Volume 3: Global Vanguard & The Advanced Pinnacle
Chapter 290
Renowned Across the Eastern Sea, War God Guardian of Shenzhou
Dawn breaking over the Eastern Sea coastline had never been stained with colors so epic and stirring.
A crimson sun, like a gigantic sphere of fire, slowly rose above the horizon, casting sharp, blinding morning rays that tore through the hazy mist left behind by the remnants of lightning magic that had raged throughout the entire night. The sea breeze whipped inland, carrying the familiar pungent saltiness tightly intertwined with the heavy stench of fresh blood and the acrid smell of burnt gunpowder.
Across the boundless, stretching surface of the water, the scene unfolding before the eyes was enough to cause anyone witnessing it to hold their breath in sheer, heart-pounding terror.
Countless sea beast carcasses floated upon the water, bobbing up and down with every crest of the silver waves, densely packing the sea surface from the defensive sandy shore out for dozens of nautical miles. There were Armor-Shell Sea Crocodiles over twenty meters long with stone-hard carapace armor akin to titanium alloy now shattered into countless fragments; Blood-Crystal Scaled Serpents as thick as ancestral temple pillars burned into smoking, pitch-black charcoal by the lightning; and massive bodies resembling small islands belonging to the Gluttonous Demon Fish—apex predators of the deep waters—now drifting with their pale white bellies exposed to the sky.
Over three hundred thousand ferocious sea beasts of the first tidal wave had permanently left their corpses at the bottom of the Eastern Sea.
Yet, contrasting sharply with the hellish slaughterscape far offshore, the thousands-of-li-long Shenzhou coastal defense line stood tall and unyielding like an immortal ridge of iron and stone. Sturdy megalithic fortresses reinforced with earth-element magic intertwined with state-of-the-art alloy defensive barriers remained pristine and flawless. The elemental array networks interconnected between the strongpoints continuously pulsated with brilliant radiances, illuminating the dawn sky.
Not an inch of land lost! Not a single step retreated!
A profound silence blanketed the entire coastline during the transitional moment between the final roars of the monster horde and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. Every single soldier upon the ramparts, every military mage exhausted from depleted mana reserves, stared blankly out at the blood-red sea. They scarcely dared to believe their own eyes, scarcely daring to believe that the terrifying nightmare which had threatened to swallow the entire coastal continent of Shenzhou had ultimately been completely shattered.
And then, a sound erupted.
“We won...”
A young soldier relaxed his grip on the glowing magic assault rifle, his voice trembling as he muttered amidst the fading smoke.
“We... we actually won!”
“A GREAT VICTORY! THE SEA BEASTS HAVE BEEN DRIVEN BACK!”
The cheering initially erupted from just a single corner of Defense Sector No. 3, but in the blink of an eye, it spread like a raging wildfire. From the Bohai Sea in the north, across the Yellow Sea bay, extending all along the Eastern Sea coast down to the southern outposts, millions of souls simultaneously burst into overwhelming emotional releases.
“Long live Shenzhou!”
“We’ve defended our homeland! We’ve saved our realm!”
The soaring cheers tore through the morning clouds, drowning out the roaring ocean waves. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers tossed their helmets into the skies, tightly embracing one another and weeping unashamedly. Seasoned soldiers who had faced the claws and fangs of monsters without batting an eye now hugged their comrades-in-arms, tears streaming down to wash away the soot and grime caked upon their weathered faces. They wept for the brothers who had fallen in the darkness, wept for their miraculous survival, and wept for the surging national pride swelling passionately within their chests.
Simultaneously, within the inland metropolises hundreds of kilometers away from the frontlines—where tens of millions of Shenzhou citizens had spent a sleepless night inside air-raid shelters and evacuation centers—the suffocating atmosphere suddenly exploded into an unprecedented grand celebration.
On colossal LED screens erected in the central squares of major cities from the Capital and Shanghai to Jinling and Guangzhou, live broadcasts from the coastal frontline were transmitted in ultra-high resolution.
The official Shenzhou National Television broadcasted a special news flash with striking red characters scrolling across the screen:
【SPECIAL VICTORY BULLETIN: SHENZHOU COASTAL DEFENSE LINE HOLDS FIRM! THE FIRST TIDAL WAVE OF THE SEA BEAST ARMY COMPLETELY ANNIHILATED OFF THE EASTERN SEA COAST!】
The veteran news anchor on national television, renowned for his calm demeanor and steel-standard reading voice, now had reddened eyes, his voice choked and trembling intermittently:
“To all our compatriots nationwide... Reports just transmitted from the Supreme Command of the Coastal Front: From midnight last night until 5:30 AM this morning, all three hundred thousand invading sea beasts have been annihilated and routed. The thousands of miles of Shenzhou’s coastline... has not lost a single inch of land! Our entire military and populace have triumphed!”
