Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
The Thunder Valley, no one knew the origin of the valley’s name, and no one knew how long the name had been passed down. For a long while, the Thunder Valley had been the habitat of the thunderbirds. Other than the lush foliage covering the peaks, the valley had characteristics that were completely different from the other places – the skeletons of various holy animals could be found everywhere.
In the nearby area, there was hardly any holy animal that could pose a threat to the thunderbirds. There were lots of Thunderbirds, they could always divide into a group that hunts and a group that defends their home. Thus, they could build their nests on the ground, generously exposed to everyone.
Perhaps it was because the thunderbirds flew up and down too frequently, no big trees could be found in the center of the valley. There were only some very low shrubs scattered around, and there was also grass growing from the cracks in the skeletons.
A female thunderbird laid about four to five eggs at a time, but not all the eggs had the opportunity to grow and hatch. The thunderbirds’ nests were built on the ground, made with stones and bones, only covered with a shallow layer of bellflowers. Whenever the thunderbirds flew back to their nests, it was extremely easy for them to accidentally crack or crush the eggs. Also, the thunderbirds would never feed their own offspring. At most, they would drag their prey next to their nests. Ever since the first day in the real world, the baby thunderbirds needed to rely on their young beaks to tear up their prey, and thus the mentally or physically weak offspring would be eliminated. In the end, in a nest of baby thunderbirds, at most one or two of them would grow up into adults, and sometimes none would survive.
The sun had just risen, it was not yet the time for the thunderbirds to begin their hunt. Each of their members were in the valley, some were combing their feathers, some were screaming, and some were carefully tending to their eggs. To them, it was a very ordinary morning.
Suddenly, a figure rose from the ground like a ghost, reaching for a thunderbird nest, and the large white eggs disappeared in an instant. Each of the thunderbirds turned quiet at once, all their eyes concentrated at one place, they still had not fully realized what had just happened.
Moments later, the figure sank back into the ground again. After a while, he jumped out at the mouth of the valley and hurried into the forest.
Each thunderbird was instantly angered; one by one the thunderbirds arose from the ground, flapping their wings and chasing after the figure desperately, their angry screams echoed one after another.
The figure on the ground escaped extremely fast, but the thunderbirds soared even faster. At that moment, a very sharp and long whistle sounded, followed by a giant thunderbird shimmering with a faint red light. The sound was made by the thunderbird.
The thunderbirds gradually slowed down. They made a U-turn and flew back towards Thunder Valley. Only two of the thunderbirds continued to chase. The taunt of the figure had provoked all the thunderbirds and made them all leave their nest. This move made Thunder Valley undefended. Obviously, compared to getting revenge, they were left more worried to see Thunder Valley left empty, so most of the thunderbirds gave up their chase.
After a long while, Thunder Valley finally returned to peace. The two male and female thunderbirds lost sight of their enemies and had to return to the valley, hovering in the sky and releasing cries of grief.
Suddenly, the figure appeared once again, snatching all the eggs under the eyes of a female thunderbird. The figure then swiftly turned to avoid the female thunderbird’s peck, and then disappeared underground.
This time, each of the thunderbirds entered into a crazy fit of rage, their not-so-smart minds realized that if they did not kill the enemy, all their offspring would be robbed sooner or later. One by one the thunderbirds entered into the air, like numerous golden clouds hovering, as they searched for any trails left by the enemy.
Han Jin appeared outside the valley running straight forward, the thunderbirds swarming up behind him. Seeing that the distance between the two was getting closer, Han Jin swung out the green radiance and stepped on it, then darted diagonally into the sky. Although the thunderbird’s lightning was powerful, they could only lock onto enemies who were within 200 meters in range. Yalina estimated that even the thunderbird’s king’s attack range would not exceed 250 meters, but for safety reasons, Han Jin set the warning line at around 300 meters.
