Outside the north gate of Dongduoluma.
A steel beam, entwined with insect silk, plummeted down in a spin, piercing the ground before the閣螳螂, serving as a barrier against heavy crossbow fire.
Amidst the clinking sounds, the閣螳螂’s right forelimb's sickle claw closed inward.
The golden insect silk, wound into a ball, slid down to the ground with the descending claw.
This silk ball was formed by fifty to sixty insect threads extending backward, gathered and adhered together.
The other end of each thread was tied to a fragment of the ancient ruins.
Though it appeared chaotic, to the閣螳螂, the specific shape and purpose of each fragment were perfectly clear.
The sharp, barbed left forelimb's sickle claw descended, landing in the hollow center of the silk ball.
As the left foreleg was raised, the lifted silk ball slid backward, merging with another silk ball on the left claw's joint, forming a honeycomb-like silk spool.
Then, the left foreclaw was raised high, while the right foreclaw moved rapidly, using its hooked tip to continuously pull outward from the silk spool.
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!....
With each forceful pull, fragments of the ancient ruins of varying shapes flew in from the air, dragged by the immense force of the insect silk.
Boom! Boom! Boom!....
The impact of the huge fragments landing echoed, and the閣螳螂 was soon surrounded by them.
"The Guild recognized the閣螳螂 as highly intelligent, but it doesn't seem to be showing any of that in combat," Pazhizhi said with some surprise.
Gu Xing, with his right hand raised, ready to issue the command for concentrated cannon fire, offered no response.
Indeed, based on the閣螳螂's current combat performance, it didn't appear very intelligent.
Manifesting in its墟城 form meant its movement speed would be much slower than if it dragged the fragments.
Even if it broke cover from the sandstorm within range, there was a possibility of it charging the city walls under concentrated fire.
If assembled on-site, as soon as the墟城 showed any signs of taking shape, a single volley of concentrated fire could cause it to collapse.
At this moment, two dark shadows streaked overhead the city walls.
Gu Xing looked up and saw that the Hunter and the Eternal had already taken their positions in the air, increasing his confidence.
However, he worried that the Valstrax would become the biggest variable in the operation.
Boom! After a rusty metal wall landed, the閣螳螂 suddenly stopped dragging.
It looked at the insect silk being pulled by its right foreclaw, tilted its head, and seemed to ponder.
A moment later, another steel beam struck the ground before it.
Creak! Creak!....
Using the tip of its claw, it scraped away the soil caked onto the steel beam.
Crude pictograms etched in indentations were revealed.
The閣螳螂 studied them intently for a long time, only to realize the graphics were reversed.
It quickly tightened the single thread dragging the steel beam.
Whoosh~Hoo~Bang!
The steel beam spun in mid-air and struck down again.
After examining several of the pictograms, the閣螳螂's compound eyes flashed purple, and a bright light bulb appeared above its head.
It looked greatly inspired.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Bang!
The sickle claws on both sides collided in a forward swing, crossing in an X shape.
Amidst the buzzing sound of the collision, the originally adhered silk ball, as if guided, suddenly dispersed and then neatly arranged itself with extremely small intervals, evenly wrapping around the sickle claws.
Rumble... Rumble...
At the same moment, all the fragments rapidly rolled and assembled around the閣螳螂 as they were dragged.
Seeing this, Gu Xing roared, "Fire!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!....
The city wall cannons opened fire with concentrated attacks.
Amidst the swirling black smoke, the fragments were continuously shattered by the bombardment, and weathered, yellowish debris flew everywhere.
However, the speed at which the fragments gathered and assembled was clearly faster than the city defense forces had anticipated.
Furthermore, if many fragments were shattered, another piece of similar size would immediately be dragged from behind to replace it.
The black smoke from the cannon explosions mingled with the yellowish dust kicked up by the rolling fragments.
A thick, dark brown cloud of dust rose into the air.
At the center of this dust cloud, a peculiar tubular墟城 was taking shape at an incredible speed.
Clatter! Clatter!....
Several fragments with metallic sharp corners struck the top of the tubular墟城.
Hiss! Hiss!....
As the surrounding insect silk gradually tightened, the squeezed metal fragments emitted a teeth-grinding sound.
Bang! Hiss!
The steel-reinforced wall at the top of the tubular墟城 could not withstand the pressure and immediately cracked and caved in.
The metal fragments were deeply embedded within, with only a row of large, rusty spikes exposed.
