The burning sky groaned as fifty tons of bubbling, molten fiery rock traced a lethal high-speed parabola across the upper air.
Hurled from the black depths of the void deep gap by an enraged Tier 5 Abyssal Behemoth, the fifty-ton magma boulder tore through the air at one hundred and fifty miles per hour. Wind-cutting friction ignited its sulfur-crusted outside. That turned the projectile into a shrieking white comet of liquid fire. Worse, its flight path was not aimed at the fortified stone castle walls or the barricaded defense trenches. It was hurtling directly toward Sector 9. Where three hundred canvas medical tents were packed with wounded refugees, civilian wagon drivers, and frontline healers. If fifty tons of molten granite struck that unreinforced camp, the blasting blast wave alone would flatten every tent within a quarter-mile, vaporizing two thousand souls in a tidal wave of liquid stone.
Up on the castle low roof walls, Commander Zhao’s eyes went bloodshot. “The field hospital!” Zhao bellowed, slamming his fist into the stone battlement. “Sound the horn! Evacuate Sector 9! All barrier masters, converge on the medical tents! Erect every shield magic charm you have!”
“It’s too late!” an elder of the Thousand-Rune Guild screamed in despair. He watched the burning comet cross the two-mile mark in less than four heartbeats. “A projectile of that mass moving at such speed possesses striking force equivalent to an ancient sky-cleaving sword! No spiritual barrier in the northern command can withstand a direct impact! The hospital…
