Rumble... rumble...
Hummm~ hummm~
Just as all the espers had landed and the transport planes were preparing to return.
The portal suddenly emitted bursts of violent energy fluctuations.
Invisible energy waves rapidly overflowed, causing plants to grow wildly wherever they passed, and insects evolved to develop sturdy armor covered in barbs.
The planes in the air were affected by this energy, causing some existing physical laws to temporarily fail. The engines lost power, and more than a dozen planes plunged headlong towards the sea.
Bang bang bang!
Parachutes opened in mid-air, and the pilots bailed out.
"Just an energy fluctuation, and it caused such a strong impact?"
"Then... how monstrous would the beings inside the portal be?!"
Tie Jun speculated inwardly, feeling uneasy.
The espers he held in his hand, though comparable to gods in this world, still felt somewhat insufficient in the face of this mysterious portal.
"The insect tide is here!"
"Eleven o'clock direction! The numbers are immense!"
A staff officer standing beside Tie Jun reminded him in a low voice.
She was a psychic esper who could establish mental connections with all espers, possessing their mental vision and sharing intelligence at any time.
"The physical esper squad will act as the vanguard, and long-range espers will provide cover fire!"
"The powerful espers will guard the main position, and we will advance slowly!"
Tie Jun calmly issued the orders.
The moment the portal experienced energy fluctuations, almost all modern technological products lost their effectiveness, and even communicators became unusable.
They could only communicate through psychic abilities.
Swish...
As soon as Tie Jun's orders were given, countless dense swarms of insects appeared in their sight.
The insects screeched and charged towards the esper army.
"These bugs are truly disgusting!"
"But... this is when we espers, as saviors, get to show our strength!"
"Haha, I've been itching to fight for so long!"
The espers chatted as they immediately launched their attacks on the insect tide.
Frost, flames, plant entanglement, wind assaults...
Various superpowers rained down on the insect swarms.
However, the insects were not as fragile as they had imagined. The flames that burned them did not instantly kill them.
These creatures pressed forward desperately through the heat waves. Some insects were scorched, but as long as the damage wasn't fatal, they continued to advance, still engulfed in flames.
The effect of frost was even worse. Although the cold could slow down the insects' movement and even freeze them in place, as long as the temperature rose, the insects would regain their vitality with almost no loss.
The damage from strong winds was also very small.
These insects had sturdy exoskeletons and low body density. Even falling from a height of ten meters, they could still move with vigor.
Only the physical espers at the forefront were desperately hacking at the insects.
However, the green insect blood that spurted out was corrosive. Splattering on clothes quickly produced wisps of smoke, and splattering on skin caused piercing pain.
The more insects the physical espers killed, the more severely they were corroded by the insect blood.
Some incredibly powerful espers did not die by the insects' fangs and claws, but by their corrosive fluids.
Muscles corroded and melted, Achilles tendons snapped, and they would stagger to their knees and die...
Countless more insects would then swarm over their corpses.
Seeing the defense line on the verge of collapse, Tie Jun finally gave the order:
"Hong Lian, Qing Feng, it's up to you two!"
Hong Lian was a level 5 fire esper, and Qing Feng was a level 5 wind esper.
The reason Tie Jun hadn't deployed the level 5 espers from the start was that this was merely the opening of the battle.
The insect tide was just the lowest tier of those monsters.
If the lower-tier espers could defeat the low-tier insect tide, then the higher-tier espers would also have a high probability of victory against the higher-tier insects.
However, the quantity and combat power of the insects far exceeded Tie Jun's expectations, forcing him to deploy high-tier combatants at the very beginning of the fight.
This also significantly diminished his confidence in the arduous battle that lay ahead.
"Come on, we haven't cooperated for a long time!"
Hong Lian, using Qing Feng's wind esper abilities, said as they floated in mid-air.
"It's time to recreate our legend!"
Qing Feng smiled slightly, not taking the insects below seriously at all.
"Wrathful Tornado!"
The two exchanged glances and unleashed their powerful espers simultaneously!
Billowing flames and tornadoes intertwined, bathing everything around them in a fiery glow.
The flames from a level 5 esper were a significant leap forward in terms of temperature, duration, and ignition intensity compared to ordinary fire abilities.
The insects that could still move forward under the heat were instantly engulfed by the raging inferno.
Their bodies turned to charcoal in an instant, their internal moisture evaporating and carried away by the wind. A strong smell of burnt flesh wafted out.
Hong Lian and Qing Feng collaborated effectively, burning more than half of the insects.
The remaining insects then scattered and retreated.
"Phew, we did it!"
"Just a bunch of little bugs, nothing to worry about!"
The two slowly descended from mid-air.
The team continued to advance towards the portal.
More and more giant beetles charged out. Their thick shells could withstand prolonged fire attacks, and even if the wind blew them away, they could crawl back. Falling from a high altitude did not even scratch their armor.
The esper army also suffered heavy losses.
Out of the initial more than five thousand elite espers, only a little over two thousand remained by the time they reached the portal, with many injured.
Out of ten level 5 espers, three were injured, and one had exhausted their combat power, leaving only six level 5 espers still capable of fighting.
Before the portal, hundreds of thousands of insects formed a dense, continuous mass, with giant beetles crawling slowly around like a formation of armored troops.
There were even flying insects.
Vibrant, aurora-like lights of various colors were shot from the portal into the sky, decorating it like a nightmare.
Rumble...
Suddenly, the portal vibrated violently again.
Then, a massive insect head poked out from the portal...
This insect's head was covered in countless compound eyes, and its two enormous fangs contained countless fine teeth covered in barbs, causing one's scalp to tingle.
Judging by the size of this head alone, its entire body would be as large as a fifty-story commercial office building.
Such a terrifying existence filled the espers' faces with despair.
Let alone this colossal creature, they might not even be able to win against the insect horde before them.
Just as everyone was despairing, below the giant insect head, a beautiful human leg suddenly emerged from the portal...