Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 705: Final Battle

The defense lines were a complete mess when Su Ping went to the Demigod Burial in order to restore his strength!

Alert! Alert! Alert!

The sentinel stations sent emergency messages from all over and rang the alarms of the highest level.

Fate State beast kings appeared at the front of the beast tides; thirteen of them had been detected!

They blatantly exposed themselves, displaying their full energy as they led the troops of the Deep Caves with unstoppable momentum!

The sentinel stations found on the way were completely destroyed.

Certain sentinels who hid themselves underground and concealed their auras with special devices were still found by the Fate State beasts and killed!

The corresponding lights on the map would die out wherever the beast tides passed, making it impossible to tell what was going on.

The only sources of information on the front lines were the eagles that were hiding in the clouds. Those artificial beasts were provided by Clairvoyance, the largest intelligence organization in the Subcontinent District. Since they were small and lifeless they didn't attract the Fate State beast Kings' attention.

Apart from them, there were also sentinel pets that had been specifically trained!

Their training was of the most primitive kind. Their combat ability was mediocre and they didn't sign contracts with their masters, so they didn't carry the scent of humans. They could be mistaken for wild beasts if abandoned in the wilderness!

Everything was done that way so they could be seen as allies by other wild beasts, and they could send information with the devices they carried.

However, those sentinel pets were weak and likely to be killed in the wilderness; the cost to train them was also high, so their number wasn't large.

The occasional pictures on the monitors were delivered by the eagles and the sentinel pets, which informed everybody about the rough scale of the beast tides.

"Considering the speed of their movements, the beast tide in the south will arrive first!"

Holding a smart tablet in his hand, an advisor said grimly, "It will arrive in 48 minutes. The beast tide in the west will be the second to arrive, in an hour and three minutes. The third one will arrive from the north…"

He reported the ETAs of the beast tides coming from all directions and looked at Gu Siping.

At that moment, the only choice left was a final battle!

The earlier blockage had been effective, especially in the north and the east where Su Ping fought and annihilated several waves of powerful wild beasts. However, the foundation of the beast tide wasn't affected at all!

This time, the troops of the Deep Caves included the wild beasts worldwide!

What did the wild beasts worldwide mean?

There were ten billion wild beasts across the five continents on the Blue planet. Apart from the low-level wild beasts that took up the majority of the population, there were still hundreds of millions of advanced wild beasts that could bring terror to humans!

That was not counting the wild beasts in the sea, which were the largest in number!

If the sea-living wild beasts worldwide were to surround the Subcontinent District, they could even move the continent from its position!

The number of the sea beasts was beyond terrifying!

Fortunately for humans, only beasts of the eighth rank or higher could move on land, and their population was far smaller than the total. The down side for humans was that said population was still quite large, and each of the wild beasts was as powerful as an army!

The beast tides that Su Ping had stopped and killed with other legendary warriors were just a drop in the bucket compared to the total of the Deep Caves' army!

Gu Siping was grim and silent for a long time.

He clenched his fists, with cold sweat on his palms. His phone was close at hand; he waited for the order from the Tower's HQ…

…

All the legendary warriors had retreated behind the defense lines, along with the titled Legions and the master battle pet warriors that reinforced them.

After they fell back, the titled warriors returned to their respective preparation zones to treat their wounds and take a break. Some tended to their wounded pets.

The rear—supervised by Wu Guansheng—was quite busy. He was quite renowned at the moment, being a rarely seen support-type legendary warrior. He had previously been unable to perform the secret healing techniques he knew.

However, once he became a legendary warrior with Su Ping's help, his healing expertise soared. Some of the ninth-rank battle pets and titled warriors recovered in minutes thanks to him.

The beast kings would take a longer time, but he was still fast in general. He was at least ten times faster than other healers and specialized equipment.

"The Fate State enemies are here. We have to hold the defense lines with our lives on the line!"

