Even so, the biological monsters in the dam stronghold were unusually numerous.
Their journey so far had already consumed a lot of their ammunition, so the current situation could only be described as barely sufficient.
"Not much left, just a few magazines and clips, but I still have two High-explosive grenades, which should be able to handle emergencies," Leon said, shaking his head and looking at his simple equipment, answering Krauser lightly.
They were truly lucky; this equipment was fine for dealing with zombies, but if it had been the drug lord Idalgo before, they would probably have been dead long ago.
"No need to worry about ammunition," Javier also shook his head and said.
"If you can kill the bio-monsters, use as much as you can.
We have no way back now.
Instead of thinking about how many bullets to save, it's better to think about whether we can meet drug lord Idalgo first."
They hadn't even seen the boss yet, so there was no need to consider bullets.
They only had a dozen or so portable explosives left, having used up most of them when dealing with the mutated man-eating flower monsters from Plant 42 earlier.
Thinking about the subsequent big monster, Hilda, Manuela's mother, and then the V-Complex Idalgo, considering a few magazines of ammunition was simply ridiculous, because it wouldn't be enough at all.
Since it wasn't enough, there was naturally no need to consider it.
"Indeed…"
"But you should all be able to smell the threat inside, right?
Be careful, I feel like our old friend is about to appear again."
Nodding, Leon expressed the same view as Javier, but as his gaze fell upon the corridor covered with plastic sheeting, Leon frowned slightly and reminded them.
He could feel it… there was something very dangerous waiting for them inside, and this feeling was very familiar, chilling, somewhat like the mutated monster Licker he encountered in the Raccoon City Police Department!
The blind killer hidden in the darkness—
Possessing many titles such as Ripper, Brain Sucker, and Flesh-colored Lizard,
Extremely fast,
Their acute hearing allows them to precisely locate prey in the dark; even the slightest movement will trigger a Licker's violent attack.
Leon had this feeling, so he highly suspected that the monster waiting for them inside was a Licker, and Lickers were much harder to deal with than ordinary zombies.
"Heh…"
"Whatever it is, just blow its head into minced meat."
In response, Krauser maintained his usual confident demeanor, extending his thick arm to pull open the plastic sheeting and walking straight in.
Leon and Javier didn't hesitate either, following closely behind.
Sometimes, it has to be said, having a tough guy like Krauser dare to charge in first is very important!
"Tap, tap, tap…"
However, they had only just taken a few steps when—
"Hoo, hoo, hoo… deh, deh, deh…"
A strange, low snarl quickly came, like a beast grinding its teeth while sleeping at night, unusually grating and piercing.
Coupled with the dim environment, it made them feel incredibly eerie and creepy, like a ghost hidden in a horror movie.
And the source of the sound seemed to be overhead, but due to the extremely dim environment inside, Javier and the other two couldn't precisely pinpoint the location.
"Is it a Licker?"
Seeing this, Leon frowned deeply, narrowing his eyes, and looked around very vigilantly.
When he was in the Raccoon City Police Department, Leon had also encountered Lickers hiding in the dark, which also had strange low snarls, but lacked the grinding sound.
Could it have mutated again—?
Thinking of this,
"Click!"
Leon decisively pulled out a lighter from his pocket and lit it.
A faint flame burned in the dim corridor, appearing extremely dazzling, but Leon didn't intend to use it for illumination.
Instead, like a hot potato, he quickly threw it far away after lighting it.
"Clang—!"
A crisp sound and a prominent flame simultaneously echoed in the deathly silent dark environment.
The moment the lighter fell, Javier and the other two in the dim corridor seemed to feel a piercing whooshing sound of something swooping down.
What suddenly rushed down?!
"Here it comes…!"
At this moment, Javier and the other two stared intently at the burning lighter, hoping to catch something with their eyes.
And the next second,
"Whoosh—!!!!"
A black lightning bolt suddenly descended.
A blurry black shadow swooped fiercely towards the lighter.
A pair of sharp blades, like scythes or hooks, quickly smashed down.
With a loud "bang," the kerosene lighter quickly exploded, and the splashing kerosene, accompanied by the flame, spread rapidly.
The metal lighter was torn into countless iron pieces, scattering into sparks that flew into the air.
What was that—?
"Is it a Licker…?!"
"No, I saw a black falcon, very fast, though only for an instant!"
"Wrong, it's not a Licker, nor an eagle or a falcon, it's a bat!"
"Are you kidding?"
"I'm not kidding… it's a bat—!!!"
"Da da da da da da—!!!!!"
Just a glimpse,
With the faint flame provided by the lighter, Javier, Leon, and Krauser caught a fleeting glimpse of the monster's figure.
However, due to the short duration, no one got a clear look.
Leon still thought it was his old friend, the Licker, while Krauser believed it was an infected mutant of an eagle or a falcon.
Only Javier clearly saw it: it was a mutated and modified bat.
No, it was the ancient Egyptian god of death… Anubis—
However, despite their bickering, the moment they saw the monster, and the lighter's kerosene splattered on its body, still marking it with a faint flame, Javier and the other two had no disagreement in their actions.
Holding their assault rifles, they quickly pulled the triggers for a concentrated barrage of heavy fire.
