In the end of the world, I become an immortal alone

#400 - Obsidian

"Commander! The Pillar Blade Beasts at marker points four and five are starting to adjust their positions! They are moving closer to each other!"

"Blade Beasts detected initiating a fallback."

"The Blade Beasts' rushing speed is decreasing!"

"Massive casualties among Blade Beasts in area D80239. Special psionic energy detected, database marked. Black Storm is taking action!"

"Commander-in-chief! Third Pillar has ceased activity!"

The entire command center was silent for two seconds, then someone excitedly blurted out a curse word.

Dongfang Zhenghong repeatedly confirmed the information before him.

After receiving definitive news from multi-dimensional battlefield sources, and receiving instructions from the Commander-in-Chief, Dongfang Zhenghong could finally confirm:

Wang Zheng had taken down the Third Pillar!

As for how Wang Zheng had accomplished this, Dongfang Zhenghong did not receive definitive data.

This also explained why the two Pillar Blade Beasts marked as four and five were 'huddling together for warmth'.

They were afraid.

They were afraid!

Dongfang Zhenghong quickly suppressed his emotions, calmly thought, precisely dispatched, and began to make targeted adjustments, concentrating superior firepower to attack the enemy's King-level Blade Beast groups, and arranged for a large number of semi-human mecha teams to ambush the King-level Blade Beasts with their exclusive mecha groups.

They couldn't solve the Pillar Blade Beasts for the time being, but they already had methods to hunt the King-level Blade Beasts.

About a dozen minutes later.

The battle lines were all flashing red.

This wasn't good news frequently being reported, but red lights flashing, with area battle lines constantly being breached.

Fortunately, they had simulated the battle situation in advance, and Dongfang Zhenghong issued orders in an orderly manner, with commanders in local battlefields starting to contract their battle lines backward.

Trading space for enemy attrition.

Even sacrificing the outer fortresses of the D8 integrated war zone, totaling more than ten million people, was a price they were willing to pay.

On the current world map, D8 had become an isolated island surrounded by the Blade Beast tide.

Remote fire support from other war zones was frantically deployed, and a large number of sealed old bombers were pulled out of their hangars.

This was already a battle at the level of civilization.

If they won, human civilization would gain more breathing room.

If they lost, human civilization would accelerate its demise.

Dongfang Zhenghong once again received instructions from the Commander-in-Chief, to set up a pocket formation for the two adjacent Pillar Blade Beasts, and planned to use precious high-yield nuclear weapons to wound the other Pillar Blade Beasts.

Just as Dongfang Zhenghong was meticulously controlling the entire battle situation, a patch of red light on the large screen suddenly disappeared into thin air.

Yes, disappeared.

That patch of red light represented a large segment of the battle line currently engaged in combat, with large numbers of Blade Beasts on the periphery of the battle line.

But at this moment, this patch of red light strangely went out, as if all electromagnetic signals there had been swallowed and contact with the command headquarters was impossible…

No, each battle line point had 'floating cables' hidden underground as emergency communication methods.

Simply shielding electromagnetic signals wouldn't suddenly cause this situation where tens of thousands of soldiers and millions of pieces of equipment simultaneously disappeared from the command network.

Was the display equipment damaged?

Dongfang Zhenghong rushed to a nearby console, yanked open a technician who was sweating profusely, and quickly pressed several buttons.

Psionic satellite map, that area was completely black;

Biological signal coarse map, that area was completely black;

Backup command system, one-way emergency call network… all means that the command headquarters could check were, at this moment, the same result—completely black.

There was no response.

Dongfang Zhenghong's Adam's apple bobbed up and down: "Satellite images!"

"Three seconds of delay remaining… deployed!"

A satellite cloud map appeared on the central large screen. The battlefield that had suddenly lost contact was currently covered by a regular circular black cloud.

"Unknown unique psionic energy detected! After comparison by the system, this is the first time this signal has been captured!"

"Commander-in-chief! Multiple second-defense line units are sending messages! They saw a large amount of black mist suddenly appear and directly swallow the front battlefield!"

"The Blade Beasts are avoiding those black mists!"

"Damn it! Commander-in-chief! The elites on our western battle line have been swallowed by the black mist! The black mist has no tendency to spread for the time being!"

Dongfang Zhenghong did not hesitate.

He was shocked, and also somewhat afraid of the unknown, but he still didn't stop himself from thinking.

"The western battle line immediately retreats! Abandon the four outermost fortresses on the western side! Let the area commander be ready to detonate the nuclear minefields at any time! Have the second, third, and fifth heavy firepower brigades of the third defense line press forward for me! Prioritize aerial firepower support! Absolutely do not allow a large-scale breach!"

