The Longest Day (9)

The defensive wall, having endured an hour of intense bombardment, finally could no longer fulfill its duty.

It began to crumble, raining rubble and wreckage onto the battlefield below.

Noise and tremors merged into one, inseparable as they blurred her vision into a hazy smear.

Orange-yellow bricks and beams burst apart with a crash, exploding into clouds of dust like flour.

"Ha! Keep up with me!"

In the instant Ava froze, Guk had already charged toward the tall buildings.

Behind him, the ground was rapidly turning into a violent collapse. The earth ahead tilted sharply upward, and only then did Guk realize he was climbing a slope.

A massive boulder that had once been part of some building came hurtling toward him. This behemoth had surely played an important role in the final collapse of that entire stretch of wall.

Faced with the unstoppable boulder, Ava hurriedly leaped into the air to avoid being crushed into a long smear of blood across the ground.

She barely landed atop the rock, gripping the shattered base of a stone statue with both hands.

Though she slightly sprained her ankle, she had at least found her footing.

When she looked down, she saw that the boulder was still sliding onward.

Ava steadied herself, then leaped again and landed on the sloping platform behind the boulder.

The Harpies flailed as they jumped into the air, fine debris constantly striking their shoulders and masks.

One piece of rubble hit with considerable force, leaving a web of cracks across the left side of her ornate mask and making her dizzy for a moment.

Boom!

The earth-shattering roar of the collapse gradually reached its peak. The whole world seemed shrouded in fog. Like a headless fly, she slammed into something, only to discover it was a breastplate.