Chapter 454

Lin Xian hadn't expected to be suddenly drawn into a clash with aberrant monsters; now, besides the immediate situation, he began worrying about the other squads.

"So many—what do we do?" Kiki yanked Shi Zhi to her side, then turned to stand back-to-back with Lin Xian, her voice sharp as she asked.

"Finish them all before the island sinks!" Lin Xian declared decisively; his gaze swept rapidly across the battlefield via the power armor's radar system, and he instantly regretted not bringing Huo Ge—this scene was teeming with aberrant waves, but preliminary scans showed no signs of S-class entities yet. He glanced at the shadow in the sky and the colossal beast surging from the seabed, then spoke to Ryan:

"Ryan, everyone attack together."

"Got it!"

Ryan responded instantly. The strange entities within the abyssal vortex had already burst from the water; various aberrations rapidly climbed onto the island, opening their grotesque mouths lined with tendrils, roaring and howling—the monstrous, dissonant syllables hammered against everyone's eardrums.

"Attack!"

At Lin Xian's command, everyone struck at once. Lin Xian, Kiki, Ryan, Vanessa, Erica, Azir, and Gedi each launched full-force assaults on the three largest aberrations visible in their respective directions, aiming to end the battle swiftly before the crisis snowballed.

Boom! Boom!

The moment Ryan's team unleashed their lattice energy, they became targets for the aberrations that had reached shore—but no one hesitated; they immediately prioritized eliminating the largest Special-class threats. Ryan's other subordinates had already formed ranks, and the roar of gunfire and artillery erupted as they cleared the insect swarms surging from the sea.

"Gedi, Azir—watch out!" Just as a freezing jet froze a blade-worm emerging from the ground, Ryan suddenly noticed the clouds Azir had shattered were once again engulfed by storm clouds. Beneath a colossal shadow blotting out the sky, streaks of crimson light were coalescing—another Special-class atmospheric entity!

"Erica, counter-shock ray."

"Understood!"

Almost the instant the laser beam descended, Erica shot skyward, her psychic energy shield already reforming before her.

In the reef zone, a deep-sea worm gradually revealed its true form—its grotesque mouthpart, alone, stretched nearly a hundred meters long, towering into the clouds.

Farther out, several mountain-like shapes within the clouds began trembling slightly; at the same moment, several islands on the sea surface started moving. Without doubt, these aberrations were targeting Lin Xian and his team—their Level 4 markers made them shine like beacons in endless darkness.

On Lin Xian's side, thousands of drones swarmed the sky, precisely hunting dense insect swarms. He and Kiki cut through a tide of aberrations, heading straight for a colossal aquatic monster that had surfaced, resembling a dead infant.

"Don't hold back—end this fast!"

Zzzt!

A Zhendangdianhu instantly obliterated a cluster of sea insects. Lin Xian shot through the air, raised his Xuanwu right arm, and slashed downward with a single sword strike. Kiki simultaneously unleashed a psychic wave that detonated a thousand-meter shockwave, indenting and exploding the sea surface; countless VK electric knives surged forward in a high-speed torrent, shredding everything in their path. Together, their combined assault tore the unknown A-class or Special-class monster into bloody shreds before it could even retaliate, staining the sea crimson.

After swiftly eliminating it, Lin Xian turned his gaze to Ryan's side. The entire Falcon Sea Team's elite had acted with brutal efficiency—but the constant emergence of aberrations from the sea meant their markers remained stubbornly active.

Lin Xian now saw the darkness marker density drop from Level 4 to Level 2, yet as his drones and Kiki continued slaughtering, the markers kept fluctuating between Level 1 and 2—his expression darkened further.

"This won't work. Too many monsters are gathering around Haiyan Island—we can't create any openings."

"As long as we have markers, we can't kill them all," Kiki said, her voice growing anxious.

Lin Xian scanned the churning sea around him. The storm intensified; the sky turned heavy and dark, violent waves crashed against the shore, and countless whirlpools began rising across the surrounding waters—clear signs the situation was worsening.

