[The Outside World is So Scary]

[Public Announcement:

That guy Jingguan has started a new book. It's called Feast of Sights and Flavors, and unbelievably... it's an urban story!

What kind of world is this?! Jingguan has stopped writing fantasy and switched to urban fiction, while I, Xiao Wu, have stopped writing urban fiction and switched to fantasy... Heaven help us. If you liked that old book Blood Boiling Beast, then go give that guy Jingguan's new book a look.]

Chapter 26: [The World Outside Is So Scary]

A distinguished emperor in the history of the Roland Empire had once spoken a famous saying:

"The Imperial Code is sacred and inviolable! Within the Empire's borders, everyone must strictly abide by the constraints of the Imperial Code."

That emperor later created the most glorious era in the history of the Roland Empire, an era renowned for its strict laws and stable imperial rule.

Yet it was also that same emperor... who, it was said, added another sentence in private after leaving behind those widely quoted words. Naturally, those private words were never recorded in any official document, but they had been leaked through many channels and spread far and wide.

"...Everyone must obey the Imperial Code, but there are two exceptions. The first exception is the emperor himself. At certain times, imperial authority may stand above the Code! And... the other exception is... magicians!"

#8226;

Powerful magicians often possessed abilities far beyond those of ordinary people. When such power reached its pinnacle, they could move mountains and overturn seas, even alter the fate of a nation. According to existing records, when their strength became so great that people could not even bear to look up at them, they were, in the eyes of mortals, beings almost akin to gods!

Those mighty figures could level lofty mountains and fill up great seas with a wave of their hands. They could summon storms, wind, ice, and snow, or use blazing suns to scorch the most fertile plains into parched deserts! With a gesture, they could wipe out armies by the thousands and tens of thousands, or create a catastrophe capable of destroying a small country!

For experts like these, secular "codes" clearly could not restrain them. And expecting those who could destroy heaven and earth at a whim to obey secular laws was clearly unrealistic as well.

Even leaving aside those legendary experts whose power approached that of gods... even an ordinary life-and-death duel between magicians could stir up a small-scale disaster, one sufficient to destroy an entire city.

Historical records stated that before this continent had been unified, it had been an age of war and darkness. A duel between two magicians could often directly destroy an entire city-state!

After the continent was unified into the powerful and complete Roland Empire, large-scale warfare disappeared. Battles between magicians also gradually grew fewer. Even so, Roland Empire history contained no shortage of records in which magicians had "incidentally" destroyed one or two small towns during private duels.

Yet even then, the Imperial Code had never established a law such as "No dueling in public places" for magicians. Ordinary people were subject to regulations forbidding armed brawls in public, but magicians were not included.

Even the Magic Guild merely required magicians to do their best to avoid settling private grudges in densely populated places. It was only a request; no binding rule had ever been made.

Furthermore, the agreement between the Magic Guild and the Empire stated that for any magician of intermediate rank or above, even if he had committed monstrous crimes, unless he had committed the grave crime of treason, any conviction or punishment of that magician required a joint trial by the imperial authorities, the Magic Guild, and the Temple of Light! Otherwise, the imperial authorities had no right to arrest or convict any magician of intermediate rank or above.

In the Empire's several hundred years of history, there had never been a record of an intermediate-ranked magician or higher being punished by the Empire for breaking the law. All of this undoubtedly demonstrated the special status of magicians as a group standing above ordinary people.

A group with extraordinary abilities, one that could stand above the law, whose members could decide whether to do good or evil almost entirely according to their own preferences, and who were virtually beyond restraint... That was what magicians were in the eyes of ordinary people. Thus, whenever magicians were mentioned, people always regarded them with reverence and awe—though fear made up the greater part of it.

#8226;

Almost all the residents of Half-Horn City were jolted awake from their dreams by the enormous commotion that night.

The violent tremors woke many from their sleep, even throwing some from their beds. Lamps overhead swung wildly, wooden doors in homes creaked and groaned, and countless people awoke in terror, only to find that the fierce shaking left them unable even to stand steadily.

People fled their homes in panic, only to discover that what should have been a pitch-black night was lit by dazzling flashes on the horizon. A massive ball of light flickered in and out of view, and from far away came the roars of some unknown beast, sounds that filled people with fear from the depths of their hearts!

