Chapter 1489: Chapter 1487: Shaken
The so-called minor issue is that a completely new abnormal creature has appeared within the army of abnormal creatures.
It’s a gigantic white worm, over twenty meters long and nearly a meter thick. At the end of its body, it has enormous mouthparts that can open almost one hundred and eighty degrees.
These abnormal worms slowly follow the army, occasionally stopping to swallow multiple abnormal creatures nearby.
Following this, the abnormal worm straightens its body, and a "egg" wrapped with several abnormal creatures is spat out from its mouth. The "egg" traces an arc in the air, landing beside the soldiers in the defense line, and a small portion lands inside the camp.
Once the "egg" falls, it quickly shatters, and the abnormal creatures swallowed by the abnormal worms drill out.
Although most abnormal creatures are killed by the soldiers nearby before they recover from their dizziness, a small portion still finds opportunities, causing some casualties.
The defense line becomes somewhat chaotic.
Commander Goring of the Grey Parrot Reinforcement Group observes this with a cold expression, turning to shout at the gunners: "Temporarily abandon other targets, focus armor-piercing bullets on those big worms, and eliminate them completely, leave none alive."
"Yes!"
The artillerymen receive the order and quickly load shells to attack, sending armor-piercing bullets flying densely towards the abnormal worms.
"Bang bang bang!"
At first, the abnormal worms twist their bodies to dodge a few shells, but they cannot avoid them all. Eventually, being struck by the shells, the abnormal worms are severed into several segments and die.
Commander Goring glances again at the depths of the camp, where intermittent screams can be heard—those are abnormal creatures that flew into the camp causing destruction.
He takes a deep breath, issuing a new order: "Third Battalion, temporarily withdraw from the combat sequence and take charge of fully clearing the camp!"
"Yes."
A squad of soldiers rushes towards the camp.
Next come more orders from Goring.
"Sixth Battalion, support Line Eight..."
"Yes."
"Second Reserve Unit rest and regroup, Seventh Battalion take over..."
"Yes."
"Battalion One Commander, the ten newest Magic Rune Cannons that Shalin sent half a month ago are unused in the warehouse, right? Immediately bring them out, set them on the front main defense line, and fire until the barrels burst..."
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
...
Under Commander Goring’s constant direction and the slaughter by numerous soldiers, the new wave of attacks by the army of abnormal creatures is once again repelled, granting the defense line a rare moment of peace.
Bob, Philip, Frank, and other crew members begin helping out again, and after working hard for half a day, they gather in one place to temporarily rest and eat—after all, they are helping voluntarily, and they cannot be expected to work hungry.
The food is a type of green square biscuit called Number Three Ration, said to taste much better than Number One and Number Two Rations, and supposedly it tastes like beef if you chew it long enough—of course, that’s just hearsay.
Bob, as Locomotive Captain, received a large box of Number Three Rations from a certain battalion commander of the Grey Parrot Reinforcement Group, distributing them to each crew member.
When handing it to Philip, Bob remembered something and asked, "I heard when transporting the wounded before, you and Frank encountered that kind of flying egg, are you alright?"
"I’m fine." Philip received the square biscuit, shook his head, and didn’t say much.
Bob didn’t press further, only sighing and saying, "It’s good that you’re okay. After all, you have a son, right? You have to live well. Just like me, I have a wife more than ten years younger at home, and a newborn baby daughter, so no matter what, I have to go back alive."
Turning his head, Bob handed a biscuit to Frank: "Frank, are you alright too, not hurt?"
Frank didn’t answer the question, he took the biscuit and fiercely took a bite, then another, swallowing it in a few bites before looking at Bob and saying expressionlessly, "Everyone will die."
"Eh?" Bob was stunned for a moment, then reacted, "Are you... crazy?"
"Crazy is good," Bob said. "Whether truly crazy or not, at least there’s no fear anymore. Honestly, with the current battles changing all the time, maybe after a while I won’t be able to take it and go insane too. But I have a wife and daughter, if I’m crazy, what will happen to them?"
With a long sigh, Bob shook his head, seeing extra biscuits, picked up another to hand to Frank, "You seem really hungry, eat more?"
Frank didn’t hesitate, accepting and swallowing another biscuit in two or three bites, swallowing forcefully with a "gulp."
After eating, he wiped his mouth and seriously repeated to Bob like a reminder: "Everyone will die."
Bob: "..." His expression became odd.
"Whew! Whew!"
Shortly after Frank finished speaking, sharp whistles signaling alarm sounded, followed by shouts.
"The enemy is preparing for the second wave, all combat personnel ready, all support personnel withdraw from the frontline... repeating, the enemy is preparing for the second wave attack..."
Bob, Philip, Frank, and other crew members quickly stood up from their resting place upon hearing this, looking out towards the defense line, seeing dense abnormal creatures indeed gathering again a few hundred meters away.
They noticed that, besides the usual abnormal creatures, there was a new large type of abnormal creature this time. It was over three meters high, over five meters long, like an elephant, but without a trunk or big ears, instead possessing a uniform dark gray hardened shell.
These abnormal shell elephants moved slowly, despite being far away, many on the defense line felt the pressure coming from them—the pressure originating from their massive size.
Commander Goring clearly also noticed the presence of abnormal shell elephants, urging Bob and other support personnel to leave while looking towards the gunners, shaking three fingers. The message was simple: fire three shells to test.
The gunners received the order and immediately prepared to load shells.
"Bang bang bang!"
Before long, the three Magic Rune Cannons on the defense line almost simultaneously roared, three armor-piercing bullets slid from the barrels, flying towards the abnormal shell elephants. One had too much lead-time reserved, missing the target, landing on the side and back of the abnormal shell elephants, while the other two hit the head and back.
An amazing scene occurred—the abnormal shell elephants slightly swayed when struck, the two shells seemed to hit sleek mirrors, sliding along the surface of the abnormal shell elephants before flying off.
Flying over a hundred meters before falling again, one plunged into the soil, the other used its remaining force to penetrate the body of a bald giant rat.
Commander Goring’s eyes immediately narrowed.
The worrying situation occurred—as with ordinary weapons and the limited power of Steel Fist, the Magic Rune Cannons also faced entities that couldn’t be easily killed.
Goring’s eyes narrowed into a slit; he could see in the army of abnormal creatures one abnormal shell elephant after another appearing, rushing to the front, shielding the other abnormal creatures like shield soldiers, covering their advance, consistently approaching the defense line.
Now, not only some people on the defense line but almost everyone felt immense pressure and couldn’t help questioning whether they could fend off this army of abnormal creatures.
Goring stared at the army of abnormal creatures for three seconds, then seemed to make a decision, suddenly turning and yelling to the side: "Communications Officer, get over here, contact the higher-ups! Immediately!"
...
