The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 374: Goalkeeper

Time passed—no, time was meaningless here.

The gray rain finally stopped. Lilia had overcome the first judgment.

She looked up to find to her surprise that the world had changed again. Rolling dark clouds filled the sky, and the once desolate wasteland saw shoots of green. That was the color of life.

Lilia felt as if the vitality had come from her body, that she was bearing the torment to body and soul God felt when creating the world.

Dragon, lying on the divine seat, didn’t seem fazed. He had expected her to endure the first judgment.

Three seconds later, his eyes glinted, and he raised his left hand lazily, calling down the second judgment.

“Thunder.”

The dark clouds rolled and writhed as rumbling thunder boomed from the sky like the coming of war. Soon, like countless sharp blades, gray lightning struck down on Lilia, tied to the judgment platform.

Rumble.

Boom.

The pain shot through Lilia’s head before spreading to other parts of her body, finally leaving through the soles of her feet.

Again and again, her very essence was relentlessly abused, her cries of pain drowned out by the booming thunder.

She felt like she couldn’t go on, and she felt the urge to drop to her knees.

But she didn’t. A voice in the depths of her heart warned her that if she knelt and submitted herself, what awaited her would be complete elimination.

At some point, thriving plants and flowers had taken over the land. The dark clouds dispersed, leaving the deep blue sky clear above the land brimming with life.

Still, Lilia remained on her feet.

She looked up at Dragon, as prideful as ever with a cold sneer tugging her lips, as if she was saying, The torment God went through when creating the world? It’s nothing.

Dragon remained unfazed and unsurprised. There were some people who could endure the second judgment; not a lot, but some.

In Dragon’s life, he had never met anyone who could endure the third judgment.

And with his Overlord at level 3, that was his limit.

He lifted his head slightly and opened his mouth.

“Four oceans.”

...

Meanwhile, White Tiger carried the dozens of noncombatants of the rear toward the Walled City of Ten Dragons, his defensive barrier acting as a golden airship.

Soon, the ship slowly landed. Then the golden barriers melted and returned to White Tiger’s body.

Staying in place, the barrier of Absolute Defense could last more than ten minutes. With so many people moving at such high speed, however, it could only last three minutes.

Still, it was a tradeoff worth taking.

If they had stayed, Lilia’s tremendous destructive power would’ve put them in danger. Even though she was facing Qilin, Dragon, and X, some stray hits would still land on them.

White Tiger lamented his bad luck.

If they had found the Guard Rune Circuit, he would’ve been able to level up his Talent and serve his duty as the Chief Security Officer much better.

Everyone was fighting, yet he couldn’t do much to help.

He was suddenly reminded of the soccer match he had been unable to attend because of the Crimson Tide. He was finally off the bench, yet he missed the game.

He was a goalkeeper on the team. Looking back, he seemed to have always been on the defensive side all his life. Never had he initiated an offense.

He recalled what Electric Mouse had said, that he wasn’t cool at all.

Well, it was true.

Reaching middle age, people would come to realize that the world didn’t revolve around them. Everyone dreamed of being a hero one day, but it was difficult enough to just survive.

He wondered how the young man was doing.

“Are we safe?” Sha Ye asked, standing among the crowd with her daughter in her arms.

“For the moment. I’ve sent a signal to Team Azure Dragon and Team War Tiger. They are on their way...”

“Watch out, White Tiger! The enemy is coming, and they’ll appear from above you,” Surnamed Li interrupted him, having foreseen the future in ten seconds.

Panic erupted among the crowd.

With a frown, White Tiger quickly turned to look up at the sky, spotting the quickly approaching enemy. With a shout, he raised his hands to conjure a giant translucent golden shield above his head.

Clang.

A topless old man with a braid fell from the sky, landing a punch on the giant golden shield. The air exploded into shockwaves, rippling outward in the plaza, shattering the windows of the buildings around them.

The dozens of awakeners behind White Tiger remained safe, feeling not even a little wind. White Tiger, on the other hand, felt his arms go numb and his body shaking; his bones threatened to fall apart, and his feet had sunk into the ground. While there was a distance between him and the giant shield, the energy of it was closely connected to him.

There were very few as good at taking hits as White Tiger was.

However, the old man’s punch from the sky had almost broken through White Tiger’s defense. The power was formidable.

The pride monster named Jin had landed on the ground. He was all muscles and raw power, his old face sunken and sharp with killing intent.

“Shadowstalker, Sir Jin, Pride Fist,” he declared with his hands balled into fists. “You, your name!”

“Qilin Guild, White Tiger.”

“So you’re White Tiger?” Sir Jin scoffed. “Finally, I found you.”

“Me?” White Tiger asked while sneakily relaxing his numb arms and fingers.

“Yes, Epilogue told me to kill you.”

White Tiger was surprised, somewhat pleasantly so. I didn’t expect to be important enough for the pride monsters to send a tough one after me.

“Just die. I’m in a rush.” Sir Jin readied his stance. “I’ll kill you and everyone behind you before looking for Azure Dragon. He’s a worthy opponent.”

White Tiger’s lips twitched. Fuck, I’m being looked down on.

Without turning around, he took a step forward and said in a lowered voice, “Don’t go anywhere and stay behind me.”

“Elder White Tiger, I can fight...” Zhang Wei was just about to walk up.

“Stay behind me!” White Tiger shouted. It was the first time he had broken out of his usual personable attitude to make a serious order.

He didn’t have the time to explain to the kid how powerful Sir Jin’s punch had been. If he hadn’t blocked the punch but instead avoided it, the indirect force of it alone would kill two thirds of the noncombatants. To Sir Jin, they were insects he could easily crush with one finger.

At this moment, the only one who could protect them was White Tiger, but that was all he could do.

As a goalkeeper, he would never be able to defeat a star attacker like Sir Jin.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to. All he had to do was safeguard the goal, and in terms of defense, White Tiger was an expert.

Sir Jin shot out with incredible speed like the head of a speeding train, his momentum imbuing his punch as he aimed at White Tiger.

Hands balled into fists, White Tiger crossed his arms before his chest, conjuring a translucent golden shield before him.

Boom!

The strongest spear of the pride monster went head to head with the strongest shield of the awakeners.

The resulting shockwaves were powerful enough to shake the entire Walled City of Ten Dragons. Like a river getting split by skerry, the force of his powerful punch split and rushed to the sides. While those behind White Tiger were fine, the small gardens and trees on their sides were torn down like a typhoon had hit.

“Hahaha!” Sir Jin got excited facing a formidable opponent. “Let’s see how many more punches you can take!”

Leaping with both feet, he flew tens of meters into the sky with his right fist clenched and his body tensed, plunging down toward the central plaza of the Walled City of Ten Dragons like a falling star.

Shit!

White Tiger rushed into the crowd and raised his hands above his head.

Clink!

Energy continued to rush out of White Tiger’s hands, quickly spreading to form a hemisphere of golden barrier, shielding everyone.

The punch landed on the barrier, the fierce raw energy rippling in all directions. The one-meter thick barrier cracked, close to shattering.

White Tiger threw up a mouthful of blood, his feet sinking into the asphalt ground by half a meter.

But the awakeners around him, who had waited for death to come in the arms of their loved ones, were safe and sound.

They didn’t even hear the wind.

“Don’t...look down on me!” White Tiger growled with blood filling his mouth, pushing his hands upward to reverse the golden barrier.

Like a golden lotus, the barriers closed like flower petals, trapping Sir Jin inside.