Wave after wave of tremors came from outside the city. It was as though some unknown and terrifying disaster had struck. The earthquake, the firelight on the horizon, and those bone-chilling roars sent the residents of Half-Horn City into a panic.

Most frightening of all, after one wave of shaking passed... the violent earthquake even caused part of the northern city wall to collapse! The sound of the wall crumbling sent people running blindly through the city!

And in the distance, seemingly in the direction of Half-Horn Mountain outside the city, people could even see with their naked eyes two enormous balls of light—one silver, one fiery red! The two masses of light collided fiercely and violently, their collisions growing ever more frequent. Every impact unleashed a blaze of light that nearly illuminated the night itself! Even the moon in the sky had long since lost its luster!

Along with the violent flashes came muffled booms, one after another! The thunderous sounds made hearts pound in terror! Each one seemed like a heavy hammer smashing mercilessly into people's chests.

The few local garrison light infantrymen left in the city were thrown into chaos as well. These soldiers responsible for patrolling the walls were powerless to maintain order in the face of the panicked residents of Half-Horn City... Their numbers were too small, and they were frightened too.

Worst of all... news finally arrived! Someone had run to the garrison camp outside the city to seek help, only to discover in horror that the several dozen cavalrymen left behind there had all been injured and knocked unconscious. Even Knight Span, who held considerable local prestige, had been seriously wounded. The camp was in utter disarray, with fires that had yet to be extinguished, as if it had just been attacked by someone!

Panicked people began crowding toward the outskirts of the city, while others climbed to high ground in terror...

Just then, a sound like muffled thunder came from the direction of Half-Horn Mountain... followed by a series of crashes like thunder rolling through a summer downpour...

"The mountain collapsed! Half-Horn Mountain has collapsed!!"

No one knew who was the first to cry out from the high ground! Immediately afterward, the terrifying news spread swiftly through the crowd.

Half-Horn Mountain really had collapsed!!

In the distance, the small mountain that could once be seen from the city walls with the naked eye—the famous local peak of Half-Horn Mountain—collapsed with a deafening crash before the terrified eyes of the people! The entire peak seemed to have been blasted apart by something, as though it had not been a mountain at all, but a pile of sand... It came crashing down in an instant!

That fierce light was so intense that even people dozens of miles away could see it clearly! And those with especially sharp eyes seemed able to make out two strange, enormous shadows flying within that radiance...

For the residents of Half-Horn City, this was surely destined to be a night they would never forget for the rest of their lives. Shrouded in nameless terror, they waited for dawn with hearts almost desperate in their longing!

When the first glimmer of morning sunlight finally bloomed on the horizon, the heart-stopping booms and the fierce flashes that had filled half the night finally vanished!

Only after waiting for more than an hour, once they were sure that this unknown disaster truly seemed to be over, did the terror in people's hearts gradually begin to settle.

Knight Span and the others, who had been rescued by soldiers who went to the garrison camp for help in the middle of the night, finally woke up. Robert and the others woke as well.

Before the overwhelming power of the magicians, they had been injured and knocked unconscious without the slightest ability to resist. Then, beneath the ice beauty's magic, she had caused the entire hall to collapse. Of those who had been knocked down by the ice beauty, several were injured again when the collapsing building struck them.

The first to awaken under treatment was, unexpectedly, the female knight Ruolin.

Ruolin had been injured in the battle during the day, and due to excessive blood loss, she had been resting throughout the night. Solskja had also given her medicine to help her sleep. As a result, Ruolin, who had not been injured in the nighttime attack, was the first to awaken. She was still weak from blood loss; after all, the blood she had lost could not be replenished in a short time.

The next to awaken was Knight Robert, followed by Knight Span, and then the Rowling Family guards. When they discovered that their young master and that terrifying female attacker were both gone, everyone panicked.

