Chapter 10: The Tragic Scene
"Boom!" Each time the Violet-Striped Black Bear's massive paw stomped the ground, it made the earth tremble. The Violet-Striped Black Bear stared fixedly at Linley, refusing to give up the chase no matter where he fled, its bear paws occasionally swinging to swat at him.
"Roar~"
Hearing the familiar dragon roar, Linley couldn't help but look up. The sight made his heart clench violently.
In the sky, one dragon after another soared aloft. Just in terms of numbers, they far exceeded the dragon clan from the Misty Valley. What was more, among this group of dragons were even Silver Dragons and Black Dragons. Both Silver Dragons and Black Dragons were rank 9 dragon clans!
"No."
Linley suddenly stomped the ground, dodging the Violet-Striped Black Bear's attack, and charged straight toward Clayde. "No matter what, I have to kill Clayde this time."
"Get it, the ring, get it back..." Clayde was drenched in sweat from anxiety, but he didn't dare to rush forward himself.
"Roar~"
"Roar~"
Among the hundreds of dragons in the sky, several dozen dove down first, spewing dragonflame from their mouths. The few Black Dragons spat out black dragonflame, while the Silver Dragons spat out silvery-white dragonflame. The temperature and destructive power were clearly far more terrifying than the Red Dragons' flames.
"Sizzle~"
The surrounding temperature instantly rose to a terrifying level. Several dozen streams of dragonflame and giant ice spears came crashing down.
"Your Majesty, if we don't leave now, we're dead! If you die, what use are all the treasures?" Caesar's entire body was enveloped in a fiery red battle-qi shield as he shouted anxiously at Clayde. Clayde was momentarily stunned.
"Clayde!!!"
A furious roar rang out as Linley, fully dragonized, shot toward him like an arrow.
"Go, go, hurry, go!!!" Clayde roared, immediately giving the order. Making this decision pained him deeply, but he understood that if he died, everything was over. Besides, his eldest prince and second prince each carried five magic crystal cards, totaling one billion gold coins.
One billion gold coins. That was enough for the royal family to rise again.
"Boom!" Caesar's greatsword blocked Linley once more.
"Caesar, let me kill Clayde. I'll give you as many gold coins as you want," Linley said, completely frantic.
Caesar just shook his head.
"Roar~"
At that moment, a Black Dragon's claw descended from the sky, grabbing directly at Linley. This Black Dragon was highly intelligent. Seeing the Violet-Striped Black Bear relentlessly chasing Linley, it knew there must be a reason. So it chose Linley as its first target.
"Attacking me again?" Linley dodged to the side in frustration.
Last time, when he fought Caesar, the Violet-Striped Black Bear had come after him instead of Caesar. Now it was the same. The rank 9 magical beast Black Dragon was also coming after him.
"Whoosh." Caesar no longer bothered with Linley. He pushed off the ground and fled into the distance at top speed. Several dragons immediately gave chase to Caesar, Clayde, and the others, but most of the dragon clan still surrounded Linley.
The Violet-Striped Black Bear roared in fury.
Clearly, it was angry that this group of dragons had stolen its prey. But the Violet-Striped Black Bear didn't dare to fight them. Setting everything else aside, just the largest Black Dragon among the group was enough to make the Violet-Striped Black Bear feel it had no chance.
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!"
The Violet-Striped Black Bear took heavy strides and headed off in another direction. Wherever it passed, all buildings crumbled to pieces.
"Clayde!" Linley could still see the figures of Clayde and his group in the distance and tried to rush over at top speed.
But a massive shadow descended from the sky again. This was a Black Dragon over a hundred meters long. It blocked Linley's path, constantly clawing at him and occasionally spewing scorching dragonflame from its mouth.
Not only on the ground, but in the sky as well, dragons kept attacking Linley. Surrounded by so many dragons, Linley felt the pain of being overwhelmed.
"Damn it!"
Under siege by a large group of dragons, Linley could only watch helplessly as Clayde and his group disappeared from sight.
"Boss, hurry and run!" Bebe was anxious.
Bebe was very agile. Being so small, it was hard for the dragons to attack him. Moreover, Bebe's sharp claws and fangs were formidable, capable of injuring these dragons, which made them wary of the little one.
"Go? Where to?"
No matter which direction Linley charged, the dragons in that direction would attack him. Rank 8 dragons Linley wasn't afraid of, but there were over ten rank 9 dragons here.
"Smack!"
Linley was struck hard by a Silver Dragon's tail. He somersaulted in midair and immediately accelerated to escape. But it was useless. Several dragons immediately surrounded him in the air. Linley felt so frustrated he could cry.
"Pfft." Linley dodged the claw attacks, moving nimbly to evade.
"Boss, I'll help you." When Linley was in danger, Bebe flew over and bit hard into a dragon's leg, crunching loudly.
"Roar~" The dragon roared in pain.
Relying on his defense and astonishing speed, Linley survived wave after wave of dragon attacks. When things got truly dangerous, Bebe helped from the side. The dragons couldn't do anything to Linley.
In their eyes, this humanoid monster was too hard to deal with. And there was that smaller magical beast rat beside him, whose bites actually hurt them.
"Roar~" The leading Black Dragon let out a loud roar.
