Chapter Eighty-Nine: America

Around the world, nations were fully focused on the fight before them, all wondering who would become the target of the Underworld King.

By unspoken agreement, the four major powers excluded China from suspicion, while Europe and the Great Powers stood among the most likely candidates.

After all, among the four, Europe and the Great Powers were the weakest. When choosing a persimmon, one always picked the softest; the Underworld King could not possibly be ignorant of that truth.

Yet just when everyone assumed he would strike at Europe and the Great Powers, the United States came under a fierce assault.

The Underworld King’s attacks were precise, concentrated on a single point, unleashing overwhelming force against one weakness of the United States.

Mucus had considered the possibility of an attack on the United States, but never imagined it would come so swiftly.

Nearly all of the Underworld King’s firepower was gathered into one point, launching a near-instant, all-out offensive against the United States and leaving it no room to strike back.

Mucus quickly made his decision.

“Concentrate all firepower on the Underworld King! Attack from the left, right, and center!”

“Yes, sir!”

The United States had been biding its time and building its strength for many days, and the power it had accumulated was no empty boast.

In an instant, the battlefield between the United States and the Underworld King reached a stalemate; it was difficult for the Underworld King to create a one-sided advantage.

But just when everyone thought the war would continue, the Underworld King suddenly ceased his assault. His vast mechanical army also fell back beyond the range of their weapons.

After retreating, the Underworld King did not resume the attack. Instead, he sent machines to harass the United States without ever striking in earnest.

Little by little, the entire nation was surrounded by the Underworld King’s mechanized legions.

Now it was clear: the Underworld King intended to encircle the United States completely, preventing any other country from sending aid.

And the United States would have to remain constantly on guard. In time, it would surely collapse.

A clever plan indeed, but the United States was not so easily broken.

Long before this, the country had already maintained a high level of vigilance; now it was only heightened a little further.

Its reserves were also far richer than the Underworld King had imagined. Far richer.

Within an hour of the Underworld King halting his attack, explosions rang out with thunderous force.

The Underworld King’s mechanical army had returned, and this time its assault was even more ferocious than before.

The soldiers of the United States did not fear it, for they had already prepared themselves.

But soon, just as the battle was beginning to stir everyone’s blood, the Underworld King withdrew again.

And so the cycle repeated itself many times.

This sort of relentless rotation and war of attrition also took a heavy psychological toll on the American soldiers.

Gradually, some soldiers collapsed from despair or inattention, falling from the fortifications or being struck by the Underworld King’s machines and killed.

Watching all this unfold, Mucus felt anger surging endlessly within him.

The Underworld King was simply too despicable.

“Soldiers of the United States! Everyone, pull yourselves together! Listen to me!” Mucus stood upon a high platform, before him a huge loudspeaker twenty meters across.

All eyes turned toward the source of the voice.

“The Underworld King means to wear down our minds with intermittent attacks! We cannot let him have his way! We must steel our wills and never allow ourselves to break! More importantly, I hope you all understand this: the reason he is doing this is because he cannot swallow us in one bite. And as long as we understand that, we can endure! What we must do now is hold the line, do not fall, and even more, do not let the Underworld King’s plan succeed! Only then can we protect our country, and protect our families!”

“As soldiers of the United States, what we must do is stop the Underworld King’s advance! Defend the land behind us with our lives! I do not want to say these words a second time!” Mucus’s gaze was sharp, his expression cold.

At that moment, the faces of the soldiers gradually changed from confusion and pain to firmness, to burning resolve.

“To defend our homeland with our lives is our mission!” someone suddenly shouted.

That cry strengthened the soldiers’ resolve even more and ignited their fervor.

“To defend our homeland with our lives!”

“To defend our homeland with our lives!”

One voice after another rose high, passion and devotion to the nation surging forth in an unbroken tide.

Though Mucus still wore no expression, the blazing fire in his eyes could not be extinguished.

Soon after, the Underworld King’s mechanical army launched another wave of attacks, and then another, and another.

This went on for a full three days.

Driven by their love for their country, those soldiers held out for three whole days as well.

Three days had passed, and the Underworld King still had not taken the United States. One might even say the morale of the United States remained high.

This made the Underworld King deeply displeased.

“Louis, I want an explanation! Didn’t you say the United States would fall quickly? Why has it still not been conquered?”

Louis knelt on the ground, trembling all over. He had not expected the United States to be so difficult to break.

“I do not know! I do not know, Your Majesty the Underworld King! Please believe me!”

“My loyalty to you is absolute! As for the United States, I do not know what is going on! Perhaps there is aid from other countries!”

“Your Majesty the Underworld King, you must believe me!”

Louis lay on the ground like a dog.

The Underworld King gave a cold smile and casually waved his arm twice. At once, Louis felt a current run through his body. Not only that, but two machine soldiers entered from outside.

“Replace his body with a machine body! Don’t kill him!”

Louis froze.

Why? Why?

And then, all at once, he was overcome by wild ecstasy.

He was going to be transformed. He was going to become a superior being. What a marvelous, what an incomparably marvelous thing.

“Thank you, Your Majesty the Underworld King! I am infinitely grateful!” Louis hurriedly kowtowed in thanks. Even as the machines dragged him away, he was still loudly expressing his gratitude.

The Underworld King looked at Louis with disdain.

“Lowly human. Forever lowly human.”

He did all this merely to control Louis more easily.

After five more days, the United States was still holding on without the slightest sign of retreat, and its fighting spirit only grew stronger; it looked as though it longed to flay the machines alive and tear them apart bone by bone.

The Underworld King’s mechanical army had suffered heavy losses in the hands of the Americans.

If the United States had not possessed an anti-missile system, he would already have reduced it to ashes with a single nuclear bomb.

Meanwhile, the machines in other regions were also being steadily worn down.

By now, the Underworld King had suffered a severe blow to his vitality.

He also understood that this time he could not easily resolve the United States, so he chose to concentrate all firepower on a total assault, hoping to see whether he could deal it a crippling wound at a single stroke.

Yes, this time the Underworld King did not intend to swallow the United States whole. He had decided instead to strike it a grave and lasting injury.

Suddenly, a massive force surged toward the United States.

The Underworld King’s firepower flared to terrifying intensity, no longer a gentle stream but a sky-shattering tide.