227: Chapter 227: The Decapitation Operation Successful

He didn't wait for the monster to turn around. Taking advantage of the fact that the vibration from Zhang Xiaohu's hammer blow hadn't dissipated, he suddenly bit the tip of his tongue. His mouth was instantly filled with a bloody taste, and his mind cleared. He pressed his right hand against the copper gear pendant on his chest and shouted in a low voice, "Divine Sense Resonance—Ying Zheng!"

Buzz!

A heavy aura erupted from his body. Pale gold characters crawled up his skin like red-hot iron wires searing into his flesh, lighting up one by one. His eyes instantly turned gold, and deep within his pupils, it seemed as if the shadow of an emperor flickered. A powerful pressure spread out, making the air itself feel heavy.

Several small exotic beasts near the broken pillar were about to pounce, but they suddenly froze, their legs trembling, and they sprawled directly on the ground, not daring to move. They sensed that this aura was even more terrifying than the Earth Owl.

Shen Xiaochuan had changed. Standing ramrod straight with his shoulders squared, he looked like a warrior who had stepped out of ancient times. He raised his left hand, and the great desolation blade appeared in his grasp. The blade wasn't fully formed yet, showing forging marks on its edges and unlit patterns, but as soon as it was unsheathed, the surrounding temperature dropped.

The Earth Owl sensed danger.

It had originally turned toward Zhang Xiaohu, preparing to swat him to death with one claw. However, the sense of oppression from behind made it stop its movements. Its mist-gray eyes swiveled rapidly, trying to locate the source of the threat.

It was already too late.

Shen Xiaochuan kicked off, charging down from the high point of the broken pillar. He didn't move in a straight line, instead running diagonally across the rubble, accelerating with every step. The flaw in its right forelimb became clearer and clearer in his mind—the weight-bearing issue Dongfang Hong had mentioned earlier, combined with its habit of lowering its head, had all been calculated by the combat experience left behind by Ying Zheng.

The twenty-meter distance was covered in just three steps.

The Earth Owl reacted, its left claw sweeping across. A wave of air tore through the atmosphere, heading straight for Shen Xiaochuan's face. But he was prepared, twisting his body in mid-air to dodge. Using his waist to forcefully change direction, he pointed the blade downward, stabbing directly at the junction of the right forelimb and the neck.

"Now!"

He let out a low growl, and his entire musculature erupted under the empowerment of faith points. The passive effect of +3 faith points per second kicked in, energy surging into his limbs and allowing him to hang in the air for an extra half-second.

The blade fell!

The great desolation blade hacked viciously into the base of the Earth Owl's right forelimb. Scales shattered, flesh rolled back, and bone made a piercing sound. The Earth Owl roared, its body shaking violently as it tried to shake him off.

Shen Xiaochuan gripped the hilt with all his might, hanging onto its body and using its struggle to continue pressing down. The blade sliced through muscle and tendon bit by bit, and fresh blood sprayed all over his face.

The Earth Owl struggled desperately, its other foreclaw slamming into the ground and sending rubble flying. It tried to turn its head to bite, but its neck was caught by the blade just halfway through the turn. It went mad with pain, its four legs kicking wildly, gouging deep trenches into the ground.

Shen Xiaochuan gritted his teeth and held on. He knew that if he let go, all his previous efforts would be in vain.

He closed his eyes for a moment, calling up the final instruction Ying Zheng had left him: "Decapitation lies not in strength, but in momentum."

It wasn't about using brute force to split it open, but following its movements and borrowing its momentum at the moment it lowered its head to deliver the final strike.

He held his breath, staring at the Earth Owl.

Sure enough, it began to lower its head due to the pain, trying to use its chin to strike the blade and force him to let go.

This was the moment!

Shen Xiaochuan relaxed his grip slightly, letting the blade recede a little as if it were about to slip. The Earth Owl immediately raised its head, wanting to throw him off completely.

Just as its head reared up and its neck was stretched to its tightest, Shen Xiaochuan suddenly exerted force, pressing the blade down hard along the original wound!

"Crack!"

The sound of the cervical bone snapping rang out clearly.

The massive head was severed, rolling to the ground with its mist-gray eyes still moving. Black blood erupted from the severed neck, surging three meters high like a fountain and drenching the battlefield.

The Earth Owl's body stiffened.

Two seconds later, it crashed to the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

The entire field went silent.

All the fighting exotic beasts stopped. The small beasts besieging the Assault Group froze in place as if they had lost their commander. The Shell Monsters on the hillside stopped moving, and the poisonous insects crawling out from underground curled into balls.

Their leader... was dead?

No one could believe it.

It wasn't until that head completely cooled, the gray mist dissipated, and the eyes lost focus that they understood—the existence that ruled over them had been slain with a single blade.

Chaos erupted.

Some exotic beasts turned to flee, rushing toward the depths of the valley; some attacked their own kind in a frenzy; still others collapsed on the ground as if they had lost their souls.

The tide of battle reversed in an instant.

"We won?" a trembling voice came through the communicator, belonging to a certain NATO believer. "That thing... is it really dead?"

No one answered.

Because everyone was looking at the person in the center.

Shen Xiaochuan was down on one knee, one hand propping up his body with his blade, the other braced against the ground. He was panting heavily, his chest heaving incessantly. His forehead was covered in sweat, which mixed with blood and flowed into his eyes, stinging sharply. The old wound on his right arm had reopened, and blood was seeping through the bandages.

