Chapter 338: The Summoning World, The Mermaid Clan

Chapter 338: The Summoning World, The Mermaid Clan

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupted beneath the ocean, muffled by the water like a distant thunderclap.

Jane Qing and Jiang Shaoran, along with other Special Forces warriors, worked together to create a vortex that reached the ocean floor, crafting an air environment. They then deployed a nuclear bomb, obliterating the rift at the bottom of the sea.

A mushroom cloud burst through the surface, soaring into the sky and forming a towering cloud.

Due to the underwater detonation, most of the bomb's power was absorbed by the seawater. Even so, it still created a mushroom cloud over a thousand meters high on the ocean's surface.

The escort ship assigned to the mission had retreated ten kilometers away in advance. Despite this, when the explosion occurred, they witnessed a massive wave, like a tsunami, rushing towards them.

Fortunately, the explosion's shockwave only generated a single ring of giant waves, and the escort ship, ten kilometers away, merely endured a violent shaking without suffering significant damage.

The Special Forces warriors who carried out the mission were also protected by the tide summoning abilities of Jane Qing, Cao Lixiong, Liu Haiyang, and Jiang Shaoran, allowing them to withstand the impact of the explosion.

After the mission was accomplished, six out of the ten Marine System Warriors received Summoning Notices.

【Abyssal Battlefield: Summoning Countdown - 7 Days】

The mission's completion and the Summoning Notices were immediately reported back to the Southern Theater Command of Daxia.

Upon hearing the report from his adjutant, Li Guining issued orders without delay: "Recall the Special Forces members with Summoning Notices and inform all theaters of war to gather the summoned warriors for battle preparation."

The six Marine System Warriors, having just completed their mission in the Andaman Sea, immediately returned home by plane without delay.

The remaining Special Forces members who were not summoned continued their tasks in the Andaman Sea, clearing the shipping lane and establishing a naval base to secure control over the waterway.

This was a condition agreed upon when Dragon Might intervened to resolve the Undersea Fog Crisis, but obtaining actual control over the shipping lane was not an easy task.

In this era where order was on the brink of collapse, military strength determined the world's layout.

The Lion City Strait was the primary shipping lane of Blue Planet, with a quarter of the world's goods passing through it.

The nation that originally controlled this area would not easily relinquish its grip, and while open conflict was unlikely, a subtle struggle persisted.

Blue Planet resembled a chessboard, with major powers engaging in a game of Go, cautiously moving their pieces. The outcome might hinge on a single piece in the end.

Now, with Daxia's Special Forces resolving the shipping lane crisis, they had made a strategic move in the Andaman Sea, and it was up to their opponents to respond.

...

Daxia.

Southern Theater Command.

The theater summoned all the warriors with Summoning Notices and issued a call to gather all warriors with the same Summoning time from various war zones across the country.

Lu Heng glanced at the countdown time that was sent back and compared it to his own Summoning Notice.

【Abyssal Battlefield: Summoning Countdown - 6 Days, 23 Hours, 37 Minutes, and 58 Seconds】

The timing was precise to the second.

This indicated that not only the six Marine System warriors from the Special Forces had been summoned, but he had been summoned as well.

Since he was summoned, his team members would undoubtedly be summoned together.

Lu Heng took out his phone and checked the team chat.

Su Muyu, Lin Zeyu, and Xie Shien had all sent messages, confirming the Summoning countdown and asking when they should gather.

Lu Heng replied in the team chat: "I'm at the Southern Theater Command. Come over here."

Li Guining called in the theater's staff officer, Qi Jinghui, to make arrangements: "I'll leave the preparations for this Summoning to you."

Qi Jinghui was about to agree.

Lu Heng raised his hand and interjected: "I need to participate in the preparations for this Summoning."

With the completion of the mission and the appearance of the Summoning Notices, the officers at the theater command were all busy. Even Li Guining didn't have time to talk to Lu Heng. Hearing Lu Heng's words, Qi Jinghui's eyebrows furrowed, and he immediately understood the situation.

He made a quick decision and reassigned the tasks: "Lu Heng, you're in charge of the preparations for this Summoning, with Staff Officer Qi assisting. The theater command will provide full support."

"Yes, sir!" Qi Jinghui saluted and responded loudly.

...

After more than half an hour had passed.

Su Muyu, Lin Zeyu, and Xie Shien arrived at the Southern Theater Command one after another.

