Chapter 600: The Parras Catastrophe

"The airship has lost control!"

On the ground of ParrasFloatingCity, many people let out terrified shouts.

More and more people noticed the airship's odd behavior in the sky, stopping to stare upward. Some keen‑eyed transcendents saw that the airship's posture was strange, the steam furnace sounded like thunder, and its cabins and decks flickered with magical light, leaving a thick plume of smoke in mid‑air.

With a boom, a hole suddenly burst open in the rear of the airship's gasbag.

The gas inside the bag erupted violently, generating thrust that made the airship speed up, spinning and rolling like a drunken fool.

The cabin collapsed and ruptured, hurling its cargo and passengers into the sky, scattering everywhere.

"Ah…"

The passengers let out terrified screams in mid‑air, some collapsing into unconsciousness.

"Goddess above, what on earth is happening to this airship?"

"They'll fall to their deaths…"

"Quick, rescue them!"

People murmured anxiously, their faces showing panic, but everyone assumed it was an accident and no one thought it was an attack.

The nearby transcendents ran toward the direction where passengers were falling.

ParrasFloatingCity reacted instantly; dozens of Wizards rose into the sky, opening portals to approach the airship. Several squads of Red‑Flame Sword Guards riding giant eagles launched from various points in the city, converging on the incident site.

On the wizard towers, the silhouettes of Legendary High‑rank Wizards appeared.

Yet the airship's speed was too great.

The airship, dozens of meters long and weighing a million pounds, bobbed up and down erratically like a leaf in a gale; nearby Wizards could not board it, and even approaching was dangerous.

"Shoot it down!"

A Legendary High‑rank Wizard shouted the order.

Seconds later, the tops of two Wizard Towers below lit up, locking onto the airship and firing two massive beams, one left and one right. Yet at the instant of impact the airship veered strangely, and the two Eight‑Ring Spells skimmed past, missing entirely.

"Fire again."

The Legendary Wizard kept shouting, thinking it was mere coincidence.

Three more Wizard Towers launched attacks—beams, flames, lightning… multiple Eight‑Ring Spells assaulted from all directions. The airship bobbed like a ship in a storm, miraculously evading most spells; only a single lightning bolt struck the hull, but a newly manifested magical shield blocked it.

The magical airship, as if on a drug, barreled forward unrelentingly toward the north and south towers.

"Someone's controlling it from above!"

The Parras Wizards all turned pale.

The commanding Legendary Wizard's pupils narrowed as he realized this was a prepared attack; a nearby Wizard called anxiously, "Lord Montalin!"

Montalin's thoughts turned urgent.

He is a student of Duke Hong Shi; his master has been conducting a crucial magical experiment for years, entrusting him to manage the floating city, yet the highest control authority remains with the master, and Montalin can only command the city's twenty‑plus towers.

He only has usage rights over the central north and south towers.

The master is still inside the floating city; with such a commotion, he should appear soon.

Moreover, the protective arrays of the north and south towers are extremely strong, linked to the Iola Core, with near‑infinite energy, capable of repelling Nine‑Ring and even stronger spell attacks; no airship could damage them, even if a rune‑steam furnace exploded, the towers would not budge.

"You all step back."

Montalin made an instant decision and said calmly, "Within Parras city, it can't stir up much trouble."

As he spoke, he cast True‑Insight and Advanced Detection on himself, scanning the airship with his gaze.

Yet he only saw a layer of vague light and shadow.

Protective detection!

Montalin was startled; the people on the airship used a rune array to jam his detection, and in those few seconds the airship had moved farther away.

He immediately decided to forcefully board the airship and confront the enemy head‑on.

Boom!

A fierce explosion rang out; Montalin turned and saw a towering flame of over ten meters rising in the city, the magical defenses embedded in the walls blown apart, and large sections of buildings collapsing.

The surrounding people fled in terror.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom…

Explosions rang out one after another from all directions; over ten spots within ParrasFloatingCity erupted almost simultaneously, plumes of fire soaring upward, the flames shooting to the sky.

The ground trembled, and structures collapsed.

Instantly, the entire floating city fell into panic, tens of thousands of residents buzzing like headless flies, running everywhere.

Montalin was caught off guard.

Yet he did not panic; none of the blast sites threatened the city's vital points, not even a single tower, so overall loss was minor, merely causing chaos. This showed the enemy's infiltration of Parras was shallow, merely exposing their whereabouts.

