Chapter 339

Chapter 339: New Tactics

Fulan wanted to shrug her shoulders to indicate that she had no obligation to follow the other’s command, but as a cat, the gesture was quite challenging. Moreover, Ink Drench’s attention seemed to be elsewhere.

As the beast tide drew closer, the group’s brief moment of levity faded, and they began to steady their breaths, preparing for the battle ahead.

—

High above, a fierce aerial battle raged. A rain of crimson fire fell from the sky, forcing Lin Qingliu, the unfortunate soul who had forgotten his umbrella, to dart around in desperation.

At that moment, he was still buying time for Hope City, knowing that as long as the two Fifth Level extraordinary beasts had not arrived, the city could hold its ground.

However, as the flames subsided, Lin Qingliu peered through the shimmering heatwaves and noticed that one of the extraordinary beasts that had been relentlessly pursuing him was gone.

The earlier firestorm had kept him occupied, and only now did he realize that the cunning Horned Demon had vanished, leaving only the feathered serpent, ablaze like a fiery dragon, to continue stalling him.

Seeing this, Lin Qingliu couldn’t help but feel as though he had been outmaneuvered.

The enemy had likely seen through his ploy, no longer driven by emotion but instead seizing the initiative, leaving one extraordinary beast to delay him while the other moved on.

As for the Horned Demon, renowned for its physical prowess, it had already raced toward the frontlines. Lin Qingliu could even spot it as a tiny black dot on the horizon.

Though Lin Qingliu was surprised that the mycelium had unraveled his ruse, he estimated that Hope City must be nearly ready by now.

The prelude to the battle was over; it was time for the main event.

Lin Qingliu glanced at the feathered serpent, its grotesque form gathering energy for another fiery assault. He flashed it an international gesture of goodwill before dissolving into mist and vanishing.

True to form, the feathered serpent hesitated for only a moment before locking onto Lin Qingliu’s rapidly moving figure, now stealthily pursuing the Horned Demon.

When two opponents are evenly matched, all the flashy techniques pale in comparison to a straightforward punch.

And now, the feathered serpent seemed intent on delivering several such punches—each one wreathed in flames.

From their earlier encounters, Lin Qingliu had learned that the Horned Demon possessed extraordinary physical strength, aided by its powerful wings and streamlined body, enabling it to outpace his reactions.

Now, as he felt the distance between them slowly closing, Lin Qingliu gained a visceral understanding of that raw power.

In the span of a single breath, their positions shifted from one fleeing and two pursuing to a formation resembling an Oreo cookie, with one human and two beasts hurtling toward Hope City.

—

Hope City, West Side.

The defense against the beast tide had begun.

Though this time there were no conspicuously red-painted extraordinary beasts to serve as targets, the sheer number of enemies was so overwhelming that even blind gunners would have found it hard to miss.

For today’s gunners, this wave of beast tide should have been a straightforward, almost effortless task.

Yet not a single one of them wore a smile.

The soldiers manning the heavy weapons were seasoned veterans of the city defense army, each having endured at least twenty or thirty beast tides.

Even the most experienced among them had never witnessed a scenario like today’s, where the extraordinary beasts were so densely packed that aiming was unnecessary.

In the command room, a soldier tasked with wartime observation delivered his report.

Since the start of the New Era in year 52, the Second Level extraordinary beasts and the First Level extraordinary beasts within the beast tide had adopted a new strategy.

The insect-like extraordinary beasts would drive their sharp limbs into the bodies of the First Level extraordinary beasts, using them as living shields to approach the city walls before scaling them to breach the defenses.

After enduring months of relentless assaults, the military of Hope City had learned to counter this tactic.

In addition to calling for reinforcements from superpowered individuals, the city defense army had constructed more advantageous fortifications along the walls, and new weapons were being tested and deployed.

But the soldier reporting had noticed something unusual about today’s beast tide—

The insect-like extraordinary beasts were charging forward recklessly, displaying none of their usual cunning in hiding and waiting for the opportune moment.

Even more peculiar, the First Level extraordinary beasts, typically used as expendable cannon fodder, were not leading the charge. Instead, they lagged behind, as if the insects had denied them the chance to advance.

As the beast tide closed in on the city walls, the soldier’s report became unnecessary; the strategists and officers in the room had already grasped the anomaly.

Though the reason for this behavior remained unclear, the information was swiftly relayed to the frontline soldiers to prepare them mentally.

The first wave of the beast tide crashed against the base of Hope City’s towering walls.

Faced with the imposing barrier, the insect-like extraordinary beasts, once renowned as Climbing Experts, made no attempt to scale it. Instead, they drove their powerful limbs into the ground.

The soldiers on the walls braced for impact, but the first-tier beasts showed no inclination to climb. They simply anchored themselves, their bodies resembling grotesque statues.

These insects bore a striking resemblance to their distant ancestors, some with clearly defined heads, thoraxes, and abdomens, while others looked like overturned black cauldrons.

They appeared lifeless, allowing the extraordinary beasts behind them to trample over their bodies.

The following insect-like extraordinary beasts, climbing over their fallen comrades, did not continue upward but instead anchored themselves to the carcasses beneath them.

Fluids of gray, white, and dark green splattered across the ground beneath the walls.

Countless insect-like extraordinary beasts perished before the battle even began.

Of course, as creatures long controlled by the will of the mycelium, they had no sense of self to lose.

In the grand scheme of the Mycelium Ecology, this was hardly significant.

Cameras positioned near the walls swiveled and focused, capturing the extraordinary beasts’ actions within moments and relaying them to the command center.

The faces of those responsible for tactical planning turned grim with realization.

They understood all too well what this meant: the intelligence of the extraordinary beasts had evolved once more.