Within the space of a few months, one of Bob Ascher's two sons had mysteriously disappeared and the other had been killed on the street. It was just too much of a shock for him, especially as Clark was the son he'd cherished more and had the most hope in. To have him killed by others in Valen City drove him completely insane.
That night in Valen City was destined to be a time of chaos. The entire Gryphon Legion had been summoned and were conducting a sweep of all suspicious persons. Due to the explosive rage of their leader, all the common soldiers within the Legion were in an equally bad mood. Any unfamiliar faces or merchants were viciously beaten if they showed the slightest sign of non-cooperation.
Metal hooves galloped through the streets as citizens, sound asleep in the middle of the night, were rudely awakened. Even the symbol of the Gryphon Legion, a troop of gryphons, soared through the night skies of Valen City on patrol. Everyone felt as if they were facing a great enemy, and everyone thought that the Kasi Empire had invaded in the night.
The griffins in the sky were black dots as their strange cries echoed through the eardrums of the people. They flew from the west side of the city to the south. Then they flew from the south to the north. They would land and search with the soldiers on the ground whenever they saw something out of the ordinary.
"So these are griffins. They're really big." Han Shuo stood behind a large tree near Bob Ascher's slave trading house and muttered to himself as he inspected the griffins.
"That's right, the gryphons are a very fierce flying species. A single gryphon alone can tear ordinary magical creatures to pieces. The king holds old Bob in such high esteem that he doesn't dare make a move, even though he knows that the gryphon legion is one of the main reasons he wants to rebel." Emily huffed slightly and shivered a little as she spoke.
The water that had pooled in the streets had already frozen into thick sheets of ice on this cold winter's night. Icicles sprouted from the edges of the rooftops, glittering with cold as the bitter wind howled over them. As a mage, it made sense that Emily would feel cold.
Taking a deep breath, Han Shuo's right hand clasped Emily's smooth little hand as he circulated his Magical Yuan. Han Shuo's right hand was like a small furnace as he brought warmth to Emily.
"You are a necromancer and also have an unusual martial arts technique, but why can you also use fire magic and use it so skilfully? It's as if you can adjust the temperature to your liking. How do you do that?" Emily's charming eyes sparkled as she fixed them on Han Shuo, pouting as she admonished him.
"This is actually one of the techniques I train in, you don't have to be so surprised." Han Shuo shrugged and replied honestly to Emily.
It was a pity that Emily obviously had no use for Han Shuo's explanations. But she didn't ask any more questions, just said with a smile, "All right, all right. I'll find out all your secrets one day. Your mysteriousness is like poison to me. The more I want to know about you, the more mysterious I find you."
"Hehehe, don't be so boyish. Let's go, let's go." Han Shuo held out his hand with a smile and patted Emily's round bottom, urging her to move on.
The two hadn't brought Chester with them this time. As they approached the slave trading house where Lisa had been auctioned off the last time, Han Shuo unleashed a dark fog magic that surrounded the building, shrouding it in darkness.
"Hehehe, your understanding of necromancy magic isn't bad at all now." Emily chuckled softly. She cast the Archmage's levitation spell and her body slowly flew through the air, landing on top of the five metre high wall. She opened her mouth again, "I tangled the rope inside so you can use it to climb over."
"Why bother?" Han Shuo smiled and suddenly jumped up, his speed much faster than Emily's levitation spell as he suddenly found his footing next to Emily.
Emily's body stiffened as she looked at Han Shuo as if she'd seen a ghost in broad daylight. A strange light danced in her beautiful eyes as she threw herself into Han Shuo's arms and used all the strength in her body to pound Han Shuo's chest. She screamed at him, seemingly angry and happy. "You villain! You reached the realm of the Archmage a long time ago, yet you continued to lie to me. I'll beat you to death! You fool, fool!"
Han Shuo heard some noises coming from the distance and didn't dare stay at a high vantage point for fear of attracting attention. Suddenly, he grabbed Emily and flew down, hiding in a corner of the slave trading house, then clasped her small hand and explained with a wry smile, "I didn't lie to you, this is a method similar to the levitation spell and is one of the techniques I train in. It has nothing to do with magic. Think carefully, did you feel any magical impulses from me earlier?"
