Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"What is the Celestial Master of the Calendar-Controlling Platform doing?!"

"The Celestial Masters of the Eastern Kingdom's Suitai (a high-ranking official position) all fought to the death; before their deaths, they only had time to send out the news..."

"Where's the observatory? Such a big thing happened without even a hint of it!"

"Yes, the observatory issued a warning three months ago about abnormal tides, suggesting a major event might occur, but..."

Officials in the court all thought it was alarmist. There had been instances of sea monsters attacking the Great Yan and the Eastern Kingdom before, and with so many warnings, no one took them seriously anymore.

At most, it would only affect some of the coastal inhabitants; the fortifications built by the Great Yan Dynasty were sufficient to withstand the sea monster's attack. However, it was never said that the attack would be of this scale.

"And what about the Iberian Empire to the south?"

"I don't know, but the disaster was severe, the whole country was relocated, and now they are fighting with the sea monsters that have landed."

"I will go to the palace immediately and make preparations at once."

"My lord, it's nighttime now, and the palace gates are closed..." the subordinate kindly reminded him. It was customary for the palace gates to be closed at night; even if the Emperor himself came knocking, it wouldn't make a difference.

If someone were to forcefully knock on the palace gates at night, the officials above would open fire immediately, regardless of who was below.

"Alas!" The old tutor slumped to the ground in despair. Overnight, hundreds of thousands more sea monsters would likely have come ashore. What could be done?

Although the Great Yan did not participate in the war, given the current situation of the Western Regions, it was impossible for the Great Yan not to take precautions, and now it had encountered such a mess.

Meanwhile, in Iberia, "whoosh whoosh whoosh!" the beaches were already engulfed in flames. The Iberians had timely relocated cities that might be under large-scale attack, and the hunter troops, who had been idle for a long time, joined the battle with the judges, barely managing to keep the Sea King's attack at bay at the first line of defense. However, the entire defensive line was still teetering on the brink of collapse.

"Pfft!" One of the Speakers was grabbed by a metal claw, and then squeezed hard, and grayish-blue flesh was squeezed out from between its fingers. The metal giant swung its blade and cleaved another Slider in two. It was close enough to the first hatchery.

"Unexpectedly, this kind of trash equipment is actually quite suitable for this situation." Ghost Shark operated the police mech and wiped out a large group of Sea Spirits.

“It’s their instinct…” Skadi said. The Sea King’s instinct would judge this kind of mech as a living creature wearing armor, especially when it’s filled with Deep Sea Hunters, it’s almost like he’s taunting them.

The Sea Legions were eager to rescue their comrades, so they didn't use ranged weapons or high-powered attacks. They rushed forward one after another, trying to tear through the armor, which was actually a good thing for the mechs.

If it were a tank, Hai Si would find it difficult to recognize it as an armored human and instead as some kind of war vehicle, and would launch an artillery attack, which would be disastrous if his own forces were outnumbered.

Therefore, the frontline commander should have a small number of police mechs positioned in front to draw fire. After all, these tall things were just big toys made to scam funding from Lungmen, so it doesn't matter if they are all lost.

Then the mobile artillery and rocket launchers behind can easily vaporize large areas of sea creatures.

However, overall, the Hai Si's offensive in Iberia was far weaker than that of the Great Yan. They were beings connected by a mental network, and even though they had lost their command tower, making it difficult for them to reach a higher level of combat, their tactics were still shared.

During the first wave of attacks, Haisi allocated roughly the same number of troops and attention to multiple targets.

However, starting from the second wave, the intensity of the attack on Iberia weakened because tactical intelligence from the Great Yan battlefield was circulating in the Hai Si network, which naturally led them to abandon the continued attack on this well-defended beach and instead choose an easier breakthrough point.

This is not wisdom, but instinct, just as paramecia know to actively gravitate towards areas where it is easier to live and reproduce, and to gravitate towards sugar and avoid salt.

The sea creature extends countless tentacles toward the land. When some tentacles are attacked, and others successfully spread onto the land, the sea creature resembles a giant single-celled organism, moving toward the direction of the flagella.

Chapter Twenty-One: Two-Dimensional Defense

Chapter 21

The invasion of sea monsters was hardly a shock to the court of the Great Yan Dynasty. Compared to demons that interfered with brainwaves and were difficult to kill, sea monsters, which could be killed with swords, spears, and arrows, posed a relatively small threat to the Great Yan Dynasty.

