Chapter 380: Flesh and Blood
Translator: Meh/TransN Editor: - -
Nail felt his heart suddenly in his throat.
At that moment, time seemed to slow down. He stared at the giant demonic beast without a blink, while at the same time prayed in secret that the new cannons could hit the target. However, the demonic beast was still safe and sound, rushing forward by the time he started to breathe again.
About half a minute later, a snow column was kicked up far away from the monster.
This is gonna be bad.
Nail's heart suddenly sank. As the monster was not coming toward the sixth section of the city wall, it left an included angle between the cannons. The artillery unit had to constantly adjust the angle of the culverin, while at the same time also estimate how fast the beast was moving and fire in advance. Otherwise, the shell would land somewhere behind the target just like what was happening now.
Based on the firing rate of the field artillery, they only had one last chance before the monster broke into the city wall!
Nail had already been able to see the thick fur that covered the enemy's body, as well as its huge crimson mouth beneath the tusks. Witches were coming in this direction, apparently planning to stop this monster. Yet the four of them altogether was not even as big as the beast's one leg. Were they able to succeed with pure magic?
He was so anxious and worried that he even wanted to run to the sixth section of the city wall and remind the cannon team to aim forward. However, since there were supervisors standing on both sides at each section of the city wall, he eventually suppressed this impulse—he would be very likely accused of being a coward if he left his post now without permission. Lord Iron Axe had stated repeatedly that behaviors that would break down the line of defense were absolutely forbidden. Once such a person was discovered, the supervising team could directly shoot him down.
The demonic beast running at the very front had already entered the shooting range of the revolving rifles. There was a series of cracking shooting sounds upon the city wall.
Nail had no choice but to continue with his mission, putting the already prepared loaders one by one next to the shooters.
Just at that moment, there was a second ground-shaking roar, which was less than half a minute after the first firing of the culverin.
"That... fast!?" Nail looked at the sixth section of the city wall in great surprise. The smoke above the muzzle had not completely disappeared and some smoke was continuously running out of it, making the cannon look like a litten silver pipe. Nevertheless, what was shocking was yet to come. He had not even had time to notice whether the enemy was shot or not when the dazzling blazes appeared again.
The third firing!
Good Lord. Don't they need to load the shells?
Nail only saw four or five people busy working at the rear of the barrel, but none approaching the muzzle. It appeared that entirely different from the short thick field artillery, this new cannon could fire in succession like a revolving rifle!
This time the firing was effective.
Nail did not see the shell entering the monster's body. What he first noticed was a mass of blood mist bursting out from one side of the giant demonic beast. Aside from the black blood that spilled over, there were also furry skins torn apart, as well as large pieces of flesh. The demonic beast suddenly quivered. Its entire body seemed to be flattened a little bit, and there were streaks of crinkles showing up on its thick furry skins like the ripples on the water surface—but he was not sure whether it was an illusion, because in the next minute, the sunken body restored to normal again, except for the eye balls of the monster, which had been pushed forward when the body was flattened. Meanwhile the eye balls ejected something thick and sluggish in black and white.
With a dull crashing sound, the giant beast fell all its length onto the ground, lying on its side even without an agonal growl. It was until then that Nail found where the shell hit—there was a big hole close to the beast's neck. It was so insignificant compared with its robust body that it was hard to relate the hole with the fatal shot that occurred just now. Strands of smoke was coming out of the hole, and the furry skins around it were blackened.
The monster from the Hell just died like this?
Nail could no longer restrain the excitement in his heart, but vent out all his earlier anxiety with a roar.
"Long live His Highness!"
Even such a terrifying and fierce enemy could not possibly resist the powerful weapon invented by His Highness! Apart from that new cannon, he could not even think of any other ways to kill this huge hybrid demonic beast—even if a witch could manage to do so, it would not be such a clean shot. Thinking further, he could say that His Highness, in a way, had granted them a supreme power comparable to witches'!
His shout, like an introduction, was responded by more people and it soon created an uproar among others. At first only the new recruits responded with loud shouts, but later even the veterans could not help clenching their fists.
There were loud cheers bursting out from the top of the city walls.
"Long live His Highness!"
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Roland was only informed that the beast was killed by the new cannon after the battle was over.
He put on a woolen coat and hurried to the West Wall. The demonic beast's gigantic body was still lying quietly in the snow, with its black blood melting the snow around it into a pool of black water.
It seemed that no matter how horrible these monsters might look like, they were after all carbon based organism. When faced with ammunition and steels, they were as weak as a piece of thin paper.
This solid pointed shell rolled over due to the loss of its stability after being projected into the beast's body, and thus transmitted its kinetic energy throughout the entire torso, and finally went through the body while swirling—as it could be seen from the scene, the other side of the beast's body was completely torn, with the internal organs and broken bones scattered around. Even its head, which was the hardest part of all, was shattered by the vibrating energy and collapsed in total.
However, he still felt a little concerned. "The bone strength of creatures has a limit. This beast is apparently several times bigger than an elephant. How does it support its body without being crushed by its own weight? This is the exactly why terricolous animals have much smaller body builds than marine lives, as they can't overcome the pull of the gravity."
Would it have anything to do with the magic power? He remembered Nightingale once said she could see there were magic powers flowing inside some of the hybrid demonic beasts' bodies.
"How... could this be possible?" Agatha who arrived later had her eyes wide open, "Isn't this the Fearful Beast of Hell?"
"What‘s that? Is that the name of the hybrid demonic beast?" Roland asked curiously, "It has also shown up at the Fertile Plains before?"
"Yes, and when they showed up in group, they were difficult enemies to both witches and demons. Many cities and towns were devastated by the Fearful Beasts of Hell," Agatha's voice sounded a little dry, "However, they could only be seen when the arrival of the Bloody Moon was drawing near."
"The arrival of... the Bloody Moon?" Roland suddenly remembered what was written in the ancient book, "When there was a Bloody Moon in the sky, the Gates of Hell would open once again." He frowned and asked, "What does that mean?"
"This was a record passing down since the first Battle of Divine Will when the magic power was the strongest. The appearance of witches would bring another peak in magic power, but likewise, demons and demonic beasts would also be extremely powerful." Agatha said nervously, "I've perused the history book you gave me. Based on the years, I deduce that there're still at least 20 to 50 years before the arrival of the Bloody Moon. It's impossible to see such monsters."
"But it has still appeared," said Roland in a deep voice, "What does it mean?"
"It means that we don't have much time left."