Chapter 120 - CHAPTER 120 - Substitution Ability, Inside and Out

"Unicycle Dance." Natalie charged into a group of zombies wandering aimlessly through the city like a swift gust of wind. She leaped, her body executing a 360-degree spin mid-air, and the dagger in her hand sliced through the necks of all the zombies, severing them. "Roar." But at that moment, a seven- to eight-meter sea demon suddenly burst out of a building, and one of its tentacles, like an iron whip, pierced straight through Natalie's head. Natalie seemed to have anticipated it; she decisively raised the small round shield in her hand, but the tentacle's piercing power was too strong and tore right through the shield, leaving a large hole. Had Natalie not quickly tilted her head aside, that strike would have been fatal. But the situation was grim; although she could sense the attack in advance, her reaction speed was insufficient, and her combat strength was still too weak. Her frail body could not bear much force—after all, not everyone could match Auntie's strength in her youth. "Roar." The sea demon went berserk; its humanoid head shook violently, and its densely packed tentacles were raised high. Once those numerous tentacles descended, given that Natalie hadn't blocked even one before, she was sure to be doomed. "Crackling..." As the tentacles swung down, they produced a sound of slicing through the air. "It's over; I'll never get to eat little dried fish again..." Natalie thought in despair, yet she kept her eyes open, her azure gaze fixed unblinkingly on the whipping tentacles. "Sharan!" A calm voice rang out. A sandstorm swirled into existence from beneath the sea demon, with ordinary sand mixed with brass-colored metallic granules. "Sizzle, sizzle, whoosh..." In that instant as the sandstorm formed, the sea demon turned into a mass of blood-red mist. "This kind of killing power?!" Rosen was momentarily stunned by his own move; it was the first time he had infused the golden sand-copper from his left arm into a tornado of sand, and its terrifying strangulation effect shocked him. This golden sand-copper boosted his destructive power to an absurd degree—if he had even more and allowed it to harmonize over time, his Devil Fruit ability would surely make a tremendous leap. "Thank you, Uncle." Natalie smiled brightly, then picked up her small wooden round shield now riddled with a hole, frowning slightly as it had been so handy but was now much lighter. "Damn, monsters are coming in from the east too..." Natalie suddenly frowned. Just as she was about to run off, Rosen grabbed her by the collar. "Running back and forth like that wastes energy and time without achieving much." Rosen shook his head. Although Natalie meant well, given the current situation and the sheer variety of monsters, one misstep could cost her life. In fact, the best approach was to quickly assist the city's defenses by eliminating the hordes of zombies first, then gradually clearing out the stragglers inside. "Then what should we do? There are still many people in the city who haven't reached the safe houses," Natalie said while biting her lip, not knowing the best course of action since all she had been taught was fighting. "Let's create a big commotion so the zombies in the city will come looking for us," Rosen said as he half-squatted and pressed his palm against the ground. The ground began to hum and vibrate, trembling and cracking, as one after another, tornado-like sandstorms formed before them. Boom! Yellow sand swirled within the sandstorms, forming torrent-like flows that slammed into the ground with a tremendous roar louder than cannon fire. Moreover, one after another, these sandstorms roared with unmatched intensity—seven or eight towering tornadoes rising several tens of meters high, visible to anyone with sight. And these zombies not only possessed extraordinary hearing but still retained their vision, so both the zombies wandering inside the city and those outside became even more frenzied. Of course, the ones primarily attracted were the zombies within the city. One after another, zombies surged forward—running, leaping, or crawling... "What's going on in the city? What is that?!" Alice exclaimed, frowning as she looked at the swirling tornado-like sandstorms. Since when had such powerful individuals appeared in the city?! Lisa, elsewhere, seemed deep in thought, but tonight's assault was too fierce; unlike the usual zombie hordes, there were far too many powerful, evolved mutant varieties. Among them, the sea demon was one of the new species that had emerged within the past month. Moreover, it was a relatively formidable and particularly troublesome kind; using its tentacles, it scaled the city walls with ease, and the melee on the walls had already erupted. Casualties among the warriors were inevitable, and Lisa herself was ensnared by several powerful mutant beasts, engaging in a bloody battle on the city walls, even as endless zombies surged forward. "Light the explosives!" Lisa shouted as she slashed at a three-meter-tall beast-bodied zombie, decapitating it. Noticing that the moat beneath the city wall had already amassed a considerable number of zombies, she immediately gave the order. At the same time, Alice issued the same command: "Detonate!" Rumbling! The entire Ming City seemed as if it were about to leap into the air, with intense tremors and soaring explosions. Rosen looked up to see the whole city enveloped in raging flames. Countless zombies were shattered by the explosions and burned by the fierce fire, while those behind, not knowing to halt, charged headlong into the blaze. "Bombardment, strong liquor, incendiary liquid, fire!" Anything that could fuel the flames was poured out in that instant, causing the blaze to rage even fiercer. "How much explosive is this?" Rosen asked in surprise, not expecting that under the current conditions on Lantis Island they could obtain such a quantity. Boom! The zombies drawn into the city were effortlessly wiped out by Rosen with every move, and then he led Natalie in the direction she had mentioned, saying there was danger there. Rosen couldn't help but envy her innate and powerful Observation Haki—it was like a precise radar. "Report: most of the zombies have been held back outside the fire line, and some have been eliminated," reported a frontline soldier coldly, as countless zombie corpses and several injured comrades lay at his feet. "Have everyone quickly eliminate the monsters in the city and on the walls, then assume a state of silence. After a period of calm, these zombies, unable to find a target and fearing the flames, should gradually disperse as usual." Around Alice, about a dozen daggers whirled at high speed, shredding any approaching zombies. "Understood." Her gaze suddenly fell on the massive head of a monstrous creature that was about to bite off a frontline soldier's head. With her eyes wide in anger and her focus sharpened, she saw the zombie's head sprout a dagger out of thin air, killing him on the spot. The rescued soldier, accustomed to such events, merely nodded and joined a ten-man team to move quickly; speed was of the essence. Only by acting swiftly could they wipe out all the zombies in Ming City, restore temporary calm, and then hide behind the city walls to avoid being directly seen by the zombies. With that, given their limited intelligence, the zombies would likely retreat immediately due to the sea of fire, according to experience. "Lady Alice, at the northeast section of the city wall, a powerful mutant has appeared; everyone is struggling to handle it and needs you to intervene." At that moment, a soldier ran over in a hurry, his body stained with the zombies' black blood. "Understood." Alice nodded, clenching her fingers to retrieve all her daggers back into her belt, then rushed toward the area where the powerful monster had appeared. If they couldn't deal with these quickly, the recent explosive strategy would have been in vain. Otherwise, they could be trapped in endless combat—a situation Ming City could not afford, as their warriors were few while the zombies held the numerical advantage. "Is it here?" Rosen appeared on the city wall alongside Natalie, having learned from Natalie that tonight's situation was extraordinary. Considering the possibility of mutual destruction, Rosen no longer intended to stand idly by. For if Ming City were lost, he could not guarantee absolute safety against the endless zombies from all sides. "What are you doing here?!" Alice arrived, coldly eyeing Rosen. 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