Chapter 30: The Great Hammer
The blood-red passage, the blood-red gate, exuded a deathly stillness.
"Escape? How?" Linley was frantic. Three experts were guarding him, and inside that gate was an even more terrifying 'Castle Lord.' Even using divine power might not guarantee escape.
"Calm down, calm down!"
Linley desperately searched for any chance to flee, but after thinking it over, he found only one possibility.
"Right now, I can only hope for Lomet. He was already on guard; maybe he can escape with his life. If he fights fiercely with that 'Castle Lord' and draws the attention of these three, I might be able to slip away in the chaos."
But Linley understood that the Castle Lord dared to let Lomet enter because he was confident he could easily defeat and control him. If that were truly the case... then even his only chance of escape would be gone.
Though anxious, Linley kept his eyes peeled for any opportunity, ready to burst into action at any moment.
"Linley, getting impatient?" Urey said with a sly smile. "Don't worry. Lomet is in the first secret chamber watching those floating images; it'll take some time. Your turn will come soon."
"Soon it'll be my turn?" Linley felt Urey's smile was increasingly sinister. Urey knew full well this was a trap, yet he still kept deceiving him.
"Boom!" Suddenly, the entire ground shook violently, and the gate before them trembled fiercely. Cracks spread across the surrounding walls, and fragments of stone rained down onto the passage. Linley and the other three staggered, startled.
"Good." Linley was overjoyed. Lomet hadn't let him down; he'd really stirred up a commotion.
"Huh?" Urey and the other two were shocked. They exchanged glances. How could the Castle Lord's strength cause such a disturbance? Despite their surprise, they kept their eyes fixed on Linley.
Linley feigned confusion and asked, "Mr. Urey, what's happening inside?"
"I'm not sure either," Urey said with a faint smile. "Maybe Lomet, while watching those floating images of peerless experts fighting, got excited and tried out some moves. By the way, Linley, when you enter the secret chamber, don't go practicing any moves yourself."
"I understand, I understand." Linley had to admit that Urey was quite skilled at covering up lies.
Just then—"Rumble~~~" It was as if the sky were falling and the earth were splitting. A terrifying explosion spread out. The entire passage and gate cracked apart, then shattered into flying debris, each piece of rubble crackling with lightning energy.
Chaos!
Urey and the other two's faces changed drastically. They never imagined that Lomet, in front of their teacher, would cause such a huge disturbance.
"Good." Linley was thrilled. "This is the moment." Just as Linley was about to use Earth Travel to escape—
"Swish!"
Urey and the other two moved instantly, forming a triangle around Linley, trapping him in the center. Urey said calmly, "Linley, don't rush. Maybe Lomet did something to anger the teacher."
Linley frowned at the three surrounding him.
"Haha... kid, I underestimated you." A deep, resonant voice rang out over the Hantisi Castle. Linley couldn't help but look up.
Above the ruined buildings, Lomet stood with his bloodstained black robe flapping in the wind, a black war blade in hand. Electric serpents slithered all over his body, and lightning flashed between his eyes as he blinked, making him look like a thunder god.
Facing Lomet was a man nearly two and a half meters tall, with steel-like short red hair. He wore an ancient-style sleeveless armor, and his thick, bronze-colored arms looked powerful. In his right hand, he held a black great hammer!
"So he's the Castle Lord? That commander?" Linley thought to himself, but then he stopped watching the sky. He focused on the three around him, hoping to find a moment of carelessness to escape.
Lomet's voice rang out again from the sky—"Hmph, I should thank you. If not for you, I wouldn't have broken through again. You're still far from killing me!"
"You three, watch Linley." The red-haired man with the hammer said coldly.
"Yes, teacher (master)!" Urey and the other two replied.
"Just as I thought." Linley grew more certain. "They call him master. So two of these three are controlled by the Castle Lord." Though surprised, Linley kept searching for a chance to flee.
Linley's face changed.
"Urey, what's going on?" Linley demanded angrily.
