"Bang bang!" Two sentries were shot and fell from the 10-meter-high watchtower.
Then Henry began shooting the gas lamps, starting with the two closest to him.
As the muffled gunshots rang out, everyone in the manor was awakened, and faint commotion could be heard.
In about 3 seconds, Henry had extinguished the 5 gas lamps closest to him, and the sentries could no longer see his position.
"That devil is back!"
"Robert and Lampard were shot and fell!"
"Quick, quick, quick, start the machine gun!"
"Lord, we can't see anything!"
"What do we do? The lights will all be shot out soon!"
Noisy voices carried over intermittently with the mountain wind.
Henry aimed steadily. Another 10 seconds passed, and all 18 gas lamps were extinguished.
The gunfire stopped, and the entire final 400-meter plaza was pitch black, like a ghostly realm.
To the remaining 8 sentries, the plaza seemed to hide countless demons ready to charge out and devour people at any moment!
Henry withdrew behind the corner and quietly reloaded his rifle.
It was only around 5 AM now, without even a hint of dawn on the horizon - no rush.
"Rat-a-tat-tat" - the sound of frantic machine gun fire erupted.
It was unclear whether the machine gunner had broken down.
At the same time, faint screaming could be heard: "Come out!" "Come out! Devil, I'm not afraid of you!" "Go die!"
Then the second machine gun was also triggered, roaring frantically as well.
But after over a minute, it still stopped, accompanied by faint stern reprimands.
Henry held his position.
At this time, over ten gas lamps were lit in the manor. Four lamps quickly moved toward the gate direction and were soon hung behind the manor gate, with iron bars blocking most of the lamp bodies.
However, this could only illuminate less than ten meters in front of the gate.
Since ancient times, light had been humanity's weapon for driving away the unknown.
This instinct carved in their genes made the sentries feel much safer and finally less frantic.
Only two German Shepherds were barking wildly behind the gate.
Commander Sam felt ice-cold inside but still quickly commanded the remaining 16 guards to hide behind various covers in the manor garden, ready to ambush enemies breaking through the door at any time.
Unfortunately, the manor had no flares.
Sean had already dressed and was sitting on the sofa in the center of the hall.
The enemy was truly ruthless, not even giving half a day's respite.
He should have evacuated toward the mine factory overnight, but then he feared encountering the enemy's ambush halfway.
He hoped the machine guns could still stop the opponent this time.
Sean silently prayed in his heart.
But he actually didn't hold much hope, since the enemy had returned, they probably already had a way to deal with their machine guns.
"Oh God, thank and praise you, I pray to you, may the grace of Lord Jesus Christ come upon us."
Sean concentrated on quiet prayer, trying to free himself from confusion.
After another ten minutes or so, a hint of dawn appeared on the horizon.
A trace of extremely dim light appeared in the sky.
At this time ordinary people still couldn't see anything, but for Henry, it was enough to make out the outlines of objects over ten meters away.
He immediately turned out of the final mountain path and began running silently, almost hugging the left mountain wall.
At this moment, the two German Shepherds outside the manor gate began barking frantically, making the sentries immediately tense, but they couldn't see anything on the mountain path in the darkness.
After barking for over ten seconds, the two German Shepherds suddenly ran to the right side of the gate and continued barking wildly.
All sentries simultaneously looked toward the right mountain wall direction. One group couldn't help but start the machine gun, firing by feel at the right edge about 100 meters away.
Henry had already advanced about 100 meters by this time.
Seeing the angle of the machine gun's muzzle flash, he roughly judged the coverage area of the machine gun bullets.
So he calmly maintained the same speed and continued forward.
After another ten-plus seconds, feeling he was close to the machine gun's coverage range, he ran diagonally to the right.
At this time he should be only over 100 meters from the gate. Even running diagonally, he should arrive in over ten seconds.
The two German Shepherds quickly ran to the center of the gate and barked wildly.
But the machine gun muzzle couldn't adjust that quickly, and besides, the gunner didn't know where the enemy was - adjusting it would still be shooting by feel.
The other machine gun also started firing, shooting by feel toward the front center at 50-60 meters - preventing the enemy from approaching from the middle.
Henry ignored everything and continued charging forward!
He could now sprint 9-10 meters per second without problem. Even if hit by machine guns, at most 1-2 seconds would get him out of bullet coverage.
At most he'd be hit 6-7 times - he could afford it!
Soon Henry charged out of the bullet rain and reached over twenty meters from the gate. His sharp vision let him clearly gauge the distance through the gas lamp light at the gate.
A 5-pound TNT explosive package appeared in his hands from nowhere. After triggering the detonator, he threw it toward a watchtower.
At a throwing speed of 20 meters per second, after being thrown up to the watchtower about 30 meters away, it would explode just about when it hit the tower top during descent.
As long as it was close enough, the explosion's shock wave and high temperature within a 5-6 meter radius would finish the sentries, possibly even collapsing the watchtower.
Immediately after, a second 5-pound explosive package flew toward the second watchtower at similar distance.
Two double-action revolvers instantly appeared in Henry's hands. Aiming at the two German Shepherds under the gas lamp's glow, he pulled the triggers.
"Bang bang." Both German Shepherds were shot simultaneously, whimpering as they collapsed.
Henry immediately turned and ran frantically. After running just a few meters, the first explosive package landed on the first watchtower and exploded.
"Boom!" A tremendous roar.
The entire watchtower top was in ruins, with blood and flesh flying everywhere. The machine gun had disappeared somewhere.
Henry, over thirty meters from the explosion, felt the blast wave's impact but was unharmed.
Explosives burned extremely fast, releasing all their energy in a short time to produce such tremendous power.
So as long as you left their core coverage area, the explosion's power rapidly diminished.
This time Henry was lucky not to be hit by debris from the explosion, but next time might be different.
He continued running at high speed. After running a few more meters, another "Boom!" rang out as the second watchtower followed the first's fate.
Henry stopped and turned back to run to within over 10 meters of the gate. Taking a 20-pound TNT explosive package from his space, he triggered the detonator and threw it toward the manor gate, then immediately turned and ran.
Counting 4 seconds in his mind, having run about 40 meters and being over 50 meters from the gate, Henry released that chest-high granite stone from his space and crouched behind it.
Almost simultaneously, a "Boom!" came as the blast wave swept at high speed over the granite in front of Henry.
Having been a mercenary before crossing over, Henry had used C4, TNT, and RDX explosives, giving him deep understanding of their yield and power.
20 pounds of TNT had a theoretical killing range against humans of about 20-30 meters.
But large-yield explosions inevitably accompanied massive fragment scatter, building collapse and destruction, and various debris spray, making the actual killing radius basically 3 times the theoretical radius.
Fortunately this yield wasn't large, with a killing radius possibly only 2 times the theoretical, around 40-60 meters. So Henry at this 50-plus meter distance with granite blocking shock waves and fragments should be basically fine.
(End of Chapter)
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