Tiana had made her decision and retreated without hesitation.
As Han Shuo and company fought their epic battle right in the capital of the Kasi Empire, the crowds around the auction site had all been evacuated. However, a short distance away, the streets were still filled with all sorts of stalls. As Kelly transformed into a giant ape, his gigantic body was clearly visible to the peddlers and merchants in the area. When Tiana's five water dragons appeared, their overwhelming display of power frightened the people to the core and created such a riot in the centre of the city that they caused an even greater panic.
The armies of the Kasi Empire, stationed closest to the scene, immediately mobilised and rushed to the city centre. As Tiana retreated, she saw a regiment of fully armoured knights hurrying towards her.
The Ice Shrine held a very special place in the Kasi Empire, for it was known throughout the land how highly they were regarded by His Majesty the King. Seeing Tiana's quick retreat to join the knight regiment, Han Shuo immediately halted his pursuit.
After Snow Celestial Tiana's soul had fused with the Water Origin Crystal, her strength had increased dramatically. Now that Tiana had placed herself within a large regiment of knights, it was far less likely that he would be able to kill her.
Her strength was not much different from Han Shuo's to begin with. As long as Han Shuo couldn't suddenly get close to her, he certainly couldn't do any real damage to her.
At that moment, because the Ice Shrine was retreating in a hurry, Snow Celestial Tiana and Ice Celestial Corey's groups were fleeing in two opposite directions, leaving a large distance between them. Not far away, Ice Celestial Corey and a group of Shrine of Ice disciples were retreating towards the magical transportation in the centre of Ciro City.
Kelly, still in ape form, was in hot pursuit of Ice Celestial Corey. Corey, however, was a cunning one. He was constantly weaving in and out of the frantically fleeing merchants and peddlers. Since Kelly was a firm believer in the teachings of the Druidic Order, he could not bear to drag innocent people into this conflict and did not strike, even though he had plenty of opportunities to do so.
At this rate, neither Han Shuo nor Kelly would be able to succeed. Han Shuo paused for a moment in mid-air, made a quick decision and turned around. Ignoring Tiana who was hiding in the middle of a regiment of knights, he went after the skilfully escaping Ice Celestial Corey.
As long as Tiana did not arrive in time, Han Shuo and Kelly would join forces against Corey, who would not be able to hold out for long due to his injuries.
Kelly, who could not bear to harm the innocent, was letting the golden opportunity slip away right before his eyes. But of course, Han Shuo would not be so soft-hearted. As soon as he got close to Ice Celestial Corey, he would not care who else was around and strike with deadly force!
Tiana gasped as she caught her breath, holding her magical staff as she floated in the air, her eyes fixed on Han Shuo, preparing to deal with any attack he might send her way.
In the midst of the regiment of knights, Tiana felt much safer. As long as she could keep her distance from Han Shuo, she was sure that her magic would be able to deal with him. After merging her soul with the Water Origin Crystal, she had discovered that the use of water elemental magic was as easy as breathing.
With the exception of some very deadly and very exhausting water elemental magic, Tiana did not even need an incantation for most mid-range spells. All she needed was a thought and voila, the magic was cast.
This was how she had cast the layers of ice walls earlier when she had been running, without any incantations. She had slowed Han Shuo down slightly from his great speed. With the leap in her power, she also felt more confident.
However, just as she had focused all her attention on Han Shuo, preparing herself for anything, she suddenly realised that Han Shuo was retreating at lightning speed. For a moment, she froze, thinking that Han Shuo was playing some kind of cunning trick on her. It wasn't until Han Shuo got closer and closer to Ice Celestial Corey that she realised. Tiana realised that Han Shuo had decided to concentrate his powers and get rid of Ice Celestial Corey first.
"This is bad!" Tiana exclaimed, then quickly instructed, "Charge forward, all out! Kill this devil from our enemy land at all costs!"
"Yes!" came the thunderous reply, and at her command the regiment of knights immediately charged at the giant ape.
Tiana led the way, her figure resembling a strip of white ribbon as she followed Han Shuo's flight path regardless of the odds.
"Let's join forces and kill Corey first!" Han Shuo's voice rang out next to Kelly, who had been closely following Ice Celestial Corey the whole time without striking a blow.
"No, there are too many innocent people around him, we can't hit him here!" Kelly quickly stopped Han Shuo after recovering from his momentary shock when he saw Han Shuo approaching.
Han Shuo cursed inwardly, thinking to himself that this Kelly really was pedantic. No wonder he had lost so spectacularly the last time in the Kasi Empire - with the way he was going about it, it would be beyond difficult to eliminate the enemy!
Han Shuo, mentally cursing the pedantic Kelly, would not be so concerned about whether or not his actions would harm the innocent civilians. Besides, those "innocents" weren't people of his Brettel City, which was less of a reason to care so much. Before he even approached Ice Celestial Corey, Han Shuo had already cast a Bloody Radiance of Ten Thousand Cuts.
