Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Han Jin’s max flight speed riding the sword light was twice the speed of the thunderbirds. By the time the thunderbirds made it to Thunder Valley, everything in their nests had been confiscated by Han Jin. He even rested in their nests staring into the sky until the thunderbirds were within three hundred meters’ range, when his body slowly sunk underground.
Seeing the empty valley, the thunderbirds began crying with sorrow. Thunderbirds were the top dogs of the area, such a blow to their nests was unprecedented.
There was once a folklore tale about two hunters. The hunters caught a few infant wolves while they climbed onto two different trees. When the infant wolves’ mother arrived, the hunters tortured the infants in turns, causing them to scream miserably. The mother wolf was driven between the two trees, and was tired to death.
The thunderbirds were smarter than wolves, but not by much. No matter how much Han Jin played with them, they continued pursuing. Therefore, just when Han Jin appeared at the end of the valley, each of the thunderbirds flapped their wings and followed quickly.
Seeing the thunderbirds approaching, Han Jin returned to midair, flying straight towards the last magical matrix. Yalina set up just three magical matrices; based on careful calculation with Han Jin, should Han Jin be correct, her magical matrices could drain all the magical powers from the thunderbirds, as each of them would be able to last some six to seven attacks. Possibly, if a few of the stronger thunderbirds were to have leftover magic, they would not have the power to kill Han Jin, thus, they wouldn’t be a threat.
To their surprise, the group of thunderbirds only released sporadic lightning bolts; the majority of the group were using their bodies to smash the magical shields. It seemed as if the thunder ball had drained all of their magical powers.
The coverage of magical matrices wasn’t large—-about ten meters in length—-and it didn’t even have enough space for all the thunderbirds to attack together. However, the thunderbirds were already completely out of control; some used their beaks to desperately attack the light curtain, some used their paws to tear the curtain apart, some used their wings to smash it. However, even more thunderbirds began standing on top of their companions—- they continued attacking to vent their fury, even disregarding the harm their attacks had on their companions!
The wings of thunderbirds were very powerful; they ultimately had to move sufficient air to defy gravity. However, their wings were also relatively fragile. Slowly, golden feather after golden feather was lost to the wind, like fallen leaves.
Heavy magical fluctuations were aroused in the air. The vast majority of the thunderbirds continued attacking the magical matrix, as if they sensed nothing; only the poor Thunderbird King remained clear, hovering midair to search for suspicious signs, then darting away.
Pillar after pillar of lightning rained from above, it was the Nine Grid Thunder Call! The attack could cover hundreds of meters; each thunderbird, whether hovering or on the ground, was hit by the lightning. Though their feathers full of electric elements could absorb magical damage, they still couldn’t resist the physical impact of the magic.
Yalina did not attack with the intent to harm the thunderbirds, she was just covering for Cain!
Han Jin quickly dug underground; at the same time, a huge fireball, some seven to eight meters across, appeared above the magical matrix. A fire dragon brandishing its teeth and claws appeared out of the fireball, rushing towards the embarrassed thunderbirds.
Any fire dragons unleashed by a fire element magician usually would look alike in shape, but not in color. The color of the dragon released is related to the spiritual and magical power of the magician. The fire dragon released by a level nine grand magician would usually look red(dark or pale). As the level of the magician increases, the color of the fire would change in the following order of increasing abilities: orange-red, pure orange, gold-orange, golden yellow. For a level 12 grand magus, his fire dragon would appear extremely bright golden-white, potentially even pure white. Any life approaching such a fire dragon would instantly turn to ash. It was said that fire dragons released by a Half-God would appear in a beautiful sky blue, but it was only a legend.
The fire dragon Cain released appeared an orange-red. Yalina immediately knew that Cain’s dragon was on the verge of upgrading.
The closest thunderbirds didn’t even have the time to react before they were bitten by the dragon. Fire dragons were not typically good with physical attacks, but their flames posed a huge threat; the golden-yellow feathers of the thunderbirds were immediately turned to ash, exposing the birds’ red muscles.
