Volume 2: Shenzhou Academy & The Battle of Venice
Chapter 152
Expedition to the Gluttonous Deep Sea
The summer sea gales blowing inland from Jinghai Bay carried none of the ocean’s refreshing coolness. Instead, they reeked of the nauseating stench of rotten seabed silt mingled with an acrid, brine-soaked saltiness that stung exposed skin like nettles.
Across the eastern horizon, mountains of leaden storm clouds rolled in from the outer rim of the ocean, blotting out the midday sun entirely. Ominous, pitch-black breakers over four meters tall howled in fury, crashing relentlessly against the reinforced spell-forged concrete seawall of Outpost Fortress No. 3. Every thunderous impact threw towering plumes of frothing white spray into the sky, accompanied by deafening booms that reverberated like rolling thunder.
WOOOO —— WOOOO —— WOOOO ——!!
A blazing crimson Level 1 Coastal Defense Siren tore through the suffocating air. The dismal, wailing screeches blasted from dozens of high-output loudspeakers mounted along the battlement parapets, stretching into piercing sonic sirens that rattled the eardrums of every soldier and mage stationed along the line.
SCREEECH ——!
A heavy-duty tracked mana-transport vehicle braked violently before the half-meter-thick armored steel gate of the forward outpost command station. The cabin door hissed open, allowing gusts of grit, moisture, and salt spray to rush into the passenger compartment.
Lin Feng leaped down onto the gray flagstone pavement, the silver-embroidered black hem of his Shenzhou Academy uniform fluttering sharply in the biting gale. Close behind him, Ye Qingwan stepped out in neat, pale-green combat robes, her silky hair tied high into a practical ponytail to reveal her slender, jade-white neck. Her calm phoenix eyes swept across the frontline panorama with cool calculation. Beside them, Gu Xiaowei hopped down, immediately raising both hands to shield her forehead against the stinging droplets pelting her face, her pouty lips murmuring in distaste:
“This fishy stench is overwhelming... Lin Feng, is this really the coastal defense battlefield people whisper about? It’s completely different from the pristine dueling arenas back at the academy.”
“A true battlefield never lays out a red carpet.” Xie Zhaoyuan jumped out right behind them, swiftly retrieving a specialized magical telescope. His fingers adjusted the focus ring with practiced dexterity as he aimed it toward the violently churning sea: “The academy is merely a greenhouse. This place... this is the genuine slaughterhouse of Jinghai.”
Before the four could properly assemble their formation, a squad of naval soldiers clad in deep-blue marine fatigues and clutching mana rifles briskly marched over. Leading them was a middle-aged officer whose face was weathered and tanned dark from years of coastal gale and sun, the rank insignia of a Colonel gleaming upon his collar.
“The Shenzhou Academy intern squad?” The Colonel’s gaze swept over the young cohort, his brows furrowing into a deep trench, his tone brisk and tinged with undeniable skepticism: “I am Xiao Chenggang, Colonel in charge of Defense Sector No. 3. The Lieutenant General is waiting for you in the subterranean operations bunker. Follow me, double time! Those beasts from the ocean abyss have caught the scent of blood again!”
The squad fell into step behind Colonel Xiao Chenggang, plunging deep into the reinforced concrete bunker blasted directly into the bedrock of the coastal mountain.
Inside the forward operations room, the tension was taut enough to detonate at the slightest spark. Dozens of communications officers wearing arcane headsets shouted tactical coordinates without pause, seismic detectors clattered in frantic, rhythmic clicks, and across the colossal three-dimensional holographic tactical map suspended in the center of the hall, the entire eastern coastline pulsed in a furious, alarming crimson.
Standing before the tactical sandtable was a burly middle-aged man built like an iron bulwark. He wore a deep-blue naval cloak, three gleaming silver stars resting upon his epaulets testifying to his illustrious standing: Lieutenant General Lu Haojun—Deputy Commander of the Jinghai Coastal Defense Military Region.
Hearing approaching footsteps, Lu Haojun turned around. The sharp, hawk-like gaze of the battle-hardened commander swept across the four first-year students, finally coming to rest upon Lin Feng. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and he gave a curt nod:
“You arrived right on time. Your brilliant triumph over that brat Liu Zhendong on the arena yesterday—I watched the whole thing. But out here, there are no referees, no protective boundary arrays, and the sea fiends lurking beneath the ocean will not cease their butchery just because you cry surrender.”
“Reporting to the Lieutenant General, we arrived under combat training deployment orders, not as sightseers.” Lin Feng stood ramrod straight, his voice calm and steady, unflinchingly meeting the invisible spiritual pressure radiating from this High-Rank Archmage commander.
