Chapter 31 Preparing the Totem Cannon
Howling, the three-eyed lizard"s thick back legs stomped against the ground, propelling its large body into a leap to try and break through the wall of underground pioneers. While it rose into the sky, accompanied by the countless spikes shooting from the ground, large shards started to fall from the ceiling of the cave, shrouding the battlefield in dust.
"Hurricane mode on, prepare for metal claw containment!" Franco shouted. From the end of the underground pioneers" line, two streaks of fire shot out, pushing forward with incredible propulsion. The pioneers leapt up, stopping the lizard in its tracks.
"Zi la", an underground pioneer"s mechanical claws sank into the three-eyed lizard"s body, legs folding underneath, turning into a giant drill that immediately began drilling into the ground beneath.
Compared to the height of the lizard, the underground pioneers were nothing. Within the blink of an eye seven or eight underground pioneers were hanging from its body, their drills biting into its flesh while blood splattered everywhere. Writhing in pain the three-eyed lizard fell to the ground, destroying a row of gnome houses.
Growling, the lizard rolled around, throwing the underground pioneers away from its body. One of them who didn"t have time to hide was caught in its jaws, trembling, and was thrown in the opposite direction.
"Rearrange our defenses. We can"t let the lizard out." Franco hollered, not showing any weakness.
The battle was still in a state of stalemate. The underground pioneers kept firing off their cannons, locking the three-eyed lizard in a small area. But of course an ultimate magical beast was unfairly strong. This lizard"s magic was by no means varied: earth spikes, earth cave, flying rocks, earth walls. But no matter how hard the underground pioneers shot at it, it kept dodging with magic or countering them directly.
"If this continues, even if the mechanical team wins it"ll still be a tainted victory." McQueen and the others retreated further and further, to the point where they were even using the newest gnome technology: a thousand yard wayfinder. In plain terms, a telescope.
Putting down the thousand yard wayfinder, Lance"s eyebrows were so creased they looked like warts. "What the h.e.l.l is up with this lizard?" he said angrily, "It"s way too strong. We"ve encountered ultimate magic beasts before too, and managed to deal with them easily enough."
"Clearly this magic beast is at the peak of its kind, perhaps even at the level of saintly beast." Will said thoughtfully. Among those present he was the highest level. As a super warrior, he was only a level to becoming an ultimate warrior.
"I don"t care if it"s an ultimate or saintly beast," Lance snarled, "This thing is good as dead today. You, you, go contact Master Murdoch to activate the totem cannon. Activate with a super…no, an ultimate crystal nucleus and blow up this ugly crawler right now." Even saying that put a pained look on Lance"s face. One ultimate crystal nucleus was incredibly pricy. Thankfully the three-eyed lizard"s snarls made up for it, or else he wouldn"t have the courage to issue the order.
"Understood." One of the gnome warriors protecting the horseless vehicle quickly mounted a grounded bird and sped toward the totem pole.
McQueen was interested now. "What the h.e.l.l is a totem cannon?"
"Just like the magic crystal cannon you humans have created, but with several times the strength." Lance seemed far more relieved after issuing the order and said this with great pride.
"Magic crystal cannon? What is that?" McQueen asked. Of course this is what happens to people who jump to another world: they never know enough about anything.
Bruce explained. "Magic crystal cannons use crystal nucleus energy to fire off elemental bombs. They"re strategic level weapons. Even in Soladin only eight cities have magic crystal cannons. I"ve heard that a single fire can destroy half a city."
"That impressive? Then how much crystal nucleus is used up in each shot?" McQueen exclaimed. This whole thing seemed incredibly cool. If he had the chance he"d definitely equip Toss City with a few to blow all enemies out of the water.
Bruce thought about it. "Hm. In theory, a magic crystal cannon that could destroy half a city would require the crystal nucleus of at least a super magic beast. But I"m not sure about the specifics."
"Then what about the totem cannon? What"s its strength like, its energy expenditure?" McQueen began to poke around. If a totem cannon was more worth the price, of course he"d try to get a few from the Wrench Tribe.
Lance laughed with pride. "A totem cannon is a strategic level weapon to gnomes as well. Compared to a magic crystal cannon, which wastes more than its actual power…a magic crystal cannon would only be able to produce a single shot and destroy half a city from a magic crystal. A totem cannon might not necessarily be stronger, but it can fire more than three shots with the same fuel."
"Nice product. So then, Chief Technician, name your price. Toss City needs a large scale defense weapon like this urgently." Rubbing his hands together, McQueen had an almost perverted smile on his face.
"Happy to negotiate," Lance said with a pleasant smile.
Both of these high commanders were smirking and smiling with indescribable expressions, feeling each other more and more to the point it was almost getting romantic. Everyone around them felt nothing but gooseb.u.mps from just staring at their faces.
As they were speaking, they heard an incredibly loud voice ring out from the totem pole. "Franco, this is Murdoch. The totem cannon is preparing to fire. In ten minutes from now, please contain the three-eyed lizard for thirty seconds." Of course, his voice was being amplified through a speaker.
"Understood, Murdoch." The underground pioneer Franco was harnessing had lost a mechanical arm and swayed from side to side, blocking off the earth magic the three-eyed lizard kept casting everywhere. "Prepare all units. In nine minutes, cast a ma.s.sive web."
The three-eyed lizard seemed to sense something. Howling, its magic became more intense. Dirt and rocks began to rise, smashing toward the underground pioneers.
"Shoo–" Shot after shot of large fireb.a.l.l.s shattered the rocks into pieces. At this point nine of the underground pioneers had been forced to leave the battlefield. All of them were damaged to the point of no return, one of them completely destroyed by a boulder.
When the gnomes drove past McQueen and the others, dragging the "corpses" of the underground pioneers with them, Chief Technician Lance broke out into angry insults. "d.a.m.n animal, I"ll peel your skin and dig the magic crystal from inside you, boil your brains into soup! Let"s see how much trouble you can cause then."
"Look at that damage. Wouldn"t the pilot also have been squashed?" McQueen couldn"t really a.s.sociate the flattened metal before his eyes with the impressive underground pioneers.
"Not at all. These underground pioneers have been built with the newest generation of t.i.tanium c.o.c.kpit. Even if they explode, the controller will be fine." A sweet voice rang out behind them. Lance"s two grandsons Avi and Luc, and his granddaughter Sky. The one who answered McQueen"s question was the beauty Sky.
"Ah, it"s you, Sky. Hearing it from you is enough for me to believe it." Gazing at Sky"s chest (her cup size must be at least 36D), he couldn"t help but have an evil thought. He quickly glanced over to the battlefield. The instant when he turned his head, he saw Will also stealing a quick look at Sky, swallowing. "d.a.m.n, pervert," McQueen chastised him in his head, but couldn"t help but relax. Will"s s.e.xual orientation was straight after all, nothing to worry about.
"Why are you here? It"s dangerous here, why don"t you head back?" Seeing his grandchildren, Lance burst into a lecture.
"Danger?" Avi said dismissively, "What danger? We"re so far away from the actual battlefield we have to look at the fight with thousand yard wayfinders. I can"t think of any danger here."
Lance"s old face turned beet red. They were indeed far from the battlefield, but just a little bit. Yes, just a bit.
"Smack." A small stone flying out from the battlefield landed at Avi"s feet, rousing a circle of dirt.
Lance was overjoyed, but hurriedly forced his expression to be serious. "See? This is the frontline too. It"s dangerous here."