121: Chapter 121 Land Reclamation and Landing, Black Bridge Blocking the Harbor

The people of Johto first saw the Abyss Army clearly in the early morning off the coast of the Whirl Islands.

The first to discover the anomaly was a fishing boat that had returned to port too late.

The boat captain, Fujiwara, had been sailing these waters for over twenty years. He had seen storms, thick fog, supply boats dragged off course by ocean currents, and had heard old legends from the elders about silver ghostly shadows sweeping across the distant seas.

But the black shadows before his eyes still made the cigarette in his hand drop into a deck seam.

Rows of black silhouettes pressed out of the sea fog, silent and heavy; their lights were swallowed up completely by the mist. They did not look like ordinary warships, but rather like a moving reef. The sound of the hulls dragging through the water was terrifyingly low, tapping against eardrums with every beat.

"Turn around! Back to port!" Fujiwara shouted until his throat cracked.

The two young sailors had just wrenched the helm back when a red electric arc suddenly lit up above the fog. Immediately after, a layer of frost-white spread across the sea surface, and fine ice instantly formed on the fishing boat's hull.

The sailors' faces turned completely pale. They couldn't see what was in the fog, but they knew the arrivals were certainly not an ordinary fleet.

The alarm in Olivine City blared immediately. The duty officer in the port tower scrambled and crawled to the microphone.

"Large-scale ship silhouettes have appeared in the southeastern outer seas!"

"Number cannot be confirmed!"

"There are high-risk flying objects overhead!"

"The port is entering Red Alert status!"

Bugles, searchlights, footsteps, and the sound of gates locking dragged the not-yet-awake port district forcibly into the morning. When the Steel-type Gym Leader, Jasmine, arrived at the base of the lighthouse, she hadn't even fastened her cloak properly. A Steelix was already coiled along the main defense line, its head armor raised high like a steel wall erected from the ground.

Jasmine stepped onto the high platform, glanced at the black ships behind the fog, and gripped the railing tightly.

"They are here to land."

The adjutant's throat was dry. "There are still turbulent currents off the coast of the Whirl Islands; how can they pull into shore?"

The answer soon pressed in from the sea. The fog parted a layer, and the bow of the abyss was revealed. A second ship, a third, and more main warships and armed transport ships appeared one after another. They were not fast, but they carried a weight as if they were pushing mountains. Behind the fleet, narrow, long black barges glided along the surface of the water, each carrying binding piles, landing ramps, and short-range firing mounts—clearly iron nails prepared for a beachhead assault.

At the bow of the abyss, Lynn took a step forward. From so far away, Olivine Port could not see his face clearly. But that black attire, that silver cane, and the oppressive feeling of the entire fleet stopping at his command were enough for people to recognize him. The tyrant of Kanto. The man who forced back the Sea God.

Lynn's gaze swept over the defenders of Olivine City. His eyes fell on the churning whirlpool zone in front of the fleet. The currents left behind after Lugia retreated were still tearing, and the turbulent currents of the Whirl Islands themselves were layered on top. An ordinary fleet trying to force its way through would be capsized, dragged off course, and torn to pieces by the seawater. The people of Johto regarded this sea as a natural barrier.

Blaine stood behind him, watching the water current lines on the nautical chart turning red, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Normal people would go around."

Lynn raised his hand and pointed gently to the front left. The entire fleet immediately opened up its formation, leaving a wide waterway directly in front.

On the deck, the abyss-Ksitigarbha-Tyranitar stood up. White marks from the battle with the Sea God still remained on its obsidian shell. Those scars added a layer of ferocity to it, as if it had rolled out of blood and fire.

Jasmine saw it rise, and her breathing instantly sank.

Lynn's voice pressed across the sea surface via the bow loudspeaker. "Pave the road."

Tyranitar stepped forward. The deck of the abyss shuddered slightly. It raised its arms, fingers splayed, as if it were going to grab the entire seabed.

The first response came from beneath the sea surface. A dull grinding sound rolled up from the depths, like a giant beast turning over on the seabed. A few seconds later, a huge black bulge swelled in the center of the whirlpool, and seawater poured down from both sides, revealing coarse black rock.

The high platform at the port was deathly silent. Tyranitar let out a low roar.

A second rock plate arched up, a third rock plate split out from the sea, and a fourth black rock forcibly pushed aside the turbulent currents. Seawater was squeezed to both sides, and white waves crashed down from the edges of the newly born rock ridge like waterfalls. The whirlpools were cut off section by section, and the waterway was plugged block by block. It had built a black bridge in the sea.

