The maddened giant snake failed to recognize that its Word Spirit was being neutralized, continuing to launch Hidden Thunder attacks with desperate fury.
"Let's draw the giant snake toward the cave entrance!" Wang Jianjun called out, analyzing their tactical situation. The creature seemed beyond rational thought, burning through its physical reserves with reckless Word Spirit usage. While his Dust-free Land could counter the Hidden Thunder, Wang Jianjun's stamina couldn't match the serpent's indefinitely. With five teammates positioned outside, fighting to the death in these cramped quarters was unnecessary.
"Agreed!" Ma Yue and Chen Moqing responded immediately.
The three warriors drew their sidearms and began a fighting retreat, using long-range harassment to guide the enraged serpent toward the cave mouth where their allies waited.
"They're coming!" Aki Sakakotsu shouted from outside, hearing the escalating combat noise echo from within the cave.
The five external team members snapped to full alert, weapons trained on the entrance.
Qian Feng had positioned himself on a cleared patch of level ground, assembling his specialized equipment—an alchemical heavy sniper rifle reverse-engineered from the Barrett M82A1. The moment Wang Jianjun's team had entered the cave, Qian Feng had found his firing position and prepared for the serpent's emergence.
Through his scope, Qian Feng watched the cave entrance with predatory focus. Ma Yue appeared first, followed by Chen Moqing and Wang Jianjun, all three firing their pistols backward into the darkness while retreating.
Then the massive snake head filled his crosshairs. Qian Feng centered his aim on the space between the creature's eyes, finger resting lightly on the trigger as he waited for the perfect shot.
The instant the giant snake emerged into daylight, every external team member opened fire simultaneously. Alchemical bullets tore into the creature's flesh, carving bloody furrows along its scales as the serpent thrashed in pain and rage.
But the wounded creature had one final gambit. Despite the bullets shredding its hide, the snake opened its jaws to their absolute limit. Air rushed into its mouth with tornado-like force, forming a compressed sphere of devastating potential. If successful, this enhanced Hidden Thunder would unleash power rivaling mid to high-level Word Spirits.
While the serpent gathered energy for its ultimate attack, Wang Jianjun glanced toward Qian Feng's position. After years of partnership, he knew his teammate's capabilities perfectly. The rushing air vortex would severely affect bullet trajectory, making a clean shot nearly impossible.
Without hesitation, Wang Jianjun deployed Dust-free Land directly around the giant snake's head.
The creature's expression—if a snake could be said to have expressions—showed pure confusion as its compressed air bomb simply vanished. Where had its devastating attack gone?
Wang Jianjun maintained the vacuum field for exactly one second—long enough to disrupt the Word Spirit but short enough to conserve his energy.
The moment he canceled Dust-free Land, Qian Feng pulled his trigger with the perfect timing that came from years of seamless cooperation.
CRACK!
The deafening rifle report echoed across the mountainside as a specially crafted 12.7mm alchemical bullet erupted from the muzzle in a burst of flame and smoke.
The projectile spun through the air with lethal precision. The giant snake had barely registered the sound when the bullet struck dead center between its eyes.
The serpent's skull proved remarkably durable—a similar round would have bisected a human target completely. Against the snake's reinforced cranium, the bullet penetrated only deep enough to breach the brain cavity, but that was sufficient.
The giant snake's agonized death cry shook loose rocks from the cave walls. Its massive upper body, which had been reared in threat display, crashed heavily to the ground. The creature attempted to writhe and struggle, but Wang Jianjun refused to give it the opportunity.
As the serpent collapsed, he raised his lance, leaped high, and drove the blade deep through the seven-inch gap that Ma Yue and Chen Moqing had carved open earlier.
With its spine severed and heart pierced, the giant snake entered its final throes. Wang Jianjun released the lance and stepped back, letting the embedded weapon shake violently as the creature's body convulsed. He knew these were death spasms—the snake's last desperate movements before oblivion claimed it.
After several minutes, the violent thrashing ceased entirely. The giant snake lay motionless, its enormous form stretched across the cave entrance.
Wang Jianjun retrieved his lance, moved to the creature's head, and thrust the blade deep into its brain, stirring the weapon to ensure complete destruction of all neural tissue.
But even this wasn't enough for his satisfaction. "Xia Jidong!" he called out. "You brought an alchemical axe, correct?"
"That's right, Commander Wang!" Xia Jidong confirmed.
"Bring it here. We're removing this creature's head and burying it separately."
As a seasoned hybrid warrior, Wang Jianjun understood the incredible tenacity of dragonborn creatures. He wouldn't rest easy until the head was completely severed from the body.
While Xia Jidong attacked the junction between head and neck with his alchemical axe, the other team members located soft soil within the cave and began digging a burial pit.
Once the excavation was complete, they deposited the severed head, covered it with earth, and tamped down the soil thoroughly.
"Ye Sheng, contact headquarters," Wang Jianjun ordered. "Report that we discovered and eliminated a giant serpent descended from the King of Sky and Wind at Location One. The body is too large for us to process—request a recovery team."
"We'll rest here tonight and proceed to Location Two tomorrow morning."
"Copy that, Commander!"
Ye Sheng activated his specialized Equipment Department phone, establishing connection through Norma to the tripartite joint command center and relaying Wang Jianjun's report verbatim.
"Commander Wang, message received and acknowledged. Recovery team is being dispatched," Ye Sheng confirmed after completing the transmission.
"Thank you."
Wang Jianjun nodded with satisfaction, then addressed the entire team. "We're camping in this cave tonight. This was the giant snake's territory—its presence will keep other predators away."
Following orders, all eight team members gathered their equipment and moved into the cave interior. While the headless serpent corpse created a macabre atmosphere, none of them were particularly disturbed. If the creature hadn't possessed dragon blood, they probably would have started skinning it for dinner.
Despite eating earlier, Wang Jianjun and his assault team had worked up considerable appetites during the combat. However, with time no longer critical, they could afford better fare than compressed rations.
Wang Jianjun opened his field meal pack, revealing a folding mess kit, self-heating chicken fried rice, air-dried tomato and egg soup, spicy enoki mushrooms, chicken chili sauce, chocolate bars, and vitamin powder. All items required only water and heat activation.
After adding water and sealing the heating pouch, he soon enjoyed steaming chicken fried rice. While the taste couldn't compare to freshly prepared food, having a hot meal in these circumstances felt luxurious.
The other team members opened their own field rations, filling the cave with surprisingly appetizing aromas.
After dinner, the eight discussed tomorrow's plans and established watch rotations—two-hour shifts with seven people resting while one maintained security.