great-warnovel Chapter 314 The Fifth Gate to the Secret Realm
Chapter 314 The Fifth Gate to the Secret Realm
The commander of the Nishikawa Defense Force tucked his helmet under his arm, with the shell of the insect mother lying at his feet.
He pulled out his tactical board, where five red markers stretched from both sides of the canyon to the old city of Xichuan, with the monster spawn count next to the number still ticking.
"There are five teleportation portals outside the city. The first one is outside the gap in the north wall, the second one is located in the salt ditch, and the third one is against the south slope."
"The fourth one was at an abandoned railway station, and the fifth one was inside the old city. The reconnaissance team couldn't get close."
The commander opened the casualty column, and only half a page remained of the organization of the third and fifth defense zones.
"The city wall has just been repaired, there has been another underground impact, and the cannons are almost out of shells."
Lu Yan pressed the Void Disc onto the tactical board, and the edges of the five doors were split into five sets of power lines.
Guarding the city walls to clear out monsters only results in people being forced into the gaps.
The objective on the board is clear: eliminate the lord and disable the door frame.
"Send the wounded to the inner city; machine gun crews return to their firing positions."
"Block the doorway with heavy firepower; shells are not allowed to cross the door frame."
The commander stopped writing: "There's no terrain data inside the door."
"First squad, go in."
Lu Yan marked the first door with a four-minute window.
"Leave two groups of people outside the door to provide backup. If there is any unusual movement on the door frame, report the coordinates first."
Zhao Leiguang fastened the two shields to his arms, the edges of which were still covered in the sticky mucus of the insect mother.
"If there are queen insects inside the gate, save me a big one."
Wen Yue opened the quiver; the rangefinding arrows were arranged on the left, while the high-explosive arrows were pressed at the bottom.
She only had half a quiver of spare arrows left, and she had to use them sparingly for the first two doors.
Xiao Qianyu reattached the Leap Beacon to her wristband, and the Dragon King Halberd fell into her palm.
Shen Xinglin inspected the lance latches, and the long cone, locking bar, and chainsaw popped out in half one after another.
Su Yunqing handed the medical kit to the military doctor of the defense force, and Yao Guangzhi stood it upright beside her.
The shields hidden in the armor gaps in the front row hadn't dissipated yet, and she didn't intend to waste her healing power near the city wall.
Qin Wuyi held the six array plates, and he disassembled the geological maps of the salt ditch and the mine into the simplest form.
Lu Yan walked to the first door.
The door frame is embedded in the broken stone outside the north wall, and the silvery-gray light layer rolls inward.
Zhao Leiguang stepped in first, his two shields bracing against the inside of the door frame.
The stone beneath their feet flipped up to their heads, and the upside-down mine shaft pressed down on them.
Hundreds of beetle-like creatures clung to the rock top, mouthparts facing down, their legs hooked into the crevices.
Zhao Leiguang clasped his two shields together, and the Wall of Earth extended diagonally from the entrance.
The first batch of insectoid beasts crashed onto the shield, cracking their shells and piling up their limbs at the base of the wall.
Shen Xinglin leaped out from behind the shield, his lance slicing into a long cone, and then pierced open the belly armor of the three-headed insect beast.
Wen Yue drove three rangefinding arrows into the top of the rock, with red lines trailing from their tails.
The red line wound around the swarm of insects and landed on an upside-down stone pillar at the deepest part of the mine.
"The lord is in the pillar."
Qin Wuyi pressed the array plate into the rock walls on both sides, blocking the route for the insect beasts to burrow back into the entrance.
Su Yunqing placed the shield over the gaps in Zhao Leiguang and Shen Xinglin's armor.
Lin Chuxue raised the Blood Pool Howling Staff, and the Blood Explosion Array Patterns were attached to the inverted stone pillar.
The array patterns did not touch Zhao Leiguang's shield wall, nor did they touch the rock layer that Qin Wuyi was pressing down on.
The swarm of insects spread out from around the stone pillar, and a crack appeared in the middle of the pillar.
The Insect King rolled down from the rock strata, its carapace smashing a large number of insect beasts.
It had a dark red crystal core hanging on its abdomen, and the crystal core was covered with seven layers of armor plates.
Wen Yue raised the crossbow and pressed down on the crystal core: "The armor plates are too thick; the arrow can't penetrate."
Zhao Leiguang charged at the Insect King with his two shields, pushing the Insect King's forelimbs off the ground.
The insect king's mouthparts pressed against the edge of its shield, and its armor plates scraped out a large number of sparks.
"Qianyu!"
Xiao Qianyu stepped onto the beacon and landed on the insect king's carapace.
