Chapter 16 – Catastrophe (part 1)

Book 1, 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 Wushan township. 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 these boulders were uncountably times heavier and larger than the stones used by catapults in times of war. Even the walls of a city could not 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 man in green. Every single person in Wushan township was stunned by the sight. “Crash!” As the first boulder struck the man in green, 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 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, and 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 Wushan township, saw this and his face turned white as well. They all understood… A catastrophe was descending upon Wushan township! 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 twenty percent of them were shooting in the direction of Wushan township. “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 on Wushan township 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 apart houses 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 the 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. Almost just 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 into 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.