Chapter 84: See who’s a master of concealment
“What, what are you doing?” Candice squealed in shock and suddenly stood up. Phoebe had been about to undress for bed when she saw Han Shuo rush in. She, too, was startled and hastily pulled her clothes back on, looking at Han Shuo with a face of panic.
“Grover and the people of ‘Shadow Ghost’ are coming. Don’t say useless things and think about what we need to do!” Han Shuo roared in a low tone at the two frantic women with a darkened face.
Candice was still vaguely suspicious when he finished speaking and was about to express her opinions with a war face, whereas Phoebe had an extremely grave face and admonished, “Listen to him Candice, Bryan wouldn’t be wrong!”
Candice didn’t believe Han Shuo, but she believed Phoebe. Upon hearing Phoebe’s words, she immediately pulled out the broadsword from her back and nodded to Phoebe, das.h.i.+ng out suddenly like a ball of fiery shadows. Low sounds of warning immediately came from Candice.
Phoebe didn’t waste any time and grabbed a robe from the edge of the bed, flinging it onto herself. Her s.p.a.ce ring suddenly brightened and a longsword sparkling with cold light materialized in her hand.
Nodding to Phoebe, Han Shuo quickly dashed outside of the house and saw that Candice was standing outside, giving orders in a low voice.
Using the vision from the original demons, Han Shuo closed his eyes and said, “Three people are approaching from the left, 130 meters away. Two warriors and one mage. The mage is the wind adept mage Ellis. An archmage along with four warriors and an archer is approaching from the front, roughly 130 meters away. There are most likely people from ‘Shadow Ghost’ on the roof. Several people are lying in wait in an alleyway 50 meters to the right, and they seem to be laying down some sort of trap…”
As if he was watching the action from above, Han Shuo continuously and swiftly detailed the particulars of the people approaching swiftly. Candice hadn’t believed it at first, and would’ve never believed that he could clearly detect the oncomers’ movements from so far away, but Phoebe had immediately asked Candice to arrange people according to Han Shuo’s descriptions as soon as she walked out of the room.
“Miss Phoebe, I hope you make the preparations to retreat this time. According to my estimations, I think even with you as a swordmaster, we are still possibly not their match. If the situation goes south, I hope you don’t linger here, but no matter how dangerous it is, don’t retreat to the right. It’s a dead end there!” Han Shuo suddenly opened his eyes and stared at Phoebe as he said gravely.
“Thank you, Bryan, I know what to do. You be careful as well!” Phoebe trusted Han Shuo a great deal and when she saw him warn her with such a serious face, she immediately understood that it would be a dangerous battle this time. She immediately nodded gravely at Han Shuo, indicating her understanding.
Breathing in deeply, Han Shuo willed the Demonslayer Edge out of the heart of his palm and checked the dagger concealed on his body, and the steel needles strapped to his legs. He then wielded a crossbow in his left hand and bounded up a nearby tree. The shadows of the house happened to completely conceal his body. Han Shuo stared calmly towards the left, not moving an inch.
“And so they’ve come, everyone be careful and spread out!” As a swordmaster, Phoebe finally heard the footsteps and inwardly rejoiced for trusting Han Shuo. She cast a gaze at Candice on her side.
It was only now that Candice looked in shock at the Han Shuo, who was concealed in the shadows. She had never thought that Han Shuo would truly be this amazing. Not only could he detect movement from a distance of a hundred meters, but it was as if he had a pair of eyes in the sky, thoroughly deducing all of the enemy’s movements.
Candice was a mercenary who had experienced hundreds of battles after all. After a short duration of shock, she looked at Phoebe and the two of them leapt up together. The two of them concealed themselves on either side of Han Shuo and also hid in the shadows.
“Br… Bryan, can you tell me slowly the movements of the enemy, so I can inform the people below?” Candice was about a meter away from Han Shuo when spoke in a soft voice.
Maintaining his position without even a flicker of change in his expression, Han Shuo’s voice was low as he faintly summarized the details of the enemies’ movement. Candice held a magical item in her hand, utilizing it to give her commands to the mercenaries hidden amongst the yard.
The three people from Grover’s side, with Ellis in the lead, were the first batch to arrive. They paused on a nearby roof. Han Shuo and the others didn’t move until the floating archmage appeared at the front door with the other experts from “Shadow Ghost”. It was only then that they held their breaths, focused their concentration, and prepared to make a move.
