Chapter 88: Magic Arts and Mortars
Huge trees completely obscured the sunlight. In the pitch-black woods, Ken Sato vaguely saw a human-shaped object swaying back and forth on the treetop.
"Gulp!"
Ken Sato realized what it was, and his legs felt weak for a moment. If it weren't for the two Big men supporting him beside him, he would already be sitting on the ground.
"You dare to sell firearms with such small guts!" Frank glanced at Ken Sato and said disdainfully, "Don't worry, since you are Yuri's man, I won't kill you. But before things are over, you'd better honestly stay by our side and don't play tricks!"
Ken Sato gave a sheepish smile, his hand unconsciously touching his waist, where an old Type 54 handgun was hidden.
The reason he chose the Type 54 was because it had good range, strong penetration power, and great force.
However, seeing the M16 carbines in the hands of these Big men, he wisely handed over the gun.
"Alright, right here!"
In the dense forest, only scattered patches of light occasionally fell through the treetops.
A tree as thick as two people hugging it, and a highly decomposed corpse, was swaying in the woods.
The foul smell was incessant, accompanied by the buzzing of mosquitoes. Ken Sato lay on the ground, unable to help but want to vomit.
Frank gave an order, and two Big men took off their backpacks and carefully took out four black ceramic jars from inside.
Jars the size of small wine jars, their bodies were covered in talismans drawn with cinnabar. At the mouth of the jars, on the peach wood stoppers, several yellow talismans were pasted, looking quite mysterious and eerie.
"Everyone, step back!"
They spread out a white cloth full of blood stains and placed the four jars on the white cloth.
Frank called out, and the numerous Big men retreated to the side one after another, forming a circular defense perimeter with their backs to Frank, holding their guns and keeping watch in all directions.
Frank took a deep breath with a solemn expression and pulled out a seven-inch long small banner from his pocket.
A bone rod composed of three sections of crystalline white bone. Frank casually unfurled it, revealing the banner body made of snake belly skin.
On the banner face, it was covered with drawings of sky demons dancing, yakshas and wraiths. Two ghost gods holding chains were surrounded in the center like stars surrounding the moon.
Frank shook the banner body, and a streak of black light shot out from the banner face, landing on the yellow talisman of the black jar.
The yellow talisman pasted on the peach wood stopper moved without wind and was directly peeled off by an invisible force. Then the jar body shook for a moment, and with a light sound like "pop," the peach wood stopper was directly ejected outwards by a strong force.
Immediately after, countless gray-white smoke and dust emerged from the black jar, flying up and down around the small banner in Frank's hand, as if dancing.
A lot of gray-white smoke and dust flew into the woods, shuttling back and forth among the treetops.
Furthermore, several streaks of gray-white smoke and dust attached themselves to the corpse hanging nearby.
The corpse suddenly shook violently, and then a rustling, eerie light sound of laughter echoed in the woods.
This scene not only made Ken Sato's scalp tingle, but hearing this eerie laughter, even the battle-hardened special forces soldiers under Frank were swallowing hard.
All four jars were opened. At this moment, the air was full of densely packed white smoke, numbering at least a thousand, flying up and down.
According to the magic arts taught by the Boss, Frank sprayed a mouthful of True Qi onto the small banner in his hand.
The images of gods and demons drawn on the banner face of the small banner seemed to come alive. In the center of the banner face, the two ghost gods simultaneously grinned, and the Dirge Cudgel and Soul Locking Chain in their hands emitted streaks of black light.
As Frank shook the small banner in his hand, countless gray-white smoke drifted away in all directions.
"Assemble the mortars!"
More than a dozen Big men opened their luggage bags, took out various parts, and began assembling.
The remaining seven or eight people climbed onto nearby trees, took out Mountain Cleaving Blades, and cut down the treetops that were obstructing their view. Soon, on the empty grassland beneath the trees, twelve assembled army green mortars were laid out.
Federation-made 60MM M2 mortars had a very high rate of fire, 18 rounds per minute. Their total weight in combat was only 42 pounds, and besides standard personal combat equipment, two people could easily use them.
However, using mortars in this desolate wilderness, what target were they hitting? Were they hitting ghosts? Ken Sato thought for a long time but couldn't figure out if there was anything nearby worth bombardment.
Is there some Secret Base here? Or some biochemical Laboratory?
......
On Mount Fuji, at a hidden Outpost, several soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms were closely observing the lava dynamics beneath Mount Fuji.
Close and urgent communication sounds constantly echoed in this Observation Post.
"This is Observation Post 91. The lava temperature is gradually rising, and there is creature activity at the bottom of the lava. We suspect the target of Observation Post 91, codename 'Yamata no Orochi', shows signs of awakening!"
"Continue observing. Order, continue observing... and be ready to retreat at any time..."
At a Volcano Crater on Mount Fuji, in the fiery molten rock beneath the stones, a thick snake tail was swaying in the lava, and the scorching lava was splashing everywhere.
Through the glowing red lava, one could see how huge this snake tail was; it almost completely filled the Volcano Crater.
The moment this snake tail lifted, it could be clearly seen that on its lower abdomen, there was a clear scar, just as if a piece had been cut off by some sharp blade.
...…
Deep in the forest, at The Hand's Training Base, more than a dozen black-clad Ninjas were practicing shuriken throwing at targets on the trees.
Not far away, several other Ninjas were holding bamboo katanas, practicing swordsmanship combat one-on-one.
"What's going on, why is it suddenly foggy?"
A black-clad Ninja sitting cross-legged on a treetop was wiping the blade edge of the katana in his hand. He occasionally raised his head and found a vast expanse of white things drifting towards them from a distance.
"What are those things?"
The black-clad Ninja stood up from the treetop, carefully watching the wisps of gray-white smoke and dust, feeling a bit puzzled.
Before he could react, these gray-white smoke suddenly disappeared simultaneously in the woods.
"Morning mist?"
The black-clad Ninja shook his head and simply sat back down to continue wiping the katana in his hand.
The quenched blue blade edge, under his wiping, faintly gleamed with cold light. This was a replica Kiku-ichimonji crafted by a famous master from Japan.
After wiping the blade edge, the black-clad Ninja couldn't help but grip the katana in his hand and made two practice slashes downwards.
Just after making two slashes, he suddenly felt a chill behind his back. He turned his head back alertly. Behind him, besides the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops, there was nothing there.
Two shadows full of blood holes on their bodies were floating erratically in front of the black-clad Ninja, but he seemed to see nothing.
...…
"Coordinates 234, 267!"
A wisp of gray-white smoke flew up and down around Frank. Frank shook the small banner and heard the voice of this "ghost".
Soon, more than a dozen Big men began adjusting the mortar firing angle one after another.
"Three, two, one, fire!"
(Author's Note: I've finished my medicine and injection, and my fever is gone. However, my baby seems to have a low fever and also tested positive. I'm giving him physical cooling; the child is too young to take medicine. Barring any accidents, there should be two more chapters. If I have to go to the hospital, then there will be one more chapter. I'll try my best to write.)
(end of chapter)