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Chapter 202: I’ll remember you
If a person expressed the attitude of wanting to kill you at all costs, then the only way for you to live was to kill him before he killed you!
Han Shuo and Florida hadn’t seen eye to eye from the very beginning, and the matter with Phoebe had magnified this enmity even more so. Not only had Florida expressed his desire to kill Han Shuo from the very beginning, he’d also taken actual action. Han Shuo would naturally not sit there and patiently await his death.
A day’s worth of pursuit had now extended into the depths of the night. The bright moon hung high in the sky like a giant, a cold eye looking down on everything beneath it. Strong gusts of chilly wind shook the towering trees and blew away the thick snow cover on the ancient branches, the falling snow whispering in people’s ears.
Han Shuo was standing in the air, carrying the Demonslayer Edge in his right hand with a cold expression on his face. His gaze stern and emotionless, he seemed to be a lofty mountain range obstructing Florida’s path of hope.
Florida only had the chance to live if he made it past Han Shuo!
“If you step aside now, I promise to never go up against you in the future!” Caught in the throes of a magical backlash, Florida had greatly expended his energy in his desperate flight for life. His injuries were now severe and his strength far depleted. A tinge of resignation colored his words as he looked at Han Shuo.
A charming smile was plastered across his face, yet Han Shuo’s laugh was as cold as an icy cavern. He looked meaningfully at Florida and shook his head, “I’m sorry, I think your corpse is much more reassuring than your promise!”
When he heard those words, Florida knew that there was no way out for him. His face darkened as he said, “My grandfather is the grand magus Ferguson of the Church of Light! There’s nothing in it for you if you become enemies with me! Even if you can kill me today, my grandfather will never let you off the hook!”
Even if Florida was injured, he still tried to create the illusion of strength with these words. But for Han Shuo, with his current strength, not only was he unafraid of Florida bringing out his grandfather to threaten him, he was now even more certain that Florida had nothing left in his tank Otherwise, Florida wouldn’t have wasted all this time talking to him.
“If I don’t kill you today, I’ll face danger from both you and your grandfather. But if you’re dead, I only need to face your grandfather. Therefore, go die!” His words icy, Han Shuo readied himself to kill.
A pile of stark white bones appeared beneath the pristine moonlight as Han Shuo chanted. Gleaming coldly, the bones quickly assembled into a bone prison that was three meters wide and four meters tall, contracting rapidly around Florida.
Han Shuo suddenly shot towards Florida with a merciless expression when the bone prison had completely formed, moving through the night sky like lightning.
Even if his strength was greatly spent, Florida was still a light major archmage, particularly as he’d also dual majored in thunder magic. Han Shuo had seen everything quite clearly in the distance when Florida had faced off against Edwin, and knew that his strength was quite frightening.
Therefore, with Han Shuo’s advantage in magical cultivation, the smartest thing for him to do was to close the distance between him and Florida. No matter how strong Florida was, Han Shuo was confident that he’d be able to kill him if he was within close combat range.
A light major spell suddenly exploded out with Florida as the epicenter. The eye piercingly strong light brought with it the pure, divine strength of light. The spell formed sharp ripples as it crashed onto the bone prison in front of him.
Light major had always been a natural counter to necromancy magic. When the pure and divine strength of light collided with the bone prison, the originally gleaming white bones seemed to undergo a hundred years of corrosion as they started to crumble. The strong defenses had become so brittle that they wouldn’t even be able to withstand the slightest blow, and so exploded into pieces when Florida struck fiercely with his magic staff.
Although he’d broken out of the cage, Florida’s face was even more drained of blood than before. It was obvious that he’d expended too much mental strength and had taxed his body beyond its limits. At that moment, Han Shuo suddenly appeared next to him, the Demonslayer Edge sparkling with a murderous light. He slashed at Florida’s neck, utterly determined to end his life with one deadly strike.
The magic staff in Florida’s hand suddenly exploded with white light as an enormous power within suddenly erupted. Florida hurled his staff at the Demonslayer Edge.
A metallic clang rang out as the two connected, and the magical yuan infused Demonslayer Edge ripped a large hole through Florida’s staff of unknown materials. However, the power within the staff obstructed Han Shuo for a slight moment, making him falter involuntarily in the air for a moment.
On the other side, frothy blood was now running down from Florida’s mouth, trailing down his neck to dye his chest a vivid red. His handsome face was now as pale as paper and the blood by his mouth made him appear even more frightening. At this point, he wasn’t so much flying to the Valley of Sunshine, but swaying his way to it instead.
