"Target location: rear mountain, coordinates γ-7. Speed: twelve kilometers per hour, moving toward the college's main building." Wan Boqian, leader of the Intelligence Team, spoke over the radio. She crouched behind cover at an observation post, holding a rangefinder. "Estimated to enter the main building's security perimeter in fifteen minutes. Repeat, γ-7, speed and heading steady."
"Execute the red plan."
Caesar immediately gave the order. "Pincer Team One, spread out on the left flank. I'll lead. Pincer Team Two, spread out on the right flank. Chu Zihang will lead. Alternate cover, do not engage the target, and keep at least thirty meters away. Your job isn't to hit him. It's to make him look at you."
"Engineering Team, use the existing terrain to set up obstacles. Limit his movement speed and funnel him onto the designated route."
"Firepower Team, take the high ground. Wait until he's in range before firing. Don't waste ammunition."
"Intelligence Team, keep reporting his position while guiding the Engineering Team and directing the Dragon King's movements."
"Assault Team, stay behind me and wait for an opening."
Caesar turned to face the twenty-nine people.
"Move."
Eight people followed Caesar, spreading into an arc on the left flank, five meters apart. Everyone held an alloy tower shield, each weighing twenty-two kilograms.
Chu Zihang led Pincer Team Two onto the right flank, leaving the open ground between the two wings for the Firepower Team and Assault Team behind them.
"Obstacle route on the left flank marked," Wan Boqian said through their earpieces. "Caesar, there's a natural cliff forty meters ahead of you. I recommend staying mobile between the cliff and the target."
"Copy."
"Right flank, be advised: the ground ahead of you is structurally weak, with multiple fissures. They'll widen when the target passes. Avoid them. Chu Zihang, I recommend moving along the edges of the fissures. Don't step onto the fractured zone."
"Copy."
Wan Boqian continued, "Based on his current speed and heading, the target is most likely to take route C-31. I recommend moving the Firepower Team to the high ground on the left and pulling the Assault Team back to the second designated position."
"Firepower Team moving," Susie confirmed.
Susie led the four members of the Firepower Team out of the clearing. Carrying modified heavy crossbows on their backs, they ran toward the low hill on the left.
The Engineering Team worked feverishly ahead of both flanks.
Qilan, a first-year student, held a terrain map in one hand and drove metal stakes into the ground with the other, calling out numbers nonstop. "Position one ready. Position two, two meters left. Three! Where's three?"
"Here!"
"Hurry! He takes one step every eight seconds. Work out how many steps we've got left!"
The Engineering Team's job was to limit the Dragon King's movement. Within the framework of the red plan, speed was the most dangerous variable. The faster he moved, the higher the frequency of the seismic waves, and the less room the pincer teams had to dodge. Qilan had to use every means available to bring that variable down.
"Team One, there's a fissure thirty meters ahead, one point five meters wide. Go around," Wan Boqian said.
Caesar signaled, and Team One shifted five meters to the right.
"Team Two, the right flank will take its first direct hit in thirty seconds."
"Attack window!"
"Copy." Susie adjusted her aim.
The Firepower Team's job was to disrupt the Dragon King during the window and create an opening for the Assault Team.
Susie pulled the trigger, and the crossbow fired with a thump. The Alchemy Arrowhead flew at subsonic speed and struck the right side of the King of Earth and Mountains' torso.
The arrowhead exploded against his scales, throwing out a burst of blue-white sparks.
The three beside her fired at the same time, four arrowheads striking his torso and forelegs from different angles.
"Scales harder than expected. Failed to penetrate," Wan Boqian said rapidly. "Recommend switching targets to the gaps between the scales, in areas with dense dark-red markings."
"Copy." Susie adjusted her aim.
The fifth arrowhead struck an area thick with dark-red markings at the base of his thigh.
This time, it was different.
The arrowhead lodged about two centimeters into a gap between his scales, then exploded. The shock wave traveled inward along the gap, and the dark-red light brightened for an instant.
The King of Earth and Mountains stopped walking.
"He's noticed you," Caesar said.
"I know." Susie was already loading her sixth shot.
The Dragon King stamped a foot.
The entire ground heaved, the movement spreading outward from beneath his foot.
Pincer Team Two took the brunt of it. Chu Zihang reacted fastest, planting his tower shield in the ground and pressing both hands against its grip to anchor himself.
"Right flank, number four down!" someone shouted.
"Keep moving! Don't stop!" Chu Zihang shouted.
