CHAPTER 279: The Arrogant Challenger

Lancelot Empire, in a small town called Billow on the outskirts of Bimson City.

Mayor Colbert had just finished eating a snack in the sunlight and was humming a little song as he lay lazily on the highest, most luxurious balcony in the city. He squinted at the town's girls as they walked around, trying to decide whose house he would visit to relax for the evening.

This little town wasn't big, but it could still bring in a few thousand gold coins in taxes every year. Colbert could live comfortably on this money. From time to time, when his interest was piqued, he could indulge in random acts of brute force or abuse of privilege with the women of the town. No one dared say anything.

This was because he had the title of baron and the power of mayor, and he himself was a powerful swordsman. All these conditions were more than enough to make him the emperor of this small town.

"Ai, when will this kind of life end?" A civilian who had just returned from the mountains complained in a low voice.

"I heard that Roots' wife was raped again by Colbert. This is the ninth time this year. How about we leave Billow? This is no way to live!" Another civilian let out a long sigh and said helplessly.

"Mhm, we have to be careful if we want to leave. We will die very miserably if he finds out. Truly evil!"

"Excuse me, is this Billow?" Someone suddenly asked as the two whispered to each other. The speaker was a very tall youth with a bright smile on his handsome face.

"That's right. Young man, why did you come here?" One of them asked, puzzled.

"Is your mayor named Colbert?" Han Shuo smiled and asked again.

The person nodded, her expression changing slightly as she added with disgust, "You know our mayor? And what do you do?"

"I have some small matters to attend to, where does he live?" Seeing this civilian's disgusted expression when she heard Colbert's name, Han Shuo immediately understood the situation in his heart.

"Go straight ahead. The biggest and most luxurious house you see is where he lives!" The other person replied, then pulled her friend away from Han Shuo and whispered, "Don't you want to live anymore? See how big and strong he is? He's definitely a friend of that bastard Colbert. Don't get into trouble!"

The two of them whispered back and forth as they quickly left after throwing a disdainful look at Han Shuo. Han Shuo's sensitive hearing picked it up. He secretly thought that this Colbert truly had no conscience. Even as the mayor of this small town, there was not a bad thing he hadn't done.

Han Shuo quickly went to the biggest house and said to the guard at the gate, "I want to meet Mayor Colbert.

"Who are you?" The guard frowned and glanced at Han Shuo as he replied.

The three Yin Demons surveyed the rooms in the house, noting every detail for Han Shuo. He smiled and said, "I heard that Mayor Colbert was a powerful swordsmaster. This time I've come especially to challenge him to a fight. Please report this for me!"

"The Mayor is not interested in you. You'd better leave while you still can!" The guard replied rudely, seemingly having no intention of making a report.

Taking a step forward, Han Shuo broke down the door. Raising his voice, he shouted, "Colbert, you coward! As a swordmaster, you still dare not accept my challenge?"

"Boy, are you deliberately trying to make trouble?" The two guards were instantly shocked. They drew their swords and were about to make a move.

Han Shuo fanned out two blows, pushing the two guards back before they could see anything. Smiling as he looked at the two clutching their faces, Han Shuo said leisurely, "It would be best if you two did not seek your own deaths!"

Han Shuo's loud cry echoed so far that half of Billow could hear it. The townspeople immediately stopped what they were doing and came to watch when they heard that someone had come to challenge Colbert.

Colbert had blinked his eyes and looked around randomly when he obviously heard Han Shuo's voice. He shouted angrily from the high balcony, "Where have you come from, brat? How dare you come to Billow and cause trouble!"

A dozen soldiers rushed out of the house to accompany Colbert's shout. Colbert stepped out of the broken door with a cold face and shiny silver armour.

"What the hell are you looking at?! You damned bunch of lowlifes, scram!" The first thing Colbert did after stepping out was to roll his eyes and glare, cursing the civilians. Then he angrily looked at Han Shuo and said, "Little brat, you deliberately came to cause trouble, didn't you?"

"I have heard of Baron Colbert's great name as a Swordsmaster. I also train in the ways of the sword and was passing through Billow, so I was hoping to ask your lordship for some guidance. But I don't know if Your Lordship... has the courage to accept?" Han Shuo smiled blandly and waited for Colbert's reply.

Colbert glared at Han Shuo and said angrily, "You, a little brat who doesn't know the height of heaven, dare to challenge me?! You must really be tired of life. Fine! I accept your challenge. But don't blame me if you die!"

"Of course!" Han Shuo replied straightforwardly.

"You guys back off. Watch me kill him!" Colbert waved his subordinates away. He drew his sword and took a deep breath. He suddenly calmed down.

"Young man, I'll let you attack first!" Colbert put on a generous face and said calmly to Han Shuo.

"Alright!" Han Shuo didn't hesitate. As soon as he finished speaking, he calmly walked over to Colbert and unleashed a blow.

"Oh?!" Colbert was a bit stunned when he saw that Han Shuo did not draw his sword. However, he was even more surprised to see that there was no combat aura emanating from the punch. Feeling strange, Colbert sneered and raised his sword to strike right back at the blow.

"Hehehe, courting death!" Han Shuo also took a moment to sneer. His magical yuan condensed and a blinding red light erupted from the punch.

The red light erupted instantly, destroying the milky white combat aura surrounding Colbert's sword. The blow struck the sword with a metallic clang. A blast of hot air erupted, accompanied by Colbert's tragic scream. He was blown away, along with his sword, and couldn't stop vomiting blood.

"Oh my God, the demon is badly wounded!"

"Great! I hope he just dies this time! Then we'll be free!"

"He'd better die, or Billow Town won't have a day's peace!"