The swarm of thunderbirds was filled with anger, desperately flapping their wings and chasing closely. Within seconds, both parties had covered more than ten miles, then Han Jin suddenly dived down into a magic array, where he stopped and leaped out of the green radiance.
Yalina, who was hidden in the forest, immediately activated the magic array, causing numerous lines of electricity to envelope Han Jin.
Why the enemy had stopped was not a matter that the thunderbirds cared about, but they did realize it was a rare opportunity for them to attack! With the huge faintly glowing thunderbird in the lead, the group of thunderbirds swooped down, and countless pairs of eyes all filled with hatred locked onto Han Jin.
Yalina did not want to fight the thunderbirds because her lightning magic power would be severely weakened. Similarly, when the thunderbirds used lightning to attack the magic array set by Yalina, their power would also be greatly reduced.
The deafening booms filled the area as lines of lightning struck the magic array one after another. Although the thunderbirds did not have any unified command, their rhythm of releasing magic was irregular, and they did not understand the art of teamwork. However, their attacks still sent currents of tremors towards Han Jin who was standing in the middle, and the light curtain of the magic array was also trembling wildly.
Han Jin narrowed his eyes, observing the light curtain of the magic array nervously. The thunderbirds were each circling and desperately releasing lightning attacks one after another. Finally, the magic array could no longer withstand the nonstop attacks. Suddenly, the curtain bursted with a bang, and the electric light poured down. The explosion created a big hole in the ground.
The thunderbirds finally quietened down. The thunderbird’s king swooped down with a few other thunderbirds and hovered at a low altitude of a dozen meters. They could see clearly that a big pit had appeared in the place where the enemy used to stand. The thunderbird’s king then made several cries of relief and flew back to the valley with the swarm of thunderbirds.
When the thunderbirds originally left their nest, they were in hot pursuit of their enemy, thus they traveled at extremely fast speeds. On their way back, they were naturally slower. However, just as they entered the valley, each of the thunderbirds noticed a scene that made them instantly freak out. Not only had the enemy not perished, he was still boldly stealing their eggs from their nests! Nearly half of the nests were already empty.
The thunderbirds were furious, their cries seemed like a tidal eruption blasting straight into the sky. Han Jin then turned his head back and smiled, as he plunged back to the ground.
The thunderbirds swooped to the ground one by one, they were each in a state of chaos. Especially those who had lost their children, desperately flipping their nests with their beaks hoping to find an egg that had survived, but Han Jin was too careful and would not leave anything behind.
“Hey…” Han Jin stood at the mouth of the valley and shouted loudly, juggling a thunderbird egg in his hand. At that moment, ‘accidentally’, the thunderbird egg dropped to the ground, turning into a pool of yellow and white liquid. Moments later, Han Jin took out another thunderbird egg, gently shaking it in his hand, as he turned and ran.
The completely insane swarm of thunderbirds did not stay still for a moment longer, fighting to rise into the air. Before, whenever the thunderbirds flew or landed, there was still a certain order. The thunderbirds in the back would wait until those at the front had taken off before they did the same. However, this time, they all turned crazy, slapping each other with their wings, and bumping against each other, some even fighting to be first in the air. The uproar only stopped when the thunderbird’s king screeched with a loud warning.
After all the thunderbirds had entered into the air, they discovered that their enemy had already traveled hundreds of meters ahead, so they hurriedly reacted and bolted in the enemy’s direction. Each of the thunderbirds had exited their nests, even the thunderbird’s king, who had forgotten the need to protect their nests. Their original silver pupils had turned blood red, staring intensely at Han Jin’s back. There was only one thought left in the minds of the thunderbirds. They ought to use lightning to tear the abominable human into pieces!
Moments later, a magnificent scene occurred in the sky. The first thing that came into the onlooker’s sight was a ray of green radiance, which sliced through the azure sky like a meteor, leaving a long trail behind. This was followed by an overwhelming number of thunderbirds that were unwilling to fall behind, the pairs of huge golden-yellow wings were spread out like huge golden carpets, covering up half the sky.
