Calamity (Part 1)

Clearly, the green-robed middle-aged man with the longsword was named Tilon, while the gray-robed man was Rudi.

The Black Dragon beneath the gray-robed man spewed black flames that billowed like smoke and instantly engulfed the green-robed man. A dazzling emerald light suddenly flared over the green-robed man’s body, protecting him so completely that the black flames could not harm him in the slightest. At the same time, the sound of a sword rang out.

That sword cry was louder even than a dragon’s roar, echoing through heaven and earth.

The green-robed man grasped his longsword and swung it. An enormous, hazy sword aura dozens of meters long ripped through the sky and slashed fiercely at the gray-robed man. The gray-robed man continued to stare coldly at the enormous sword aura without moving, while his lips kept silently chanting a spell.

“Is that sword aura? Such an enormous sword aura?” Linley ran toward the storeroom while looking back. “How will that gray-robed man block it? With his Black Dragon?”

“Bang!”

The Black Dragon did not block it. The enormous sword aura struck the gray-robed man directly. His gray robe exploded into fragments, but beneath it was a gleaming suit of protective armor. Its light was dazzling, like a diamond.

The enormous sword aura struck the armor without harming the gray-robed man at all.

“How is that possible?” Linley was truly stunned.

Running without watching his feet, Linley accidentally stepped on a stone and fell headlong. Even then, he kept looking toward the eastern sky. “What kind of armor is that? How can its defense be so formidable?”

“Linley, hurry! Stop staring.” Seeing Linley like this, Hogg could not help roaring.

“Yes, Father.” Linley snapped out of it, scrambled to his feet, and ran toward the storeroom.

“Rumble...” A terrible noise suddenly resounded through heaven and earth, followed by terrified screams throughout Wushan Town. Linley instinctively looked toward the sky again, and the sight frightened him—

Countless enormous boulders were floating in the eastern sky, each as large as a house.

“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

Every house-sized boulder glowed with an earthen-yellow light and streaked through the air like a meteor toward the green-robed man. Each one probably weighed nearly 110,000 pounds. Such huge stones were far larger than the ammunition used by wartime catapults.

Even a city wall could probably not endure such a blow.

One boulder was terrifying enough. Now, however, countless house-sized boulders rained down one after another on the green-robed man. The sight completely stunned the people of Wushan Town.

“Bang!”

The first boulder struck the green-robed man. The emerald light around him suddenly surged, and he seemed to become a green sun, radiating blinding emerald brilliance.

The dense mass of boulders surged around the green-robed man like a tide.

In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by a great number of boulders. Only the emerald light shining through their gaps remained visible.

“Bang!”

With a violent explosion, the boulders burst apart one after another. The terrifying emerald Battle Qi blasted every house-sized boulder into fragments of varying sizes that shot in every direction.

From a height of several hundred meters, propelled by the explosive force of the Battle Qi, the fragments flew with tremendous power and traveled very far.

“Oh no!” Hogg’s face suddenly turned deathly pale. Hillman, still in the streets of Wushan Town, went pale as well. They both understood—

Disaster had descended upon Wushan Town!

Countless fragments, some nearly two meters across and others as large as a human head, flew outward without pattern from hundreds of meters in the air. Every boulder had broken into dozens or hundreds of pieces, and nearly one-fifth of them hurtled toward Wushan Town.

“Father!” Seeing the great number of stones falling rapidly from the sky, Linley shouted to Hogg in the distance.

“Run! Get inside!” Hogg roared in desperation.

Linley was still dozens of meters from the storeroom. Hearing his father’s shout, he ignored everything else and ran there as fast as he could. “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” Countless stones crashed down around him.

It was like an earthquake, a scene of apocalypse.

“Whoosh!” A boulder weighing several hundred pounds skimmed past Linley and smashed into the ground nearby, blasting a deep pit. Cold sweat ran down his back. If it had been just a little closer, he would have died.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”

The sounds of stones smashing through roofs, shattering paving stones, and striking the earth, along with the screams of people being killed, rang out without cease. Together, they formed a scene of apocalypse.

“Whoosh!” Several more large stones struck the ground ahead of Linley, forcing him to retreat and dodge at speed.

But if he kept dodging like this, how could he reach the storeroom?

“Young Master Linley, quickly.” Someone rushed out of the storeroom. It was old Hiri. A fiery-red Battle Qi barrier gleamed around him as he ran toward Linley.

“Big Brother, hurry, hurry!”

At the doorway of the storeroom, four-year-old Wharton looked as though he were about to cry as he shouted at Linley.

“Wharton, get inside! Now!” Linley roared.

“Whoosh!” An exceptionally large boulder, nearly two meters long, shot through the air from afar and straight toward the storeroom. Linley saw it and instantly calculated that if it struck the roof, Wharton, standing by the doorway, would certainly be injured—perhaps even killed.

“Get inside, Wharton!” With the corners of his eyes nearly splitting, Linley roared and sprinted toward the storeroom.

No longer caring about the falling stones or trying to dodge them, he rushed toward Wharton at full speed.

Facing Linley, Hiri could not see the boulder headed for the storeroom behind him. Linley saw it clearly. If debris fell inside the storeroom, how could little Wharton’s body withstand it?

“Young Master Linley!” Steward Hiri was greatly alarmed by Linley’s actions.

Two or three more stones struck rapidly around Linley. Like a leopard, he dashed into the storeroom, his eyes fixed on Wharton. Only when Hiri turned around did he see the two-meter boulder bearing down on the storeroom. His face instantly went pale.

“Get down!” Linley roared, his expression fierce.

Wharton had never seen such a terrifying expression on his brother’s face. Frightened, he immediately dropped to the floor, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at Linley. “Big Brother...”

Linley dove forward and covered Wharton with his body.

At almost the same moment—

“Boom!”

With a tremendous impact, the terrifying boulder slammed into the storeroom roof. Though the stone slabs were sturdy, they shattered under such a boulder. Even the walls cracked and collapsed.

“Young Masters!” Hiri’s eyes instantly reddened. Battle Qi burst from his body, and he dove forward like a bolt of red lightning. A protective aura formed around him as his palms lashed out at the falling wall fragments. Hiri and the rubble from the collapsed wall came down on Linley almost at the same time.

“Rumble...”

In only moments, Wharton, Linley, and Hiri were completely buried beneath the collapsed wall.

In the courtyard, Hogg used his greatsword to knock away a rapidly descending stone. But when he turned toward Linley, he saw Linley throw himself at Wharton without regard for his own life, followed by Hiri’s dive to protect them. He went completely blank.

The storeroom collapsed, and rubble rained down.

“Linley!” Hogg’s eyes instantly turned red.

At that moment, Hogg could not tell whether Hiri had covered Linley first or whether the rubble had struck Linley first.