Chapter 45: Critical Moment

With the Fengshan Maru's neck swaying, the Dragon-Hunting Ship, which had been bitten at its bow, was almost entirely lifted off the sand surface.

Caught off guard, several crew members fell off the ship, and one with the worst luck fell directly into the Fengshan Maru's mouth, with consequences impossible to predict.

Realizing he had been tricked by the Fengshan Maru, the Ship Group Leader displayed agility beyond his years; with three or four leaps, he crossed the severely tilted deck and reached the mechanism to activate the Dragon-Striking Spear.

He picked up the striking Gong with one hand and struck it fiercely to trigger it.

At the bow, the Dragon-Striking Spear, already loaded, spun at high speed under the push of high-pressure steam, thrusting forward and drilling straight into the Fengshan Maru's upper jaw.

Even though the Fengshan Maru daily swallowed minerals from the Sand Sea and its mouth was lined with tough, hard skin, that could not possibly stop the Dragon-Striking Spear driven by mechanical force.

Amidst splashing blood, the forward-thrusting Dragon-Striking Spear forcibly pried open the Fengshan Maru's closed massive mouth, pushing the Dragon-Hunting Ship out of the Fengshan Maru's oral cavity and back onto the sand surface.

Stimulated by intense pain, the Fengshan Maru roared wildly, its body thrashing violently; many Sand Ships connected to it by Binding Bomb ropes were overturned in the chaos.

Likewise, many Hunters connected to their respective Sand Ships by safety ropes were pulled off the dragon's back by the ropes at their waists, falling into the Sand Sea.

Aolang was the same, but just before being dragged off the dragon's back by the safety rope, he drew his Carving Knife in time, severed the rope, and at the last moment reached out to grab a firmly embedded crossbow bolt, managing to temporarily stabilize himself on the dragon's back.

The Fengshan Maru's struggles continued, so Aolang could only lower his body, gripping the arrow shaft with both hands desperately, having no time to pay attention to how others were faring.

For a full half-minute or more, the Fengshan Maru, whose oral cavity had suffered heavy damage, finally calmed down slightly.

Aolang was then able to lean against the protruding Rock Armor in front of him and stand up carefully.

He looked around; the Hunters still remaining on the Fengshan Maru's back could be counted on one hand, including Sai'er.

Sai'er also saw him; before they could confirm each other's situation, a Hunter standing near the dragon's head shouted, "Look!"

Aolang and Sai'er hurriedly turned their heads, looking in the direction the Hunter pointed.

During the sudden attack earlier, the bow section of the Fengshan Maru had suffered severe damage; the protruding Dragon-Striking Spear could not even be retracted, remaining twisted and slanted outside.

Worst of all, a balance bar on one side had broken, causing the entire ship to tilt onto the ground; it could not be righted in the short term, let alone restarted.

The Fengshan Maru obviously noticed this as well.

It stopped moving, its body half-buried in the Sand Sea crawled out onto the sand surface, and crawled step by step toward the overturned Dragon-Hunting Ship.

The Hunters' faces changed drastically; a Dragon-Hunting Ship that had lost its speed was nothing before a super-giant Ancient Dragon; it only needed to walk straight over to crush this Dragon-Hunting Ship that had been passed down for years.

"Do you still have Explosive Bombs?!" Aolang shouted loudly, pulling at his throat.

"Explosive Bombs! Yes, Explosive Bombs!" The Great Hammer User who had previously been responsible for striking the large Gong jolted awake.

He looked left and right, but unfortunately, during the recent turbulence, only a few Hunters who reacted in time remained on the Fengshan Maru's back; the Giant Dragon Bombs that had been laboriously transported onto the dragon's back had naturally rolled off long ago.

"There should still be some on the Sand Ships! Have them bring them over; this is the only way!" After shouting this loudly, Aolang yelled at the few Sand Ships nearby that were still able to move.

One Sand Ship that still had Explosive Bombs accelerated at full speed toward them; at this moment, they could not worry about safe distances or unsafe distances.

