novelraw Chapter 27 : Massacre
Chapter 27 : Massacre
Chapter 27: Massacre
Battle—or rather, slaughter…
erupted in an instant.
The well-trained soldiers brandished their sharp blades and charged straight at the tribespeople.
In an instant, screams and cries echoed across the sky.
Shan and the other four immediately felt their eyes split with fury.
They unleashed their full strength—starlight and flames surged around their bodies.
“Fight them to the death!”
One young man roared.
He thrust both hands forward, sending out a wave of blazing fire that burned the soldiers at the front into charred corpses.
Another drew upon starlight to form a shield, barely blocking a rain of arrows.
Their power indeed surpassed that of ordinary people.
On certain parts of the battlefield, they even caused considerable chaos and casualties.
Ze stood at a high point, observing everything.
He saw Shan weaving swiftly through the crowd.
With every wave of his hand, soldiers fell, flames in his grasp as obedient as pets.
But he also noticed that Shan’s power was limited—his flames could only be sustained within a small range.
“Divine Grace…”
“in the end, is merely a gift—not authority.”
Ze murmured softly, a trace of mockery and loneliness hidden in his tone.
He slowly raised his hand.
In an instant, centered on him—
a far more brilliant starlight spread outward!
Shan, locked in fierce combat, suddenly felt a jolt of dread.
He looked up to see a dazzling sphere of light condensing in Ze’s hand!
“Watch out!” Shan could only shout a warning.
With a flick of Ze’s hand, the sphere shot out like a meteor toward a young man blessed with Divine Grace!
“Boom—!”
A deafening explosion resounded!
When the blinding light faded…
a deep crater had been blasted into the ground.
The young man, along with several tribespeople around him, had vanished into nothingness.
Only a scorched pit remained!
Absolute silence enveloped that small part of the battlefield—then it was replaced by even greater panic.
The gap between an ability wielder and a recipient of Divine Grace—
was displayed in full.
Soon, the remaining three Divine Grace users were also pierced through by spears of starlight conjured by Ze.
Even as they resisted with all their might—
before absolute power, they were like fireflies beneath the bright moon, utterly powerless.
Five reduced to one.
Only Shan remained, barely holding on with agile movements and sheer willpower.
He watched familiar tribespeople fall one by one into pools of blood.
He watched former companions die tragically.
He watched the old tribal chief pierced through by a spear.
He watched Mo trampled mercilessly in the chaos…
Endless fury and despair nearly devoured him whole!
“Why?!”
“Why?!”
“Envoy Ya was your sister!”
Shan roared at Ze, his voice drenched in grief.
Ze’s gaze remained cold.
He guided his warhorse forward slowly, and wherever he passed, soldiers parted to make way.
He looked at Shan—
as if looking at a struggling ant.
“Precisely because she was my sister, I must personally correct her mistake.”
“Divine Grace is not something lowly bloodlines like yours are allowed to touch!”
“The radiance of the Leo constellation must not be defiled!”
His words, like a final judgment, extinguished the last hope in Shan’s heart.
Shan knew he was no match for Ze.
If he stayed, there was only death.
The flames of vengeance burned wildly within him!
But he understood—he had to live!
He had to survive!
Only by living could he remember today’s hatred, and…
perhaps one day…
repay the destruction of his tribe!
He unleashed the last of his remaining power!
Blazing flames burst outward in a ring, forcing back the surrounding soldiers.
Using that brief opening, he dashed toward the forest outside the tribe.
He needed the dense forest to hinder those who would pursue him.
“Trying to escape?”
Ze let out a cold snort and raised a hand.
A spear of starlight formed instantly, tearing through the air with a sharp screech as it shot toward Shan’s back!
Sensing the fatal threat behind him, Shan reacted on instinct, throwing himself forward.
“Pfft!”
The spear grazed his back, tearing away a large chunk of flesh.
The power of starlight even scorched his bones.
The pain nearly made him faint on the spot.
Yet he clenched his teeth, using the momentum to roll into the dense underbrush, his figure instantly swallowed by layers of foliage.
“Pursue!”
“Alive or dead, bring him back!”
At Ze’s command, a squad of soldiers rushed into the forest to search.
Ze did not pursue personally.
He looked over the tribe, now transformed into a living hell.
Flames burned, the stench of blood was overwhelming, children cried, and the wounded groaned.
But soon, under the soldiers’ finishing blows…
everything fell silent.
There was no expression on Ze’s face—no joy of victory, no discomfort from slaughter.
As if he had merely completed a necessary and insignificant task.
“Clean it up.”
he ordered calmly.
Then, surrounded by his generals, he left the land he had personally reduced to scorched earth.
Behind him…
rose thick smoke and a lifeless tribe.
……
In the forest.
Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, Shan struggled through the depths of the dense woods.
He did not dare stop, nor look back.
The pain in his body and the searing hatred in his heart were the only forces driving him forward.
He evaded several search parties, drank murky pond water, and gnawed on bitter roots and wild fruits.
His wounds festered in the harsh conditions, and fever began to take hold.
At times, he thought he would die in some unknown corner.
But whenever his consciousness blurred…
the images of his tribe’s slaughter, Ze’s cold words—
and the calm yet faintly sorrowful gaze of Envoy Ya before her death—
would flash through his mind.
“I can’t die…”
“I can’t die…”
“Mother is waiting for me to go back!”
“Mo… big brother will definitely… return.”
“Chief…”
He muttered over and over, like a man possessed.
Who knew how much time passed.
He climbed onto a cliff, finally shaking off his pursuers.
Collapsed at the top, he looked toward the distant land that had once been his home—now reduced to drifting smoke.
Tears mixed with blood and dirt, streaking across his face.
He had survived.
Only him.
Facing the slowly rising moon—
he let out a howl like a lone wolf!
That cry was filled with endless grief and undying hatred.
“Ze!”
Looking at the brilliant starry sky, Shan swore an oath to the gods.
“I, Shan, swear here!”
“O great gods!”
“I will make Ze pay the price! I will make the Solar Dynasty disappear from this world!”
Even if Ze was a Divine Envoy…
Even if he himself was only a mortal blessed with Divine Grace.
One day—
he would return,
carrying the flames of vengeance!