The Dragon King's Halberd was pressed in along the gaps in the armor plates, and the halberd blade pierced through the outer shell of the crystal core.
The insect king's carapace collapsed downwards, its leg hooks loosened, and the swarm of insects fell from the rock top, filling the mine shaft.
Lin Chuxue pressed down on her staff, and the Blood Explosion Array pattern was absorbed into the crystal core.
After the crystal nucleus breaks, the light layer inside the door frame rolls inward.
Lu Yan retrieved the Void Disc, and the power supply line on the Insect King's abdomen was dragged into a gray line.
The first portal collapsed into shattered light, and the firepower outside the portal paused for a moment.
With the insect swarm outside the breach in the north wall losing its source, the defense force's machine gun squads pushed the last few rows of insect beasts back into the rubble.
A soldier with a missing left arm raised his rifle and shouted at the wreckage of the door frame.
"First squad!"
Lu Yan turned to open the tactics board.
"Hold the line."
The second gate is located on the salt gully on the east side of the canyon, and the area outside the gate is full of drilled holes.
The cracked salt flats inside the gate extend outwards, with no cover on the surface.
Qin Wuyi did not follow the hole down.
He buried six array plates into the salt layer, and marked the exit of the underground passage as a fixed landing point.
When the Rifttooth Beast breaks through the ground, its head always crashes into the same coordinate.
The first one broke two of its fangs and tumbled into the salt pit on the left.
The second head had just poked its head out when Qin Wuyi lifted the main plate, pressing down its tail with the salt layer.
Zhao Leiguang rushed across the edge of the salt pit, his double shields clamping down on the head and neck of the Rifttooth Beast leader.
The leader dragged him backward, his four claws digging four deep furrows.
The pulse patterns under Zhao Leiguang's feet pressed into the salt layer, creating an opening in the salt mound.
"Old Shen, open your mouth."
Shen Xinglin swept past from the side, his lance transforming into a locking bar, which he then locked into the upper and lower mandibles of the Rifttooth Beast.
The locking bar pried open the beast's mouth, causing the fanged beast's jaws to flip open to the sides.
Su Yunqing pressed the shield onto Zhao Leiguang's shoulder armor and Shen Xinglin's leg armor.
She left a protective shield in front of Wen Yue.
Wen Yue stepped onto the salt mound, and the crossbow muzzle pierced through the open mouthpiece.
The high-explosive arrow pierced the beast's belly, with the fletching still sticking out.
Zhao Leiguang turned around and shouted, "Wen Yue, don't pull out the arrow!"
"If you dare pull it out, I'll nail you into a salt pit first."
Wen Yue pressed the remote detonation button on the crossbow handle.
The fanged beast's abdomen collapsed, pressing a deep crater into the salt flats. The leader slapped its tail twice, then didn't lift it again.
The remaining fanged beasts rammed back and forth at the exit of the array plate, smashing their fangs but failing to break through the salt layer.
Xiao Qianyu walked along the edge of the pit, her halberd piercing the back of the necks of the two fanged beasts.
Lin Chuxue did not make a move; her staff hung at her side.
She had calculated the mana consumption; there were still three gates ahead, and the monsters in the Salt Land weren't qualified to be hit by the Blood Explosion Formation.
The light layer of the second door retracted back into the door frame, and a large portion of the monster horde outside was missing.
Soldiers from the third defense zone rushed out from behind the barrage of fire and dragged the wounded back to the trenches.
Engineers carried alloy plates to patch the gaps in the city wall, while artillerymen adjusted their cannons to the south slope.
The defense commander stood outside the salt ditch, and the casualty column on the tactics board paused for half a minute.
He didn't ask where the first squad came from.
He couldn't access the files of that team.
Wen Yue closed the quiver; only half of the high-explosive arrows remained.
Zhao Lei wiped the insect blood off the shield and gestured with his chin toward the mountain hollow.
"There are five gates, and only two have been demolished. There should be some decent work to be done on the rest."
Shen Xinglin sheathed his lance and long spear.
"Finish the third one first."
Lin Chuxue unwrapped a candy and put the wrapper back in her pocket.
"If the third one is still hidden underground, I'll go find the door frame and charge them for digging it up."
Qin Wuyi retrieved four salt layer array plates, leaving two for the engineers to seal the pit.
He looked towards the coordinates on the south slope, where the terrain lines on the main map were broken and fragmented by the monsters' trampling.
Lu Yan raised the Void Plate.
The monster density of the third and fourth portals has been marked, with red dots filling the board.
There is no topographical map for the fifth gate.
Deep within the old city of Xichuan, only a blood-red mark remains.
An unsigned record appears at the bottom of the screen.
The first squad has entered the fifth gate.