Seeing Colbert so badly injured from a single blow, the townspeople watching from afar became as happy as if it were a holiday, murmuring in low voices.

"I, I have no hatred or injustice with you, so why did you come for me?" His mouth overflowing with blood, Colbert immediately understood that Han Shuo's strength was far superior to his after being severely injured by a single blow. However, he didn't know how or when he had offended Han Shuo.

"Hehehe, because you deserve to die!" Han Shuo smiled coldly. He slowly approached Colbert and said, "I am Bryan, and you are the first!"

Bang! echoed a blow. Colbert had no strength to resist as the blow landed on his head. He immediately bled from all seven orifices and died instantly.

"I killed him in a fair and open challenge, and you are all witnesses to it." Han Shuo turned to the lackeys and expressed that he hadn't done it on purpose. Having said this, he left Billow Town in style under the shocked, puzzled and fearful eyes of the people.

The Empire would not pursue the matter if you killed your opponent after accepting a challenge. Candide had made this clear to Han Shuo earlier. The old man would take care of the consequences, so Han Shuo wasn't worried at all.

"Second target - Water Archmage Deborah in Bimson City. Killed a family of eighteen people three years ago in a magic shop over a magic staff. The aftermath was handled cleanly, leaving no clues. Successfully escaped the Empire's punishment. Mm, she's the one!" Han Shuo took out the paper Candide had given him and skimmed through it.

Candide had indeed put his heart into it. Each target was in close proximity to the previous one, making it convenient for Han Shuo to act.

Two hours later, in Bimson City, at the residence of Count Chapman Dean.

Han Shuo wore a mage outfit, his hand grasping the white bone staff. He appeared gracefully at Count Chapman Dean's residence and spoke to the guard with a smile, "I'm looking for the honoured Water Archmage Deborah."

"Follow me." This guard saw Han Shuo in a mage outfit with the white bone staff in his hand. So he didn't dare to be rude and respectfully led Han Shuo inside.

When they arrived at a large courtyard, the guard said, "Please wait a moment, I will inform Master Deborah!"

A short, slightly overweight woman of around forty came out a short time later. She was wearing a luxurious magic robe and a blue space ring on her finger. She frowned suspiciously at Han Shuo and asked,

"Who are you? I don't think I know you?"

Nodding, Han Shuo replied with a smile, "Of course, this is our first meeting. However, I have admired your great name for a long time. This time, I came here to ask for your guidance on some magical knowledge, I hope you agree!"

Upon hearing Han Shuo's words, Deborah waved her hand impatiently, "And I was wondering who you were. I don't care. Leave now. Don't make me angry, damn brat!"

Glancing at the guard, Deborah scolded, "Next time, ask who the visitor is. Don't think all mages know me. I have no time to deal with this immature brat!"

Having finished her speech, Deborah treated Han Shuo as if he did not exist and went back inside, intending to continue fiddling around with some new potions.

"Ugly old grandma, you dare not accept my challenge? Or do you think you're so ugly that you don't want to be looked at for too long?" Still with a smile on his face, Han Shuo deliberately played the old trick of using vicious words to enrage his opponent.

Sure enough, Deborah was immediately enraged by Han Shuo's malice. She abruptly turned around, glared at Han Shuo sinisterly, and said with a cold smile, "Very well. I accept your challenge. I'll send you on your way to the underworld."

A light flashed as a blue staff appeared in her hand. Deborah chanted an incantation and three men, each five metres tall and made of water, suddenly appeared from nowhere on the rooftops and shot towards Han Shuo. The water men wielded sharp ice awls that emitted a brilliant cold light as they stabbed at Han Shuo.

"Interesting!" Han Shuo let out a strange laugh. The white bone staff in his hand trembled as he quickly chanted an incantation. A white bone shield suddenly appeared in front of his body.

The five ice awls were faster than the watermen and smashed straight into the shield's surface with tremendous force. The ice awls shattered as cracks appeared in the shield as well.

Han Shuo calmly reduced the size of the white bone shield. The white bone staff shone once more. Two hate warriors, an evil knight, a dozen zombies and about twenty skeleton warriors, and a team of flying gargoyles appeared in the air, filling the courtyard.

The evil knight rode a fire-spitting warhorse, his hand holding an enormous bone lance. He lunged at the five-metre tall ice man, piercing a huge hole in him. The evil knight commanded his undead warhorse to spit out a breath of fire, and the rest of the ice men evaporated into mist with a sizzling sound.

"You, you're really an archmage necromancer!" Deborah was terrified, her voice shaking as she shouted.

Necromancers were at a disadvantage against light mages of the same level. However, their ability to summon powerful creatures gave them a huge advantage over other mages. If it hadn't been for the disappearance of the realms of the Grand Magi and the Sacred Magi, as recorded in the Codex of Necromancy, the number of necromancers would not be as small as it is now.

As the Canopy of Necromancy spread across the sky, the speed and strength of the dark creatures within it suddenly increased immensely. Caught in the canopy of necromancy, two watermen were surrounded by a huge number of dark creatures.

The evil knight, in particular, now charged forward with terrifying force towards Water Archmage Deborah. The hovering gargoyles flashed out as deadly shadows, one after the other, in a manner that seemed very fast and strange, thanks to the help of the canopy of necromancy.

In this battle, Han Shuo didn't need to rely on the small skeleton, the earth elite zombie, the wood elite zombie, or his magical cultivation. He had gained an absolute advantage by using pure necromancy magic alone. With the exception of light archmages, no other mage of his level could match him. Even if the opponent was a light archmage, Han Shuo could still kill them easily because the little skeleton, the earth elite zombie, and the wood elite zombie were all immune to light magic.

Therefore, Han Shuo was invincible against mages of the same rank, even without using demonic magic!