togophonebook #322 - Best place for practice
#322 - Best place for practice
Several hours later;
A battle report was transmitted to every corner of human society.
[Nineteen King Beasts besieged Fortress 76 in the D5 Integrated War Zone's Ancient Basin. Black Storm fought valiantly to protect human civilization and died in battle.]
Accompanying this battle report were several combat videos.
— Videos carefully selected and edited by the D5 Integrated War Zone.
The first video directly showcased the overwhelming pressure of the Blade Beasts besieging the fortress.
First, a bird's-eye view:
A terrifying behemoth swam through the sand sea, the bamboo-like exoskeleton on its back gleaming black, enduring the bombardment of artillery shells, rocket launchers, and missiles from all directions, its body only marked with slight charring.
Then, a radar image flashed by, revealing dense red dots behind the behemoth, the Blade Beast horde it commanded.
After that, the camera began to pan upward, simultaneously capturing fifteen King-level Blade Beasts swimming through the sand.
A holographic map of the entire human front flashed by, with raging flames burning everywhere.
Background audio appeared, Wang Jixuan's declaration of war against the Blade Beasts—with the swear words removed.
A red circle appeared in the center of the screen.
The camera zoomed in, revealing a figure within the red circle, clad in full-coverage armor, silently floating in the air, holding a long spear that crackled with lightning.
A line of notes appeared in the corner of the screen:
[Black Storm possesses a power unattainable by ordinary Espers and Spiritual Cultivators.]
The camera continued to zoom in, eventually focusing on the top of Black Storm's head.
Black Storm suddenly moved.
Holding the long spear, he charged forward without hesitation, like a meteor streaking across the sky, towards one of the behemoths.
Human firepower erupted in full force!
The scene suddenly switched to the left, where a precious super-large mecha had begun its offensive against a King-level Blade Beast!
Tiny starlight flickered continuously in the sky, and the entire battlefield was covered in flames!
The scene shifted again, the super-large mecha's ultra-powerful plasma cannon burning through the back of a behemoth;
Accompanied by the behemoth's roar of rage, more than half of the behemoths turned to besiege the super-large mecha!
A large number of high-level Blade Beasts began to emerge on the surface;
Human firepower poured in from all directions;
A large group of mechas and high-level mechanical combat units appeared on the periphery of the battlefield, engaging in a fierce battle with the Blade Beast horde.
Fu Jian, piloting the super-large mecha, directly faced several behemoths;
The Commander-in-Chief was obviously handling the situation with ease and could still pose a significant threat to the King-level Blade Beasts;
Even, facing the human super-large mecha, the King-level Blade Beasts were forced to display coordinated attack tactics that they had never revealed before.
The war was incredibly intense from the very beginning.
All of this was publicly displayed from a high-definition satellite camera perspective.
Today's protagonist was Black Storm;
Therefore, the person with the most camera time in the video was naturally Black Storm.
Black Storm flew with his sword, fighting three King-level Blade Beasts single-handedly, darting back and forth in the air, dodging numerous mental impacts and spirit energy beams fired from all directions.
Each King-level Blade Beast had its own unique attack method, with those adept at burrowing underground being noticeably weaker in other aspects.
Yet, this still put Black Storm in constant danger.
Black Storm's attack method in this battle was also relatively simple. To conserve his own mana, he no longer released broad, sweeping area-of-effect spells. He relied solely on the long spear in his hand and the flying sword under his feet, approaching the Blade Beasts, cutting a path, and then drilling into them to launch a strong attack from within.
The three King-level Blade Beasts, facing a 'tiny' human, were unable to exert most of their destructive power, and were actually constrained everywhere for a time.
The screen began to fast forward;
Whenever the screen returned to normal speed, it was either when a King Beast suffered a calamity or when the allied super-large mecha was impacted.
For example, the super-large mecha tore open the entire back of a King Beast, only to be knocked back continuously by another King Beast;
For example, Black Storm threw a nuclear bomb inside a King Beast's body and retreated like lightning. After the nuclear bomb detonated, cracks burst out all over the King-level Blade Beast, and spirit energy constantly evaporated. It was seriously injured and collapsed, but its injuries were rapidly recovering.
