Thunderbolt. Rain. Wind.
There were many natural elements that tried to destroy the earth, however, they all failed to do so. Whether it becomes dust or mud, the earth was still strong enough to support everything on it.
That earth was moving.
It was different than an earthquake.
However, everybody could feel the weirdness of the earth.
It was different than the rumbling of the earth when a thunderbolt struck it. The earth made a very light and subtle noise.
Lock's gaze then headed toward the source of those vibrations.
The vibrations had started from underneath where Cale Henituse was standing.
Lock’s bloodshot eyes soon opened wide.
“Ugh!”
Cale's body staggered. Cale’s foot that was stepping on the slightly shaking ground slightly shook.
“Y, young master-nim!”
Lock reached his hand out in shock. However, his hand could not grab Cale, who bent forward and staggered to the side.
Lock moved his hand that grabbed empty air again in order to try to grab Cale’s shoulder.
It was at that moment.
It was the noise that had been hammering against the shield.
The noise that should have been in the sky felt extremely close.
Lock felt chills throughout his body. His gaze headed toward the source of the noise.
“Ahhh! H, hurry!”
“T, the shield broke!”
‘…Broke?’
The shield will not break. Lock recalled how Vice Captain Hilsman told him through a call about how that phrase had become famous.
The Gorge of Death. It was a place with so much wind in the winter that it felt as if someone was crying all night.
The calls he had with Vice Captain Hilsman every so often in order to report in and hear about how Cale and the others had achieved victory had made Lock's heart beat fast.
The story that was the most memorable was about the shield. The Indestructible Shield. He felt himself heating up every time he heard about how the shield would not break.
But that shield broke?
Lock's gaze headed up to the sky.
Baaaaaang!
A thunderbolt struck the ground. The people heading for the teleportation magic circle started to walk faster. Screams and shrieks filled the battlefield.
A portion of the silver shield was broken.
Baaaaang! Bang! Bang!
Hundreds of thunderbolts were still striking down at the shield.
Lock could see cracks appearing throughout the silver shield. It would soon break completely.
That fact filled Lock's mind.
Bang!
Lock raised his head.
He looked directly above where he was standing. He could see that the silver shield was breaking above him as well.
Craaaack-
The cracks were starting to get worse.
“Magic Brigade, activate the shield!”
"Archie, Paseton, help people escape!”
Rosalyn and Witira shouted with urgency. The ground was starting to shake even more as all of this happened. Lock's heart started to beat faster.
It was at that moment.
Craaaaaaack.
Lock could see the bright light coming in through the shield.
His heart was beating crazily.
If that thunderbolt lands on him, then-
Lock suddenly thought about two people.
His current tasks.
Looking at Cale's back.
Holding onto Raon.
Those were his two tasks.
‘Is that really all I need to do?’
His heart that was beating with fear and despair started to beat to a different rhythm. Thunderbolts continued to fall around Lock, Cale, and Raon at that moment.
Lock started to move while following his heart. He was following his instincts.
However, there was someone who was moving based on instincts even more than Lock.
Tap.
Lock could see someone jumping off his shoulder and into the air.
Lock started to speak.
Choi Han and his sword that was covered in black aura slammed into a thunderbolt.
The thunderbolts were made of the light attribute.
His incomplete darkness instantly disappeared after slamming into the thunderbolt.
“Ugh!”
Choi Han was flung away from the impact of his aura breaking.
‘I didn’t know that it would be so strong!’
The strength of the berserk Dragon half-blood was much greater than the strength of Choi Han’s darkness. Choi Han could not destroy the thunderbolt.
But he was relieved. He was able to change the direction of the thunderbolt, even as he was flung away.
Baaaaang!
The thunderbolt struck down on empty ground. However, Choi Han could not just stand there and watch.
Craaaack.
The shield was starting to break in multiple places. Thunderbolts were coming in through all of those cracks. He tightly grabbed onto his sword once again. Cale was bent over and unable to get up.