After learning the situation from those around them, the injured Robert ignored the burns on his body. Forcing himself through the pain, he immediately took several subordinates whose injuries were somewhat lighter, prepared a carriage, and set out for Half-Horn Mountain. The female knight Ruolin traveled with them as well. When Knight Span learned that the young master of the Rowling Family had vanished, it felt as though he had stepped off a ten-thousand-foot cliff! His injuries were too severe for him to move, so he could only order every garrison soldier still able to move to accompany Robert to Half-Horn Mountain at once! According to the residents, that terrifying female attacker had most likely gone to Half-Horn Mountain the previous night.

At the same time, Knight Span immediately dispatched men to ride at full speed out of Half-Horn City to seek aid from the site of the garrison's spring exercises, while also reporting everything that had happened in Half-Horn City to the governor's office of Lier Province without delay.

Leaving aside how Knight Span worried over his own future and career, Knight Robert endured his pain as he rode in a carriage with his men to Half-Horn Mountain, which had already become a field of ruins. The female knight Ruolin accompanied them as well.

Yet the scene before them was enough to leave even the calmest person gaping in shock!!!

These people had all been to Half-Horn Mountain! Just one day ago, they had searched for Magic Beasts here in groups, their footprints covering nearly the entire mountain.

When they had come yesterday, this had been a typical hilly mountain of the Empire's southern region. Its ridges stretched for three or four li, blanketed in lush, dense forest. The whole mountain formed a "U" shape, with its tallest peak in the middle. From atop that peak, one could overlook the vague outline of Half-Horn City in the distance.

But now...

Robert and Ruolin, carried down from the carriage, both stood with their mouths agape and eyes wide, scarcely daring to believe what they saw was real!!

Good heavens! If this was a nightmare, then let it end already!!!

Although one of the local garrison soldiers traveling with them swore up and down that this was definitely Half-Horn Mountain... or rather, where Half-Horn Mountain had once stood.

Even the soldier making that oath wore a blank look, terror in his eyes!

Before them...

Half-Horn Mountain...

No, no—it should be said that there was no longer any "mountain" here!

Before them lay a... massive circular crater, visually estimated to be a full three li across!!

Where was Half-Horn Mountain? Where had the mountain gone?

That question spun through everyone's minds!

The carriage had stopped right at the edge of the circular abyss. Robert felt a chill run through his entire body as he stared at the astonishing, bizarre sight before him...

This enormous circular crater looked as though it had been left behind by some violent explosion! In the knight's estimation, the entire mountain had most likely been blasted into nothingness! All kinds of strange rocks, large and small, lay scattered around the rim of the crater. The ground was covered in thick sand, and the original earthen surface had long since vanished.

The massive circular crater was somewhat shallower around its edges, but the deeper one went toward the center, the farther it plunged!

What was even more terrifying was the sight within that round pit.

It was as though some god in the heavens had used an invisible brush to divide this enormous crater into two utterly different landscapes!

With the center as the boundary, the left half of the crater was covered in thick ice! The hard ice on the ground seemed as though it had accumulated over ten thousand years! That dense, solid ice, along with the frost blanketing the ground, had frozen everything in that half of the pit into a silver world! Even the surfaces of the rocks were coated in a layer of ice crystals!

The right half of the crater, however, presented the complete opposite scene!

If the left side was a world of ice and snow, then the right side resembled a desert!

It was as though every drop of moisture in the earth had been scorched dry! The ground was strewn with fine, dry, hard grains of sand, while the patches not covered by sand showed earth visibly cracked from extreme dryness! Not a trace of water seemed to exist here... even the rocks looked as though they had been baked until they split apart!

This enormous crater, split left and right into two completely opposing landscapes, filled everyone with not only terror, but also an indescribable sense of awe.

Being a knight of strong character, Robert was the first among them to recover from the shock.

"I'm guessing... there must have been a fierce battle here last night. It was a battle on a level far beyond anything people like us can imagine... That female mage called Vivian is gone too. She must have fought a great battle here with that female attacker last night." The knight analyzed the situation with a grim face. "We don't need to concern ourselves with those matters... Our problem is, where is the young master now? He wasn't in the camp, and he was already gone when we were rescued! So he must have been taken by the other side... perhaps even..."

Robert did not finish what he was saying. After all, if even an entire mountain could be turned into a crater out of thin air! With mages capable of such terrifying destructive power... making one or two people disappear was hardly anything remarkable.