An Insect Glaive User on the dragon's back immediately controlled his Hunter Insect to extract essence from the Fengshan Maru's wound, enhancing his own physical abilities, then jumped directly off the Fengshan Maru's back.

Rolling upon landing without stopping his steps, he rushed toward that Sand Ship.

Sai'er drew his blade, "We'll buy some time!"

"Good!" The Great Hammer User, who appeared to be quite powerful, rushed toward the Fengshan Maru's head with him, hoping to distract it by attacking the wound on its head and make it stop advancing.

With things having developed to this point, Aolang naturally would not foolishly think about mining anymore.

At the moment the Dragon-Hunting Ship lost its mobility, the Anti-Dragon Bomb was the only means they had to inflict effective damage on the Fengshan Maru, and the opportunity would likely only come once; it absolutely could not be wasted.

Therefore, the location for placing the Explosive Bomb was extremely critical.

He ran from the Fengshan Maru's waist and spine all the way to the back of its head, finally discovering a wound with the largest surface area and greatest depth near the neck.

Even if he jumped his whole body in, his head wouldn't show; it was perfect for placing the Explosive Bomb, but if he really tried to stuff the entire Explosive Bomb in, the space still seemed a bit insufficient.

He had to find a way to expand the wound a bit more!

Thinking this, he simply tossed his Round Shield in his right hand aside, then drew the Carving Knife from behind his waist, which was not much smaller in size than the off-hand sword of his Dual Blades.

Clashing the dual blades to activate Demonization, he then jumped directly into the wound.

Demon Dance!

Performing Wild Dance in such a cramped space was very awkward, but he still swung his dual blades with all his might; splashing blood and shredded flesh almost dyed his entire body red.

The Insect Glaive User, having picked up the Explosive Bomb, finally climbed back onto the dragon's back; his gaze swept across and quickly noticed the wound "spewing blood" over here; unable to catch his breath, he hurriedly hugged the massive Explosive Bomb and walked quickly toward this side.

The Great Hammer User and Sai'er, who were attacking with full force atop the Fengshan Maru's forehead, finally saw some results.

The Fengshan Maru temporarily halted its steps, shook its head, and its body convulsed; several Sand Clusters sprayed out from the ventilation holes on its back, falling toward the head.

Sai'er dodged a Sand Cluster by flashing aside; the Great Hammer User's response was even more bold; he directly swung his Great Hammer, shattering a falling Sand Cluster.

Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, even more Sand Clusters fell down.

"I'll stay here; you go cover them while they place the Explosive Bomb!" the Great Hammer User shouted in a rough voice: "Don't let these Sand Clusters detonate the Explosive Bomb prematurely!"

"Good!"

Sai'er immediately ran toward the Fengshan Maru's neck.

Seeing Aolang, soaked in blood, writhing inside the wound, Sai'er froze for half a second, then quickly realized the purpose of the former's actions.

Quickly estimating with his eyes and judging that the wound size was now sufficient to stuff in the Anti-Dragon Bomb, he shouted loudly, "It's ready; I'll detonate it! You two hurry and retreat!"

The Insect Glaive User nodded, ran quickly toward the Great Hammer User, and notified the latter to retreat.

Aolang, who was performing Demon Dance with full force inside the wound, could not stop for a moment; only when Sai'er jammed his shield against him did he finally halt his sword momentum.

Sai'er grabbed his clothes and helped him climb out of the wound.

The two of them worked together to stuff the Anti-Dragon Bomb completely into the wound; after disarming the safety, Sai'er quickly pulled the fuse and was about to withdraw.

Suddenly, a shadow approached from overhead.

"Watch out!" Aolang shouted loudly to warn him.

Sai'er looked up and noticed the Sand Cluster falling directly toward them.

An Explosive Bomb with its safety disarmed was extremely sensitive; even a small pebble could detonate it, let alone a large Sand Cluster falling from the sky.

The Explosive Bomb would be detonated prematurely; they were already too late to leave the blast radius; without time to think further, Sai'er sprinted to Aolang's front, grabbed him, and leaped off the dragon's back, simultaneously turning to raise his Shield.

The next second, scorching explosive flames engulfed them.