As soon as the announcement concluded, joyous roars shook the heavens across every street corner, residential district, and alleyway throughout the territory of Shenzhou.
People poured onto the streets like a rushing torrent. Red flags with golden stars fluttered majestically across every balcony and high-rise rooftop. Warm embraces shared between strangers, hoarse throats screaming cheers, and the festive blaring of car horns echoed down every major avenue. A nation that had just stepped back from the brink of extinction now surged forward with indomitable vitality and a burning flame of pride brighter than at any other moment.
Yet amidst this ocean of overwhelming emotion, every single gaze—from the blood-stained soldiers in the trenches, to millions of citizens on the streets, down to the highest-ranking commanding generals—unanimously converged upon a single focal point on the transmission screens.
It was a solitary figure standing majestically atop the observation tower of Eastern Sea Underground Fortress No. 1.
Amidst the vast sea and sky flooded with brilliant morning sunlight, a young man was cloaked in a dark magic robe embroidered with deep silver lightning patterns. The violent sea breeze whipped his robes, his raven-black hair fluttering in midair. Enveloping his body, faint deep-purple lightning arcs coiled like protective silver dragons, emitting a deep, dignified crackling resonance.
Beneath his feet lay an ocean red with beast carcasses; above his head stretched a clear vault of heaven freshly cleansed after the wrath of lightning magic.
Lin Feng!
Close-up imagery transmitted by military drones captured every contour of his face: a profile as sharp as a blade forged from millennia-old ice, pupils as deep as the cosmos’ abyss, utterly devoid of ripples, completely without complacency, radiating only the absolute, cold dignity of a sovereign looking down upon the world.
The moment the camera swept across his solitary yet awe-inspiring back, resembling a pillar holding up the heavens and bearing the entire realm of Shenzhou upon his shoulders, millions of resounding shouts suddenly merged into a single sound that shook the soul:
“War God!”
“War God Lin Feng!”
“The Guardian Deity of Shenzhou!”
The cries originated from the coastal trenches, spread across the forward bases, and then echoed directly into the hearts of citizens across every corner of the motherland. In Shenzhou at this moment, the name Lin Feng was no longer merely the Dean of the Imperial Magic Academy, nor just the youngest Forbidden Mage in history; he had officially transformed into an invincible symbol of faith, a spiritual bulwark shielding the masses against the storms of the resurrected magic era.
Not only domestically, but the shockwave from the Eastern Sea victory instantly swept across the globe like an information tsunami.
At the headquarters of the planet’s largest news agencies such as Reuters, CNN, BBC, and the Associated Press, all emergency news tickers were dominated by the Shenzhou event.
【Eastern Miracle: Shenzhou Completely Annihilates 300,000 Sea Beasts, Coastal Defense Line Loses Not an Inch of Land!】
【Supreme Magic Power: The Appearance of ‘War God’ Lin Feng and the Shocking Global Mage World Comeback!】
【US West Coast and Pacific Rim Sinking into a Sea of Blood, Why Was Shenzhou Able to Defend Perfectly?】
In Western nations, where the California coastline had just seen three defensive dikes breached by deep-sea monster hordes and hundreds of thousands of refugees huddled in terror, footage of Lin Feng standing tall amidst the Eastern Sea’s sky and ocean was replayed hundreds of times.
Inside the emergency conference room of the International Magic Council in Geneva, dozens of high-ranking delegates and Sanctuary-level mages from Euro-American superpowers sat stunned in silence before the magic remote-sensing screen.
“Three hundred thousand sea beasts... Among them at least six Commander-level and two Half-Step Monarch-level...” A British magic elder trembling removed his reading glasses, his voice choking in his throat: “A national-destruction-level shockwave like that—had it landed on the Mediterranean coast or the English Channel, at least three European nations would have been flattened in a single night. Yet the people of Shenzhou... buried all of them out at sea in a single battle?”
“It’s not that the people of Shenzhou possess overwhelming all-around superiority...” A silver-haired Grand Magus of France interrupted in a deep voice, his finger pointing directly at the youth wreathed in violet lightning on the screen: “It is because they have him. Lin Feng! The lightning-element forbidden magic he unleashed this morning reached a level capable of interfering with the natural laws of the ocean. He is not merely a mage; he is a true War God of this era!”
