The mountaintop was gone!
The survivors stared at the peak before them, now nothing more than a gigantic crater, and were utterly stunned.
"Cough, cough!!" Ur struggled to pull himself out of the dust and debris.
When he saw that the forest within several hundred meters was completely reduced to barren earth, his eyes widened, and his heart pounded in lingering fear.
That roar just now had only been the aftershock, yet it had instantly broken through his Eightfold Rock Wall. If Hitsuya's target had been him at the time, he reckoned he would already be dead.
"Why did you save me?" a voice came from behind.
Ur turned around and met Ivan's small, bead-like eyes, filled with complicated emotions.
"..." Ur didn't feel like talking and shot Ivan a blank look.
You think I wanted to save you?
Why did I save you? Don't you have any idea yourself?
To Ur, no matter what, Ivan was still Makarov's son and Laxus's father. He could die, but he absolutely could not die in front of Ur. Otherwise, how would Ur face Makarov and Laxus in the future?
As for Ivan, it was much the same. Last time, he had actually had the chance to keep Erza and Natsu there for good, but he had deliberately let them go.
Because he knew very well that injuring them was one thing, but if he really killed them, with Makarov's personality, he might very well carry out justice even against his own kin. At that point, Ivan would have no way to deal with that monster-like old man.
"Oh, right." Ur took a few steps, then suddenly stopped. With his back to Ivan, he said, "If you still want to continue building dark guilds in the future, I have no objection. But you'd better pray that your dark guild never runs into me. Otherwise, you might survive. But as for the others in your guild, that's another story."
With that, Ur ignored Ivan's face turning deathly pale once again and walked straight away.
That's right. What Ur said just now was a threat. An outright, undisguised threat.
After all, according to the original story, Ivan's Raven Tail would eventually cause Fairy Tail quite a bit of trouble. And since Ur already knew this enemy in advance, how could he not take at least "a little" precaution?
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"Ah, Hitsuya! I'll never forgive you, never forgive you!" Elia knelt on the ground, wailing in agony, holding in his arms a young man who also wore glasses. But now, that man had completely lost all signs of life.
Ur glanced at him. That young man was the one who had previously come to assist him. His luck had been terrible. When Hitsuya unleashed its roar, he had been too close to the center and was instantly annihilated by the blast.
Hitsuya beat its wings and circled in the sky, looking down coldly and mockingly at the people below, lofty and aloof, like a god.
The casualties caused by that roar were far too severe. At this moment, aside from fewer than ten people who had managed to crawl out of the earth, nearly everyone else had effectively been declared permanently buried here.
Leo was gone.
Celestial Spirits do not die, but to protect Karen, he had been directly destroyed by the roar's impact and was forced to return to the Celestial Spirit World.
Karen herself had been completely scared witless. She lay collapsed on the ground, her legs twitching uncontrollably, eyes vacant, utterly incapable of fighting.
The green-haired punk Pachi and the flat-chested Seni were also dead. Compared to Elephant King and Elia, what they lacked wasn't strength, but just a tiny bit of luck.
Just a single attack.
Of the "seven great experts" who had besieged Hitsuya, only three and a half remained.
Three and a half.
Because the super musclebound Elephant King had had one arm blown off by the roar. He was no longer a complete man.
"Ahhh! Hitsuya!"
Just as everyone was drowning in fear, unable to pull themselves out, a furious shout suddenly rang out. They saw Natsu, flames blasting from his feet, charging toward Hitsuya in the sky with eyes split in rage.
Natsu actually did have some aerial combat ability, but that would only be after Happy matured and his wings fully grew, allowing him to carry Natsu into the air.
As for now…
Smack!
Hitsuya lightly flapped its wings, easily dodging Natsu's charge, then swatted him straight down with a single slap.
Natsu's combat instincts were unquestionably excellent. Using the propulsion of flames to take flight briefly was something ordinary fire mages couldn't do.
But simply getting airborne was completely useless.
If you couldn't freely control your body in the air, let alone attacking, just touching Hitguria would already be difficult.
Boom!
Natsu crashed down from the sky, slamming hard into the ground and instantly smashing out a deep crater.
Then, he patted the dust off and climbed right back up.
Tough as hell.
"Damn it!" Natsu roared angrily. So many people had just died—it was a huge shock to him. Even though he hadn't known them before, Natsu still felt furious on their behalf. That was just how he was.
Born overflowing with all kinds of positive energy.
"I'm definitely going to knock you flying!"
Staring at Hitsuya circling in the sky, Natsu stubbornly began casting magic again. From the looks of it, he planned to repeat the same trick and launch himself upward with jetting flames.
But this time, a large hand suddenly clamped around his throat and yanked him back down.
The sudden force threw Natsu's magic into chaos.
Bang!
Face to the ground, back to the sky, Natsu slammed straight into the earth.
"Ur, what are you doing?!" Natsu scrambled up angrily and shouted at Ur.
Ur's expression was calm. Facing Natsu's questioning, he unhurriedly condensed a fireball in his hand and said, "Calm down, Natsu. This is useless. Come, have a fireball first, recover a bit, cool off."
Natsu: "..."
"I'm digging in!" Faced with the temptation of the fireball, Natsu's anger quickly vanished. He hugged the huge fireball and started chomping down on it, drooling as he ate.
Dragon Slayers can devour magic of their own element to restore strength. To them, magic of the same attribute is no different from gourmet food.
"So tasty!" Natsu exclaimed while eating.
Before long, the massive fireball was completely devoured. Clutching his stomach, Natsu sighed in satisfaction. "Once I eat it, the power just comes flooding back!"
"Then next... Just you wait, Hitguria! I'm coming to knock you flying!" Natsu roared with vigor. A magic circle lit up beneath his feet, flames blasting out as his body slowly began to rise.
Smack!
With a single slap, Ur sent Natsu straight back into the ground again, embedding him firmly into the yellow earth, unable to crawl out for quite a while.
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Next Chapter: Luring
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