CHAPTER 879: Burning Crystal Coins

As Gilbert shouted and ordered, he and the divine guards flushed the crystal coins down the toilet to replenish the energy crystals in the energy towers. He said to himself, "Damn it, each one of these is worth three thousand black crystal coins. How fucking extravagant!"

The House of Han used energy crystals of the highest concentration and purity. These energy crystals could provide a tremendous amount of power for the energy crystal cannons and the energy barrier.

Although the defenders had managed to kill more than a hundred of the invaders in a matter of minutes, the former had used up energy crystals worth at least a million Black Crystal Coins. For most small family clans, a million Black Crystal Coins was an astronomical amount of wealth. Their income, accumulated over a decade, might not even come close to that figure.

Gilbert had shouted and cursed, motivating the divine guards of the House of Han to continue replenishing the towers with fresh energy crystals. This would allow the energy towers to continue to glow, powering the barrier protecting Lasberg Fortress as well as the energy crystal cannons that had continued to bombard the invaders.

All of these Divine Guards of the House of Han had been thoroughly interviewed and interrogated before being accepted. They had all passed background checks and were unusually talented. Most of them possessed Midgod powers before they were recruited.

On the first day they joined the House of Han, they were given the best divine weapons and divine armour that black crystal coins could buy. They were then sent to the Eight Desolation and Torment Formation for a round of tempering. After emerging from the formation, they would be personally trained by Bollands and the others.

These trained and tempered divine guardians possessed steadfast minds and could remain calm under pressure, never dropping the ball at critical times. These people were much more efficient at replenishing the energy crystals and operating the energy crystal cannons than the average divine guard in the City of Shadows.

These Energy Crystal Cannons in Lasberg Fort not only had extreme firepower, but they also had a long range. Faced with the bombardment of the Energy Crystal Cannons, the divine guards of Hofs were thrown into chaos. Many more were hit and killed by the destructive beams.

Each blast from an Energy Crystal Cannon would destroy one happiness. Although there were only about thirty people in the fort to replenish the energy crystals in the energy towers, they had managed to keep the hundreds of invaders led by Hofs and Larikson from breaching the fort.

"Scatter! Damn it! Don't you idiots know that those energy crystal cannons have a long range?" Hofs couldn't help but curse as more of his divine guards died. He ordered them to scatter even more.

Larikson and his Highgods were all 'respectable' figures in the City of Gorging Clouds, and they wouldn't hide from the annihilating rays like Hofs and his followers. They considered themselves too 'respectable' and 'distinguished' to do so. This left them with the only option of using the divine energy in their bodies to resist the energy beams.

The situation had reached a temporary stalemate. One party had a lot of divine energy, while the other had tonnes of black crystal coins. But the former proved to be more resilient. The fierce attacks and strong defences meant that Fort Lasberg had to use up its energy crystals quickly. Even though they had amassed a large amount of energy crystals, they eventually ran out.

"Lord Gilbert, we are almost out of energy crystals. What should we do?" asked one of the divine guards, who was almost as irascible as Gilbert.

"What can we do but retreat? Don't tell me you want to charge them and throw your lives away?" replied Gilbert before shouting at everyone, "Brothers, it's time. Let's leave this place while there's still some energy left in the energy towers!

"Let's retreat to the Han Residence!" the divine guards said to each other. They filled the remaining energy crystals into the energy towers and quickly retreated to the Han Residence. It was smooth and perfect, as if they had practised it before.

With all the energy crystals stuffed into the energy towers, it seemed as if there was nothing of value left in the fortress. Gilbert and the divine guards disappeared in an instant.

Although they had left the energy towers, there was still energy left in the towers. The energy crystal cannons continued to fire destructive beams at the invaders.

During this time, Hofs lost another few dozen divine guards, while Larikson and his experts consumed a great deal of divine energy as they formed barriers to meet the destructive beams head-on instead of avoiding them.

