The dark clouds hung low in the sky, as if they might collapse at any moment.
At the five-hundred-meter mark of the radiation zone, the troops slowly came to a halt.
Using that line as the boundary, the inside and outside of the radiation zone were completely different scenes.
It was as if cut cleanly by a sharp blade. Outside, there were sparse plants and yellow earth.
Inside, it was filled with a scene of dark red and grayish-brown interwoven, the very air visibly thick and stagnant.
A faint, strange odor of decay drifted over.
The black tower used to alter the environment stood silently on the horizon, like a massive, menacing tombstone.
The mixed force of several thousand people stopped here.
Armored vehicles, light tanks, mobile platforms carrying heavy weapons, and the positron cannon—the largest in volume, protected at the center—were silently arrayed.
On the silent earth, only the low roar of engines could be heard.
Every soldier, whether a regular combatant or an Ability User, was tense at this moment.
Beneath their visors and helmets, their gazes were filled with gravity and sharpness, their hands gripping their weapons unconsciously tighter.
The air seemed to be filled with a heavy mixture of excitement, tension, and resolve.
Inside the makeshift command vehicle, Mu Qingqing had a loudspeaker in front of her.
She was not a combatant who needed to fight on the front lines today. She wore a neat uniform, the metal insignia on her shoulder straps reflecting a cold light.
She could feel her palms sweating, her back tightening, her heart beating a rapid drumbeat in her chest.
This was the first time since she joined the force that she was independently commanding such a large-scale, crucial frontal operation.
Countless eyes were upon her—expectation, scrutiny, and unease.
Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid!
She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath.
The air, carrying the strange odor of the radiation zone, made her throat feel dry.
She raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping over the faces before her—some young, some weathered, but all without exception etched with determination at this moment—forcing her voice to remain steady.
Her calm voice spread through the loudspeaker across the entire formation.
“Everyone!”
“Beneath our feet is land taken from us three hundred years ago. Before our eyes are the monsters that have ravaged our home for three hundred years!”
“Three hundred years of humiliation are carved into the memory of every survivor. Three hundred years of endurance were to accumulate the strength for today’s counterattack! Three hundred years of rage—”
Her voice suddenly rose, carrying the strength of her entire body.
“—will be repaid by our own hands, right now!”
There was no lengthy motivation, no flowery rhetoric.
Simple, direct, yet like water droplets thrown into boiling oil, instantly igniting the long-suppressed emotions of everyone present.
“Roar!!!”
A low, powerful roar erupted from deep within their throats, the sound wave pressing forward like muffled thunder.
“All personnel, final checks!”
No more words were needed now.
Orders were relayed layer by layer through the communication channels.
The members of the Hunter squad merged into the Ability User assault unit.
Around the positron cannon, technicians began final parameter calibrations.
The engines of the armored units roared, turrets slowly turned, aiming at the black tower ahead within the radiation zone.
The war machine completed its final operational preparations in silence.
“Open fire!”
Mu Qingqing’s voice entered every combat unit through the command channel.
No probing, no holding back.
The first blow, carrying three hundred years of pent-up fury, was delivered by that massive positron cannon.
A pale blue beam of light, not blinding, carrying scorching destructive energy, crossed the distance of three hundred years, violently piercing the radiation zone’s barrier and slamming into the base of the black tower deep within!
“Boom—!!!”
The earth trembled, the air boiled.
Even from hundreds of meters away, one could feel the terrifying shockwaves transmitted through the ground.
The blinding white light from the explosion instantly swallowed that area.
Simultaneously, all conventional firepower roared to life!
Countless energy beams, solid projectiles trailing flames, like a furious storm, converged into a torrent of destruction, mercilessly pounding the designated target area.
The flashes of explosions linked together, illuminating the gloomy sky in flickering light and dark. The deafening roar was almost enough to tear eardrums apart.
Three hundred years of accumulated hatred were poured out without reservation at this moment!
After firing the first shot of the counterattack, the positron cannon began a twenty-minute cooldown and core replacement period.
These twenty minutes belonged to the conventional forces and elite Ability Users.