Robert's expression had turned dreadful, but he still remembered his duty. After all, he was now the highest-ranking leader among them. He could not let his subordinates lose heart. Gritting his teeth, he said, "The situation may not be that bad. Perhaps the master escaped on his own, or perhaps he was taken by the mage. No matter what, the most important thing now is to find the master and bring him back!"

The knight immediately issued two orders: first, everyone still able to move was to begin searching the area at once. Second, someone was to be sent back immediately to the castle on the Roland Plain in Kote Province to deliver a message!

This matter had already gone beyond what Knight Robert and his people could control.

Where exactly was the young master now?

That was the question everyone was pondering in their hearts.

So what exactly was Du Wei doing now?

Du Wei was doing something he had never even dreamed of doing before.

He was... riding a dragon!

He rode on a dragon's back, soaring through the sky! The wind around him blew so fiercely that he could barely open his eyes, and he could only awkwardly wrap his clothes around his head. Both hands clung tightly to the raised scales on the dragon's back as he watched the colossal creature streak through the clouds, with an endless sea of clouds beneath his feet... The sensation made Du Wei so excited that he almost wanted to shout!

"P-p-please d-d-don't grab its sc-sc-scales, all right?" Vivian's pitiful voice came from beside him. The female mage lay weakly across the dragon's back, her body pressed tightly against it. Her delicate little face had long since gone white as paper, making her look utterly frail. Seeing Du Wei clutching her dragon's scales so tightly, she could not help feeling distressed. "I-it will f-feel unhappy. Dragons are p-p-proud creatures. M-my Blazing Sun is still j-just a child. I-it doesn't l-like people g-g-grabbing its scales..."

"If I don't grab its scales, what else am I supposed to grab?" Du Wei frowned. The moment he opened his mouth, wind rushed into it and made him cough repeatedly. He hurriedly lowered his head, then turned to glance at the female mage. "With winds this strong, if I don't hold on to something, what happens if I fall off?!"

Du Wei said resentfully, "Fine, I won't grab its scales. Once we've shaken off your terrifying sister's pursuit and reached somewhere safe, I'll make it a set of reins."

Reins?

Almighty God! Please forgive poor little Vivian... and forgive this terrifying fellow too.

Putting reins on a dragon... God, did he think dragons were creatures that could simply be ridden at will?

Just then, the enormous crimson dragon beneath them suddenly let out a mournful cry...

Du Wei's heart lurched, and he shouted, "This is bad—your dragon doesn't seem able to keep going!"

Vivian was distressed as well. "Blazing Sun is still only a b-b-baby dragon. I-it was just injured, and now it has to c-c-carry two people, it... it..."

On the left wing of the crimson dragon was a startlingly horrific wound. The injury made that wing difficult to flap properly in flight, and as it flew, its body gradually began to tilt to one side.

"Think of something, quickly!" Du Wei shouted. "Otherwise, the two of us are going to fall to our deaths."

"M-m-my things were all e-e-extorted away by you! I-I don't have any w-way either..." Vivian was so terrified that she could barely speak. Tears swirled in her big eyes, and suddenly she burst into loud sobs:

"Waaah!!! The outside world is so scary! Teacher! Teacher, come save me! I want Mommy, I want Daddy! Come save poor little Vivian!!"

"Huh? She wasn't even stuttering when she started crying at a time like this?!"

Du Wei was so enraged by this little fool that he nearly fell off the dragon's back! At a time like this, she was actually crying for her father and mother like a child!

His face darkened as he barked several reprimands in quick succession, but just then, the dragon beneath them finally could not endure any longer.

It had fought fiercely for the entire night, nearly exhausting all its magic power. Then it had suffered grievous wounds, fled with its master for so long, carried two people on its back, and its wings were badly injured as well. It had already reached its limit.

With a mournful cry, Du Wei suddenly felt his body plunge! The giant dragon had finally nosedived from midair...

"Damn it! Think of something! Your dragon can't hold on anymore!!"

"Waaah... Daddy! Mommy!! Mommy..."

"Stop crying! If you keep crying, we're all going to fall to our deaths!!"

"Waaah... Mommy... come save poor little Vivian..."