Chapter 938: Blue Planet's Calm Period
Chapter 938: Blue Planet's Calm Period
Over the next few days, Blue Planet entered another period of calm.
Councilor Hu Jing, Commissioner Zhang, and the others spent an entire night deliberating and finally agreed on a general strategy for the final battle.
Their plan was to seize all the psychic springs except for the one at Mount Fuji and then set up three lines of defense against the Skrulls.
The first line of defense would be established around Mount Fuji. They planned to use Su Yu's credits to exchange for over a dozen "Advanced Defense Runes" and use these runes to construct a sturdy barrier around Mount Fuji.
This barrier would be able to hold off the Skrulls' initial waves of attacks, forming the first line of defense.
The second line of defense would be set up in the surrounding seas of Neon Country. They decided to use the "Tashin Defense Net" to create a protective network that would cover all four islands of Neon Country, using this network to slow down the Skrulls' advance.
The third line of defense would be established along the eastern coastlines of Goryeo, Huaxia, and Roscha, focusing on establishing strong defensive strongholds.
If the Skrulls broke through the first line, Blue Planet's humans would fall back to the second line. If they broke through the second line, Blue Planet's humans would defend the third line. Beyond that, there would be no more fallback options.
In reality, if the Skrulls managed to break through the second line of defense, it would likely mean that Blue Planet's humans were on the verge of losing the war.
After all, if the "Tashin Defense Net" were breached, the Skrulls' flying machines could quickly spread across the globe. They would not engage in direct combat with the third line of defense but would instead cross the Pacific to occupy the entire American continent.
Therefore, after this plan was established, Councilor Hu Jing and the other high-ranking officials immediately recognized that the "Tashin Defense Net" would be the focal point of the final battle between Blue Planet and the Skrulls.
Another crucial point was that both the "Tashin Defense Net" and the "Advanced Defense Runes" could only be obtained by exchanging Su Yu's credits.
As a result, they placed even greater importance on the use of Su Yu's credits.
Currently, Su Yu had a total of 36,000 credits.
If he participated in the upcoming attacks on 17 giant springs, his total credits should reach 70,000.
These 70,000 credits had to be used wisely.
They needed to exchange the "Tashin Defense Net," which cost over 10,000 credits, and also acquire over a dozen "Advanced Defense Runes."
Additionally, Su Yu had mentioned the materials needed for the inter-oceanic teleportation array, as well as some other large-scale weapons, which also required credits.
So, despite the 70,000 credits seeming like a large amount, it was not enough to meet the high demands of Blue Planet's humans, and they had to be extremely careful with their use.
...
After the final battle plan was formulated, Blue Planet's humans immediately began to act.
At this stage, they could not yet exchange for the "Advanced Defense Runes" and the "Tashin Defense Net," as doing so would immediately reveal their plan to the Skrulls, who were not fools.
Moreover, setting up these defenses was a quick process, so they could wait until the Skrulls were left with only one spring before starting.
For now, what Blue Planet's humans could do was to proactively attack the giant springs.
On the evening of March 1st, Blue Planet's high-ranking cultivators and players, along with over 1,000 fifth-stage mercenaries, marched toward the South Pole spring.
The South Pole spring was widely considered the easiest to conquer.
For this spring attack, Blue Planet did not send all of their god-level experts.
Out of the five god-level experts, only the First Emperor, Su Yu, and the feline Chenxing arrived at the scene.
In addition, they brought 10 seventh-stage experts, 68 sixth-stage experts, and 1,000 mercenaries purchased from the "Elemental Camp."
The reason they did not send their strongest lineup was to use this opportunity to wear down some of the Skrulls' strength.
If Blue Planet's strongest forces were to confront the Skrull defenders, and the Skrulls simply retreated, their overall strength would remain intact, making future battles even more difficult.
Blue Planet's humans wanted to use roughly equal forces to engage the Skrulls in a prolonged battle, preventing them from easily escaping.
The Skrull defenders also noticed Blue Planet's strategy. Seeing the relatively small number of forces sent by Blue Planet, they too decided to engage in a prolonged battle.
Both sides agreed on this strategy, and a fierce battle of attrition began around the South Pole spring.
The battle lasted for a full six hours.
After six hours, Blue Planet's humans successfully broke through the protective barrier and entered the base's interior.