"Yes!"

Dongfang Zhenghong stared intently at the screen that had returned to the overall battle line map.

That gray area was so glaring.

What exactly was that, what kind of strange method.

Half an hour later.

Because of the sudden appearance of this strange black gas, the pressure on the human western battle line was already overloaded, and the entire battle line was on the verge of collapse.

All the Blade Beasts, including the Pillar Blade Beasts, suddenly stopped rushing forward.

A large number of Blade Beasts were digging deeper underground, while the Pillar Blade Beasts stood still ostentatiously, attracting and consuming the human side's heavy firepower.

Just as Dongfang Zhenghong couldn't figure it out, several pseudo-spirit slaves appeared in the sights of the front-line troops, holding up a banner with human words written on it:

[Hello, human commander, perhaps we can talk.]

Dongfang Zhenghong hesitated for a moment and did not agree without authorization, but reported it to Fu Jian.

Fu Jian's reply, however, made Dongfang Zhenghong smile wryly.

"You are the commander now," Fu Jian said calmly, "Unless I'm dead, turned into a tombstone and ashes, are you still going to run to my tombstone and ask, Commander-in-Chief, what should I do?"

Dongfang Zhenghong took a deep breath, thought slightly, and immediately had the mechanical bodies on his side send communication equipment.

The three pseudo-spirit slaves took the communication equipment and turned to run away.

It was so quiet for more than ten minutes;

The entire battle line was also quiet for more than ten minutes.

The human military was seizing this precious rest period, transporting supplies, deploying firepower, and allowing the high-temperature gun barrels to cool down for a while longer.

"Commander, the enemy has sent a communication request, using the equipment number we sent out."

"Connect it."

Dongfang Zhenghong turned his head to look at the chair behind him, calmly sat down, put his hands on the armrests, and quickly lost all expression.

A gray scene appeared on the large screen;

In the grayness, a bonfire was lit, illuminating three figures.

Everyone could see that these three figures were sitting around the bonfire, with that 'thick' black mist behind them.

These black mists were airtight, like clusters of flesh and blood constantly surging, and everyone who stared at this black mist for a while would feel nauseous.

And this was just watching it remotely through video.

The three figures were a young girl, a middle-aged man, and an old man.

Dongfang Zhenghong felt that he had seen the young girl's face somewhere before. The firelight illuminated her tear-stained face, as if she had suffered great grievances.

Ah, it was Ye Zi, the girl that Wang Zheng had been having Zheng De search for, and who later became a major problem for humanity.

And that middle-aged man.

Dongfang Zhenghong stared at the man's figure.

He wasn't particularly burly, and his face seemed a bit unremarkable. His thick eyebrows and large eyes even gave people a feeling of kindness, and those bright and piercing eyes were the only distinguishing feature of his appearance.

The man was warming his hands by the fire and, at this moment, turned his head to look over, smiling at the communication equipment held by the pseudo-spirit slave.

"Dongfang Zhenghong?"

Although Dongfang Zhenghong was a little puzzled in his heart, wondering why the other party knew his name, he thought that since a large number of brain-eating worms had been spread within humanity by the Blade Beasts, it was reasonable to assume that various pieces of intelligence had been taken out.

"That's me," Dongfang Zhenghong said calmly, "Your Excellency can command the pseudo-spirit slaves of the Blade Beasts, so you should be the mastermind behind the Blade Beast disaster, a spirit cultivator of a certain faction."

"You could say that."

The middle-aged man nodded with a smile:

"Although I wanted to talk directly with Fu Jian, but it's you who appeared, it's probably because Fu Jian doesn't want to show his face.

"It doesn't matter, the words I say now, I think Fu Jian, Amina, Black Storm, oh no, the Great Pioneer, can all hear them.

"Let me first show my means of attack."

The man pointed to the black mist behind him.

The old man beside the fire casually swiped, and a subspace portal appeared, from within which fell a large, high-level Blade Beast.

The old man drew a wisp of black mist out, surrounding the Blade Beast, and the Blade Beast trembled all over, but after trembling three times, it stopped moving, and its body petrified at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually becoming a stone sculpture.

The middle-aged man calmly introduced:

"The ancient times were an era of civilization hegemony. In that era, because of the mutual competition between civilizations, this star field gave birth to many civilizations with crazy potential.

"For example, we spirit cultivators, we are only users of the core circuit, and the core circuit and psionic circuit, as well as all related technologies, were born in an ancient civilization called Yina.

