Translator: CinderTL
"Sir, it's just ahead," the scout reported in a low voice.
Derrick raised his hand to halt the troops, signaling the artillery to take cover while the musketeers secured the high ground.
They crouched behind a rocky ridge, binoculars trained on the valley below.
At first, all was still. The mountain wind swept across the scree slope, stirring up faint trails of dust.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble slightly.
The rock strata to their left silently bulged upward, as if a colossal beast were writhing beneath the surface. Then, the gray-white giant worm burst from the earth. It slowly arched its body upward, its thirty-foot-long form covered in chitinous scales glistening with oily slime in the sunlight. The creature lacked a distinct head; its front end was ringed by jagged, circular mandibles, while several tentacles dangled below, slowly tapping the ground as if sensing vibrations.
Derrick held his breath, his binoculars locked on the monster.
"This isn't a hallucination..." he murmured.
The giant worm seemed to sense their presence. Its mandibles twitched open and closed, emitting a low-frequency hum. Instead of moving immediately, it slowly turned toward the Alden troops, as if "listening" to them.
"Artillery, prepare to fire," Derrick commanded in a deep voice. "Aim ten o'clock, use bursting shells!"
Boom! Boom!
Two cannon blasts tore through the mountain valley. The shells arced through the air, landing precisely on the giant worm's flank.
The explosions sent plumes of smoke and dust billowing skyward, scattering debris in all directions.
In the fiery aftermath, the giant worm's body lurched sideways. A section of its carapace shattered, oozing thick, milky-white fluid with a pungent odor.
The soldiers let out excited, low growls. "We hit it!"
But as the smoke cleared, the monster was still writhing.
It didn't retreat, merely slowly adjusted its position, its mandibles now aimed directly at the artillery position. Then, with a sudden surge of power, its entire body arched like a snake, and it burrowed into the ground with astonishing speed, vanishing in an instant.
"Did it escape?" an officer asked.
Derrick narrowed his eyes, his hand gripping his sword hilt. "No... it's still down there."
Before the words had even left his lips, the ground began to tremble violently.
Ten paces ahead of the artillery position, the earth erupted—the giant worm burst forth from directly beneath, its mandibles lunging straight for the cannon barrels!
"Scatter!" Derrick roared.
The gunners scrambled away from their positions, rolling and crawling to safety. The giant worm clamped its jaws around a howitzer, its chitinous mandibles snapping shut with brutal force.
Its repulsive mandibles seemed to chew, but it quickly spat out the splintered remains of the wooden gun carriage, leaving only the metal cannon barrel behind.
The giant worm whipped its body, hurling the cannon barrel against the rocky cliff with a deafening boom.
Derrick drew his sword, his voice cold and commanding. "Aim!"
The soldiers swiftly formed a horizontal line, their musket barrels leveled at the slowly rising behemoth.
"Fire!"
At Derrick's command, the Alden muskets fired in unison. Flint sparked, gunshots roared like thunder, and dozens of lead bullets tore through the air toward the giant worm.
The hail of bullets slammed into its grayish-white body with dull, crackling thuds, like raindrops striking ancient tree bark. Milky-white fluid splattered from the impact points, some spraying out in a fine mist, others oozing like sap from the wounds.
The giant worm's mandibles snapped open, emitting a deep, almost subsonic rumble that seemed to make the entire mountain groan. Its tentacles convulsed violently, and its body arched as if struck by an invisible hammer.
Seeing the creature "bleed," the Alden soldiers believed their attack had succeeded, and their morale surged.
"Reload! Keep firing!" the officers shouted.
The second volley followed immediately, the rain of bullets even denser. More viscous fluid exploded, and several scales on the giant worm's back were torn away, revealing the dark red muscle tissue beneath. For a split second, the creature's movements seemed to slow.
But after that brief pause, the giant worm suddenly accelerated.
