280: Chapter 280 War of Attrition

"Leviathan Laboratory student... eliminated. Current remaining examinees: 2."

"Current total number of participants is less than 10. Extra point rewards activated. For every additional month a surviving examinee lasts, they will receive 1 extra point, up to a maximum of 30."

Along with the notification sound of the examination...

The Zerg Swarm, which had been guarding the Nydus Worms at the edges and ready to strike, suddenly seemed to lose their souls. Their cold, murderous pupils abruptly dilated, and they collapsed in swaths, losing all signs of life.

"Moving so fast?"

Floating in mid-air, Saintess Jiang Nian quickly noticed the fallen Zerg Swarm and gently waved her hand.

Invisible forces descended from the black clouds of gathered death energy in the sky, transforming them into undead.

"I've done all I can. Next, we'll see if the world's origin is exhausted first, or if the undead Swarm is destroyed first."

After Saintess Jiang Nian issued the attack command, her figure slowly drifted down.

Although she appeared relaxed, this body was, after all, just a weak virtual projection. Even with the help of some divine power from her main body, she had reached her limit after performing large-scale necromantic spells.

On the other side, Zhang Huaiyuan had the same thought.

With ten points in hand, he felt much more secure. At least based on the current accumulated points, a guaranteed second place should be no problem.

Zhang Huaiyuan looked toward where the Holy Light Monastery used to be. His gaze seemed to pierce through the steel fortress and the vast sea of insects, falling upon that graceful and outstanding woman.

A piece of data feedback returned to his mind.

【Saintess Jiang Nian】

Level: lv159.

HP: 1.62 million+.

Mana: 300/99,000.

Judging from the data alone, the opponent's attributes were not even as powerful as a local God of Magic.

However, Zhang Huaiyuan knew very well that this was only the data for this projected body. The opponent's true capabilities were far beyond this.

"It seems impossible to find a loophole in the data... Then let's give it our all and see whether the world is destroyed first, or if my iron torrent drowns you first."

Zhang Huaiyuan took a deep breath. As his will spread, he began to mobilize the world's power regardless of the consequences.

In an instant, over a hundred thousand Thor-class large mechs and tens of millions of "terminator generation one" war robots materialized.

"Thor is here!"

Amidst the heavy, metallic roars, half of them switched to anti-air mode, and the strafing Cannons on their shoulders instantly switched to missile launchers.

Dense missiles formed an airtight fire net, blowing apart the undead Insect Beasts capable of flight one by one.

The other part switched to anti-ground mode.

As one of the most cost-effective war weapons Zhang Huaiyuan created in the trial world, it possessed dual forms.

In anti-ground mode, it would deal continuous damage to a designated area.

Currently, with the "God's Blessing" effect in full play, the fastest Claw Bugs among the undead Swarm were almost as fast as bullets from ordinary turrets, causing the hit rate to plummet.

And this kind of area-of-effect continuous-strike war weapon was precisely the most suitable for the current battlefield.

Dazzling flames lit up simultaneously. The Thor-class large mech legions connected to the thought network understood their mission without needing direct commands.

In the center of their two mechanical arms, huge and dense Cannon barrels slowly pushed out, locking onto their positions.

In the next moment, Cannons accelerated by particle channels poured out, completely covering the undead Swarm's path of advancement.

As war weapons that possessed absolutely no fear and completely obeyed orders, the undead Swarm didn't hesitate for a second in the face of the sudden artillery coverage, plunging headlong into the bombardment zone.

Bang! Bang!

Dark brown bone fragments and severed limbs instantly flew everywhere.

The vast ocean of insects that merged with the horizon and almost submerged everything was forcibly halted at this moment.

The dense artillery fire formed a giant meat grinder, with over hundreds of thousands of the Zerg Swarm being pulverized every second.

Yet they continued to charge forward one after another, actually relying on the brief moments their companions' bodies blocked the fire to push the battle line forward bit by bit.

Finally, after paying a price of over tens of millions of casualties, more and more Insect Beasts squeezed out of the bombardment zone.

However, waiting for them were the "terminator generation one" war robots that had long been ready.

Alloy longswords popped out from their hands, and the propulsion devices on their backs flashed with fire as they instantly flew toward the Insect Beasts that had broken through the encirclement.

At the same time, two Concussion Grenades flew out from their equipped shoulder Cannons.

This specialized ammunition had area-of-effect slow and stun properties. The undead Insect Beasts that had struggled to break through the encirclement didn't even have time to adjust before their centers of gravity were destabilized by the combo attack.

Several war robots activated their thrusters, and the Alloy Kinetic Longswords in their hands ran at full power, severing all four limbs and the spine of a Claw Bug in an instant.

The same coordinated scenes were playing out continuously.

However, the undead Insect Beasts were, after all, bolstered by the God's Blessing. As more and more companions broke through the encirclement, they were finally able to spare hands to counterattack.

Brown streaks of light flashed, and hundreds of war robots were sliced in two.

Clearly, in terms of individual combat power, the currently buffed Zerg Swarm was far stronger than these ordinary combat robots.

"Restore."

Having anticipated this, Zhang Huaiyuan waved his hand expressionlessly. Under the effect of the gamified rules, the destroyed robots reappeared on the battlefield perfectly intact.

Increasing in number as they fought and overwhelming with sheer force—this used to be one of the skills the undead were best at.

But this time, the situation seemed to have reversed.

After all, their opponents were just a group of mechanical metal beings, not driven by the laws of the undead.

With the help of gamified power, what was originally a crushing battle turned once again into a war of attrition.

Every second, countless mechanical warriors and Insect Beasts fell.

One day... ten days... one month...

It wasn't until three months later.

The end of the originally infinite, ocean-like undead Swarm was finally in sight.

"1,377,068 heads. It's okay, it's okay."

Clear numbers were fed back into Zhang Huaiyuan's mind.

He couldn't help but breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Under his constant mobilization for resurrections and the opponent's destructive necromantic spells, the entire world's origin was almost depleted.

In fact, through the satellite's view, it was clearly visible that except for the area around the battlefield which remained relatively intact, the rest of the planet was either covered by various natural disasters or had completely become a dead land, permeated with a frenzied aura preceding extinction.

"It's time to end this."

With a thought from Zhang Huaiyuan, the little remaining origin power restored the last batch of fallen legions.

At the same time, a set of mecha materialized out of thin air, covering his entire body and carrying him toward the center of the battlefield.

"All forces, counterattack!"

...