In addition to the Grand fire Magus Marceau, the group included a thief, a priest, two mages, and three swordsmen. These adventurers weren't weak. Their average age was around forty, and they were all experienced fighters.
Marceau seemed to be the leader of these adventurers. As such, they immediately readied their weapons to attack Han Shuo as soon as her words rang out.
The two mages below them were a Lightning Adept Mage and a Water Archmage. They were the first to make a move. The opening salvo was several crackling balls of lightning and thunder, their electric sparks bursting out to smash into Han Shuo. The Water Archmage waved his magic staff to release several sharp, cold, shining icicles that flew violently at Han Shuo from below.
The priest chanted a spell of magical restoration and a silver halo enveloped Marceau's body. Her mental strength that had been depleted before, but the effect of the silver halo restored it. Shimmering circles of light sparkled on her old, wrinkled face.
One of the two senior swordsmen immediately stepped over to protect Marceau. Two huge iron shields were erected at the front. The cunning thief slipped through the dense forest like a raccoon, setting traps and getting ready.
Han Shuo was still heading straight for Marceau. He had already taken note of the group's appearance and their different powers thanks to the two Yin Demons. As he flew, he pulled out the bone staff and spread a thick mass of dark mist around him. Han Shuo disappeared into the thick smoke.
The lightning balls and icicles all collided into the thick black fog. However, since Han Shuo's body had suddenly disappeared, these attacks could no longer find their target. Instead, they turned to collide with each other, causing huge explosions.
As the lightning balls and icicles dissipated into nothingness, the thick black fog gradually spread out as well. The adventurers led by Marceau had also finished their preparations and were staring at the centre of the fog. The three swordsmen had temporarily transformed into three archers as they raised their bows, just waiting for Han Shuo to show himself.
However, there was no trace of Han Shuo in the clear blue sky as the thick black fog dissipated. He had vanished without a sound or a shadow. The adventurers who were ready to attack him head on could only stare at the sky in confusion.
Rumbling...
Without warning, mounds of dirt suddenly rose from the ground. The adventurers who had been watching the sky were taken aback by the movements below. Grand Magus Marceau and the Water Archmage were the first to fly up.
The three swordsmen reacted quickly. They grabbed the iron shields to block the earth from attacking the lightning mage and the priest. The attacks threw the swordsmen into the air, but most of the impact was softened by the shields. The swordsmen were used as flesh shields in fights, so they didn't get hurt much.
The thief had extraordinary senses. Leaping on his toes like a monkey swinging on trees, he used prearranged silver silk threads to swing to a towering tree, dodging all the attacks from the hills.
He landed on a large tree before cutting a rope with his dagger. A sharp trunk suddenly flew straight at Han Shuo who was hiding behind a tree.
Seeing what the thief had done, the rest of the adventurers immediately turned their attacks towards the tree. In the blink of an eye, dozens of attacks rained down in all directions. Han Shuo, who had originally thought that they wouldn't be able to find him, could only clumsily jump out from behind the tree.
As he defended himself from the various attacks, an ice arrow pierced his thigh, and a lightning ball exploded, hitting him with its flying sparks. Han Shuo's entire body went numb, his newly grown hair standing erect.
"Kill him, he's been hit!" The thief shouted loudly.
The priest chanted a long incantation, and three dizzying rays of light shone down on the three swordsmen. Now that the spells of 'Strengthen Armour', 'God's Blessing', and 'Brute Strength' had been cast, the light swirled around their chests in glorious fashion as they lunged wildly at Han Shuo.
What a terrifying combination of adventurers! Han Shuo's heart jumped with fear for a moment before he quickly retreated into the forest. His speed was very fast as he quickly left the three reinforced swordsmen in the dust, waiting for an opportunity to make a move.
This team of adventurers obviously had practical battle experience. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible for them to coordinate so tacitly. They had great trust in each other, and when the priest, the mages, the swordsmen and the thief joined forces, they created a tremendous offensive force. Han Shuo had initially thought that he could easily deal with them, but now his head was aching with the puzzle of how to deal with them.