The remaining high-stage Skrull experts, like those from the other springs, escaped through a spatial rift.
In this battle, Blue Planet lost 132 fifth-stage mercenaries and 7 high-stage players who were commanding the mercenaries. No ancient cultivators were killed, but two were severely injured.
The Skrull forces, bolstered by their protective shields, suffered slightly fewer casualties than those on Earth.
However, they still lost three 6th-stage cultivators and eighteen 5th-stage cultivators.
Considering that most of Earth's losses were gold-exchanged mercenaries, the two sides could be said to be evenly matched.
...
After the recovery of the Antarctic Point Spring, the humans of Earth did not rest on their laurels.
On March 4th, Earth's cultivators and players besieged the Kosciuszko Mountain Spring near the capital of Australia.
On March 7th, Earth's high-ranking beings reclaimed the Cook Peak Spring on New Zealand's South Island.
Both of these springs were reclaimed smoothly, but not without a fierce battle.
In these two battles, Earth lost 525 5th-stage mercenaries, 35 5th-stage players, three 6th-stage players, and two ancient cultivators who fell in combat.
The Skrulls also paid a heavy price, losing 81 5th-stage cultivators, four 6th-stage cultivators, and one 7th-stage being who was critically injured.
As the battles raged on, both sides gradually grew more heated and began to disregard the cost of lives.
The public opinion on Earth also underwent a significant shift.
Before Su Yu returned from Skrull, there were a large number of surrender advocates on Earth, making up about one-fifth of the population. These surrender advocates constantly talked about "relocating" and planned to move to Skrull to live a better life.
However, after the news broke that "planetary miners" was a deadly occupation, the surrender advocates realized that even if they went to Skrull, the Skrulls would not treat them as equals. Surrender rhetoric on the internet began to dwindle.
Recently, with the large number of players and cultivators dying in the war, people realized that the war was genuinely lethal. Even 5th-stage and 6th-stage players couldn't guarantee their survival, let alone ordinary people.
In this atmosphere, no one dared to talk about surrendering anymore. Everyone focused on improving themselves in the game to increase their chances of survival.
...
On March 10th, Earth's high-ranking cultivators and players once again rallied to attack the Fuji Mountain Spring in Japan.
Of course, this attack was only a probing strike, not a full-scale assault to reclaim the spring.
If they truly reclaimed it, their subsequent plans would fall apart.
Because of this, the number of Earth's strong forces sent on this mission had to be carefully balanced—neither too many nor too few.
After careful consideration, the upper echelons of the United Government decided that Su Yu, Morning Star the Cat, and the Great Cultivator Yang Jian would lead the charge, commanding over a thousand high-stage cultivators and mercenaries to Japan.
When the Skrulls learned of Earth's movements, they were shocked and immediately convened a high-level meeting via video conference.
"Emperor Manina, we must hold the Fuji Mountain Spring!" Kusman, the leader of the Runkt Alliance, cut straight to the point at the beginning of the meeting. "The Fuji Mountain Spring is the cornerstone of our entire plan. We cannot let it fall into Earth's hands!"
"I understand," Manina nodded calmly at Kusman in the video. "I have already dispatched enough high-stage cultivators to defend the Fuji Mountain Spring. No need to remind me."
"But the problem is," the Runkt god-tier cultivator Stiem frowned, "we need to send enough people to hold the spring, but we also can't reveal our strategic intentions too early."
Stiem looked at all the god-tier beings in the chat room and said seriously, "If we reveal our strategic intentions too soon and Earth learns that Fuji Mountain is our chosen final battlefield, they will surely set up strong defenses in advance.
The stronger their defenses, the harder it will be for us to conquer Earth.
So, we need to hold the spring without revealing our strategic intentions."
"Without revealing our strategic intentions... and still hold the spring?" Manina frowned, finding this requirement too high.
The Earth forces were already en route to the Fuji Mountain Spring.
If they abandoned the Fuji Mountain Spring like they did with the two springs in Australia, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, if they resisted too strongly, Earth would surely notice their emphasis on this spring.
On one hand, they needed to hold the spring, and on the other hand, they needed to make Earth believe they weren't particularly concerned about it. How was that possible?
Just as Manina was about to say something, Plant suddenly asked in the video meeting room, "Lanqi, who are the god-tier cultivators Earth has sent this time?"