Silence enveloped the international conference room. Terror, reverence, and undisguised apprehension were clearly etched across the faces of the superpower representatives. While the world trembled and buckled under the resurgence of ancient non-human races from the seabed, Shenzhou possessed a divine blade sharp enough to cleave the roaring tides.
At the General Headquarters of the Coastal Front Command, an atmosphere solemn and blazing with martial vigor filled the underground operations control room.
Upon the massive floating 3D magic sand table, the entire thousands-of-kilometers-long coastline glowed with absolute safety green. The hostile red dots representing the sea beast hordes that had once swarmed like ants had completely vanished, leaving only cleanup sweep signals of coastal patrol magic squads.
Supreme Commander Fang Zhenhua stood erect before the central screen, his uniform crisp, medals gleaming with steel luster upon his chest. The veteran general who had weathered hundreds of life-or-death battles, having stayed awake for three consecutive days and nights commanding the campaign, felt his shoulders tremble slightly with emotion.
Around him, dozens of staff officers, legion generals, and magic array specialists stood at strict attention, directing reverent gazes toward the live footage from Fortress No. 1.
“Report, Commander!” A combat officer stepped forward, executing a strict military salute, his booming voice echoing across the command room: “All twelve coastal fortress clusters report: Defense fortification 100%. Coastal troops’ casualties at absolute minimum. All ammunition depots and reserve defense magic core reserves retain over 80% capacity!”
Fang Zhenhua took a deep breath, striving to suppress the surging emotions in his chest. He gazed deeply into the back of the young man on the large screen, his eyes filled with boundless gratitude and respect.
“Good! Excellent!” Fang Zhenhua spoke in a resonant, booming tone, each word striking like a bronze bell: “Transmit my orders to the entire army: Grant comprehensive commendations to all participating units! Simultaneously, dispatch an urgent report to the Capital Supreme Military Academy...”
Fang Zhenhua paused for a beat, his eyes blazing with unyielding pride:
“State clearly in the operational records: During this morning’s battle, Dean Lin Feng single-handedly turned the tides of heaven and earth, pacifying the turmoil of the Eastern Sea! From this day forward, as long as Lin Feng stands upon the coast, Shenzhou’s thousands of miles of territory shall remain an impregnable wall of bronze and iron, where not a single inch of land shall be violated!”
“Understood!”
All officers in the operations room simultaneously saluted, their unified response thundering like rolling thunder. The veteran general’s affirmation was not merely a recognition of merit, but the ultimate tribute bestowed upon Lin Feng within the hearts of Shenzhou’s military.
The early morning sea breeze carrying the biting chill of the deep ocean swept across the summit of Underground Fortress No. 1.
Amidst the space overflowing with triumphant cheers echoing from the distant mainland, amidst brilliant radiances and victory fireworks launched from patrol warships, Lin Feng stood motionless like an unyielding reef amidst the storm.
The dark battle robe embroidered with lightning motifs fluttered briskly in the wind. Morning light angled across his handsome features, casting a radiant golden halo upon him, heightening his ethereal, godlike aura. Yet if anyone stood close enough to gaze directly into the depths of his eyes at this moment, they would find no trace of jubilation or triumph belonging to someone who had just achieved a heaven-shaking feat.
Lin Feng’s eyes were as calm as a millenia-frozen lake, profound and bone-chillingly cold.
He slowly raised his right hand. In his palm, a purple-black Lightning Core the size of a bean spun slowly, emitting intensely pure magical pulses. Simultaneously, his vast ocean-like Divine Sense quietly crossed hundreds of nautical miles, piercing through thousands of meters of dense seawater, probing straight down toward the darkest abyssal depths of the Pacific continental shelf.
The cheers of the soldiers and citizens behind him were loud and heroic. But in Lin Feng’s ears, those sounds seemed completely overshadowed by another sound a million times more terrifying.
It was the heartbeat of something colossal.
Thump, thump... Thump, thump...
Beat by beat, slow and heavy, resembling the sledgehammer of a primordial deity striking against the heartbeat of the planet.
“Three hundred thousand sea beasts... Six Commander-level beasts, two Half-Step Monarch-level beasts...”
The corners of Lin Feng’s lips curled into a cold smile, carrying ultimate sharpness toward the drama that had just concluded.
Mortals looking at last night’s battle would view it as a destructive disaster, the most terrifying monster tidal wave in modern human history. They praised this victory as a miracle, hailing him as the great savior who delivered Shenzhou from the clutches of the ocean.
