Chapter 49: A Piece of Bad News

Wave after wave of the beast horde crashed against them, so relentlessly that most people began to feel exhaustion creeping in. By three or four in the morning, the assault had lasted nearly twenty hours, and even Lin Huang felt his strength waning severely. If it weren’t for his passive skill, Fortitude, supporting him, he doubted he’d even have the strength to raise his blade.

The other youths fared slightly better than Lin Huang, but their faces were grim and pale. Lin Huang had lost track of how many monsters he and Bai had slain; the life energy within his life wheel had unknowingly reached a nearly overflowing state—three hundred fifty-seven gauges already filled with white light, leaving only three gray gauges unlit.

“Xiao Hei, temporarily sever the life energy transmission between Bai and me!” Lin Huang commanded urgently.

[Host requests temporary disconnection of life wheel synchronization with the summoned beast Bai. Disconnection complete.]

Xiao Hei swiftly processed Lin Huang’s order. The reason for severing the link was simple: if Bai kept transmitting life energy, Lin Huang’s life wheel would soon overflow. Once all three hundred sixty gauges were filled, any further slaying of monsters in the Iron Black realm would result in a baptism of life energy, marking his true ascent to the Iron Black rank.

But ascending to Iron Black meant obtaining his first life seed. Life seeds could enhance innate talents and potential in specific areas, so everyone chose carefully. Life seeds fell into five categories: Elemental, Enhancement, Mental, Special, and Composite.

Lin Huang had long set his sights on an Enhancement-type life seed, specifically one for blades. To obtain this, he needed to slay monsters wielding blades. Yet, amidst this beast horde, not a single such monster appeared. So Lin Huang could only choose to delay his advancement.

Around six in the morning, the sun rose above the horizon.

With a single stroke, Lin Huang decapitated a monster, gasping for breath as he looked toward the sunrise.

“The sun has finally risen…”

For these last two hours, every minute had felt like torment. Without advancing to Iron Black, even with Fortitude sustaining him, his stamina could not match that of other third-tier Iron Black youths. Now, every swing of his blade took more effort.

“Lin Huang, are you all right?” Zhou Le and the others quickly noticed his declining state.

“I’m fine for now, but if this keeps up, I’m afraid I won’t last much longer,” Lin Huang admitted, estimating he could hold out for perhaps two more hours.

“Why don’t you take a break? We’ll hold the line for now,” Zhou Le suggested, though he knew their burden would increase without Lin Huang.

“Resting won’t help much—maybe I’d last a few more hours. But it’s not just me; everyone’s stamina is nearly spent. Sooner or later, the defense will be breached.” Lin Huang shook his head, then gazed toward the mouth of the canyon. “We need to solve the root problem!”

“What’s the root problem?” Zhou Le asked immediately.

“The reason our defenses are about to fail is the sheer number of monsters versus our limited numbers and stamina. The solution, in theory, is simple—reduce the influx of monsters by narrowing the canyon entrance,” Lin Huang explained calmly.

“But we can’t move the boulders to the canyon mouth now,” Zhou Le replied. “Each boulder is as large as a small mountain—no one’s storage space can handle it, and before, we had to rely on the settlement’s residents. Even with tools, it takes hundreds of people to move them, and with the battle raging, the residents can’t help—they’d just become targets.”

Lin Huang had pinpointed the issue, but couldn’t think of a suitable solution.

“If it’s just about blocking the entrance, we don’t necessarily need boulders. Why not pile the corpses at the canyon mouth? Many monster corpses are already tough—just stack them thicker,” Zhou Le suggested offhandedly.

Lin Huang paused, then burst out laughing. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!”

Without delay, he sent the proposal to Yi Yeyu.

Moments later, Yi Yeyu read the message. At first, she was stunned, then a look of joyous surprise lit her face. She quickly forwarded the idea to Yi Zheng. Yi Zheng, equally delighted, relayed the plan to several Gold Hunters and began collecting corpses.

Soon, a mountain of monster bodies formed a new defensive layer, with Yi Zheng and his team dousing it in oil to prevent beasts from climbing. As the heap grew, the canyon entrance steadily shrank until, by noon, it was reduced to about three hundred meters—just as Lin Huang had envisioned.

The pressure on everyone eased noticeably. The third defensive layer where Lin Huang stood, which used to face waves of monsters every few minutes, now saw attacks only every half hour. Even the Silver Hunters at the second layer found themselves with breathing room.

Standing atop the boulder, Yi Zheng gave Lin Huang a distant thumbs-up.

Lin Huang pointed to Zhou Le at his side, then messaged Yi Yeyu to explain that the idea had been Zhou Le’s.

By the afternoon of the second day, everyone felt lighter, with even time to eat dry rations and replenish their strength.

As the sun gradually disappeared behind the snowy mountains, Yi Yeyu silently prayed that the coming night would pass without mishap. She hoped the transcendent human would arrive in time, slay the transcendent monster, and bring this beast horde to an end.

Around six in the evening, darkness began to fall, and outside the canyon, the beasts’ roars grew even more frenzied.

Standing atop the boulder, Yi Zheng gazed into the distance at the tens of thousands of beasts below, ready to sigh over the scene, when suddenly his Imperial Heart Ring vibrated.

Lin Huang’s own Imperial Heart Ring vibrated at almost the same moment.

Seizing a lull, Lin Huang tapped open the ring.

A news page popped up.

“Since eight o’clock yesterday morning, a berserk-level beast horde has erupted in the eastern region of Zone Seven. The scope of this horde is vast, and three small settlements—7D120, 7D122, and 7D123—have been confirmed destroyed with no survivors. Death toll has reached 670,000. The status of small settlement 7D121 remains unclear, but a transcendent has been dispatched. We will report further as information becomes available…”

Reading this news, many who had just relaxed now looked grim.

“This is trouble…”

Lin Huang’s brow furrowed. The nearest settlements had already been annihilated by the beast horde; only Snow Mountain Town remained unconquered. The transcendent monster’s next target would inevitably be Snow Mountain Town. Having been severely wounded by a human transcendent in the area, it would not rest until it wiped out every human settlement nearby.