Chapter 15: The Battle in the Sky (Part 2)
Black Dragons were ranked amongst the most powerful magical beasts in the world. The Black Dragon race were generally at least magical beasts of the ninth rank. Powerful members of this race could even reach the stage of being Saint-level combatants. But regardless of whether a Black Dragon was of the ninth rank or Saint level, it would indubitably be incomparably more powerful than the Velocidragon.
At present, the group of children and the three instructors were about several hundred meters away from the Black Dragon. To see a hundred-meter long Black Dragon from such a close distance is an awe-inspiring experience which simply can't be explained with words.
The most terrifying thing of all?
On top of the head of the Black Dragon, a gray-robed man stood, arrogant in demeanor. The wind howled about him, but although the man's gray robes fluttered a bit, he himself maintained a ramrod straight posture, as though he were a carved sculpture. His gaze was focused on a middle-aged, green-robed man who hovered in the middle of the air in front of him. The green-robed man wore a sword behind his back.
The gray-robed man mounted on the Black Dragon and the sword-bearing green-robed man were staring at each other.
Hovering in the sky!
Aside from wind-type magi who were able to use the seventh-ranked spell, 'Soaring Technique', only Saint-level combatants were able to stand and hover in the sky. The sword this green-robed middle-aged man bore on his back gave testament to his true status.
Warrior. A Saint-level warrior.
"A man in gray who was able to subdue a Black Dragon? And a Saint-level combatant who can fly?" The eight-year-old Linley was totally stunned, even after having witnessed the previous day's amazing battle. Not only him; even Hillman, a warrior of the sixth rank, was totally flabbergasted.
"Saint-level combatants. Actual Saint-level combatants." Hillman was mumbling, his entire body trembling.
Hillman, being a man who had been tested in trials of blood and death, was the first to recover and clear his mind. But even after recovering, Hillman still felt as though he were in a dream. "Yesterday, a dual-element magus of the eighth rank came. Today, something even more amazing; two Saint-level combatants, and a Black Dragon! In my entire life, I've never seen anything so amazing."
Hillman felt slightly dizzy.
Black Dragons were amongst the most powerful of magical beasts, at least ninth-rank in power. Someone who was able to subdue one was almost certainly a Saint-level combatant. And from the looks of it, the person facing off against him was also a Saint-level combatant.
This was ample proof that the gray-robed man was a Saint-level combatant as well.
Hillman and the others were hundreds of meters away from the Black Dragon. No matter how sharp their ears were, there was no way for them to hear the words being exchanged by the two parties.
Not knowing what was being said, they just watched, until suddenly…
"Roaaaaaaaaaaar."
Suddenly, the enormous Black Dragon let out a furious roar as its two huge wings began to flap vigorously. It emanated a terrifying pressure, causing everyone, Hillman included, to feel their legs grow soft and to feel as though they couldn't breathe.
"Is this dragonsfear?" Linley also felt as though his heart was being squeezed by a huge stone, making it impossible for him to breathe. Nonetheless, Linley felt extremely excited, and his blood was beginning to boil.
The Black Dragon was simply too powerful.
"Rudi! Don't go overboard!" That green-robed man suddenly let out a powerful shout. The explosive sound of his words reverberated in the air as though it was thunder. Not only did Hillman hear these words clearly; every single person in the town of Wushan heard the words clearly.
Hillman paused. He mumbled the words, "Rudi? Rudi?"
But Hillman quickly realized what was going on. Rapidly turning around, he shouted fiercely at all the children, "Everyone, go home right now! Go home and hide! NOW!" Hillman's loud roar and his urgent expression stunned every child present.
Hillman's thought processes were very clear.
These two Saint-level combatants were obviously engaged in some sort of dispute. Apparently, they were about to come to blows.
When Saint-level combatants were about to engage in a fight, the children standing there watching the fight would not be able to protect themselves at all. The slightest side reverberations could kill all the children present. Saint-level combatants were reputed to have the power to shatter the heavens and obliterate the earth.
Even if that reputation was slightly exaggerated, they definitely did have the power to obliterate a city or a tall mountain.
"Quick, let's move. Don't stand there in a daze, move!" Hillman shouted loudly while shoving some children away.
Only now did the rest of the children awaken from their stupor. Although they didn't understand why Hillman was pushing them to go back to their homes and wanted to continue watching the Saint-level combatants, Hillman's awe-inspiring presence was still enough to send all of the children running speedily for their homes.
"Lorry, Roger, quick, take the six- and seven-year-olds back home. Quickly! If Saint-level combatants clash, when the side-effects of their struggle reach us, the aftermath will be…"
Hillman's face was filled with urgency.
"Understood, Captain!" Lorry and Roger totally understood what their captain was thinking.
Lorry and Roger immediately turned around and lifted the children who were slow runners. They carried two in each arm and two on their backs as well. Hillman joined them as well, quickly beginning to pick up child after child.
"Linley, go home, quick!" Hillman, still carrying several children, shouted towards Linley, who was also running.
"I know, Uncle Hillman!" Linley replied loudly.
