MMB Chapter 121 The Battle for Ownership of the Secret Realm, Fire Elemental Leads the Way
Chapter 121 The Battle for Ownership of the Secret Realm, Fire Elemental Leads the Way
South China Sea frontline base.
The first squad and logistics troops have arrived at the camp.
In the makeshift wounded camp, rows of stretchers held members of the fourth and fifth squads. Their S-class armor was mostly badly damaged, with sparking cracks and corroded, melted plates silently testifying to the ferocity of the battle.
As the first squad entered, the soldiers who could still open their eyes had a complex mix of emotions in their gazes. There was resentment, anger, and above all, a sense of guilt for being powerless to change the situation.
A heavily armored soldier with a severed arm struggled to sit up, but Su Yunqing gently pressed him down.
"Captain..." He looked at Xiao Qianyu, his lips trembling, his eyes red, "We...we've disgraced China."
Zhao Leiguang walked to his side, looked at the tower shield that had been pierced by the trident, silently squatted down, and reached out to touch the cracks on the shield.
"They won't fight us head-on," the soldier's voice was hoarse. "They use sea monsters as cannon fodder, they set traps with undercurrents... a bunch of rats who only know how to hide in the gutter!"
Xiao Qianyu didn't speak, but simply nodded at him. Her composure calmed the restless atmosphere in the camp.
Her gaze swept over everyone, landing on the back of the group. Lu Yan didn't enter the camp; he went straight to the command center. At a time like this, anger wouldn't solve anything.
The atmosphere inside the command center was even more oppressive than outside.
Lu Yan bypassed all the arguing staff members and went straight to the control panel, pulling up all the hydrological data for this sea area over the past decade. Tidal models, ocean current maps, geological structures, marine life migration routes... countless data streams converged into an ocean of information before his eyes.
His fingers flew across the holographic screen, retrieving, comparing, and filtering.
Li Tianshan stood behind him, saying nothing. He knew that what this young man needed was absolute silence.
"They're hiding from something."
After an unknown amount of time, Lu Yan's voice broke the silence. He looked up and drew a circle on the huge nautical chart. The circle wasn't large; it was exactly in the center of the "South Asian Alliance" ambush zone, a sea area deliberately left blank on the map.
"The 'Basong' forces have consistently followed this route. They're not the masters of this sea; they've just found a way to 'walk the dog.'" Lu Yan pointed to the center of the circle. "And that 'dog' is right here."
He superimposed the energy fluctuation pattern of the secret realm with the tidal patterns. A clear pattern emerged.
"The opening of the secret realm will cause energy tides of a specific frequency. This sea beast is very sensitive to these tides and will actively avoid them. The South Asian Alliance took advantage of this, using sonar to drive the sea beast into our shipping lanes before the secret realm opened, and then came out to reap the rewards after we and the sea beast were both exhausted."
Lu Yan turned off all data, leaving only a clean nautical chart.
"They thought they were hunters. In reality, they just found a feeding angle where they wouldn't get bitten for the time being."
Xiao Qianyu and the others arrived at the command center at some point. After listening to Lu Yan's analysis, Zhao Lei's eyes lit up.
"you mean……"
"That's right." Lu Yan looked at him. "Lure the dog away, let's go inside first."
The night was as dark as ink, and the waves were gentle.
The first squad, aboard China's most advanced stealth assault boat, the "Hidden Dragon," slipped silently into the sea area marked by Lu Yan, like a ghost.
"Sonar activated, dive mode activated," Xiao Qianyu commanded.
The inflatable boat's hull coating blends seamlessly with the seawater, allowing it to quietly sink underwater.
On the sonic screen, all was black. A few seconds later, a massive shadow, indescribable in shape, filled a third of the screen. It floated silently in the deep sea, like a sleeping underwater mountain. Even the occasional movement of its body could unleash a terrifying undercurrent powerful enough to tear steel apart.
Everyone held their breath.
This is the deep-sea behemoth that the South Asian Association uses as its "goalkeeper".
Looking through the porthole at the bottomless darkness, Zhao Leiguang felt a chill rise up his spine.
