"Bang—bang—bang—!!!"
"BOOM—!!!"
With a series of loud bangs, the bullets from the Desert Eagle and the shotgun flew towards the giant bat's wings. The huge bat wings were like massive curtains, making them easy targets. In no time at all, the giant bat's wings were riddled with bullet holes, bloody wounds exposed to Javier and Billy.
"Roar, roar, roar!"
Feeling the pain from its wings, the giant bat roared in agony. Its red eyes stared intently at Javier and Billy, who had attacked from behind, as if it wanted to devour them whole. But unfortunately, it couldn't get distracted. The giant bat knew that it had to destroy the cursed bell tower outside the church. Once the bell's sound was no longer a distraction, it could continue to summon the mutant bats of the Arklay Mountains and then take care of these hateful humans.
Once that happened, it could torture them however it wanted! With its mind made up, the giant bat didn't stop for a second. It was no longer interested in Javier and Billy. It used its remaining strength to flap its damaged wings and burst out of the church, heading straight for the bell tower outside. Its charge was so fearless that it seemed to not care about dying.
And with the size of a small truck, if the giant bat really crashed into the bell tower, it would undoubtedly destroy it instantly, turning it into rubble. After all, it had already smashed a hole in the church roof earlier! But these were not the most important things. The most important thing was that Rebecca was still at the base of the bell tower. If the giant bat did knock it down, Rebecca would surely be crushed under the rubble. Javier and Billy would not allow that to happen.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
"Tap, tap, tap..."
The two of them quickly chased after the giant bat. As it was about to make its final, suicidal charge towards the bell tower, Javier and Billy yelled out a warning to Rebecca inside the tower:
"Rebecca!"
"Run! The bell tower is about to collapse! Get out of there! The giant bat is out, and it's heading for the bell tower! Run, now! Hurry!"
Javier shouted anxiously at Rebecca inside the bell tower. Luckily, as a member of the S.T.A.R.S. team, Rebecca was very alert. When she saw the giant bat roaring in pain as it flew out of the church, she already felt that something was wrong. But she didn't expect the giant bat's target to be the bell tower she was in. When Javier shouted his warning, Rebecca reacted instantly. Without hesitation, she turned and frantically ran out of the bell tower.
In college, she had participated in campus track meets. Girls with small builds like her were usually the fastest in short-distance races. Because they were not tall and had shorter legs, their steps were quick, and their wind resistance was low, making their sprint speed very fast! But that was only for short-distance races. In long-distance races, Rebecca would falter because her short legs couldn't sustain such a high frequency of running for a long time.
Rebecca: "So, are you praising me?"
If Rebecca had known that someone was evaluating her like this, she would have used her fists to beat him to death. After all, it's worth mentioning that these small girls' fists are surprisingly strong and very good at fighting!
"Bang...!"
"Crack... rumble—!!!!"
The next second, the giant bat's charge arrived as expected. Its massive body slammed into the top of the bell tower. In an instant, the entire bell tower, like a fragile mud fortress, crumbled. The golden bell fell with a crash. If Rebecca had still been under the bell tower at that moment and been hit by the giant bell, her life would have been in danger!
Of course, in a collision, Newton's law of action and reaction still applies. The coffin lid hadn't been pried open yet. Birds crashing into an airplane can cause damage and malfunction, and a small rock falling from a great height can easily smash a glass panel. Not to mention a giant mutant bat.
By recklessly crashing into the bell tower, the giant bat destroyed the tower but also suffered a lot of damage itself. Blood seeped from its body, indicating it had sustained a significant internal injury. But even so, the giant bat showed no sign of panic. On the contrary, it became even more ferocious because it knew that now, it could finally summon its beloved small mutant bat minions again. Once hundreds of small mutant bat minions swarmed the sky, they would surely devour these three hateful humans whole!
"Roar, roar, roar—!!!"
The giant bat wasted no time. As soon as it saw that it had destroyed the bell tower, it crawled out of the rubble, lifted its head, and opened its foul-smelling mouth. A piercing sound wave was about to be emitted from its throat.
But Javier, who had been watching this whole time, would not let the giant bat have its way. Besides the church bell, he had another noise-making weapon. Javier quickly took out a long, tube-like object from his waist. He smoothly pulled the pin and threw it. The green, dumbbell-shaped projectile with a honeycomb surface flew in a graceful arc towards the giant bat's wide-open mouth.
That's right, it was a flashbang. Besides the bell tower's bell, the most effective sound wave disruptor was a flashbang. As mentioned before, a flashbang can emit a blinding flash of 700,000 candelas, causing temporary blindness. But at the same time, a flashbang can also produce a noise of 170 to 200 decibels within a radius of 1.5 meters, which can cause temporary deafness. Keep in mind that anything over 100 decibels is already the high-intensity noise of an airplane taking off, and 200 decibels is the theoretical maximum sound pressure limit.
