The sudden burst of golden light came without warning. At the same time, an invisible force field erupted from it, slamming everyone present and hurling them violently into the surrounding walls.
Lex took the worst of it. The force field seemed almost conscious. In that instant, it had concentrated most of its force on Lex, leaving him thoroughly dazed despite his serum-enhanced body.
Lex grunted and slowly slid down the wall to the floor. He instinctively tried to get back up, but the attack had been far too powerful. Aside from the dizziness, his limbs felt as though they had been dislocated; even the slightest movement sent pain coursing through his entire body.
Perhaps because the force had been focused on Lex, the others were not injured as badly. They merely remained dazed for four or five seconds before coming to.
But it was not over yet. As the force field struck everyone, the statue that had erupted with golden light shattered completely, revealing a dagger radiating golden light within.
A dagger engraved with Kryptonian writing!
The instant the dagger appeared, waves of extremely high-frequency sound spread into the distance and traveled directly into the ears of Clark, who was still in class at Smallville High.
In an instant, Clark, who had felt perfectly fine moments ago, suddenly heard a flood of unbearably piercing screeches. Ordinary people could not hear them due to their frequency, but Clark, whose eardrums could pick them up, felt unimaginable pain.
The pain in his ears would have been bad enough, but Clark felt as if someone had shoved an electric baton into his brain and viciously stirred it around. The agony was so intense that he could not help crying out.
"Ah!!!!"
Clutching his head, Clark collapsed to the floor in pain, throwing the