“Good! You have backbone!” Lu Haojun slammed his coarse palm down onto the tactical console, his thick finger pointing toward a dark, churning band slowly creeping toward the base of the seawall: “Look here. This is the Gluttonous Deep Sea Zone—an oceanic trench plunging over eight thousand meters deep, situated thirty nautical miles from our outpost. Under normal conditions, the creatures lurking in those abyssal depths rarely surface into the epipelagic zone. However, half a day ago, an abnormal black tide agitated the entire crustacean ecosystem at the bottom of the trench.”
Colonel Xiao Chenggang chimed in, his voice weighed down by grave apprehension:
“Our primary adversaries in this wave are the Giant-Clawed Gluttonous Fiend Crabs. Their estimated numbers have exceeded three thousand, and among them, dozens have already matured into the Warrior-level tier! The carapaces of these demonic crabs have been reinforced by deep-sea mineral deposits over centuries, measuring up to thirty centimeters thick. They can absorb kinetic shockwaves and dissipate up to seventy percent of the mana from standard Ice and Earth elements. Most terrifying of all are their serrated, titanic claws; a single clamp packs enough force to shear through bridge girders and rip open reinforced seawalls!”
BOOM! RUMBLE ——!!
A terrifying tremor abruptly jolted through the bedrock, causing the entire floor of the subterranean chamber to shudder violently. Plaster dust fell from the ceiling onto the tactical sandtable, and the arcane chandelier swayed precipitously.
“Command, report! Sector 3’s left flank is under heavy assault!” The frantic shout of a communications officer crackled through the intercom, underscored by the screech of grinding metal and feral beast roars: “Naval Platoon 7 has taken catastrophic casualties! The Earthen Rock Barrier line was completely crushed! Over three hundred vanguard fiend crabs have breached the seawall—they are targeting the left-flank mana artillery turret! Requesting urgent reinforcements! Requesting... AAARGH—!!”
The transmission cut out with a blood-curdling scream accompanied by the sickening crunch of bone being splintered into shards.
Xiao Chenggang’s complexion turned to ash: “Damn it! Platoon 7 consists entirely of Ice-element and Basic-tier Earth-element mages; their spells can’t pierce the armor of those walking tanks! If the left flank collapses and the mana turret is destroyed, the central seawall will be laid bare to their feeding frenzy!”
The Colonel clenched his fists, pivoting urgently toward Lu Haojun: “General, our mobile reserves are pinned down on the right bank! All we have left is...”
He hesitated, casting a strained, doubtful glance at Lin Feng’s four-man squad. Tossing a handful of raw freshmen into the meat grinder of the left flank was practically sending them to their graves!
“We’ll take it.”
Lin Feng did not wait for the Colonel to finish his hesitant deliberation. He took a resolute step forward, his voice cutting like iron: “Our squad claims the left flank.”
Lu Haojun peered deep into Lin Feng’s abyssal black eyes, finding not a flicker of hesitation or dread. In a heavy, commanding growl, he ordered: “Xiao Chenggang, grant Shenzhou Squad supreme tactical clearance over the left flank! Go, kid. Show me how many of those abyssal iron pincers your flames can roast to cinder!”
“Understood!”
Ten minutes later, atop the left seawall of Outpost Fortress No. 3.
Stepping onto the twenty-meter-wide reinforced concrete promenade, a suffocating scene of sheer carnage hit Lin Feng and his squad.
The concrete surface was riddled with gaping fractures, thick steel rebar twisted and snapped like brittle straw. Crimson blood pooled across the gray stone, exuding a coppery stench that mingled with the acrid salt spray. Fewer than twenty naval soldiers were fighting a desperate, retreating rearguard action, their armor torn to shreds, their internal mana depleted to near dryness.
Below the seawall, the pitch-black tide had surged up to the edge of the parapet. Crawling over the sheer vertical face of the rampart were hundreds of gargantuan crustacean monsters!
Each Giant-Clawed Gluttonous Fiend Crab was the size of a light truck. Their bodies were encased in coarse, jet-black shells bristling with mineral spires that gleamed with cold metallic luster. Eight spear-like legs stabbed into the reinforced concrete, effortlessly propelling their multi-ton carapaces up the incline. Most terrifying were their twin frontal pincers: the right claw was more than double the size of the left, its inner edges lined with jagged, serrated teeth. Every snapping bite produced an ear-splitting screech, slicing through steel guardrails as easily as scissors cutting paper!
“Ice Lock — Lethargy!”
