Weapon System 64: At Last, the Mythical Monster Arrives (1)

Zhang Mingjing was now less than a kilometer from the lizard monster, which had already spotted him and was swimming rapidly toward his position.

“Should I fight it, or should I retreat for now?” Zhang Mingjing asked.

“Wouldn’t it seem cowardly to bail without even trying to fight?”

“Fine! Then I’ll take a risk and exchange a few blows with this three-headed lizard monster.”

“Draw it onto land, you’ll have more allies there.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.” With that, Zhang Mingjing shot out of the river and landed in a patch of forest on the bank.

…

Meanwhile, in the five-dimensional space, the elders exchanged uneasy glances. Then, each began to open the systems they carried, preparing to collaborate on designing a program weapon.

This weapon would be used to seal the mental models of the space-time monsters, keeping them trapped in ignorance and greed.

“The five-dimensional mental model is right. If these space-time monsters ever advance and become intelligent beings, it would spell disaster for our five-dimensional space,” one elder said, his voice heavy with worry.

...

Zhang Mingjing had waited barely a minute in the thicket before the river suddenly erupted in a giant wave, and the monster burst forth.

On its six-meter-wide shoulders perched three ferocious lizard heads, each roaring with rage.

“My god, it’s practically a magical beast!” Zhang Mingjing exclaimed in awe.

The creature stood a full seven meters tall, with thick limbs, and—indeed—no tail. But it possessed a pair of massive wings, and its entire body was armored with a keratin layer averaging over a meter in thickness.

Within three seconds, Zhang Mingjing unleashed dozens of kicks, each as swift as a silkworm’s strike, yet only managed to make the monster’s three heads sway slightly.

“Looks like I’ll need to optimize my attack power next time!” he thought, then followed up by striking the monster’s chest with over thirty Buddha’s Palm blows. The beast merely staggered back three or four steps.

“Damn, this thing’s like a mountain, unmovable!” Zhang Mingjing grumbled and immediately tried the Six Meridian Sword technique, but again, it only made the monster retreat a few steps.

“How do I deal with this creature?” he asked the five-dimensional mental model. At this moment, the monster counterattacked.

It spat a massive glob of venom toward him. Zhang Mingjing leapt clear, but where the venom landed, grass and trees instantly disintegrated into ash.

“This venom is even deadlier than that snake monster’s!” the five-dimensional mental model commented, then told Zhang Mingjing, “We can’t find its weakness yet. You’ll have to keep fighting—perhaps something will emerge.”

Then, the monster swept its wing, slicing through everything in its path: plants, stones, all were cleaved in two. The process was as effortless as cutting through air.

“Holy hell! That’s terrifying!” Zhang Mingjing barely dodged with a move reminiscent of the Flowing Step, but his heart pounded with fear.

He continued fighting while sending real-time data on the monster to Katherine, Jemily, Ascension, and Enlightenment.

Katherine and Jemily were already on their way, though it would be over an hour before they arrived.

The data stunned them, but their concern for Zhang Mingjing drove them to accelerate.

Ascension and Enlightenment’s assistants received the data and immediately translated it for their masters.

The two pets shivered in unison after listening, exchanged glances, and seemed to agree not to budge.

“Hey! Aren’t you two going to help?” the True Man stepped forward, angrily rebuking them.

Ascension barked, and its assistant translated, “The monster is terrifying!”

“You two are the heroes of the cat-dog world—maybe even the whole pet world, possibly the animal world. If you shrink back now, you’ll lose followers,” the True Man warned loudly.

Enlightenment meowed, and its assistant translated, “Losing followers is terrifying!”

---

But still, the two pets didn’t move; apparently, the threat of losing followers didn’t compare to this mythic monster’s terror.

The True Man immediately played his trump card, threatening, “If you keep acting like this, even your assistants will despise you, and I’ll have to kick you both out of my friend circle.”

Upon hearing this, the pets exchanged another glance, and Ascension barked again. Its assistant translated, “We’re going!”

So, being kicked out of the True Man’s circle was even worse than facing the monster.

The pets began to stretch, though they deliberately moved slower than usual, trying to stall for time. Still, they were finally preparing to aid Zhang Mingjing.

...

Zhang Mingjing had already unleashed every trick in his arsenal. He transformed all the stored energy in his armor into hammers and relentlessly pounded the monster.

Yet, with its three heads, while one grew dizzy after a dozen blows, the other two remained alert and vigorous.

When he finally knocked out a second head, the previously dazed one quickly revived… No matter how he struck, at least one head was always conscious, and the monster never let up its attack.

Zhang Mingjing could only complain inwardly. He called for the Defender to fire a laser in support, but even when the laser struck the monster’s head, its high temperature was completely absorbed and transferred away.

“This monster has strategy and strength—truly both brain and brawn!” Zhang Mingjing could only envy its abilities.

“How on earth do we defeat it?” he pressed the five-dimensional mental model.