But he couldn't be bothered with any of that.

He raised his head and looked around.

People from the Assault Group were picking themselves up from the ground, some helping injured comrades retreat. The magic circle's light screen was still flickering, but the pressure had lessened considerably. Zhang Xiaohu leaned against a broken wall, half his body covered in blood, but he was still smiling and gave him a thumbs-up.

Shen Xiaochuan wanted to return the smile, but it tugged at his wounds, making him frown.

He stood up and pulled the great desolation blade out of the Earth Owl's neck. The blade was stained with black blood and its edge was slightly curled, but it was still usable. He rubbed it against a stone to scrape off the bloodstains and gripped it tightly once more.

The surrounding swarms of exotic beasts were still in chaos, and no one dared to approach him. He stood beside the corpse, blood beneath his feet and ruins behind him.

The wind blew, carrying the stench of blood and scorched earth. His work clothes were riddled with holes, and the copper gear pendant at his cuff was still hot.

He looked down at his hands. His palms were calloused, and there was mud and blood under his fingernails. These weren't the hands of a hero; they were just the hands of an ordinary Mechanical System graduate. Yet it was these hands that had just cut off the head of a ten-meter-tall monster.

He didn't feel excited or thrilled.

There was only a sense of relief—he had survived, and the mission was accomplished.

He raised his eyes and scanned the battlefield.

The swarms of exotic beasts had scattered, with only a few stragglers still fighting. The Assault Group had suffered significant casualties, but they could still fight back. The magic circle area was temporarily safe; Red of the East should still be holding out, though she was out of sight.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

They had made it through this battle.

He dragged his blade forward a couple of steps. His boots made a "splat" sound as they stepped into a pool of blood. He walked over to the Earth Owl's head, knelt down, and touched the pair of tusks. They were ice-cold and hard, like they were made of obsidian.

This was the target they had been searching for for a long time.

A perfect grade exotic beast leader, hidden underground, controlling the entire tribe to attack outsiders. If he hadn't discovered the old wound on its right forelimb, if Red of the East hadn't reminded him of its head-lowering pattern, and if Zhang Xiaohu's hammer blow hadn't created an opening... he wouldn't have been able to get close at all.

It was half luck and half preparation.

He withdrew his hand, stood up, and looked around.

The wind continued to blow, swirling ashes and scraps of cloth. The skeleton on the distant hillside was still there, but no one regarded it as a command post anymore. The true threat had been dealt with.

He took a deep breath, and his lungs burned. He might have hit a rock while dodging in mid-air; a rib might be cracked. However, it didn't hinder his movement.

He shouldered the great desolation blade and looked toward the nearby corpse of an Evil God Guard. That man had taken a direct hit from an acid breath to save a teammate, and his armor had been corroded through. To the left was an Assault Group warrior, still clutching a Shock Hammer in death.

At least six were dead.

He noted the locations, intending to have someone collect the bodies later.

But not right now.

He still had one thing to confirm.

He looked in the direction where the Earth Owl had fallen, staring at the overturned earth. When it had burst out from underground earlier, a large section of the ground had cracked open. It was still smoking now, and he could faintly see a dark red light flashing deep below.

Something was wrong.

That wasn't an ordinary nest.

He narrowed his eyes, walked forward a few steps, and crouched by the crack. A heatwave hit his face, as if something were burning below. He pulled out his tactical dagger and thrust it into the ground, using the reflection to peer down.

It wasn't soil underneath.

It was a metal structure with symbols carved on the surface, very similar to the ones he had seen with the Evil Sheep Priest, but more ancient. Those symbols glowed under the high heat, as if they were transmitting information.

He frowned.

This wasn't naturally formed.

It was man-made.

Or rather, it had been placed here.

He recalled what Red of the East had said: "The geological layers in this area don't follow natural laws; it's as if they were forcibly modified." He hadn't paid much attention at the time, thinking it was just a geological anomaly. Now it seemed...

He stood up and glanced back toward the magic circle.

He had to tell her about this.

But he didn't move.

Because he heard a soft sound coming from beneath his feet.

Like metal clinking together.

Immediately following that, the red light in the crack began to flash faster.

His eyes narrowed, and he immediately retreated three steps, holding his blade across his body.

The ground began to vibrate.

It wasn't a violent shaking, but a rhythmic one, like a heartbeat.

Thump, thump, thump.

Once, and then again.

He stared at the crack, his breathing becoming shallow.

Suddenly, a black mechanical tentacle reached out from within.

Its surface had patterns similar to circuit boards, and its end split into three sharp claws that slowly opened. It tentatively touched the air, then quickly retracted.

Shen Xiaochuan didn't move.

He knew this wasn't a new enemy.

This was some kind of device.

Moreover, it had been observing from below all along.

It only dared to come out after the leader was dead.

He gave a cold laugh and gripped his blade.

Fine.

You guys were hiding deep enough.

He slowly approached the crack, pointing the tip of his blade at the spot where the tentacle had retracted.

"Stop hiding," he said, his voice raspy. "I know you're watching."

There was no response.

Only that steady, heartbeat-like vibration continued.

He raised his foot and stomped heavily on the edge of the crack.

"If you don't come out, I'll blow this whole place to pieces."

The ground shuddered.

Then, that tentacle reached out again.

This time, it didn't retract.

It slowly rose higher, pointing at Shen Xiaochuan.

As if it were... saying hello.