CHAPTER 305: Hiding

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

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

Grand Duke Benedict of the Duchy of Narsen was in the prime of his life. He coveted the beauty of Helen Tina, so he joined forces with the Duchy of Helon against the invasion of the Duchies of Etman and Bonton to win the heart of the beauty.

Benedict wanted Helen for her beauty as well as her duchy. But Helen had always been lukewarm to his aggressive pursuit. This tickled his heart and made him even more eager to please her. Benedict often accepted Helen's invitation to personally lead the Duchy of Narsen's army in skirmishes.

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

On the cliff below her was Grand Duke Benedict of the Duchy of Narsen, dressed in clean, exquisite formal attire. He stood beside a luxurious carriage, a calm and confident smile on his face. His eyes watched the soldiers of the Etman and Bonton Duchies advance deep into the mountain.

Han Shuo arrived in the sky above the mountain valley. Looking down at the raging battle, he remembered that Troda's riches were buried here, and momentarily lost his mind.

This place was completely different from the mountain valley with the mithril mine. The mountain was formed purely from deposits of a type of very durable rock. The Earth's favourite, the Earth Elite Zombie, could move freely in the soft soil, but it couldn't move freely in this rocky mountain.

If the Metal Elite Zombie could be refined in the place of Extreme Metal, its ability to destroy stone and bore through mountains would allow it to enter easily. Unfortunately, the Metal Elite Zombie was currently inaccessible, as the location of Extreme Metal place was still unknown. Han Shuo could only watch helplessly as the great battle unfolded on the mountain while he thought of another way.

Han Shuo stood in the sky, his vision scanning the entire mountain valley. He frowned, wondering if he should take this opportunity to enter. Troda's wealth was hidden at the spot beneath the carriage that Benedict stood beside. Troda hadn't put all of his wealth in the space ring, probably because he was afraid that someone would murder him to get his ring.

Troda had also been quite a player. He'd had three mistresses and two sons in the Duchy of Helon. He'd already made arrangements for his most trusted mistress. As soon as she heard of his death, the wealth in his mountain would become the pillar of support for this mistress and his sons.

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

As Han Shuo watched the scene below, trying to think of a way, Helen Tina suddenly caught his eye. She frowned as a staff embedded with a huge flame stone suddenly appeared in her hand.

This staff had the ability to increase the effectiveness of fire magic. Helen lifted it and pointed it at Han Shuo. A blazing fire coalesced into five human-sized fireballs that flew straight towards him in the sky.

"Hateful woman!" Han Shuo cursed softly. The fingers on his left hand danced skilfully, shooting out rays of faint purple flame. The rays formed an icy net that tightly enveloped the five huge fireballs.

Sizzling sounds and faint smoke immediately appeared as the magical net, woven from the purple spellfire of the Mystical Glacial Spellfire, wrapped around the five fireballs. The cold air instantly extinguished the fire elements within the fireballs. The remnants of fire shimmered as they slowly dissipated, forcing Helen to pull on the hood of her magical robe.

"Who is it?" Helen Tina looked up, only to see a small black spot in the sunlight. Withdrawing her scornful attitude, she asked cautiously after seeing her fireballs easily destroyed.

Han Shuo ignored Helen Tina and snorted before flying towards the back of the mountain. He wanted to leave this troublesome area for the time being and think of other methods later. At the back of the mountain, he saw Helon soldiers dragging huge pieces of war equipment to the top. Han Shuo wanted to kill a soldier and disguised himself to enter the main battlefield.

Helen Tina panicked when she saw Han Shuo fly to the back without saying a word except for a snort. She looked down and shouted to Benedict, "You take care of things here. The magic cannons are being delivered to the back of the mountain, but a dangerous figure has appeared. I must go and see about it at once."

Helen Tina patted the fire phoenix without waiting for Benedict Sackville to answer. The super-ranked magical creature had bright, fiery red feathers that swayed and sashayed as the phoenix flapped its wings and flew up, carrying the bright red robed woman behind it like a cloud of blazing flame.

The magic cannons contained a strange kind of magic element. This element seemed to repel the space rings. The cannons couldn't be placed directly into the rings and could only be raised slowly by human power.

Helen Tina had long planned the strategy for this great battle, the killing blow being the bombardment of magic cannons from the high position of this mountain. She had been planning this for far too long, going to great lengths to lure two Grand Duchies to the same place. She would not allow anyone to ruin her plan. Therefore, she used all her strength to stop Han Shuo when she saw him flying to the back.

Han Shuo had yet to implement his plan when a red silhouette quickly flew by. In the sky, five huge, yet slender, vivid fire serpents twisted their seven metre long bodies before shooting at Han Shuo from five different directions.

The fire magic 'Fire Serpent Mad Dance' could only be cast by a fire mage who had risen to the rank of Archmage. The ring Helen Tina wore on her left hand increased mental strength. Add to this the staff embedded with the flaming stone, and she was able to release five fire serpents instead of the three that an ordinary archmage could summon.

The five fire serpents meandered in the sky, the extremely high temperature creating sizzling sounds in the air. The fire was so fierce that it seemed like it would only take a short time to burn Han Shuo to ashes.

Han Shuo was stunned. He had originally looked down on Helen Tina, thinking that she was just a woman with wild ambitions who only knew how to use intrigue and beauty to gain power. He had not expected her to have true 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. Under Han Shuo's manipulations, they were woven into a massive white bone shield. Endless darkness blotted out the blinding sunlight. The dark mist completely enveloped this space as the white bone shield materialised in front of Helen Tina.

The fiery red halo of the five fire serpents wasn't enough to illuminate the surroundings. As the sunlight was extinguished, the snakes lost their targets and instead turned to entangle the white bone shield, burning it to a crisp. Helen Tina suddenly couldn't feel a trace of Han Shuo's presence.

The dark mist disappeared as quickly as it had come, dissipating with a mere breeze. By the time the sunlight returned to scatter across the hill, Han Shuo had vanished from the air without a trace, leaving only the burnt bone shield cut off from its supply of magical energy. The shield shattered into small inky black pieces and scattered to the ground.

Pulling out a pair of snow-white gloves with silver embroidery, Helen Tina immediately caught a falling piece of bone. She was shocked at the pitch black piece in her hand, her eyes wary as she glanced around and muttered, "Turns out he's a damned necromancer. Who is this person?"

After muttering to herself for a while, Helen Tina still had no clue. She naturally thought that Han Shuo had taken advantage of the dark mist to escape. She turned to look at the soldiers busily pushing the cannons and ordered, "Hurry up, move all these cannons to the top of the mountain.

The bare-chested soldiers were hard at work, all shouting "Yes!" as they heard the order. They all glanced at the goddess of their hearts and felt themselves filled with an inexplicable energy, their strength suddenly surging.

On a huge rock, a soldier lightly rested his hands on the wagon containing the cannons. A trace of mockery flashed in his eyes as he gazed at Helen Tina in the sky, like a vicious beast lurking in the dark, watching its prey. He whispered with a chuckle, "Helon Duchy, Helen Tina. You have plundered Brettel City to fatten yourselves, now it's time for you to spill some blood."