Devastation

Driven by intense pain, the Crystal Dragon's charging speed increased even further, its massive body crushing the ground as it hurtled towards the Celestite Hydropower Station with even greater frenzy.

"Full power round, three-minute recharge!" Su Ming commanded.

"Could we Type 59 Modified and drive it up the hillside to fire direct fire?" Miao Xin suggested.

"Okay!" Su Ming agreed.

Although climbing uphill will significantly reduce the heat dissipation efficiency of the entire system, the destructive power of the direct shot from the Vermilion Bow will also increase dramatically.

In the makeshift command post on the riverbank, Stacy was rapidly analyzing the Crystal Dragon data transmitted back by the drone swarm.

As the Rainbow Drone approached, its high-precision infrared camera captured more details of the behemoth's interior.

Especially with the intense movement brought about by the Crystal Dragon's six-legged rampage, large areas of muscle tissue were rapidly heating up. In the infrared thermographic tomographic view, this contrasted sharply with the relatively cool crystallized tissue, bones, and internal organs in the surrounding area.

Stacy also found the data on the Crystal Dragon skeleton that Chloe had discovered in the Rift Tribe ruins and compared it with the real-time heat source distribution in front of her. By overlaying the data from multiple modalities, Stacy determined that the celestial Plain Gift had torn a wound of more than 300 meters in the body of the behemoth, almost completely piercing through the Crystal Dragon's abdominal cavity.

"The penetration depth of Plain Gift exceeded expectations, but the destructive effect was not ideal," she immediately told Su Ming.

"So, where should we aim for the next shot?" Su Ming asked.

"From a critical level perspective, the primary target remains the head or the junction of the cervical spine," Stacy replied.

"I wanted to hit them too, but they were too agile!" Su Ming said helplessly.

The Crystal Dragon's long neck displayed amazing flexibility and speed, swaying left and right, making it the easiest part to avoid attacks.

"Then the heart?" Stacy frowned, rapidly switching between internal scan images. "The problem is, I can't pinpoint the location of its heart."

She paused, her voice carrying both scholarly rigor and a hint of disbelief, "Such a massive organism shouldn't have a single heart. Based on the physiological models Chloe and I have developed, it most likely possesses multiple, or even a series of, distributed circulatory systems." This hypothesis makes sense. It's unimaginable that such a massive body would employ a system where every drop of blood circulates throughout the entire body. And if multiple systems are nested, then each must have its own "power source."

"How about breaking the Crystal Dragon's legs?" Miao Xin suggested.

"Multiple hits are needed to achieve this." Stacy immediately pulled up a diagram of the leg's structure. "Its supporting skeletal system is completely different from that of organisms we are familiar with. It is a highly specialized three- Plain Gift can be shattered, but it cannot cause a brittle 'fracture' effect in the traditional sense."

An organism of such size would naturally have a structure that is quite different from the norm.

"If aiming at the head and cervical spine is inconvenient, then I suggest continuing to attack the abdominal area." Stacy finally pointed to the penetrating wound; thermal imaging showed large areas of vulnerable internal organs around it. "The fact that Plain Gift could inflict such a deep penetration proves that its internal organs are relatively weak against kinetic energy impacts."

"But this is also Plain Gift weakness: its stopping power is insufficient!" Newman pointed out. "We need more than just to break through it; we need to grind what's inside into mincemeat!"

A needle-like Plain Gift can easily pierce the body, but it is difficult to create a cavity effect inside soft flesh.

"Understood!" Su Ming instantly grasped the meaning. "Beianqi, immediately switch to the shotgun type!"

"Roger that!" Beianqi immediately went to direct the dragons loading their ammunition.

The dragons, who were struggling to lift the ammunition to the loading track, let out a sigh upon hearing the order. They placed the heavy shells back on the ground, then quickly turned around and used their Dragon Claw to drag the new shells over to reload.

Su Ming opened the programming control interface and began rewriting the detonation logic of the electromagnetic projectile, replacing it with an armor-piercing high-explosive projectile.

The Type 59 Modified, having completed its reloading, carried the incessantly humming electromagnetic Vermilion Bow and dragged hundreds of thick cables behind it as it climbed the steep riverbank, finally coming to rest atop the hill.

Through the cockpit's front window, the two could clearly see billowing dust rising and obscuring the sky on the distant horizon, surging forward like the vanguard of a sandstorm, with the massive, mountain-like silhouette of the Crystal Dragon faintly visible amidst it.

Miao Xin controlled the six giant mechanical legs of the Type 59 Modified gun, driving them deep into the rock strata of the mountaintop like pile drivers. The heavy steel body sank down, and the gun barrel locked onto the target direction at an almost horizontal position.

"Deflection field, full power deployment!" Su Ming commanded.

Under Newman's command, hundreds of mages activated the runes at the bottom of the Vermilion Bow. Complex yellow energy patterns spread to the mountain rocks, generating a powerful force field that, like a string of giant anchors, anchored the massive cannon barrel to the small mountain peak.