A blood-soaked naval lieutenant desperately unleashed a freezing chain, attempting to bind the legs of a fiend crab mounting the parapet. Yet the moment the frost grazed the jagged black shell, a layer of grayish slime absorbed the chill entirely. The fiend crab casually jerked its iron pincer—CRACK!—and the icy shackle shattered into tens of thousands of frozen shards!
“It’s useless! Standard frost can’t even freeze their joints!” The lieutenant screamed in despair as the colossal claw descended toward his head: “Damn it... get down!!”
SWOOSH ——!!
A sonic gale ripped through the air!
At the very instant the multi-ton steel claw was about to cleave the lieutenant in twain, a brilliant streak of violet lightning chain plummeted from above like an enraged thunder serpent!
ZAP! CRACKLE—BOOM!!
The lightning chain wrapped tightly around the vulnerable joint between the claw and the crab’s carapace. Tens of thousands of volts of high-voltage current blasted through, coursing straight into the soft connective tissue beneath the armpit of the claw. The giant crab let out a shrill, screeching shriek like metal grinding against an anvil, its titanic claw jerked back violently, its entire bulk convulsing in spastic paralysis!
“Who said it was useless?!”
A crisp, clear voice rang out. Gu Xiaowei stood perched atop an observation platform five meters up, hands weaving seals at lightning speed. Arcane Lightning mana surged around her frame, her short ponytail whipping wildly in the sea gale: “You can’t crack the shell, but their joints are made of flesh and blood!”
“Lightning Lock — Four Directions Evil-Suppressing!”
She cried out, launching three more violet lightning chains from her Sea of Consciousness. The arcs drove like iron stakes into the concrete floor, pinning down the four right legs of the monster and halting its advance dead in its tracks!
“Splendid work, Xiaowei!”
Ye Qingwan commended with a swift shout, her slender silhouette darting like a willow leaf in a tempest. Her porcelain hands traced mystical trajectories through the air, her Wind mana instantly churning the moisture-laden gale atop the seawall:
“Wind Path — Cyclone Gathering!”
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH ——!
Three savage tornadoes erupted from the seawall’s brink, spiraling at dizzying speeds. The vortexes did not assault the heavy carapaces directly; instead, they snaked beneath the underbellies of the fiend crabs, ripping over thirty scuttling monsters off their footing. The tempest herded their entire vanguard into a cramped, writhing cluster in the open concrete yard fronting the left artillery turret!
“Lin Feng! They’re rounded up!” Ye Qingwan called out, a sheen of fine sweat glistening on her forehead.
“Well done.”
A deep, steady voice answered from beside her.
Lin Feng stepped forward onto the fractured parapet. The howling gale whipped his face, yet could not sway his posture, which stood tall and unyielding like a war lance.
Looking down at the swarm of over three hundred armored fiend crabs furiously clicking their colossal pincers and glaring up with blood-red, rabid compound eyes, the corners of Lin Feng’s lips curled into a cold smirk.
Magic resistance? Carapaces dense as titanium alloy?
Before the supreme flame, every layer of crustacean armor in this world was nothing more than a personal pressure cooker designed to roast its inhabitant alive!
HUMMM ——!!
A resounding, resonant chime rang through Lin Feng’s Sea of Consciousness. Within the depths of his Fire Nebula, forty-nine crimson Stars blazed with unrestrained fury. Guided by his consummate spiritual intent, they interlinked along radiant arcane trajectories, forming a magnificent Fire Star Pattern that revolved beneath his boots!
A wave of scorching, apocalyptic heat descended without warning!
The air within a ten-meter radius of Lin Feng distorted and shimmered under the blistering thermal surge. The salty ocean mist was flash-boiled into hissing plumes of white steam the second it drifted close. The concrete flagstones underfoot glowed cherry-red in seconds, cracking and webbed with heat fissures!
Not far away, the soldiers of Platoon 7 stared wide-eyed in utter disbelief, their chests seizing as scorching air scorched their throats. The newly rescued lieutenant cried out in a shaking voice:
“This temperature... is this really Intermediate Fire magic?! Impossible! How can an Intermediate spell possess such pure, incinerating heat?!”
Lin Feng paid no heed to the stunned stares behind him. He raised his right arm, splaying his five fingers toward the howling mass of Giant-Clawed Gluttonous Fiend Crabs below.
In his palm, a radiant, golden-crimson lotus bloomed. Unlike common orange-red fire, this flame possessed the pure, lustrous gold of dawn’s first light, yet concealed within its heart was a berserk, cataclysmic destructive force that caused the very fabric of space to warp and shudder—Fire Spiritual Seed: Crimson Blaze Flowing Fire!
“Fiery Burst — Crimson Blaze Flowing Fire!”