High quality magic staffs could store a portion of the caster’s magic within it and release it at critical moments. Florida’s actions just now had obviously been that. The magical elements within the staff had acted as a catalyst to cause an explosion and make Han Shuo pause for a second.
By the valley’s fence, the Cairo mercenary band’s vice chief Harris seemed to have received some sort of message and was looking in that direction with some of his experts at his side. They had long since seen the battle going on outside, but was casting a dispassionate eye upon things and hadn’t intervened.
Everyone in the valley knew of the enmity between the Cairo and Rainbow Sickle mercenary bands. The Cairo mercenaries had an obligation to interfere as long as Florida set foot within the valley. However, Han Shuo and Florida’s fight was taking place outside the valley at the moment. Additionally, with Harris’ hatred of the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band, he likely was passionately wishing for Han Shuo to kill Florida.
Pausing for a moment, Han Shuo saw that Florida was about to enter the valley. Behind him, Edwin had once again reappeared as well. Han Shuo immediately circulated his magical yuan to its utmost and shot across the sky, leaving a smoke trail as he made for Florida.
Suddenly, a fire dragon rose into the air and shot out from the valley’s fence, churning towards Han Shuo. Han Shuo had wanted to kill Florida, but was forced from his path in order to evade. He first used the dark mist spell to create cover and then summoned a zombie to substitute for himself in the face of the fire dragon’s wrath.
Han Shuo looked down at the dark mist and noticed that a fire mage had appeared by the valley border. There was a rapidly approaching cavalry troop in the distance wearing the uniform of the Rainbow Sickle mercenaries as well.
“Damn it, why are they here?” Harris growled in anger.
“Chief, chief, are you alright?!” The Rainbow Sickle mercenaries immediately surrounded Florida when they drew nearer and asked anxiously.
Florida was still suffering from immense shock and fright, and finally breathed a huge sigh of relief at the sight of his own people. He turned his head to point viciously at Han Shuo, “Kill him!”
Florida’s body fell into a dead faint as soon as he’d finished speaking. It looked like the trials he’d suffered along the way had caused him great trauma.
The appearance of the Rainbow Sickle mercenaries made Han Shuo understand that he no longer had any opportunities to kill Florida. However, since Florida had fainted, Han Shuo understood that even though he hadn’t died, he was half dead anyways. It would take him a long time to recover from this.
Han Shuo didn’t wait for the Rainbow Sickle mercenaries to make their move, but shot into the valley from above and landed a few meters in front of Harris.
According to the valley’s rules, even if one had the ability to fly, one couldn’t enter the valley using flight.
However, Han Shuo’s earlier fight with Florida had been completely witnessed by those in the Cairo mercenary band. The enemy of one’s enemy was a friend, and so not only did Harris very magnanimously forgive Han Shuo’s actions, but immediately gestured for his men to form a wall in front of Han Shuo.
“I’m sorry, now that he’s entered the valley, fights cannot occur in the Valley of Sunshine, or our Cairo mercenary band would intervene!” Harris’ expression was calm as he grasped his double headed battle-axe tightly, radiating a willingness to explode into battle at any moment.
Chief Florida’s grave injuries were a large blow to the Rainbow Sickle mercenaries, not only in terms of strength, but also reputation. The eyes of the mercenaries all spat fire as they looked in Han Shuo’s direction, but Harris had expressed his intention to abide by the rules, and so they were caught in a dilemma.
“Let’s stabilize the chief’s injuries first. They’ll pay as soon as the chief is alright!” The fire mage who had attacked Han Shuo earlier cast a glance at Florida’s face and suddenly opened his mouth to speak.
This person likely had a very high position within the mercenary band as no one else said anything after his suggestion. They all glared furiously at Han Shuo, leaving quickly with Florida in their care.
“Friend, you must be more careful. Florida will not let you off easily after he wakes up. Although our men patrol all over the Valley of Sunshine, we still can’t fully prevent people from making some mischief. I think you know what I mean?” Harris’ attitude was much warmer compared to the first time he’d seen Han Shuo. The cold lines of his face had softened as he spoke a word of warning to Han Shuo.
Florida’s grave injuries greatly benefited the Cairo mercenary band, and as Florida’s rival, Han Shuo was the Cairo mercenary band’s friend. No wonder Harris’ attitude was so friendly towards Han Shuo.
The Cairo mercenaries were on patrol all throughout the valley, but their energy was limited;. It was impossible for them to keep an eye out all the time. When the fuming Florida woke up, he would absolutely pursue revenge at all costs. Even if he was in the Valley of Sunshine, he would likely pick the perfect time to make his move, so Han SHuo wasn’t truly safe within the valley as well.
