Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 603 - 596: Limbed Monster

Chapter 603: Chapter 596: Limbed Monster

"Watch out!" Luo’er suddenly exclaimed, then pointed his rifle at a dark figure charging towards Murong in the not too far distance, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Pop pop pop pop !!!!!

The high controllability of the 47-style rifle allowed Luo’er to easily aim at the dusky object, which was almost only visible as a shadow. Although the monster was fast, it was still much slower compared to the bullets. Luo’er had just fired half a magazine, and the dense barrage instantly delayed the creature’s actions.

Upon Luo’er’s alarm, the well-seasoned members of the First Vanguard Team were the first to react. They promptly fired their rifles at the monster. At the same time, the alerted Murong and his crew also fired frantically at the creature.

The dense rain of bullets hit the monster, making crackling noises as if they were breaking a thick shell.

Under the Vanguard Team’s attack, the monster let out a painful roar, its body splattered with black blood, finally stumbled forward a few steps, and fell at Murong’s feet. At that moment, Murong was so terrified that he shivered uncontrollably. If it wasn’t for his team’s reminder, he wouldn’t have thought to move at all.

"Fall in, fall in, stick together!" Luo’er said, arriving in front of Murong and the others with his gun at the ready. It was only then that they had a chance to get a proper look at the monster.

It was an insect-like creature, about the size of an adult human. Like the exotic beasts, its body was a dark brown, but its blood was black, much like oil, though not greasy.

Cheng Ziang examined it closely. The creature had many characteristics of insects, with a pair of large compound eyes, two pairs of hind legs and a pair of forelegs, and a pair of sickle-like mouthparts. The latter were more than ten centimeters long and could easily cut off a person’s limbs.

He had no words to describe the creature’s form. It seems to be a combination of a locust and a mantis. It had a pair of strong hind legs like a locust, but its forelimbs developed into a pair of mantis-like sickle-shaped limbs. They might not be sharp enough to amputate limbs, but it would be easy for their pointed tips to penetrate human flesh.

Its body was made of a chitinous exoskeleton and covered with tiny thorns around the edges, obviously a means of defense against attacks. Its lightweight body structure, coupled with strong hind limbs, were the main reasons it could move quickly through the forest. Most of its main organs were concentrated in the torso, with only a belly that was less than twenty centimeters long.

This monster attacked the group in the face of gunfire and in doing so was battered by the advance team. Now, it lay dying on the ground, making a click-clack noise that only arthropods would make. Five of its six limbs had been shot off, leaving only one forelimb intact and still swinging at the Vanguard Team. Meanwhile, its sharp mouthparts were still chomping, as if it still held designs on them.

If Cheng Ziang wasn’t mistaken, this creature should be the one that attacked the nun yesterday. Its habit of being active in the afternoon meant that the afternoon became their hunting time.

As the monster fell, the forest was filled with the screams of soldiers and the sound of intense gunfire, the whole forest was boiling over, becoming incredibly lively.

Cheng Ziang lifted his rifle and fired several shots at the monster’s head. Like oil, the viscous blood splattered, the monster’s head was shattered by the impact of the bullets, even the horrifying mouthparts were torn apart by the blast. The creature swung its sickle-shaped forelimb tremulously and gradually stopped breathing.

"Is everyone alright?" Cheng Ziang turned and asked.

"We’re fine," Luo’er helped Murong up, and then said with a slight frown, "Don’t get too close to the creature when you put it down, to avoid getting its blood on you."

"I know, I didn’t get any on me." Cheng Ziang said after checking himself.

"Luo’er, what should we do?" Although Murong was the captain, he did not have as much combat experience as Luo’er, and could only ask for his advice in this situation.

"Something’s wrong, we may have to retreat." Luo’er said after looking around.

"We just retreat like this?" Zhuanzhu couldn’t help but blurt out.

Luo’er glanced at him, then nodded and said: "Our pre-set targets were the Corpse Demons and Exotic Beasts. Encountering a small group of Exotic Beasts was within normal expectations, but now the situation isn’t right, unexpected monsters have appeared, so we have to withdraw and reposition."