After returning from the front line, Ye Wuxiu and Xue Yunzhen found Yuan Tianchen and the other legendary warriors. As everyone was facing the beast tides, they were all on the same boat, so they temporarily dropped their biases against each other.

Yuan Tianchen and his group realized that the situation was worse than they had anticipated!

They could hardly run to seek their own safety at this moment!

The Fate State wild beasts were surrounding them from all directions, exactly to prevent any of the humans from escaping!

They weren't confident of evading the detection of the Void State or the Ocean State beast kings which had keen senses either.

Even if they dodged the Fate State ones, they could hardly avoid the Ocean State beast kings that were large in number. Once exposed, they would instantly be killed in the wild!

The legendary warriors gathered and looked at each other grimly.

The only choice they had left was to fight.

However… could they win?

The odds were extremely slim!

But they would die too if they didn't fight. They didn't have a choice!

Their only hope was that the Tower Master wasn't bluffing earlier and really had a trump card!

"Planning is meaningless with everything coming to this point. Just kill as many enemies as possible. Even if we must die, we'll have the wild beasts pay a price first!" declared Xiang Fengran in an aggressive and intimidating way.

Ye Wuxiu nodded. Being defenders in the Deep Caves, they had always been prepared to sacrifice themselves. They were only anxious at the prospect of failure; not just them, every single person on the Blue Planet would be killed.

They were fighting not for themselves, but for everyone's lives!

"Let's heal ourselves first and listen to the Tower Master's arrangement later. Right, have you seen Boss Su?" Xue Yunzhen looked around to ask everyone present.

When Su Ping was mentioned, Li Yuanfeng and Qin Duhuang also looked around too but didn't see him.

Yuan Tianchen and his fellows, however, had awkward looks. They had learned how Su Ping defended the north and reinforced the east. Even though they had never been on friendly terms, he had indeed made more contributions than anyone else during the crisis.

"He probably returned to his shop. He always loves staying in his shop when he's free," said Zhou Tianlin. He dialed a number on his phone, and the call soon went through.

He said something and then hung up.

"Yes, he returned to his shop."

Xue Yunzhen was relieved. "That's great. In that case, let's disperse now and make the most of this time to heal our battle pets."

Ye Wuxiu nodded and quickly left.

Xiang Fengran finally remembered his wounds. He grimaced because of the pain while gasping. Without another word, he ran to find a healer.

On the other side, Yuan Tianchen and his fellows also went their own way.

"It's already this dangerous. Shouldn't the Chief be out by now?" asked a concerned Ocean State legendary warrior in a low voice.

Yuan Tianchen narrowed his eyes and looked at the Tower in the distance.

"If he doesn't come out, he'll probably have to bury us later."

Next to them, an Ocean State warrior frowned in confusion. He asked, "Senior Yuan, the Chief trains in seclusion all the time. I'm told that the Deputy Chief is his student. Counting both of them, there are three Fate State warriors in the Tower. Why didn't the Tower Master inform them?"

"One of them should at least help us in moments like this. I'm told that the Chief is training in seclusion to attain the Star State. That being the case, his student can't also be seeking a breakthrough to the Star State, right?"

The Ocean State warrior who asked first also looked at Yuan Tianchen, eager to know the answer.

Yuan Tianchen looked at them and shook his head. Then, he said cagily, "Things are complicated in the Tower; being the center of the global power also means that it has too many secrets. Even I am not privy to all of them. It's best not to be too nosy. In any case, they will probably come out soon. They're likely the trump cards and the hope that the Tower Master mentioned."

The two legendary warriors looked at each other in a daze, but they didn't ask further, seeing how prudent Yuan Tianchen was.

In fact, they were rather awed, too.

If Su Ping hadn't caused a fuss in the Tower and forced the Deputy Chief to show up, they wouldn't have known that the latter—who had been a counselor to the Tower Master—was a student of the Chief.

The student was already at the Fate State. It wasn't hard to imagine how strong his master was!

…

In the meantime.

The south, deep in the midst of the beast tides.

