novelraw Chapter 156: Battlefield Alchemy
Chapter 156: Battlefield Alchemy
Time stretched out on Klaus's petrifying arm, each second becoming a prolonged despair.
The ashen gray rock color was spreading inexorably from his fingertips upward along his forearm, consuming the vitality of flesh and blood, bringing with it a deep-seated chill and heaviness from within the marrow.
The last remaining glow of the [Unyielding Wall] flickered violently, on the verge of extinguishing at any moment.
Once this final bastion of protection symbolizing their defense collapsed, what awaited them would be being crushed and petrified by the enraged Petrification Worm and its death nebula, ultimately merging with this natural graveyard as their final fate.
In this desperate situation shrouded by the shadow of death, the instinct for survival overwhelmed all complex emotions.
William and Gretchen were still pouring out firepower in vain, trying to use a barrage to attract the UMA's attention, to buy Klaus even a second of respite.
Their attacks were nothing more than meaningless noise to that slimy geological biological hybrid.
"We must find a way to decompose that mucus! Otherwise, the supervisor's spiritual link will be contaminated, and the armament will be directly scrapped!"
Gretchen's voice lost its usual calm, taking on urgency and panic.
"Any chemical agent... acid? Alkali? Or high-temperature flame?""No!"
Lin Jie flatly rejected her proposal.
"Remember the results of the on-site investigation?"
"There were no elemental residues left!"
"Conventional chemical methods are ineffective against it!"
Lin Jie's words shattered Gretchen's last remaining hope.
It was within this intellectual darkness denied by both science and force.
A spark of knowledge originating from the distant Middle Ages ignited deep within the mind of Julian, the curator.
Petrification... petrification... this word echoed madly in his memory palace, touching a dust-covered corner.
He remembered, in the parchment manuscript he had read through about ancient Alpine region legends while preparing for the Germany trip, there was an anecdote, dismissed by mainstream mystics of the time as "nonsense from country bumpkins," about alchemists combating petrifying basilisks.
That record was vague, exaggerated with religious overtones, but one core element cut through the fog in Julian's mind.
"SALT!!!!"
Julian roared at the team.
His voice completely lost its usual elegance.
"It's salt!"
"I remember now!"
"Thirteenth-century alchemists, followers of Hermes Trismegistus, they once recorded that high-purity rock salt from the Dead Sea could successfully decompose the cursed gaze of petrifying basilisks!"
"Its weakness is likely salt!"
This seemingly absurd "folk remedy" from hundreds of years ago, at this very moment, became a divine oracle, bringing a glimmer of hope to this desperate battlefield.
William's reaction was faster than anyone's comprehension of Julian's words.
He did not hesitate, did not ask.
In his creed, every word roared by a comrade in a desperate situation was worthy of trust with one's life.
He rolled violently to dodge a falling rock that brushed past him, then pulled from deep within his bottomless tactical backpack a palm-sized lead box wrapped in waterproof oilcloth.
Inside the box was precisely the standard-issue "Consecrated Salt" he would obtain from the Association's logistics before each mission, used for purifying spirits and dispelling curses.
But how to deliver these powdered salts accurately onto Klaus's shield that was on the verge of collapse?
Simply scattering them would only have them dispersed by the valley's fierce winds.
William took less than half a second to make the most correct and most creatively ingenious decision.
With a showy, rapid motion, he took a red bullet from the ammunition belt at his waist, roughly pried open the bullet tip with a combat knife.
Then he poured all the precious, faintly glowing white salt grains from the lead box into the bullet casing, roughly mixing them with the remaining propellant powder inside.
He had no time to seal or secure it.
This was no longer a bullet.
It was a crude but deadly "salt mist grenade" born from battlefield ingenuity and absolute trust.
"Klaus! Hold on!"
William roared, his Winchester thundering.
That temporarily modified "salt mist grenade," trailing a red flame tail, shot at a tricky angle toward the energy barrier of Klaus's nearly shattered [Unyielding Wall].
