novelraw Chapter 348: Brothers, pick up bricks, and shoulder to shoulder!
Chapter 348: Brothers, pick up bricks, and shoulder to shoulder!
At the very center of Base Two, the survivors were desperately holding on.
At its inception, Base Two gathered just over two million people. Yet, they had a far greater advantage than Base One.
For it housed the major forces of the King’s Alliance and the Sky Exploders, with the base’s head being Alexander’s old acquaintance, Henry. These were the main combat forces among the Chosen Ones.
Leaving aside the power they could exert against the endless tide of insects, the number of Ghost Treasures they possessed was absolutely beyond comparison with Base One.
For a survivor, although it was dangerous at the onset of the insect tide, acquiring combat strength was quite straightforward.
One needed only to find a beetle, and with the aid of Ghost Nerve, they could quickly gain formidable power. Once they received a Ghost Treasure, their combat effectiveness would skyrocket.
Thus, although Base Two started with over a million fewer people than Base One, the number of survivors that remained was higher, totaling a full half a million. However, they were faced with a far more terrifying insect tide.
Three hundred thousand black beetles, with the number of Emperor-level beetles alone reaching one thousand five hundred.
The eradication of the beetles at Base One and the subsequent absorption of the beetles to increase their ranks took only a few minutes.
But within these few minutes, Base Two had already suffered over fifty thousand casualties. Had it not been for the beetles prioritizing the consumption of corpses, giving them time, the death toll could have been much higher.
"Those with Imperial-level strength and above, hold the line! Based on past experiences, one hour — we just need to withstand for one hour and these beetles will retreat!" Henry cleaved several black beetles with a single stroke, bellowing until he was hoarse.
Yet, with 20% of the members lost in just four minutes, how could they possibly endure for an hour?
Despair was evident on everyone’s faces, as if they had already seen the shadow of death descending.
"Thorneblade! Save us!"
"Damn it, why is this insect tide so horrific!"
"I’ll kill you, you damned bugs!"
In the crowd, some called out in hope, wishing for Sofia to descend like a deity and save them as before.
Some screamed in terror, forgetting to resist and being overwhelmed by the swarm, while others hysterically charged at the insects.
Despair spread like a plague among the people.
"Reinforcements! Reinforcements have come!"
Suddenly, someone shouted in utmost joy.
All the survivors instantly looked toward the teleportation stone at their rear.
"It’s Lucy! Lucy from Base One!"
"But why so few? Has Base One been completely overrun? Are they the only ones who escaped?"
Seeing that the incoming group numbered only around ten thousand, everyone’s faces fell into disappointment.
To give hope and then shatter it — that was the ultimate despair.
"We can’t afford to think too much now, Lucy, hurry and join the fight! Let’s drive the beetles back together and retreat towards the other survivors’ bases!" Henry didn’t even bother to look back as he shouted loudly.
"Retreat? Why should we retreat?" A very familiar voice rang out, revitalizing Henry’s spirit. He didn’t even care about the beetles in front of him as he turned to look.
Indeed, it was him, that unforgettable figure, Tommy DeVito from the Fierce Ghost Association!
Thud!
A brick slipped from Alexander’s hand and flew out, smashing the black beetles in front of Henry away, as he ordered loudly:
"Brothers, pick up bricks, and shoulder to shoulder!"
Pick up bricks? Shoulder to shoulder?
Why did it feel like the aura of a street brawl?
Tommy DeVito from the Fierce Ghost Association—it made sense for him to say this given his background.
But what was the situation now? Was this a time for jokes?
Henry was numb, but he quickly realized that Alexander wasn’t joking.
Indeed, it was time to use bricks!
In the next moment, each of the ten thousand survivors skillfully took out a brick and slapped it towards the swarm of beetles.
It really was bricks!
But these were all Ghost Treasure bricks—wasn’t that a bit too extravagant? Wasn’t this emptying out the entirety of the Fierce Ghost Association’s arsenal?
Ten thousand bricks thrown, and the momentum of the beetles was significantly weakened in an instant.
Then, without waiting for everyone to recover from their shock, Alexander swung his hand fiercely, and a deluge of bricks rained down from the sky, as that familiar roar sounded once again:
"Brothers, grab the bricks! Shoulder to shoulder!"
Henry was stunned for a few seconds before coming to his senses. Casting aside any pretense of his general’s status, he picked up a brick from the ground and shouted:
"Don’t just stand there, use the bricks, stand with Tommy DeVito shoulder to shoulder!"
Tommy DeVito! The strongest Chosen One, Alexander!
With that title called out, everyone snapped out of their daze as if awakening from a dream.
Of course, this wasn’t a time to be starstruck, as everyone grabbed bricks from the ground and started swinging.
Nearly five hundred thousand people grabbed bricks at the same time, their combat power instantly skyrocketing by several times, and more importantly, they no longer had to face the black beetles’ terrifying fangs that could almost ignore any defense.
The tide of the battle turned in an instant!
Just like a replay of what happened at Base One, faced with the endless rain of bricks, the beetles were utterly confused and smashed to death.
Soon, the black beetles of Base Two were all dealt with as well.
This incident had occurred so suddenly that even with the acquisition of bricks, there were casualties unlike at Base One.
However, there were a few thousand more corpses of survivors. Although Alexander felt regret, he knew it was already quite fortunate.
Without needing Alexander to say much, once the fight was over, the people he brought immediately started organizing the survivors to clean up the battlefield, absorb the beetles, and sign contracts.
Even after all the beetles were absorbed, there was still nearly half who hadn’t managed to sign contracts in time. But rescuing people was as urgent as putting out a fire, and there was no time to attend to these matters.
Immediately, squads were organized and teleported towards the other survivors’ bases.
Still in teams of ten thousand, this was the only way to rescue the other bases as quickly as possible. Even if they encountered tough enemies, these teams of ten thousand could at least buy some time, waiting for reinforcements.
The subsequent rescues were just like the previous two, one survivors’ base after another was saved, and the number of rescue teams grew exponentially like a rolling snowball.
The number of survivor bases on Earth was too many, reaching a total of ten thousand. Even though many had been wiped out, there were still over nine thousand remaining.
Therefore, even with Alexander’s fastest rescue efforts, there were still over a thousand survivor bases that could not be reached in time.
When the final count of survivors was tallied, of the ten thousand survivor bases that existed at the onset of the beetle surge, with over four billion survivors, only a little over one hundred million people were left alive.
The survival rate was one in forty, and this was only because the survivors who lived were those who already possessed some combat ability.
The second survivor base, the most expansive of them all, now regrouped into an army of one hundred million with bricks, each person looking up in silence at Alexander high in the sky. In this moment, they were all Alexander’s mercenaries.
One hundred million mercenaries, already accustomed to life and death, harboring deep-seated hatred in their bones for the Mist world, for the black beetle tide, and even for the entire Horror World.