Three magnificent creatures were moving among the beasts, from which all kept a distance, clearing a path for them.

On the left side, a humanoid beast—which had black spots all over his body and looked like a giant lizard on its feet—uttered in a low voice, "We've been asked to attack him together. It seems that our lord is quite wary of that puny creature." The creature had sharp stings on its back and arms, plus a horn in the back of its head; it was extremely thick, which somehow resembled a coiling serpent.

In the middle, the beast that was shrouded in a horrifying shadow rumbled, "Don't underestimate the humans. Three of them are on the same level as us. They've enslaved creatures of our level, and they also have special battle techniques that allow them to merge with them. They have advantages in one-on-one battles."

That beast had seven giant heads that were shivering softly. each filled with sharp thorns. The lower half of its body was that of a giant dragon. It was the largest of the three beasts, a creature that emitted an intense bloodthirsty aura.

If any human saw it, they would've recognized it to be Seven Sins, one of the four Heavenly Kings!

The humanoid creature near its feet looked over and said, "I've seen the fusion technique that boosts their strength, but we're not easy to deal with either. How can those lowly creatures compare to us when it comes to battles? I've been doing nothing but fighting and killing for hundreds of years!

"I can't wait to find out what battle experience those humans have!"

Two of the Seven Sins' heads looked at it and cackled, and its other heads looked in other directions as if they were appreciating the landscapes on the way.

One of the heads—which was larger than the rest and had golden horns—said casually, "They certainly can't compare to you in terms of battle experience."

"Humph!"

The humanoid creature snorted, seemingly satisfied with the compliment.

On the other side, the last wild beast—which looked like an enormous snail—simply wriggled forward without saying anything.

…

In the north.

Three enormous shadows were walking in the middle of a beast tide.

"Otherworld Heavenly King, were you defeated by humans before?"

"Creak. You must be eager for revenge!"

"Hmm."

Of the three beasts, the one that was entirely red and had bloodshot eyes said indifferently, "Back then I simply sent my clone to check whether the seal could be broken. It was beyond my expectation that I would run into that human. My clone's combat ability was just at the beginning phase of the Fate State. It was only natural for it to be defeated."

"Creak, creak. You must have spent a lot of energy on creating a Fate State clone. How painful it must be to lose it! Creak, creak!"

It couldn't have sounded any more sarcastic.

The Otherworld Heavenly King was triggered by this and said angrily, "Don't blame me for attacking you if you keep at it!"

"Creak, creak. I'll stop. People like me who can't have a clone can only envy you for having such an ability."

"Stop fighting. Apart from eliminating the humans, our main task is to ensure that they won't destroy the seal. It's said that a world is being imprisoned by it, and nobody knows what's inside. Any unknown factors could work against us even while we're winning this war."

"Humph!"

"Creak! Creak! Creak!"

…

Time ticked one second after the other.

Behind the unified defense lines, a lot of battle pet warriors were mobilized to the south.

The beast tide in the south would arrive first, and because of this the southern wall had been laden with battle resources, including RPGs, missile launchers, and some laser cannons that even the ninth-rank wild beasts had to avoid.

Rows of battle pet warriors stood on the high wall and stared at the horizon with solemn and nervous faces.

The moment shadows emerged on the front line… It would mean war!

The mildly-wounded legendary warriors had already marched to the south and were waiting patiently.

At the same time, at the Pixie Pet Store of the Longjiang Base City…

The pet room glowed, then Su Ping and Joanna stepped out.

Phew!

Su Ping quickly opened the door when he returned and was relieved to see that Su Lingyue and Tang Ruyan were still in the store. He immediately asked, "How are the beast tides? Are they here already?"

"Not yet. They will be here in twenty minutes," said Tang Ruyan, pouting as she watched Su Ping and Joanna walking out together.

Joanna glanced back at her but ignored her.

Seeing that Su Ping's eyes were sharp and his tiredness gone, Su Lingyue asked in surprise, "Brother, did you manage to recover?"

