Chapter 60 - First Fall
Chapter 60 - First Fall
Bellum, a name that was very famous in the North East Zone.
After the two worlds merged, there some mountains that were just present in different places without a pair or without being part of a mountain range.
These mountains were the burial grounds for people of ancient times.
One of such mountains closest to Xin Mountain was the Bellum Mountain.
A single mountain standing at the same height as the mountain on which the Xin Sect was. It was the mountain of Bellum.
A man who had led countless wars was buried there. He had been the general of the army in so many wars that he became known as General Bellum. After winning all of them he went to the king of his time. Because of his unmatchable service, he was given the title Ballum. With time even he forgot his real name and this Bellum had been turned into his name, person, and personality.
When he died, he was buried in a Palace that was carved into the mountain. All of his treasures were buried alongside him.
One of the treasures that the Xin Sect leader was able to retrieve was these Drums of Bellum.
Back in the training area of the trainee hall.
Zhao Luo looked at the grin on the face of his senior, Mite, and didn't ponder over the meaning behind it like some coward.
Zhao Luo was at the Second Drum of the first row.
Zhao Luo came to stand in front of him before grabbing its drum sticks.
'This one looks bigger.'
Zhao Luo thought as he realized that the size of the drumhead was a little bigger than the drumhead of the first drum.
'Doesn't matter.'
Zhao Luo thought as he had the drum sticks in his hand.
In his mind, he had only one job. To bang these drums like there was no tomorrow. He just wanted to reach the last drum on the fifth row.
Zhao Luo again copied the moves of Mite.
The only difference was that Mite was burly so when he arched his back backward, he couldn't bend it too much. But Zhao Luo had compact muscles, he was overloaded with them but he didn't look that big.
This gave him the flexibility that he could use to enhance his power by two times in this charade.
Unlike before, Zhao Luo arched his back to the utmost limit with his arms falling backward like before. The drum sticks in Zhao Luo's hands were almost touching the ground of the ring.
In just a second Zhao Luo arched his back like that and with all that acceleration came forward to hit the drumhead with the drumsticks.
"Booooooooom."
A loud sound was released from the drum when the drum sticks in Zhao Luo's hands fell on its drumhead.
"Boom."
"Boom."
"Boom."
"Boom."
"Boom."
Five echoes, one after another went into everyone's ears.
All of them were silent.
This was the first time that someone has beat the drum to get five echoes.
Some of these trainees were shocked while others were looking happy.
The others included the group Zhao Luo had entered with. Like Feng Mei, Yan, Su Shi, and the other new trainees. Except for them, there were some among the other trainees who felt something rising in their chest.
This feeling didn't occur to them when Mite was beating the drums before Zhao Luo.
But now they felt this, the urge to follow Zhao Luo's every command and protect him like he was some important person to them. The feeling of being unstoppable.
'I will try it too.'
One of them thought but this is how this group of trainees was thinking right now. They wanted to advance too.
The strength that Zhao Luo displayed was like a motivation for them. This they could hear their innermost thoughts that were happening up.
Even Zhao Luo was shocked but his reason was different.
'Only 5? That was my best.'
Zhao Luo thought as he was feeling a little disappointed over the result from the second drum.
"You are doing amazing. Keep on going just like that."
Mite said with a creepy smile on his face while he looked at Zhao Luo with squinted eyes.
"Humph."
Zhao Luo ignored Mite and moved to the third drum.
Zhao Luo grabbed the sticks on the drum and did the same movements as he had done with the two drums before this one.
"Boooooom."
The same sound was heard again as the sticks in Zhao Luo's hand were brought down on the drum head of the third drum.
This time the blasting sound reverberated four times in the training area but it was still an achievement according to everyone there.
Just like that Zhao Luo moved onto the fourth and fifth drum one by one.
He hit the next two drums so hard and in such a perfect way that the drum sound echoed five times.
This way Zhao Luo cleared the first row of the Drums of Bellum.
After doing so he looked directly at the second row of the drums as he made his way to the first drum of the second row.
As Zhao Luo entered the second row, he could feel the pressure on him increasing. It felt like the weight acting on him had increased by two times. The force of gravity on him had changed when he came in front of the drums of the second row.
But this didn't stop him from doing what he had decided to do.
Zhao Luo grabbed the drumsticks, which felt even heavier than before.
Zhao Luo took his position, arched his back, raised his hand, and let them fall backward freely then pushing all his weight to the ground through his legs he brought the drum sticks in his hands so fast that all this action happened in less than a second.
"Booooom."
The sound came from the drum and the echoes followed after it.
"Boom."
"Boom."
"Boom."
"Boom."
Again four echoes were heard.
Sweat was running down Zhao Luo's handsome face but he was lost in the momentum as he moved towards the second drum of the second row and did the same thing again.
This continued till Zhao Luo cleared the second row of these drums.
Zhao Luo entered the third row and the pressure on him increased even further.
Zhao Luo's knees bent a little but that was the only moment when he would tilt slightly because of the pressure.
Zhao Luo stood straight again and moved to the drum as he held the drum sticks in his hand.
'What? Are these made of feathers?'
Zhao Luo thought the drum sticks were as though weightless objects. This confused Zhao Luo.
He turned to look at Mite who was still smiling weirdly as he spectated Zhao Luo's performance.
'Hehehe soon.'
Mite thought as he looked at the confused Zhao Luo.
Nobody knew what Zhao Luo was going to suffer soon except Mite.
Even Zhao Luo was unaware of it as he kept on beating the Drum one after another.
As Zhao Luo did the same steps again at the first drum of the third row, he thought that he wouldn't be able to make more than three echoes this time as the drum stick was so light.
But it went against his expectations as the drum produced sic echoes. That was his highest record till now.
In just 2 minutes Zhao Luo had cleared the third row of drums.
Each time he would strike, the drum would produce four to five echoes.
'Hah.'
Zhao Luo felt tired as he took a deep breath and moved towards the fourth row.
His fingers were numb and his arms felt heavy.
'What's wrong with my body?'
Zhao Luo thought as his body had lost half of the energy while just beating fifteen drums.
'Drop.'
'Drop.'
'Drop.'
'Drop.'
Drops of sweat would fall each time Zhao Luo would take a step towards the fourth row of drums.
Like that Zhao Luo reached the fourth row and as a calm wind was blown over his body, he felt peace.
As he entered the fourth row the pressure on him had disappeared, and his body felt light again.
Zhao Luo went over to the first drum as he grabbed the drum sticks in his hand.
Zhao Luo stopped where he was and remembered the scene that happened to Mite.
He was throwing blood after beating this drum so Zhao Luo thought that he couldn't be any careless here.
'It may be his trick to make me fail here.'
If Zhao Luo would beat the drum while holding, then what if he couldn't even get three echoes?
He will fail and he couldn't have that.
Thus Zhao Luo tightened his grip over the drum sticks.
He followed the movements that he had been using till now as he brought the drum sticks down on the drumhead of the drum.
"Boooooooom."
The sound exploded as Zhao Luo beat the drum.
For a second he waited for the echoes.
Four echoes reverberated and fell on the spectator's ears one after another as they all burst out shouting as they started repeating Zhao Luo's name.
They all were focused on one person.
'Zhao Luo.'
Everyone was looking at Zhao Luo as he, himself was unconscious and falling on his back towards the ground.
"Broooootherrrr."
Shouted Feng Mei as she ran towards Zhao Luo while jumping over the ring as she reached Zhao Luo to hold him up.
"Hahaha."
Mite who watched Zhao Luo's fall started laughing evilly.