Although Yoland was about to attack Emily, his heart suddenly spasmed when he heard Han Shuo reveal his most closely guarded secret. Just as he was about to turn around and run back into the room to destroy the blueprint, several bolts whizzed past him with a whooshing sound. Emily waved the staff in her hand and a sharp reaper's blade sliced through Yoland's body with a deadly glint.
"Stop him! Don't let him take the blueprint!" Yoland's voice was shrill. He hurriedly raised his broadsword to block the Reaper's blade.
The assassins of the Angel Empire were about to break through the encirclement, but abandoned the idea when they heard Yoland's cry. They quickly turned back, one by one, and charged directly at Han Shuo.
Unfortunately, their power was far inferior to Han Shuo's. The difference in speed was like heaven and earth. Han Shuo used the Demonic Ninth Heaven Art and flew into the room like lightning. The assassins only caught up with him after he had pulled the blueprint out of a hollow corner on the wall.
"Die!" Han Shuo shouted coldly before landing with the Demonslayer Edge. He ran towards the furiously sprinting Angel Empire assassins.
As Han Shuo unleashed the Mystical Glacial Spellfire, the Demonslayer Edge exploded with brilliant purple-red light. The light sparked off the tip of the blade like a rainbow, quickly forming one willowy flame after another. The beautiful light of the flashing purple-red flames danced across the blade of the Demonslayer Edge. They gathered into twisting threads of fire that intertwined, creating two magical webs of flame - one purple, one red.
The frenzied Angel Empire assassins had only one obsession in their hearts, to destroy Han Shuo. Facing the two blazing hot and icy cold magic nets, they all unleashed their strongest level of combat aura and tried to tear the nets apart.
However, at his current strength, Han Shuo had firmly grasped a whole new level of Mystical Glacial Spellfire. The two magical nets twisted and swayed in the air like two fishing nets thrown into the sea. The light from the swords just landed in empty holes, unable to penetrate the beautiful flames.
"Not good! Retreat!" The distant Yoland, who'd desperately dodged the reaper's blade, also rushed towards Han Shuo. When he saw that his subordinates' swords couldn't cut through the magical nets, he immediately understood that these nets of unknown material couldn't be cut by the sword alone. Therefore, he couldn't help but shout a reminder to his subordinates.
However, the two strangely swaying magical nets in the air actually possessed an extremely high speed. The nets didn't wait for the assassins to react before spreading out and enveloping the entire group.
As the red net fell, its flaming threads touched three assassins like red-hot iron. A thick smoke billowed out as their skin and flesh was burned to a crisp. Each of them was paralysed and fell to the ground to their own tragic screams. The purple web enveloped the remaining four assassins. Their limbs instantly stiffened and their bodies shivered as if trapped in a block of ice. The cold air maintained their previous dodging or attacking postures.
"I will end my life with yours!" Yoland had finally reached Han Shuo. Seeing his brothers wrapped in the nets, each one either burnt to ashes or frozen like ice, he roared and raised his sword, charging at Han Shuo with no regard for his life.
"Hehehe! I'm afraid you won't have that chance!" Han Shuo released the Demonslayer Edge with an indifferent smile on his face and charged at Yoland.
Yoland's expression turned hideous as he raised his broadsword to meet Han Shuo's attack. Yoland continued to laugh maniacally as he saw Han Shuo quickly approaching. He was about to disregard everything and risk his life to fight Han Shuo when a pair of arms suddenly appeared from the ground where he was standing and grabbed his ankles tightly.
"Shoot him!" Han Shuo had been charging towards Yoland when he suddenly screeched to a halt in mid-air. He shouted to the dozen Northern Guard soldiers approaching in the distance with bows.
Yoland couldn't move his feet. He stared dumbly at Han Shuo floating in the air. He was only about five metres away, directly in front of him, but Yoland had no way to move. As Yoland slashed down on the pair of large arms with his sword, the arms holding his legs retreated back into the ground. Both of his feet suddenly felt a soul-shattering pain as two bone spikes shot out of the ground, piercing deeply from his feet to his knees.
As he screamed like a pig being slaughtered, several arrows quickly shot towards Yoland, whistling through the air until they pierced his body. Before he died, his killing intent, filled with resentment, transformed into an air barely visible to the naked eye and was absorbed by Han Shuo.
There were no survivors left from the twenty or so assassins of the Angel Empire, including Yoland. None of their resentful killing intent had escaped Han Shuo's absorption, allowing his demonic magic to become more and more perfect. The feeling of breaking through was growing stronger.
