Chapter 305: Hiding

The seven grand duchies included the Helon Duchy ruled by Helen Tina, Bavenden Duchy ruled by Alec Ambridge, Boulet Duchy ruled by Burt Zili, Bonton Duchy ruled by Randy Allard, Narsen Duchy ruled by Benedict Sackville, Etman Duchy ruled by Argi Gilles, and Bisli Duchy ruled by Nehem Beige.

The combined size of the seven grand duchies wasn't much smaller than Lancelot Empire, but the seven grand duchies fought all year round and never seemed to stop. This battle was being conducted right outside of the Helon Duchy, the current participants being the Helon, Narsen, Etman, and Bonton duchies.

Grand duke Benedict of the Narsen Duchy was in the prime of his life. He greatly coveted Helen Tina’s beauty, hence his cooperation with the Helon Duchy against the invasion of the Etman and Bonton duchies to win the beauty’s heart.

Benedict desired Helen for her beauty, as well as her duchy. However, Helen had always maintained a tepid attitude towards his aggressive advances. This tickled his heart, making him even more eager to please her. Benedict often accepted Helen’s invitation to personally lead the army of Narsen Duchy in skirmishes.

Helen wore a bright red magic robe, a mysterious magic pattern on her high, protruding chest and her long red hair elegantly flying in the winds above the mountain. Helen looked like a dazzling goddess of fire as she rode on the back of the red-feathered fire phoenix.

On the cliff beneath her was grand duke Benedict of Narsen Duchy in clean, exquisite formal attire. He stood next to a luxurious carriage, a calm and confident smile on his face. His eyes were observing the soldiers of the Etman and Bonton duchies advance deep into the mountains.

Han Shuo arrived in the sky above the mountain valley. Glancing down at the raging battle, he recalled Troda’s wealth being buried hidden here and momentarily zoned out.

This place was completely different from the mountain valley with the mithril mine from the Valley of Sunshine. The mountain was formed purely from the deposits of a type of very durable rock. The darling of the earth–the earth elite zombie, could move unimpeded within soft soil, but he couldn't do so at will within this rock solid mountain.

If the metal elite zombie were to be refined in the place of extreme metal, its ability to destroy stones and drill through mountains would enable it to enter easily. Unfortunately, the metal elite zombie was currently unobtainable, since the location of the place of extreme metal was still unknown. Han Shuo could only helplessly watch the grand battle occurring in the mountain while trying to think of another way. Han Shuo stood in the sky, his vision scanning the entire mountain valley. He frowned, wondering if he should make use of this chance to enter. Troda’s wealth was hidden at the spot beneath the carriage where Benedict was standing. Troda hadn't placed all of his wealth into the space ring, likely because he was scared that someone would assassinate him in an attempt to seize his ring.

Troda had also been quite the player. He'd had three lovers and two sons in the Helon Duchy. He’d already made the appropriate arrangements for his most trusted mistress. Once she learned of his death, the wealth buried in this mountain would become the pillar of support for this mistress and his sons.

Therefore, Han Shuo needed to quickly clean out the four hundred thousand gold coins worth of treasure before the news reached her ears.

As Han Shuo raptly watched the scene unfolding below and tried to think of a way, Helen Tina below suddenly discovered his gaze. She frowned and a magic staff embedded with an enormous flame stone abruptly appeared in her hand.

This magic staff had the ability to increase the effectiveness of fire magic. Helen raised it and pointed it at Han Shuo. A blazing fire coalesced into five human-sized fireballs, flying straight towards him.

“Hateful woman!” Han Shuo softly cursed. The fingers on his left hand danced deftly, shooting out rays of faint purple flame. The rays wove into a glacial net, tightly enveloping the five huge fireballs.

Sizzling sounds and faint smoke instantly appeared when the magic net, woven from the purple spellfire of the Mystical Glacial Spellfire, made contact with the five fireballs. The cold air instantly snuffed out the fire elements within the fireballs. The fire remnants shimmered as they slowly drifted down, forcing Helen to pull on the hood of her magic robe.

“Who is it?” Seeing her fireballs easily destroyed, Helen Tina withdrew her contemptuous attitude, asking cautiously. She had only been able to see a black dot in the sky before she had unleashed her fireballs.