The fire dragon then shook its head, ejecting the thunderbird, which had turned to an extra-large chunk of meat. Upon falling to the ground, they stopped moving after a few struggles.
Moments later, the fire thunder continued to spread forward, slamming a thunderbird intending to expand its wing and dash down; the thunderbird was turned to a ball of fire before it had a chance to touch the ground.
Thunderbirds could fly fast in the air and were quite quick at melee attacks; but, it took them considerable time to run on flat ground, using their paws to kick the ground, floating their bodies and moving sufficiently to generate lift for real flight. During this period of time, they can’t accelerate to modify their trajectories, making them defenseless for a few seconds.
The fire dragon continued to roar and dash, using its mouth to bite, its paws to slam, its body to crash, and its tail to whip, rendering more than a dozen thunderbirds incapable of fighting.
Suddenly, a dark light shot out of the forest towards the Thunderbird King. The moment the harsh howling sounded, an arrow had pierced the Thunderbird King’s chest.
The Thunderbird King remained fearless as it continued to expand its wings for descent; it had identified the location of the enemies.
The fire dragon disappeared, Cain fell to the ground immediately, sweating profusely from his forehead. His fire dragon was small in size and lasted only a short time, but it had pushed his limits.
Julia stood right next to him, drawing her longbow open, with an emerald color arrow on the string. She was slowly locking her aim onto the Thunderbird King, and her arms slowly moved as the Thunderbird King moved.
The Thunderbird King’s speed was increasing as it approached; it was less than 30 meters from Yalina. Winston and Saxon prepped their Qi, waiting next to Yalina.
The moment the Thunderbird King dived into the forest, the green light blinked, precisely hitting a tree trunk; her Treant Arrow couldn’t harm air-floating animals due to the need of agents of the Magic of Treant Entanglement. She had been waiting for the opportunity for a long time.
Vine after vine sprung up from the trunk, entangling the Thunderbird King in an instant. Winston and Saxon both began rushing at the same time, jumping into midair like two red stars, aiming for the Thunderbird King.
The Thunderbird King had been undefeated for a long time in the forest. Even the highest class of the holy animals had to detour around Thunder Valley, raising the king’s ego to another level, giving it the braveness to attack an enemy alone. However, considering that it was facing several highly intelligent lives averaging at level 10, its braveness turned into dumbness.
The thunderbird struggled to raise its head, suddenly expanding its beak, shooting out a cone-shaped electric light towards Saxon.
Saxon then used his sword to guard his chest; the electric light hit the sword. After a loud boom, Saxon’s sword was smashed back, crashing into his chest, stopping his body’s movement. Saxon rotated a few circles, steadily landing onto the ground. He then bent his waist and began coughing heavily. He was not injured, but his chest was filled with a large amount of heated blood and air, making it impossible to speak.
Winston was already approaching, with his sword puncturing the king like a viper. The Thunderbird King attempted to hide, but with the vines’ entanglement, its movement was not enough to outrun a fighter like Winston.
With a loud bang, Winston’s sword sliced into the Thunderbird King’s left eye, exiting from the right of its head, penetrating through the brain sideways. The Thunderbird King let out a few sad screams, shook its wings a few times, then turned motionless forever.
The surviving thunderbirds were circling more than a hundred meters above. They were reluctant to leave, but they also realized the power of their enemies; without the command of their king, they turned into an uncoordinated mess. The remaining thunderbirds were hesitant to make their next move.
After a considerable amount of time, the thunderbirds finally began to retreat. In the lead of their few most powerful peers, the thunderbirds expanded their wings and jetted towards the direction of Thunder Valley.
Han Jin did not attempt to further provoke the thunderbirds; he lightly took out a thunderbird egg and set it on the ground carefully. Suddenly, the motions of the thunderbirds abruptly changed; the leading thunderbird rapidly turned around.
Han Jin took out a second thunderbird egg, then a third, laying them in the shape of an equilateral triangle’s vertices. He then jumped onto the green radiance and left the thunderbird eggs.
