The creature let out a guttural roar; the crackling of flames inside its mouth interrupted the release of sound and smoke. It stood in front of wide-eyed soldiers; a slight cracking of the earth revealed claws almost the size of swords. It stretched its front legs; a protrusion attached to the back unleashed a quick stream of fire at the Imperial infantry. Most of the surrounding troops were quick to realize what was about to happen and dispersed to the nearest cover they could find. Those who failed to jump out of the fire's way were quickly given a painful end; screams of soldiers were heard before they dropped lifeless to the ground. There were no charred remains; a weak gust of wind scattered what little ash remained of the unfortunate ones.

Rinvar stopped to witness soldiers scrambling into positions in hopes of getting a good shot at the gargantuan intruder. Much of the field around the creature was covered in smoke. Many of the soldiers fired at the intruder only to hear their bullets bounce off the latter's body. Rinvar peered through an officer's pair of binoculars to spot the entity; what he thought were strangely-shaped body parts were actually three heads. The one at the front resembled that of a large cat, but much of the head was covered by metal plates. It was the same for the second head mounted high above the monster's shoulder; what peered out was a pair of large goat-like horns. The tail moved differently from other beasts; Rinvar saw that the appendage was in fact a third head resembling a serpent's.

The creature leapt towards a tent where metal crates and unused shells were seen around it. The foremost head opened its maw in midair; out came a fireball that slammed onto the tent. The resulting explosion created a shockwave that either crushed or knocked out everything in its path. Nearby armored cars toppled over from the intensity of the blast. A crater has taken over where the tent was; much of the surroundings became flaming, upturned earth.

"Damn it! What is that thing?"

"Bandages! We need more bandages."

"Our bullets aren't going through?"

"Get the bigger guns here!"

Attempts to surround the monster with armored cars began; arcs of machinegun fire flew, missing the creature most of the time. The beast leapt out of most of the bullets' paths; the little ordnance that managed to connect bounced off the many rounded sections of the armor plating. Founts of earth popped as machine gunners guided their weapons towards the monster that seemingly evaded them in well-timed leaps that caused the ground to slightly shake. An armored car attempted to sneak in a shot from behind while the creature was midair. The monster's "tail" saw it ahead and opened its maw to unleash a stream of fire at the vehicle. Men who were operating the machine leapt out right before the fire tore through the front engine; the resulting explosion reduced the vehicle to a bent and burnt hulk.

"You saw that, Farin?" Rinvar watched as more of the Imperial Army soldiers responded in an attempt to prevent the creature from going deeper through the encampment.

"Like how it reduced that car to a flaming wreck?"

"That, and it seems to understand what our guns can do to it. Whoever owns this creature taught it well."

"Now is not the time to throw compliments at whoever trained this thing to kill us."

More soldiers were rushed in to contain the creature; the droning buzzing of machineguns was interrupted by the crackle of rifle fire. Most of the shots were wasted on hitting various areas of the armor; the monster leaping forward to go deeper into the Imperial Army encampment.

The monster managed to reach the first artillery position that recently let off another salvo at the still-intact Wizards' Wall. Streams and balls of fire were loosed on the field guns; most of the soldiers manning the artillery pieces ran to escape the chain of explosions that followed.

"Looks like this monster was sent to stop us from breaching the Wizards' Wall..."

Rinvar returned to the armored car he and Farin used before; the soldiers who manned the vehicle were nowhere to be seen. He checked the driver's seat and found that the vehicle did not require a key to bring it running. He spoke to Farin:

"We're going to need bigger and more mobile guns if we want to hurt that creature. The best we could do is to drive its attention away from the artillerymen."

"These cannon tractor vehicles can help?" Farin gestured at the machines that were yet to be deployed.

"Now's the time to find out if they work."

Rinvar then ran to the De Melvich force commander to tell him of his idea in taking down the rampaging gargantuan beast. The plan centered on the use of the armored field gun tractors. These were the only weapons that were powerful enough to break the monster's armor plating, and were mobile enough to change aim compared to the towed counterparts. The few drivers trained to operate the machines were present; engines sputtered and grumbled while soldiers outside of the vehicles prepared the ramps to let the machines move out of their container beds.

Metal treads clanked against the earth as the boxy war machines prepared to engage the fire-mouthed monster; cannons were being trained in the direction of the creature. Rinvar and Farin hopped onto one of the parked armored cars; the director behind the wheel and captain De Melvich manning the gun turret.

"This idea just might get us killed, Rinvar." Farin revved the engine to life and steered to the left.

