Chapter 57

In late April 2057, the war between humans and monsters resumed.

Within just one week, seven independent war bases fell, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers were all killed.

Moreover, the monsters' organized offensive quickly became three main battlefields on the Afro-Asian continent, and more than half of the war bases on two external satellites fell.

Among the three cities, Haishen Weituoke, the most severely affected, had already entered full-scale street fighting; if not for the timely arrival of Dragon Gate's reinforcements, Haishen Weituoke would very likely have already fallen.

The monsters' first wave of fierce attacks lasted over a month, and amid the humans' timely response it gradually waned; all scattered offensives then converged onto a single main battlefield.

The Luo'er Banjia battlefield gathered the largest number of martial artists, was also the battlefield most lacking in frontline technological weapons, and was the battlefield where external defense bases were breached the fastest.

India had long enjoyed an advantage in martial artist numbers after the Great Nirvana; after the World Tree emerged and the faith was taken over by Chén Chén's subterfuge, the number of basic martial artists began to increase explosively.

But even so, compared to the beast tide army, it was still insufficient.

In this beast tide, even junior beast-commander-level monsters could be used as cannon fodder, and only intermediate beast commanders could barely be considered a 'leader'.

Moreover, killing an intermediate beast commander in the horde was no longer as easy as before; not to mention intermediate war commanders, even an ordinary War God, if caught in a siege, could possibly be worn to death.

Thus Luo'er Banjia fell into a huge crisis immediately, but fortunately the city itself was not directly on the coast, so massive numbers of low-tier sea beasts could not play a major role in the war.

After the reinforcements led by Cang Yue Er arrived, the situation in Luo'er Banjia temporarily stabilized; the beast horde, led by several King-level monsters, took the Nile River as its base and temporarily formed a standoff.

Next is the Yungui Base City within China, the only one of the three battlefields without large numbers of sea beasts, yet still locked in a bitter struggle.

The land monsters bred in the hilly terrain exist in large numbers in the Yungui Plateau region, and humanity's longstanding response capability has also been quite limited.

Land monsters are not pushovers either; besides the many flying and burrowing monsters that cause headaches, many monsters also employ toxin or corrosion attacks that are impossible to guard against.

Fortunately, the terrain of the Yungui region is not only advantageous to monsters, but also extremely conducive to the Nature Spirit.

After the renowned planetary-level expert Taibai of the World Tree brought reinforcements and arrived, the situation was instantly reversed, and the already collapsing outer defense line was held.

Lastly came Haishen Weituoke; the party led by Wang Hou, which could not be called timely, only arrived when the city was about to fall.

Originally ranked fourth on the Black Dragon List, Wang Hou had broken through to planetary level via Longchang martial arts half a month earlier, and arrived together with Chang Wei, the World Tree's newly emerged representative who had also recently broken through.

Unfortunately, even though the reinforcements included two planetary-level experts, numerous veteran War Gods, and a mothership capable of providing massive vitality support, they could not change the fact that Haishen Weituoke's outer defenses had already been breached.

A defensive line includes an underground iron-wall network, anti-air firepower points, and forward-facing wall facilities.

Haishen Weituoke is truly a coastal city; although after the Great Nirvana it abandoned its port and coastline, it cannot change the fact that it lies near the ocean.

Relying on the massive waves, the area east of the defensive line has become an endless ocean; monsters continuously pour into the city, and in the outer city alleys where neither side holds an advantage, a protracted war of attrition has begun.

Such a combat environment is not unfamiliar to martial artists, for most of the time hunting in the wild is exactly like this.

But this time the monsters are denser; moreover, their mutual support and coordination are more synchronized, so once a War God‑level martial artist lingers too long in an area killing, they will immediately be besieged and fiercely attacked by large numbers of beasts, since the number of War Gods killed in this way has already reached double digits.

The monsters' offensive is relentless, but after a week, as other regions outside the three major battlefields gradually stabilized, many human martial artists also arrived to reinforce Haishen Weituoke.