BOOM ——!!
The golden flame lotus detonated into a surging deluge of molten fire!
Thousands of golden lava streams cascaded from above like a blazing meteor storm, engulfing the entire fifty-meter radius where the fiend crabs were trapped by the Wind Path!
TSSSSSSSS ——!!
The instant the golden fire bathed their shells, a nightmare unfolded before the defenders’ eyes.
The mana-dampening slime that had frustrated the naval mages for half a day ignited like pure kerosene the moment it touched the Crimson Blaze! The singular “Essence-Burning” trait of the Crimson Blaze Flowing Fire demonstrated its lethal potency: the flames did not dissipate upon impact. Instead, they clung like molten napalm to the deep-sea mineral shell, creeping into every microscopic fissure, heating, burning, and drilling relentlessly inward!
In less than five seconds, the jet-black carapaces of hundreds of Giant-Clawed Gluttonous Fiend Crabs were heated to an incandescent, molten red, resembling iron ingots in a blacksmith’s forge!
CRACKLE! SNAP! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The searing heat rendered the seabed minerals brittle until they burst apart in showers of fiery shrapnel!
The tender crab meat within was flash-cooked by thousands of degrees of blistering thermal energy. Boiling juices bubbled through ruptured cracks, sending up thick, savory yet singed plumes of smoke that overpowered the briny ocean air. Hundreds of fiend crabs writhed in agony, their titanic iron pincers flailing spastically before drooping limply, roasted hollow from the inside out!
“Qingwan! Fan the flames!” Lin Feng commanded.
“On it!”
Ye Qingwan moved in perfect sync. With a sweep of her arms, the spinning Wind Path reversed its rotation, turning into a massive arcane gale that swept the golden flames across the entire slope of the seawall!
Wind stoked the fire; fire rode the wind!
Over a hundred meters of the left seawall was transformed in a heartbeat into a towering rampart of golden fire! The reinforcements crawling behind were swallowed whole by the sea of flame, their colossal iron pincers scorching into warped pretzels before tumbling down the slope like falling fruit!
“ROAAAR ——!!”
Suddenly, from deep within the dense black smoke of the shallows, a deafening shriek tore through the air!
A column of seawater shot over twenty meters into the sky, unveiling a gargantuan silhouette that dwarfed its brethren. A Mid-Rank Warrior-level Giant-Clawed Fiend Crab King! Its frame was massive as a two-story building, its right pincer stretching over six meters in length and plated with thick, deep-purple scales!
Its bloodshot triangular eyes locked onto Lin Feng. Driven mad by the sight of its roasted brood, its eight steel-pillar legs pulverized the bedrock below as it charged up the seawall with terrifying speed. Its purple claw swung down with a gale-splitting screech, aiming straight for Lin Feng’s skull!
“Look out! That’s a Mid-Rank Warrior tier!” The lieutenant screamed in horror, but his legs had turned to jelly.
Lin Feng stood motionless. The howling storm swept embers and ash across his coat.
In his pitch-black eyes, the looming purple steel claw reflected without stirring a single ripple.
When the massive claw was less than three meters from his head, an eerie shadow shifted beneath his boots.
“Shadow Shroud — Void!”
Swish!
Lin Feng sank smoothly into his own shadow, vanishing into thin air before their very eyes!
KABOOM ——!!
The crab king’s claw smashed into the concrete where Lin Feng had stood, gouging out a crater four meters wide and hurling shattered rock everywhere. The missed strike overextended the beast, its claw wedged deep into the bedrock.
At that precise moment, atop the rugged carapace of the crab king’s crown, a sliver of darkness rippled, coalescing into Lin Feng’s upright form!
Both feet planted firmly atop the beast king’s thickest armor. His right fist clenched tight as the golden Crimson Blaze from his meridians surged into his knuckles, condensing into a blinding sphere of fire like a miniature sun!
“Go brag about your shell in hell.”
Lin Feng’s voice was frigid. His right fist hammered down, carrying ten thousand catties of kinetic force fused with the explosive fury of Fiery Burst, striking squarely between the beast’s compound eyes!
“Explosive Dragon Fist — Sky-Scorching Decimation!!”
BOOOOOM ————!!
An earth-shattering explosion shook the fortress to its foundations!
The golden fire detonated from Lin Feng’s fist, punching clean through the thirty-centimeter carapace of the Warrior-level fiend crab king! The kinetic fury pulverized its cranial matter from within, while an expanding shockwave of golden energy swept across the seawall, blowing the surrounding crab carcasses flying into the ocean!