On the other side, Ryan's team was firing at full capacity; the entire beach was now covered in the corpses of aberrations—but as more creatures kept surging from the shore, Ryan's face turned grim. He spoke into his earpiece:

"Azir, Gedi—block the coastline together."

Boom!

A Black Void Cannon blasted a massive trench along hundreds of meters of shore; seawater mixed with sand and gravel erupted skyward and shattered. Gedi punched through a large aberration, then landed precisely, his tone grave as he replied:

"Calculated it—we can't cover this entire area!"

Boom!

Azir fired another massive cannon blast, cursing: "Fuck, no way! If we keep this up and draw out an S-class or that Uni-1, we're all dead!"

"There are too many monsters clustered around Haiyan Island—it's impossible to clear this Haiyu in a short time," Vanessa, fighting alongside Erica in the high air, suggested: "Ryan, Lin, I recommend we withdraw from this Haiyu."

"Withdraw?"

"She means we retreat away from this storm. It's still daytime—if we can leave this Haiyu while our markers are still Level 1, we might get some breathing room."

Gedi added: "After we withdraw, we can go into Haiyan City and actively hunt weaker aberrations to erase our markers!"

"Good idea!" Ryan responded immediately, shouting toward Lin Xian:

"Lin, we have to delay the energy drain plan—we should get out of here before bigger monsters show up!"

"That's a decent plan."

Kiki nodded in agreement, but her gaze turned to Lin Xian beside her: "Lin Xian, what do you think?"

"It won't work."

Hearing the plan, Lin Xian declared decisively: "Level 1 is still a marker. Within this range, we're all 'exposed' to aberrations. Haiyan Island is surrounded by them; Chaos Island lies far southeast, already on the fringe, far from the main island—it might even be the area with the least aberrations. If we run toward the main island or any other direction while carrying a Level 1 marker, we'll make Haiyan Island explode into total chaos. That's the worst possible move!"

Having fought the Dark for years, Lin Xian long understood one truth: never rely on luck in a crisis—especially when marked by the Dark. Running elsewhere and hoping monsters abandon pursuit might make sense elsewhere, but this place had become a gathering party for every aberration in the surrounding Haiyu. Fleeing here was like diving into a swarm of bees while clutching a jar of honey.

Hearing Lin Xian's words, Ryan frowned. As leader of a sea team, he knew Lin Xian's analysis was sound—but the situation was now dire, collapsing like a landslide, and no better option remained.

"It won't work? Then what do you suggest?!" Erica immediately retorted after Lin Xian rejected Vanessa's plan: "Lin, do you have a better idea?"

For these sea team members, erasing their markers was now impossible. Vanessa's suggestion, though risky, still offered a sliver of hope—so they all felt frustrated, eager to hear what the Phoenix Society's "Sword-Bearer" had to offer.

"Of course I do!"

The moment Erica finished speaking, Lin Xian's voice rang out across everyone's comm channels.

"The solution is—finish them all now, before the bigger monsters arrive!"

Flying through the air, Lin Xian gazed toward the storm in the distance. A colossal black floating island, like a sea marvel, was drawing nearer. Beneath the abyssal cliff, the giant vortex was rising relentlessly—he already had his plan.

"You…"

"Erica," Ryan cut in, his eyes fixed on Lin Xian's direction as he called out loudly: "Lin, what's your plan?"

Boom!

At that moment, all of Lin Xian's power armor thrusters fired at full capacity—he shattered the sound barrier and shot skyward toward the ocean surface. Simultaneously, his voice echoed through the comms:

"Everyone marked—converge on the vortex above the sea."

Hearing this, Ryan's expression flickered with complexity. He took a deep breath without hesitation and ordered firmly: "Follow Lin's lead—move out!"

Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt! Instantly, dozens of Ryan's marked team members activated their power armor, soared through the air, pierced through layers of insect swarms, and converged above the distant vortex. Meanwhile, the dense aberrations swarming from all directions followed the dark markers like a tide—creating a scene both magnificent and terrifying.