The other King-level Blade Beasts dared not let Black Storm get close again and began to release spirit energy blasts non-stop.
The screen gradually zoomed out again, eventually focusing on the entire battlefield from above.
Terrifying behemoths, tiny humans, fighting mechas.
The fighting between the two sides became increasingly fierce;
The first video, however, ended abruptly with a sudden freeze.
The official explanation given by D5 for the video ending here was that satellite photography had been interfered with.
In reality, the real reason was that Spiritual Cultivator Five had joined the battle with several high-level spirit slaves she had temporarily awakened.
Wang Jixuan's plan was arranged this way.
In the first stage, four King-level Blade Beasts were to be broken through using the conventional power of Fortress 76.
In the second stage, fifteen King-level Blade Beasts would be fought to the death, creating the illusion of exhaustion, and Spiritual Cultivator Five would seize the opportunity to kill or wound as many of these King-level Blade Beasts as possible.
Due to some political factors;
And D5's attitude towards Espers and Spiritual Cultivators;
Combat footage involving Spiritual Cultivators and Espers was all buried.
Therefore, this combat recording was directly cut, and split into several videos for dissemination.
When the heads of various command centers ordered the second video to be opened, the war was already nearing its end.
The Spiritual Cultivator had already withdrawn at this time.
The setting sun resembled blood.
Large areas of the desert were covered with the remains of Blade Beasts and the parts of mechanical bodies;
The sand was soaked with emerald green beast blood;
The fortress in the distance was bathed in the setting sun, foreshadowing its impending fate.
A large number of Blade Beasts were emerging from underground, countless, endless, and impossible to calculate, constantly chasing the mecha units in the distance.
These were the Blade Beast reinforcements emerging from the underground tunnels.
Forced by the pressure of the Blade Beast tide, the human side had begun to retreat.
The super-large mecha, with one arm severed and riddled with impact craters, was now unable to continue fighting, retreating under the cover of a large number of mechas.
The results of the human side's battle, at this moment, should be quite amazing.
Twelve King-level Blade Beasts were either seriously injured and unable to move, or had their bodies torn apart directly by the super-large mecha.
The 'meteorite craters' in the desert, the extent of the super-large mecha's damage, and the deaths of those King-level Blade Beasts all revealed the difficulty of this war.
Three King-level Blade Beasts, covered in wounds, were still able to move.
The Blade Beast tide quickly surrounded them, and human fire support had become somewhat sporadic.
That figure;
When the human mecha forces were defeated, that figure still did not retreat.
Black Storm leaned on his long spear, kneeling on one knee on a sand dune covered with Blade Beast corpses, his whole body covered in dark green blood, the vertical pupil on his forehead constantly flashing light.
A note about the vertical pupil appeared next to the video.
[Blade Beast Mark, the location of the marked person will be constantly exposed to the Blade Beast horde].
This seemed to be explaining to people why Black Storm did not retreat in time.
He was marked, he could not leave.
— This reason was actually a bit far-fetched, but the tragic atmosphere in the video had already been rendered.
Not many people would care why the human side did not desperately protect Black Storm's retreat.
"Goo."
The King-level Blade Beast seemed to be releasing some kind of communication signal.
Black Storm leaned on his long spear, staggered to his feet, still without any retreat.
He suddenly threw down a few Blade Beast crystal cores, and his figure charged forward again, leaping up without hesitation. He threw the broken section of the long spear in his hand with all his might, and hugged a flashing square box.
A King-level Blade Beast immediately retreated, its huge, blade-like legs exhibiting powerful strength, and its two-hundred-meter-long body leaped back.
Black Storm threw the square box in his hand far away.
Suddenly, a green beam of light flashed by;
That was violent spirit energy, released from a King-level Blade Beast's mouthparts;
Black Storm's figure was covered by the beam of light, the armor on his body constantly shattering, and his mechanical arm and mechanical leg also collapsed in this beam of light.
A tattered corpse fell from the sky a few seconds later.
The three King-level Blade Beasts still did not give up, and the second spirit energy beam was released again.
Strands of black gas emerged from this corpse, condensing into a phantom;
This phantom flew backward, narrowly avoiding the impact of the beam of light.