Furthermore, the rulers and ministers of the Great Yan Dynasty didn't think much of the Eastern Kingdom's fighting capabilities, and had a strangely unfounded confidence in their own military strength—a very peculiar situation.

Civil officials were trying their best to suppress the rise of military men, yet at the same time they believed that the army was invincible. This kind of schizophrenic confidence was of unknown origin.

However, faced with the sea monsters' rampant attacks on the coast and the impending loss of the Eastern Kingdom as a vassal state, the Great Yan Dynasty finally took action. Several fleets and legions sailed to the eastern coast, relying on the defenses and facilities built by Si Suitai to block the sea monsters' invasion.

If those defensive facilities were still in place, then the Great Yan would only need to suffer some casualties to successfully keep the sea monsters out of the country. Even if they couldn't stop them, the layers of resistance would buy time for the evacuation and relocation of the people.

Customs officers cannot survive on land for long. Under normal circumstances, their attacks on land are simply to capture terrestrial life for food. Once they survive the initial phase, they will naturally return to the sea due to lack of water.

If all else fails, returning to the sea after a full meal is also a possibility. This is why the Great Yan Dynasty attaches far less importance to sea monsters than to evil spirits, as the latter would not attack in such a regular manner.

However, when the vanguard arrived at the coastal defense line, the situation became a bit tense. Theoretically, there were three defensive walls here. Except for a few ports, the Great Yan was closed to the outside world, not only to prevent smuggling, but also to prevent sea monsters from infiltrating.

The first defensive wall was built in shallow water, mainly around the port. This wall was the most complete, with gates for transport ships to enter and exit, and firing ports, crossbows, and various weapons distributed at the top.

The second line of defense is located behind the port city, built along all easily accessible landing areas of the coastline. The walls are constructed in sturdy areas that are not easily breached, and include towers, gun emplacements, and bunkers. Behind the walls are various small fortresses and areas for docking and connecting mobile city modules.

In the event of a large-scale invasion by sea monsters, the cities behind and the port cities in front can be quickly connected to this defensive barrier, transforming into protruding barbicans and super-large defensive fortresses.

Meanwhile, the cities in the rear can move quickly as city units to replenish troops and supplies to the front lines, and various land-based ships can also be connected to them, using the city-level power to power the naval guns.

If the second layer of defense fails, then the fortified cities and taller walls built at mountain passes and chokepoints leading to the coast will become the nightmare of sea monsters.

Because this defensive line extends deep inland, the sea monsters' supply lines will be stretched very long.

Moreover, the lack of water will greatly reduce the sea monster's fighting ability, and then all you need to do is wait for them to retreat.

However, the problem lay in these three lines of defense. When the vanguard of the Moon Harbor Fleet arrived, they found that the third line of defense had disappeared.

These checkpoints built on strategic passes were a real money-making machine. So, they were forcibly demolished on the grounds that "competing with the people for profit was detrimental to their livelihood."

This forced demolition wasn't approved in the imperial court; it was actually carried out by a mob that tore it down, even killing the imperial envoy who came to investigate. Ultimately, by manipulating public sentiment, the court gave up the matter.

Commander Shi glanced at the current state of the Three Passes of the Mountains and Seas and almost fainted on the spot. The dangerous passes were gone, and the roads had been widened.

Of course, this is not entirely a bad thing, because commerce has become more developed, and bustling street scenes can be seen everywhere in the city. Various inns, brothels, entertainment venues, and commercial pedestrian streets are thriving. The problem is that this is a good thing in peacetime, but it is a headache now that war has broken out.

Seeing that there was no hope here, the fleet command post could only be moved forward. When he saw that the second defensive wall was still intact, Lao Shi finally breathed a sigh of relief. He went up to check and found that various defensive equipment had been sold off or neglected.

When the fleet set off, it brought several times more supplies and modular components. In addition, it bribed high-ranking officials of the Great Yan Armory before departure, leaving the armory wide open. In just a few days, the defense zone will be restored and even stronger than before.

As soon as the fleet docked at the docking point, several warships patrolled to both sides, while large multi-soldier ships docked at the city walls, transforming into fortresses and massive, densely packed turrets on the walls.

Once the modules of those port cities enter the defense perimeter and dock, powered and cooled by the city systems, all these warships can be deployed into artillery array mode.