After catching their breath, governments of various countries were also frightened; within just one week, humans had lost dozens of War Gods, over a thousand martial artists, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary soldiers.

In any of the three major battlefields, without the World Tree's immediate support, they would likely have fallen; the casualty count would have been even higher were it not for the Nature Spirits distributed abroad silently protecting.

Although the monsters' offensive is concentrated in the three major

Merely the opening battle, the power displayed by the monsters already fills people with dread; one cannot imagine what the situation would be like without the World Tree.

Unlike the tense situation in Asia, the originally barren African coastal regions had long lost any land; the gathered strength, plus the mutual support of cities already stationed in Africa, made the response comparatively easiest.

Finally, the two countries that had withdrawn from the War God Palace and the Human Alliance in action.

As no one expected, this worldwide beast‑tide uprising did not affect those two countries at all.

Moreover, the density of high‑level monsters in the regions of those two countries is continually decreasing; looking at the real‑time strategic map, the red dots around their borders keep dwindling, as if those two countries had won a battle.

The situation is clear; all other countries worldwide are cursing profusely, whether in the martial world or among ordinary people, even the citizens of those two countries themselves.

The ruling bloc headed by the three chancellors and the great families is being scolded bloody, and many martial artists or soldiers have voluntarily rushed to the battlefield.

But the higher-ups who made these decisions have instead fallen into a prolonged state of playing dead.

On the human side, the war that allowed no negligence barely caught its breath, and finally they held another emergency discussion.

The sudden war caught everyone off guard; in just one week the number of deaths already exceeded that of the past year.

And it was only because it came suddenly; in fact, the war-preparation information provided by the World Tree was quite timely, and all places made preparations at the first opportunity, but it is precisely this that truly makes people feel uneasy.

Because the monsters' strength far exceeded everyone's expectations.

Not only did the monsters' overall strength and number leave people breathless, but their terrifying organizational power also caused alarm.

The monsters' total number has always far surpassed that of humans, whether during the Great Nirvana or after it ended.

The reason humanity was able to survive the Great Nirvana and achieve a certain balance with the monsters is ultimately because the monsters' interior was not united.

Many predator-prey species that have hunted each other for tens of millions of years harbor a hatred toward each other that is thousands, even tens of thousands of times greater than that of humans.

Sea monsters and land monsters, due to different survival conditions, also have considerable differences in their demands.

Different monster kings' swords also have their own interests.

Although the monster race is vast, it comprises many sub-species; not all groups are willing to strive against humanity, nor are all monsters willing to sacrifice themselves to exterminate humanity.

At least, according to the experience from the Great Nirvana, this is the case.

But this time, monsters around the world almost simultaneously launched their assault; whether organizational power, coordination, or their fearless determination, all far exceeded expectations.

This is what is most alarming: the monsters' growth is not only in their overt combat strength, but also in wisdom, and in a kind of cohesion called civilization.

……

The deep sea.

Whether before or after the Great Nirvana, humanity has never explored or witnessed the scenery of the ocean depths.

The deeper the sea, the colder it is, the thinner the air, with no sunlight; in the deep-sea abyss that many king-level monsters struggle to reach, at the bottom of the abyss, more than a dozen emperor-level monsters, beyond human imagination, have gathered here.

Emperor-level monsters vary in size; the largest is already over a thousand meters tall, while the smallest is only one-tenth that; and in the center, surrounded by all the emperor-level monsters, like a moon drowned in the deep sea, it is cold and beautiful, without temperature, yet radiating brilliant light.

Upon closer look, it is a giant bird with ice-blue wings, like a phoenix from myth, except that its entire body is covered in ice-blue feathers, and just looking at it feels as cold as being pierced by icy cold.

"As expected, humanity's power has already exceeded expectations; if it weren't for the Venerable Lord, we would probably already be doomed to destruction."

The kilometer‑sized squid emperor "Kleup" emitted a sharp sound, and what it said was actually a unique language.

