Volcanic Meteors

A sudden burst of thunderous roar erupted on the horizon.

The immense energy hidden within the Earth was beginning to reveal itself, and the entire land trembled in response.

Crimson lava, mixed with gray-black smoke, erupted from the emerald green volcano covered with lush vegetation.

The pristine white clouds were instantly stained black, and countless fiery red streaks quickly appeared in the azure sky.

That's a spectacular sight created when rocks heated red-hot in magma fall back down after being pushed high into the air by the high pressure of a volcanic eruption.

Daylight quickly turned to night, and the sky above Naples was filled with rapidly falling meteors.

Just like the natural disaster that destroyed Pompeii two thousand years ago.

These volcanic meteors will soon fall to the ground, carrying torches of rock and ash that will set the ancient city ablaze.

Even the Time Erasure that transcends the rules of time cannot stop this earth-shattering natural disaster.

At the very moment the volcano erupted, Diavolo, who was driving his armored vehicle at full speed forward, was trembling all over.

It wasn't because I was scared, nor because I was angry.

It was not because of a powerful earthquake that struck the land beneath his feet.

The ground was trembling violently, the houses were trembling violently, and the whole world was trembling violently.

The flat road turned into a "water surface" swaying back and forth in the gale, and Diavolo's armored vehicle became a small boat drifting with the waves.

The armored vehicle, which was moving at full speed, soon skidded and went out of control on the road surface that had suddenly split open.

At this point, the Time Erasure just ended.

But instead of charging towards Li Qing as Diavolo had expected, the armored vehicle lost control, turned around, and crashed into a shop next to the road.

This out-of-control steel behemoth crashed through a wall, overturned rows of shelves, and veered off course for more than ten meters before being brought to a stop by emergency brakes.

"No!!"

Diavolo roared wildly in shock and pain.

They were so close, but they failed inexplicably because of a volcano and an earthquake.

He simply couldn't accept this reality.

At this moment, Diavolo had enjoyed a glorious life for half his life, was like an ordinary middle-aged man burdened with a huge mortgage but suddenly fired from his job, too afraid to go home to see his wife and children, and could only hide in his car and cry his heart out. He angrily and helplessly pounded the steering wheel.

At this time, the volcanic eruption had just begun, the earthquakes were intensifying, and the buildings were swaying as if they would collapse at any moment.

Damn it!

Diavolo didn't even have time to vent his anger.

He had to get this damn armored vehicle out of the way before the crumbling building buried him and his vehicle alive.

So, he frantically shifted gears, turned the steering wheel, floored the accelerator, and hurriedly escaped, bracing against the falling building materials from the ceiling.

When Diavolo drove back to the road, looking disheveled and embarrassed...

"Um?"

"Li Qing is still on this street!"

Although he had run much further, Li Qing Sin was still in Diavolo's sights:

He didn't use that locating light to escape.

"Didn't he see me drive into the store?"

That is indeed the case.

Although the armored vehicle had just crashed into the store with great fanfare, Li Qing still did not notice the "traffic accident" that had occurred just tens of meters behind him.

Because a much bigger commotion in the surrounding area masked it.

That was an earthquake, or a volcanic eruption.

From Li Qing's perspective, he had only been "stunned for a moment" and by the time he came to his senses, the mountain had collapsed and the ground had caved in.

The whole world was trembling and howling.

The eruption of magma in the distance, the trembling of houses nearby, the streaking of "shooting stars" in the sky, and the shaking of the underground rock strata.

Endless sounds came from every corner, above, below, and in all directions, making his overly sensitive ears ring.

Especially the seismic waves.

Seismic waves are very similar in nature to sound waves, so they are also called ground acoustic waves.

Those incredibly powerful seismic waves surged into the air, completely altering the surrounding acoustic environment.

Li Qing had previously listened to the so-called "voice of the earth" to determine the spatial structure underground, but now, this "voice of the earth," which had suddenly become millions of times stronger, had become his nightmare.

He stood there, covering his ears, amidst the unprecedented roar of the tsunami, looking completely bewildered.

In comparison, Diavolo's little commotion was nothing.

Therefore, even though Diavolo appeared from the Time Erasure and then lost control of his car, crashing into the roadside, Li Qing was unable to detect his presence in time.

But that's not the really bad thing.

Due to the strong interference from the seismic waves, Li Qing could no longer rely on his superhuman hearing to lock onto targets outside his field of vision.

He had already located a suitable target more than 200 meters away that could carry the Sonically Enhanced Wave through his hearing, but now, due to the sudden earthquake, the target that he had locked onto could no longer be found.

No way.

We don't know if the enemy will catch up, so staying here is definitely not an option.

Li Qing could only cover her ears and continue running forward.

"Ha ha ha ha."

"That bald guy's ears went dead in the earthquake. So, it turns out, this was God helping me!"

Life is full of ups and downs.

Diavolo instantly saw hope amidst his despair.

Before the accompanying earthquake from the volcanic eruption had subsided, he immediately slammed on the gas pedal and continued his pursuit of Li Qing.

Because of the time wasted crashing into the store, and because Li Qing's running speed is far beyond human capabilities, Diavolo has now increased the distance between himself and Li Qing to more than a hundred meters.

But that's alright.

Given that Li Qing was deaf and unable to perceive anything, this distance of over a hundred meters was actually quite close.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Diavolo's eyes were glowing red.

He recklessly revved the engine, speeding along the trembling, bumpy earthquake-prone road.

At this moment, Diavolo was even imagining the miserable state Li Qing would be in after he closed the distance, riddled with bullets, crushed into mincemeat by wheels, and chopped into pieces by the King Crimson.

However, at this moment

Swoosh—

A piercing shriek suddenly rang out in the sky.

That's the sound of an object tearing through the air at high speed.

The sound was so loud that even the surrounding earthquake noise could not drown it out.

Moreover, it's getting closer and closer.

"A meteor?!"

Diavolo's expression was almost blank.

Yes, those are "meteors" formed when volcanic eruptions are propelled into the sky by high pressure.

Moreover, it is the largest of them.

At first glance, this "meteor" appears to be thirty or forty meters in diameter.

Covered in still-warm, dark red lava, it stained almost half the sky with a grayish-red hue as it fell at high speed from the sky.

Its size is so large that it's hard to believe that this is an effect that a volcanic eruption could achieve.

It grew larger and closer in Diavolo's field of vision, and finally crashed heavily onto a building a few dozen meters away.

A sudden tremor shook the ground, as if the earthquake itself had been intensified.

Skyscrapers instantly turned to rubble, and the molten lava carried by the "meteor" flew like sparks.

Diavolo was fine, and Li Qing was fine too.

The "meteor" narrowly avoided the road they were on, and neither of them was threatened by the disaster.

"Fine."

Diavolo breathed a long sigh of relief.

He had no interest in appreciating the spectacular sight of the falling meteor, nor did he have time to be happy about his good fortune.

He was completely focused on Li Qing ahead, pressing the accelerator relentlessly.

The engine roared, the bearings groaned, accelerate, accelerate, and accelerate again.

Until

The sky was obscured by shadows.

That wasn't a shadow caused by volcanic ash, nor did the sun suddenly set.

The shadow appeared suddenly because some enormous creature was approaching Diavolo's vicinity.

Therefore, the sunlight above his head was blocked.

Diavolo glanced in the rearview mirror, and then suddenly noticed...

That volcanic meteor that just fell nearby looks like it's moving.