Gradually, the energy in the energy towers was depleted and the energy crystal cannons stopped firing. The invaders listened carefully and discovered that Fort Lasberg was dead silent.

"Go inside. There's not a soul in there," Larikson told Hofs calmly after a moment of sensing.

Hofs had also noticed the abnormality in the fort. But this time he was much more careful. He randomly pointed at one of his followers and instructed: "Go inside and report the situation.

The divine guard was secretly reluctant, but did not show it. He nodded and flew towards Fort Lasberg. As he approached, he flew over the defensive wall and cautiously descended into the fort. When he noticed that the invisible barrier was gone, he shouted loudly, "The barrier has been drained of energy. The energy towers are not glowing and no one is here!"

"Move!" Hofs commanded his divine guards, knowing that the danger was temporarily gone.

The invaders turned into shadows and descended on Lasberg Fort. As soon as they landed, Hofs and Larikson looked around with gleaming eyes, as if searching for something of value.

After scanning the area, Hofs cursed, "What in the world?! There's nothing left! That damn House of Han couldn't leave a single crystal for us!

Larikson's face was dark as well, as he wasn't happy about having breached the fort. He groaned. "We have entered the fort. Now comes the easy part. Hehe, don't worry, Hofs. I'm sure the Han residence in the centre of the fort will have what you want!"

"Let's get on with it. I cannot wait any longer," Hofs coldly ordered his troops. "Go to the centre of the fort and destroy the Han residence!"

Meanwhile, in the Han residence at the centre of Fort Lasberg, a thick dark cloud came out of nowhere and hovered over the Han residence. The whole of Fort Lasberg saw a clear blue sky, but not the Han residence.

After the dark cloud covered the Han Residence, a cold wind began to blow while a fog slowly filled the Residence, obscuring it from outsiders.

"Bollands, Sanguis, have the demonic formations been activated?" asked Phoebe with a serious face. The Han family had gathered in a large meeting room on the top floor of the largest building in the Han residence.

"Yes, we just checked. They have all been activated," Sanguis said after nodding. His red eyes suddenly turned away and he took a deep breath. "Gilbert has returned. They should have completed their mission. It seems that Hofs and his troops will be here soon!"

"Mr Stratholme, are there any civilians left in the fort?" Emily asked Stratholme next to her, his eyebrows furrowed.

Stratholme replied with a smile, "They left long ago. There is no one left in the fort except the members of our family clan. I hope Wallace doesn't hurt these civilians."

"They will spread the truth to the public. Wallace will soon be condemned by everyone," Ayermike interrupted. "I finally understand why the City of Shadows is only one place above Hushveil City. Hofs can't hold his temper, and Wallace can't stand having a rival. They may be exceptionally strong, but they won't get anywhere with that attitude!

"Who cares about Wallace? As long as we survive this, we will leave the City of Shadows and look for Bryan. I'm sure Bryan can lead our House of Han into a bright future!" said Stratholme with a relaxed smile. "Although I do not know Bryan that well, I do know that he has unlimited potential. In the near future, our House of Han will surely become stronger than the House of Sainte. Then we can come back here for revenge!"

Stratholme had still underestimated Han Shuo's abilities. By now, Han Shuo did not even need to take action himself. The forces under Han Hao's command alone would have easily crushed the House of Sainte.

"I am back. Huhu, we burned so many energy crystals. How my heart aches," Gilbert returned at that moment with a look of anguish, as if something tragic had happened.

"It's all right. As long as we get the results we want, we are not afraid to use up a few crystal coins."

Emily smiled faintly and asked, "So how did it go, Dark Dragon?"

"We shot down more than two hundred of their divine guards," Gilbert reported with a sinister smile. "Many of the living are wounded. Even Larikson and his gang must have used up a lot of divine energy!"

"Hahaha, brilliant work, Dark Dragon!" said Sanguis. His eyes glowed red as he claimed, "But I'm going to score even higher! Just wait and watch me slaughter the shit out of them!"