Way To The East, Dragon Heart Series Book 17

2

Just as Hadjar was about to use his trump card — a truncated version of the ‘Star Blaze’ Technique, the ‘Star Flash’ — a line streaked across the sky. Splitting into a hundred individual projectiles, arrows rained down on the scaffold. Some of them burned with blue flames, others sparked with lightning, others looked like steel encased in ice, and others still were vibrating and emitting a bright, poisonous light.

They collided with the crystal blades and evaporated from the sheer force behind them, but even such weak collisions were enough to disrupt the Technique and allow Hadjar to evade Essenin’s attack. Trying to block her Technique would’ve been pointless. The moment his Blue Blade touched the crystal sabers, a wave of power would’ve destroyed his energy body.

“So, it’s two against one, is it?” Without moving from her spot, Essenin waved away Gustaf’s arrows like they were annoying flies. “Sure, I don’t mind.”

Another arrow, turning into a ray of bright sunlight, momentarily blocked her view. When she batted it away, she saw something surprising once again.

Chapter 1472

H

adjar could only use three ‘Star Flash’ attacks. After that, his Core, physical body, and even soul would weaken so much that he would hardly be able to withstand the mere pressure of Essenin’s aura, let alone keep fighting her.

He and Gustaf hadn’t discussed a plan of action, but they were both experienced enough warriors to determine the only right way to delay the Head of the Underground Whisper clan for at least a little while.

Gustaf’s shot, while incredibly fast, hadn’t contained much power, but at the same time, the Technique had been able to blind even the Heaven Emperor for a short time. This was enough for Hadjar to gather all his forces together. The Name of the Wind was beating in his chest and he was one with his faithful friend. The Blue Blade rested in its scabbard, and his palm froze an inch above the hilt. An ominous wind seemed to gather around him. The clouds on his clothes were floating faster and faster, and the stars there began to flash one after another. The Quetzal bird spread its wings and soared away somewhere into the universe. Barely able to withstand the energy raging somewhere inside of him, he uttered:

“Star... Flash.”

It was unlikely that he would’ve been able to use this Technique without saying it out loud and thus helping his consciousness process everything.

Other warriors were fighting in the midst of a fiery hell. Dozens of mercenaries and warriors of the Underground Whisper clan couldn’t deal with just a single lava-bound, red-bearded dwarf armed with two axes.

“Come and get it!” He shouted, brandishing his formidable weapons, each swing of which brought lava and streams of fire down on the warriors. “I’m just getting-”

He stopped. For a moment, the battle froze. Everyone turned to the street. Or rather, what was left of the street, because now a furrow the length of the whole city stretched across the ground, starting from the central square and leading all the way to the wall. There, despite all the fortifications and the efforts of the dwarven masters, a web of deep cracks had appeared, but it still stood. The wall had resisted the onslaught, but not the houses and other buildings.

“Not bad, Hadjar-dan,” the dwarf wiped his nose and rushed into battle. “Come here, you filthy humans! I haven’t even worked up a sweat yet!”

Taking aim, Gustaf suddenly sensed great danger. He instantly used a defensive artifact that enveloped him in transparent steel plates. In the spot where Hadjar had stood moments ago, a small star seemed to come into being. It exploded, and the flow of energy surged down the street, not just sweeping away everything in its path, but completely annihilating it. The houses made of a special rock capable of withstanding high-grade energies disappeared in a flash of starlight. The Nameless level cultivators who found themselves in the path of the flash were reduced to ashes.

“Holy s**t, Hadjar... Did you actually sell your soul to the demons?” Gustaf whispered when the dust settled.

The home of the Underground Whisper clan had simply disappeared. It was scorched earth and nothing else for several miles. That was what Hadjar had turned the territory of the Underground Whisper clan into with just a single Technique.

“How... how is this possible?” Essenin, whose left arm hung limply at her side, could barely remain standing. Her wounded body swayed slightly on the wreckage of the scaffold.

She couldn’t believe that a mere Nameless cultivator could, even for a brief moment, unleash a power equal to a peak-stage Heaven Emperor’s... Or maybe even higher than that. If she’d been prepared, if she had used all her defensive artifacts and Techniques, she would most likely have come out of this battle in much better condition. But she hadn’t, and now there was only devastation behind her, and she herself, since she’d only managed to use a Technique and artifact at the last second, had lost her left arm, which was broken not only on the physical, but also the energy level.

Opposite her, in a cloud of dust, leaning on his blade, stood the panting young man with gray hair and monstrous eyes.

“You... aren’t... a human,” Essenin said. “A human... isn’t capable... of such a thing…”

Hadjar said nothing. He literally couldn’t. He’d greatly overestimated himself when he’d thought he could use the ‘Star Flash’ Technique three times. Maybe he could have, if he wasn’t using the ‘Wind Warrior’ Technique as well. However, by using these two incredible ultimate Techniques that defied the laws of the mortal world, he had overcome the limits of a Heaven Emperor’s power. And that had cost him due to the backlash that was now affecting his energy body. The chaos into which his energy had been plunged and the blow received by his Core should’ve evaporated his soul and flesh right then and there, but…

But the membrane of ice that had strengthened his Core had spread to his entire energy structure at the moment of impact and absorbed most of the damage.

“And yet,” Essenin, after throwing a few pills into her mouth, straightened back up. Her right saber was pointing at Hadjar. Dozens of crystal blades were once again flickering in the air, “It isn’t enough, boy.”