No one saw how the archmage moved, only that his body was completely enveloped in a black robe. He muttered a few lines of incantations in an almost inaudible voice, and fierce magical pulses suddenly emanated towards Phoebe’s residence. The rooms all began shaking violently as if a large earthquake was taking place.
At the same time, the four warriors behind him swiftly spread out. One archer s.h.i.+fted to a roof on the side, observing the surroundings from a high vantage point. Ellis nodded to the two warriors after seeing the ground tremble and shake like a great beast awakening. The two of them leapt off and descended towards the yard.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Five arrows suddenly appeared in the darkness, like five violent vipers submerged in deep waters. They sped swiftly to bite the two descending warriors. The two had concealed their movements and had never expected that they would face such a fierce attacks as soon as they’d leapt off. They were quite shocked and frantically waved their swords to block the arrows.
Three of the arrows were smashed to pieces, one of them was evaded by both of them, with only the one that Phoebe had shot out nailing directly into one of the warrior’s calves. When the two landed, they triggered the field that had been laid out there and three bolts of lightning suddenly appeared in the air. Under the illumination of the lightning, Han Shuo could clearly see multiple strands of metal wire as thin as hair tangled together. When the two landed, their ankles were caught in the metal wires.
The lightning crept amongst the metal wires, turning the area into a brilliant silver net with strong electricity flowing through it. The two people’s bodies spasmed as they emitted ghastly howls. The one who wasn’t injured quickly reacted after being electrocuted and thrust his sword out to cut through the metal wires and escape. The other one, with an arrow in his calf, foamed at the mouth and his hair was a burned mess as he slowly fell down into the metal net.
“This is bad, an ambus.h.!.+” Ellis had been about to descend like the others, but suddenly cried out upon seeing the two warriors had been hit, raising a hue and cry to warn the “Shadow Ghost” killers who were attacking from the front.
The door cracked into four or five pieces with two loud cracks, and four warriors dressed in black came rus.h.i.+ng in. They started searching the two sides of the yard. The archmage floated into the yard, the magic staff in his left hand was wrapped in his long black sleeves. The rooms on the sides started collapsing from the severe earthquake in accordance with his motions.
Out of those of the Battlefire mercenary band lying in wait in the neighboring rooms, two directly died from the impact of the collapsing house. There were also three who had no choice but to rush out as well. They all held their weapons and stood in the yard. Han Shuo took a quick look and noticed that there was only a senior swordsman, a thunder journeyman mage, and an archer left.
(h.e.l.lo reader, if you’re not reading this on then please be advised that this work has been stolen from the original translator.)
The archmage waved the staff in his hand and a large surge of magic once again ripped outwards. Three earth dragons suddenly erupted out of the earth, like pistons of ice, slas.h.i.+ng towards the three Battlefire members, who had appeared. The senior swordsman and journeyman mage evaded in time, adroitly dodging to the side before disaster struck. The other archer raised his bow, gathered his concentration, and aimed at the archmage, but he didn’t have the chance to release the arrow before the earth dragon, rising beneath his feet, crushed his chest. The strong force of impact immediately caused him to lose his life.
Calmly controlling his breathing, Han Shuo could clearly sense that Phoebe and Candice on either side of him suddenly started breathing more heavily. It looked like that with the death of this person, the calm stance that the two had always kept vanished completely.
Afterwards, Phoebe and Candice both shot out crossbow bolts at the same time and sent them flying towards the earth archmage who released the earth dragons. The crossbow bolts had fierce momentum, but it was a pity that a wall of earth suddenly rose from the ground with a wave of his left hand. Their crossbow bolts collided with the wall and didn’t cause any damage to the killer.
“In the shadows of the big tree!” Ellis didn’t disguise his voice this time and suddenly spoke with his original voice. The whoos.h.i.+ng sound of a windblade attack accompanied his voice.
When Phoebe and Candice heard the sounds of an imminent windblade attack, they immediately jumped out from Han Shuo’s side. Phoebe held a longsword that dazzled with eye-catching light and dashed at the archmage with the fastest speed possible. Candice’s broadsword flared with tongues of fire licking at the skies, turning her into a fiery elf in the darkness as she swiftly charged Ellis.
