The Commander's Scalpel

Rumble!

The Corpse-Armor Giants' legs, built from all manner of severed limbs, pounded the frozen ground as they advanced toward Blackpine's defenses.

When they were still four hundred paces from the Caltrops outside Blackpine's defensive line, their positions crossed the Class-A Firing Line.

Inside the Blackpine command tower, Shien fixed his gaze on the Corpse-Armor Giants on the virtual Sand Table and issued his first firing order through the Echoing Platform. "Gun position one. Single solid-core round."

At the order, the rangefinder at the first light artillery position quickly adjusted the elevation.

Boom!

The gun barrel recoiled straight back under the force of the propellant.

A Solid-Core Armor-Piercing Shell flew from the barrel and followed its preset trajectory, striking the mud-and-bone joint beneath the lead Corpse-Armor Giant's right knee with precision.

The impact exploded through the joint. Mud burst outward, and the werewolf bone plates serving as outer armor snapped on the spot.

The giant's right lower leg was severed. With its support gone, its massive torso pitched forward under its own weight.

Within half a heartbeat, dozens of gray-white flesh threads sprayed from the broken knee, caught the severed leg in midair, and pulled it back into place.

The Corpse-Armor Giant kept moving. Friction along the rejoined seam in its leg merely slowed its steps.

In the command tower, Shien kept his eyes on the Sand Table and gave the operator beside the Echoing Platform a new order. "Switch to Armor-Shattering Shrapnel Shells."

Another muzzle flash lit up. Thousands of diamond-shaped pig iron fragments burst in a fan across the air.

The fragments sliced into the Corpse-Armor Giant's joints, the bases of its legs, and the seams around its waist.

The outer layer of scrap armor tore open, and the gray-white flesh threads holding the corpse parts together were