The phantom looked up and saw the lingering vertical pupil. He smiled miserably, and suddenly turned and rushed towards the fortress in the distance.
The three King-level Blade Beasts that could still move here, plus the countless Blade Beast horde, swarmed towards Fortress 76.
Fortress 76 activated a powerful light barrier, blocking all the Blade Beasts attacking from the surface and underground.
The firepower stored by humans inside this fortress began to pour out;
Three King-level Blade Beasts sank into the shallow surface and crashed into the fortress again.
A giant sword was condensed out of thin air, and suddenly slashed towards a behemoth charging towards the fortress;
The behemoth did not expect that Black Storm's side still had this kind of method. It was unable to dodge and was hit by the giant sword, and its huge body staggered, and the spirit energy covering its body almost collapsed.
The war entered the third stage, the second Blade Beast siege.
The screen showed the empty command center on the third floor;
— This was a series of pictures taken by monitoring equipment.
The phantom condensed from black gas had now returned to the body of a young man sitting cross-legged with his head lowered.
This was the simulation robot prepared by Mudan.
The young man woke up, spat out a mouthful of blood, and was barely breathing.
The vertical pupil on 'his' head was still flashing.
'He' swallowed a few pills, rushed to the command table in front, and quickly pressed a series of buttons, activating all of Fortress 76's autonomous fire control systems.
Afterward, 'he' slumped weakly to the floor, leaning against the command console, closing his eyes and breathing softly.
"Did the Commander-in-Chief successfully evacuate?" he asked.
The voice was indeed the original voice of Black Storm.
"He has already evacuated, sir," a synthesized female voice responded. "We advise you to relocate immediately."
"I can't move. My soul has been marked by the Blade Beasts. Wherever I go, they will relentlessly attack. The Blade Beasts also have interdimensional gates to transport more Pillars and King-level beasts. This mark cannot be dispelled. There is no place for me on this planet."
"Sir, your wingman team will fight to the death here."
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"This world is still quite nice."
'He' suddenly smiled.
The monitoring perspective of the command center clearly recorded his smile.
"I am just a forerunner. My civilization has already noticed the disaster happening here. The relatively primitive human civilization should not be subjected to such bullying… I failed to directly obliterate them, but it doesn't matter. My successors will find their homeworld… Cough."
'He' lowered his head and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Prepare the final two nuclear bombs to kill the most Blade Beasts. Don't waste them."
"Yes, sir."
The synthesized female voice no longer responded.
The screen locked onto Black Storm, and then played back rapidly. Black Storm silently put on his signature black helmet and hummed a children's rhyme.
He was waiting quietly.
The Mountain Guardian Array and the fortress defense firepower cooperated, harvesting wave after wave of rushing Blade Beasts.
The density of General-level and Sub-King-level Blade Beasts was increasing.
Many ants can kill an elephant, and besides, the Mountain Guardian Array is like a super-large mech. The longer it operates, the greater the probability of small problems occurring.
Blade Beasts appeared in the command room.
Black Storm reached for a button on the side and gently pressed it. His whole body was first enveloped in golden flames, and violent explosions occurred throughout the fortress.
The video abruptly stopped again.
There was no way to show too many things.
For example, the scene of Spirit Practitioner No. 5 evacuating with his spirit slave;
Or, the slight metallic traces that appeared on the simulation robot when Wang Ji Xuan's alien soul self-combusted.
And so on.
The subsequent edited videos used different perspectives to reconstruct the battle, enriching Black Storm's heroic persona.
No more than half an hour after the destruction of Fortress 76, the Blade Beast swarm began a full retreat.
In this battle, the Blade Beasts suffered significant losses in their active forces. They voluntarily ceded large swathes of borderland to ensure that humans could not effectively pursue them.
This largest-scale Blade Beast tide in Earth's human history came suddenly and ended just as abruptly.
The information transmitted from the D5 Comprehensive War Zone painted a complete story for the various human factions.
