Ashen Dragon

George stared at the orc not far away, raised the handgun in his hand, and commanded while pulling the trigger: "Kill that green-skin for me!"

"Bang!"

A bullet engraved with a blast rune shot out from the barrel, striking Giant Mountain's chest.

That bullet was one George had obtained from the Imperial Magic Department, and even a commander like him could only procure three bullets, each carrying the destructive power equivalent to a Fifth Tier Spell.

"Boom!"

With a deafening explosion, the bullet detonated inside the orc's body, instantly tearing apart its thick flesh and sturdy skin, leaving a massive gaping hole in the orc's chest.

Its heart pounded violently, lungs heaved, the stomach was scorched black, entrails dangled outside its body... In mere moments, the orc's internal organs were almost entirely exposed to the air.

For an ordinary creature, sustaining such grievous injuries would have resulted in instant death—or at the very least, left it barely clinging to life, collapsed on the ground.

Yet Giant Mountain's vitality was absurdly robust. Its flesh writhed like squirming worms, growing thread-like strands that filled the wound at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The orc was drenched in blood, battered all over, and entangled by the electric nets.

"Waaaagh!"

At this moment, Giant Mountain stomped atop a mound of its kinsmen's corpses, its bloodshot eyes glaring skyward as it let out a furious roar, painting a scene of absolute, gruesome carnage.

And as it roared, the green-skin orcs' corpses beneath its feet began to writhe unnaturally, transforming into tendrils of green mycelium that crawled up Giant Mountain's body, merging into its flesh.

Dominating and feral pressure spread outward—a force field born from the collective will of countless dead green-skin orcs!

Staring at the orc as it underwent this sudden transformation, George felt an ominous foreboding. His mind flashed back to the warnings from the Starfallen: "This boss is about to enter its second phase!"

"Bang! Bang bang!"

George fired crazily at the orc while shouting, "Full offense! Everyone, at all costs—focus your fire on this damned green-skin orc!"

"Kill it!"

"This damned beast! For the Empire!"

In an instant, a dozen light and heavy machine guns locked their sights on the orc, the muzzle flashes unleashing dazzling bursts of fire as bullets rained like a storm onto Giant Mountain's body.

Yet the bullets, which tore into the orc in a savage frenzy of shredding flesh and skin, seemed futile—the surrounding flesh squirmed and quickly regenerated, sealing the gashes and growing new skin.

The machine gun bullets not only failed to inflict lasting damage but were also consumed, absorbed, and integrated into the orc's unruly body. Metallic sheens began to flicker faintly on Giant Mountain's claws and fangs.

"Whoosh—"

Several rocket-propelled grenades streaked toward Giant Mountain, trailing plumes of white smoke and flames, but the overwhelming force field deflected half of them mid-air in explosions. The ones that landed could only scorch patches of its skin black.

Immediately afterward, more than a dozen grenades were hurled from the trenches, erupting in a series of deafening blasts that sent dirt and shrapnel flying sky-high—yet still failed to deal significant harm to the orc.

"Die! Damn green-skin! Return my brother's life to me!"

One furious ogre-heavy shield soldier roared as he rose from cover, hefting a rocket launcher onto his shoulder, aiming at the orc's head, and squeezing the trigger—a round capable of penetrating solid rock shot out with terrifying speed.

The projectile dragged smoke behind it as it zoomed toward the orc's head.

"Boom!"

With an earth-shaking blast, the heat-treated steel-capped warhead pierced through the orc's skull, shattering its cranium with immense kinetic force.

The explosive payload within the projectile detonated next, releasing a high-speed metallic jet that obliterated the orc's head almost entirely, spraying brain matter outward in a grotesque eruption.

"Good! The new gadget issued by the Military Department packs a punch!" Watching the now-smoking half-head of the nao dan, the ogre was ecstatic, feeling his vengeance fulfilled.

"Long live the Empire!"

"These green-skin vermin aren't worth mentioning!"

"I'll pry its claws off and hang them on my wall as trophies..."

Suddenly, the Imperial soldiers erupted into cheers, celebrating the cooperative effort that had brought down the orc boss. Even George secretly felt relieved.

But something felt off to George; a cold dread crept up in his heart, and soon, he realized he'd overlooked something!

No—it's not right! The orc boss is dead, but the chaotic, ferocious force field hasn't dissipated! It still bears down on every Imperial citizen!

Which meant...

George spun around abruptly, turning to face the orc boss whose head had been blown apart.

From the pile of dead orc corpses came disgusting, squelching sounds—one after another—as the lifeless bodies began trembling, spewing dense clouds of spores from their mouths and noses.

The dismembered remains merged, fused, weaving together into pulsating flesh lumps and writhing vine-like appendages, all crawling toward Giant Mountain.

Then, something even more terrifying unfolded—a brand-new head sprouted from the stump of the orc's neck, its freshly-grown eyes, slick with mucus, stared in George's direction, bearing a hideous and twisted grin.

"You… cannot… kill… me..."

"Damn it, it's still alive! Quickly! Don't let up, keep focusing our fire!" George shouted anxiously.

"Cassius above, what kind of cursed thing is this?! How is this even possible?!"

"Vile monster! Destroy it!"