novelraw Chapter 1542 - 827: Someone Is Watching Him?
Chapter 1542 - 827: Someone Is Watching Him?
Roland woke up quickly; as soon as the gunshots rang out, he sat up startled and raised a revolver. Immediately, he saw the monster falling from the sky, with its slender tail trailing behind. Roland shouted loudly: "Thorn Stalker! Shoot its head and heart, it's on the left."
After Jimmy shot, he immediately drew a second revolver and aimed at the monster already lying on the ground, firing two more shots, all into its head. The monster trembled a few times and then became completely silent.
Roland: "Be careful, there might be more than one of these things."
Jimmy looked up to observe but didn't find any more traces of such monsters, though the previous sound seemed like there was more than one.
Roland had already gotten up and was also observing with his gun raised: "They can disguise themselves as trees and branches, be careful."
Jimmy: "Hmm, I'm already searching. Damn, why is this thing so hard to spot? How do you know their weaknesses?"
Roland: "I've encountered them before, and got hurt, was ambushed."
Well, this explains why Roland is so familiar with the Thorn Stalker, he's indeed dealt with them. If someone like Roland could be ambushed, the fact that it got within two or three meters over Jimmy's head before being discovered is quite impressive. Clearly, Jimmy's danger perception is strong now, at least stronger than Roland's back then.
Jimmy: "OK, say more, how do we find them?"
Roland: "There's no way, when they mimic the trunks and branches, they're almost indistinguishable from real trees, even their skin looks like bark. In such a pitch-black night, they can't be identified, you have to wait till they make a move."
Jimmy gritted his teeth and switched between two visions, trying to spot anomalies, but normal vision was a pitch-black, barely revealing the shape of trunks, and anything slightly farther was invisible. Heart Eye Vision only showed outlines, but since the monsters were surely connected to the bigger trees, just seeing outlines was no help.
Many trees in this forest had mutated, there were too many abnormal bends and twists, Jimmy had to just do his best to observe.
From the previous kill, it was apparent these monsters weren't the same as those he eliminated in the forest outside Little Rock, according to his description, Roland had recognized wrongly before. The ones in Little Rock's woods were made of branches, while these here were a whole.
"I remember you said this guy's body doesn't have strong defense, right?"
Roland: "Correct."
Jimmy: "Watch for defense, I'm going to stir them up."
Roland didn't reply, and Jimmy didn't wait; he glanced at the corpse on the ground and then aimed at all tree trunks similar in size, firing "bang" "bang" one shot after another with the left-hand revolver, while keeping his right-hand revolver focused on his targets, ready to shoot at any sign of movement.
However, after six rounds, still no reaction, certainly, in a forest, relying solely on size differentiation, there were too many potential targets.
"Reload."
With this being his first official collaboration with Roland, Jimmy was unsure if Roland would keep pace with him, hence he had to remind him by voice. Retrieving bullets from his pocket to load the left-hand revolver, Jimmy immediately fired two shots at a vine-like thing ahead, directly breaking the vine. A monster suddenly darted out from behind the trunk; however, it didn't charge at them but fled afar. Of course, its speed was no match for Jimmy and Roland's bullets, "bang bang" sounded as it barely covered a few meters before tumbling to the ground, struggling briefly but then ceasing all movements.
After consecutively killing two, it was still unknown if there were more. The residual light from the fire was far from sufficient, "Roland, turn on the flashlight on the ground."
Jimmy raised both hands holding his gun in alert, while Roland held a gun in one hand for vigilance and crouched down beside Jimmy's sleeping bag, picked up the flashlight and turned it on. The two searched for over ten minutes without finding a third one, only then did they release their alert state.
"Damn it, these things are really tough."
Jimmy complained while walking toward the first Thorn Stalker he killed, "Damn it, this thing looks like an assembly of weapons."
The monster lying on the ground looked entirely like cracked tree bark, its color was dark gray, with slender limbs, and its claw tips seemed very sharp, the tip of its tail carried a spike, which appeared to be a Bone Spur, differing in color from the tail but clearly marking it as a killing machine. Coupled with its speed and hiding capability, undoubtedly even an SRT squad would be massacred by it, and might not even get injured.
Of course, this evaluation is based on partnering with an SRT squad in the woods of New York State while pursuing mercenaries.
Jimmy: "Roland, would these things leave the forest?"
Roland: "No, they've rarely been found outside, this is their territory."
Jimmy: "That's relief, otherwise one wouldn't be able to sleep at night."
Drawing the Dagger, Jimmy directly dissected the monster; however, just two knives in, he gave up. This thing looked inedible, pointless, he wasn't a biologist, no need to figure out the structure, just killing them was enough.
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Nia felt strange, nearing Jimmy and the others' return time, she always felt uneasy, of course, not because of little Liam. The little guy still played and messed around after eating his fill and slept when tired, without any disturbance, mainly because he's too young, not yet at the age of missing his dad.