Volume 1, Chapter 23: Fierce Battle with the Fish King

"Wooo—wooo—wooo!"

Sharper and more urgent than last night, the alarm pierced through the thick fog like a wail from hell. The sentries in the lookout towers beat the alarm bells with all their might, their movements fueled by despair and panic.

"Fish... fish monsters! It’s the fish monsters! So many of them! They’re coming from all directions!"

Zhou Yong’s walkie-talkie began to screech frantically at the same time, with observation posts on every flank issuing blood-curdling warnings simultaneously.

"The west! The water on the west side is black with them! They’re packed together!"

"They’ve appeared in the south too! My god! They’re already landing!"

"The east! The eastern water fort is in crisis! The men can’t hold them back much longer!"

Within the dense fog, a cacophony of scratching and scraping sounds—*swoosh, clatter, clatter*—surrounded them from all sides. It was the sound of countless fish monsters dragging their coarse, scaled hides and sharp claws across the mountain rocks and mud, a density of sound that made one’s skin crawl. A thick, nauseating stench of rot, mingled with the damp, cold fog, descended upon them.

"Prepare for battle!"

Li Hexuan let out a sharp roar. Arcs of brilliant blue electricity crackled and exploded across his body, instantly surging several feet high. Although their hearts were tight with dread, the base members reacted with conditioned reflex, sprinting toward their respective defensive positions at the sound of his command.

However, the sheer number of fish monsters surging in this time far exceeded anything they had faced before. And this cursed fog had become the monsters' perfect natural screen.

*Crack!*

A dark green water arrow, as thick as a child’s arm, shot out from the roiling fog with a piercing shriek, striking the key controller for the electric wire fence dead on. Sparks showered in a brilliant display as the wire, which had been buzzing with electricity just moments before, went dead and paralyzed completely.

"Roar—!"

Several elite mutated fish monsters, noticeably larger than the common ones and covered in skin with a dull, metallic sheen, let out deafening roars as they lunged out of the mist. They swung claws larger than human heads, smashing ruthlessly into the crude barricades made of wood and scrap metal at the mountain's foot.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Useless! Those barricades, fragile as paper before them, were instantly shredded to pieces. The defensive line was breached in an instant!

"Hold the line! Hold it, damn it!" Zhang Nan’s eyes were bloodshot. With a thunderous roar, his custom-made steel shield, as thick as a door panel, slammed into the breach with a dull, heavy thud, sealing the gruesome gap.

*Boom!*

An elite monster’s claw, the size of a millstone, tore through the air and slammed into the steel shield. The sharp screech of metal on metal threatened to pierce their eardrums, and the flying sparks illuminated Zhang Nan’s savage expression. Veins bulged on his neck, and a beast-like roar escaped his throat. With muscles knotted and straining, he shoved back with such force that the massive, heavy elite monster was forced to retreat.

Just then, the western waters exploded with a towering wave!

*Rumble—!*

A gargantuan black shadow broke through the water, stirring the fog into a frenzy. Its sheer size was terrifying. It was a massive mutated anglerfish. Its hideous head occupied nearly its entire body, its blood-red maw agape, revealing a mess of jagged, icy-cold fangs of varying lengths, each gleaming with lethal sharpness. Even more unsettling was the tentacle atop its head, from which hung a millstone-sized, ghostly blue "lantern" that pulsed with irregular light.

As the lantern flickered in the fog, every pulse seemed to embolden the fish monsters, their attacks becoming three times more ferocious. They moved with a strange, coordinated rhythm, clearly under its control. Worst of all, whenever that blue light swept over them, many of the base members felt a dizzying buzz in their brains, and the abilities they had just gathered felt sluggish and stagnant.

"The Fish King! This beast can control the school and suppress our powers!" Li Hexuan’s heart sank. The terrifying pressure radiating from the Anglerfish King far surpassed any mutant he had ever encountered, sending a chill of dread through his own soul.

Under the Fish King’s command, the monsters grew increasingly frantic, wave after wave, fearless of death. The electric traps were rapidly neutralized by their corrosive venom, and the physical barricades crumbled inch by inch under the brute strength of the elite monsters.

"Ah—!" A piercing scream was cut short. A survivor tasked with throwing incendiary bottles was tackled by a monster lunging from the mist, its jagged fangs piercing his throat instantly.

Scalding blood sprayed out, instantly staining the mud beneath his feet. On the defensive line, the screams, roars, and the howling of monsters wove together into a symphony of apocalyptic despair. The Thor Base’s defensive lines were in crisis at multiple points! The casualty count was climbing rapidly.

At the foot of the mountain, in Chen Hao’s temporary camp, Chen Hao watched the flickering firelight and the faint sounds of slaughter toward the Thor Base through a pair of military binoculars, a playful look on his face.

Beside him, Yin Jiu’s deathly pale face twisted into an ugly smile. "Leader, the Fish King has appeared. I doubt Li Hexuan and his people can hold out for much longer. Our men have already, as you ordered, quietly moved in from the flanks."

"Excellent." Chen Hao lowered his binoculars, a cruel curve touching his lips. "Let them bleed a little more. Once they’ve fought until both sides are crippled, we’ll step in to clean up the mess. This Fallen Leaf Mountain, and the secret hidden within that brat Li Hexuan—it will all be mine!"

At the main breach of the Fallen Leaf Mountain defensive line:

"Roar!" Zhang Nan smashed his shield into an attacking monster, shattering its bones, and followed up with a backhand punch that turned another monster’s head into mush.

He was covered head-to-toe in foul-smelling, black blood and brains, but he didn't care. Like a demon god bathed in blood, he stood anchored to the line. His heavy shield was long since twisted and deformed, and deep, bone-revealing wounds covered his body. He was a man of blood, yet he continued to roar, not retreating a single step.

"You want to get past? Step over your Grandpa Zhang’s corpse first!"

His ferocity acted like an adrenaline shot to every member of the base. The defensive line, which had been teetering on the brink of collapse, was held firm by his sheer willpower.

Behind the villa, Su Mengyi’s face was deathly pale, sweat rolling down her temples. Her hands were held in a faint gesture, and a pale green halo of "Life’s Praise" drifted like a thin veil over the makeshift infirmary. Under the nourishment of her ability, the wounds of the heavily injured—whose flesh was torn and mangled—began to stop bleeding and slowly knit together, allowing them to struggle to their feet and crawl back toward the battlefield.

But there were simply too many fish monsters, and the assault was too fierce. The wounded were brought down like dumplings being tossed into a pot. Her ability was pushed to its limit, and her face grew increasingly translucent.

In the thick fog, sporadic screams and explosions echoed from other directions. Those were the sounds of small survivor outposts around Fallen Leaf Mountain—those who had tried to fish in troubled waters or chosen to stand alone—being swiftly crushed and devoured by the tidal wave of monsters.