Although Linley was only eight years old, his running speed was on par with a fourteen-year-old's. While running, Linley would often turn back to stare at the sky. That huge coiled Black Dragon and those two Saint-level combatants had fully captured his attention.
Twelve warriors came flying out of the Baruch clan manor. As soon as they saw Hillman, they shouted at him. "Captain, Lord Hogg ordered us to come assist you!"
"Quick, take these children home!" Hillman immediately ordered.
"Yes, Captain!" The warriors hastily replied, and quickly began sending the six- and seven-year-olds to their homes.
"All of you, go home! Go home and hide! Protect yourselves!" Hillman shouted again in a loud voice.
Hillman possessed a great deal of authority in the town of Wushan. Upon hearing his words, many of the villagers who had been terrified at the sight of a Black Dragon knew immediately what to do. Right now, the entire town of Wushan had turned into a frenzy of activity. All of the children and all of the workers fled to their homes. At this point in time, the only thing which could protect them was the sturdy stone of their houses.
Linley directly charged into his own residence.
"Quick, hide in the cellar beneath the storage room." Hogg was standing in the middle of the courtyard. Upon seeing Linley, he immediately ordered him in. The cellar beneath the storage room was the largest, sturdiest cellar within the Baruch clan manor. Anyone hiding there definitely would be able to survive.
"Yes, father!" Linley nodded repeatedly, and immediately ran in the direction of the storage room.
While running as fast as he could, Linley's mind returned to the Black Dragon, its gray-robed rider, and the green-robed man. He couldn't help but turn once again and look back at the eastern sky. Since all the buildings in the small town were fairly low in height, he could see clearly for hundreds of meters.
Right now, the Black Dragon was growling nonstop in a low voice.
"Dillon, if you are going to be so stubborn about this, then don't blame me for my actions." A cold voice emanated from the sky. Immediately afterwards, the Black Dragon began to let out a series of angry roars and belched smoky black fire from its mouth.
"Rudi, today I'm going to see exactly how powerful of a Saint-level magus you are!" the green-robed man shouted angrily.
Chapter 16: Catastrophe (Part 1)
Clearly, the swordsman wearing green was named Dillon, while the gray-robed man was named Rudi.
The Black Dragon beneath the gray-robed man breathed out a huge plume of black flame, surrounding the green-robed man and swirling like smoke. Suddenly, the green-robed swordsman's eyes shone with a fierce green light, and then his entire body was surrounded by a protective green aura, preventing the flames from injuring him in the slightest. At the same time, the ringing sound of a sword could be heard.
That ringing sound was even louder and more pure than the dragon's roar, encompassing the heavens and the earth.
The green-robed man struck out with his longsword, and suddenly, a huge, indistinct sword tip spanning tens of meters in length appeared and slashed outwards into the air, fiercely attacking the gray-robed man. The gray-robed man stared coldly at that sword of light. Not moving in the slightest, he just constantly mumbled magical incantations.
"Is this the tip of a sword? The tip of an enormous sword?" While running to the warehouse, Linley was still watching with his head turned. "How is that gray-robed man going to block? Using the Black Dragon?"
"Crash!"
The Black Dragon didn't block at all, and allowed the enormous sword-tip to come crashing down directly on the body of the gray-robed man. The man's gray robes immediately exploded in all directions, but after having done so, a suit of shining protective battle armor was revealed underneath it. The battle armor was so shiny it was piercing to the eye, as though it were made of diamonds.
The sword-tip's collision with the battle-armor had actually done no harm at all to the gray-robed man.
"How is that possible?!" Linley was truly scared silly.
Since he wasn't watching where he was running, Linley suddenly stumbled on a stone and went crashing to the floor. But even on the floor, Linley was still continuing to watch that battle in the eastern sky. "What sort of armor is that? How could its defensive abilities be so strong?"
"Linley, hurry! Stop daydreaming!" Seeing Linley, Hogg couldn't help but let out a furious roar.
"Yes, father!" Linley was startled awake. He immediately clambered to his feet and began running in the direction of the warehouse again.
"Rumble, rumble…" Suddenly, a terrifying sound could be heard from the heavens, followed by a terrifying screech which shook the entire town of Wushan. Linley couldn't help but once again turn his head towards the eastern sky to take a look. That single glance stunned him once again.
The eastern sky had suddenly become densely filled with giant flying boulders, every single one of them the size of a house.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"
All of those house-sized boulders were covered with flashing light the color of yellow dirt. They flew through the air at astonishing speeds as they struck like meteors towards the green-robed man. Every single stone had to be tens of millions of pounds in weight. Each one of the boulders was many times heavier and larger than the stones used by catapults in times of war.
Even the walls of a city would not be able to resist such a powerful boulder.
A single giant boulder carried such powerful force, but now, the entire sky was filled with them, as countless boulders were arcing towards the green-robed man. Every single person in the town of Wushan was stunned by the sight.
"Crash!"
As the first boulder struck the green-robed man, the amount of green light covering his body suddenly increased dramatically, transforming him into a green sun, emanating piercing rays of green light in all directions.
Countless boulders converged on the green-robed man, like drops of water in a rainstorm.