"We should buy those cannons enough time to score hits on that creature." Rinvar checked the ammunition feed. A belt of fifty to seventy rounds: this was more than enough for the job.

Farin worked her way around the sudden maze of wrecks and flames; the occasional charred remains of an Imperial Army soldier could be seen among some of the mangled vehicles. The creature has begun destroying the second artillery position by the time Farin and Rinvar got close enough. Much of the monster's armor suffered dents and began to rattle with every step; the smell of oil and heated metal seemed to crawl out of the creature's surroundings. Most of the armored cars that were sent to contain the creature ended up abandoned, upturned or, crushed by the monster's might.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"We run circles around it, and try to stay alive."

The attempt to lure the fire-breathing beast began. Rinvar let loose a burst of rounds at the creature's 'tail'. It jolted out of the bullets' path after some of the shots almost hit its right eye. The sound of a ghastly mix of braying and roaring came from all three of the monster's heads. Rinvar's move was returned in kind in the form of two streams of fire that drew two black lines of burned earth and grass. Farin made a violent swerve that rattled the fighting compartment, causing the captain to reset his aim.

This move seemed to work in their favor.

The monster leapt, the lion-like head gathered more flames in its mouth to release a large fireball in the armored car's direction. A fount of upturned earth followed a thundering boom struck left of the vehicle. Farin attempted to regain the vehicle's balance; a half-minute Rinvar spent shifting his weight to prevent their machine from toppling over. Another explosion was heard, with the sound of metal falling over to the earth. Farin got the armored car on all four wheels on the ground when she saw the monster fall from a direct hit. One of the armored gun tractors scored impact on the creature's left shoulder; much of the front left leg armor broke away from the rest of its body. There was a roaring bellow, followed by the release of a fireball that quickly struck the machine's hull. None of the soldiers inside got out of the smoking war tractor, but it managed to get another shot off. This beast had the sense to leap out of the shell's path; the cluster of trees behind took the brunt of the blast.

More of the armored tractors screened what was left of the artillery that was ordered to keep pounding at the spectral barrier of Luminberg. Rinvar tried to distract the creature again with another burst of the machinegun, but he completely missed his mark. Farin maneuvered to get away from the beast, which tried to cut off their escape with a stream of flames. Two more shots from the armored gun carriers at the opposite end caused the creature to stumble; more bits of armor were shed by the blasts. Rinvar saw that the creature's skin seemed unaffected by the shells; no bloody flesh peeked out.

When Rinvar thought they could win against the massive intruder with its armor almost completely dismantled, fate had something else in mind. The creature leapt charged at the armored detail; a rush of burning red and orange brightness poured onto the vehicle's hulls. Two of the machines were destroyed when the heat detonated the ammunition inside.

"Farin, you see that field gun there?"

"I see it!"

"Get me close to it! These guns aren't doing much against that beast."

Farin made a sharp turn to where the artillery piece lay. Whoever manned it ran away before the monster got close. Rinvar jumped out of the armored car and got into the field gun's firing controls. The gun rocked as it let off a shell from its chamber, hitting the fiery horror at its rear right leg. A roar came out of one of the heads when a well-placed shot from the remaining armored gun tractors hit the monster's mouth. Fire and smoke rushed out of the three heads' nostrils and mouths before the creature collapsed with a great thud.

Many of the soldiers who stayed on the defense eased their aim when the rampage was stopped; some even rubbed their eyes when that luck-guided shell killed the unknown behemoth for good. Rinvar sat on the ground, looking at Farin who disembarked from the vehicle.

"Thank the Creator you think fast."

"I feel this is only the start of more trouble for us."

There was a faint explosion heard farther into the city; the light on one of the Wizards' Wall towers started to flicker. Rinvar saw one of the remaining armored cars returning from the area. There was a whistle, followed by a throng of remaining able soldiers gathering in columns. There was a conversation between the commander of the Imperial Army unit and the head of the Blaurosen parade guards. Both Rinvar and Farin decided to drive towards the gathering of officers; the congregation's attention was turned on the two new arrivals.

"Master Rinvar, we are about to explore an opening in the Wall," the commander of the De Melvich unit was the first to speak.

"An opening?"

"Observers have seen the Southwest Gate's barrier fade. We have decided to have these armored tractors take the lead, given how they fared against the monster earlier. We can't be too sure if whoever put the city in this state had put more of those creatures inside the city."

"And we are at the end of the line here." Farin looked past the armored cars that were mustered to respond to the opening.

"I'll still go and check Elena and Old Demian."

"Still planning with that secret passage of yours?"

"Yeah. Besides, this is an opportunity to know how deeply-invested is the Gray Fox in this."