Ice Celestial Corey immediately knew that things were bad when he heard Han Shuo's voice. He knew that Han Shuo was a completely different type from Kelly. Therefore, the moment he heard Han Shuo's voice, he no longer dared to hide in the crowd and flew out with a great leap.
Under Han Shuo's manipulation, the Bloody Radiance of Ten Thousand Cuts followed Ice Celestial Corey in close pursuit. If it hadn't been for Corey's immediate appearance, he and the merchants around him would have all died in that attack.
"I knew it, that murderer!" Ice Celestial Corey was faced with a huge headache. Han Shuo, a man with few scruples, was obviously much harder to deal with compared to Kelly. Ice Celestial Corey was injured to begin with. Having received further injuries from Han Shuo's attack just before, and without Tiana around to help him, Corey was sure to lose if he was pitted against either Han Shuo or Kelly alone. Now, with the two of them teaming up against him, he had even less of a chance.
"Clang!" As he fled, Ice Celestial Corey had no choice but to make a defensive sword strike. A swarm of icicles rained down from the sky, and Han Shuo's Bloody Radiance of Ten Thousand Cuts was shattered by a single strike from Ice Celestial Corey.
Han Shuo gave a slight gasp of surprise as he continued in close pursuit, feeling rather puzzled.
It turned out that when Ice Celestial Corey had intercepted Han Shuo's Bloody Radiance of Ten Thousand Cuts, he had deliberately used a bit more energy to wipe out Han Shuo's intense attack power so as not to hurt the merchants and peddlers below.
Coupled with Corey's sudden flight from the crowd, Han Shuo suddenly realised that Ice Celestial Corey was not without redeeming qualities. Although he was cold and ruthless in his dealings with his enemies and the Dark Dragon race, he was still very protective of his own people. He was not, as Han Shuo had thought, without a care for the people of the Kasi Empire.
When Kelly had pursued him earlier, he had hidden among the civilians because he had a good understanding of Kelly's mindset and knew that Kelly would never harm the commoners. So he openly used Kelly's weakness to help himself escape unharmed.
So you do have some humanity after all, Han Shuo thought mockingly, but he did not slow down. By this time, Ice Celestial Corey was already quite close. He chanted an incantation and rows of bone spears rushed towards Ice Celestial Corey.
Having been delayed by the Bloody Radiance of Ten Thousand Slices, Ice Celestial Corey was already well within Han Shuo's attack range. It was during this window of opportunity that Kelly in his giant ape form finally caught up with Han Shuo, having very carefully avoided trampling any of the civilians.
""Don't give him time to do anything!" Han Shuo shouted immediately after sending out the bone spears.
Most people with demigod strength would surely have some way to save their own necks, at least a space ripping scroll. This was something Han Shuo had learned from his valuable experience after many years of battle.
Therefore, the moment he saw that his side held an overwhelming superiority, Han Shuo was certain that Ice Celestial Corey would take some desperate measures. At this point, there was no way that Corey could be allowed to escape, otherwise all of his efforts would have been in vain.
Therefore, Han Shuo immediately shouted a reminder to Kelly, otherwise Kelly would never have thought of it. After all, the Druidic Order was not one that preached ruthless extermination. As the leader of the Druidic Order, Kelly did not have the ruthlessness and mercilessness of Han Shuo.
But with Han Shuo's scream, Kelly immediately came to his senses. Suddenly, memories flashed through his mind. He recalled scenes of the Druidic Order's followers being brutally murdered by the Ice Shrine in the Kasi Empire many years ago.
Remembering how heartless and cruel Corey had been to his enemies, Kelly knew that if Corey did not die that day, his Druidic Order would surely pay a heavy price.
Kelly took a huge step. "ROAR..." He had blocked Corey's only escape route. Han Shuo did not know what Kelly had actually done, for along with his sky-shaking howl, layer upon layer of waves visibly undulated in the sky. All the elements between heaven and earth were in a state of disorder, the sky seemed to have collapsed.
Ice Celestial Corey felt the changes in the sky after Kelly's howl and immediately understood that his space scroll would be useless. When he saw Kelly blocking the way behind him and Han Shuo ruthlessly charging at him from the front, his face turned ashen. Corey knew that he had finally reached the end of his life.
Suddenly, Kelly turned pale with fear and cried out in alarm, "Oh no!"
Han Shuo, who had already rushed in front of Corey, heard the cry and saw the giant Kelly retreating quickly. Instinctively understanding something, he slammed on the brakes and came to a sudden stop.
A brilliant light mixed with terrifying energy erupted from Ice Celestial Corey, causing the fluctuation of an annihilating energy wave with a radius of ten metres. A rupture in space-time left a pattern like the grooves on a tortoise shell. As Ice Celestial Corey met its destruction, everything in that space was instantly sucked into a vacuum.
Under the deadly, relentless pursuit of Han Shuo and Kelly, Ice Celestial Corey was forced to end his own life!
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