The next morning, the fog had not yet dissipated over the sea.
Basong and his combined force of awakened individuals from multiple nations reappeared near the crimson gate to the secret realm. They skillfully lowered several strange sonar devices from their speedboats and launched them into the sea.
hum-
A deep, penetrating sound wave spread out.
A moment later, on the distant sea, the giant beast, startled by the sound, reluctantly swam away from the secret realm, blocking the route most likely to be attacked by the Chinese fleet.
"Haha! Cleanup complete!"
"We're just waiting for those idiots from China to come and deliver their heads to us!"
"Their equipment will soon be ours!"
Bassong stood at the bow of the boat, a confident smile on his face. He had even already planned how to create a new humiliating video.
However, he did not wait for the Chinese team.
He was presented with a bizarre "performance" that he could not comprehend.
On a reef several kilometers away from them, Lu Yan raised his hand.
Without an aura or weapons, he simply stood there and began summoning fire elementals one by one.
puff.
A small, wobbly flaming jelly appeared.
Pfft.
Two more.
Puff puff puff puff...
In the blink of an eye, hundreds and thousands of fire elementals, each half a meter tall, appeared densely around the reef, like dumplings being dropped into a pot. They had no target; the moment they were summoned, they received only one command—advance.
Thus, to the astonishment of everyone in the South Asian Alliance, a "suicide squad" composed of countless fire slimes, with their comical short legs, resolutely rushed into the sea.
puff.
The first fire elemental to enter the water was instantly annihilated due to the fundamental rule that water and fire are incompatible, creating a small ripple.
Then came the second, the third, the tenth, and the hundredth!
Puff puff puff puff puff puff—
A continuous, subtle crackling sound blended into an eerie symphony on the sea surface. Thousands upon thousands of ripples overlapped, causing the seawater in that area to vibrate at an extremely high and rhythmic frequency.
"What the hell is that?" Basong's second-in-command stared in disbelief.
Basong frowned; he sensed something was wrong.
This vibration precisely simulates the energy tide that occurs when the secret realm opens, and amplifies this frequency tenfold!
The crimson gate to the secret realm, which would normally take at least an hour to stabilize, suddenly shone brightly under the stimulation of this violent tremor!
The secret realm has opened ahead of schedule!
"Oh no!" Basong's expression changed drastically.
Worse still, the deep-sea behemoth that had been driven far away by the sonar was also thoroughly enraged by this unusual energy fluctuation. Thinking that a new member of its kind was challenging its territory, it roared and turned back!
Everyone in the South Asian Association was completely stunned.
They watched helplessly as the colossal creature, wreathed in fury, rammed into their fleet. They also watched helplessly as, on the other side, a black speedboat, like an arrow released from a bow, calmly and effortlessly plunged into the wide-open gate to the secret realm, amidst their shocked and enraged gazes.
The moment the speedboat entered the secret realm, a cold system notification sounded in the minds of everyone in the team:
Welcome to the S+ Rank Dungeon: Dragon Palace Ruins
As the light and shadow shifted, the salty sea breeze was replaced by an ancient and solemn atmosphere.
The group found themselves in a magnificent underwater palace, surrounded by glowing corals and enormous luminous pearls. In the center of the hall, a colossal pillar carved with countless aquatic creatures stretched from the ground to the unseen dome.
A hundred-meter-long oriental dragon coils around the giant pillar.
Its eyes were closed, and its golden scales shimmered in the soft light, as if it were asleep.
Just then, a flash of light appeared at the entrance behind them, and Basong, covered in wounds and looking utterly disheveled, rushed in with several of his trusted men. Clearly, he had paid a heavy price for escaping the sea monster's rage.
As soon as he entered, he saw the first squad unharmed, and then he saw the sleeping dragon on the giant pillar.
New and old grudges surged into his heart, and anger completely overwhelmed his reason.
"If I can't have it, neither can you!"
Basong roared, raised his hand and hurled the trident in his hand with all his might at the sleeping dragon!
[Warning: The "Suppressing Sea Dragon Soul" has been awakened, and the "Dragon's Wrath" curse has been activated, indiscriminately attacking all intruders!]