“Wear it down. Wait for the pets, Katherine, and Jemily to arrive.”

Meanwhile, the monster kept slashing at him with its razor-sharp wings and spraying venom. Though Zhang Mingjing blocked the venom with an energy shield and his armor withstood the wing’s cut, he was still heavily injured, especially when struck by the wings—his organs felt as if they were being torn apart.

“Wear it down? I think it’s wearing me down!” he grumbled, only to be swept by the wing again, sent flying hundreds of meters.

This time his robe was hit, so it couldn’t morph into wings to help him land—the crash was brutal, and his energy hammer vanished instantly.

“Ugh...” Zhang Mingjing spat out blood, startled, and cried, “Damn! I’m internally injured!”

“If you didn’t suffer at least a bit of injury, wouldn’t that be disrespectful to the beast?” the five-dimensional mental model remarked.

“Come on! You’re still cracking jokes—have you found a way to defeat it yet?”

“I’m still calculating.”

At that moment, the monster reached Zhang Mingjing’s side and sprayed venom at him. Zhang Mingjing raised his energy shield to defend.

Just then, the two pets streaked over the monster’s head at supersonic speed; twenty seconds later, they circled back again.

During this, one of the monster’s heads was struck repeatedly by Ascension’s bizarre photon-powered kicks, and another by Enlightenment’s photon-powered cat claws, leaving it irritated.

The monster stopped attacking Zhang Mingjing and turned its fury toward Ascension and Enlightenment, giving Zhang Mingjing a moment to catch his breath.

“I was nearly beaten to death, what are you calculating?” Zhang Mingjing asked, panting as he sat on the ground.

“I’m working out the optimal method and required force for a fatal blow to the monster.”

“Why is it taking so long?”

“Be patient.”

“Are you up to this or not? If not, tell everyone to retreat—calculate on the move, let the War God Squad handle the monster for now,” Zhang Mingjing urged.

“That won’t do. The War God Squad can’t handle it either.”

“If that won’t work, and neither will this, are you even capable?”

“If the monster were a three-dimensional creature, I could calculate instantly. But it’s encoded with five-dimensional space-time monster power—it’s not so easy. So show some class and wait patiently.”

---

“Ah!” Zhang Mingjing watched as the two pets tangled with the monster and couldn’t help sighing, “Those two little guys are pretty impressive!”

“They are, so get back in there!” the five-dimensional mental model urged.

“What’s the rush? Can’t I catch my breath?”

“Seriously? The heroes in your dramas are all suave and composed, brave and clever. You’re full of skills—why not learn some poise?”

“What do you know? Drama characters have to be perfect to win fans—that’s art, derived from life but elevated above it. In reality, someone like me is already top-tier.”

“Yeah, right. I don’t buy it.”

“Who cares whether you do? Get back to calculating! I won’t waste time bantering with you.” With that, Zhang Mingjing stood up, released all the energy stored in his armor, transforming it instantly into a five-meter-long light hammer.

He guided the hammer with his mind, smashing it down on the monster.

The two pets, though swift, were eventually struck by the monster’s wings, sent flying after dozens of passes. But they were lucky—their robes instantly morphed into wings before landing...

Still, both suffered heavy blows and needed to rest before rejoining the fight.

Zhang Mingjing continued to direct the light hammer, pounding one of the monster’s heads. After over thirty strikes, he finally knocked it out, enraging the monster, which charged toward him.

Yet Zhang Mingjing knew that before he could knock out another head, the unconscious one would likely revive. The monster always had at least one head awake, never losing its fighting power.

Now the monster was upon him, spraying venom and sweeping its wings.

His robe transformed into wings, allowing him to fly, as he continued directing the light hammer against the beast.

At this moment, the monster flapped its wings and soared after him, relentless.

“Have you noticed? The monster doesn’t bother to use its energy-transfer defense against your attacks or the hammer’s strikes,” the five-dimensional mental model remarked.

“So what?”

“It means, deep down, it doesn’t take your attacks seriously.”

“Hey! You’re not planning to provoke me into a reckless fight, are you?”

“Haha! Would I stoop so low? Besides, are you really so impulsive?”

“Then what’s your point?”

“I’m telling you that its arrogance is its weakness!”

“Damn! I already knew that—but it’s so ridiculously strong, we have no chance to exploit that weakness!”

“That’s just because the timing isn’t right. Once the moment comes, it’ll fall for sure.”

“Then tell me—when will that moment arrive?”

Just then, the monster’s flight speed reached supersonic levels.

“Damn! At this speed, it’ll reach our city in no time!” Zhang Mingjing exclaimed in shock.

“Exactly! So keep it busy, don’t let it make easy progress,” the five-dimensional mental model said. “Luckily, we’re still much faster than it, given its massive size. Just keep flying at high speed, but maintain your distance, and continue hammering it, though reduce your force by thirty percent and speed by twenty percent.”