"Is this the墟城? It doesn't feel right," Pazhizhi said, growing more and more puzzled as he watched amidst the roar of the cannons.
In the Guild's eyewitness reports, the墟城 had appeared as a quadrupedal land dragon, with an overall appearance similar to the Lao Shan Lung.
Although the current assembled structure was not small, it looked like nothing more than a long, tubular object.
"Let's not worry about that for now. The fact that it maintained this form by filling itself with fragments and can continue to assemble and expand means it came prepared... Prepare for battle at the foot of the city," Gu Xing said with some anxiety.
The current strangely shaped墟城 seemed to lack any mobility.
However, in terms of withstanding attacks, it would be impossible to shatter it before the ancient ruins fragments were depleted.
Before long, the tubular main body, constantly reshaped by the cannon fire, gradually stabilized, with more fragments being attached from behind.
The newly assembled end of the墟城 was not disfigured by the cannonballs, and a clear segmented structure became apparent.
Whoosh~ A massive, thick-walled metal frame flew out from the ancient ruins and landed at the very front of the tubular body.
Hiss~ Hiss~...
As the two insect threads on the sides pulled backward, the rapidly moving triangular metal frame latched onto the front of the墟城.
"This is... a snake!"
Pazhizhi, who had been observing, finally identified the shape of the墟城 the閣螳螂 was assembling.
In the Great Elder's Hall, Vegasa and Zuda were even more shocked by the shape of the墟城 assembled by the閣螳螂.
This was because a monster with such a form was actually real.
"Impossible. Only a very few people knew about that subjugation operation. Where did the閣螳螂 learn this from?" Vegasa said, looking at the staff entwined with a silver snake in her hand, her eyes full of disbelief.
"At least this confirms that the閣螳螂 does indeed have a habit of mimicking the forms of giant monsters to construct its墟城," Zuda sighed.
"Someone taught it..." Vegasa offered a chilling deduction.
"It's not appropriate to make such assumptions yet, and establishing communication with such a monster is completely impossible... Three members of the top-tier team are currently seriously injured..." Zuda trailed off.
"You don't need to tell me, the Chief Hunter team will also be dispatched. But this means the team has participated in two contracts, so don't expect to get away with the reward," Vegasa guessed his intention.
"Of course," Zuda assured him firmly.
On the Flame Horn, the team holding binoculars simultaneously spotted the snake-shaped墟城.
"What is that?" Yudora asked, bewildered.
"It looks... a bit like a snake king dragon?" Li Fan said, not entirely certain.
This was because in the original game, the閣螳螂's墟城 did not have a similar form.
"What's a snake king dragon, meow?" Dailu asked, confused.
"It's a terrifying existence. You wouldn't want to see it," Li Fan told her honestly.
"Uh... the snake's head is rising." Yudora reminded him with some surprise.
Li Fan immediately refocused his attention on observation.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~...
As the threads on the surface of the snake-shaped墟城 tightened, the triangular snake head, formed by thick-walled frames, rose, supported by the front section of the serpentine body, which then extended in an S-shape.
The entire process was not fast, and the movements looked stiff and slow, with parts constantly shattering and peeling off under the bombardment.
Yet, this giant snake, built from piled fragments and bound by insect silk, had truly come to life.
Aoooo!
A sharp roar emanated from within the giant snake's head.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!....
Amidst the billowing smoke, the damaged and massive tubular body slid forward with a swaying motion.
Every joint, every component of the giant snake, seemed to function like living tissue, animated by the pulling of the insect silk.
A city defense soldier turned back to pick up a cannonball, intending to reload, but froze in horror as he realized the giant snake was rapidly approaching the city gate.
"Hey! Gu Xing! This speed is wrong!" Pazhizhi said alertly.
"Cease artillery fire! Cease heavy bowgun fire! Hunters not directly engaged, evacuate the city walls immediately!" After issuing the retreat order, Gu Xing looked at Pazhizhi and said, "It should be simple for you to trigger the Dragonator switch with a strike, right?"
"Yes!"
"Then the task of activating the Dragonator is yours."
"What about you?" Pazhizhi asked, confused.
"When it arrives, I will attempt to attack from the position of entering the snake's head."
"Understood. Although this墟城 giant snake is large, its true core is the閣螳螂. That's a good approach... Wait, why isn't it me?" Pazhizhi quickly understood.