Han Shuo walked over to the four frozen assassins and shot four pitch black lights into their bodies. Four cracking sounds echoed as the originally frozen, stiff assassins fell limply to the ground. Han Shuo turned to speak to the leader of the Northern Guard army, "These four aren't dead yet. Guard them closely and don't let them commit suicide. That will also be our answer to His Majesty."
"Rest assured, Master Bryan, we know what to do!" The leader readily agreed and ordered the soldiers behind him, "Men, tie up these four assassins and gag them. Don't give them the chance to bite their tongues and kill themselves!
Following their leader's orders, the dozen soldiers quickly stepped forward and pulled out special binding tools from the bags they always carried. From their practiced actions and abundant equipment, Han Shuo could immediately confirm that these four assassins would find it even harder to seek death.
If they were taken to the Northern Guard prison, they would be anaesthetised and their spirits would be drained. They would be too weak to even bite their tongues. It might even be possible to torture something out of them.
Han Shuo no longer paid attention to these four. He walked over to Emily, took out the blueprint, and handed it to her, saying, "Take this. This mission can now be considered completed. I will give you the blueprint so that you can give it to the Northern Guard. Since you have the blueprint that the Northern Guard has been desperately searching for, you can now report to His Majesty!"
Emily obviously didn't want to stand on ceremony with Han Shuo. Since she couldn't reveal her identity, she said nothing to him and just nodded before turning around. She walked quickly to Chester's carriage and got in. They drove off together and quickly disappeared from sight.
"Master Bryan, it's only thanks to you that we were able to successfully capture the assassins of the Angel Empire and recover the blueprint they had hidden this time. If Count Boris can say a few good words in front of His Majesty, this deed is enough to grant you a title." Lightning Archmage Killua walked over to Han Shuo and offered his heartfelt congratulations. He seemed even more excited than Han Shuo.
"Hehe, it's all thanks to you. I wouldn't have been able to catch them all by myself without everyone's combined efforts. Mm, you all get back to work. I still have to take care of something, I'll have to leave for a moment!" Han Shuo looked at Killua and said with a smile.
"Alright then, Master Bryan, please go first. We can take care of the aftermath!" Killua replied respectfully.
Nodding his head, Han Shuo didn't linger. He chose another direction and quickly disappeared from sight into a dirty, chaotic slum on the western edge of the city.
.....
As night fell and everyone rested, Han Shuo silently appeared at the Boozt Merchant Guild. He followed the familiar path to Phoebe's room.
"No need to think any more. I think Bryan will definitely win. Our crisis might even be over with this game. Let's take all our active funds and fight it out with Cameron and his group!" Phoebe stood in the middle of the living room and expressed her decision in a competent and wise manner.
"Little Phoebe, this needs to be reconsidered. I know about the relationship between you and Bryan. His strength is good, but Leah Cain has been famous for too long and is also very powerful. Everyone agrees that he has a better chance of winning. This is not a trivial bet. If we lose, I'm afraid our Boozt Merchant Guild will go down with it! Andrew, the veteran elder of the Boozt Guild, leaned on his walking stick and spoke with some trepidation.
Andrew was one of the original Elders of the Boozt Merchant's Guild. Before Phoebe had taken over, he had cared for her wholeheartedly, so she was very concerned about his views. However, Phoebe had gained majority control of the guild after becoming its owner. During that time, the Guild had indeed made great strides under her leadership. Andrew was satisfied, because he understood that Phoebe wasn't one to work based on her emotions. He might not have been so worried if Leah Cain hadn't been so famous.
"Rest assured, Grandpa Andrew, Bryan's strength is far more formidable than you can imagine. Besides, Cameron has already forced us into this situation. The merchant's Alliance he leads is oppressing us and it's difficult for us to do anything now. Even without this game, they'll keep squeezing us until we're exhausted. If we can win this time, we can turn the situation around. The merchant guilds working with Cameron won't lose face if he suffers heavy losses. Only if we have a huge amount of gold coins can we really control the situation. Phoebe calmly explained her analysis to Andrew.
"Aii, since you said so, let's do it that way. I hope Bryan doesn't disappoint us, otherwise our Boozt Merchant Guild is finished!" Andrew thought for a while before nodding in agreement with Phoebe's suggestion. This showed how much of a crisis the guild was in. Otherwise they wouldn't have chosen such a gamble to save the situation.