However, before Lao Shi could even warm his chair in the command post, the warship captain who went to inspect the ship reported that the sound was distorted—the wall was leaking!

Those smuggling caravans secretly carved a bunch of exits into this defensive wall without the officials' knowledge. The local powerful families monopolized these entrances and exits, charging tolls. Anyone who dared to go through the official entrances and exits instead would be punished.

Not only that, but the high-tariff smuggled goods transported to the Eastern Kingdom naturally all went through these gaps, resulting in chaotic markets and marketplaces, with all sorts of illegal buildings piled up like mountains—if this sea monster rushed in, it would be a meat grinder for the troops coming to support them.

"Tear it down!"

"But those servants are blocking the way!" How could they let someone just tear down such a lucrative business? As for military intelligence, they weren't unaware of it; they were simply taking a chance.

What if the sea monster doesn't come this way? What if we can't defeat it even after we demolish it? And there's the most crucial reason—why demolish my house but not someone else's? When faced with tangible benefits, reason and logic are thrown into the trash.

"What about the port's defensive walls?"

"In good condition. The port is occasionally attacked by small groups of sea monsters. The port's defensive walls are intact, and the garrison is preparing. The port city is approaching, but..."

However, the scene was extremely chaotic. The port city of Da Yan was strictly planned, but in the face of profit, who the hell cares about your municipal planning?

As a result, the dismantling and relocation of the city modules was not only half a month slower than planned, but also completely disorderly. The convoys of wealthy families piled up at the checkpoints, each one of them appearing to be someone of great importance and not to be offended.

But before they could even move the bottles and jars inside the defensive wall, the sea monster would already be upon them, not to mention they'd have to demolish those illegal structures and repair the breaches in the wall—

The civil engineers who accompanied the team to reinforce the defenses were utterly dumbfounded by this hellishly difficult project.

On one hand, military intelligence is raging; the sea monster is about to turn the Eastern Kingdom into its forward base, and its vanguard has already appeared along the coast. On the other hand, here they are still arguing, bargaining, and even organizing their servants to defend their property by force.

Moreover, you can't hit them or scold them, otherwise your connections in the imperial court will make things very difficult for you. Don't ask why the higher-ups in the imperial court are so stupid; they are not stupid at all.

Because according to the documents on their desks, the three lines of defense remain unchanged, and are even being renovated every year.

On their paper, the four fleets of the Great Yan were intact, and the Zhenhai Army was still in the same condition as during the reign of the late emperor. It was able to suppress the Eastern Kingdom with one hand while beating the sea monsters into a daze with the other.

As for the problems this time, one is a once-in-a-millennium disaster, and the other is that the Eastern Kingdom is too incompetent. At least that's what the generals who escaped said: "Your Majesty fought bravely and did not retreat, your clothes were stained with blood, and your soldiers killed countless enemies. However, the Eastern Kingdom's king and ministers fled first, neglecting our flanks. As a result, we were unable to defend our side and lost our position. What did our soldiers do wrong? We were attacked from the flanks and our battle line collapsed!"

In reality, besides the troops stationed along the coast, there were also the garrison at Sisuitai and the Celestial Master who fought to the death and couldn't escape. It was really hard to say who could outrun the rest of the people from the East.

Of course, it's possible that they were indeed defeated due to being attacked from both sides, but most likely it was because the Eastern Kingdom was traveling light and moved faster, while the Zhenhai Army, which was slow to move due to its heavy baggage, was surrounded by the sea monster.

Deceiving superiors and covering up problems is a common ability and instinct of all bureaucrats, and now this hole has come to Lao Shi's doorstep. He finds that if he wants to fill this hole, he will have to create a huge mess.

Loyalty and country were the two choices placed on opposite ends of the scale. For the sake of the Great Yan, all explicit and implicit instructions from the court had to be ignored, all the mess had to be dismantled immediately, the governors of the three ports and their entire families executed, the evacuation of the sea and the clearing of the fields completed within three days, and all those who could not reach the checkpoints burned down along with their cities.

They ignored all the notes and invitations from wealthy and noble families, cleared the checkpoints, and allowed each person to carry only personal clothing and food. All other property was burned, and the population was relocated to the west of the mountain pass in the shortest possible time.

Furthermore, those streets and markets were demolished, and as much of the abandoned urban areas and buildings as possible were used to construct a temporary defensive line.