Javier also took out his large-caliber Desert Eagle and fired!
The muzzle flashes from the firearms were also very dazzling in the dark, like a rapid rain of bullets, but when they actually hit the monster, they immediately stopped short.
Yes, it did not break through.
No, rather than saying it didn't break through, it would be more accurate to say it didn't cause effective damage.
A series of bullets embedded themselves in the monster's flesh, but like mud oxen entering the sea, they instantly made no sound.
This situation made Leon and Krauser's faces grim.
If there was no effect at all, then what level was the monster in front of them?
"Boom—!"
"Whoosh—!!!!"
A whooshing sound went off.
Taking advantage of the time Leon and Krauser bought, Javier loaded his arrows with portable explosives, three times the usual amount.
Although the accuracy and range of the arrows would be greatly reduced, the space in the corridor was not very large, so there was no need to worry too much about accuracy and range; it would be easy to hit.
"Pfft…!"
"Beep beep beep…"
Sure enough, the arrow successfully hit the monster's body in the darkness, and the countdown for the portable explosive began to sound.
The monster seemed to feel the sense of death threat emanating from the arrow, but unfortunately, it couldn't shake it off no matter how hard it tried.
The next second, the explosive detonated—!
"Bang… Boom!!!!"
A loud bang,
An even larger flame began to expand and bloom, and with the help of this even larger firelight, Leon and Krauser clearly saw the monster's figure: a slender, withered body, twisted black and red muscles intertwined all over, a pair of black, ragged bat-wing scythe-like claws flailing wildly, a head resembling a bat but also a floppy-eared hound, and giant eagle-like iron feet on its lower body, covered all over with white, hard bones.
It wasn't a Licker.
It was indeed a bat.
Just a mutated one.
And at first glance, it even resembled ZombieGreymon from Digimon, after all, its mismatched appearance was simply too bizarre.
And this…
This was Umbrella Corporation's temporary replacement for the Hunter series of Bio-Organic Weapons (BOWs) after research was halted for special reasons.
It was a new type of Hunter, the Death God of the Styx, Anubis, created by the T-Virus infecting and mutating bat and insect animal genes—
However, after Javier's arrow exploded, this Anubis bat monster could no longer move.
Almost half of its body was blown to pieces, and it wailed, dragging its already slender, weak, and withered body.
After all, it was three times the amount of portable explosives; even if Hilda, Manuela's mother, the aquatic dragonfly larva, had come, she would have felt a surge of pain.
But was there only one Anubis monster in this corridor…?
Without a doubt… the answer was certainly no!
"Hiss, hiss, hiss—!!!!"
A sharp screeching sound echoed again in the dim corridor, causing Javier and the other two's faces to instantly change.
Damn it… there was indeed more than one Anubis in this corridor.
These monsters were hanging upside down from the ceiling like bats, sleeping.
Because of Javier's recently fired explosive arrow and the cries for help from its kind, the other Anubis monsters were completely awakened.
It was as if they had stumbled into a dark bat cave; on the ceiling above, crimson eyes began to open one by one.
This… was simply a nightmare for those with trypophobia.
There was no need to even roughly count; at least ten or more Anubis monsters were gathered in this dim corridor.
"Run—!!!"
With a startled shout, Javier pulled Leon and Krauser and quickly turned to flee, simultaneously unhooking a flashbang from his tactical backpack, pulling the pin, and throwing it directly behind them.
Javier seemed to feel that the Anubis bats were rapidly swooping towards the three of them!
"Clang…!"
A crisp sound echoed, that was the sound of the flashbang falling.
"Bang—Pfft—!!!!"
A muffled sound continued, and a dazzling white light and invisible sound waves rapidly spread out behind Javier and the others.
In this dark corridor, it was as striking and brilliant as a newly risen sun.
The terrifying 600W candela light directly scared away the Anubis bats that were intending to pursue, instantly blinding all of their eyes and ears.
No way, from a biological standpoint, flashbangs restrain most creatures, except for humans.
After all, bats' eyes seem nearsighted, and they only use sound waves to locate prey, but the sound blast of a flashbang can maximally affect their ears and the transmission of sound waves.
That taste, that thrill… It was truly like taking a flashbang and running into the deep mountains and old forests to blow up a dark cave full of sleeping bats.
If those bats could speak, they'd probably be chasing people and cursing!
"Hiss hiss hiss—!!!!"
As expected, after the flashbang exploded, the Anubis bat monsters immediately let out painful howls, each crashing to the ground.
Their ragged bat-wing scythe-claws flailed and struggled on the ground, as if a fleet of airplanes had lost control due to radio interference.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Javier and the other two managed to escape from the dark corridor covered by plastic sheeting.
However… flashbangs could not completely kill these Anubis monsters; they could only temporarily delay them.
Therefore, "Hiss hiss hiss… Roar roar roar…!!!!"
Soon, angry roars quickly came from inside the dark corridor covered by plastic sheeting.
Almost instantly, the covering plastic sheeting was cut into countless fragments, and the recovered Anubis bats inside fiercely invaded towards Javier and the others, numbering around dozens.
Such a large number would be very difficult to deal with without powerful heavy weapons, and unfortunately, Javier and his two companions did not have any so-called heavy weapons; their equipment was very simple.