Urey smiled and said, "The teacher wants you to stay here so you can go to the first secret chamber and watch."
"Why do they call him master?" Linley pressed.
"We've been following the master since we were lower gods," the silver-haired woman among the two said indifferently. Linley sneered. Choosing two subordinates when they were lower gods, and now they're both Seven-Star Demons?
"Whatever you've got, bring it on!" Lomet was brimming with heroic spirit.
In midair, the red-haired man with the hammer laughed heartily, "You've taken a few of my punches. Not bad. Now, let's see if you can take one of my hammer strikes." The red-haired man lightly swung the black great hammer in his hand.
Silently—as the hammer swung, strange ripples spread outward from it, centered on the hammer. Wherever the ripples touched, the rubble of the buildings turned to dust. The great hammer descended like that, silent and slow.
It looked slow, but it was upon Lomet in an instant.
"Boom!" A thunderclap erupted out of nowhere.
Amid the violent thunder, a blade shadow collided with the great hammer.
"Hum~~" The great hammer seemed to tremble slightly, as if striking the surface of water, creating ripples.
Lomet's war blade also vibrated, then shattered into powder.
One hammer strike, silent.
But Lomet's weapon was destroyed.
Linley stared up, stunned, his mind filled with that silent, seemingly light, yet incredibly heavy hammer strike. The mysterious trajectory shook Linley to his core.
Linley had never been able to understand the 'Power' profound mystery of the Laws of the Earth. Now, he felt... as if a seed had sprouted in his mind.
"Power, endless, heavy..."
Linley had been struggling to grasp the 'Power' profound mystery but couldn't find the way in. Now, through this Castle Lord's hammer strike, he finally glimpsed a hint of it. In truth, the Castle Lord was using the Edicts of Destruction.
But every path has some common ground.
For example, the Laws of Lightning and the Laws of Light both involve speed. The speed of lightning and the profound mystery of light speed share similarities.
"Impossible!" Lomet crashed into the distant ruins, his face full of disbelief. He had just broken through and thought he could rival a Sovereign. But with such strength, why couldn't he withstand this one hammer strike?
At that moment, Urey and the other two glanced briefly at Linley. Seeing that he hadn't fled, they turned back to watch the battle. This fight was also captivating for them.
"This Linley wants to escape. With so many people in the castle, he won't get far."
Urey and the other two were confident.
"The talent of my Bloodscale Titan clan, combined with the Edicts of Destruction—do you think that's a joke?" the red-haired man declared loudly. He stood in midair like a god, inspiring fear.
"Ah, what am I doing? I need to escape!" Linley snapped out of his epiphany.
The epiphany and its end had only taken a very short time.
"These three are all focused on that battle." Linley was delighted. Then he looked up at the Hantisi Castle Lord and Lomet. "The moment the Castle Lord makes a move is the moment I escape!"
When the Castle Lord acted, it would make Urey and the other two watch even more closely, and the Castle Lord wouldn't have time to chase him.
"Taking one of my hammer strikes and surviving—you're at the peak of the Seven-Star Demon level, close to Sovereign strength." The Castle Lord laughed loudly, then his body turned into a blood-red blur, shooting across the sky—
Linley's eyes lit up: "Now!"
Earth Travel!
Suddenly, Linley vanished into the ruins. Urey and the other two, who had formed a triangle around him, were focused on the battle above. As Linley fled, they caught a glimpse from the corner of their eyes—Linley was gone!
"He escaped?" Urey and the other two were stunned, but they snapped out of it instantly.
"He used Earth Travel," Urey immediately shouted. "Get to the high sky! He can't escape through the ground; he'll have to go through the air." The deep underground of Hantisi Castle and the city walls were part of a massive magical formation. He couldn't burrow through.
He could only fly out from the high sky or leave through the city gate.
The three experts immediately flew into the air, shouting for other warriors to be on high alert.
"All of you, keep watch! Those who know Earth Travel, go underground and find Linley. Hurry!" Urey yelled. Black-armored warriors immediately used Earth Travel to merge into the ground.
