Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 641 - 170: 9 Nemesis_2

Treat a dead horse as a living one, but aside from the two of them, even Song Lin's secretary believes that this horse won't be revived.

After concentrating all industrial productivity from the Alaska Region, along with high-precision parts flown overnight from the Xiazhou Federation and Siberian Federation, the super-heavy artillery "Nine Punishments" really was built in eighteen hours.

At the acceptance ceremony for the "Nine Punishments," the most unexpected scene occurred.

The two high-ranking military officials who insisted on creating the Nine Punishments drew their guns and committed suicide in front of the heavy artillery simultaneously, their bright red blood mixed with gray brain matter splattering directly on the four-story-high cannon base.

Fifteen minutes later, the main body of "Nine Punishments" was detected to have a reaction to anomalous meme entities.

Forty-five minutes later, the Allied Command Headquarters decided to allow the "Nine Punishments" to be deployed in battle.

Seven hours and fifteen minutes later, the anomalous city was captured.

The "Nine Punishments" is not only a super-heavy artillery but also an anomalously legendary piece of equipment.

No one knows what Song Lin and those two military officials who committed suicide really experienced; people only know that any shells fired from the muzzle of the Nine Punishments would exponentially increase their lethality against anomalous entities.

The Xiazhou Federation tried to replicate the Nine Punishments based on the design left by Song Lin, but what was replicated turned out to only be a scaled-up version of the Gustav Railway Gun... Some say that the federation's higher-ups completely copied the "blood sacrifice" steps, but none of the replicas transformed into anomalous equipment.

At this moment, the "Nine Punishments" located at the 605 Artillery Position is not the real Nine Punishments—the one with special effects against anomalies is buried deep underground in Chunming City, only to be unsealed when the city's safety is threatened. The heavy cannon deployed to Shuzhou is just one from a heap of replicas.

Even though it's not anomalous equipment, the massive caliber of the Nine Punishments still grants it extremely exaggerated destructive power—each of these replicas consumed tremendous resources; though the replication plan failed, they were still incorporated into the Xiazhou Federation's military as heavy conventional weapons to avoid wastage.

...

"The first batch of ammunition has arrived, all artillery groups start loading!"

"Position one, loading complete!"

"Position two, loading complete!"

"Position three, loading complete!"

"Position four, loading complete!"

"'Nine Punishments', loading complete!"

Hundreds of dark cannon muzzles lifted towards the sky, innumerable white virtual lines rose from various corners of the position on the technical officer's tablet, drawing a massive arc in the air before converging at one point.

The central location of the restricted area—Chimera 17's giant cocoon.

"Prepare... fire!"

The dense roar of thunder echoed across the positions, countless shells whistled tearing through the night, heading towards the same target.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

High-speed shells pierced the rain curtain, accurately striking the surface of the giant cocoon—the anticipated huge flames didn't appear, instead, upon hitting the target, these shells transformed into one mass of white mist after another.

Those positioned on the surface of the giant cocoon were instantly covered with a thick layer of frost upon contact with the white mist; as more white mist spread, the frozen area on the cocoon's surface expanded rapidly.

"Effect is good." A group of officers stood on the mountain top of the artillery position, surrounding a military computer displaying the latest images sent back from observation point bunker one.

The anomalies facing the artillery positions were almost entirely frozen, and without even firing incendiary shells, many anomalies' surfaces began to crack. Optical thermal devices confirmed that the surface temperature of these anomalies dropped to more than seventy degrees below zero Celsius... although it's unclear whether the anomalies consist of flesh or something else, for the majority of materials on this world, such low temperatures are sufficient to render them brittle.

"Inform the troops to fire two more rounds of liquid nitrogen shells, then switch to our own ammo." said an officer, "I can't wait to see these grotesque faces shatter!"

"Wait, look... what are those things atop Chimera 17?"

"Did they just grow out? I don't remember seeing them earlier..."

"Looks kind of like... a flower bud?"

"You're suggesting flowers are growing atop Chimera 17?"

"These flowers aren't small... compared to Chimera 17's body, the flower stems must be five or six meters thick."

"Whatever they are—flowers or something else, let's just blast it all! I don't believe this dense barrage won't stop these flowers from blooming!"

"That's true..."

But in the next second, the officers' smiles froze.

A new wave of shell barrages flew over the top of Chimera 17, but these shells didn't successfully land on Chimera 17 as the previous two barrages did.

The flower buds atop Chimera 17 suddenly bloomed, releasing countless steel needle-like objects that instantly detonated all the shells in the air.

"It's a mutation similar to anti-air weapons!" An officer finally reacted, "This structure... and the objects emitted... it's quite reminiscent of a 'Porcupine Array' composite close-in weapon system previously developed by the Hezhong States!"

"The number of flower buds is increasing!"

"If we don't destroy these, none of our shells will ever reach Chimera 17!"

"What should we do?"

...

...

Above the restricted area, a squadron of aircraft had just completed its bombing mission and was preparing to return.

"Attention all aircraft, this is Hawk 01, we've just received information from the 605 Artillery Position... Chimera 17 seems to have mutated, intercepting all subsequent shells."

"Mutation? Don't head back yet, circle around from the west to take a look."

"Agreed."

The fighter jets at the front of the formation abruptly reduced altitude, simultaneously turning their noses toward the west side of Chimera 17.

"I see it... what they mentioned as mutation must be those 'flowers' growing out of the cocoon top, right?"

"I think so..."

"Look, here comes another barrage!"

"Wow, all intercepted! This thing is practically a close-in weapon system!"

"Pulling that off, our artillery positions are practically useless now, aren't they?"

"But I see the range of that close-in weapon seems limited... so how about, anyone got any ideas?"

"Are you suggesting... we should go and take out these mutated organs?"

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm not crazy, I've got plenty of fuel left, enough for another spectacular combat run."

"These things intercept missiles and shells, but large-caliber guns from fighter jets might weave through the gaps between the steel needles."

"I think... it's worth a try. After all, the command probably can't come up with a solution immediately, let's solve the problem for them and show them what we're capable of!"

The flight formation had been executing bombing tasks, those escorting fighter pilots were itching for an opportunity to display their prowess; hearing there was a chance to shine, most agreed without hesitation.

"I just talked to the command, and they agreed to our ad hoc plan." said Hawk 01, "Now the bombers will first return, while remaining fighters switch to attack formation 3, altitude raised to 2400. Once above the target, dive through the clouds to strike at the mutated organs on the target!"

"Remember, prioritize attacking those 'buds' that haven't yet bloomed!"