Su Ping nodded.

While in the Demigod Burial, he ate the divine fruit that Joanna offered him. He also fed the Inferno Dragon, the Dark Dragon Hound and the Little Skeleton too. They were all fully recovered and could fight again!

"Seems that I've come back just in time…" Su Ping was glad that he didn't miss anything. He had returned as fast as possible, but he didn't know how fast the beast tides had been marching.

"Stay here and don't leave the store no matter what happens," said Su Ping as he strode out, then he told Joanna, "help me keep an eye on them."

After that, Su Ping flashed out and disappeared from their sight.

Tang Ruyan gnashed her teeth and turned to Joanna. "What took you so long in there? How did he recover so fast?"

Joanna glanced at her and said indifferently, "Are you my boss?"

"You!" Tang Ruyan was at a loss for words. There was nothing she could do about Joanna.

After all, not only was she a legendary warrior, she was also Su Ping's official employee, which was better than Tang Ruyan's identity as a temporary worker.

Tang Ruyan was even more frustrated.

…

In the command room, an advisor looked at the map and spoke gravely, "They will arrive in fifteen minutes!"

The other advisors were silent.

Gu Siping sensed his phone buzzing. His heart pounded, but he didn't show any excitement. He quickly picked it up. "What's up?"

A voice came from the other side of the phone. "The Chief and his student are out. They're on their way."

Gu Siping was stunned for a moment, before he asked, "Have they made a breakthrough?"

"I… don't think so," said the other voice with uncertainty.

Gu Siping frowned and thought for a moment. Then, with relief on his face, he put down the phone and said to the advisors, "Don't panic, everybody. Two more Fate State warriors will join us in fifteen minutes."

"Two more Fate State warriors?"

All the advisors looked at him with surprise and excitement upon hearing that.

"Are they on our side? Didn't you say that only you and Mr. Su Ping are of the Fate State? How come…?" an advisor couldn't help but ask.

The other people were both curious and confused.

Gu Siping explained casually, "Those two people train in seclusion all the time, so I didn't consider them. I hope their cultivations are higher now that they're out."

The advisors were enlightened, but they found it slightly odd too, because the Tower Master could have informed them or asked them to come out earlier if they were only training in seclusion. However, the advisors were never aware of such experts until a moment earlier; it seemed as if the two experts had been overlooked all the time.

Two tigers can't share one mountain! an advisor thought, and his expression changed slightly, but he didn't say anything.

On the first wall in the southern defense line.

Whoosh!

Su Ping appeared there with a flash, finding both Xue Yunzhen and Qin Duhuang. He instantly dashed to them and asked, "How is it going? Where are the others?"

"Healing their wounds. The beast tide will arrive in ten minutes; it's entering the ambush area. Everybody will come when the battle begins," Xue Yunzhen replied after seeing Su Ping.

Qin Duhuang was rather scared to see the dried blood on Su Ping's armor, whose contours and gaps had been entirely filled up by pieces of flesh and bones; it was hard to imagine how many wild beasts the man had killed. He quickly asked, "Boss Su, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Su Ping looked at them and found that they were in good shape.

There wasn't enough time to let Ye Wuxiu and the wounded heal in the nursing pens, and it wouldn't be any more effective than the treatments in the base city. While his nursing pens had great healing abilities, Ye Wuxiu and the others had probably received the best medical resources available.

Even the most rare precious resources would be used to treat them. After all, there would be no time to use the resources if they weren't used at that moment.

While they were speaking, Li Yuanfeng, Xiao Mo and the others arrived.

The south defense line would encounter the beast tide first, so all defenders had been summoned to that spot; the other three sides could only be left empty. The beast tides weren't there yet anyway.

"Mr. Su, we're here to help you!"

"Boss Su, are you all right?"

Everybody greeted Su Ping with visible concern when they saw him.

Su Ping had made monumental contributions, defending the north on his own and reinforcing the east. No wild beasts ever passed him.