It didn't retreat or flee. Instead, it arched its massive body with astonishing force, sweeping forward like a colossal serpent. Its mouthparts lunged directly toward the musket line.
"Scatter! Scatter!" Derrick roared, waving his sword.
The soldiers scrambled back in panic. Several slower-moving men were struck by the worm's tentacles, flung through the air like straw. A Combat Engineer was grazed by the edge of its mouthparts, his shoulder armor and half his shoulder torn away in a single, brutal motion. His scream cut off abruptly as he lost consciousness.
The giant worm's colossal body crashed to the ground, sending tremors through the earth. It slowly pivoted, aiming its mouthparts at the remaining cannon, and unleashed a stream of thick, corrosive fluid. The metal cannon barrel hissed and blackened as the acidic substance ate through it, rapidly warping and disintegrating.
Standing on higher ground, Derrick watched with a grim frown. He could see clearly: while the bullets had pierced the worm's hide, they hadn't penetrated the thick keratinous layer deep enough to reach its vital organs. The viscous fluid seemed more like body fluid or a protective secretion than the blood he had anticipated.
The monster reacted to the pain, but it hadn't sustained any fatal injuries.
Derrick stared at the slowly writhing giant worm, his mind racing.
"Damn it, if we can't pierce its hide or kill it, we'll have to lure it into the pit."
He barked out orders: "Execute plan two! Artillery, retreat with the remaining cannons. Musketeers, provide alternating cover fire. Engineer group, return to the designated detonation point immediately and prepare to detonate the Bursting Shells."
The Alden forces began an orderly retreat. Musketeers split into two groups, taking turns firing volleys at the giant worm's upper body as they fell back. Lead Bullets struck the chitinous armor, sending sticky fluid splattering.
As expected, the giant worm was enraged. Its mandibles gaped wide as it surged forward, its speed surprisingly matching that of a sprinting human.
But just as it was about to close in on the musketeers, it suddenly stopped. Instead of continuing the chase, it slowly turned, adopting an unnervingly alert posture. It coiled in place for a moment before abruptly burrowing underground and vanishing from sight.
"Did it retreat?" the adjutant whispered.
Derrick shook his head, gritting his teeth. "Lure it out again. Musketeers, move in close and fire point-blank shots. Make it feel the pain."
A group of soldiers gritted their teeth and charged forward, closing to within thirty paces of the giant worm's burrowing point. They unleashed three close-range volleys, Lead Bullets striking the base of its newly emerged tentacles. Milky-white fluid splattered as the worm shuddered violently, emitting a low-frequency roar before erupting from the earth again, lunging forward.
The Alden soldiers repeated their tactics, retreating while firing. The giant worm pursued them for several hundred meters, nearly reaching the pre-set "collapsed valley" demolition zone, only to halt abruptly and slowly retreat underground once more.
"That big worm's learning," a soldier said, his face pale.
Over the next two hours, the Alden soldiers repeatedly staged provocations:
Musketeers flanking the worm unleashed close-range volleys into its back wounds. Combat Engineers hurled incendiary bottles, the flames licking at its viscous hide and emitting a pungent, burning stench. Once, Derrick personally ordered the ignition of abandoned ammunition crates, creating a massive explosion to simulate artillery fire.
Each time, the giant worm was provoked into erupting from the earth, only to retreat at the critical moment after a brief pursuit.
Until the fourth attempt.
When the burning ammunition crates detonated with a thunderous roar, the fiery light painting the rocky cliffs crimson, the giant worm finally snapped.
It surged from the earth like a living mountain, its gray-white bulk crashing through the terrain. It relentlessly pursued the rear guard of musketeers, its pursuit speed nearly doubling.
"It's coming!" the lookout screamed.
Standing on a high ridge, Derrick watched the mountain-sized shadow hurtling toward them. He calmly issued his orders: "Everyone withdraw from the collapsed valley! Combat Engineers, prepare to detonate!"
(End of the Chapter)
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