His actions threw the thunderbirds out of control. The eggs were all similar in shape, making identification of the owner impossible; but being a species of social holy animal, the thunderbirds had the habit of cooperation, and they took the duty to guard the minors, even if they were not their own.
Thunderbird after thunderbird landed on the ground, surrounding the thunderbird eggs. Moments later, Cain used all his leftover magical power to release the Meteorite Technique!
Seconds later, a huge meteorite jetted down as the burning flames turned half of the horizon red. A stunning scene was unveiled; the thunderbirds madly concentrated towards the center, standing closely with each other, while more jumped on top of their peers, creating a mountain made of blood and flesh, guarding the thunderbird eggs underneath. More than a dozen of thunderbirds jetted towards the meteorite!
The result of a crashing meteorite with flesh-made bodies could be easily imagined. Thunderbird after thunderbird was turned into a mashed mixture of blood and flesh. Their messy feathers filled the sky, like golden snow.
Due to the suicidal explosion of thunderbirds, the trajectory of the meteorite was deviated, ending up on the edge of the heap of flesh. In the violent noises of the explosion, a side of the flesh heap was thrown away; over twenty thunderbirds were killed, a surprisingly high count given that thunderbirds were usually in constant movement.
Yalina and Julia both showed sorrow in their eyes. Being females, their emotions were more prone to fluctuations. The motherly characteristics of the life-sacrificing thunderbirds moved them quite a bit.
However, they soonly found peace once again. They were at the upper hand this time; if the battle went the other way, the thunderbirds would have no leniency towards them either.
Yalina held her magical stick, sending a lightning strike from atop, smashing the very top of the flesh heap. Even before the electric light could dissipate, another strike arrived. Yalina could unleash her strikes silently and instantly; considering that all thunderbirds were in a cluster, she did not want to use the Nine Grid Thunder Call in order to save her magical power.
Each lightning bolt was a challenge against the braveness and strength of the thunderbirds, but not a single one gave up. They slowly moved even closer to each other, and made even sadder screams.
In the blink of an eye, Yalina had released dozens of lightning attacks in a sequence, but its effects were not comparable to the meteorite Cain had released.
Yalina was somewhat discouraged. Moments later, Han Jin shot a red light from his hands; the flying sword shot through air, then appeared atop the flesh heap, hovering above.
He then quickly traversed through the spells. A bright white light quickly caught up, hitting the flying sword.
It’s One Stone Splashes a Thousand Waves!
Since the battle with Caroline and Betty, Han Jin was in opposition against the so-called ‘grand move’; he did not want to waste his vital energy unless it was a special circumstance. However, this was one such special circumstance; destroying the flesh heap required more than twenty charms of the Three True Fire, requiring more than ten days to recover, while his ‘grand move’ only required one or two days for him to regain back his vital energy—-he was safe this time with Yalina and the others. He also intended to kill each and every one of the thunderbirds; using the Three True Fire could possibly raise the thunderbirds’ alarm, forcing them to forfeit their offsprings and flee. Most critically, he wanted the magical crystals. The Three True Fire would burn through everything, including magical crystals, given sufficient time. Excessive amount of fire sources could go beyond his control, and he would not like to put any level 9 magical crystals at stake.
Swordlight after swordlight shot down from all directions, tearing through the air and blasting through the ground. Han Jin was close enough to clearly see the flesh heap being shaved apart layer by layer; each beam of swordlight created a clump of blood. When the swordlights were gone, the flesh heap collapsed. There were only around a dozen thunderbirds remaining, but they still guarded the thunderbird eggs.
Han Jin nodded and shook his head. The effects of the One Stone Splashes a Thousand Waves had improved significantly, and his efforts had paid off. He was gratified about his own progress. The nearly dumb persistence of the thunderbirds also moved him, but being moved was not a reason to forfeit wealth.
Han Jin then raised his hand and shot out a beam of green light. Strictly speaking, the power of his enemy was unprecedented. For being holy animals, thunderbirds were short in intelligence, something proven to be important. Now, the surviving thunderbirds could only lay on the ground like targets, being killed by Han Jin one by one. The result of the battle was clear.