Ye Wuxiu, Xue Yunzhen and Jing Shen had also been saved by Su Ping. They would have suffered heavy casualties if not for him!

"Three Fate State wild beasts are coming this way. We can only resist them by following Boss Su's commands."

"Exactly, we'll do whatever Boss Su asks us to do."

Xiang Fengran and Ye Wuxiu arrived at the same time; it was clear that they couldn't defend any of the sides on their own.

Their number might be considerable, but there were even more beast kings!

When dealing with Fate State beast kings, it would be lucky if they could escape. How could they fight them?

The only tactic available was to let Su Ping tear the beast tide as a sharp dagger while they helped him, just like the way the Titled Legions helped them earlier.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

On the other side, Yuan Tianchen and a dozen other legendary warriors joined them. Although they had conflicts with Su Ping before, they knew they had to count on him at the moment.

Only Su Ping was able to resist the pressure of the Fate State beast kings, and with it giving them a chance to attack.

Su Ping glanced at them without saying a thing. Cooperation was what mattered most at the moment. Any grievances they had were trivial at the moment.

All of a sudden, someone exclaimed, "Here they are!"

After a boom, everybody saw a gigantic mushroom cloud emerge in the horizon. The explosives they had buried there had been triggered!

It meant that the beast tide had arrived!

Considering the speed of the beast tide, it would only take a few minutes for the beasts to approach the defenders.

Su Ping solemnly squinted and observed.

When the mushroom cloud rose to the sky, it was soon ripped apart by something. Then, a shadow quickly expanded in the place where the cloud was and leaped to the front.

It was a humanoid beast almost eighty meters tall. Covered in scales, it looked like a giant and hideous lizard.

"A Fate State beast king!"

The eyes of Yuan Tianchen and the others contracted.

They had sensed the immense pressure, even though they were a dozen kilometers away. Their poles were closing and they were sensing a natural fear.

Su Ping narrowed his eyes and observed the enemy carefully.

The Fate State beast king sprinted and soon crossed five kilometers, triggering a lot of traps on its way. Some traps were explosives, some had pets that could throw sharp crystal arrows with their skills. The arrows could easily penetrate ninth-rank wild beasts.

And yet, when the giant beast was surrounded by the exploding traps, it remained absolutely unscathed!

All the battle pet warriors on the defense line gasped at the scene with fright.

Su Ping, however, wasn't surprised, as the traps were nothing but toys to a Fate State beast king. Even the Void State wild beasts could have passed them safely.

After all, the traps had been made with subpar materials.

The technology available on the Blue Planet wasn't advanced enough to create traps able to kill Void State wild beasts, not to mention the Fate State ones.

"Brother Su!"

"Mr. Su!"

Seeing that the traps had been triggered to no avail, Ye Wuxiu and the others became more or less anxious.

Su Ping was quite serious. That had just been the first Fate State enemy; two more were on the way. It was hard for him to execute all three of them quickly, unless he were to use the Void Sword three times in a row. But he would end up drained if he did that.

Joanna's divine fruit had been consumed, and he would have to recover in the nursing pens later, which would take an hour. Therefore, he had to save his physical strength in this battle.

After all, everybody would probably be dead already after he came out of the nursing pen.

"Prepare to attack."

Su Ping took a deep breath and made a decision. A vortex was opened and the Little Skeleton appeared. But he didn't merge with it this time.

Although the Little Skeleton wasn't as strong as a Fate State creature, it could hardly be killed thanks to the Skeleton King's bloodline skill. With the help of the Inferno Dragon, it could keep a Fate State wild beast occupied.

Su Ping could deal with another one on his own.

Even without merging with the Little Skeleton, he was powerful enough to counter enemies in the beginning phase of the Fate State thanks to the training in the Golden Crow World. If he used all of his strength, he could fight with someone in the middle level of the Fate State!

Yuan Tianchen and the others wore grave faces upon seeing that Su Ping was summoning his pets, but they didn't have a choice except to grit their teeth and summon their own, ready to follow him to battle.

