MY HIDDEN TALENT IS FORBIDDEN BY THE HEAVENS-Chapter 123: WHEN WALLS TREMBLE
Chapter 123 — WHEN WALLS TREMBLE
Ruinsand did not look unsettled.
That was the unsettling part.
The massive stone walls rose in a straight, unyielding line across the desert, carved from ancient bedrock and reinforced by generations of hunters. The circular guild headquarters towered behind it like a coiled sentinel, its layered balconies and outer platforms glinting under the morning sun.
But the air felt tight.
Charged.
As if something invisible pressed against the inside of the walls.
Bronze Squad’s jeep rolled through the side gate reserved for hunters. Guards nodded them through without delay, though more soldiers than usual stood along the ramparts. Ballista mechanisms had been rotated outward. Watchtowers were fully manned.
Colby leaned slightly forward.
"...Okay. That’s not normal."
"It’s containment posture," Darius muttered.
Zehell didn’t respond. Her eyes scanned everything.
The central plaza was unusually crowded. Silver-tier hunters moved quickly between administrative wings. Messengers sprinted across the stone paths. A group of engineers hurried toward the eastern wall with crates of reinforcement crystals.
"Something happened while we were gone," Marek said quietly.
Long Hao stepped out of the jeep.
The moment his boots touched the stone—
Longyu’s presence flared sharply.
[ SYSTEM STABILIZATION COMPLETE ][ FRAGMENT LINK PROTOCOL UNLOCKED ]
His breathing stilled.
He did not move.
Longyu’s voice was clearer now. Fuller. No longer faint or fractured.
"I have restored primary core integrity."
"How?" he asked inwardly.
"Partial synchronization with Anchor triggered self-repair sequence."
His eyes flicked briefly toward the tower.
"What does that mean?"
"It means," Longyu said slowly, "I can now perceive beyond you."
That was new.
"Perceive what?"
Before she could answer—
A deep, low vibration rippled through the plaza.
Stone beneath their feet trembled.
Not a passing tremor.
A sustained pulse.
The air pressure shifted.
Then—
The sirens began.
A long, metallic horn echoed across the entire wall perimeter.
One blast.
Two.
Three.
Every hunter in the plaza froze.
"Outer wall breach detected!" a voice boomed through amplification arrays. "All active squads to defensive positions!"
Colby blinked. "You’ve got to be kidding me."
Zehell didn’t hesitate.
"Bronze Squad. Combat readiness."
Darius had already retrieved his spear.
Marek strung an arrow in one fluid motion.
Ryn activated two discs mid-run.
Long Hao felt it before he saw it.
A weight.
A presence.
Not King-tier.
Heavier.
The eastern ramparts erupted in dust as something massive struck from beyond the dunes.
The entire wall shuddered.
Cracks spiderwebbed along reinforced stone.
Hunters along the battlements were thrown backward as sand cascaded upward like a living tide.
Zehell sprinted toward the inner stairwell.
"Move!"
They burst onto the outer platform overlooking the eastern desert.
And saw it.
The sand was not shifting randomly.
It was rising.
Forming.
Like a wave that refused to break.
From within the swirling dune—
A colossal shape began to emerge.
Not plated like the Tyrant.
Not segmented.
It looked almost skeletal, yet encased in hardened sandstone.
Its limbs were long and angular. Its spine arched like a broken ridge. Massive horn-like protrusions curved backward from its skull.
The eyes glowed faint amber.
The desert itself seemed to cling to it.
Colby swallowed.
"That’s not King-tier."
A Silver officer nearby muttered the word no one wanted to say.
"Pseudo-Sovereign..."
The creature raised one massive limb and struck the wall again.
The impact detonated outward.
Stone blocks cracked visibly this time.
Long Hao’s pulse slowed unnaturally.
Longyu’s voice sharpened.
"Resonance confirmed."
"With what?"
"The wall."
He looked closer.
Embedded within sections of the stone were faint crystalline lines.
Seal matrices.
Ancient.
Draconic.
The creature struck precisely where the reinforcement arrays were strongest.
Not random.
It was targeting anchors.
"This is not territorial aggression," Longyu whispered. "It is seeking entry."
"Entry for what?"
