Roadblock stood in front of Black Arthur with a machine gun, furiously spraying bullets at the giant crocodile slowly crawling up onto the mudflat.
The 12.7-millimeter bullets occasionally landed in the crocodile's gaping jaws, drawing a few spurts of blood. The rest struck its head and merely shaved off a tiny bit of keratin, as if someone were scraping calluses off its feet. They did nothing else.
As the giant crocodile crawled onto the mudflat, revealing a body over forty meters long, Roadblock let out a despairing curse, clutched his machine gun, and sprinted along its flank.
When the crocodile opened its jaws, seemingly about to roar, Roadblock wrapped up one of the grenades he'd just picked up, pulled the pin, and hurled it into the beast's mouth.
There was a muffled BOOM! The crocodile's jaws snapped open and shut, then it came lunging viciously toward Roadblock, smoke pouring from its mouth.
Just as Roadblock thought he was done for, Black Arthur let out an angry roar and leaped to his side. He brought his hands together like a giant hammer and smashed them down on the crocodile's snout.
CRASH! The crocodile shrieked and shook its head, then spun around violently, swinging its tail, which was as thick as a tanker truck.
Faced with such a fierce attack, Black Arthur didn't try to dodge. He crouched and curled around Roadblock to shield him, then took the blow squarely across his back...
The crocodile's tail, backed by tremendous strength and terrible bone spikes, tore away a great deal of flesh from Black Arthur's back and sent him rolling dozens of meters across the mudflat.
Peter stared in shock as blood spurted from Black Arthur's mouth and nose. In agony, the gorilla cried out as he gently opened his clasped hands, releasing