Wielding a crossbow, Han Shuo didn’t move as he lay covertly in the shadows of the big tree. He didn’t even raise a hand to fend off the incoming windblades. Several windblades ripped through the tree branches, and another two connected with Han Shuo’s waist. However, he grit his teeth and bore it all, staying there unmoving, maintaining even his breathing and heartbeat at a very stunningly steady rate.
Phoebe and Candice flew out from the tree, their flames of battle thoroughly stoked. Because the earth archmage had toppled all the houses with a huge earthquake as soon as he’d arrived, this caused many of the traps, that the Battlefire mercenary band had set up, to become ineffective. Phoebe was well aware of the horrors that an archmage was capable of and thus had her sights set on him, immediately rus.h.i.+ng forward, bringing all her strength to bear.
When Phoebe made her move, the two senior swordsmen from “Shadow Ghost” immediately converged on the archmage’s location, presenting a combination of two melee and one mage to Phoebe. Off in the distance, the “Shadow Ghost” archer also coordinated with the other two swordsmen along with Ellis, starting their attacks on those of the Battlefire mercenary band.
Wielding her broadsword, Candice sent a tongue of fire licking out with every swing of her weapon. The broadsword sent out dazzling light in the night sky, forcing the wind mage Ellis to continuously back up.
Ellis’ actions were extremely agile as he leveraged the power of the wind. As he quickly backed up, several columns of windblade tornadoes rushed towards Candice. When one of the journeyman swordsmen rushed to Ellis’ side and combined their efforts in battling Candice, even the imposing Candice suddenly seemed to be under a lot of pressure.
At this moment, whether it was Phoebe’s side or Ellis and those of “Shadow Ghost”, everyone had fully revealed themselves in the broken and battered yard. Only Han Shuo still remained hidden within the darkness, still holding on after taking two direct hits from the windblades. He was waiting for the best moment to attack.
Phoebe and Candice were both in disadvantageous spots, but a few traces of expectation arose in their dejected hearts upon seeing Han Shuo continuously fail to materialize. The two girls were both smart ladies, and had already guessed that Han Shuo must be planning something despite his injuries. They all moved in unspoken accordance and slowly brought their opponents towards the big tree.
After a short while, the struggling Phoebe and Candice had both gathered beneath the tree where Han Shuo was concealed, their movement cut off by the archmage, Ellis, and the other a.s.sa.s.sins.
“Beautiful Miss Phoebe, after a few battles, I greatly admire your strength. However, you’ll have no more chances this time. My deepest apologies!” Ellis laughed gently as the sky in front of him howled and roared after his words, forming a violent tornado. The broken tree branches and rocks around them were all swept into the sky by this tornado as it moved towards Phoebe and Candice.
The archmage said nothing as he extended his left hand, four high walls of earth rising from the ground, thoroughly enclosing Phoebe and Candice in a cage.
The longsword in Phoebe’s hand rippled with a blinding milky-white aura, the light forming into the shape of a cross. It blasted through one wall of earth as she hopped out with Candice. The swordsmen waiting on the side immediately started attacking Phoebe and Candice. Ellis had a sinister smile on his face as he focused his concentration and slowly manipulated the tornado to churn up the two.
Just at this moment, a crossbow bolt suddenly pierced through the air and shot towards the earth archamge wrapped in black robes. The archmage leaned to the side and a swordsman next to him waved his hand to ward off the crossbow bolt. A bone spear then materialized out of thin air, also shooting towards the archmage with a sharp whistling sound.
The archmage seemed to feel a bit irritated as he slightly flexed his left hand. Earth magic once again gathered and a stone slab on the ground suddenly flew out, smas.h.i.+ng the bone spear flying towards him into two halves.
The archmage had just breathed a sigh of relief and was about to search for the enemy hidden in the shadows when a ghastly wail suddenly sounded. Ellis, not too far away, clutched his chest and raised a face full of fear to look at the top of the big tree. A sharp weapon burrowed out like a poisonous dragon, leaving his chest with a whistling sound.
Pfft.
An arrow of blood sprayed uncontrollably from Ellis’ chest and Ellis raised his head to the sky. His knees suddenly gave way and he sank listlessly to the floor, pausing, and then fell stiffly backwards.