CHAPTER 126 - Key Points

"Don't dawdle, deal with the monsters that have breached the city as soon as possible." Although Alice was also shocked, she quickly took action under the leadership of the horned demons. 

The situation in Ming City was dire, with more and more monsters slipping through the defenses and spreading into the city. The wall that Rosen was on had already attracted over half of the entire horde due to the intense battles that had taken place, and the numbers were still gathering. 

Rosen stood on the city wall, gazing into the distance where the zombies continued to flow endlessly. Even though he had just killed many zombies in his fight against the Misty Red Beast, it barely made a dent in the overwhelming numbers on the ground. No matter how much firepower Rosen unleashed, he couldn't defend the entire city alone. 

Though the city wasn't particularly large, the directions were varied, and he didn't know how to use duplication techniques. Moreover, while some of the horned demons were not as strong as the Misty Red Beast, their sheer numbers made them time-consuming to deal with. 

"Can we not hold them off?" Rosen swiftly moved to stand in front of Hodeman and Alice. Regardless of the circumstances, they were partners in facing these monsters. If they did nothing and Ming City fell, it would be troublesome for Rosen as well. 

"The defenses have been breached. Some monsters are spraying toxic fluids that have incapacitated many warriors, and some fallen warriors have been infected by the virus monsters and turned into monsters themselves..." Alice threw a dagger that pierced the vital point of a zombie. However, she was soon entangled by two horned demons. 

Rosen was not idle either; as the zombies surged towards them, he raised his hand and wiped out a large swath of them. "Earth Roll. Sandstorm Wave!" Rosen dropped behind the city wall, pressed his hand to the ground, and a sandstorm erupted, occupying half the length of the wall, surging like a wave and rising above it. 

However, Rosen could only control the length horizontally; this was necessary to maintain the storm's power. He could have included the entire length of the wall, but that would be excessively long and weaken the force, and it wasn't necessary since most zombies were breaking through here. 

"Such catastrophic power!!" Hodeman exclaimed in shock as he witnessed the roaring sand waves shaking the ground. 

"Nature is indeed powerful," Alice said, her eyes blazing. Although her replacement fruit ability was decent, it excelled in single-target situations, but when it came to area damage, it was severely lacking. 

Boom! The sandstorm swept over the city wall, directly engulfing a large number of zombies. However, since a zombie's critical point was its head, most only suffered fatal injuries as a normal human would, which meant little to zombies. Thus, after the sandstorm passed, the zombies continued to advance with their battered bodies... 

"We can't hold them off. The moat is filled with zombie corpses. If the moat were still intact, we could have delayed the zombies' advance and regrouped, but now it's impossible. We need to start evacuating some personnel," Alice's tone changed. 

Though still cold and stiff, it lacked the aggressive temperament she had at the beginning. After all, Rosen had saved her life, even if it was to buy him time to deal with the Misty Red Beast by having her fend off the horned demons. Saving her was saving her, and that was a fact. 

"Understood, have your warriors cover me," Rosen immediately grasped the situation. With his abilities, creating a moat was a trivial matter. 

"What are you planning to do?" Hodeman and Alice asked simultaneously. With the current lack of warriors on the wall, pulling more out would be very troublesome and could lead to an immediate collapse of the city's defenses. 

Rosen pointed to the area inside the city where the sandstorm had just occurred, where the ground had sunk several meters and was entirely turned into sand: "If you all get killed, our previous agreement will be null and void. I really don't know how you managed to hold out before." 

Hodeman's expression brightened upon seeing the ground, instantly understanding. If they could rebuild the moat in a short time, these non-flying zombies would largely be stopped in their tracks. 

Alice's face darkened. This man was truly irritating: "There were never those horned demons before, and there has never been such a large-scale monster tide. The giant lion Misty Red Beast has never attacked with them, and it's because of your kind running amok on the surface that it has come to this." 

"Enough, you talk too much. Just cover me," Rosen pointed at Alice. 

Alice's anger flared up, but Rosen cut her off with a single sentence: "You owe me this, and this is your city. I'm helping you all; following my lead shouldn't be too hard." 

"I..." Alice glared at Rosen. The logic was sound, but couldn't this man speak in a different tone? It was infuriating. 

"Uncle, I'm back! I just killed a horned demon; those things are too hard to kill. I'm here to cover you," Natalie ran up the steps from inside the city, her face smeared with dirt and a deep cut on her small arm. 

Seeing this, Rosen's demeanor softened considerably: "You're back, good. Stay here and don't run around. Observation Haki isn't omnipotent." 

"What is Observation Haki?" Natalie asked, confused. 

"Let's go." Since they were going to fight these zombies, it was necessary for Rosen to leverage Alice's and Ming City's power, which would also save him energy. 

Rosen jumped down from the city wall, and upon landing, he first cleared a patch of zombies. As for those that had infiltrated the city from other positions, he couldn't address them now. The most important thing was to halt the advance of the main zombie horde. 

"Warriors, follow my lead," Alice said, setting aside her personal feelings. Her gaze turned icy again, surrounded by countless daggers, and she was ready to engage in high-intensity combat once more. 

"Yes." The warriors, without hesitation, understood that despite knowing their survival rate would drop to over ninety percent if they fell into the exposed zombie horde, they pressed on without fear. 

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh

Over twenty warriors followed Alice's lead, crossing in front of Rosen and forming a line formation. They advanced towards the zombies, leaving a trail of fallen corpses as they gradually cleared the area directly in front of Rosen. 

"Now, it's my turn to act." Rosen altered the shape and range of the ground collapse based on the principles of the desert sunflower ability. This was his first attempt to fully activate his power to sandify and corrode the ground. 

Rosen landed and crossed the moat filled with zombies, heading towards the cleared area brought forth by Alice and her team. He pressed his palm to the ground, focusing his energy, fully activating his ability. 

"Great Desert Abyss!"

Boom!

The ground began to collapse. In front of his palm, a trench was gradually forming. 

Soil and stone crumbled and sandified, with a depth exceeding fifty meters and a width of twenty to thirty meters, stretching along both sides, covering most of the eastern city wall's defense line, extending for kilometers. 

"Roar, roar, roar..." Countless zombies were still sprinting, and before they could react, a chasm appeared beneath them, causing many to tumble in. 

Rosen did not bury them; if he did, these zombies, which didn't need to breathe, might climb back up using the buried sand, making their movements indistinguishable. However, without burying them, when a zombie emerged, it would be visible, allowing him to use arrows and firearms to blast their heads, ensuring they became easy targets. 

(End of Chapter)