was too early to celebrate.

No, it should have considered this when selecting the base location. At the time, it had only focused on the rich ore deposits and surrounding resources, never imagining new enemies would appear once all the Explorers united. Consequently, all defensive fortifications were merely standard-issue. Though not neglected, they weren't intentionally developed either.

Survival was already a grim struggle, and it didn't want to sow seeds of internal discord by introducing various advanced weapons. To maintain stability, it had deliberately exercised restraint in this area, naturally prioritizing 'survival' over 'military might.'

Turns out, hindsight is indeed priceless...

When the entire world is gradually dying, all beasts will make a desperate, last-ditch struggle.

They don't even need much reason or thought. As long as they feel hunger, they will instinctively seek food. Some higher species, even after mutating, retain their ability to think, making them even more troublesome. They might even suppress infighting and choose to ally with former powerful enemies.

It's almost like a miracle. If such a thing happened among humans, countless poets would surely sing of humanity's greatness, right?

But now, bestial nature has achieved a similar 'greatness.'

Catching everyone completely off guard.

It suppressed the annoyance and frustration in its heart, forcibly maintaining its composure, "The control room estimates that, at their current speed, they should appear within our visual range in five more days—uh, basically, by then, it'll be no different from them showing up at our doorstep."

"That speed might not be their maximum," Diamond Leopard, who had just lightened the mood, reminded, "If they're hunting, they must be conserving energy now, preserving their stamina as much as possible."

"Then three days."

The fox said, "We need to prepare for the worst-case scenario."

"And then?" someone asked.

"Then, conserve your strength, follow orders, and fight bravely to kill the enemy. That goes without saying, of course, but it's not your time to enter the fray yet."

The fox reminded them sternly, "I don't think I need to remind everyone of this city's significance. A stable base of operations—this is the prerequisite for all our plans. It's best if we don't have any 'heroes' who rush out to meet the enemy and die without a word. Even if you could kill ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or even a million enemies before you perish, it's not worth it. Your corpses can catalyze the creation of more Erosion species, and you yourselves might even become one of the enemies after death.

So, the purpose of this meeting is to inform you all that we will have a plan, we will execute that plan, and then we will achieve victory through that plan. This way, even the most devastating victory won't fatally wound our core strength.

Please remember, our goal isn't just to win, but to continue surviving in this dying world, to continue surviving and live better."

As he spoke in his low voice, the city behind him erupted with a roar. Countless buildings shifted, and the entire Steel City instantly became riddled with openings.

Its camouflage removed, it revealed countless complex and massive underground fortifications, along with numerous launch silos aimed straight at the sky.

Then, within the metal wells, countless incandescent lights flared, erupting with a deafening blast, sending out shockwave after shockwave. Immediately after, intense heat swept through with the force of a hurricane.

It propelled the heavy Metal Trees, which slowly ascended into the sky.

It was as if, in an instant, thousands of stars shot up into the heavens, momentarily illuminating the dark world, revealing its majestic, desolate contours and somber grey tones.

Immediately after, the thousands of stars silently flew into the distance.

Just like stars scattering to the four winds.

These messengers, symbolizing peace, were entirely smooth, with soft, streamlined designs, devoid of any hint of aggression.

Their three-stage propulsion system ensured this 'express delivery' would reach its recipients at the fastest possible speed.

Their outer shells bore sealing matrices meticulously crafted by Alchemists, designed to preserve the laws and physical rules of Current Circumstances.

And within, they carried gifts from their hosts—um, a certain precious element that would emit a green glow, signifying harmlessness and eco-friendliness...

Even the Erosion species, presumably ignorant of etiquette and civilization, would surely be moved to tears of gratitude upon receiving such a gift, right?

Through such friendly greetings, everyone would establish friendship and bonds. Misunderstandings would be resolved, and all could then live together happily in this world...

As if seeing such a beautiful future beckoning to them, the corners of everyone's mouths involuntarily curled into a slight smile.

"Wait a second, didn't you say our war preparations were only at a standard level?"

"They are at a standard level, that's correct,"

The fox, swishing its tail, responded nonchalantly, "It's just that the standards of the Abyss Development Bureau are a little different from those of other departments."

In the operational charter of those pioneering fanatics from the Development Bureau, even a standard-level war contingency plan should involve reserves sufficient to fight a war of attrition against an Abyss civilization of equivalent technological standing but three times the numbers...

The laws of physics from Current Circumstances became less applicable as the depth increased, necessitating reliance on Alchemy for maintenance. If not for this, their reserves would have been enough to launch the entirety of Australia into the sky by now.