183: Chapter 183: On the Eve of the Decisive Battle

The East Sea Islands, giant waves towered into the sky.

The sky was shrouded in dark clouds, and the sound of thunder echoed over the sea.

Shen Yubai knelt on a broken reef, his chest heaving.

His deep-sea defense line had been torn to shreds.

On the surrounding sea surface, tens of thousands of corpses of Yao Beasts floated.

Twelve Mechanical Deities stepped across the waves, surrounding him in the center.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao walked up to him.

Her red mechanical eyes locked onto Shen Yubai, data streams refreshing rapidly within her pupils.

"You... what on earth are you!" Shen Yubai coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, dyeing the reef beneath him red.

He looked at this former classmate before him, full of disbelief.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao did not answer.

In her underlying logic, conversing with a dying person was a waste of computing power.

She raised her right hand, her five metal fingers spreading in the air.

Silver-black data streams gathered at her fingertips, and a mechanical blade took shape.

Pfft!

The blade pierced Shen Yubai's heart.

Shen Yubai's body stiffened, his eyes wide open.

The Divine Power within him tried to resist, but immediately after, an overbearing data stream surged in.

[Mechanical Plague · Assimilation].

Shen Yubai's flesh lost its color at a speed visible to the naked eye, and fine metal patterns appeared on the surface of his skin.

His blood stopped flowing, and his bones began to restructure.

The terror in his eyes gradually solidified, eventually turning into two beams of red light.

The fifteenth Mechanical Deity, assimilation complete.

As Shen Yubai became completely mechanized, his connection with the army of Yao Beasts under his command changed accordingly.

In the seawater, those more than one hundred thousand deep-sea giant beasts that were originally roaring and struggling suddenly stopped moving.

Their limbs transformed into mechanical legs, and their eyeballs turned into red detectors.

In just over ten minutes, the more than one hundred thousand indigenous ocean forces were all converted into semi-mechanical dependents.

The waves crashed against their mechanized bodies, making a dull sound.

Cheng E stood on a reef in the distance, watching this scene, and couldn't help but smack his lips.

"This guy is actually quite impressive." Cheng E had his hands in his pockets, his gaze sweeping over the dense mass of mechanical Yao Beasts, his tone carrying a hint of admiration.

"To think he could raise an army of over one hundred thousand indigenous creatures on this godforsaken island."

Counting Shen Yubai, they had been working non-stop these past few days, killing a total of three deities hiding in the fringe areas.

Cheng E calculated his current assets in his mind.

A full fifteen Mechanical Deities!

He glanced at Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao.

Due to the excessive use of the Assimilation divine Spell, Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's Origin had been severely diluted.

The Divine Power fluctuations on her were unstable, and her Realm had slid all the way down from the Peak of the Fifth-tier Demigod.

Now she could barely maintain the lowest level of the Fifth-tier Demigod, and was even at risk of falling to the Fourth-tier at any moment.

The other 15 Mechanical Deities were in the same situation.

But Cheng E did not care at all.

This was already enough.

Seventeen Demigod combatants, plus the original mechanical army of Golden Toad City, the rotting corpse beast herd on Lu Chen's side, and now these more than one hundred thousand mechanical Yao Beasts.

The total troop strength was approaching five hundred thousand!

Cheng E sneered, a flash of sinister excitement in his eyes.

Even if Lin Yuan were a freak, and even if he were scraping the ground and snowballing in the Central Plains, his troop strength would be at most comparable to theirs.

But in terms of high-end combat power, they had seventeen Demigods on their side.

Various Law systems were integrated through mechanization, coordinating perfectly.

Seventeen against one.

"Unless that kid Lin Yuan cheats and ascends to a Sixth-tier Demigod, there's absolutely no way."

Cheng E muttered to himself, feeling plenty of confidence.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao withdrew the metal blade, the bloodstains on her arm quickly cleaned away by nanobots, restoring its luster.

She turned around, her mechanical eyes sweeping over Cheng E and the Mechanical Deities behind her.

"Resource integration complete, troop expansion targets met."

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's voice echoed in the sea breeze, cold and devoid of inflection.

"Order issued: All troops return to the capital. Target: Golden Toad City."

"Prepare to enter the final confrontation phase."

On the edge of the Central Plains, above the wilderness.

The Abyssal Blood Army was like a black torrent, advancing infinitely forward.

At the very front of the formation was a sea of pale white bones.

Bai Ye rode on the back of the Frost Ancient Dragon, walking at the very front of the team.

Lin Yuan had arranged all of his undead army in the vanguard position.

Bai Ye knew clearly in his heart that this guy Lin Yuan was sly as a fox; he didn't trust him at all, so it was impossible for him to place the undead army in the rear or on the flanks.

Placing them in the front to scout, trigger traps, and act as cannon fodder was the formation style that best suited Lin Yuan.

Nominally, Bai Ye was at the very front, but in reality, the true main offensive force was all in the rear.

"Boom!"

An indigenous Orc tribe with a scale of tens of thousands appeared in front of the wilderness.

These Orcs brandished rough giant axes, their eyes blood-red, charging fearlessly toward the undead formation.

Bai Ye raised his bone staff, commanding thousands of skeleton warriors to meet them.

As soon as the two sides made contact, the formation of skeleton warriors was torn open by the brute force of the Orcs.

The sound of bones shattering rose one after another, and the undead vanguard retreated steadily.

Just as Bai Ye was preparing to cast a high-level undead Spell to stabilize the formation, the sky suddenly darkened.