To clean up the Rift Beast hordes stunned and scattered by the first wave of firepower.
Close-quarters combat began, and the battle instantly turned white-hot.
Rift Beasts surged from the dust and smoke of the radiation zone, howling as they pounced on the human lines.
Soldiers, relying on vehicles and hastily constructed cover, wove dense networks of fire into a wall of death.
Ability Users plunged into the beast hordes like sharp blades, precisely hunting down the mid-to-high-tier Rift Beasts with higher resistance.
In the intense melee, the twenty minutes passed quickly.
Outside the radiation zone, the ground was already littered with Rift Beast carcasses and scorched shell craters, but the tide of beasts pouring from the direction of the black tower seemed endless.
Just as the positron cannon’s cooldown was about to finish, and final calibration was beginning…
A roar filled with pain and rage came from deep within the smoke and dust in the direction of the black tower.
The dust was churned apart by a violent air current as a massive figure stumbled out!
It was the severely wounded Rift King Beast that had escaped. Its condition didn’t seem to have improved much.
Mu Qingqing’s eyes narrowed, and she immediately made a judgment.
“Conventional firepower is sufficient. All plasma emitters, target and fire a volley! Don’t give it a chance to catch its breath!”
Dozens of vehicle-mounted plasma emitters simultaneously swiveled their barrels, charging briefly.
“Zzzt!”
Sapphire-blue high-energy plasma beams tore through the air like spears of divine punishment, precisely striking the Rift King Beast’s already ravaged body.
“Roar!!!”
The King Beast let out a shrill, agonized cry.
The high temperature and corrosive nature of the plasma beams created more horrific wounds on its already severely injured body.
Its carapace melted, flesh carbonized. Its massive body convulsed violently, almost unable to stand.
But what happened next made every soldier who witnessed it, including Mu Qingqing in the command vehicle, widen their eyes, their faces etched with shock and horror.
The ordinary Rift Beasts that were fighting the human forces suddenly halted their offensive momentum, as if obeying some irresistible command.
Then, they performed a terrifying act that completely defied all previous understanding of Rift Beast social structure.
Like mad creatures, they ignored the humans right in front of them, turned around, and frantically pounced on the severely wounded, wailing King Beast.
Climbing, tearing, devouring!
Sharp claws and teeth viciously ripped open the King Beast’s damaged carapace and exposed flesh, greedily gnawing on the body containing higher-tier energy.
The King Beast’s painful struggles and roars seemed to act as a catalyst for their bizarre behavior.
In the blink of an eye, its massive body was covered in a dense, crawling mass of Rift Beasts of various forms, like a swarm of carrion maggots frantically devouring a dying body.
The scene was bloody, chaotic, and nauseating to the extreme, exuding an indescribable sense of sinister terror.
“What are they… doing?”
“Fighting each other!”
Low, uncertain exclamations kept coming through the communication channels.
Mu Qingqing stared fixedly at the screen, a chill running up her spine to the back of her head.
This isn’t right. This is all wrong…
Just as everyone was momentarily stunned by this bizarre sight.
“Thump!!!”
A dull sound came from the King Beast’s body.
The first Rift Beast, clinging to the King Beast’s wound and frantically devouring, suddenly and violently expanded. Countless spiderweb-like cracks appeared on its carapace, dark red light seeping through the cracks…
Then, it exploded!
A complete, thorough self-destruction!
Flesh, carapace, and foul-smelling dark red slurry were flung outwards at high speed.
The power of this self-destruction far exceeded its own level. It not only blew several nearby comrades to pieces but also added another bloody, mangled crater to the King Beast’s already gruesome wounds.
“Self-destruct! It self-destructed!” Panicked screams rang out in the channel.
And the first one seemed to be just the beginning. Immediately after, a second, a third…
The Rift Beasts clinging to the King Beast lunged frantically toward the front of the human lines, then exploded with a roar!
Each explosion was a potent biological bomb, whipping up a bloody storm before the lines.
This sacrificial tactic immediately caused the situation on the battlefield to take a drastic turn for the worse!