The left flank fared slightly better; forty meters of distance had weakened the tremor considerably. Caesar did not slow down. "Left flank holding. Maintain formation. Firepower Team, how effective?"
"Fifth shot was effective. Penetrated about two centimeters, but caused no substantial damage," Susie said. "Sixth shot targeting the same spot."
The sixth shot hit the same point. This time, a dull sound came from the gap between the scales, like a hammer striking thick rubber.
"That position has developed a defensive response. The gap is closing. Switch targets."
The Dragon King stamped again, toward the high ground occupied by the Firepower Team.
The hillside began to collapse, loose stones tumbling down. Susie and the four members of the Firepower Team were forced to clutch their crossbows and ammunition crates and run to the side.
"Firepower Team relocating! High ground lost!"
"Team One, cover them!"
The eight people on the left flank immediately adjusted their formation, converging in the direction the Firepower Team was moving. Their shields formed a moving wall that blocked the stones rolling down from the high ground.
"Close ranks! Lock shields!" Caesar shouted.
"Estimated window: twenty seconds," Wan Boqian told Lancelot.
It would take twelve seconds to reach the space beneath the Dragon King from their concealed position, leaving only eight seconds to attack.
Lancelot sprinted, timing each footfall to the pauses between tremors. Five people followed close behind him in a tight formation.
Twelve seconds later, they reached the space beneath the Dragon King.
"Throw!" Lancelot roared.
Six Alchemy Long Spears flew toward the Dragon King's abdomen at once. They pierced his outer shell, and the Explosive Runes began to flash.
"Fall back!" Everyone turned and ran.
The runes detonated simultaneously, blasting six holes in the Dragon King's abdomen. Magma gushed out. The Dragon King gave a low roar and stopped in his tracks for the first time.
"Effective hit! Abdominal armor breached!"
The pincer teams completed their rotation while the Dragon King stood still.
Two shield bearers from Team One and one from Team Two were too exhausted to continue. The rear support team sent in three reserves to replace them.
Zero from the Medical Team led three people behind the safety line to receive the wounded as they withdrew.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
The Dragon King was guided into the location prepared by the Engineering Team.
Qilan crouched behind cover. In front of him, the Dragon King's enormous form slowly entered the center of the blast zone. The pincer teams had withdrawn to a safe distance, the Assault Team had regrouped, and the Firepower Team had set up its weapons again on the high ground.
"Detonate!" Qilan pressed the detonator.
Thirty-seven demolition charges went off in their preset sequence, progressing from the perimeter toward the center. All their energy converged on a single point: the King of Earth and Mountains.
The successive explosions blasted a hole three meters across in his chest, exposing the dark-red muscle tissue beneath. Something glowed deep inside the hole. It was the Dragon King's core.
"Core exposed!" Wan Boqian's voice almost cracked. "Assault Team, now!"
Lancelot led the Assault Team in another charge.
Pincer Teams One and Two pushed forward simultaneously. Their shield bearers rushed to the Dragon King's sides, blocking falling rubble and showers of magma.
The Assault Team attached twelve Explosive Runes to the area around the exposed core, then withdrew. The instant the runes detonated, the Dragon King's entire body shuddered.
"Effective hit! Core damaged! Dragon King's movements slowing!" Wan Boqian shouted over the shared channel. "Pincer teams can rotate-wait."
"Scatter! Everyone, scatter!" Chu Zihang roared.
Everyone still at the edge of the collapse zone turned and ran at once.
Then the Dragon King's foreleg came down.
A shock wave spread in every direction from the point of impact, rendering all the ground fortifications useless. The electronic equipment failed simultaneously, leaving nothing but piercing static over the radio.
"Blue plan! Execute the blue plan!" Chu Zihang bellowed.
He drew Murasame. When the remaining members of Pincer Teams One and Two saw their captain charge out, they dropped their shields as well and drew their weapons-hunting knives, short swords, and hatchets-before charging at the Dragon King.
The Dragon King's energy was finite. Every stomp, shock wave, and sweeping strike depleted it.
"Charge!" Qilan led the Engineering Team toward the center of the battlefield, their entrenching shovels raised.
The Intelligence Team, Medical Team, and Firepower Team all abandoned their positions. Everyone grabbed whatever melee weapon was at hand and surged forward.
Faced with this frenzied mob assault, the Dragon King let out a mournful cry, exhausted the last of his strength, and crashed to the ground.