Chapter 17: Disaster (Part 2)
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...
Intermittent crashing sounds echoed through Wushan Town. In just a short while, not a single piece of rubble remained in the sky. Those massive boulders had been completely shattered by the green-robed middle-aged man. But at this moment, the people of Wushan Town had no energy left to watch the battle in the sky.
"Lord Hogg, the situation in Wushan Town is dire. Just now... Lord Hogg? What's wrong with you?" Hillman rushed into the manor. He had only managed to report a few sentences when he saw Hogg's dazed expression and couldn't help but speak up.
Hogg's body trembled, and his mind finally cleared. "Linley." Hogg suddenly charged toward the direction of the warehouse with terrifying speed. Seeing this, Hillman guessed something and immediately followed.
"Bang!" Before Hogg could reach it, the pile of rubble that had been pressing down on the butler Hiri, Linley, Wharton, and the others was blasted open.
Butler Hiri straightened up from within.
"Uncle Hiri, how is it?" Hogg's voice trembled slightly as he looked toward the figure lying on the ground. The first thing he saw was a large patch of blood on Linley's head. The blood was so glaring that Hogg felt dizzy, and his body involuntarily swayed.
Linley was still using both hands to support himself against the ground, keeping himself from pressing down on Wharton beneath him.
"Father." A childish voice came from the bottom.
Wharton slowly crawled out from under Linley. Wharton's body was small, and with Linley fully protecting him, he didn't have a single scratch.
"Big brother, big brother, what's wrong with you?" Wharton pushed Linley's body.
"Linley, Linley." Hogg's voice trembled as well.
Butler Hiri spoke up from the side: "I was still a bit too slow. A piece of rubble was deflected by me, but it still hit Young Master Linley's head. However, the impact shouldn't have been too severe."
"I... I'm fine." A low, hoarse voice sounded. Linley struggled to lift his head and glanced at his father beside him, forcing a faint smile.
At that moment, seeing his son's smile, Hogg's tears flowed directly down.
Linley propped himself up and sat upright. His clothes were stained with a large patch of blood, and his face and neck were also covered in blood. The stone had hit his head, and Linley had bled quite a bit. Feeling a bit dizzy, Linley still looked at his father and said weakly, "Father, you're crying."
"I... it's nothing." Hogg's face also held an excited smile.
"Wharton? Why were you at the warehouse door just now?" Linley touched his little brother's head and said with dissatisfaction.
Wharton knew he had done wrong and lowered his little head. "Big brother, I'm sorry."
Butler Hiri said from the side, "This is my fault. The disaster came too suddenly. I had just brought Wharton to the warehouse when I saw Young Master Linley in danger and immediately went to save him. I didn't expect that in that short time, a boulder would crash onto the warehouse. It's all my fault."
"Boom!"
Suddenly, another violent tremor shook the ground.
Everyone's expression changed as they looked toward the eastern sky. A giant was floating in midair, nearly ten meters tall, with bulging muscles, a cold expression, and a body entirely of earthy yellow. This earthy yellow giant was constantly battling the green-robed middle-aged man, their clashes roaring like thunder.
Just from the sound of their collisions, one could imagine the terrifying power of the earthy yellow giant. Each of its strikes far surpassed the impact of those hundred-thousand-jin boulders.
Linley watched the scene in the sky with envy. "This earthy yellow giant must have been summoned by that gray-robed man using magic," he guessed. After all, that gray-robed man was a powerful Saint-level magician.
"Linley, how do you feel?" Hogg asked worriedly.
Linley forced a faint smile. "It's nothing. Just a gash on my head that bled a bit."
"Young Master Linley, you've lost a lot of blood. Losing too much blood could be fatal." Butler Hiri had already taken a piece of white silk cloth from the warehouse and began bandaging the wound on Linley's head.
Hogg looked deeply at Linley. "Uncle Hiri, how is Linley's condition?"
Butler Hiri smiled at Hogg. "It's fine. Young Master Linley has an excellent physique, and he hasn't even fainted. The injury shouldn't be serious. He just needs to eat more meat to replenish his blood over the next few days, and he'll be fine."
Hogg breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Just now, when he saw Linley rushing toward Wharton to protect him, Hogg had been truly terrified. He was genuinely afraid that his son might die.
Taking a deep breath, Hogg turned to Hillman. "By the way, Hillman, you mentioned Wushan Town earlier. What's the current casualty situation in Wushan Town?"
"The specifics haven't been fully tallied yet." Hillman's expression was grim. "But from what I've seen roughly, some people in the town have died, and many are severely injured or disabled. Alas, this disaster came too fast. Even though I shouted loudly, many still couldn't make it to the cellars in time."
"It was too fast." Hogg looked up at the eastern sky.
Saint-level experts and the residents of Wushan Town were on completely different levels. A Saint-level expert could destroy Wushan Town with a wave of their hand. The earlier barrage of boulders and the green-robed middle-aged man shattering them were merely the opening probes of their battle.
But even those probes, with the resulting rubble, had brought disaster to Wushan Town.
"The legendary tenth-level earth magic, also a forbidden spell—the Earth Element 'Earth Guardian.' This 'Earth Guardian' possesses terrifying power and is the strongest single-target attack of an Earth Saint-level Grand Magician." Hogg looked at the earthy yellow giant and said coldly.
As the patriarch of the Dragonblood Warrior clan, even though the clan had declined, its five-thousand-year-old heritage meant the family had records of various magical attacks used by powerful experts. Hogg could recognize it at a glance.
"Tenth-level magic..." Linley took a deep breath.
Linley longed for the day when he could step on a black dragon and unleash earth-shattering tenth-level magic. Thinking of this, Linley naturally recalled the magic recruitment. "It will be late autumn before the capital holds the test to recruit magic students. That's still half a year away..."
Linley looked forward to the magic recruitment test half a year later.
"Hillman, later accompany me to check on the residents of Wushan Town." Hogg spoke up, then turned to Hiri. "Uncle Hiri, once these two Saint-level experts leave, take Linley to change his clothes and let him rest well."
"Yes, my lord." Hiri nodded.
Hogg looked at Linley, who was still intently watching the battle between the two Saint-level experts, and smiled. "This kid Linley, even when injured, still wants to watch Saint-level experts fight. Fortunately, that Saint-level magician has summoned the 'Earth Guardian.' This battle should be ending soon."
Linley was staring wide-eyed at the earth-shattering fierce battle in the sky, completely unaware of the pendant hanging on his chest—
Because his head had been hit, the 'Dragonblood Ring,' which he wore as a pendant inside his clothes, was also stained with blood. The dark, wood-like or stone-like material of the Dragonblood Ring absorbed the blood like a sponge, slowly taking it in.
And on the surface of the Dragonblood Ring, a faint, hazy shimmer was faintly flickering.
But because the Dragonblood Ring was hidden by Linley's clothes, no one noticed the hazy shimmer on its surface.