"Let's go!" Su Ping roared and ran out.

When he flew out, a vortex appeared behind him, then the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound rushed out. As for the Purple Python, it was only as strong as an Ocean State beast king; Su Ping didn't intend to use it unless he was out of options.

Roar!!

The Dark Dragon Hound began casting countless defense spells on the Inferno Dragon and Su Ping the moment he appeared, although skipping the Little Skeleton.

It had already witnessed the Little Skeleton's crazy survival ability and knew that it couldn't be killed.

Enhanced by king-level skills, Su Ping and the Inferno Dragon looked particularly splendid and eye-catching. Everybody was stunned, wondering how scared of death must the pet have to be to learn that many defense skills.

The aura that Su Ping and the Inferno Dragon released drew the humanoid beast's attention. It narrowed its long eyes, as if it were laughing. It even licked its face with its long tongue and charged at them.

Bang!

Su Ping and the Inferno Dragon suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of the humanoid beast, which had teleported them closer.

Once they appeared, a sharp blade was stabbing towards the Inferno Dragon's chest.

It was the long horn behind the humanoid beast's head!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The defense skills protecting the Inferno Dragon exploded quickly, as if made of paper; they didn't offer any protection.

However, the Inferno Dragon reacted fast enough. It had been through too many life-and-death battles, and it was very familiar with the Fate State beast kings' way of attacking.

Whoosh!

It quickly flapped its wings and dodged aside, before it unleashed a thunderous and fiery ball at the enemy's face.

The humanoid beast was briefly stunned. It obviously didn't foresee that the dragon could have dodged the attack.

But the humanoid beast wasn't that easy to deal with, either; it moved its long horn and aimed to stab the dragon again from a weird angle.

After a 'bam,' a sword that came out of nowhere knocked the long horn away.

"Huh?"

The humanoid beast, infuriated, let out an ear splitting roar that immediately broke space and covered the nearby area with powerful soundwaves.

Those soundwaves were bounced and enhanced by the broken pieces of space until its potential damage was increased to an appalling level.

Su Ping's expression changed as it was an indiscriminate attack. He quickly roared at Ye Wuxiu and the others behind him, "Don't come any closer!"

But it was too late!

After a booming sound, Su Ping felt that his brain was trembling. The soundwaves were mixed with mental attacks!

He felt as if his brain were stung by needles, falling in a trance.

At that moment, his training in the Golden Crow World kicked in. His soul was so tough that it recovered and nullified the excruciating pain after only a moment of dispersion.

However, the physical soundwave attack he took was unbearable. The defense skills on the surface of his body had exploded instantly.

In the next moment, a violent and chaotic pressure was imposed on him. All his pores were squeezed and oppressed to the limit.

Su Ping vomited a mouthful of blood as his internal organs had been hurt.

"Oh no…!"

"Retreat now…!"

Screams came from Yuan Tianchen, Xue Yunzhen and the other people behind Su Ping. All the defense skills that the legendary warriors had deployed in advance were blown up.

When the defense skills were shattered, other colors shined on them as the defensive secret treasures were broken!

Six of the Ocean State warriors exploded along with their flying battle pets, turning into a mist of blood, which fell to the ground with whatever was left of their bodies.

Further away on the wall, many of the warriors had bleeding ears because of the ear splitting sonic explosion. Some had even passed out.

They were quite a distance away, but they were still heavily wounded.

Everybody on the wall had been heavily wounded by a single strike!

That was the ability of a Fate State beast king!

Upon seeing that, all the people in the command room and the base city opened their mouths, completely at a loss for words.

…

"You're still alive?"

The humanoid beast, with bulging eyes, was shocked to see Su Ping and the dragon. My strike didn't kill this human nor the dragon?

If caught unprepared, even another Fate State beast king would have been blown up by the strike!

"What a strong body…"

The humanoid beast was amazed. Right when it was about to attack again, the sharpest blade aura approached its head and slashed.