The impact of the shield breaking would all go to Cale. Choi Han started to move again. Another thunderbolt made it through the shield and was striking down toward Cale and the children. Choi Han swung his black aura again toward that thunderbolt.
Even if he could not break it, he needed to at least change its direction.
Baaaaang!
The black aura broke again and made a loud noise. Choi Han’s body was flung aside again as he changed a thunderbolt's direction.
It was at that moment.
“How long you think you can do this for?”
“Ah.”
Choi Han saw a thunderbolt rushing past him toward the ground. The Dragon half-blood was laughing. Choi Han could feel the heat of the thunderbolt passing by him.
He twisted his body in midair. He needed to change the direction of that thunderbolt. He continued to call forth his black aura.
“Lock.”
He could see his younger brother who was frozen stiff after seeing the thunderbolt.
“Run!”
However, Choi Han’s eyes became large at that moment.
Lock did not run away.
Lock had not been frozen stiff after seeing the thunderbolt.
He was just unable to move as he was watching Choi Han. Seeing his hyung-nim fighting against the thunderbolts without any hesitation was making his heart pound.
His heart that was covered in fear and despair was slowly being broken down by Choi Han’s sword.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
His heart was beating like crazy.
The blood pumping out of his heart was the blood of a Wolf.
His animalistic instincts were beating on his body.
And finally, it was the moment he saw the laughing Dragon half-blood and the thunderbolt heading their way.
Boom!
The Wolf's heart broke through the chains called fear and despair.
At the same time, the human Lock thought about a few things. [1]
My task is…!’
The young boy starting to think about what he needed to do instead of Cale’s orders. His will that had been sleeping deep in his mind was telling him what he needed to do.
I must protect!’
He could see Choi Han and Mary's wyverns.
He could also see the thunderbolt.
However, Lock turned away from the thunderbolt. His body then instantly grabbed the bent-over Cale. He then used his body in order to hide Raon and Cale from the thunderbolt.
‘Our family cannot get hurt.’
His instincts as a Wolf and his thoughts as a human were the same right now.
It was at that moment.
His body that had chosen, ‘us,’ over, ‘me,’ started to change.
“Ugh!”
Lock's internal organs started to vibrate like the ground underneath him.
‘My task is. My task is!’
That was the only thought on Lock's mind as the young boy's skinny body started to change.
Choi Han could clearly see what was going on. Even others from Cale’s group who were rushing over had their eyes wide open. Choi Han, who knew about Lock's current condition, started to speak.
The skinny body started to quickly become firm.
His body was changing extremely quickly compared to the first time he went berserk.
Lock grew taller and his skinny body was starting to become muscular. At the same time, sharp claws grew out of his hands and feet.
The fur of the Blue Wolf tribe turned dark blue when they went berserk. The fur that covered Lock’s body during the first berserk transformation had been dark blue as well.
However, something happened the moment Lock's body grew larger than the last time he went berserk, when it became even larger than the Tigers when they went berserk.
“This-”
The shaman Gashan was shocked at Lock's size, as well as the color of the fur covering Lock’s body.
It was not dark blue fur.
It was shining.
Lock's gray hair was starting to shine. It turned into silver hair that continued to grow out as silver fur covered his body.
There was also a hint of blue in the silver fur.
The Blue Wolf tribe.
He had gotten rid of his dark blue fur that resembled the night and replaced it with silver fur with a blue hue that resembled the early morning.
Lock was able to go berserk in this new transformation because he had thrown himself away.
Lock curled up his body that was now larger than the Tigers.
The thunderbolt would land soon.
He got as low as possible to the ground. He then used his body to hide Cale and Raon, who was wrapped up in a blanket.
Lock’s bloodshot eyes returned to their original color. His large and sharp claws scratched into the ground.
It was so that he would not run away.
His pupils that had returned to normal seemed to be happy.
‘I found it.
I finally found what I have to do.’
Lock saw Cale slowly raise his head and started to smile.
This was the only kind of thing he had seen and learned.