Nodding, Han Shuo spoke with a slight smile, “Thank you, it’s not that easy to kill me either!”
Edwin had also made it over at this time and landed on the ground near the border. His gaze fixed itself tightly on Han Shuo as he said, “I want to enter the valley, what procedures do I need to take care of?”
Han Shuo’s head began to throb at these words. The arrival of such an old freak was an even greater threat to him than Florida. However, the Valley of Sunshine had its rules as well, and they wouldn’t turn away such a god of wealth.
“Kid, you’re called Bryan aren’t you? There are fewer and fewer people who can inflict injuries on my body as the years go on. I’ll remember you!” Edwin rubbed his aching back as he completed went through the appropriate procedures. He threw a ghastly smile at Han Shuo, the various crevices and moats on his face scrunching together to appear quite stern.
“You should forget me instead, I don’t want to see you again!” Han Shuo smiled ruefully in response, walking into the valley nursing a headache and thinking of how to prepare appropriate measures.
Edwin came from the Calamity Church and had the strength of a dark grand magus. He was a significant force to be reckoned with across the entire Profound Continent. That such a character hadn’t been immediately killed meant that he would have an almost unimaginable amount of trouble in the future. Han Shuo was now besieged with an enormous headache and wanted to leave the valley immediately. Everything could wait until he returned to the cemetery of death through the transportation matrix.
The end of the night had arrived unknowingly and Emily was rather sleepy when Han Shuo returned to the Dark Mantle.
When she saw Han Shuo reappear in front of her, the slightly confused look in her eyes slowly cleared up. She said gleefully, “You’re alright! Did you see Trunks?”
Nodding, Han Shuo said with surprise, “How did you know Trunks is here?”
“The Dark Mantle has a small intelligence network within the valley. Trunks entered the valley by himself shortly after you left. I know that the two of you are close, so I had a chat with him when he entered the valley. When he learned that Florida was making a move against you, he immediately left again and rushed in the direction of Valen City. I didn’t go with him because I had to stay here and wait for news from my superiors.” Emily explained.
“Elaine’s dead. I fell victim to a trap and almost got killed!” Han Shuo sighed and sat down.
When she heard of Elaine’s death, a sad expression appeared on Emily’s beautiful face and she grew very quietquiet. After a while, she sighed heavily and softly said, “Although big sister Elaine didn’t know how to fight, she was very capable. She’d operated her small hotel in Valen City for many years and supplied us with valuable advice many a time. She’s helped us so much, but died because of us!”
If Han Shuo and Emily hadn’t appeared, and if they hadn’t given Belinda over to Elaine’s care in their rush, Elaine wouldn’t have died either. It was because Han Shuo didn’t have a deep relationship with Elaine that he wasn’t hit with any particularly tragic feelings. When he saw Emily’s grief stricken expression, he patted her shoulder lightly and spoke a few words of comfort.
Emily’s mood improved as Han Shuo comforted her in a low voice. It was then that she remembered the true task at hand, “Just what happened?”
Han Shuo recounted the events in great detail, making Emily shudder in fright when she heard of the dangerous happenings on this trip. She cheered for Han Shuo’s escape and prayed for him during his dangerous encounters.
Emily was still caught up in the shock from what had happened after Han Shuo had finished, and lifted his pant leg to see the now clotted wound. “Don’t take such risks in the future, if Belinda’s arrow hadn’t landed here, then you would’ve been in a lot of danger.”
“Don’t worry, if the direction of her arrow was more dangerous, I naturally wouldn’t have sat there just to be hit by it. I would’ve immediately evaded and escaped as far as possible.” His actions had brought certain results in the end. Although Edwin’s back injury wasn’t as severe as Florida’s, it would be enough to cause him grief for some time.
“We’re in trouble now. Florida is already a tough person to shake off, and now we have Edwin to deal with as well. He has a high position in the Calamity Church and is quite vicious and brutal. You’ve even hurt him, I don’t know whether to be proud or worried for you!” Emily sighed with a look of worry on her face.
“Don’t worry, if it comes down to it, we can return to the cemetery of death. As long as we stay in a place where no one can find us, we’ll be able to defend ourselves or attack after we set up the transportation matrix!” Han Shuo held a rather optimistic view as he smiled to comfort Emily.
At this time, the old man looking after the Dark Mantle stronghold walked over and knocked on the door, “Mistress Emily, chief Laureton of the Cairo mercenary band requests that you and master Bryan pay a visit.”
“Understood, Grandpa Camby!” Emily responded lightly and looked at Han Shuo. “It looks like we may have allies!”