This was not gentle, nor was it sacred. The seabed fractured, rock layers rolled, and turbulent currents were brutally filled in. Anyone who understood Steel-type engineering and geology could see that this monster was fundamentally changing the very method of landing.

Someone in Olivine Port finally cried out in a trembling voice: "What kind of miracle is this?!"

Jasmine was silent. She only saw the black bridge extending closer and closer, saw the seawater roaring and falling from both sides, and saw the abyss slowly advancing along the rock ridge that had just been raised from the seabed.

Lynn stood at the bow, his shoulder line terrifyingly steady. Johto thought the sea could stop him. Then he would have the monster fill the sea.

After the fleet pressed onto the black bridge, the soldiers on deck immediately drove fixing piles into the rock layer. Clone Blastoise climbed onto both sides, bracing against the churning waves to reinforce the edges. Swarms of black bees flew out along the fog line, clearing reefs and sea mines for the vanguard. Transport soldiers dragged landing ramps, steel cables, and suppression nets to the front deck in rows, moving as quickly as if they were moving goods on a factory assembly line.

Lynn waited patiently. He knew Olivine City was watching. He wanted them to see clearly: the so-called natural barrier, when facing the Abyss Army, was merely a rock that could be moved aside.

Behind Olivine City, the temporary command post was already crowded with officers and technicians. Someone spread an old nautical chart on the table, fingers tracing back and forth between the Whirl Islands and the port, their face growing paler and paler. That black bridge lay across the map like an iron nail driven into the chest of Johto; the reefs, tidal channels, and shoals that were originally used to slow down fleets had all been trampled into uselessness by Tyranitar.

Jasmine heard the report from behind, her voice still steady. "Residents continue to evacuate to the underground levels. All steel gates in the storage area are to be lowered completely. The Gym reserve team will hold the main port with me."

She glanced toward the lighthouse. Children and the elderly were still being escorted downstairs there, and several Steel-type Trainers lined up Magnemite and Magneton to block the debris carried by the sea wind for the evacuation team.

This city usually relied on its lighthouse to guide ships and on steel to provide a sense of security. Now, the Abyss Army was filling the sea into a road in front of everyone, which was equivalent to trampling the two things Olivine City was most familiar with underfoot.

This was exactly the effect Lynn wanted. He wanted Johto to understand at the very first glance that this expedition started from the sea, and would also start psychologically.

At the other end of the port, the first fishing boat had already docked. Fujiwara pushed the two sailors off the boat and looked back at the black bridge on the sea, his lips trembling. A man who had sailed the seas for over twenty years felt for the first time that the sea surface could also be trampled into land by someone.

The bells of Olivine Port rang urgently. All the lights on the lighthouse turned toward the outer sea simultaneously, and the city defense cannons slowly raised their muzzles. The evacuation teams from the residential area surged out of the streets; children were carried by adults, and the elderly were supported by militia into the underground passages with canes. The Steelix coiled tighter, its steel armor shining white in the morning light.

Jasmine picked up the communicator. "All artillery units lock onto the black bridge." "Civilian ships retreat to the inner port." "Gym reserve team to the shore defense line." She paused, staring at the approaching Lynn. "Olivine City, hold the port."

On the abyss, Porygon-Z projected a row of readings in front of Lynn. [Abyss Control prompt: Submarine rock bridge has formed.] [Olivine outer sea barrier weakened: 67%.] [Enemy morale is plummeting.]

Lynn publicly displayed these prompts on the fleet's main screen. Everyone in the fleet could see them. The so-called natural barrier could be filled in. The so-called miracle could be manufactured. Johto, too, would learn fear at the end of the black bridge.

Behind the fleet, several medical ships also pressed in. Freshly painted Black Flags hung from the ship sides, while the decks were filled with stretchers and hemostatic kits. What the expeditionary force brought from Kanto was not just cannons and monsters, but also medicine, food, craftsmen, and registrars capable of immediately taking over the port.

This was exactly Lynn's bandit logic. First smash open the door, then take over the warehouse, lighthouse, docks, and the list of wounded together. If Olivine City surrendered, the living would be entered into the new registry; if they resisted, there would only be an extra column for the fallen at the end of the table.

On the vanguard ship, transport soldiers tied red ropes around their wrists. That was the rule left behind after the Lugia divine battle: register before going ashore; if you die, your family can be found, and if you live, you can collect rewards. Several veterans from Vermilion Port pushed boxes of bolts and short spears next to the landing ramp, their wounded arms still wrapped in bandages, but their movements were fast.

They all knew that the harder the first battle of Johto was fought, the sooner Goldenrod City, the suburbs, and the Bell Tower would feel the pain.

Lynn looked at the shoreline and finally smiled. "Now, it's their turn to panic."