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Chapter 15: A Battle with No Retreat
"Boom! Boom!"
Two blasts reverberated through the air, shaking the ground as stones and gravel tumbled into the pool below, scattering water everywhere.
In the firelight, the centipede monster tilted its body, pressing its abdominal limbs against the ground. It spread its mandibles and unleashed an earth-shaking roar at the three shadows standing in the distance.
Housen didn’t know if Tang Fang had a death wish or was simply insane. With such a perfect chance to escape, why would anyone stay behind? He wouldn’t waste it.
“Let’s go!” he shouted to his teammates, running toward the cave entrance. Tang Fang and his group were on their own now.
But Housen overlooked one thing. In the shadow of the centipede monster, it wasn’t just three people—there was also a massive, beastly creature the size of a tank.
“You guys should go too. I can’t protect you all,” Tang Fang said.
“But you…” The woman wearing the leather collar hesitated, but Arroz didn’t give her a chance to argue. Grabbing her arm, he said, “Listen to him. We’re just in the way.”
As their footsteps gradually faded, Tang Fang aimed his gunlight at the centipede monster’s face. In the dim light, he could barely make out its features, but its menacing eyes shone with both hatred and curiosity.
He’d noticed something strange when it leaped into the air to attack Housen and the others. The creature had a long, intestine-like tube under its abdomen that constantly squirmed and seemed able to stretch and contract freely.
If it blocked the entrance, there was no escape for anyone. Instinct told him that the intestine was likely its weak spot. Since it was practically begging for someone to "smash its weak point," he decided to oblige.
Tang Fang fired a few shots, but the bullets only made shallow dents before bouncing off, revealing its incredible flexibility. If he wanted to survive, he would have to go all in, ready to risk it all. Summoning The Zerg Queen, he prepared for battle.
The two sharp, bony limbs of the Zerg Queen pierced the intestine’s wall, digging inside, and with her serrated claws, she ripped the intestine open. A dark blue fluid speckled with green burst out, sending the centipede monster reeling back in pain and anger.
A sharp hiss sounded.
The centipede monster lunged, extending a limb from its left side to swipe at the Zerg Queen, clearly more threatened by her than by Tang Fang.
The Zerg Queen raised her long shoulder limbs defensively. “Crunch!” The force reverberated down her limbs, creating six deep holes in the rocky ground beneath her.
Tang Fang’s eyes widened in surprise. The Zerg Queen had actually blocked an attack from a creature nearly ten times her size!
At that moment, a bone spike shot out from a gap in the Queen’s carapace crown, piercing the centipede monster’s soft underbelly and burying itself several centimeters deep.
The creature hissed again, its fury renewed. Bending low, its head emitted a green mist as it unleashed a stream of acidic "dragon breath."
A torrent of green acid sprayed onto the Zerg Queen, whose lack of agility made her an easy target. Her once-impenetrable carapace was soon riddled with bubbling holes, a grotesque sight that made Tang Fang’s skin crawl.
For the first time, the Zerg Queen let out a shrill cry, her health plummeting.
Tang Fang’s heart sank. Without hesitation, he summoned another Zerg Queen, who appeared instantly, leaned forward, and spat healing fluid onto the wounded Queen.
The fluid flowed over the injuries like a life-giving stream, and the melted carapace began to heal, the wounds sealing up with new growth. Tang Fang was momentarily stunned; this extraordinary display reminded him of the lore he’d read about the Zerg species’ unparalleled DNA, enhanced by traits from countless lifeforms. The healing ability was astonishingly powerful.
The centipede monster hadn’t expected a second Zerg Queen to appear. It froze momentarily, then emitted a piercing roar as it frantically struck out with its limbs.
The two Queens braced themselves against the ground, their powerful limbs fending off the monster’s relentless attack.
Meanwhile, ten Zerglings summoned by Tang Fang had quietly flanked the creature, their hind legs tensing as they leaped onto its back. Claws slashed through the soft tissue where its limbs met its body, opening bloody wounds.
The centipede monster was as intelligent as a human, and it quickly realized that the Queens and the Zerglings were protecting the human behind them.
The pain from its back drove it into a rage. With a shake of its limbs, it emitted a cloud of blue particles like an ionized beam weapon, slicing into the Zerglings. One after another, they fell to the ground, their greenish-yellow blood spilling everywhere.
Tang Fang, however, didn’t despair. The monster’s blue light attacks were noticeably weaker and smaller than when it had leaped into the air earlier. His strategy of forcing it to stay grounded was proving effective.
But his relief was short-lived. Suddenly, one of the creature’s limbs swiped out with brutal force, pushing one of the Queens off balance, scattering stone shards across the ground. The Queen slid back, leaving deep scratches on the rocky ground, forcibly moved from her position. Seizing its chance, the centipede monster lunged forward, its crimson head lowering and mandibles spread wide. A fresh mist of green poison coalesced, ready to be unleashed on the stunned Tang Fang.
With the Queens knocked aside, he had no shield. The creature’s acidic mist surged forward, reflected in the gunlight as it rapidly closed in.
Tang Fang seemed frozen, the gas mask blocking out the stench but unable to protect against the acid’s corrosive power. Not to mention his combat suit wasn’t built for planetary environments this hostile.
In the blink of an eye, a wild determination flashed in his eyes. Surrender? Never! Even if it cost him his life, he’d make sure the monster left with a few broken fangs.
With a flicker of red lightning, several Zerglings burst from a dark portal, lunging forward to intercept the acid stream. But the deadly "dragon breath" instantly overwhelmed the Zerglings, dissolving them into shriveled husks that crumbled into bone shards, beyond the acid's power to corrode.
One, two, three, four…
In an instant, eight Zerglings had turned to a pile of bio-waste. The acid’s flow was slowing, but it still surged forward like a tidal wave. Only four Zerglings remained, and no matter how he calculated, there was no way they could stop this onslaught.
For a human made of flesh and blood, an encounter with such corrosive venom could mean only one thing: total annihilation.
But Tang Fang’s face showed neither fear nor despair, only a fierce resolve. His expression seemed to say, "If you want my life, you’d better be ready to lose a few teeth in the process."
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