The Civil Engineering Master directly utilized the mansions and stored supplies of those wealthy families to plug the gaps in the defensive walls as much as possible, which could minimize losses when the sea monsters attacked.

However, by doing so, he would become the most arrogant garrison commander in the history of the Great Yan Dynasty. All the crimes would be pinned on his head, and even the emperor would no longer trust such a self-important and powerful man. The extermination of his entire family was a foreseeable future, and he would not even have a posthumous reputation.

"Fine, let's fight to the end, consider it our last act of loyalty to this old emperor. If the officials don't care, why should I care!"

Old Shi shook his head. The master of the Great Yan didn't care what his country would become, so why should he worry about anything?

Anyway, my family is in Moonport and Lungmen. If we lose, I can just take the fleet back to our base.

As long as the army is in hand, the court will have to handle things carefully. Not to mention, when the time comes, will the court even be able to take care of itself?

Besides, having served as governor of Moonport for so long and commanding an entire fleet, it's impossible that he didn't make any arrangements for an escape route, and now is the time to put those arrangements to use.

That being said, some necessary measures still need to be taken. Otherwise, even if I wanted to escape, I might not be able to.

Several old-fashioned warships were dispatched to directly overrun the markets and marketplaces, plugging some of the critical gaps. Fortunately, the number and size of the Moon Harbor Fleet were large enough. The powerful military force that had been maintained through years of underhanded tricks and thievery was now their last resort.

"Scrap ships block the gate!" Nearly half of the fleet, which had cost countless efforts to build, was abandoned behind the gap, becoming a new defensive wall, while the civil engineers established forward camps nearby as much as possible.

However, that was all they could do. The dark mass of sea monsters engulfed the city that had not yet retreated into the defensive wall. The port's first line of defense held out for about half a day before falling silent along with the city modules that had been overtaken.

The longest-range divine cannons fired in succession. The warships were equipped with large divine cannons, and fireballs fell like a rain of stars. Each fireball evaporated and dried up Hai Si's body fluids.

Following closely behind was the Divine Arm Bow-class ballista, which fired piercing high-explosive bolts to deal with large units, followed by various levels of small rapid-fire weapons, and finally the Divine Light Cannon.

The Divine Light Cannon has the shortest range and can only be used to prioritize killing the tentacles that are hitting the defensive walls and some kind of worm-like troop transports, while the Divine Fire Cannon is the main weapon for dealing with large groups of small Sea Creepers.

Sea monsters rely heavily on bodily fluids to sustain life, and the high temperature of the Divine Fire Cannon will dry out the mucus on their skin and cause their bodily fluids to boil and evaporate rapidly, bypassing their sturdy exoskeleton and killing tons of sea monsters.

Although most of the sea monsters were killed, many still managed to break into the market area and checkpoints. It was only thanks to the veteran commando teams that launched a counter-offensive at great cost that the sea monsters were driven back.

At this moment, the scions of wealthy families began to panic and cry as they rushed through the gate, crowding together and hindering the precious time that the troops inside had to go out and clear out the sea monster's corpse.

If the sea monster's carcass is not disposed of in time, it will soon release neurotoxins, making the situation on the battlefield even worse.

"Anyone who stands in the way of the pass and refuses to yield as ordered by the army will be killed without mercy!" The weapons on the pass wall moved over, but they remained unmoved no matter how these richly dressed young men threatened them.

This army was indeed Old Shi's private army, but his commander still harbored some loyalty to the country and hoped to obtain a noble title. Therefore, they only obeyed their commander's orders.

"Take the edge of the urban module, no matter what those bastards are like, occupy the high ground, set up turrets, and take advantage of the fact that the sea monsters haven't launched their second wave of attacks yet." Some things, once started, can't be stopped.

Seeing the blood of those wealthy families staining the checkpoint, Lao Shi completely gave up. Since the people had been killed, he figured he might as well demolish the inanimate shops.

"Boom!" The combined spells cast by the civil engineers lifted the wreckage of buildings and piled it up at the edge of the city blocks to reinforce the long-abandoned fortresses.

On the luxurious high-rise building, a crane carried a rapid-fire crossbow disassembled into several parts to the roof. This rapid-fire crossbow, which came from Kazdel, was much better than the Divine Arm Crossbow produced by the Great Yan Armament Bureau. However, its dispersion rate was too high and its penetration power was insufficient. It needed to occupy a high enough position to obtain a good firing arc and coverage.