"No time to explain!" Gu Xing said, two balls of ghostly fire appearing beneath his Hannya mask.
"Alright... Hey! Stop looking and get out of here!" Pazhizhi saw that many of the city defense troops looked terrified.
He roughly understood Gu Xing's intention, as, at this moment, only the two Dragonators installed on the city walls could pose a threat to the giant snake.
If the best attack window was missed due to fear, the current unfavorable situation would become even harder to salvage.
"Gu Xing, you go ahead with confidence. If you die, I'll collect your body..." Pazhizhi muttered as he ran towards the red circular trigger switch.
"Isn't that giant snake built from stone and steel? Why is it moving?" Yudora found it increasingly unbelievable.
"If someone tied all your joints with Wirebugs, you could achieve a similar level of control," Li Fan explained.
The moving墟城 giant snake's body swayed and slid with increasing stability and speed.
Even as a top hunter, Gu Xing found it increasingly bizarre.
Its control over the giant snake was improving, and it was consciously repairing the damage to its joints.
What was it thinking? And why was it attacking Dongduoluma?
Gu Xing shook his head slightly, feeling that now was not the time to ponder these mysteries.
Pazhizhi, in the rear, stared at the giant snake, and when he judged the distance, he swung his Diablos Hammer and smashed it into the circular Dragonator switch.
From the two dark, massive circular holes on either side of the city gate, two high-speed rotating Dragonator projectiles shot out.
Hiss!
The giant snake墟城's body suddenly shifted sideways, its head tilted back significantly, and its tail swung forward.
Bang! Bang!....
The Dragonator easily pierced the snake's tail, which was made of wall sections, but as the insect silk instantly unbound, the tail detached from the tubular body.
Gu Xing hadn't expected such a maneuver.
After slowing down, the detached giant snake lowered its head towards the city wall.
The rusty metal spikes embedded in its back began to ram forcefully.
Boom! Earth and stone flew, and the entire city wall trembled violently.
The giant snake, embedded in the wall with its back, did not retreat to initiate a second ram but instead began to scrape and slide with its metal spikes.
Crash! Crash!....
The sound of dense earth and stone shattering echoed.
The city wall indented and cracked as it was scraped by the snake's back, until countless cracks appeared on the inner wall.
Gu Xing, who had used Wirebugs to ascend to the snake's head, first stabilized himself, maintaining his balance.
Then, with his Ruin Katana, he unleashed three slashes, creating a triangular opening in the thick-walled metal frame.
He peered inside.
The閣螳螂, with countless taut insect threads wrapped around its sickle claws, was located in the innermost part of the giant snake's head.
Just as Gu Xing was about to act, he saw that the inner walls of the metal frame and the beams were covered in countless sticky silk balls.
It could release two types of silk balls: one incredibly tough, strong enough to drag ruins; the other extremely viscous, capable of setting traps for defense.
Due to the limited space, it was not suitable for combat, and all Gu Xing could do was record more information.
At this moment, the阁螳螂's claw-like tail suddenly lifted.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Three sticky silk balls were spat out from the center of its tail.
Gu Xing quickly dodged, but just as he retreated, he felt his body suddenly fall to the side.
He initially thought he had lost his balance while dodging, but upon seeing the city's buildings beside him, he realized the giant snake was toppling sideways!
After extending two insect threads to quickly pull away, he heard a loud bang behind him.
When he looked back again, the giant snake's massive head had already crashed into the city's buildings.
It was out of control...
Gu Xing, suspended in the air by Wirebugs, felt unexpectedly surprised.
He quickly recalled every detail and suddenly remembered that the閣螳螂's claw-like tail was also wrapped and dragged by a large amount of tough insect silk.
He instantly thought of a possibility.
This meant that any subtle movement of the阁螳螂's body while controlling the giant snake would have a huge impact on the outside.
I need to transmit this information...
"Gu Xing, you're quite brave."
Hearing the compliment, Gu Xing turned sharply, surprised to find the Flame Horn hovering directly behind him.
"Get on quickly. Your Wirebugs won't last much longer," Yudora said, floating off the deck and reaching out to grab Gu Xing's insect thread.
"How about the Kushala Daora?" Gu Xing asked urgently as his feet landed on the deck.
"A Chameleos was sighted nearby, and with the cover of wind currents, it managed to escape," Yudora sighed.
"Did... did you guys get hurt?" Gu Xing asked.