"You are the future of the village! We won't let you go under any circumstances!" Chen Jun speaks with a furious look at his son, who is in the middle of the crowd. The elders also agree, nodding their heads.
"I have a useful ability to help everyone. I can slow down everything in a large area." Saying this, Chen Yu mobilizes the prana in his body, and a large dragon claw appears behind him.
"As long as it's not a spiritual master, and I have spiritual stones, I can be useful!" He spoke with a confidence that normally wouldn't emanate from a boy his age.
"Not in the..." Before Chen Jun could finish what he was about to say, he stopped, noticing something strange. As a man who experienced hard work to overcome the spiritual condensation realm and the spirit manifestation realm, finally reaching the threshold of the spiritual apprentice, he quickly realized that his movements were slowed down by at least 10%.
"What is this?" Chen Jun makes an incredulous face upon realizing that even speaking seemed slower.
"What incredible power, as expected from the future of the village," Elder Lin, an old bald man in a blue robe, says upon noticing such power.
"This is an ability I discovered, the temporal hourglass. I can slow down the movement I want with it." Chen Yu speaks with a confident smile.
"But..." The face of the village leader and the elders becomes hesitant.
"Gentlemen, if we don't risk everything we have, everyone could die! Let me go with you, please!" With this strong request, the 17-year-old boy bows before the crowd.
"HAHAHA! What a fearless boy! How can the future of our village grow without taking risks? I support taking him, the situation demands any possible help. I'll give my life to keep him alive with Elder Lin." A towering elderly man of over 2 meters laughs heartily with a thunderous voice, he is Elder Xin.
"I agree too. After I finish installing the bombs, I'll give my life to protect him."
"Tch... Fine, you come with us, but listen to all orders." Chen Jun, who looked like an older version of Chen Yu, clicks his tongue, seeing that all the elders seem to agree. Deep down, he also wanted to have the help of this ability, but in the end, it was his son taking the risk, so he was conflicted.
After deciding everything, the crowd dispersed, organizing the most important things in the village into small carriages.
...
"Take care, my son." Chen Yu's mother kisses him on the forehead with tears in her eyes. She knew how stubborn her son is, and surely, if they didn't agree to take him along, he would go alone. But she also had confidence in her husband's abilities and the tremendous improvement in her son's skills over the past few months.
"Don't worry, Mom. We'll all come out of this situation alive." Chen Yu gives a confident smile, and his black eyes convey reassuring confidence to everyone around.
After finishing saying this, he turns his back and departs with the group of 10 elite warriors, including the four elders and the village leader.
...
Half an hour walking through the forest, which seemed darker and quieter, as if all animal life had disappeared, the group finally reaches the planned location.
"This is the route of the monster horde, they are coming from that direction. I walked for a whole day until I climbed a mountain and saw the horde coming. They should arrive in an hour at the speed they were going." The man who witnessed the horde coming spoke in a somber tone.
"Let's begin, encircle the perimeter. Elder Lin, start planting the bombs, and Chen Yu, protect the elder's back up close." After this explanation, the village chief begins giving orders, and everyone quickly follows, leaving several bags containing white stones with Elder Lin.
Elder Lin started assembling the bomb, which looked like a matrix with a circle made of some creature's blood and various strange inscriptions.
Chen Yu recognized some characters, but he was not well-versed in prana matrices, so he couldn't say much.
"Before meeting my wife and taking her surname, I worked in the army of a city. It's been dozens of years since I've done this, but it seems I'm not too rusty, hahaha!" The elder begins to talk while quickly finishing the first bomb.
"Uncle Lin used to do this job a lot in the past?" Chen Yu asks curiously while checking the surroundings.
"Yes, I used to make very powerful bombs."
Time passed, and in half an hour, Elder Lin made 15 bombs strategically placed in the forest in bushes to cause the most damage possible.
*ROOOOOAR*
However, suddenly, the duo hears a deafening roar that shakes the trees.
"RUN, A FLYING GROUP IS ATTACKING!" The voice of Chen Yu's father sounds.
"This is the last one." Elder Lin tries to stay as focused as possible while finishing the last bomb.
Chen Yu takes a combat position with the two-edged sword given to him before leaving the village.
*BAM* *SLASH*
Battle sounds emerge at a short distance from the duo and approach every second.
"I FINISHED, RETREAT!" 30 seconds later, Elder Lin releases a cry, channeling prana and starts running towards the village, throwing several leftover spiritual stones on the ground while running at high speed, accompanied by Chen Yu, who does the same.