Lu Heng found a conference room and met with the three of them, briefly exchanging information.

"When I came in just now, I saw that the theater command was bustling with activity. Were there many summoned warriors in the theater?" Su Muyu had strong perception and had already gathered a lot of information upon entering.

"Yes, six out of the ten newly recruited Marine System warriors have been summoned.

Lu Heng shared this crucial piece of information.

Lin Zeyu's eyebrows furrowed, and he blurted out, "Are we summoning so many Mermen warriors? Is this summoning related to the ocean?"

He usually acted like he didn't like to think, but he wasn't stupid. After experiencing numerous Abyssal Battlefields, he had discerned certain patterns.

Lu Heng, with the benefit of his additional knowledge from his rebirth, had already guessed the nature of the target world for this summoning and spoke up, "Yes, this summoning is related to the ocean, and I have some extra information. The target world for this summoning should be a civilization that exists at the bottom of the sea."

Upon hearing this, the three of them showed a hint of surprise.

Xie Shien asked, "Is it a technological civilization or a magical one?"

This was a crucial point.

For a technological civilization, survival at the bottom of the sea would be extremely challenging.

It wasn't that survival was impossible, but many technological advancements would be difficult to achieve.

The reason was that it was hard to utilize the energy provided by burning materials at the bottom of the sea.

In other words, technological civilizations typically wouldn't choose to establish their habitats at the bottom of the sea.

Lu Heng provided the answer, "It's a magical civilization, and the main race is the Mermaid Clan. They have human upper bodies and snake-like lower bodies, or more accurately, their lower bodies resemble that of a serpent."

"Are they beautiful?" Lin Zeyu's question was a bit off-topic, causing the other three to glance at him.

"Well... if we're talking about a unique aesthetic, they would be considered exotic and alluring," Lu Heng replied, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

"That's quite stimulating," Lin Zeyu said, as if he had already imagined the appearance of this peculiar race in his mind.

After some serious thought, Xie Shien asked, "If the target world is an underwater civilization, then summoning Marine System warriors makes sense. But why are we being summoned?"

Lu Heng had also pondered this question, but without knowing the reason, he speculated, "I guess the danger level is quite high, and the Marine System Ability Users' combat power alone might not be sufficient to handle the main mission."

There was a fundamental logic to the summonings in the Abyssal Battlefield.

After a year and a half of Abyssal Descents, humanity gradually uncovered this logic.

Summonings would be based on the Ability Users' capabilities, and their combat power ratings would also be taken into consideration.

In summary, the logic behind summonings in the Abyssal Battlefield was to send summoners to resolve the crises in the target worlds.

In other words, the summoned Ability Users needed to possess the ability to resolve these crises.

Currently, the ten Marine System warriors in the human world, the strongest squad within the Special Forces, were the best in terms of combat power in the sea, but this was in comparison to Marine System Ability Users from other countries.

If these ten individuals were to face Lu Heng on land, he could defeat them all in an instant.

Therefore, even if they were summoned to an underwater world, the combat power they could exhibit would be somewhat limited.

In such a situation, following the logic of the Abyssal Battlefield, high-powered Ability Users would be included in the summoning.

Lu Heng had given it serious thought; among the four of them, none possessed abilities related to the Marine System. Since they weren't summoned based on their ability types, it implied that they were most likely summoned due to their combat power ratings.

The target world required top-tier combat power, indicating an extremely high danger level.

"So, should we bring the Marine warriors from the Special Forces with us?" Su Muyu asked, typing on his phone to record important information while inquiring about critical details.

Lu Heng nodded and replied, "Yes, I've already discussed this with Li Guining. We will be in charge of the pre-summoning preparations, and the War Zone Headquarters will provide full support."

Lin Zeyu's eyebrows rose, and he asked, "Can we request high-powered weapons?"

Lu Heng glanced at him and asked, "Do you have that much Divine Energy to bring in?"

In theory, requesting tanks and aircraft wouldn't be a problem, but they couldn't be brought into the Abyssal World.

As for using Divine Energy to assimilate a tank, that would require astronomical amounts.

With so much Divine Energy, it would be better to enhance one's own abilities.

Tanks aren't weak, but in the face of Ability Users, they are just iron turtles, unable to withstand even a single Rift Slash.

Ability Users have countless ways to deal with tanks; for instance, Chen Zi Hang's magnetic ability could crush a tank into a ball.

Therefore, if one wants to bring technological weapons into the Abyssal World, it's better to prioritize explosives.