Only Parras Wizards can teleport within the floating city.

Simultaneous explosions at those locations each require a person to act; if the city's shield is sealed to block entry and exit, they can be rooted out.

"Rescue!"

"Find the enemies who triggered the blasts, and remember to leave a way out."

Montalin used a magical badge to issue orders to all Parras Wizards. He wasn't distracted by the explosions; the biggest enemy remained on the airship, and he instantly opened a random gate to chase it.

At this moment, the airship was less than half a mile from the north tower.

Montalin was about to cast a boarding spell when another explosion rang out; the east airship's gasbag also burst, spewing jet and smoke from its tail, accelerating wildly toward the south tower.

The flames and explosions in the floating city never ceased.

In an instant, Parras seemed to become a battlefield of fire, its residents plunged into panic and chaos.

"How many enemies are there?" Montalin finally began to panic a little.

He tried several times to teleport directly into the airship, but found the interior of the whole airship sealed off, impossible to get in. The enemies on the airship control space at an incomprehensible level, far beyond his own, at least they are Legendary High-rank Wizards!

When at a loss, a dark‑red figure appeared beside him.

"Teacher."

Montalin was overjoyed, and his mind instantly steadied.

Hong Shi did not look at him; his eyes flickered with spiritual energy, locking onto the airship being battered by spell after spell from tower after tower, and his brows furrowed.

"Hmm?"

Hong Shi looked very puzzled.

The airship's protective detection naturally could not interfere with his probing; the Willpower saw through at a glance, locating several figures cloaked entirely in black robes. They wore white skull masks that covered their heads completely, hiding their faces; only unstable Holy Soul energy fluctuations could be sensed from them.

This is a characteristic of black wizards.

"Followers of the Deceiver?"

"How could a black wizard of Dark Sun target Parras?" Hong Shi thought in disbelief.

The Deceiver is the arch‑rival of the God of Magic; its followers cause sabotage and chaos in the Empire, and countless incidents have occurred over the years, so it is not surprising. If it were someone else, people would just think it was another act of the evil god's followers offering a sacrifice to Lo Xi.

But Hong Shi immediately grew suspicious; this was a Deceiver follower disguised as someone else.

He instantly noticed the airship's engine room.

There, a black wizard stood beside a steam furnace, reaching out to press on a half‑person‑high jet‑black box. The whole box seemed cast from metal; its outer shell blocked the interior, emitting a strong surge of energy.

Hong Shi felt very unfamiliar with this kind of aura; he had never seen it before and could not at once discern the nature of the energy.

The Willpower foresaw danger.

Even a Holy Soul Wizard deemed it dangerous; it was far from ordinary.

Hong Shi did not rashly approach the airship; within the instant of his appearance he already grasped the general situation, raised his hand and pointed at the airship, softly saying:

"Bind."

The entire Fu Kong Cheng was under his absolute control; the Iola Core released energy, activating the massive rune array laid underground in the city, instantly forming a Nine-ring "Stagnation Field" that froze the space where the airship floated.

At the same time, the two highest Wu Shi Ta in the city also released spells.

Ultra‑efficacy Lava Beam!

Annihilation Technique!

Two Nine-ring Techniques completed instantly, one red and one gray, shooting toward the frozen magic airship. The outer runes of the Wu Shi Ta flickered continuously, endless energy surged, and a series of subsequent Nine-ring Techniques were about to erupt like a raging storm.

Those passengers thrown out by the airship, only some were caught and saved; the rest were about to fall to death, when precise Gentle Descent Techniques descended, their bodies light as feathers.

The flames exploding throughout the city were also extinguished by the spells.

In an instant, Hong Shi resolved almost all dangers, as if everything were in his grasp.

Yet his expression froze.

The moment the Stagnation Field formed, the entire magic airship suddenly vanished, like a flash, instantly shifting forward several hundred meters, just out of the field's range; the Ultra‑efficacy Lava Beam and Annihilation Technique from the two Wu Shi Ta missed.

"This…"

Montalin and the people in the city were horrified, turning pale.

The magic airship had already surged near the North Tower; its balloon was completely broken, losing lift and descending, but it was only dozens of meters from the high tower and its speed did not decrease at all.

Hong Shi also was stunned for a moment.

"Too late."

The next second, the magic airship slammed into the Wu Shi Ta, the impact point a little above the waist, at about two‑thirds up the tower.

A layer of magical protection appeared on the tower's column‑like surface.

