The moment the golden giant hand pressed down, the protective grand array of the entire city emitted an unbearable groan. Like the final snowflake that snaps a withered branch, the runes flowing across the array's surface first flickered violently, then guttered like a candle in the wind, and finally, amidst a rapid series of fine, porcelain-cracking snaps, transformed into spots of light that scattered across the sky.
"Boom—!"
Only then did the truly deafening explosion arrive, accompanied by a tangible shockwave that spread in all directions. The star beast soldiers on the city walls were knocked sideways by the blast wave, and those with weaker cultivation even coughed up blood as their weapons clattered to the ground. The city-protecting grand array, the barrier that had maintained the city's peace for tens of thousands of years, completely shattered before their eyes and turned into nothingness.
The entire process seemed long, but in reality, it took only a few breaths.
Down below, the star beasts—from Toad General standing atop the highest point of the city gate tower to the ordinary soldiers gripping their spears behind the battlements—were all struck dumb by this overwhelming display of destruction.
They raised their heads to stare at the lingering shadow of the golden giant hand in the sky that had yet to fully dissipate, their pupils contracting.
Toad General was, after all, a veteran who had experienced many battles, and it was the first to struggle out of its shock.
On its broad, wart-covered face, a pair of bulging eyeballs stared fixedly at the sky.
A bone-chilling despair, like a bucket of ice water poured from the crown of Toad General's head to the soles of its feet, washed over it. Once these thunderbolts fell from the sky, the entire city, along with its citizens, would