Chapter 2299: Chaos, decision and arriving

Xia Bai and the Demon Whale clone beneath the Red Female Guard exploded into nothingness after a few seconds. Xia Bai's body swayed in the air, then plummeted toward the ground. The Red Female Guard had been carried into the air by the clone; when it vanished, they dropped straight down, their formation completely broken, with many piled on top of each other.

It was clear that some of the Red Female Guard members were no longer moving, their condition unknown.

Yangos made a sharp turn, quickly approaching the battlefield, and caught the Red Female Guard's leader before she hit the ground.

The evil dragon did not even glance at the Demon Whale, swiftly disengaging from the battlefield.

As a high-level lifeform, it could sense that the Demon Whale's energy fluctuations during its skill use were rapid and intense—something Yangos could not yet match.

That was the gap.

Facing a stronger lifeform, the evil dragon had always been cowardly. It had the courage to rescue Xia Bai and was willing to take that risk, because it felt it was its duty; if it did not, it would be skinned alive upon return. But challenging the Demon Whale? The evil dragon truly did not dare.

Unless it was a gang fight.

But on the Demon Whale's side, which the evil dragon had not even glanced at, it had just suffered what was likely its worst injury since the battle began.

Its massive body had shrunk by at least a tenth—sliced off by the energy blades. Blood now dripped heavily from its wounds, falling like rain upon the ground.

Besides its body, the Demon Whale's head was also injured. At a glance, it seemed minor, but from Xia Bai's earlier angle, one could see a deep depression on the Demon Whale's head—almost a crater.

The outer skin there had been completely blasted away, the bone was shattered into fragments the size of fingernails. Blood and unknown fluids seeped out continuously, forming a viscous pool in the hollow.

This might have been the most severe injury the Demon Whale had suffered since becoming a level-nine lifeform!

Although the sea king had not fallen like Xia Bai, its body swayed in the air for a long while before steadying.

But the fluid in the head wound spilled toward the sea with the swaying, perhaps from the intense pain, causing the Demon Whale to let out a suppressed, low growl.

Then it dove straight down, not toward the human line, but into the sea. Once submerged, it could be tracked moving rapidly along its own side's line, creating a massive wave on the surface.

The humans could not enter the sea to fight the Demon Whale, nor could they cross the sea beast line, so they could only watch.

Little Tiger's cavalry rushed to the Red Female Guard's position first, providing immediate aid. His expression darkened—at least a dozen Red Makeup Guard warriors showed no signs of life, with even more war beasts dead, many having chosen to shield their masters from danger.

Even if casualties did not increase further, losing over a dozen Red Makeup Guard warriors in one go was a rare heavy loss for Cloud Peak this year.

Various lights now flickered over the Red Female Guard as they consumed potions.

Little Tiger's cavalry main force circled around the Red Female Guard, intercepting sea beasts trying to pick off easy targets, covering their retreat to safety.

About five minutes later, the Demon Whale surged out of the water again, positioned itself between the two lines, and opened its massive mouth toward the human side.

The humans immediately went on alert, and the Loki Crosses quickly adjusted their aim, fully charged.

But the Demon Whale's next move caught them off guard.

The injured monster began spewing... sea beasts from its mouth toward the human side.

It had been swimming through the sea, swallowing sea beasts into its belly, then regurgitating them here.

Countless sea beasts flew over the line, landing in various parts of the human camp. The Demon Whale flew and spewed simultaneously, a process lasting over two minutes!

During this time, the humans did not fail to counterattack—Loki Crosses, war fortresses, magic crystal cannons, rocket launchers, and more all fired to stop the Demon Whale, but were blocked by the dense rain of falling sea beasts.

These counterattacks did cause heavy damage to the sea beasts, but the Demon Whale had swallowed too many, and it kept moving, constantly changing positions.

The entire human line was thrown into chaos.

Because the Demon Whale mainly targeted Cloud Peak's line, several reserve units that Cloud Peak had intended to hold back were forced into battle to protect rear positions at risk of being overrun—magic crystal cannon emplacements, long-range units, and more.

The frontline units were also suffering, still locked in combat with the sea beasts ahead while enemies appeared behind them, caught in a pincer. Many sea beasts landed directly inside formations; large numbers broke through the lines, while smaller groups were quickly killed, but their corpses became obstacles, hindering the formations' movement.

Many battalions that had held the advantage were thrown into passivity or even danger by the sea beasts raining from above.

Countless orders were relayed, and all human warriors were mobilized to counter this attack.

After over two minutes, the Demon Whale finished spewing, slowly descended into the sea, and vanished from sight, not reappearing for a long time, like a shadow hanging over the human fighters.

The battle lasted a full two days and two nights, only gradually ending at the fifty-second hour. The sea beasts had not advanced, nor had the humans routed them.

During those two days, the Demon Whale never appeared again.

When the fighting ceased, all the humans fell silent, staring blankly at the endless debris of broken limbs around them.

……………………

Superior Dragon listened to the reports from its subordinates, gaining a general understanding of the battle between humans and sea beasts.

The information was not hard to obtain—after all, there were too many sea beasts; no king, whether Superior Dragon or the Demon Whale, could control every single one.

With this information, Superior Dragon could now confirm two things: first, the Demon Whale was wounded, and seriously so. Second, the sea beasts could not mount another major battle anytime soon, even with their absolute numerical advantage and rapid reproduction—it would take days or even weeks to regroup.

With these confirmed, Superior Dragon began dispersing its subordinates, while it and the other top-tier lifeforms stayed far in the rear.

It wanted to confirm whether the Demon Whale had gone elsewhere to heal.

That would determine its decision.

News soon came: the Demon Whale had indeed dived into the deep northern waters, where the environment was better for its recovery.

Based on Superior Dragon's knowledge of sea life, the Demon Whale would be gone for at least five days.

Then... it was time to act.