Lin Zeyu was just asking casually; he didn't have enough Divine Energy to spare on high-powered weapons.

Xie Shien continued the conversation, asking, "How many people from the unit are being summoned?"

"We don't know yet. We're waiting for Staff Officer Qi's report. He will come over after obtaining the intelligence."

Lu Heng replied.

Not long after, Qi Jinghui approached and handed a report to Lu Heng, saying, "I've just received responses from various war zones. The summoned warriors are mainly from our southern war zone, with only three from other war zones."

Six members of the Ocean Squad were summoned, along with the three from other war zones, making a total of thirteen.

"Thirteen is already quite a number. This summons is not a small-scale operation," Lu Heng quickly calculated, estimating that the scale of this summons would exceed fifty people.

Lu Heng looked up at Qi Jinghui and said, "Report to the commander and confirm the assembly time."

Qi Jinghui nodded in agreement, "Alright, I'll notify you once the time is set."

...

Due to the tight preparation time for the summons, the countdown was only seven days.

So, on the afternoon of the next day, after the six members of the Ocean Squad returned from their mission, they gathered to meet the three from other war zones.

Thirteen summoned Ability Users, along with several war zone staff officers, assembled in the conference room.

Qi Jinghui briefly introduced the situation of this summons and confirmed the accurate countdown time. Finally, he announced, "According to the orders of the war zone command, Lu Heng will be in charge of this summons preparation, with my assistance. Lu Heng, please speak."

Among the thirteen summoned Ability Users present, only the three from other war zones were not very familiar. The rest were either teammates or Special Forces members.

Lu Heng glanced at the three from other war zones and said, "I won't beat around the bush. I'll give you the information directly.

"The target world of this summons is an underwater world. The main civilization is the Mermaid Clan, and the danger level is very high, estimated to be above level 6, and possibly even level 7."

An Ability User from the northwest war zone raised his hand and asked, "Where did you get this information?"

Lu Heng looked at him and asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm Cai Jinhong."

"Once your combat power increases and you encounter more Abyssal Worlds, you'll understand that some artifacts in the Abyssal Worlds can provide advance information about the target world, and you can even teleport into the summoned world in advance," Lu Heng retorted.

Lu Heng hated people who asked pointless questions the most. They kept asking why without contributing anything to the preparation.

Cai Jinhong sensed the displeasure in Lu Heng's tone and did not pursue the matter further.

Lu Heng flipped through the files of the three Ability Users from other war zones and continued, "I've looked through your profiles. You also have one or two underwater skills, but you didn't specialize in the Marine System enhancement path."

Another Ability User named Xu Jitong nodded and replied, "Yes, the Marine System enhancement path is too weak on land. Initially, I absorbed underwater skills, but I wasn't familiar with the skill set system. Later, I wanted to change, but it was too late."

Lu Heng opened his file and glanced at the information, saying, "All the skills in your skill set can be utilized underwater, even if they aren't exclusive underwater skills. But it's still possible to take the Marine System enhancement path. Consider it seriously."

Xu Jitong furrowed his brows, puzzled, "I'm here because I was summoned, not to discuss enhancement paths."

Lu Heng looked up at him and said, "I'm just giving you a friendly reminder. You may not understand now, but later, you'll know what I mean."

Moreover, this time wouldn't be too close. Once they entered the underwater world, the role of Marine System abilities would become increasingly significant. As long as Xu Jitong wasn't too foolish, he would realize that specializing in the Marine System path could bring him tremendous advantages.

When everyone was competing for the land enhancement path, it was difficult for Ability Users without exceptional talent to stand out.

Failing to stand out meant it was challenging to obtain resource allocation.

Currently, the Marine System enhancement path was a blue ocean, with few Ability Users willing to take this route due to the scarcity of practitioners.

As long as one made a firm decision to embark on this path, they would immediately receive resource allocation from the military and become a first-tier Marine System warrior.

When the Marine System enhancement path became a red ocean later on, it wouldn't be as easy to choose this route.

Upon hearing that the summoned world was an underwater world, Liu Haiyang and the others reacted differently from the three from other war zones.

Liu Haiyang, with an excited tone, pressed for more information, "Instructor, please tell us more about the target world. Let's not waste time on meaningless questions."

Lu Heng nodded in agreement, "Alright, I'll provide an overview of the Mermaid Clan's political, cultural, and commercial aspects next."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end