Yet only Lin Feng, with the keen insight of one who mastered the root of lightning magic and possessed a soul realm reaching the half-step apotheosis state, truly understood the cruel truth hidden beneath the surface.
This first tidal wave... was by no means a full-scale offensive!
Those three hundred thousand ferocious marine creatures left dead out there were, ultimately, nothing more than cannon fodder. They were driven ashore not to conquer Shenzhou, but to serve as sacrificial offerings to test the waters.
The true objective of the mastermind behind the oceanic fog was twofold: Firstly, to use the flesh and blood of thirty thousand sea beasts to precisely measure the coverage range, magical firepower, and reaction time of Shenzhou’s entire coastal defense system. Secondly... it was to lure him out into the open, to gauge the limits of his magic power and the might of his lightning element!
“You thought using this mob of small fry could force me to exhaust all my trump cards?” Lin Feng lowered his voice, his hushed tone dissolving into the roaring sea waves, yet harboring a killing intent as sharp as a divine blade unsheathed.
He perceived it with absolute clarity. At the bottom of the deep oceanic trench over three hundred nautical miles offshore—where sunlight could never reach, where water pressure could crush the hardest alloy blocks into fine mud—an unimaginably colossal creature was stirring from its slumber.
Deep Sea Behemoth Emperor!
The true sovereign of the dark kingdom beneath the ocean floor. An ancient entity that had slept for tens of thousands of years, carrying the primitive bloodline of primordial magical beasts, possessing strength sufficient to plunge entire continents into the deep sea.
Its frigid, brutal aura loomed like a giant phantom gradually eclipsing the seabed. The recent assault by three hundred thousand sea beasts was merely a sneeze, a gentle rolling movement of that lordly monster before embarking on the real hunt.
At that exact moment, the atmosphere surrounding Lin Feng abruptly altered.
The temperature on the sea surface, which had been warming under the morning sun, plummeted in a freefall. A bone-chilling wave of cold air carrying the stench of rotting death rolled in from the distant open ocean. The calm sea surface where beast carcasses drifted suddenly formed abnormal subterranean whirlpools.
The seawater at the distant horizon abruptly shifted from the red of blood to a bizarre, pitch-black hue, as if someone had just poured millions of tons of black ink into the ocean’s heart.
Beep! Beep! Beep! BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Simultaneously, atop Underground Fortress No. 1 and across all coastal seismic monitoring stations along Shenzhou’s coastline, a series of ultrasonic frequency alarm sirens began screaming frantically!
The needles on the magic seismographs at the Command Headquarters jerked violently, the red line shooting straight up to maximum scale, shattering all standard safety thresholds.
Inside the operations control room, the smiles on the staff officers’ faces vanished instantly. Supreme Commander Fang Zhenhua’s expression turned grave in a fraction of a second:
“What is happening?! Where did this underwater surge come from?! Report immediately!”
“Report, Commander! Remote-sensing scanners detected disaster-level anomalies at the Mariana Trench three hundred nautical miles offshore!” The technical officer’s voice cracked with extreme terror, his trembling hands flying across the control keyboard: “The seawater temperature in that region is dropping to minus fifty degrees Celsius without freezing! A massive energy mass with a diameter exceeding... five thousand meters is ascending! Ascending at extreme speed!”
“What?! Five thousand meters?!” The entire command room fell dead silent, supreme dread instantly suffocating any lingering joy of victory.
Outside the fortress, the sea breeze abruptly ceased. A bizarre suffocation blanketed space, as if all oxygen between heaven and earth had just been sucked dry by an invisible giant maw.
At the summit of the observation tower, Lin Feng did not turn his head back to look at the frantic sirens wailing behind him.
He slowly clenched his right hand’s five fingers. The purple-black Lightning Core in his palm instantly erupted, transforming into a lightning ray as sharp as a blade tearing through the air. His gaze locked unwaveringly onto the churning black seawater at the distant horizon.
The brilliant light of dawn seemed to be slowly swallowed by an endless wall of darkness offshore.
“Finally unable to restrain yourselves any longer, are you?”
Lin Feng smirked, his low voice echoing through the silent expanse, carrying an arrogant disposition capable of trampling heaven and earth:
“Let me see just how much your so-called Deep Sea Behemoth Emperor... can withstand against my Lightning Punishment Forbidden Spells!”
Deep within the pitch-black ocean depths, two massive crimson radiances like two gigantic blood-red moons suddenly flared to life, piercing through endless layers of water, staring fixedly toward the figure of Lin Feng standing atop the Shenzhou fortress!
The true storm of the era had officially descended at this very hour!