Immediately, all the dragons took flight. They had decided to give up on this troublesome humanoid monster. Spending too much time on one such creature wasn't worth it.
The group of dragons flew away.
"They're leaving?" Linley was stunned.
The scene of being attacked by so many dragons had forced Linley to dodge desperately. The process had been agonizing. He hadn't expected the dragons to just give up.
"Boss, let's go quickly," Bebe urged.
"Right. Clayde."
Linley thought of Clayde. Without canceling his dragonization, he remained in Dragonblood Warrior form, carrying Bebe as he sped outward.
By now, the battle between humans and magical beasts in Fenlai City was nearing its end. Few living humans could be seen in the city. Most of what remained were magical beasts prowling the streets in search of humans. Linley, in his dragonized form, moved so fast and was covered in scales that many magical beasts mistook him for one of their own.
"Nothing."
Linley chased along the route he guessed, all the way out of Fenlai City, but still saw no trace of Clayde.
Outside Fenlai City, it was a scene of desolation.
Even the tall trees that had lined the main road were broken and fallen. Human corpses were scattered along the path. Clearly, these people had escaped Fenlai City, only to be killed by magical beasts outside.
In the desolate distance beyond Fenlai City, one or two magical beasts could be seen everywhere.
"Which road did Clayde take?" Linley looked at the three forked roads around Fenlai City, feeling helpless. In truth, Clayde might have chosen the east gate. But in Linley's view, the further east one went, the closer one got to the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
So Linley chose the west gate.
But even after exiting the west gate, he didn't know which road to take. Every road had hoofprints.
"Clayde might not have taken the main road at all. He might have gone straight through the wilderness," Linley thought to himself. The weakest among Clayde's group was a rank 7 warrior. Traveling through the wilderness would be no burden to them.
Linley understood.
The chances of catching up to Clayde now were very, very low.
"North. According to the 'King' of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, the people of the Holy Alliance can only flee north. I'll head north too. Given Clayde's reputation, he won't remain unknown. I can ask about him later in the north." Linley made up his mind.
Looking at the tragic scene of corpses scattered along the roadside, Linley sighed inwardly.
"Ah, Wushan Town."
Linley suddenly thought of his hometown. Wushan Town was less than a hundred miles from Fenlai City. He wondered what had become of it. Without canceling his dragonization, he quickly ran toward Wushan Town.
Though Linley wasn't using his top speed, as a rank 9 warrior in dragonized form, he could easily cover two to three hundred miles in an hour.
The trees on either side of the road rapidly receded, dust flying.
"What's that?" A knight fleeing on horseback was startled to see a humanoid monster leave him far behind. Linley, like a gust of wind, sped toward Wushan Town. That was the speed of a rank 9 warrior! In about twenty minutes, Linley saw Wushan Town in the distance.
Wushan Town.
It had been a peaceful little town. In the past, the townspeople lived quiet lives.
But now...
Corpses. All mutilated corpses. The bodies clearly bore the marks of being torn by magical beasts.
"This, this..." Linley walked along the streets of Wushan Town, looking at the bodies scattered on the roads or in the alleys. There were old people, young people, women, and children. Seeing all this, Linley's heart was filled with grief.
Most of these dead people, Linley knew.
He suddenly saw a young man not far away, holding a baby. But the young man was covered in blood and already dead. The baby had also been bitten to death.
"O, Olson..." Linley wanted to cry but had no tears.
Olson was only a year older than him. Back when Linley started training on the eastern grounds of Wushan Town, he had been placed in the group for six-to-eight-year-olds. Olson was the little boy standing next to him. They had been quite close. Linley knew that Olson had gotten married two years ago, after his coming-of-age ceremony. The dead baby was probably Olson's child.
"Crunch, crunch!" In the distance, several Windwolves were eating human corpses.
"Ah!" Linley, as if gone mad, turned into a bolt of lightning and charged at the magical beasts. He didn't use the Violet Blood Sword. Instead, he used his bare hands, smashing the beasts to pulp or tearing them apart.
The few dozen magical beasts lingering in Wushan Town were slaughtered in no time.
Looking at the corpses of the magical beasts and the humans around him, Linley smiled bitterly and canceled his dragonization. Then he slumped to the ground, kneeling weakly.
All dead.
"Haha..." Linley laughed softly, but his eyes were completely wet.
"When the magical beasts attacked, I escaped the Radiant Temple and was even a little proud of myself, but..." Linley's tears flowed. At this moment, he fully understood the meaning of the words spoken by the 'King' of the Magical Beast Mountain Range: "How could I be a lowly human? Humans are nothing but food for us magical beasts!"
"Food. Food."
Linley's heart was filled with grief.
Wushan Town, his hometown. These familiar fellow villagers!
All dead.
Even when Linley had left home, he had felt at peace, because he knew the people of his hometown still existed. But now... his hometown was gone. Everyone was dead.
"This is a disaster," Delin Keowote's aged voice sounded. "Not just your hometown. Nearly half of the entire Holy Alliance will likely become territory for magical beasts. Humans can only be food."
Linley quietly looked at everything around him. He could fully imagine that many places across the vast lands of the Holy Alliance were now in deep suffering. The so-called joyous day, the 'Ten Thousand Year Yulan Festival,' had become a day of disaster for the people of the Holy Alliance and the Dark Alliance.