85: Chapter 85 Battlefield Analysis

Qin Ce hovered thousands of meters in the air, his eyes like lightning as he finished observing the entire battlefield.

Nine-Star Insight was operating at full power, and countless streams of information flooded into his mind like a tide.

He was analyzing.

He analyzed the overall state of the current battle, the direction it was heading, and where he should intervene to better secure points.

As the analysis progressed, Qin Ce's expression became increasingly solemn.

The current state of Fengling City was in a delicate balance.

First was the struggle between high-end combat forces in the Inner City.

Bright Moon Level—City Lord Jiang Tianzong and the Lava Bear were locked in a one-on-one battle, neither able to overcome the other.

Star-Glow Rank—There were at least twenty-five Star-Glow Rank Beast Tamers in the city, and the ferocious beasts had an equal number of Star-Glow Rank beasts. Both sides were fighting in pairs everywhere, and the battle was at a stalemate.

This formed the first combat balance.

In the short term, barring any accidents, this balance would continue.

Then, Qin Ce looked down at the area outside the city.

Various bunkers in the suburbs, fortresses relying on the terrain, combined with the various weapons and crystal core energy cannons on the Outer City walls, were frantically resisting hundreds of thousands of low-level beasts besieging the city.

Most of the beasts here were black iron rank and bronze low-grade, completely suppressed by the defensive equipment on the city walls and the city defense troops, unable to advance an inch.

However, the number of beasts was endless, and the defense troops' weapons had sufficient ammunition.

Ultimately, it was a test of who would be exhausted first.

This was also not something that would be decided in a short time.

This formed the second balance.

But the key that truly made Qin Ce frown was the third balance!

The triangular area inside the city where a large number of medium-to-high-level beasts were pouring in.

This was the core of the entire war; success or failure here would completely determine the course of the other two battlefields.

The beasts pouring in here were at least bronze low-grade or higher, with a large number being Silver Rank, led by a significant number of Gold Rank beasts conducting squad attacks.

They poured in through two gaps in the Outer City and the main city, but were firmly suppressed by the dense fire network composed of bunkers, arrow towers, and city wall defense equipment, trapped in an area they couldn't break through.

The competition here was particularly intense—no, it could be described as absolutely cruel!

Every second, beasts were falling.

Every second, city defense weapons were being destroyed.

Overall, the human defenders were barely maintaining this balance.

But Qin Ce could see it.

The main force maintaining the balance here was different from the other two battlefields; it wasn't primarily the Beast Tamers, but those city defense weapons!

Qin Ce's gaze fell upon those city defense weapons.

The most basic were conventional artillery and thermal weapons.

Anti-aircraft shells burst in the air like blossoms of fire, repelling low-altitude flying beasts mid-air.

Heavy machine guns spat out chains of fire, sweeping through the beast tide on the ground.

Rockets trailed long plumes of flame, and cannons roared loudly, exploding in bursts of light within the beast swarms.

But these weapons and explosions only caused minor injuries to beasts of Upper Bronze Rank and above; they were not fatal.

It was equivalent to using rubber bullets against normal wild animals—it would hurt, and if concentrated or accumulated to a certain extent, it could cause significant damage, but it wouldn't be lethal.

Therefore, thermal weapons were only supplementary here.

The true main force was higher-level weapons that incorporated beast materials.

The crystal core weapons.

Qin Ce narrowed his eyes, and after careful observation and calculation, he discovered...

Many components of those crystal core weapons were materials from the beasts' bodies.

And the core was a meticulously processed beast crystal core.

Through a special energy excitation device, electricity would be injected into the crystal core, detonating the spiritual energy structure within, releasing an elemental attack equivalent to the beast's full power at its original level.

It was just as Qin Ce saw now.

On the Outer City wall, on an orange-grade crystal core turret, an Upper Bronze Rank fire-attribute crystal core was flashing wildly.

The next moment, a scorching Bronze-level pillar of flame erupted from the muzzle, instantly incinerating over a dozen charging black iron rank beasts into charcoal.

On the main city wall, the red-grade crystal core turrets used Silver Rank ice-attribute crystal cores.

With every activation, a frost spear would shoot out; such damage could wound even a Gold Rank beast.

And as long as it hit a vital spot, it could take down a Silver Rank beast directly.

Further inside, on the Inner City walls at the most core positions, there were even rarer and more powerful Gold Rank crystal core weapons.

Their crystal cores came from Gold Rank beasts.

Qin Ce saw with his own eyes a golden turret atop one of the fortresses light up with a brilliant glow.

The next moment, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking a Gold Rank beast hundreds of meters away!

The beast let out a shrill scream and collapsed, its body charred black.

This was the crystal core weapon.

Using the beasts' own power to slaughter them in return.

In fact, because the attack of a crystal core weapon was achieved by exciting the energy array inside the crystal core...

The resulting attack power was comparable to a beast's full-strength strike, or even stronger.

This was because any living creature has protective mechanisms that prevent it from exerting one hundred percent of its power, as doing so would damage its physical foundation.

But crystal core excitation had no such limit, so the attacks were actually stronger.

However, this also created a problem: a crystal core would shatter completely after being used twelve times!

Though, for the time being...

This wasn't an issue.

Each city's strategic reserves were enough to support a war of this intensity.

The real problem was...

The activation of those crystal core weapons required a massive amount of electricity.

And that electricity came from the city's Power Hub.

If this power were ever cut off, it would mean the city's defenses would completely collapse.

And right now, the threat of such a power cut truly existed.

Qin Ce's gaze couldn't help but fall on a dark cloud not far away, flying low and hugging the ground.

That was the Raven Flock.

The words of Commander Mike back at the base surfaced in his mind.

These ravens naturally countered the city defense system.

Because they had a skill called Ink Feather.

Immediately after, the information identified by Nine-Star Insight flashed through Qin Ce's mind:

[Talent: Ink Feather]: Can release feathers that turn into black mist, interfering with energy equipment and obscuring vision. The black mist contains graphite components, which will cause short circuits and failure upon contact with electrical facilities.

What did this mean?

It meant that as soon as the Raven Flock joined the battlefield and used Ink Feather to attack the crystal core weapons, energy turrets, and power transmission systems that supported the third battlefield's balance...

It meant the city defenses would face the risk of paralysis.

And once the city defense system was paralyzed, the firmly suppressed triangular area would instantly collapse.

Tens of thousands of medium-to-high-level beasts would pour into the city like a flood through a broken dam, driving straight in.

At that time—

Qin Ce didn't dare think further.

...