Chapter 232: The Enemy Approaches, the Great Battle Looms

Calm winds and still waters, with nothing happening, often meant something major was about to occur.

“Brother Zhu, isn’t it strange? We’ve been mining all day, leveling up from 12 to 20, and we haven’t seen a single Ability User harassing us?” asked a member of the Student Legion.

“Now that you mention it, I’ve reached level 28 and still haven’t spotted a single Ability User around,” said Veteran Soldier Zhu.

The reason for such rapid leveling was the support from the Magic Cannons at the front. Once the monsters were pulled, the Magic Cannons would bombard them for a round, reducing the Aberrant Beast Demons to low HP. Then, the invincible veteran soldiers and the Student Legion would swarm in to harvest the battlefield.

“What are those Ability Users even doing?” someone nearby wondered.

“Could it be they’re preparing for one big wave?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. More like they’re taking a massive dump,” joked a frontline team squad leader lightheartedly.

“Hahaha,” everyone burst into laughter.

However, the joy lasted only a few seconds before the brigade commander called for everyone to assemble: “Word from the rear Sanctuary: the enemy’s army of several hundred thousand has set out and is expected to reach the battlefield in a few hours. Let’s finish harvesting these Aberrant Beast Demons quickly. I’m giving everyone only five minutes. Take as much of the spoils of war as you can.”

“Yes, sir!” everyone shouted in unison. The atmosphere suddenly grew tense. The Student Legion’s combat rhythm began to falter, and their breathing became erratic.

“Don’t panic. With Miss Kamiyu here, we’ll make it back in time,” said a frontline team member.

Before he could finish speaking—

Hammer of the Thunder God—a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, instantly killing the Dungeon Boss on the ground.

“It’s Miss Kamiyu! She one-shot the Boss Creature, buying us half an hour,” exclaimed a squad leader.

Those who were a step slower only caught a glimpse of the platinum ponytail streaking across the sky like a meteor. It wasn’t that they were slow; it was that Kamiyu on her Flying Horse was too fast—aiming swiftly and accurately, shooting quickly, and retreating even faster.

Before they could even thank Kamiyu, she had already sped off to the next mine, eliminating Aberrant Beast Demons one by one for the frontline comrades. All they had to do was gather the spoils of war.

After handling everything, Kamiyu immediately returned to the Sanctuary, taking her place at the center to steady morale, resting while awaiting the arrival of the Fruit Ability Users.

The Black Sphere Room had been converted into the Black Sphere War Room, where over fifty people were stationed, monitoring the frontline footage in real-time.

“According to our calculations, the enemy is advancing in three formations: front, middle, and rear. The first formation consists of fifty thousand Fruit Ability Users, along with ten Fourth-Tier Ability Users. The second formation has a hundred thousand Fruit Ability Users. The third formation, serving as the rear guard, comprises a hundred and fifty thousand Fruit Ability Users, along with the fifth-tier Hungry Ghost Shara,” Xiao Zhong reported.

“Fifty, a hundred, a hundred and fifty—using a front-middle-rear tactic. With three hundred thousand troops, they’re not employing a left-center-right encirclement strategy. It seems the enemy doesn’t know how to play,” Li Changde, seated in the conference chair, shook his head.

“Could it be they believe just fifty thousand Fruit Ability Users are enough to flatten our Sanctuary?” Kamiyu asked.

“Hmph, we’re truly being underestimated,” Jack snorted, crossing his arms in a rather flexing manner.

“Being underestimated is even better. That way, we can utterly crush them with our strength,” Kamiyu said, clenching her fist.

“Agreed,” everyone chorused.

No complex tactics needed, just keep clicking the left mouse button.

After a whole day of material farming, the Sanctuary now possesses more magic cannons than there are people, totaling 999 magic cannons and 3 triple-barreled magic main cannons.

Kamiyu noted that each magic cannon required three people: a main gunner, a loader, and an observer who also served as an assistant gunner. She sighed with regret, “The number of players is still too small. With 699 gunners, we can only operate 233 magic cannons. Fifteen elite gunners are operating the triple-barreled magic main cannons, plus over a hundred players transporting artillery shells and managing other offensive and defensive fortifications. We’re really short on people.”

Kamiyu wondered, fighting back and forth, it’s always just us. Where have all the people gone? The veteran players who returned to reality, and the new players generated after the collision of the other two worlds—where are they?

Of course, there were veteran players from Crimson Earth and other new players. The appearance of the towering tree in Dragon Roar City, a wonder that altered the terrain and landscape, had long caught the attention of veteran players. They wanted to swoop in for benefits, especially after discovering that first- and second-tier ability users weren’t particularly strong. They charged recklessly into Dragon Roar City to seize advantages.

A standard 10-person squad from Crimson Earth, typically used for tackling high-difficulty instance dungeons, stood concealed on a tree branch, observing the changes on the battlefield below.

“Captain Lin Fan, the ability users’ army of several hundred thousand has already advanced within 100 kilometers of the Kamiyu Sanctuary. They’re estimated to reach the range of their magic cannons in about half an hour,” said a level 22 ranger wearing leather armor.

Lin Fan, level 25, like Li Changde, belonged to one of Crimson Earth’s T0-level power factions, a vanguard squad called 【Kite】. Everyone who joined this squad was a top expert from Crimson Earth.

Although the Kite squad had hidden in other Beta Testers’ Sanctuaries during the Hell Tide, it didn’t stop them from flexing.

They were behind the times, unaware that the newcomer players of the Student Legion had already reached level 20, with even the lowest-level member of a frontline team at level 27. Other veteran players were almost all stuck at the level 29 bottleneck like Kamiyu, continuously accumulating experience.

“This Kamiyu might be a Beta Tester, but she doesn’t know how to play. Building so many magic cannons—more cannons than people—what on earth is she thinking?” an archer remarked dismissively.

“Exactly. The range of magic cannons is only 15 kilometers. Even if they can eliminate the outermost enemies, with such a huge disparity in numbers, even if these ability users do nothing but walk, they could overrun her Sanctuary,” Captain Lin Fan shook his head in disapproval.

“In Crimson Earth, everyone shrinks the wall boundaries, using the freed-up buildable land in the Sanctuary to reinforce trap-style defensive fortifications, adopting a turtle-shell defense. But this Kamiyu pushes her walls to the outermost edge and builds so many magic cannons. It’s utterly senseless,” a squint-eyed squad member added.

Magic cannons are offensive fortifications for Sanctuaries. In Crimson Earth’s Sanctuaries, some people build them too, but mostly for show—decorative rather than practical.

“Wait, look. Isn’t Kamiyu’s Sanctuary much larger than others?” someone asked.

“Who cares? The experience and materials gained from mob grinding here are much richer than outside. It might be due to the environment here,” Lin Fan said.

He believed this was not Kamiyu’s true strength, but rather the result of the Fear Emperor altering the environment.

Little did he know, the range of Kamiyu’s Magic Cannon was not the original 15 kilometers, but 100 kilometers. The scope of her Sanctuary was three times larger than others’, and the Defense Power of its walls was dozens of times higher—even she would need several shots to blast open the gates.