The power of the three swordsmen had been increased by one level thanks to the priest's magic, but Han Shuo was confident that even if he faced all three of them at the same time, he would be able to kill them cleanly in a matter of minutes. However, the mages staring at him as if they were looking at prey would certainly not let him succeed. The priest was hard at work casting magic on the three swordsmen, constantly feeding them with energy. This was not something Han Shuo could stand up to.
Han Shuo pondered as he stayed hidden before he finally realised that this team didn't have a light mage. He immediately seized the opportunity to secretly summon a large number of dark creatures while simultaneously casting the Canopy of Necromancy. When the wood elite zombie appeared, he hid behind a large tree where the thief was standing, and used his control over plants to command the tree to wrap itself around the thief as Han Shuo commanded. The soft branches turned into deadly weapons, piercing the thief's body in an instant.
"Cadi!"
The adventurers formed a tight defensive formation. As the branches pierced the thief, the priest let out a high-pitched scream in agony. The woman, about thirty years old, seemed to be the thief's wife. His death was a great blow to her.
"There's a druid here, be careful!" Marceau shouted in a hurry.
The three swordsmen on the ground immediately swung their broadswords to clear away all the plants around them. As for the priest, despite the anger in her heart, she still looked around cautiously. Not finding her target, she stepped into Marceau's shield. She began to curse madly with grief, casting spell after spell to find out where the enemy was.
"So, so many people!" Probing with her magic, the priest sensed the sudden presence of many people in all directions. This woke her from the blindness of her rage, she muttered as she looked around.
"How many? How many people?" Marceau asked urgently, with great concern.
"Many, too many!" The priest replied. She looked at the thief's body and pleaded with Marceau: "Take his body first, hurry!
"Take Cadi's body, get out of here! Damn it, now that I think about it, he's a necromancer too!" Marceau shouted loudly. Risking their lives, the three swordsmen rushed towards the thief's body.
But it was too late. Accompanied by rustling sounds from the dense forest, a large horde of undead creatures slowly appeared. Among them was an evil knight on a fire-spitting skeletal warhorse, his two-metre-long bone lance raised high, his ice-cold, emotionless eyes fixed on the three swordsmen.
Behind the Evil Knight's were ten huge hate warriors with rotting bodies, each holding either a large mace or a long spiked staff. Under the influence of the Deadly Aura, they slowly swarmed towards the team of adventurers standing in the middle of the scene.
The hearts of Marceau's group grew heavier as the undead creatures appeared. When a swordsman brought back the body of the thief, Marceau immediately ordered, "I'll open a path. Leave this place now."
Six fire serpents flew up, their raging flames creating a scorching high temperature. This was something extremely terrifying, and it also disturbed the undead creatures. The high temperature would burn their cold bodies uncontrollably, and the fiery red flames would sweep away the thick stench of death. Their souls would then fall into an endless abyss.
Therefore, the undead instinctively retreated when the six fire serpents flew out to hinder the two hate warriors, not wanting to suffer the agony of the flames. The two hate warriors only approached after Han Shuo gave them another order. As for the evil knight of a higher rank, he moved resolutely towards the flames to attack the adventurers.
Undead creatures are born with a fear of fire. But the higher their level, the less they feared the flames. The hate warriors could barely hold on, but the evil knight wasn't afraid at all. He charged forward at Han Shuo's command.
A blast of flame came from not too far away. The few low-ranked creatures such as the skeleton and zombie warriors were instantly charred to ashes. Even the hate warriors were retreating, not daring to come near the flames.
The big-headed Fire Elite Zombie was in the light of the flames. He hadn't been able to control the flames on his body yet, so he had accidentally burned his own kind. Still, he obeyed Han Shuo's command as if it were an imperial edict and opened his mouth wide to swallow the fire snakes that Marceau had released, not allowing them to use the flames to escape from the undead creatures.