Before she answered—
Another strike.
A section of the outer wall fractured.
Hunters scrambled to stabilize the breach with emergency barriers.
Zehell moved forward.
"Bronze Squad, assist stabilization! Do not engage directly!"
They obeyed instantly.
Ryn deployed binding fields along the cracked stone.
Marek began suppressive fire, arrows embedding into exposed joints of the creature to slow its motion.
Darius and Colby joined a Silver squad reinforcing a temporary kinetic shield array.
The Pseudo-Sovereign roared.
The sound tore through the air like a collapsing canyon.
Long Hao stepped closer to the edge of the battlement.
Longyu’s system interface flared again.
[ FRAGMENT LINK PROTOCOL ACTIVE ][ SECONDARY SIGNATURE DETECTED ][ PROXIMITY: OUTER DESERT SOURCE ]
His breath caught.
"Secondary?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
The interface shifted.
A faint pulse beyond the creature.
Deeper in the dunes.
Something older.
Something not yet surfaced.
The Pseudo-Sovereign was not the source.
It was the vanguard.
"Long Hao," Zehell’s voice cut through sharply. "Fall back."
He didn’t move.
The creature’s amber eyes snapped upward.
Locked.
On him.
Longyu’s tone changed.
"It recognizes the frequency."
The air distorted faintly around him.
Stone beneath his boots vibrated.
[ SYNCHRONIZATION 41% ][ WARNING: INCREASE WILL TRIGGER CORE INSTABILITY ]
He exhaled slowly.
The creature lifted its limb for another strike.
Long Hao stepped forward instead of back.
"Are you insane?" Colby shouted from behind.
Longyu spoke clearly.
"If you approach synchronization threshold, I can attempt a localized pulse."
"To do what?"
"Redirect attention."
"That’s not specific."
"It is the best option."
Another strike landed.
The wall cracked further.
Zehell moved toward him, grabbing his arm.
"This isn’t your fight."
"It is," he said quietly.
Her grip tightened.
"You don’t get to decide that alone."
He looked at her.
For a moment—
The festival lantern glow from the night before overlapped with the chaos of now.
"I’m not fighting it," he said.
"Then what are you doing?"
He stepped forward again.
"Calling it."
The words felt foreign even as he said them.
Longyu’s presence surged.
[ SYNCHRONIZATION 45% ]
Pain flickered faintly along his spine.
The creature’s next strike faltered mid-motion.
Its amber eyes flickered.
The desert wind shifted direction.
The sand around its feet began to ripple irregularly.
Hunters paused.
"What is it doing?" Marek shouted.
Long Hao extended one hand slowly.
Not aggressively.
Not defensively.
Just forward.
The air trembled.
The creature’s massive frame hesitated.
Then—
From deep beneath the dunes behind it—
A pulse answered.
Stronger.
Older.
The Pseudo-Sovereign froze. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Its form destabilized slightly.
Not collapsing—
Reconsidering.
Longyu’s voice was almost reverent.
"The second fragment is deeper."
The creature let out a lower, more uncertain rumble.
Then, without another strike—
It stepped back.
The sand swallowed its lower limbs gradually.
Hunters stared in disbelief.
The massive skeletal shape retreated into the dunes.
The wall trembled once more.
Then—
Silence.
The breach remained cracked but intact.
The desert settled unnaturally quickly.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Colby was the first.
"...Did we just survive that?"
Silver officers barked orders, reorganizing squads.
Zehell stepped in front of Long Hao again.
"What did you do?"
He lowered his hand slowly.
"I convinced it."
"To leave?"
"For now."
Longyu’s interface pulsed faintly.
[ FRAGMENT LINK PROTOCOL STABLE ][ SECONDARY SOURCE CONFIRMED ]
Zehell searched his face.
"You’re not finished with this."
"No."
She exhaled.
"Neither are we."
Below them, repair teams began reinforcing the wall.
Above them, the sky looked deceptively calm.
But somewhere beneath the dunes—
Something had answered twice now.
And it had not attacked.
It had listened.
Long Hao looked toward the horizon.
The Pseudo-Sovereign had not been random.
It had been drawn.
And now—
It knew he was here.
[Chapter ENDS]
