52: The strange beast tide

The last rays of the setting sun painted the stone forest a blood-red, and the Alien Queen’s ice-cold, blade-like claws elegantly retracted, viscous blood dripping from their tips, spreading dark, dull marks on the rocks.

At her feet, a massive, fanged Silver-level Tier 1 demonic beast, an “Iron-Armored Violent Bear,” crashed to the ground, its life force completely extinguished, its huge body even causing the earth to tremble slightly.

Lin Feng let out a long sigh, his taut nerves finally relaxing.

It took him an entire day, but Lin Feng finally completed all his advancement tasks.

His Hell-level emergency mission actually had four full rounds, and the difficulty of each round increased compared to the last. The final round even required Lin Feng to single-handedly take down a Silver-level Tier 1 demonic beast leader!

Although for Lin Feng, who had a Gold-level Alien Queen, this mission’s difficulty was a mere trifle, for other Black Iron Level professionals, crossing such a large stage to kill a monster was tantamount to digging their own grave!

And this fallen Silver-level Iron-Armored Violent Bear was the last demonic beast required by the Hell-level Black Iron Level advancement mission.

“It’s done,” Lin Feng murmured, his voice filled with the anticipation of soon breaking through to Bronze-level.

Just as the Iron-Armored Violent Bear’s life force completely dissipated, an unstoppable surge of power erupted from Lin Feng’s body without warning!

The aura around him was like boiling water, violently churning, expanding, and rising upwards!

“Crack!”

An invisible shackles within his body was instantly broken, and a new, more powerful force instantly filled Lin Feng’s limbs and bones. For a moment, Lin Feng’s muscles and bones resonated, and his blood surged like a river.

This was a leap in life-level, a qualitative change from the peak of Black Iron Level to Bronze-level!

At the same time, a burning sensation suddenly condensed in the area of his Dantian Qi Sea in his abdomen.

The “Seed of Bronze” from the previous mission reward was completely activated the moment the advancement was completed. It was no longer a void energy seed, but rapidly condensed and solidified, forming a pale red crystal about the size of a thumb’s fingernail.

This crystal was translucent, and its interior was not entirely uniform; instead, a slender, deep crimson pattern clearly emerged, slowly flowing within the crystal like a living thing, emitting weak but pure life and energy fluctuations.

Lin Feng introspected, clearly “seeing” this pale red crystal.

He understood that this was the foundation of his Bronze-level power—the advanced form of the “Seed of Bronze,” which could be called “Crimson Crystal” or “Origin Core.”

As his level increased and he absorbed more energy, the patterns within this crystal would gradually increase, and its color would also change from pale red to deep red, then crimson.

When it possessed ten complete patterns internally, and the entire crystal had completely transformed into crimson, that would be the moment his foundation was solidified, triggering the advancement mission to Silver-level.

This crystal would become the core hub of his future power.

At the same moment Lin Feng’s aura surged and the Crimson Crystal condensed, the Alien Queen, guarding by his side, also underwent an astonishing transformation!

Her dark, streamlined, massive body suddenly trembled, and the chitinous exoskeleton covering her entire body emitted faint but dense “click-clack” sounds, as if undergoing some internal strengthening and reorganization.

An aura far deeper, older, and more soul-shaking than before emanated from her body.

This aura carried a transcendent pressure, as if touching the limits of a higher level of life!

Although this aura was still very weak, like a newly lit flame, far from reaching a truly stable transcendent realm, its appearance meant that the Alien Queen’s life-level had finally undergone a qualitative leap, already having one foot in the transcendent domain!

Her strength, speed, defense, and even mental perception also simultaneously experienced a huge leap.

Her cold compound eyes now gleamed with a deeper, more intelligent, and more dangerous light.

“Roar!”

The Queen let out a low, powerful hiss; this sound was no longer just a deterrent, but also contained a majesty proclaiming new life.

She slightly raised her ferocious head, seemingly adapting to this new, more powerful force within her body.

Lin Feng could clearly feel that the connection of the soul contract between him and the Queen had become even tighter, and the power feedback was even more surging.

The Queen’s advancement and the resulting feedback even made his newly stabilized Bronze-level Tier 1 aura subtly show signs of further improvement.

“Very good, excellent!”

Lin Feng’s eyes flashed brightly.

The Alien Queen’s breakthrough brought an even greater surprise than his own advancement to Bronze-level!

However, the joy of this breakthrough and the lingering surge of power had not yet fully subsided when a sudden, startling change abruptly interrupted this joy!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!!!”

A tremendous roar, like the war drums of a god, suddenly exploded from the edge of the horizon without warning!

The sound was dull, heavy, carrying a sense of destructive power, instantly tearing through the evening’s silence, shaking the very ground!

Immediately followed by a second, a third... continuous, like ten thousand beasts stampeding, or the earth groaning!

Lin Feng and the Alien Queen simultaneously turned vigilantly towards the direction of the sound... They saw rolling dust rising into the sky in the distance, forming a gray-yellow curtain that obscured the sky.

Beneath the dust, countless moving black shadows, dense and numerous like a black tide, were rushing towards the stone forest at an astonishing speed!

“Is it a beast tide?!”

Using the Queen’s consciousness to probe, Lin Feng immediately assessed the situation in the distance.

The beast horde was dense, at least a thousand strong!

“Roar-ao!”

“Hiss-hiss!”

“Woo!”

...Various violent, bloodthirsty beast roars converged into a terrifying sound wave. Even from a distance, Lin Feng seemed to smell the fishy smell ( fishy smell is a combined term for 'fishy' and 'gamey' smell, often associated with wild animals or raw meat) and dusty air.

Lin Feng frowned slightly.

He had previously commanded the Corrosive Sound Bat Aliens to search this area and had not found any traces of demonic beasts of such a scale!

The appearance of this beast horde was too strange!

Just then, the corner of his eye caught sight of several dishevelled figures on another relatively high stone mound in the distance... They had clearly also sensed the terror of the distant beast tide and were frantically trying to find a hiding place.

Their faces were pale, they held various weapons, constantly gazing into the distance, and their auras were generally around the Black Iron Level peak.

With such strength, they might have been able to protect themselves against ordinary demonic beasts.

But now... “Zhang Zhen! Quick! Let’s hide behind that big rock!”

Wang Cheng’s voice trembled.

The beast tide was too fast!

Leading the charge were a group of Bronze-level Tier 3 “Wind Shadow Wolves,” known for their speed. They were like gray lightning, already rushing to the base of the stone mound!

“Watch out!”

A professional swung his weapon, instantly severing the head of a leaping Wind Shadow Wolf.

Warm wolf blood splattered, and all four of them were more or less stained... An exceptionally strong Wind Shadow Wolf leader, its eyes glinting with cunning ferocity, took advantage of everyone’s attention being drawn to the wolf pack. It cleverly bypassed the front of the stone pillar and launched a surprise attack from the side and rear!

Its sharp wolf claws whistled through the air, aiming directly for one person’s back!

This person only felt a foul wind assault him from behind, and the coldness of death instantly seized his heart!

His mind went blank, and he had no time to react at all...