Therefore, the power of a single flashbang was more than enough to completely drown out the giant bat's sound waves. This was undoubtedly the most powerful sound wave disruptor, not to mention that Javier's throw was so accurate that he almost threw the flashbang right into the giant bat's mouth!
"Flashbang—!"
"Quick, cover your head, turn your back, cover your ears, and close your eyes!"
The moment he threw the flashbang, Javier quickly shouted a warning to Rebecca and Billy. But they didn't need the warning. Rebecca and Billy were already used to Javier's actions. After all, he had thrown a flashbang back on the Ecliptic Express without warning. So, like they had rehearsed it, Rebecca and Billy quickly covered their ears, closed their eyes, turned their backs to the flashbang, and ran away, trying to get out of its range. The giant bat, on the other hand, was curious about the green projectile.
No matter how intelligent it was, it couldn't possibly know the power of a flashbang. After all, evolution in nature is a process of learning from past mistakes. A creature's instincts won't engrave a warning in its DNA unless it has experienced an injury and survived. For tens of thousands of years, a creature's defensive instincts have been to be cautious of its natural predators. Some animals know what's dangerous and what not to eat because their ancestors tried it and survived, engraving the knowledge into their DNA. But the giant bat... well, no one had ever fed a flashbang to its ancestors. How could this idiot possibly know!
And so—
"Thump...!"
There was a muffled bang. It wasn't a powerful explosion, more like a firecracker, but the effect of the flashbang was immense. A blinding white light, brighter than the midday sun, erupted next to the giant bat's mouth. Its red eyes immediately lost their color, and its fan-like ears were covered in blood vessels. They drooped, and blood began to seep from its ears. Its eardrums were severely damaged. In just one second, the giant bat had lost all its ability to move. Its ears and eyes were completely useless, and the sound wave it was holding in its throat was choked off. Its lower body twitched uncontrollably on the bell tower rubble, as if it was having a seizure. Even though its head had lost all function, its wings and legs were still kicking wildly!
"Rustle..."
After some time, Javier and his companions realized the after-effects of the flashbang had passed. They turned and looked at the giant bat twitching uncontrollably on the rubble. They stared at each other in disbelief, unable to believe that such a difficult monster had been subdued by a single flashbang. This was unbelievable! Did all their efforts before this not matter at all against one flashbang?!
Actually, that wasn't true. Without their previous efforts, a single flashbang would not have been enough to subdue the giant bat. Before this, if they hadn't shot its wings, blocked its minions, and forced it to crash into the bell tower, it would have been impossible to completely subdue it. A giant bat with its wings intact is very fast, and it can create huge gusts of wind by flapping them. It would be impossible to hit it with a thrown flashbang. Also, if its smaller minions were present, they could have easily taken the flashbang for the giant bat. And with the giant bat's intelligence, once it understood the power of the flashbang, it would have been cautious, and the flashbang would have caused no real damage.
Also, the giant bat had lost its ability to move after severely injuring itself by crashing into the bell tower. All of this was a prelude. It didn't mean their previous efforts were for nothing. More importantly, without all of this, Javier wouldn't have had a good opportunity to throw the flashbang. A flashbang is a double-edged sword that can harm both the enemy and the user. If they couldn't trap the enemy in a narrow space, the flashbang could affect Javier and even harm Rebecca and Billy. This was why Javier knew the flashbang was the perfect counter to the giant bat but was hesitant to use it. At first, he hoped to use the bell tower's bell to take care of the giant bat directly, but who would have thought this beast was so smart and chose to destroy the bell tower first! With no other options, Javier decided to use the flashbang as a last resort.
But now, it no longer mattered. The dust had settled.
"Click—!"
Javier reloaded his M500 revolver. He aimed the large-caliber black muzzle at the giant bat, which was still twitching on the ground. He aimed at its massive head and, without a moment's hesitation, quickly pulled the trigger.
"BOOM—!"
The Magnum bullet was fired, creating a fist-sized bloody hole in the giant bat's head. Thick, dark red brain matter splattered all over the ground, like an exploded watermelon. The giant bat, which had been convulsing, lost the light in its eyes and went dark. Its body stiffened and it instantly lost all signs of life.
Javier showed no mercy. This monster had just tried to eat all three of them. Although it might have seemed pathetic after being tortured by the flashbang, there was nothing he could do. They were enemies!
"It's over..."
Seeing that the giant bat was truly dead, Javier let out a deep breath. He casually dropped the M500 revolver and collapsed onto the ground, resting. The boss fight had truly drained him, both mentally and physically. He just wanted to rest for a few dozen minutes.
Rebecca and Billy were in the same state. The fight had been so close; they had almost died in the church study. The feeling of surviving such a close call left Rebecca and Billy exhausted, and they also sank to the ground. There was still a long way to go before they could uncover the real mystery. They didn't know what kind of terrifying monsters and difficult battles awaited them next.