"FATHER!" Chen Yu shouts in concern upon seeing that his bloody father was unconscious, being carried by Elder Xin.
"COME ON, COME ON!" Without waiting at all, everyone runs, activating prana in their bodies. Elder Lin, who threw all the spiritual stones, lifts Chen Yu and carries him to run faster.
*CRACK*
"Damn!" Suddenly, a giant falcon interrupts from the top of the forest covered by trees and attacks one of the warriors, who manages to defend himself with the sword just in time, as the claws cut through a tree like butter.
Without waiting a second, a dragon claw appears behind Chen Yu, and the agitated falcon becomes even slower than before.
"IGNORE IT AND RUN, MORE ARE COMING!" Elder Xin orders at the same time that more birds suddenly appear, breaking the tree branches and attacking the group.
Everyone immediately summons their respective avatars to defend themselves while running.
Elder Lin protects Chen Yu while attacking all the monsters. His hands seemed to have turned into claws, and along with the spiritual avatar, which was a giant tiger, he makes minced meat of the monsters that dare to attack.
"SWALLOW THIS ACCURSED BIRD!" Elder Xin, carrying the unconscious village leader, shouts as he creates his avatar, which seems to be a fire golem, punching the eagle trying to attack.
*SLASH*
"ARGH!" Soon after, a large convoy with red eyes manages to open a bleeding wound on Elder Xin's shoulder. He retaliates with a flaming punch to the head of the bird, killing it instantly.
This opportunity created a chance for several flying monsters to advance on Elder Xin.
*SLASH*
"Die!" A bald elder with a goatee suddenly rushes to protect his friend Xin, who would be pierced by a gigantic crow, and with an energy cut, his sword, which was his avatar, cuts down all who approached to attack Elder Xin and the village chief.
Chen Yu sighs in relief, fully focused on keeping his ability working to the maximum.
"Thanks, Ning!" Elder Xin thanks, and both nod, continuing to run.
The pursuit continued for several minutes, and everyone was tired of defending themselves. One man had already died, being carried into the sky by the claws of a dark crow.
When suddenly.
*BOOM* *BOOM*
Several powerful explosions that shook the earth occurred, making everyone fall to the ground and frightening all the monsters.
"Are we finally safe?" Elder Lin speaks, undoing his avatar, and his hands return to normal.
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, they wouldn't endure much longer in this pursuit.
*ROOOOOAR*
Suddenly, when they least expected it, a roar echoes, and a 5-meter eagle appears next to Elder Xin, who was tending to himself and Chen Jun. Its target was the unconscious man.
"Damn!" Time seemed to stop for Chen Yu as he witnessed this scene.
'Acceleration.' Without thinking twice, silver dragon wings appear behind him, and as if he teleported, he appears in front of the falcon's claws.
*PIERCE*
One of the claws pierces his shoulder and holds him firmly, lifting him into the sky immediately.
"CHEN YU!" Elder Lin is shocked by the speed, and everyone panics, unable to do anything but watch as the eagle flies away with the boy in its claws.
*GUST*
The wind blew in Chen Yu's ears, who was trapped in the monster's claws. His eyes were cold as he bled, refusing to die to monsters.
"Dragonjaw!" Using every bit of prana he had, he summons the mouth of a dragon, which immediately bites the eagle's neck. It started to struggle in the air.
"GRRRRAH!" Quickly, the monster gives a final cry and goes limp, starting to plummet from the sky. As it falls, Chan Yu maneuvers in the air to stay on top of the corpse.
"AAAAAAH!" Screaming, he tries to straighten the monster's wings with his own hands to glide as much as possible.
Falling from the sky while using all his strength to glide as much as possible, he finally observes the monster horde, it looked like a black stain on the horizon filled with gigantic beings. Many corpses were scattered across the cratered ground.
It seemed that the explosions caused a misunderstanding, and they were fighting among themselves because they thought it was an attack by some traitor.
'Is this how I'm going to die?' This was his only thought as he saw that he was rapidly falling towards the horde.
Suddenly, when he was 20 meters from falling onto the monsters, a small, beautiful token with the image of a dragon and a rooster appears mysteriously in front of him, with a male voice sounding in his head.
"If you want to live, break this token."
'Am I hallucinating before death?' With this thought, he closes his eyes and breaks the token with his last strength, disappearing in the next instant.
*THUD BOOM ROOOOOOOAR*
Several roars follow when the falcon's corpse falls from the sky and is quickly torn apart and devoured in the midst of the giants' brawl.