Lanqi, who was usually just a bystander, was caught off guard by the question.
He glanced at the front-line report and quickly answered, "Lord Plant, there are three god-tier cultivators in total: Su Yu, Morning Star the Cat, and Yang Jian.
"Alright, the three weakest ones." Plante nodded.
After a brief moment of thought, he continued, "How about this: We send a lineup that's slightly weaker but comparable to Blue Star's forces. We'll put up a show of engaging them in a war of attrition.
"The humans of Blue Star won't keep up the fight indefinitely. Once the attrition reaches a certain point, they'll definitely retreat.
"This way, we can ensure that our strategic intentions remain unknown to the humans of Blue Star, while still protecting the spring. It's a perfect solution! What do you all think?"
"I agree with Lord Plante's idea," Kusman was the first to speak.
"I also agree," Steem followed.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
Everyone expressed their agreement.
Manina himself did not directly speak, but since everyone else agreed, his opinion became irrelevant.
"Very well, I will arrange the most suitable cultivators and troops for this mission," Manina replied.
...
...
More than two hours later, the battle at Mount Fuji officially began.
This time, the number of high-level cultivators participating in the battle was significantly higher than in the previous two encounters. However, both sides fought in a conventional manner.
The Blue Star forces did not genuinely intend to breach the spring, and the Skrulls did not want to reveal their tactical intentions.
By the sixth hour of the battle, the sun had risen, but the humans of Blue Star had not even managed to break through the outermost protective shield of the base.
However, both sides had suffered significant losses during the battle.
After six hours of intense fighting, Blue Star had lost 323 Tier 5 mercenaries, 19 Tier 5 players, and 2 Tier 6 players. One Indian Grand Master was hit by an antimatter railgun and died on the spot, with several others suffering severe injuries.
The Skrulls also paid a heavy price.
Under the concentrated attacks of the Blue Star humans, 64 Tier 5 cultivators and 3 Tier 6 cultivators were killed.
The losses on both sides during these six hours exceeded those of any previous major battle. The only difference was that this time, the Blue Star cultivators did not breach the base's protective shield as they had in the past.
Su Yu gazed down at the protective shield below.
The shield remained resilient and had a gray, metallic sheen. Inside, the Skrulls watched with predatory eyes.
From this, it was clear that they would not be able to capture this spring today.
"Kexing, what should we do?" Tina, who was at the front line, was breathing heavily from exhaustion. She sheathed her golden greatsword and turned to look at Su Yu.
Over the past few days, Tina, Alyssa, and Morning Star had provided significant assistance to Blue Star. They played a crucial role in capturing three giant springs.
Especially in terms of killing Skrull cultivators and dealing effective damage to the protective shields, they far outperformed cultivators of the same tier.
The reason for their superior performance was simple—the Skrulls ignored them.
The Skrulls knew that Tina and her companions could resurrect, so even if they put in a great effort to kill them, it would be futile. Therefore, even when they appeared in extremely provocative positions, such as within the Skrull cultivators' ranks, wreaking havoc, no one would focus their attacks on them.
Because of this, their contribution to the battle far exceeded that of other players of the same tier.
Hearing Tina's words, Su Yu smiled.
He did not directly answer her but instead called out to the Skrull Divine Ranks Victoria and Rai within the base, "I'm sorry, but you've fallen for it."
"???" Upon hearing Su Yu's words, the two immediately had a string of question marks on their foreheads.
Why did Su Yu say that? How had they fallen for it?
"Haven't you noticed that I haven't really been putting in much effort today?" Su Yu explained.
"..." Victoria and Rai were speechless.
Upon reflection, Su Yu indeed hadn't exerted much effort today. He had been mostly idling on the sidelines, leaving the main assault tasks to Morning Star.
Now that he said this, they couldn't help but wonder what he was planning.
A possibility formed in their minds.
"You're right, you've guessed correctly!" Su Yu, standing high above, called out to all the Blue Star cultivators, "Gather around me!"
Upon hearing Su Yu's command, the Blue Star cultivators immediately understood what he was about to do. Their eyes lit up, and they quickly flew toward him.
Without hesitation, Su Yu summoned a massive silver-white teleportation array in the sky.
A brilliant silver light flashed, and most of the Blue Star cultivators in the sky disappeared in the light, being teleported to a distant location.
(End of Chapter)
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