"The Yina civilization was not the only dominant force at the time. Seven civilizations competed with it for hegemony in this star field, and the paths these seven civilizations took were not the same, but when the Yina civilization developed psionic power, these seven civilizations began to retreat steadily, and obtained some methods of using psionic power through various means.

"They had crazy experimental methods, and technological reserves no less than those of the Yina civilization, and various abilities were developed, and most of them revolved around one theme.

"War.

"This black mist contains the power of rules that I don't understand either, but its effect is very good.

"Petrification.

"In fact, it's not just petrification, it also devours the souls of intelligent life, strengthening itself. You can understand that this black mist is alive, it is a monster in itself."

The middle-aged man opened space, revealing a gray subspace.

Seven black mist 'larvae' were constantly wriggling inside.

The middle-aged man elegantly slid his finger, and the subspace was closed.

He looked at Dongfang Zhenghong with ease.

"So, what I'm about to say is not an empty threat. I have all sorts of means to easily manipulate you, even the Blade Beasts. To be precise, the Blade Beasts' Carillon Council will not oppose any of my proposals at this stage."

He paused for two seconds and continued:

"Surrender.

"Give up your cooperation with the Black Storm and hand over one hundred million people, and I will ensure that the Blade Beasts will not invade you for a hundred years.

"Next, you can have a meeting to discuss it. I will randomly release the second cloud of black mist in half an hour.

"Oh, right," the middle-aged man gently winked his right eye at the camera, "Amina, my dear daughter, although I've forgotten your designation, if you want to come over and extract information for the Black Storm, I'll be here waiting for you for a few hours. I really like this kind of bloodline bond."

Whoosh.

The large screen went black immediately.

Dongfang Zhenghong didn't have a chance to speak from beginning to end.

Inside the super-large mecha prototype.

Fu Jian frowned tightly and looked at Wang Jixuan, who was next to him; Wang Daochang, who was enjoying hotpot next to the console, was also frowning in thought at this moment.

Fu Jian asked: "Is that Obsidian?"

"Don't know him, first time seeing him," Wang Jixuan took a sip of wheat juice, "I'm quite interested in this black mist. Wait a moment, let me contact Amina."

"Mm," Fu Jian nodded, not saying anything, and leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.

For some reason, he felt that the other party's threat was not a bluff.

Next to him, Wang Jixuan had already started communicating with Amina. Amina's mental state didn't seem very good.

"Obsidian?"

"Mm."

"What is that black mist?"

"Not sure," Amina looked to the side. Nielda Tamon and Sabina were also shaking their heads.

Wang Jixuan kept thinking.

It seems that he has to show up and take a look over there.

This Obsidian seems to be threatening humanity, but in reality, he is using the humans on this planet to threaten him.

Wang Jixuan hated moral kidnapping. He is currently in a Demon Lord mindset, so logically he shouldn't care about these things, but... it's still quite difficult to change one's nature.

Wang Jixuan still prefers to be a righteous hero admired by others.

Moreover, he doesn't want to be led by the nose.

Nielda Tamon said: "I've had several interactions with Obsidian. I'll go talk to him and see if I can collect some of that black mist."

Wang Jixuan said: "Then I'll have to trouble you."

"Mm," Nielda Tamon said in a muffled voice, turning around to leave the cockpit.

Sabina wanted to follow, but Nielda Tamon shook his head and refused.

"You trust others too easily," Nielda Tamon said in a deep voice, "If Obsidian orchestrated the decline of our civilization, then he is inevitably my enemy, Sabina."

"I know, it's just... be careful."

"Enemies and disasters that can't kill me will only make me stronger."

Nielda Tamon said coolly. He took a few portable cameras from the hands of the high-level mechanical body and turned to disappear into the night sky.

Amina was a little anxious.

Although her strength was already close to her original peak, she had no confidence against Obsidian.

There is actually another problem here.

The starting point for Nielda Tamon is actually quite a distance away from the black mist area where Obsidian is located.

By the time Nielda Tamon finds Obsidian, Obsidian should have already released the second cloud of black mist.

This kind of black mist.

Wang Jixuan frowned and pondered. He suddenly got up, greeted Fu Jian, and his figure flashed, directly appearing outside the super-large mecha, his figure turning into a beam of black light and crashing into the earth.

Earth Escape.

He is relatively closer to the area where Obsidian is located.

First, study that black mist. If he can restrain it, he will restrain it directly. If he can't restrain it...

Then he'll try blasting him with a cannon.

Complaining for so long, it's still that set of coercion and inducement.

This Daoist wasn't scared into growing up.