“This is too dramatic!” Gibran gasped as he watched, astounded. He believed they only needed a few ninth-grade magic crystals, so he was curious why Han Jin would make such a big scene.
Han Jin carefully controlled his speed. If he was too fast, the thunderbirds would not be able to keep up. If he was too slow, even if they were more than three hundred meters away, he would be in the range of the Thunderbird King. The lightning power of the Thunderbird King was not something that could be taken lightly.
Soon, Han Jin reached the second magic array set by Yalina. He then swiftly controlled his green radiance to dive down. Before Han Jin’s feet touched the ground, the magic array started operating under the control of Yalina who was hiding in the distance. Above Han Jin, a thin layer of light shrouded his figure.
Yalina deserved the name of a genius magician, her timing was just right, Han Jin praised her in his heart. However, before he steadied himself, a pulse of electricity as thick as a bucket followed, striking the magic shield forcefully!
Immediately after, countless flashes of lightning struck down from the sky, and within the time of several breaths, the magic shield had already started quivering vigorously, about to break apart at any moment.
Han Jin was shocked, why were the attacks much fiercer than previous ones? He swiftly threw out his charm and sank into the ground.
The thunderbirds that were blasting lightning were not able to see the scene inside the magic shield. They continued to bombard the magic array below with lightning. Just a brief moment later, the magic shield finally shattered with a loud boom. After the explosion, a huge pit appeared in front of the thunderbirds.
However, this time, the thunderbirds were not fooled. Their intuition told them that the human was not the kind who could be killed so easily. Under the leadership of the Thunderbird King, the swarm of birds hovered in circles over the pit on the ground.
Han Jin’s figure appeared on the ground hundreds of meters away. First, he leaped onto the green radiance, then he waved his hand, throwing something in the direction of the birds, leaving a trail of faint white light.
One of the thunderbirds in the front first spotted this white light and quickly darted after it. At the same time, it released a flash of lightning. To its own knowledge, no matter what the enemy threw, the lightning could not possibly harm itself or its companions.
When the white light collided with the lightning bolt, the white light smashed apart, with some sort of juice splattering all around. Seeing the scene ahead, the thunderbird’s eyes popped out in shock; it had finally realized what it was actually attacking – it was a thunderbird egg!
At that point, the thunderbirds were even more enraged, including the Thunderbird King; Han Jin was using thunderbird eggs to attack thunderbirds! Was there anything more despicable?
Staring into the distance, Han Jin laughed out loud, “It wasn’t me, you’re the one who broke the egg!”
Just as Han Jin finished speaking, he found that the white spots of light had begun forming into the bodies of all the thunderbirds. He then quickly controlled the green radiance and jetted away in the opposite direction. In the next moment, each of the lightning attacks released by the thunderbirds converged at a single point, forming a huge electric ball. With thunderous roars, the ball chased closely after Han Jin. Though Han Jin’s speed was already very fast, the electric ball was flying even faster. In the blink of an eye, it was already less than 20 meters away from Han Jin.
Han Jin made a sharp turn and dove towards the ground. The huge electric ball followed Han Jin’s movements and made a turn. Seeing that it was impossible to lose the ball, Han Jin forcibly broke through the obstruction of the tree branches and landed on the ground. The electric ball immediately followed, and exploded where Han Jin had disappeared; the turbulent winds uprooted the surrounding trees, causing countless broken branches and shattered leaves to rain down. Sand and rocks instantly filled the sky, leaving behind an enormous pit with a width of more than ten meters.
Han Jin leaped over a hundred meters away, then jumped into the sky, onto the green radiance. He was secretly surprised by the size of the explosion from the lightning ball. Since the situation had already evolved, if he gave up on the plan, he would be wasting everyone’s efforts. Now, his only hope was that his original judgment was not wrong.