The airship struck the thin shield, as if pushed by an invisible giant hand; the sturdy hull was crushed from front to back, shattering inch by inch, everything inside the cabin turned to fragments; the massive impact caused the tower's protection to fluctuate violently, light flashing, yet it remained very solid, the tower itself did not wobble at all.

Everyone watching this scene felt slightly relieved.

The Wu Shi Ta's protection was stronger than the Nine-ring Technique, with endless energy; the magic airship could not possibly break through.

The thought had not yet settled.

Boom!

White light suddenly filled everyone's vision, obscuring everything.

Followed by an earth‑shaking explosion, tearing eardrums, a terrifying shockwave swept the entire Fu Kong Cheng like a level‑10 gale.

When everyone's sight returned, they saw a mushroom cloud rising over the city.

The North Tower's protection had collapsed; its outer glass was shattered, exposing the tower's body. The airship's wreckage crashed into the tower, punching a huge hole; the steam furnace and the airship's magical energy caused a second explosion inside the tower, with countless flames spewing from seven or eight levels.

The tower trembled, on the verge of collapse.

"Heavens!"

"Goddess, the Parras Magic Academy is doomed!"

The people in the Fu Kong Cheng were terrified to the brink, many faces frozen. The North Tower was the Parras Magic Academy; such severe damage left countless teachers and students possibly dead in the blast; if rescue did not arrive in time to reduce losses, future Parras wizards would face a rupture.

But this was not the end.

The second magic airship rushed in from the east, its target the South Tower.

Only a few hundred meters away.

Hong Shi's figure flashed, blocking the airship, unleashing a barrage of Nine-ring Techniques.

Fu Kong Cheng supplied endless energy, allowing him to cast without hesitation, fast and abundant; the Wu Shi Ta across the city roared, a torrent of Eight‑ring and Nine‑ring Techniques rained on the airship—attack, bind, delay—aimed at one goal: destroy it, prevent it from reaching the South Tower.

Yet it was already too late.

Those blocking and banishing spells had no effect on the airship; it performed another teleport across several hundred meters, braving the spell bombardment, and in the final second before its hull disintegrated, it slammed into the tower.

Boom…

A terrifying explosion played out a second time.

This time the airship struck the middle of the South Tower; that unknown energy explosion again pierced the tower's magical protection, crashing into its body.

The southern tower is the residence of Duke Hong Shi.

All his daily routines, cultivation meditation, magical research and bedroom are within this magnificent tower; unfortunately, the explosion happened to blast the tower's support pillars, severing them as if at the waist, and the tower crashed down with a roar in the blast's aftershock.

Smoke and flames roared, and the entire Fu Kong Cheng trembled.

A few seconds later, the collapse of the southern tower triggered a chain reaction; the northern tower tilted and fell amid the shaking, and the Fu Kong Cheng was filled with screams and wails.

Duke Hong Shi was only a few hundred meters from the blast's center, enduring a strong energy shock.

A protective shield materialized, leaving him unscathed.

When he saw the two towers collapse, his expression froze, as if petrified; his lips trembled but no sound came out. He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his flesh and drawing blood, his heart filled with rage, teetering on the brink of madness.

If it were not for the Willpower of truth, he would have lost his sanity.

His gaze searched the ruins of the two towers, finding no sign of the enemy; Duke Hong Shi saw clearly that the black wizards on the two airships had all perished in the explosion, having not escaped.

The continuous explosions that had been occurring throughout the city also ceased, suggesting the enemy had withdrawn.

"No!"

Duke Hong Shi's complexion changed dramatically.

The two towers are the control hubs of ParrasFloatingCity, and underground they connect to the Iola Core. The towers' collapse will not affect the operation of the Fu Kong Cheng, as a backup hub will automatically take over, but the control room containing the Iola Core now has a protective breach, giving an opening.

The enemy's true target was not to smash the towers, but the Iola Core.

They intend to destroy the entire Fu Kong Cheng!

Duke Hong Shi was frantic, unable to tidy up the aftermath; in an instant he teleported to a spacious hall beneath the Fu Kong Cheng. As soon as he entered, he saw a figure in a black robe standing before the Iola Core, reaching out to press a black metal box.

The other noticed his arrival, turned his head, a skull mask covering his face, but Duke Hong Shi seemed to see a smug smile beneath the mask.

He felt a mix of shock and anger, his heart even stalled for half a beat.

In the next second, a terrifying explosion engulfed Duke Hong Shi.