Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Army Advances to the Gates [First Update, Recommended]

“You’ve got quite a fire there.”

Luffy smiled with confidence and spoke with high spirits. Flames coiled all around him now, making him seem like a god of fire, immensely powerful. Added to that was the aura of a dragon, domineering as though an emperor had descended in person.

The female half-cat demon king was utterly stunned. She had never expected this youth to become so terrifying, to swallow away more than half of the Netherworld Serpent Flame in such a short time and leave the male half-snake demon king somewhat weakened.

Her expression turned gloomy. She had never imagined that even joining forces with the half-snake demon king would still fail to kill this youth. Instead, he had devoured the half-snake demon king’s Netherworld Serpent Flame and grown even stronger.

It was simply too unexpected. Yet was that not how life was? Victory belonged to those prepared for it.

The male snake demon king was seething with rage. Flames encircled his body, and his powerful aura swept outward in all directions. Today, either he died or this youth did. To dare devour the beast fire he was so proud of was to court death.

Whoosh.

The male snake demon king transformed into a gigantic serpent twenty meters long, its body thick as a water vat, and lunged at Luffy.

Its massive body was like a small mountain. Its pair of sickly green eyes, huge as lanterns, fixed on Luffy as it let out a terrifying roar.

Ah!

The giant serpent opened its maw wide enough to swallow a person whole and bit down on Luffy.

Swift as lightning, yet enormous beyond measure.

Boom.

The giant serpent’s head swallowed the place where Luffy stood, tearing away a great patch of grass and swallowing it whole.

But Luffy had not been bitten. He had shifted aside and now looked coldly at the male snake demon king. He no longer wished to play around. This had to end quickly.

Otherwise, the front line would be breached.

At the Nine Provinces command center, Qin Bailing personally took command. Seeing the countless feral beasts and zombies surrounding them, she felt helpless.

“How is the power storage recharge going?” Qin Bailing asked the staff member beside her with great seriousness.

“It’s fully charged. It can discharge twice,” the staff member replied just as seriously.

“Good. When I give the order, you press the switch.”

“Yes.”

Some of the Li family and the others spread out in all directions, preparing to face the zombies and feral beasts.

The eastern front had the most zombies and feral beasts.

Qin Bailing and Zeng Hongsen were stationed here.

Li Chaodan and the head of the Li family had not come; only the people brought by Qin Bailing were present.

Qin Bailing did not know what Li Chaodan and the head of the family were thinking. The enemy was at the gates, yet they had not come, while even Luffy’s subordinates had arrived.

Zeng Hongsen led his group to Qin Bailing’s side.

“Hello, Squad Leader,” Zeng Hongsen said with a broad smile, appearing hearty and unrestrained.

“Good. We’ll wait until the zombies and feral beasts attack, then electrocute two waves of them before we make our move. Everyone must follow my command,” Qin Bailing said, clad in blue battle armor, heroic and strikingly beautiful, holding a frost sword as she looked into the distance, her eyes filled only with worry.

“Yes!” The dozen or so people under Zeng Hongsen all answered.

“Where is your boss?” Qin Bailing could not help asking.

“He had something to do and hasn’t arrived yet. He’ll be here shortly,” Zeng Hongsen said very seriously.

“Oh. Good thing we have laser cannons and nuclear bombs, or we wouldn’t be able to hold this place. Not a single one of those powerful people is here.”

Qin Bailing said anxiously, though “anxious” was not quite the right word; it was more like despair.

“Who says I’m not here?”

An aged voice rang out. It was Zhang Jiulao.

Everyone looked over, showing some excitement.

“Zhang Jiulao, you’re here. Now that you’ve come, this is truly wonderful, but the head of the Li family and the others still haven’t arrived,” Qin Bailing said with both joy and worry.

“The head of the Li family will be here a little later,” Zhang Jiulao said, shaking his head. “But all of you must be careful.”

With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked at the densely packed zombies and feral beasts outside the wire fence. There were far too many to count, a sea beyond sight, an absolute nightmare.

“Even if I die, I won’t kneel and beg for mercy. I’ll only die in battle,” Zeng Hongsen said very seriously. “But once our boss returns, there will be hope for everything.”

“Right. Boss is all-powerful,” Ma Bi said with reverence.

“Boss always finds a way to resolve any danger,” Zeng Shuna said after a moment’s thought.

“You really trust your boss, don’t you. But who exactly is your boss?” Zhang Jiulao asked curiously. He wanted to know who this supposedly miraculous person was.

“Our boss is Luffy,” Zeng Hongsen said confidently.

“Oh, that young man who gave Bailing the spatial ring? Indeed, he seems like a very good young man. But wasn’t he only at the third tier, or perhaps the second? How could he possibly turn the tide?” Zhang Jiulao clearly did not quite believe it. In truth, it was only natural that he would think so.

After all, the difference in strength was what determined the outcome of a battle.

“You don’t know this, but our boss’s abilities are not at all what they appear to be,” Zeng Hongsen said, and just then a low, mournful howl rose beyond the wire fence.

Awooo...

Like a battle horn, distant and ancient.

A long, drawn-out sound.

The zombies and feral beasts grew agitated, roaring incessantly.

Roar...

Awooo...

Hoo...

The zombies suddenly charged toward the wire fence. Dense as a tide, vast and surging, raising clouds of dust into the sky like migrating beast herds, the zombies and feral beasts rushed toward the fence, and the flying feral beasts plunged into the safe zone.

The momentum was overwhelming.

It made one’s scalp tingle.

Truly terrifying.

This was the first battle since the apocalypse began. Everyone stood ready, gripping their weapons nervously: some held laser guns, some bows and arrows, some stood before laser cannons. Some stood with swords in hand, others with hands clasped behind their backs.

The ground trembled.

Qin Bailing narrowed her eyes at the horrifying scene before her and raised one arm high. Seeing many flying feral beasts burst into the safe zone, along with a great mass of low-tier zombies surging forward, she roared, “Discharge!”

Zzzt!

The staff member slammed the switch. Lightning flared along the wire fence, and arcs of electricity leapt into the sky. The feral beasts in the air that were struck all screamed miserably.

“Ahhh...”

Smoking all over, they crashed down, while the high-voltage current lashed outward beyond the fence like countless electric whips.

In an instant, the densely packed zombies and feral beasts were all struck, smoking black and collapsing.

In one sweep, the high-voltage discharge annihilated ten to twenty thousand zombies and feral beasts.

But those zombies and feral beasts, utterly fearless, charged again. This time, some of them were second- and third-tier, and even higher-tier ones had joined the assault.

Qin Bailing watched the charging hordes with a grave expression, waiting for the right moment to use the last discharge. It should be enough to wipe out a large number. Yet stopping this attack from the zombies and feral beasts would be difficult. There was only desperate struggle left, fighting to the very end. No one would surrender. Of course, surrender meant death anyway.