Immediately after, the earth dragon king Guraldo also spat out the same language.

This world always favors humanity so much; if it weren't for the World Tree, this battle would have no suspense.

You can't say that; humanity cannot exist without the World Tree, just as we cannot exist without the Honored Lord. I believe the Honored Lord will surely lead us to ultimate victory.

The Salted Fish Emperor is the most enlightened, following the big brother.

And at the center, surrounded by the beast emperors, the Honored Lord spoken of by the crowd is not the Phoenix Emperor, but a mass of dark shadow standing atop the Phoenix King's back.

The dark shadow reveals no form, has no limbs or appearance; its black color seems not merely the absence of light, but a pure 'darkness,' the opposite of light.

Beside them, the smallest in stature, the Dark Crow Emperor began reporting the battle situation.

In this drill, Beast Soldier-rank losses were 7.4 million, Junior Beast Commander 1.6 million, Intermediate Beast Commander 650,000, Senior Beast Commander 250,000, Lords 54,000, of which High Lords over 3,000, and King-rank fatalities totaled three.

Successfully breaking through to Lord-rank were 45,000 Senior Beast Commanders, and breaking through to King-rank were six.

If any human heard this news they'd surely drop their jaw; the monsters, relying on their numerical advantage, launched a fierce assault, and their high-end combat power not only did not decrease, but actually increased at a slow pace.

After the Dark Crow King finished reporting, all the beast emperors silently awaited the Honored Lord's reply.

That tone of voice, like a beam of light, made all the beast emperors present feel chilled and suppressed; it is a majesty that cannot be described in words.

"Survival of the fittest, the strong prevail over the weak—this is the law of survival in this world, and also the law we must follow."

"The weak will become nourishment for the strong, and will be the stepping stones for our continual advance."

"However, everyone, please remember this: we are both rivals and kin; we will grow stronger through sacrifice, but we must not extend our claws toward companions for profit."

This is likewise a heaven-shaking piece of news, a pity that no human present can hear it.

"Yes."

The crowd responded with different calls; in that language unique to the beast race, these are the most respectful affirmations—not just in words, not merely out of coercion, but from the heart's obedience and respect.

"I'm very pleased that you could give me such an answer; I hope that if one day I am gone, you can still be like this today."

"Do you understand?"

Although this voice was majestic, somehow it also gained a hint of warmth.

All the beast emperors were silent.

"Erhem, how could the Honored Lord big brother possibly not be here? Hahaha, if it really came to that… I would definitely contribute my share first."

The first to express his stance was the Earth Dragon Emperor, named Guladun, and he is currently the only Earth-type Beast Emperor.

"As long as the big brother is still here, our beast race will never perish."

In other words, if the Honored Lord truly did not exist, all the power now gathered would disintegrate on many levels.

"Right, right."

The Salted Fish Emperor then gave his second statement; that stinky ground rat, throwing shade—no need to elaborate, after all, among those present only I have a grudge against it. If the Honored Lord truly were absent that day, the first to fall out would definitely be me and the 'stinky ground rat'.

The other beast emperors meant the same.

If truly faced with a situation the Honored Lord cannot handle, then the other beast emperors naturally could not resolve it either; it would be better to entrust one's share of power to the king everyone agrees upon.

The existence called the Honored Lord seemed to sigh.

"Everyone, after this, for a period of time you won't see me; before the war ends, humanity's strongest will not appear again; this war concerning survival is now entrusted to you."

This time it is an order.

"Yes!"

……

After the beast emperors withdrew, only the Phoenix King remained, and the existence everyone calls the Honored Lord.

"You're not leaving?"

Little Phoenix pitifully shook its head.

"Hahaha, you and she are quite alike."

"Since that's the case, I'll take you to meet them."

"Originally this meeting should have been after a year, but if we truly follow his plan, this would be utterly unremarkable."

"Your expression should still be quite surprised, right."

"Chén Chén."