Chapter 229: Transformation |
Bai Mu opened the Survivor's Supply Bag and obtained an item called "Emulsion Explosive."
[Name: Emulsion Explosive]
[Type: Consumable]
[Quality: Rare]
[Effect: Deals massive explosive damage and alters the terrain upon detonation.]
[Note: A latex-based industrial explosive, the mainstream choice in the field of industrial blasting, dominating especially in complex environments such as coal mines, tunnels, and underwater engineering.]
It was a bundled package of industrial explosives wrapped in a thin layer of oil film, slightly larger than the palm of his hand.
Saving the Survivor's Supply Bag for this exact moment had not been in vain. It had indeed yielded the precise item he needed.
Thus, he planted the explosive in the riverbed before the giant arrived. If he had not obtained this item, he originally planned to use a massive amount of Cherry Bombs. His Stamina was full, and over the past five days, he had visited Lucy daily to restock consumables. Combined with the Berserk skill, he could deploy a maximum of ten Cherry Bombs, on top of having one random magic cast available.
He ordered the refugees to cross to the opposite bank of the riverbed. The giant was chasing them in a straight line, never once deviating from its path. For something of its colossal size, not even mountains could stand in its way. Moreover, its body was composed of a fluid substance. Even when encountering difficult terrain, it could simply squeeze through like a rushing river. Deep within the mountains, what could possibly stop the flow of water?
Its trajectory was entirely predictable. A few minutes later, it reached the other side of the riverbed. Bai Mu instructed the refugees to stay exactly where they were. If anyone broke formation and caused the giant to change its course, all their efforts would be ruined.
Maintaining composure in the face of such a gargantuan monster was incredibly difficult.
It blotted out the sky and the bright moon, casting a massive, semi-transparent shadow over them. As it drew closer, one could even see the corpses of animals and humans suspended within its fluid mass.
Mud-caked clothing, snapped branches, rotting cattle and horses, rusted swords, and stark white bones... countless impurities churned together, exuding an unbearable stench.
The refugees trembled, their instincts screaming at them to flee. Yet, at this juncture, not a single person succumbed to their fear. They all chose to place their faith in the figure standing at the forefront. He had his head raised, staring straight at the head of the god with blazing eyes. As if infected by his courage, the others lifted their heads as well, gazing at the bizarre beast head floating amidst the surging filth.
That beast head sat at the very top of the giant, hoisted high like an emperor. As for the so-called Son of Heaven mentioned by the musketeers, who knew where he had vanished to. Perhaps he had died long ago, becoming just another piece of the swirling refuse.
Bai Mu could not find the old man; he could only see the beast head.
Judging from his experience, that beast head was the core of the giant. Everything started with it, and everything should end with it.
It was like a decapitated man whose consciousness had not yet fully dissipated, draining the life force of all things to sustain its own existence. Its curse was not formless; the fluid mass acted as a medium to harvest life. It engulfed the living, siphoned away their vitality, and funneled it into the head suspended between life and death.
It was a manifestation of a rule, rather than an intelligent lifeform.
Calling it a "god" was not entirely unreasonable. It was inherently a part of this world, a fundamental law governing its operation. In traditional Eastern culture, people would refer to such a thing as the Heavenly Dao.
It did not understand what an emulsion explosive was, and even if it did, it would not take a detour. As long as one understood the rules governing it, its behavior patterns could be predicted with absolute certainty.
In essence, it operated on a logic as simple as one plus one equals two. Exactly as Bai Mu anticipated, it gravitated toward the greatest concentration of life, stepping right onto the spot where he had planted the explosive.
At this moment, it was less than eighteen meters away from Bai Mu. It was so close that a single step forward could crush him.
The reason for the eighteen-meter distance was that Bai Mu needed to use the Hand of Walrider to detonate the payload. The emulsion explosive did not have anything as advanced as a timer; it relied on a detonator switch that had to be manually pulled for it to activate.
Riding Tuya, Bai Mu stepped into the riverbed, the vigorous hooves of the deer splashing through the mud. Xiao Wei sat tensely in his arms. The surrounding light instantly dimmed as the entity leaned down, completely obscuring the sky from their line of sight.
But immediately following that came a muffled boom.
The emulsion explosive buried in the dirt detonated. Under normal circumstances, blasting through the surface layer would require dozens of kilograms of the explosive. However, "altering the terrain" was the special effect of this item; a single package was enough to achieve the same result.
The refugees standing on the shore felt the ground shake violently. With dry eyes, they stared at the center of the riverbed. A massive sinkhole had been blown open in the soft, damp earth, right beneath the giant's feet.
The creature's weight was already akin to a small mountain. The shattered geological layer could no longer support its mass, and its lower half plunged into the earth as if it had stepped into quicksand.
Seeing this scene, the refugees felt a surge of exhilaration. They thought Bai Mu had unleashed a divine power to sunder the earth, and they finally saw the dawn of victory.
The rushing sound of a subterranean river echoed from below: splash, splash. The giant struggled with its hands like a trapped human, while Tuya carried Bai Mu and Xiao Wei out from the shadow. Even in the face of such a terrifying sight, the old deer remained unfazed and as steady as ever.
The more the giant struggled, the faster the surrounding geological layers collapsed. Bai Mu stood a short distance away, watching the creature. Perhaps because the head had last parasitized a human, its movements bore a striking resemblance to a person flailing in panic.
However, just as two-thirds of its body sank beneath the mud, its behavior abruptly changed. The fluid mass stopped holding a human shape; instead, it began to writhe and reshape itself.
The "god" was inherently formless, but because all living things possessed a form, it mimicked them. It morphed into something with the traits of a fish or a beast, looking as if it were about to turn into a colossal loach. The massive body halted its descent and began to climb outward, causing everyone's hearts to clench in dread. But right at that moment, the shadow riding the deer swept past like the wind, hurling a spinning yellow block toward the beast head.
It was the stick of butter that had accompanied Bai Mu for a long time. He knew this was the perfect opportunity—he absolutely could not allow this thing to finish its transformation. Only in cartoons would the enemy patiently wait for a transformation sequence to end. There were no invincibility frames here. He chucked the butter right at the beast head.
His throw was incredibly accurate. Despite a distance of over a hundred meters, it struck the tiny beast head with pinpoint precision.
As if a pause button had been pressed, all of the giant's movements ground to a complete halt.
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