Emily started after hearing Han Shuo's words, her long eyebrows fluttering in confusion. She then looked at Han Shuo in shock and asked incredulously, "What kind of martial arts technique are you training? As far as I know, even the strongest swordsman or paladin can only use their combat aura to fly for a short time. That technique wasn't flying at all, so how could you do it?"
"I've already told you that the technique I'm training is quite unbelievable, and I'm not at liberty to discuss that much with you." Han Shuo really couldn't explain much about demonic magic, so he could only say so much to Emily.
"Alright, alright. I knew I wouldn't get much out of you anyway. Let's go. Let's see if we can get something useful from the slave trading house while it's still a chaotic mess in Valen City." Emily pouted and rolled her eyes at Han Shuo and dragged him towards the actual Trade House, which she was now familiar with.
Emily must have scouted the Trade House thoroughly beforehand. She was very familiar with the buildings and floated through the air all the way, not making a sound. A thin, dark magic cloak surrounded her, completely obscuring her movements.
Han Shuo was quite familiar with such covert operations. Not only did he not make a single sound, but he also used his extraordinary senses to constantly point out the way to Emily, helping the two of them evade many patrolling guards along the way.
After a short time, the two had made their way past two large auction buildings and were heading towards the three houses at the back.
"This trading house usually has part of the Gryphon Legion stationed here. It will be very difficult for us to escape if they find our tracks. Today, however, the soldiers inside would have been deployed due to Clark's death and will be searching the entire city of Valen. This is perfect timing for us. Emily explained to Han Shuo as they walked.
Han Shuo became quite serious as soon as they started talking business. He listened to Emily as he silently observed the surroundings. Suddenly, a very strange smell wafted into his nostrils. The smell of blood was mixed with the scent. Han Shuo found it slightly pungent as he slowly inhaled the scent.
He wrinkled his nose, reached out a hand and grabbed Emily, saying softly, "There's the smell of blood here, something's wrong."
"I don't smell it." Emily took a deep breath and said in surprise. Then she thought for a while and seemed to remember Han Shuo's wonders, "See if you can find the source of the blood smell."
Nodding, Han Shuo said softly, "Follow me."
Grabbing Emily's small hand, Han Shuo followed his nose in search of the source of the blood smell. He passed two houses and came to the edge of a pond. Next to it was a man-made mountain with several deep and slightly creepy caves. Han Shuo's ears proved their worth as he walked into one of the caves with Emily.
Suddenly there was a creaking sound as the originally solid stone wall suddenly cracked as a guard rushed out from inside, covered in blood and wearing a frightened expression. After taking a few steps, a bone spear appeared out of nowhere and ran through the guard from behind. Two zombie warriors then came out and dragged the guard's body inside.
Han Shuo and Emily got a good look at the scene that had just taken place. Han Shuo was taken aback and then said, "Perhaps the necromancer I saw today is in this cave.
"That's very likely, but the owner of the slave trading house is Bob Ascher, and the necromancer is one of Clark's killers, so what would he be doing here?" Emily was still a bit perplexed as she talked quietly with Han Shuo.
"The most dangerous place is also the safest. There's an enemy behind every bush and tree now. The Trading house is Bob Ascher's place of business, and the one that sent out the most soldiers. Who would have thought that the Necromancer would show up here? The fact that a soldier has just been killed is enough to prove that this Necromancer isn't a guest either. That means it's very likely that he wants to hide here." Han Shuo pondered and then spoke slowly.
"Mm, you make a lot of sense. Shall we go and see what's going on?" Emily complimented and then asked Han Shuo's opinion.
"Of course, I'm also quite curious about this Necromancer. If I were to face him alone, I would probably only be able to run the other way, but with you by my side, we have nothing to fear." Han Shuo said and then paused to listen to the commotion inside. After a while he spoke again, "Alright, the zombie warrior's footsteps have gone into the distance. We can go inside and have a look."