Han Shuo paid no heed to Helen Tina and snorted before flying off towards the back of the mountain. He intended to temporarily depart from this troublesome area and think of another method later. At the back of the mountain, he saw Helon soldiers hauling enormous war equipment to the top. Han Shuo intended to kill a soldier and change outfits in order to enter the fray.

Helen Tina started panicking upon seeing Han Shuo fly towards the rear without a word, leaving only a snort behind. She looked down and shouted to Benedict, “You take care of matters here. The magic cannons are being delivered to the back of the mountain, but a dangerous character has appeared. I need to immediately take a look.”

Helen Tina patted the fire phoenix without waiting for Benedict Sackville to reply. The super rank magic creature had brilliant, fiery red feathers that swayed as the phoenix flapped its wings and flew up, bringing the bright red robed woman towards the back of the mountain like a comet of blazing flame.

The magic cannons contained a strange kind of magical element which seemed ot repulse space rings. As a result, these cannons couldn’t be transported with a space ring and could only be slowly pushed with physical strength.

Helen Tina had crafted the strategy for this grand battle for a long time, the killing blow precisely being the bombardment of magic cannons from the high attitude of this mountain. She had been planning this for far too long, expending an enormous amount of effort to lure two grand duchies to this very place. She absolutely would not allow anyone to destroy her plan. Therefore, she expended full force in order to stop Han Shuo when she saw him fly to the back.

Han Shuo had yet to apply his plan when a red silhouette quickly flew over. In the sky, five huge but slender, vivid flame serpents twisted their roughly seven meter long bodies before shooting at Han Shuo from five different directions.

The fire magic “Mad Dance of Fire Snakes” could only be cast when a fire mage had already advanced to the rank of archmage. With the ring that Helen Tina wore on her left hand enhancing mental strength and the flame stone on her magic staff, she could release five flame serpents instead of the usual three that an ordinary archmage could summon.

The five flame serpents danced in the sky, the extremely high temperature creating sizzling sounds in the air. The fire was so violent that it seemed that it would only need a short while to burn Han Shuo to ashes.

Han Shuo was stunned. He had originally looked down on Helen Tina, thinking she was only a woman with wild ambition who only knew to scheme and use her beauty to gain power. He hadn't expected her to have real strength. This terrifying strength, coupled with her extraordinary beauty, surprised Han Shuo greatly.

Snow white bones shot out like flowers in full bloom, becoming as soft as silk threads. Manipulating them quickly, Han Shuo wove them into a massive white bone shield. A dark fog began to shroud the sky, endless darkness blotting out the dazzling sunlight as the bone shield materialized in front of Helen Tina.

The fiery red halo of the five flame serpents wasn't enough to combat the pervasive darkness that dominated the sky. As the sunlight thinned and died, the snakes lost their target and turned to entangle the white bone shield instead, burning it to a crisp. Helen Tina suddenly couldn't feel a hint of Han Shuo’s presence anymore.

The dark fog disappeared as quickly as it came, dispersing with just a breeze. When the sunlight returned to scatter brightly upon the hill, Han Shuo had already vanished from the air without a trace, leaving behind only the burnt bone shield, cut off from its supply of magical energy. The shield shattered into small, inky black pieces and rained down on the ground.

Putting on a pair of snow white gloves with silver embroidery, Helen Tina promptly caught a falling piece of bone. She was shocked upon looking at the pitch black piece in her hand, her eyes vigilant as she swept a glance around and murmured, “Turns out he’s a damnable necromancer. Just who is this person?”

Mumbling to herself for a bit, Helen Tina still had no clue. She naturally thought that Han Shuo had taken advantage of the dark fog to escape. Turning to look at the soldiers busily pushing the cannons, she ordered, “Hurry up, move all of these cannons to the top of the mountain.”

The bare chested soldiers were hard at work, shouting “Yes!” upon hearing the order. Everyone snuck a glance at the goddess of their hearts and felt themselves filled an inexplicable energy, their strength suddenly peaking.

On a huge rock, a soldier lightly rested his hands on the carriage containing the cannons. A trace of ridicule flashing in his eyes, he glanced at Helen Tina in the sky like a vicious beast lurking in the dark looking at its prey. He whispered with a chuckle, “Helon Duchy, Helen Tina. You pillaged Brettel City to fatten yourselves, now it's time for you people to bleed it out.”

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