In the blink of an eye, it seemed as though he had become completely surrounded by boulders. The green light could now only be seen through tiny 'cracks' in that wall of boulders.
"Shatter!"
With a thunderous cracking sound, one boulder after another began to explode, as the boulders began to be shattered into tiny pieces by that terrifyingly powerful battle-qi. Each and every boulder, originally the size of a house, was shattered into much smaller pieces that shot outwards in every direction.
They were hundreds of meters in the air to begin with. When shot out with the force of that battle-qi, the rubble shot out with tremendous power to an extremely far distance.
"Oh no." Hogg's face had turned white. Hillman, who was still on the streets of the town of Wushan, saw this, and his face turned white as well. They all understood…
A catastrophe was descending upon the town of Wushan!
Countless rocks, ranging in size from two meters in diameter to man-sized, fell down in all directions, with no rhythm or pattern. Each boulder had produced tens, if not hundreds, of pieces, and perhaps 20% of them were shooting in the direction of the town of Wushan.
"Quick, go inside, quick!" Hogg was so agitated, he roared with fury.
At this moment, Linley was still tens of meters away from the warehouse. Hearing his father's angry roar, Linley paid attention to nothing else and ran towards the warehouse at top speed. As he did, he could hear one 'crash', 'crash', 'crash' after another. The sound of countless stones raining down on the town of Wushan had begun.
It was like an earthquake was occurring. A picture of absolute disaster.
"Whoosh!" A boulder that must've weighed hundreds of pounds shot right past Linley, coming to a crashing rest not too far away from his feet, creating a huge crater. Linley felt cold sweat pour down his back. Just a tiny bit of a difference in trajectory, and his little life would've been over.
"Crash!""Crash!""Crash!""Crash!"
The sound of stones smashing houses apart could be heard. The sound of stones colliding with the ground, the sounds of stones shattering wood, the sounds of people howling in pain… all sorts of sounds mixed together unceasingly, forming a symphony of disaster.
"Swoosh!" Another huge rock slammed into the ground in front of Linley, forcing him to rapidly jump backwards.
But if he kept on having to dodge like this, how would he manage to hide within the warehouse?
"Young master Linley, hurry!" A man came charging out from within the warehouse. It was Uncle Hiri, the housekeeper. His body was currently covered with red battle-qi, and he ran directly towards Linley.
"Big brother, hurry!"
At the door to the warehouse, four-year-old Wharton stood crying as he yelled towards Linley.
"Wharton, go inside now!" Linley roared back angrily.
"WHOOSH!" A huge rock nearly two meters in diameter came flying in their direction from far away, headed directly towards the warehouse. Linley immediately realized that when this giant boulder smashed into the warehouse, Wharton would either suffer serious injury, or even die!
"Quick, Wharton, inside!" Linley's eyes were opened so wide as to appear bloodshot, and he howled angrily as he ran towards the warehouse at top speed.
He no longer paid any attention to the raining stones, nor did he try to avoid them. He ran directly towards the warehouse in a straight line.
Hiri was facing Linley, and simply couldn't see the giant boulder headed towards the warehouse. But Linley saw everything clearly. When the boulder descended and shattered the room, how could little Wharton survive?
"Young master Linley?" Seeing how Linley was acting, Hiri couldn't help but feel shocked.
Three more boulders came crashing down near Linley, but moving like a panther, Linley continued to charge forwards, his gaze fixed on little Wharton as he finally entered the warehouse. Hiri, turning around, only now became aware of that two-meter long boulder descending towards the warehouse. His face immediately turned white.
"Lie down!" Linley roared angrily, his face fierce.
Wharton had never seen his big brother look so angry before, and was so terrified that he immediately lay down. His eyes filled with tears, he looked at Linley and mumbled, "Big brother…" But with a flying hug, Linley tackled Wharton and covered him with his own body.
At that instant…
"CRASH!"
The sound of the boulder crashing into the warehouse. That enormous boulder had smashed into the warehouse roof with terrifying power. Although the stone roof of the warehouse was sturdy, when slammed into by such a huge boulder, it still broke apart. Even the floor of the warehouse was shattered apart by the vibrations from that collision.
"Young master—" Housekeeper Hiri's eyes immediately turned red. The battle-qi in his body exploded, and like a bolt of red lightning, he flew towards them. Using his own body as a protective barrier, he also used his two hands to push at a huge piece of the falling roof which was going to fall on Linley's body. Hiri and that collapsing ceiling arrived next to Linley at almost the same time.
"Rumble, rumble…"
In the blink of an eye, Wharton, Linley, and Hiri were totally trapped and pressed down under the falling rubble.
Hogg was in the courtyard, wielding an enormous sword, deflecting one boulder after another. But when he turned his head towards Linley, he saw Linley risk everything to protect Wharton, and then Housekeeper Hiri fly towards them to protect them both. His mind immediately went blank.
The warehouse collapsed, and rubble poured down onto it.
"Linley!" Hogg's eyes turned red.
Right now, there was no way for Hogg to tell if Hiri had managed to position himself in front of Linley in time, or if the falling rocks had slammed into Linley first.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
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