The adults of his tribe had died in order to protect the children, while his uncle, the chief, had told him to hide.
Then there were Choi Han and Rosalyn who saved him, as well as Cale whom he met later. This was all he had seen while being around all of them.
That was why Lock smiled at Cale, who was looking at him with a frown.
“It's okay, young master-nim.”
‘It’s just a thunderbolt.’
‘I am strong.
I can do this.’
“Lock-”
“It’s o-”
“No.”
Lock flinched at Cale’s annoyed tone. Although his face now looked violent, the innocent eyes of the young boy started to shake.
At the same time, his more sensitive intuition realized a change.
“…Huh?”
He felt a different strong power at his back other than the thunderbolt.
It was the moment he realized that.
Lock could see Cale holding the bundle of blankets with one hand while pushing his face away with the other. He could hear Cale’s calm voice.
“Move over a bit.”
“…Excuse me?”
Lock's cheek was pushed to the side by Cale’s hand. At that moment, Lock could hear a loud explosion right above him.
Lock was able to see the explosion because his face had turned. His mouth opened wide for a different reason than before.
Drip. Drip.
Something was falling from the sky and hitting his large body before falling onto the ground.
“…Stones?”
Stones were falling to the ground.
Lock could see a large stone spear crashing into the thunderbolt.
The thunderbolt had exploded in the air after being hit by the stone spear.
“Children grow up so fast.”
Lock could see Cale patting him on the head as he stood up. That made Lock think about when the ground started to shake.
It was when the shield had become weaker.
That was when the earth started to shake.
‘Perhaps?
Maybe the reason the ground started to shake is because of…?’
A noise that was not the sound of things exploding caught people's attention. Everyone quickly looked toward the source of that noise. Then they had to see an unbelievable sight.
The earth was moving.
No, to be more specific, the broken pieces of the Gorge of Death were fluctuating.
It was the spot that was covered in debris after the cliffs were destroyed.
Something started to rise up from there one by one.
“…This is-”
The thunderbolts of the berserk Dragon half-blood stopped for a moment. His bloodshot eyes observed what was going on.
There were so many thunderbolts that they covered the sky.
There were large things moving toward the thunderbolts.
They looked as if they were meteorites shooting up toward the sky.
The earth and the stones started to turn to tens and then hundreds of spears. The sharp points of the spears were pointed accurately at the thunderbolts.
“Pwahahahah! You've been hiding a power like this?! Huh?”
The Dragon half-blood laughed like a maniac before glaring at someone while coughing up blood. The spears were aiming for the thunderbolts with that person at the center.
The stone spears shot out of the ground as if they were shot by a guardian Knight protecting that person.
The Dragon half-blood’s face as he looked at that person, Cale Henituse, was frowning so much that the veins on his face looked ready to pop out at any moment.
However, there was someone else who was speechless right now.
‘…Wow, what the hell.’
Cale Henituse.
He felt his body becoming better, as well as his hungry stomach, but could not say anything.
‘…The Super Rock seems to be too strong…Is this really okay?’
Cale was getting nervous.
However, the corners of his lips started to twitch and rise.
Huuuuuu, huuuuu.
He could feel Raon's temperature going up. The growing pains seemed to be getting worse. Cale looked toward the Dragon half-blood who was going off about how he was going to kill Cale and Raon.
Cale felt that his plate had grown. His body's plate had grown as soon as he had used the Super Rock's power. Furthermore, Cale felt something becoming warmer in his pocket, similar to Raon who was in his arms.
He heard the Super Rock's voice in his mind at that moment.
Do not sacrifice yourself.
Ooooooooong-
Cale felt the item vibrating in his pocket as he looked toward the Dragon half-blood. Yes, he looked toward the crazy bastard who was laughing while looking at him.
Cale stomped on the ground.
Boom!
The ground shook the moment his feet stomped down.
“Go.”
The stone spears started to move.
The hundreds of spears created by the earth aimed toward the sky.
1. Author puts human to describe Lock here, maybe he is talking about being in human form?