Right then, before Tibbers could bring his staff down on the Maitreya Buddha statue...
Suddenly!
A thunderous shout rang out from outside the cave along the snowy path:
"Who dares trespass on Thunderclap Monastery?!"
The voice boomed like thunder. Amplified by the reverberating sound waves and the narrow, towering cliffs, it even made the cave walls tremble.
"Who's shouting so loud?"
∑(△｀)?!
Without another word, the troublesome little girl immediately clapped her hands over her ears and looked toward the source of the voice.
"??"
Tibbers hadn't expected someone so lacking in sense to show up at a time like this, either.
So he instinctively stopped just short of smashing the Maitreya Buddha statue and turned in surprise to look toward the voice.
But...
Before the shout had even faded, a tall figure burst into the cave like a raging gale and charged straight at the "monkey" Tibbers like a wild bull.
Only then did Annie and Tibbers see that it was a blind monk dressed in gray robes.
A thick iron chain was fastened around his left wrist, with a massive boulder attached to the other end. It was about the size of a millstone, its surface rough and angular. Clearly, years of swinging it around had worn it down, and it must have weighed at least two or three hundred pounds.
Of course, none of that mattered. What mattered was that even though the man's eyes were covered with a strip of cloth, he had pinpointed Tibbers and Annie's locations with uncanny accuracy—and in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of them.
"Trespassers..."
"Die!"
The man roared, his voice filled with unbridled savagery and murderous intent. The instant he closed in, he swung both arms. The chain rattled, and the boulder hurtled toward Tibbers