The colossal Giant-Clawed Fiend Crab King froze for a heartbeat before convulsing violently. From its joints and eye sockets, countless golden flame jets erupted like vents. Then, its thirty-ton body collapsed onto the rampart with a mountain-crumbling crash!
Slain in a single strike!
The black smoke slowly drifted away.
The cold sea breeze swept over the scorched battlefield, carrying the scent of singed meat and smoldering ash.
The entire Naval Platoon 7 stood frozen in place. Every soldier, from the veteran lieutenant to the greenest recruits, stared in stunned awe at the youth standing proudly atop the carcass of the crab king.
Silence. Only the roar of waves crashing beneath the seawall broke the quiet, like an ocean elegy for the slaughtered fiends.
One spell wiped out over three hundred armored beasts; one fist obliterated a Mid-Rank Warrior-level King!
Was this... was this truly the power of a first-year student?!
Hundreds of meters away in the central command tower, the magical telescope in Lieutenant General Lu Haojun’s hands slowly lowered. The seasoned general’s eyes widened in profound astonishment, his chest heaving as he muttered under his breath:
“Flame control that has reached the Realm of Perfection... Single-target burst capable of crushing a Warrior-class beast in one strike... In thirty years on the Jinghai front, I have never seen a Fire seed as terrifying as this!”
“We won! Lin Feng is amazing!!”
Gu Xiaowei leaped joyfully atop the observation deck, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her ponytail swinging. She dashed over to Ye Qingwan, clapping and grinning: “Did you see that, Sister Qingwan?! This monster acts even faster than he did in the arena!”
Ye Qingwan smiled softly, her clear eyes fixed on Lin Feng as she let out a sigh of relief. But before she could speak, Xie Zhaoyuan’s face suddenly went ghastly pale!
“Wait... Look out at the open sea!!”
Xie Zhaoyuan’s voice cracked with raw panic. His trembling arm pointed toward the deep-sea horizon.
Lin Feng, perched atop the crab king’s carcass, turned sharply, his eyes narrowing into slits.
More than ten nautical miles offshore, where the Gluttonous Deep Sea zone met the tempestuous gray storm clouds, the pitch-black ocean strangely stopped churning.
And then, a horrific spectacle that made the scalp tingle unfolded!
The placid ocean surface abruptly caved in!
A colossal black abyss with an estimated diameter exceeding three hundred meters formed out of thin air in the heart of the ocean! Millions of tons of churning seawater were sucked down into the bottomless trench, birthing a titan vortex of death that howled like the shrieking wails of ten thousand damned souls dragging from the underworld!
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE ——!!
The bizarre screech echoed from the abyss, traversing dozens of miles to pound against the eardrums of every defender on the fortress. Heads throbbed, chills raced down spines, and the mana within their spiritual seas tossed in chaotic turbulence!
And that was not all!
From deep within that vortex of death, countless feral, foul auras surged skyward, piercing directly into the storm clouds above!
SKREEE —— SKREEE —— SKREEE ——!!
The churning thunderclouds were ripped to shreds. From the maw of the oceanic sinkhole, thousands of dark silhouettes with wingspans exceeding five meters surged into the sky in unison!
They were a swarm of grotesque deep-sea birds: their bodies were covered in glossy, gunmetal-gray plumage that shone like wet steel, their beaks were long and razor-sharp like bayonets forged to pierce ironclads, and their blood-red eyes flickered with eerie arcane radiance—Abyssal Ironwing Birds!
Thousands of deep-sea avian beasts blotted out the eastern sky, converging into a pitch-black storm of death hurtling toward the mainland!
“Disaster!!”
Lieutenant General Lu Haojun’s panicked roar burst from the fortress’s public address arrays, his tone laced with unprecedented terror:
“The avian swarm’s target isn’t the primary fortress! They are heading straight for the Coral Cove in our rear!”
The proclamation struck like a bolt of lightning upon every defender’s heart!
Lin Feng whipped his head around toward the coastal strait behind the coral reef, five kilometers away.
There, an armored military transport convoy laden with high-grade Energy Mana Crystals—the lifeblood that powered the grand defensive barrier array protecting the entirety of the Jinghai Magic Metropolis—was struggling to dock at a secondary port amidst the violent storm!
The lumbering transport fleet lacked long-range anti-air defenses. They were sitting ducks, an irresistible feast laid out before the diving beaks of thousands of Abyssal Ironwing Birds hurtling down from the ninth heaven!
WOOOO —— WOOOO —— WOOOO ——!!
The Blood-Red Air Defense Sirens across the entire Jinghai coastal bastion shrieked in unison, tearing through the twilight descending upon the empire’s borders!