The bullet casing shattered the instant it contacted the barrier, and the propellant mixed with Consecrated Salt inside was detonated.
A cloud of searing white salt mist, blending purification power with shockwaves, immediately enveloped the entire shield and the gray-green mucus madly corroding it.
A miracle happened.
"Sizzle—sizzle sizzle—"
The living petrification mucus hissed violently upon contact with the fine salt grains, emitting large plumes of white steam like a slug splashed with concentrated sulfuric acid.
Its originally stable structure was visibly boiling and dissipating.
In just two or three seconds, all the mucus smeared on the [Unyielding Wall] was purified completely clean.
And Klaus, suffering from the reverse erosion of power, let out a groan of relief mixed with pain.
The petrification process on his arm also stopped.
Although his arm still appeared bloodless and ashen gray like rock, that fatal transformation had been successfully halted.
"It works! God, it really works!"
Julian was so excited he nearly cried, waving his fists, feeling genuine pride that his profound knowledge had saved everyone at the critical moment.
However, the team's excitement did not last long.
After brief pain and confusion, the Petrification Worm immediately became even more frenzied than before.
The purification power of the Consecrated Salt seemed to have caused slight damage to its main body as well.
It seemed not to understand why these insignificant creatures could find a way to break its "petrification law."
It manipulated the death nebula above to bombard the team with even more erratic, blanket-style attacks.
And William, after firing that crucial "salt mist grenade," also looked exceptionally grim.
He glanced at the empty lead box in his hand and said to everyone in a heavy voice, "The salt works, but there are two fatal problems."
"First, the amount I'm carrying is only enough to make two more shots."
"Second, this 'pepper sprinkling' style attack can only be used for small-scale defense and purification. We simply cannot inflict decisive damage on its massive main body."
William's words pulled everyone back from brief joy into cold reality once more.
They had found the "key."
But they couldn't reach the "lock."
To kill this UMA, the only way was to deliver a large amount of high-purity salt into its slimy body interior.
Only by disintegrating its structure from within could they end this nightmare.
"I'll do it."
Lin Jie only said two words, yet they contained confidence capable of turning the tide.
"My [Serene Heart] is the only 'scalpel' on this battlefield that can stably hit it."
"What we need to do isn't make more 'salt mist grenades,' but make 'salt-core bullets'!"
Salt-core bullets.
This imaginative term made everyone except Gretchen momentarily stunned.
But that blonde German female technical expert, her eyes suddenly lit up the instant she heard this word.
She instantly understood the crazy yet rigorous logical chain behind Lin Jie's tactical conception.
She displayed the astonishing adaptability of a top-tier German engineer when facing technical challenges, that pursuit of the optimal solution.
She didn't ask Lin Jie how exactly to do it, but directly completed the entire "battlefield alchemy" process simulation in her own mind.
"Feasible! This plan is absolutely feasible!"
Gretchen's voice was excited.
"Listen!"
"We need a 'container' to hold the salt, and a 'binder' to fix it!"
"Sergeant William, collect all the hot brass bullet casings left after you fire!"
"The high-temperature casings are our ready-made 'crucibles'!"
"The 'sealant' can be replaced with the military fast-drying 'spiritual resin' from my backpack, used for emergency field repairs of armament circuits!"
She calmly formulated the perfect battlefield alchemy plan.
"I'll use a knife tip to expand the interior of the bullet casing, use Consecrated Salt as the core filler, then pour resin to seal and shape the head!"
"The entire process must be completed before the casings cool, to ensure the resin perfectly bonds with the brass!"
"This requires absolute focus and..."
Gretchen took a deep breath.
She raised her head, facing the sky full of falling stone rain, issuing her first request to her comrades in this battle.
"This process requires at least two minutes."
"In these two minutes, I need you... to create an absolutely stable operating space for me!"
Before her words finished.
That worm coiled on the rock wall seemed to understand their plan.
Manipulating the death nebula composed of hundreds of floating boulders in the sky, it smashed down with a no-room-left attitude.
The desperate countdown, began.