Gun of Ashes

Facing the fury of industry, even the scale armor showed cracks. After a round of shelling, the scale armor hit could be seen with fissures, tons of fresh blood pouring into the cold seawater.

They wounded the sea serpent, but compared to its immense form, the injury was merely a scratch, frustratingly hopeless.

”Holmes!”

The Plague Doctor charged on all fours like a beast, claws deeply cutting into the scales, fixing himself upon them.

He saw Lorenzo crushed by the serpent’s body, after the sweep, all that remained on the wrecked deck was a twisted mass of flesh.

Another round of shellfire roared, and this time the distant Morning Glow Advance also began supporting with shelling, heavy metal hitting the sea serpent, followed by a distant roar, sharp and shrill, causing the seawater to vibrate rapidly.

The sea serpent was enraged; under this high-frequency roar, the survivors painfully covered their ears, yet blood continued to flow from them, and chaotic illusions wove before their eyes, crafting the most terrifying nightmares.

”Damn it!”

Even the calm Plague Doctor could not help but curse at this moment.

The power of mortals in front of this earth serpent is so fragile, it seems as though it need only attack a few more times to bury everyone in the cold sea.

With head held high, the sea serpent stood proudly under the storm, holding onto the Blood Shark, the increasingly strong winds approached, the hull shaking violently, seemingly ready to disintegrate at any second.

The shellfire continued, perhaps the only good news, as these warriors tainted by Secret Blood still had room to resist in the face of this despair.

The artillerymen did not need to aim, the enormous serpent filled their view completely, merely mechanically loading and firing, while the sea serpent raised its body high and struck down again.

The Plague Doctor cut deeper with his claws, piercing into the gaps between the scales, firmly anchoring himself.

In the thunderous booms, the Blood Shark was nearly totally hammered into the sea, the entire deck collapsed entirely, crashing into the layer below, the main structure began to fracture, huge cracks walked along the walls, spreading like rampaging lightning.

The Blood Shark completely lost the power to resist, resembling a split corpse, the sea carrying dead bodies, pouring freely into it, it began to sink, but the sinking was so slow as to give an illusion of survival.

Zeus struggled amid the shattered debris; he went mad, attacking all living things around him, his eyes consumed by bloody red.

The Plague Doctor watched this pitiful creature from afar, as he expected, slaughter and blood completely tainted Zeus’s consciousness, he had fallen in battle, now only a mad demon was left alive.

The demon clad in steel climbed up through the collapsing deck, still wanting to strike the sea serpent, but it was too small; more seawater surged in, pushing it into the depths of the cabin, fragmented metal puncturing its body, slicing flesh into a vague form amidst rocking impacts.

The Plague Doctor seemed able to hear Zeus’s cries of anger, but gradually, all was silent, only the collapsing Blood Shark remained, with scattered shelling sounds, with warriors still resisting, but futilely.

The Plague Doctor released a hand, leaning his body, overlooking the destruction from the high serpent’s body.

”May your soul return to Valhalla.”

He blessed.

”And may we also return to our own Valhalla.”

The inner peace did not last long; the sea serpent began another wave of attacks, its section already filled with shattered scale armor, blood continuously oozing out. Whether it was illusion or not, the Plague Doctor even saw flickers of flame seeping from beneath the flesh.

Though unrelated to him, confronting such a giant creature, even the Plague Doctor didn’t know where to start dissecting; after brief consideration, he aimed for the serpent’s head.

Ahead shrouded in strong light, difficult to glimpse its true face.

The surrounding view shifted again; the sea serpent submerged into the sea, taking the Plague Doctor with the cold seawater enclosing him, mixed debris pounding on him, while surfacing again, the sea serpent already entwined the Blood Shark, the massive serpent’s body wrapped around the hull midsection, tightening to completely destroy it.

Another layer of tearing sound echoed in the wind, blood and shattered scales flying, a scarlet figure approached the Plague Doctor.

”Plague Doctor!”

Lorenzo shouted toward the Plague Doctor, this body completely warped into a demon. Were it not for the blazing white flame rising in the eyes, the Plague Doctor couldn’t recognize him as Lorenzo.

”I thought you were dead!”

The Plague Doctor yelled.

”To be precise, I died many times, it took a lot of effort to find a usable body!”

Lorenzo replied.

During the time the Plague Doctor hung securely on the serpent’s body, Lorenzo died one time after another, first crushed to mince meat, seizing another body, then flattened by the sudden fall of the serpent’s body, or awakening deep in the cabin, just before heading to the deck, seeing the walls around start collapsing, cold seawater surging in...

In short, within just a few minutes, Lorenzo died and died again, although he was almost accustomed to this dying-and-living state, the successive [gaps] invasion had already imposed a significant burden on his consciousness.