The red numbers on the charging countdown panel are flashing; there's one minute left until it reaches zero.

"Hey, Miao Xin," Su Ming suddenly asked, "How did you do in target practice?"

"Not bad, I was hitting the bullseye every time when I was in the United States." Miao Xin stretched with her pig's trotters. "My aerial cannon scores are pretty good too—wait, you're not worried I'll miss, are you?"

She turned her head and tapped the waterfall of ballistic data on the screen with her hoof. "These computers calculate my trajectory, correct my wind drift, and they're worried I'll miss?"

"No, no," Su Ming joked, "I meant, how about I do it? I can do it with my hands, after all."

"Get out of here!" Miao Xin retorted irritably. "Don't think I don't know that when you were learning how to operate the new weapon at Jisu, you scored 23 out of 10!"

"... I wasn't familiar with the weapon," Su Ming retorted, sticking out his neck. "And I wasn't used to controlling the Little Spiky Head's firing."

"Come on, everyone says you're practically blind without the red dot sight and intelligent ballistic prediction!" Miao Xin scoffed. "With your skill level, you shouldn't waste the Vermilion Bow. I could throw a rock more accurately than you!"

The charging complete indicator light came on, and the two immediately quieted down.

Miao Xin did not fire immediately, but waited for two seconds until the lead time reached the top of a mound on the path of the Crystal Dragon before pulling the trigger.

The immense horizontal recoil caused the thousand-ton Type 59 Modified to lurch backward violently, its six mechanical legs scraping against the rocks, creating blinding sparks, and countless fragments of rock and mud were thrown into the air.

Beneath the cannon mount, the yellow deflecting force field rippled violently, eventually calming down with great effort from the mages. In less than a minute, Plain Gift had already covered tens of kilometers along the axis the cannon was pointing, heading straight for the target! The Crystal Dragon seemed to sense a deadly threat, its massive body suddenly veering to the side!

But such a level of evasion was futile in the face of its mountain-like size. Su Ming made the correct prediction, Plain Increase, with a slight arc, plunged into the center of the Crystal Dragon's abdomen.

The moment the projectile completely sank into the Crystal Dragon's body, the fuse, precise to the millisecond, was triggered. The sturdy shell disintegrated with a deafening roar, shattering into more than a hundred irregular fragments.

These deadly metals spun and tumbled at high speed within the Crystal Dragon's soft internal cavities, tearing and shredding away any tissue they passed through, turning it into clumps of blood and flesh!

"Awooo!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream filled with endless agony erupted from the Crystal Dragon, the unprecedented pain causing the charging behemoth to abruptly halt! However, completely consumed by rage, the Crystal Dragon, dragging its mangled entrails, charged forward again at an even greater speed than before.

It opened its gaping maw like Abyss, within which chaotic vortexes of energy rapidly converged, their crimson light flickering as it tried to unleash a destructive dragon's breath. But the energy, like a burst dam, was leaking wildly from the enormous wounds all over its body. The sliver of energy that had been painstakingly gathered quickly dimmed and dissipated, like a candle flickering in the wind.

Stacy scanned the vast, chaotic signals in the area of internal heat sources.

"Su Ming! Confirmed catastrophic internal organ damage!" Her voice carried a hint of excitement. "The Crystal Dragon can still move purely due to the sheer size of its body, causing a lag!"

"To be on the safe side, deliver another blow!" Su Ming didn't hesitate. "Miao Xin, retreat into the river to cool the cannon barrel! Beianqi, load the next shot immediately!"

"Clear!"

As yet another shotgun-type Plain Gift pierced the Crystal Dragon's already ravaged abdomen with a dull thud, the super behemoth's desperate sprint finally came to an end.

Its massive body suddenly went limp and collapsed! The immense inertia propelled it for several kilometers, carving a terrifying trench in the ground, and the churned soil and rocks piled up in front of its body to form a small hill.

The Crystal Dragon had even exhausted its strength to howl. Its massive, battered head tried several times to lift itself, only to weakly slam back to the ground, each time kicking up clouds of dust.

Looking at the dying beast's pitiful state, Miao Xin seemed to feel a pang of pity. "Su Ming, it looks so pathetic. How about we give it a quick death?"

Su Ming glanced at her sideways, "What do you mean by 'satisfied'?"

Miao Xin pointed to the riverbank below—where a giant metal ship-slaying sword, hundreds of meters long, lay, its blade gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

"Of course we'll use that! We'll just cut off its head and end its suffering!" Miao Xin said excitedly.

This massive blade has no handle; it is designed to connect and combine with the mechanical interface on the forelimbs of the Type 59 Modified. This is the ultimate trump card in this operation. If the long-range artillery fire fails, the Type 59 Modified will use its blade to engage the Crystal Dragon in close combat.

"No!" Su Ming refused, and at the same time gave the order, "Beianqi, switch to light ammunition, prepare for 50% charge."