Before he could finish chanting the incantation, streaks of blackish-grey flames descended from the sky.

The Calamity Fire Spirits soared over the heads of the undead army, smashing Karma Fire into the dense charging formation of the Orcs.

The Karma Fire spread.

The Orcs' tough muscles didn't even last half a second before being burned through.

They let out shrill screams, their bodies rolling on the ground, trying to use the soil to extinguish the flames.

But the Karma Fire burned the Soul; the more they struggled, the faster they died.

At the same time, the shadows under the Orcs' feet twisted.

Pairs of thick arms reached out from underground.

Hundreds of twenty-meter-tall Tyrant Demons broke out from the shadows.

Titan power condensed on their fists, smashing into the skull of the Orc leader.

"Crack!"

The Orc leader's head was directly exploded, and the headless corpse fell to the ground.

In the sky, tens of thousands of Magic Blade Bats swooped down, releasing high-frequency ultrasonic waves.

The remaining Orcs covered their ears, bleeding from their seven orifices, losing the ability to resist.

The battle ended cleanly and efficiently.

Bai Ye sat on the back of the Dragon, witnessing this scene with his own eyes, his mouth twitching.

"Holy crap... holy crap... holy crap..."

Bai Ye cursed three times in his heart.

Following Lin Yuan's advance these past two days, he had truly opened his eyes.

The Abyssal Blood Army composed of those indigenous creatures was one thing; although they were fearless and exceptionally fierce, their performance was just average.

Compared to Bai Ye's own native Divine Domain dependents, they were about the same.

But those dependents from Lin Yuan's Wasteland Divine Domain were simply incredible.

Not only was killing enemies above their own Realm as simple as eating and drinking for every one of them, but their skills were also so numerous that it made one's scalp tingle.

That Tyrant Demon was clearly a melee close-combat unit, yet it could control Shadow Lurker to shuttle through, and it even had a pair of Void Realm wings on its back; its mobility was even more terrifying than an assassin's.

That Calamity Fire Spirit was clearly an elemental creature, yet the Karma Fire it threw burned the Soul, and it could even control water currents.

That was fine, even bugs could command Karma Fire.

And these sky and ocean creatures, every single one of them had a self-destruct effect upon death.

If one didn't know better, one would think they came from the same ancestor.

Bai Ye watched from behind until he was numb.

These weren't dependents; they were a bunch of unreasonable abominations!

Fortunately, Lin Yuan still had some humanity.

Under Bai Ye's strong protests and shameless begging, Lin Yuan did not let the Abyssal Blood Army execute the "Three Alls" policy anymore.

The indigenous Yao Beasts killed along the way finally left behind quite a few corpses and flesh.

Bai Ye waved his bone staff, resurrecting them as he went.

Over two days, the number of his undead army skyrocketed, directly breaking through the hundred-thousand mark.

The vast sea of bones spread out, which was quite imposing.

As the scale of the undead army expanded, Bai Ye attacked more and more frequently.

Trouble followed.

Bai Ye sat on the Dragon's back and suddenly felt an inexplicable irritability welling up in his heart.

He looked at the Tyrant Demon leading the charge in front, looked at the Magic Blade Bats circling in the sky, and a dangerous thought sprouted in his mind.

"Lin Yuan's troop strength is nothing more than this. My current undead army already numbers over a hundred thousand."

"As long as you give me a little more time to snowball to a million-scale, I'll directly betray him and rub him into the ground."

"I, Bai Ye, am the strongest Genius of this batch; why should I be his dog?"

Arrogance.

The side effect of the identity badge struck again.

Bai Ye shuddered, cold sweat soaking his back.

He quickly closed his eyes, gripped his staff with both hands, and recited in his heart.

"I am a piece of trash. I am a loser. I can't even compare to a single leg hair of Lin Yuan."

"Lin Yuan could beat the crap out of me with one punch. I need to keep a low profile, I need to hug his thigh."

He kept using the most vicious vocabulary to belittle himself, forcibly suppressing that arrogance eroding his divine fire.

After a full few minutes, Bai Ye panted heavily and opened his eyes.

His forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.

He secretly glanced at Lin Yuan, who was walking in the center of the team.

Lin Yuan stood on a chariot pulled by eight giant beasts, one hand pressing on the hilt of his sword, his expression calm, his eyes clear without a trace of Impurities.

Bai Ye truly didn't understand.

This guy commanded an army, deciding life and death, and the blood debt on his hands was dozens of times more than his own.

Logically speaking, the brutality and extreme pleasure backlash brought by the "General" identity badge should have long since turned him into a madman who only knew how to kill.

How on earth did he manage to completely immunize himself against the erosion of this thing?

Just as Bai Ye was letting his imagination run wild, the Abyssal Blood Army in front suddenly stopped advancing.

The Insect King let out a short cry, the six hundred thousand troops stopped, and even the sound of breathing was suppressed to the lowest level.

The warhorses stopped whinnying, the infantry gripped their spears tightly, and the entire battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

Bai Ye looked curiously in the direction of Lin Yuan's gaze.

A thousand miles away.

At the end of the horizon, the outline of a city was looming.

Above the city walls, dense mechanical turrets flickered with red light.

In the sky, swarms of mechanical birds were circling.

On the wilderness surrounding the city, an endless mechanical army was stationed.

Lin Yuan stood on the chariot, looking at the completely fortified city, and nodded, saying.

"Looks like they're all there."