The roar of the advancing swarm was like the sound of an oncoming tidal wave of shattered glass.
Three thousand Shell-Stitched Locusts poured into the nineteen-meter concrete defile leading into Gate 4. Their spiked, hard-shelled legs hammered the frozen mud in an unbroken, ear-splitting clatter. Their jagged compound eyes reflected the amber glare of the warning lights. From their segmented chest glands, plumes of green, vaporous stomach acid hissed into the air, melting the snow and etching deep, sizzling grooves into the roadside concrete.
At the narrowest point of the gateway stood Titus.
The fourteen-ton dark rock tortoise didn’t adopt an aggressive striking stance. He simply widened his four massive, tree-trunk limbs, rotated his armored foot pads outward. Then he sank his six-inch granite claws through the paving stones until they bit into the ancient dark rock bedrock beneath the city’s foundations.
Across his domed back shell, the dense six-sided armor scales began to glow with a deep, earthy soft glow.
[Skill Activated: Continental Xuanwu Tectonic Grounding].
The lead wave of locusts hit him at forty miles per hour.
CRASH-BOOM-SCRAPE!