After some embellishment and modification, the outline of this story was as follows:
[The heroic Black Storm shattered the Pillar Blade Beast's soul;]
[The Sixth Pillar was controlled by a Spirit Practitioner from Black Storm's side, threatening Spirit Energy Capital;]
[The Spirit Practitioners openly negotiated with humans;]
[Spirit Energy Capital underwent reforms;]
[The Blade Beasts were brewing an offensive to eliminate the nemesis of the Beast God;]
[Black Storm's soul was marked by the Blade Beasts;]
[The largest-scale Beast Tide in history, without the participation of Pillar Blade Beasts, erupted;]
[The human front faced a complete crisis;]
[Black Storm, in order to save humanity from this crisis, voluntarily emerged from the sanctuary he had built;]
[Nineteen King Beasts charged towards the location of Black Storm;]
[The Battle of Fortress 76 resulted in its destruction;]
[Black Storm's soul self-combusted, ending with Fortress 76.]
Overall, it was impeccable.
… …
"Fake."
Within the Arctic Circle, in a satellite city near Spirit Energy Capital.
Meng Jin turned off the final video and softly uttered these two words.
The several subordinates beside him were puzzled.
They had rushed over to report this good news to Meng Jin, but they didn't expect that after watching it, Meng Jin only said these two words, sitting in his wheelchair for a long time without speaking.
"Boss, is this video fake? Is it fabricated?"
"Black Storm should not be dead, but I have no evidence. This information is flawlessly authentic."
Meng Jin said softly.
"However, they should all think that Black Storm has already died in battle. He was marked by the Blade Beasts, and that mark has dissipated. The Blade Beasts have also completely retreated."
He stroked the armrests of the wheelchair with both hands, his lips slightly downturned.
"Fu Jian has crafted Black Storm into a tragic hero, and we, the enemies who opposed Black Storm, have become the clowns of humanity."
"That's really good."
"Boss, should we spread the news that Black Storm isn't dead?"
"There's no need to do such a thing. Now, Spirit Energy Capital is no longer a force that can override the nine Comprehensive War Zones, and we are even more like pawns to be discarded after being used."
The others remained silent.
Their core team had suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Black Storm.
Meng Jin suddenly laughed and turned his head to ask, "Aren't they going to hold some kind of committee election? Show me the election rules."
These few people were simultaneously energized.
At the same time.
In a certain highland area on the border of the D2 Comprehensive War Zone, the ravaged earth was covered with the remains of Blade Beasts.
The huge Sixth Pillar Blade Beast was embedded in the ground. Around it were dense military camps and the only flat ground in this area.
A transport plane landed at the airport. A soldier mingled with the transport team, following behind the robots carrying ammunition and entering the airport.
He went to the restroom, and taking advantage of the absence of anyone around, he rapidly formed hand seals.
Earth Release.
A moment later, inside the abdomen of the Sixth Pillar.
On the inner side of a pre-dug exoskeleton, an earth-yellow light flickered slightly, revealing a sloping hole the diameter of a well.
Wang Ji Xuan lowered his head and crawled inside, stowing away the alloy bracket, allowing the exoskeleton of the Pillar Blade Beast to heal quickly.
If there were a perfect cultivation place in this world, it would have to meet three conditions:
① Endless spiritual energy;
② Not being targeted by Blade Beasts and Spirit Practitioners;
③ Being able to avoid the spiritual energy fluctuations during realm breakthroughs from attracting the prying eyes of those with ulterior motives.
Coincidentally, this was it.
Wang Ji Xuan traversed through the exoskeleton area of the Sixth Pillar and quickly found a small room of only a dozen square meters. The bracelet on his wrist flickered gently, releasing Peony and various pieces of furniture.
"Clean up a bit. We'll be staying here for a long time."
"Alright," Peony asked softly, "About how long will we be staying? Also, are you really not going to tell Commander-in-Chief Fu Jian?"
"It's enough for them to know that I'm still alive. Don't reveal the location information, and Ling Tong must also be concealed."
Wang Ji Xuan moved his neck:
"As for how long to stay…"
"Ideally, of course, it would be until I'm invincible in the world. I sacrificed the alien souls I painstakingly cultivated, wasn't it all to create a stable cultivation environment?"
Peony blinked, restraining the urge to complain.
She liked being alone with her superior.
… …
Nine months later.
(End of Act Six)