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Chapter 220: A Tragic Victory

Though he didn't believe he could outrun light, Bai Mo still plunged with all his might into the ocean's depths, attempting to leverage the barrier of the seawater to protect himself to a greater extent and minimize the damage sustained.

Even with his divine sense temporarily unusable, he still gleaned the general situation behind him from the relentless, rapid erosion of his Xuanhua by the boundless light and heat.

The speed at which his Xuanhua vanished far outstripped its regeneration; he even had to pull the Xuanhua from before him around to his back to resist the onslaught.

Yet, this was enough. Its presence bought Bai Mo a few crucial seconds, allowing him to submerge to a sufficient depth and avoid directly facing the terrifying explosion.

Simultaneously, the other three who had successfully broken through likewise used their Xuanhua to shield those nearby, plunging into the seabed. As for the rest, they could only pray for their own good fortune.

Light and heat, like an iron spoon, fiercely scooped a chunk out of the boundless watermelon that was the Arctic Ocean. Massive quantities of seawater evaporated, and the astonishing heat caused a rapid melting of the vast ice floes across the Arctic.

However, as everyone fled the explosion, with no one paying attention to what was truly happening at the epicenter, several streams of information suddenly burst forth from the singularity with the gushing energy, rapidly vanishing in different directions...

"According to preliminary estimates from the seismic center, the energy released by this explosion is equivalent to the total energy released by a Richter 7.8 magnitude earthquake. All countries along the Arctic Ocean coast are advised to prepare for tsunamis."

"They... they should be alright, right?" Many were concerned about what had happened at the explosion's core. Almost all participants in the battle were top combatants from various nations worldwide, each tied to countless interests.

In just a few short years, numerous families and organizations had rapidly expanded based on the strength of a single powerful individual. They had seized benefits far exceeding their capabilities by leaning on these "big trees." Now, with the collapse of those trees, everything would revert to its original state.

Under the interference of the explosion's energy, the ocean currents became chaotic. Many of the "shrimp soldiers and crab generals" arrayed in strict formation on the seabed appeared somewhat flustered.

Having only recently emerged from primitive society, though possessing a certain degree of power, their reverence for nature had only grown. They were most sensitive to such natural disasters; some of the Sea Race even put down their weapons and began to pray silently.

Seres was helpless in this situation. To establish its extraordinary status as a High Priest, it had fabricated the existence of a nature spirit deity among the Sea Race, using the power of faith to legitimately command the majority of the Sea Race to work for its recovery without compensation.

As a priest, it couldn't possibly prevent these believers from praying...

As for military discipline, it no longer cared. It was fundamentally different from the Zerg, where commands were absolute. It could precisely control tens of thousands of the Sea Race itself, but merely the Sea Race responsible for guarding it and the entire project numbered two hundred thousand, and for the entire race, that was but a drop in the ocean.

Naturally, the Sea Race was not a monolith internally. The term 'Sea Race' was merely a general designation for countless sapient marine species. Unless suppressed by the aura of an absolute powerhouse, many tribes directly above or below each other on the food chain found it impossible to coexist peacefully. This was one of the fundamental reasons why the Sea Race, despite its overwhelming numbers, could not organize effective attacks.

"What is it?" After diving into the sea, several Ability Users with spirit energy vision continued their descent, quickly discovering a high-energy reaction at the seabed.

"There's an ambush awaiting our forces at the seabed! Leave immediately!"

"According to satellite tracking, the first major contingent of the Sea Race has only just reached the vicinity of the Bering Strait, so how could there be anything here...?" Although the others found it strange, they still heeded the advice and quickly surfaced.

What appeared before the eyes of the surviving multitude was an unprecedentedly vast and empty sky, truly cloudless for ten thousand li, with only the lingering radiation testifying to the reality of the recent grand explosion.

"Those still alive, please respond!"

After a round of accounting, the command center finally tallied forty-two dead and sixty-four severely wounded in the recent super-explosion.

"To utterly kill that fellow, we lost twenty-two peak Unmelting Realm Ability Users, along with over three hundred high-tier Ability Users, all told." The command center arrived at this shocking figure after completing their statistics.

"And then there's the next battle."

Transport planes carrying large contingents of Ability User forces had finally reached the Arctic Circle. The summoned military units, upon learning of the ambush at the seabed, quickly gathered along the coast.

Each of them carried underwater weapons developed specifically for the Sea Race. A vanguard force of nearly fifty thousand began to converge with the leaders who had participated in the encirclement of Sarcasky in the Arctic Circle.

Unless necessary, Seres didn't want to actively provoke a battle. The fact that these subordinates could maintain some discipline was still a result of its powerful suppression.

But once battle commenced, its own forces would likely be the first to fall into disarray. If it could just stall for another month and release all the methane from the combustible ice, the powerful greenhouse effect generated would be far more meaningful than any military victory.

Furthermore, by harnessing the immense energy released in that instantaneous burst, it could partially infuse itself through the meticulously constructed Zerg biological network, shortening its lengthy accumulation period. This was the true reason it had spared no effort, spending years to initiate this plan.

Otherwise, it could have released it little by little, and the effect wouldn't have been too different. It wouldn't do anything that harmed others without benefiting itself; after all, the Sea Race were merely tools to be exploited.

"According to my preliminary estimate with my spirit energy eyes, over two hundred thousand Sea Race troops have gathered at the seabed." The Ability User who first discovered the anomaly beneath the sea reported to the on-site command center.

"Two hundred thousand combat-ready Sea Race... Given the biological population of the Arctic Ocean, it's not easy to gather such a force."

"But why aren't they actively attacking? If that deceased alien really was their leader, then..." Someone quickly identified the inconsistency.

Many had already pinpointed the problem, but Chen Bo, who had initially proposed that the enemy was the mastermind behind the Sea Race, had now taken a further step into a new realm, his power at its zenith. No one intended to cross him or question his previous statements.

Chen Bo also guessed what the others were thinking; those around him in the command room had secretly glanced at him several times, appearing to have something to say but holding back. So he said, "On the battlefield just now, they weren't even cannon fodder, just like we didn't send out an army composed of low-tier Ability Users."

"Exactly!"

"They'd only be sending themselves to their deaths by coming up here!" Someone immediately echoed.

"So, do we fight now?" Teach, the corpulent man from the United States, his body wreathed in black smoke, grinned and asked.

"Fight! Why wouldn't we fight!" Another Ability User, who had gained more sway after successfully breaking through, also declared.

"Fine." The last person was an ascetic cultivator; he had originally joined the battle only to seek an opportunity for a breakthrough. Whether to fight or not was unimportant to him.

"What about the last one? He didn't just leave, did he?" Teach asked, a cigar clamped between his teeth.

"I'm almost at the seabed." The black-robed avatar, holding Bai Mo's identification documents, walked into the command center.