Dead silence.
“Ah—!!!”
A scream ignited everyone’s fear. Then more screams, crying, wailing.
The entire team completely collapsed. People were no longer “running”; they were fleeing for their lives.
Pushing, trampling, falling, luggage forgotten by the roadside, discarded bundles scattered all over the ground.
Some knelt on the ground, kowtowing continuously, chanting prayers whose meanings they didn’t even know.
Some villagers hugged their frightened children, sitting paralyzed on the ground, unable to move. Some knights gritted their teeth and stood in front of the villagers, but the hands holding their swords trembled violently.
High above, the giant eagle was slowly circling.
Its wingspan exceeded ten meters, every feather made of pure thunder, emitting a dazzling purple-blue light in the dim sky.
Each time its wings flapped, tiny arcs of electricity detached from the feathers, crackling as they struck the ground, leaving small charred pits.
It wasn’t in a hurry to attack. It just circled slowly, gracefully, like a lofty Death God, overlooking the ants below with its eagle eyes.
“It’s… it’s a thunder roc.” Lei Ji’s voice was completely hoarse. He looked up at the figure tracing a purple arc across the sky, revealing despair for the first time. “The sky is sealed off too.”
“We’re dead.”
“No one can escape.”
Panic spread like a plague through the crowd.
The night demon slowly approached from behind, each step making the earth tremble. It no longer accelerated because it didn’t need to; the prey was already trapped. It opened its giant maw and let out a low, pleased roar, as if enjoying the final moments of the hunt.
The thunder roc dove down from the sky. It directly extended its lightning-clad claws and grabbed a knight who was organizing a defense. That knight didn’t even have time to scream before being carried hundreds of meters into the air.
Then, the claws released. Rain of blood fell from the sky, landing on the terrified faces below.
“Waaahhh!!”
The crowd completely exploded.
Some started running in the opposite direction, charging straight toward the night demon. Some collapsed on the spot, unable to even stand. Knights dropped their weapons and turned to run.
Yisela stood still, watching it all.
She saw the little girl who had given her wildflowers yesterday, being knocked down by the crowd.
She saw the young knight who always smiled kindly and helped her carry things, grazed by the thunder roc’s lightning strike, half his body charred and lying in a pool of blood, still using his remaining hand to crawl forward, shouting, “Your Highness… run!”
She saw too much. So much that her brain couldn’t process it, so much that her heart felt as if an invisible hand was gripping it, crushing it, crushing it again.
She turned around, facing the two magic beasts.
“Stop it… Stop it!!”
A scream burst from her throat. The voice didn’t sound like her own—it was as if it had been torn from the deepest part of her soul.
A never-before-felt violent aura exploded from within her.
A powerful dragon’s might appeared once again. Everyone, including the two high-level magic beasts, now focused all their gazes on her.