The dark red lava barrier was not inert; its surface flowed with scorching runes, pulsating day and night like living veins branded by a Hellish forge.
Each pulsation was accompanied by a surge of golden-red energy, eternally pushing aside and evaporating the surrounding seawater, forming a giant, turbulent vacuum sphere filled with golden-red plasma.
Inside the barrier, the temperature was high enough to vaporize steel, and the air was distorted like a funhouse mirror.
Uka stood majestically like an ancient lava mountain, his molten golden vertical pupils unblinkingly locked onto the very center of the barrier—the pale star mark beacon, compressed to the size of a soccer ball, yet still stubbornly pulsating, its surface bone-spike runes becoming increasingly ferocious, beating like an evil heart.
The twelve energy conduits of the Red Lotus Abyss on his back continuously swallowed the violent heat surging from the Earth's core like an abyssal maw, converting it into destructive energy.
Part of the energy transformed into an invisible heavy hammer, continuously bombarding and suppressing every abnormal resonance that the beacon core attempted to break free from its shackles;
The other part, like molten Bloodline, was injected into the barrier itself, maintaining this absolute Domain that separated life and death.
Every faint pulsation of the beacon made the molten golden runes flowing around Uka suddenly glow intensely, emitting a low hum like the roar of the Earth's core—a silent declaration of the clash of powers.
Beyond the barrier was the Bug Clan's steel torrent, an ocean of death.
These were the Bug Clan Family members who had been continuously reinforcing them during this time, a Bug Clan army numbering in the tens of millions.
They had long surpassed the concept of an army; they were like the most precise and ruthless cluster of war machines, densely filling every inch of the Mariana Trench and extending for thousands of kilometers along the trench to both sides.
As far as the eye could see, there was a forest of carapaces, a galaxy of compound eyes.
The matrices constructed by the Twelfth-tier He Bo Insect and the Twelfth-tier Four Fiends Insect Soldiers were like moving fortresses.
Their thick bio-alloy carapaces gleamed with cold metallic luster in the gloom, and their crimson compound eye arrays formed an endless sea of blood, coldly scanning every inch of darkness; the high-speed vibrating alloy mandibles within their oral cavities emitted a low hum, like billions of wasps flapping their wings—a prelude to destruction.
The Mingling Devil elites were like lurking shadows; their figures almost merged with the environment in the high-pressure water flow, and the liquid metal blades flowing on their arms reflected deadly cold light in the gloom; every imperceptible movement created subtle spatial ripples—they were the ghostly assassins on the battlefield, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at any time.
The Zhu Yan Demon Insect hovered above the swarm like a moving thundercloud; their wings were folded like blades, and destructive pale blue electric snakes coiled around their bodies; every slight vibration of their wing membranes caused dazzling electric arcs and low thunder; their compound eyes coldly overlooked the area below, locking onto any potential energy fluctuations.
The Spiked Horned Tyrant Bug were like silent heavy tanks; their thick spiked horns gleamed with cold light, plowing deep furrows in the seabed; every step made the seabed tremble slightly.
Together, they formed a three-dimensional, omnidirectional, and efficiently operating network of killing machines.
This deep sea had been completely transformed into the Bug Clan's absolute Domain.
The marine life native to Blue Star had long since disappeared under the Bug Clan's pervasive terrifying pressure and efficient hunting.
Within a thousand-kilometer radius of the sea, apart from cold rocks, boiling magma, silent Bug Clan carapaces, and the pervasive, heart-pounding aura of destruction, there was no longer any sign of life.
This place was the bridgehead to another world and a massive graveyard for all invaders.
Above the sea, winds gathered, and a steel torrent assembled.
Above the Mariana Trench, the vast sea area that originally belonged to international waters had now been jointly declared a "Peace Shield - 2017" joint military exercise exclusion zone by the five major hegemonic nations.
This azure ocean was now covered by the will of steel and fire.
Massive steel fleets, like floating island clusters, covered the entire sky and sea, their scale unprecedented.
The Great Dragon Country's "Zhenhai" and "Dinghai" class ten-thousand-ton destroyers were like moving steel mountains, their 130mm main guns on the bow pointed proudly at the sky, and their vertical launch unit arrays were as dense as a honeycomb, exuding cold deterrence;
The close-in weapon Systems on the ship's sides were like vigilant hedgehogs, their high-speed rotating muzzles locked onto any suspicious targets.
The Beautiful Country's Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier battle groups were like maritime fortresses; on the massive flight deck of the "Enterprise," F/A-18 "Super Hornet" carrier-based aircraft groups were like eagles waiting to hunt, their engines emitting deafening roars, frequently taking off and landing, conducting high-intensity simulated attack training.
Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, like loyal escorts, guarded the aircraft carrier, their Aegis System radar antennas rotating at high speed, weaving an invisible air defense and anti-missile network.
The Arctic Bear Country's Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruiser "Pyotr Velikiy" exuded a rugged and powerful deterrence; its massive hull was covered with various missile launchers, like a ferocious hedgehog;
The Udaloy-class large anti-submarine destroyers cruised on the periphery of the fleet, their sonar Systems operating at full capacity, scanning every corner of the deep sea.
The Europa Alliance's joint fleet array was strict; advanced destroyers and frigates from countries like Britain, France, Germany, and Italy formed tight formations, and their air defense missile Systems were on the highest alert.
In the sky, AWACS, electronic warfare aircraft, and strategic bomber formations roared past, leaving long contrails, weaving an aerial intelligence and strike network covering the entire exercise area.
Underwater, attack nuclear submarines, like deep-sea ghosts, patrolled silently, their bow torpedo tubes and vertical missile launch silos on standby; they were the deadly fangs lurking in the deep sea.
"Woo—woo—woo—!"
Piercing exercise alarms echoed through the sky, breaking the brief calm between sea and sky.
Instantly, the space between sea and sky was filled with fire and smoke!
"Whoosh—boom!"
Dozens of various anti-ship missiles, trailing long orange-red plumes, shot out like arrows from the destroyer's vertical launch units, streaking across the sky, precisely hitting preset target ships dozens of nautical miles away.
Huge fireballs soared into the sky, accompanied by deafening explosions, steel fragments splattered, and seawater was blasted into water columns dozens of meters high.
"Boom boom boom boom boom!"
The Phalanx CIWS roared like popping beans, and dense barrages, like a metal storm, instantly tore the simulated incoming drone targets into shreds.