174: Megalophobia! The three-headed beast tearing through the torrential rain

Purple Kite heard what Qingluan said and pushed the syringe in her hand forward, piercing the priest's skin.

"Stop."

"Make those islanders stop, or this vial of medicine will make you feel the agony of neural dissolution for the next twenty-four hours."

"Stop? Hahaha..."

The priest, trampled underfoot, suddenly burst into even more violent laughter.

"It can't be stopped..."

The priest struggled to turn his head, staring fixedly at Lin Yuan.

"It's all your fault."

He extended a mud-stained finger, trembling as he pointed at Lin Yuan.

"If it weren't for you... if it weren't for you draining the energy from the mineral vein..."

"Our Sakura Country has always been the most peace-loving nation in the world!"

"We only wanted the Divine Stone, just a little bit of energy to awaken the sleeping guardian deity... That energy should have been enough! There was no need to use these lowly lives to fill the gap!"

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.

The Scepter he was toying with tapped against the priest's forehead with a "clang."

"Peace-loving?"

A wisp of electric arc traveled along the Scepter and drilled into the priest's skull, shocking him until his whole body convulsed.

"You traveled a long way to someone else's home to dig up graves, then had to slaughter their entire family, and in the end, you tell me you did it for world peace?"

Lin Yuan squatted down and patted the priest's face.

"Also, I ate my fill based on my own ability, so why are you blaming me for having a big appetite?"

"It's you! It's you!"

The priest screamed hysterically.

"The Divine Beast has awakened... It's hungry! Without the energy of the Divine Stone, it will eat meat! It will eat blood!"

"Those islanders... that was you forcing us to sacrifice them! Their deaths will all be on your head! You are the murderer! You are..."

Clang—!

A cold gleam flashed by.

The priest's roar came to an abrupt end.

A head rolled away, eyes still wide open, mouth frozen in a roar, as if it hadn't yet realized it had been decapitated.

Zhao Ya shook the blood droplets off her longsword and sheathed it.

Her movements were crisp and decisive, without a word of nonsense.

"Noisy."

She didn't even glance at the corpse on the ground and pressed her earpiece.

"Purple Kite, Su Wanqing."

"Here," both women answered simultaneously.

"Leave this place to you two." Zhao Ya pointed at the remaining Sea Wave Society warriors and ninjas who weren't quite dead yet. "Clean it up, leave no one behind. Whether they are living people or mummified corpses, I don't want to see anything that can move."

"Understood." Ice spikes condensed in Su Wanqing's hand, her face as cold as frost.

"All personnel on the perimeter, listen up!"

Zhao Ya's voice exploded in the communication channel, carrying authority.

"Give up the pursuit of the Blood Anchor Group and the Thousand Hands Society. Everyone, move towards the coastline!"

"Mission priority changed to the highest level: rescue the civilians! Save as many as you can!"

"Yes!"

A uniform roar came from the channel.

After arranging all of this, Zhao Ya turned around and grabbed Lin Yuan's arm.

"Let's go."

"Where to?" Lin Yuan had just stuffed the Scepter into his storage space and hadn't had time to count the other spoils of war.

"Back to the shore."

Zhao Ya looked at the distant sea surface, her brows furrowed into a "river" shape.

"Hold on to me, I'll take you there by flying. Although it will be a bit slower with a passenger, there's no time to wait for a boat now..."

Slap.

A hand pressed down on Zhao Ya's shoulder, pressing back the breath she had just drawn.

"Captain Zhao."

Lin Yuan took a step back, breaking free from Zhao Ya's grip.

He straightened the collar of his floral shirt, which had been ruffled by the wind, looking displeased.

"How can a man let a woman carry him while flying?"

Zhao Ya was stunned for a moment, then her anger flared up: "Is now the time to show off?! Tens of thousands of lives are hanging by a thread..."

Crackle—!!!

A clap of thunder interrupted her reprimand.

The clothes on Lin Yuan's back exploded.

Two dazzling blue-purple lightning bolts burst out, intertwining, stretching, and solidifying in the air.

In the blink of an eye, a pair of thunder wings with a wingspan of over four meters spread out behind him.

The surrounding air twisted due to the high heat, and the accumulated water on the sea surface was attracted by static electricity, turning into water droplets suspended in mid-air.

【Thunder Falcon Wings】

"You..." Zhao Ya widened her eyes, watching Lin Yuan floating in mid-air, momentarily speechless.

The file didn't say this guy could fly!

And the energy fluctuation of these wings... was actually more Advanced than her sword.

"Why are you dazed?"

Lin Yuan flapped his thunder wings, and a gust of wind swept up the gravel on the ground.

"Aren't we in a hurry? Lead the way."

Zhao Ya collected herself, gave Lin Yuan a deep look, and said no more.

"Keep up!"

Boom!

The two turned into a cyan and a blue streak of light, shooting into the sky.

The rain was still pouring.

Thunder rolled, drowning out the surging waves below.

Lin Yuan flew in the air, feeling the wild wind hitting his face.

The two were moving extremely fast.

In just ten minutes, the outline of Nine Ring Island in the distance appeared in their field of vision.

Looking down from high altitude, the scene was simply hair-raising.

The port town, originally brightly lit, was now like a ghost realm.

The streets were densely packed with black dots.

Those black dots surged from every corner of the island towards the pier and the beach.

Tens of thousands of islanders were like army ants controlled by some kind of command.

Even if the companions in front had already been submerged by seawater, those behind still stepped on the shoulders and heads of the people in front without hesitation, continuing to walk into the deep sea.

"Damn it!"

Zhao Ya watched this scene, her eyes turning red.

She could see the members of the Sword Immortal Squad on the perimeter trying desperately to block them.

But in the face of a torrent of tens of thousands, the strength of these dozens of people was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, and they were instantly overwhelmed.

"Accelerate!!"

Zhao Ya roared, her longsword cutting through the air, her speed increasing once again.

Just at this moment.

Lin Yuan in front suddenly stopped.

Zhao Ya rushed out dozens of meters before she realized, hurriedly making a turn in the air and stopping beside Lin Yuan.

"Lin Yuan! What are you doing?!"

Zhao Ya yelled anxiously, rainwater sliding down her cheeks.

"Why are you stopping at a time like this?! Ahead is..."

"Shh."

Lin Yuan raised a finger and pressed it against his lips.

He hovered in the rainstorm, not looking at the island in the distance, but looking down, staring fixedly at the sea surface beneath his feet.

【Thunder Magnetic Induction】

"What the hell are you doing?" Zhao Ya gritted her teeth, "People are dying every second..."

"There is something below."

Lin Yuan interrupted her.

His voice was very soft, torn and fragmented by the wind and rain, but it sounded like a thunderclap in Zhao Ya's ears.

"What?" Zhao Ya looked down subconsciously.

Apart from the boundless sea, she couldn't see anything.

"It's huge..."

Lin Yuan's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

In his perception, a massive biological signal was rising from the deep sea.

The intensity of that signal was more terrifying than any creature he had encountered before.

"Go quickly."

Lin Yuan suddenly looked up and pushed Zhao Ya.

"Fly higher! Don't get close to the water surface!"

"What do you mean? What exactly did you see..."

Rumble—!!!

A bolt of lightning tore through the firmament, illuminating the world.

It was at this very moment.

Zhao Ya saw it clearly.

Beneath the sea surface at their feet, a massive shadow was rapidly enlarging.

The seawater was arrogantly pushed aside, kicking up monstrous waves.

And in that sky-filling mist of water.

Three snake heads tore through the water surface, opening their bloody maws, biting towards the two in mid-air.