Urey and the other two hovered in the high sky, along with other experts, all staring intently in every direction.
"This Linley dares to escape!" Urey was furious.
His teacher would surely blame him for this.
...Underground, Linley merged with the earth elements, moving through the ground.
"I can't escape the castle from underground." Linley had learned from experience before. "I'll go to an inconspicuous spot in the castle, then quickly escape through the air." Linley sped toward the northwest corner.
But strangely—
"Huh?" Linley sensed a life force ahead of him.
Linley was shocked. "Someone else is using Earth Travel?" The life force quickly approached, and a divine sense spread out.
"Sir, Linley is here!" A loud voice rang out in the castle. Linley immediately darted several hundred meters away, then, with no other choice, burst out of the ground and returned to the surface.
"Swish!"
Linley shot into the sky like an arrow, his body undergoing a dramatic transformation. Cyan-gold dragon scales covered him, and vicious spikes sprouted everywhere. His speed increased further, and he became like a cyan-gold lightning bolt, racing upward.
"Grab him!" Urey roared from a distance.
Instantly, countless black-armored and red-caped warriors swarmed in like locusts. Linley let out a furious roar, and a spherical barrier with a diameter of nearly five hundred meters appeared around him.
Blackstone Space!
"Huh?" The warriors who charged into the spherical area were shocked to find themselves being pushed back involuntarily.
"Such strong repulsive force!" They were stunned.
"Surround him from all sides and trap him!" Urey shouted, now closing in.
Linley's dark-golden eyes looked upward, where a large number of black-armored warriors had gathered, completely blocking his escape route.
"You're asking for death!" Linley's gaze turned cold.
Suddenly, a yellow light filled the sky and earth. Earth elements gathered rapidly, and earth divine power surged. In an instant, a massive cube, four hundred meters tall, appeared out of nowhere. It crashed into the black-armored warriors, directly swallowing them.
"Boom!"
In the distance, the red-haired man and Lomet clashed again. Lomet's face turned pale, and then he let out a roar, transforming into a black bolt of lightning, shooting into the sky at an astonishing speed. The Hantisi Castle Lord could only look up helplessly: "These cultivators of the Laws of Lightning are so fast, even a bit faster than me!"
Lomet's escape speed was so great that even the Castle Lord couldn't catch him.
"And there's one more." Lomet looked back.
At that moment, Linley's 'cube' shattered. Under the combined attack of four Seven-Star Demons and numerous Six-Star Demons, Linley's 'cube' exploded. Linley himself continued to fly upward at top speed.
"Teacher, his gravity space is strange. We can't capture him alive," Urey said quickly.
"Hmph."
With a cold snort, the Hantisi Castle Lord, wielding his great hammer, turned into a blood-red blur chasing Linley. The Castle Lord's speed was extremely fast, only slightly slower than Lomet's.
But he was much faster than Linley.
He quickly closed the distance.
"Kid, stay put!" A loud laugh rang out.
Linley looked down: "Castle Lord?" He flipped his hand, and a drop of divine power appeared in his palm. But Linley didn't use it immediately, as he still had confidence in his gravity space.
"Whoosh—" The blood-red blur entered the gravity space, and its speed plummeted.
"Haha, this gravity space is pretty good." The Hantisi Castle Lord laughed loudly and swung his great hammer. Black streams of energy coiled out from the hammer, like countless ropes spreading out, filling the entire gravity space.
"Collect!"
Countless black streams of energy wrapped around Linley, making it impossible for him to escape.
"What is this?" Linley struggled desperately, breaking dozens of them with brute force, but more and more black streams coiled around him. Linley's face changed, and he was about to use his divine power.
But just then—
"Not bad strength, and a decent gravity space. But it's still far from Resheng's."
A gentle voice reached Linley's ears.
Linley was stunned: "Resheng? Jingjing?" He thought of the cute purple beast from the Violet Crystal Mountains.
PS: Three chapters done! Brothers, do you have any monthly votes? If so, throw one to Tomato!