"What about the Purification Legion?" Murong asked, looking ahead.

"We can’t worry about them. They belong to the Church Court, not us. We can only advise them to withdraw. We can’t order them to retreat.", Luo’er said with a sigh, "Given the Church Court’s attitude, if these people withdraw like this, they will surely be penalized by the Church Court officials when they get back."

"Now is not the time to talk. If we need to retreat, we need to do it quickly. We still have a chance!" While keeping his gun up in alert, Cheng Ziang spoke without turning his head.

"Understood. Each unit check weapons and ammunition, provide covering fire in turns, and prepare to retreat!" Luo’er gave a nod and promptly issued his instructions.

At this moment, the forest was filled with the loud noises of gunshots, with bullets occasionally whizzing above their heads. The new recruits, evidently coming upon a large-scale monster attack, had started firing frantically.

Once the preparations of the ten members were complete, they began their orderly retreat, covering each other in turns. As they were originally situated in the second line, and now with the purification legion holding the front, their retreat was rather calm.

However, dreams are always beautiful but reality is brutal. The advance team had hardly retreated three hundred meters when they noticed the noise of monsters coming from behind. Immediately after, several giant arthropod monsters sprang out of the bushes. Their scythe-like sharp forelimbs pointed forward in unison, obviously intending to assault their prey through brute force.

The advance team didn’t give them a chance to act recklessly. Loading the way were the two machine gunners of the Murong squad, Wu Tairan and Xuzhong Qi. After a brief moment of panic, they quickly raised their Type 47 light machine guns and began firing at these monsters.

Dadadadadadada!!!!!

Although these monsters were terrifying, they were no match for bullets. The advance team was generally equipped with shield-breaking embedded bullets. As mentioned before, these bullets create a small-scale magic explosion when shot, causing even more damage to these monsters.

The bullets easily pierced through the chitinous exoskeletons of these monsters, and the internal explosion left their bodies riddled with holes. A single shot could even completely shatter their scythe-like forelimbs.

The firepower of the two men instantly suppressed the attack of several monsters, but their situation was not optimistic. After these few monsters fell, there was the sound of more monsters in the woods. The frictional sound they made with their oral apparatus sent chills down everyone’s spine.

"Luo’er, we’ve been cut off from the rear!" Murong gritted his teeth and shouted loudly.

"What should we do?" Hu Daoke looked towards Luo’er somewhat anxiously.

"There’s no other way, we must rendezvous with the Purification Legion. There’s strength in numbers!" Luo’er swallowed hard and ordered.

For Luo’er, the safety of the vanguard was paramount. Hence, whether to abandon the purification legion or join them was all to ensure the safety of his squad. For him, it didn’t matter if thousands or tens of thousands of church soldiers died, he wouldn’t even blink an eye. But, if a member of the vanguard, be it from the first or the second, got injured, he would be deeply saddened.

"We will lead the way. Murong, your team will cover our rear. We will retreat in alternating coverage!" Luo’er instructed Murong.

"Understood!" Murong nodded.

Luo’er, who was in the midst of the battle, seemed to have overlooked something. Just as he took a few steps forward, he suddenly remembered. That’s right, Fulajie’er didn’t seem to have made an appearance yet.

Thinking of that, he struggled to check the pendant around his neck and shouted aloud: "Fula, what are you doing? Why aren’t you providing us with reconnaissance?"

"Woo... I’m scared..." Luo’er heard Fulajie’er whine after his call.

"What are you afraid of? You’re a spirit, and they can’t hurt you!" Luo’er said angrily.

"Don’t be mad, it’s a girl’s nature to be scared of insects." Fulajie’er said in a pitiful voice.

"I don’t care about your nature, just get out there and scout!" Luo’er practically shouted these words out. In this dire scenario, he didn’t have the time to properly coax Fulajie’er.

"Okay, okay..." Seeing Luo’er fly off the handle for the first time, Fulajie’er instantly backed down.