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Roland rubbed his eyes. What the hell was this? If the mutation of the demonic beasts was still within the scope of biology and could be barely understood, then the monster in front of him was obviously as absurd as something out of a horror movie.
From a distance, it looked like a giant turtle with two heads. Only when you got closer did you realize that they were actually two wolf heads.
Was this some mad scientist's experiment? Roland thought. The giant demonic beast was almost as tall as the city walls, about six meters long, and had six legs shaped like rhino legs, short and thick. However, the size of just one foot was equivalent to an adult's torso. And the heads… those two wolf heads weren't like the typical two-headed monsters in movies, alternately raising their heads to roar, or tearing at each other, showing a reluctance to submit to each other. They were just hanging low, their eyes wooden and lifeless, moving forward slowly like walking corpses.
The most eye-catching thing was probably the carapace on the demonic beast's back. The gray-brown surface was dull and covered in algae, and it looked exceptionally hard. Like a turtle shell, it covered the beast from head to tail. If this monster could retract into its shell like a turtle, it would be really hard to kill.
But Roland wasn't worried. A demonic beast that moved so slowly was destined to be a target. Even if firearms couldn't penetrate the carapace, blowing up the exposed wolf heads was always an option. If it retracted into its shell, he would just use explosives to blow it sky high.
“Your Highness, this is a hybrid,” Iron Axe leaned in nervously. “I think I understand why different types of demonic beasts are acting as a pack now. They must have been driven here by this hybrid.”
Like lions driving a herd of sheep? Roland nodded. "This is very different from the one you encountered last time."
“This is also the first time I've seen this type of hybrid. Although it looks clumsy, you must not be careless. Any hybrid is probably hard to deal with.”
“It's about to enter range,” Roland said. “Let's try it with arrows first.”
At this time, there was light snow in the sky, and a variable northwest wind was blowing, which was not suitable weather for archery. But the two hunters selected by Iron Axe looked confident.
They climbed onto the watchtower, identified the instantaneous wind direction, and fired arrows into the air.
These two sharp arrows seemed to have eyes, rising to the highest point, and then, under the influence of wind and gravity, fell on the target's carapace at an almost vertical angle.
Just as expected, the arrows were directly bounced off. Roland even heard the sound of a ricochet in his mind.
The two were not flustered, continued to nock arrows and draw their bows, and soon fired two more volleys.
The last round of volley achieved the desired effect. The impact points were all in the front of the monster. One of the sharp arrows accurately hit a wolf head, and the other chajin into the target's neck.
However, the opponent did not roar angrily or accelerate its charge. It simply paused for a moment, then retracted its head and feet into its shell, and continued to advance slowly.
This change stunned everyone.
The demonic beast at this moment looked like a tank with lowered chassis. The lower edge of the carapace was almost touching the ground as it moved. In this way, even the best archer would not be able to shoot an arrow into its body.
“Get the firearms,” Roland ordered.
Now the target was only fifty feet away from the city wall. Even with smoothbore flintlocks, there was no need to worry about missing.
Carter, Iron Axe, and others immediately approached the barrier wall, rested their gun barrels horizontally on the top of the wall, aimed, and fired.
A puff of white smoke drifted by. Roland could clearly see the debris splashed by the bullets hitting the carapace, and a small piece of the shell broke off. The hybrid was not affected at all and continued to maintain its original speed.
It seems that the strength of this layer of armor still belongs to the carbon-based organism category, he thought. It was a pity that lead bullets were too soft and easily deformed, making them unsuitable for penetrating thick armor. Relying solely on these four guns to break the hybrid's carapace was probably unrealistic. He would have to use zhàyào packs.
Iron Axe's judgment was consistent with the prince's. He immediately
pointed out the vice-captain of the spear squad and ordered him to transport zhàyào. At this time, the demonic beast had already butted against the city wall. Feeling that it could no longer move forward, its carapace actually began to vibrate rapidly, repeatedly colliding with the wall at an extremely high frequency like a jackhammer. Immediately, stone chips flew everywhere, and several cracks spread rapidly along the cement bonding.
The rubble wall had strong compressive resistance, but extremely poor tensile and shear resistance, which meant that its ability to resist vibration was almost zero. Everyone standing on the city wall felt a strong vibration. Soon, a piercing friction sound entered everyone's ears. The hybrid's carapace had already cut a gap in the wall.
The impact still did not stop. It began to move again, embedding the entire front end of its body into the city wall.
The militiamen fled the cracked section of the wall one after another. Roland was picked up by the invisible Nightingale, who hugged him around the waist, and jumped directly from the top of the wall—if anyone was staring at the prince at this time, they would have found that his feet were suspended in the air when he landed, like a ghost.
When Vanna carefully carried a bag of zhàyào to the scene, he was surprised to find that the middle section of the city wall had been smashed open, creating a gap nearly nine feet wide. The demonic beast, having crossed the city wall, stopped vibrating and continued to move forward slowly at its previous speed.
“Hurry!” Iron Axe shouted, “Light it and put it under this beast's feet!”
Although Vanna's hands were shaking, his mind was surprisingly clear. Every detail of operating the zhàyào pack during training floated before his eyes. Unlike the experimental product, the official product reduced the amount of explosive charge and was sealed in wood. Waste mine fragments were filled between the explosive pack and the wooden board. At the same time, the ignition design was optimized, using a flint and copper wire pull-type ignition. If it failed, a normal ignition fuse was left at the end of the explosive pack. He hastily tore open the outermost layer of oil-soaked cloth, clasped the exposed copper wire bend, and pulled with all his strength. A rapid buzzing sound came from the wooden box, followed by smoke—that was the sign of successful ignition.
This salt-soaked fuse burned slowly, taking about ten breaths of time. Vanna saw puffs of white smoke coming from the box, and the surrounding world seemed to quiet down. He had witnessed the power of this thing. If it exploded in his hand, he was afraid that not even a piece of his body would be left.
Nine breaths.
Vanna listened to his thumping heartbeat, counting down, step by step, walking up to the demonic beast and placing the zhàyào pack in its path.
Five breaths.
Then it just ran over it. Nothing could stop it from moving forward.
Three breaths.
Vanna turned and ran.
Two breaths.
One breath—
He only heard a muffled sound, and Vanna felt a violent jolt under his feet. The world became noisy again.
He turned his head and saw a white wave of air rushing out from under the carapace—that was the accumulated snow blown up by the zhàyàobàozhà. At first glance, it looked like a cloud of mist spreading out. The demonic beast finally stopped moving forward, as if it could no longer bear the weight it was carrying, and the huge armor crashed to the ground. Then, black blood surged out from under the edge of the carapace, soaking the surrounding ground.
“Woah-oh-oh—!”
A burst of cheers erupted from the crowd.
Vanna sat down on the ground. Only now did he realize that his clothes were soaked in cold sweat.
It was finally over.
Just when everyone thought so, the high-pitched drone of the horn resounded across the border again.
Another wave of demonic beasts emerged from the horizon, rushing towards this border town.
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