Sanguis, Bollands and Gilbert were currently the strongest in Celestial Pearl after Han Shuo. Of the three, Bollands had worked in the Third Corp and was therefore the most experienced. Although Sanguis was the strongest of the three, he lacked real life experience and needed to be tempered further. Gilbert and Han Shuo could communicate via telepathy, which could be useful in certain situations.
Han Shuo decided that instead of bringing a ton of people for the mission, he would just take the very best few with him.
Han Shuo had delegated all other tasks to his family clan members. He believed that the Celestial Pearl would be fine in his absence and that they would soon move into the former Laver Residence.
Fort Lasberg was located near the edge of the City's influence, quite close to Hushveil City and Darksoul City. Heading north from Fort Lasberg, after crossing vast oceans and vast mountain ranges, one would find oneself in the Dominion of Destruction.
Of the many forts under the city's influence, Fort Lasberg was the largest and had some of the richest natural resources in the area. Aside from being a bit far from the city, Han Shuo couldn't find anything wrong with it.
After half a month, Han Shuo, Sanguis, Bollands and Gilbert arrived at Fort Lasberg. Since the official documents had not yet been issued, Fort Lasberg was not yet under the control of the House of Han. Erebus' men were in charge of the fort for the time being.
Han Shuo did not look for Erebus immediately upon his arrival. Instead, he walked around the fort with his three apprentices. Fort Lasberg currently had a population of around five thousand, most of whom were Basegods. Lowgods and Midgods were also present, but Highgods were rarely seen.
The Elysium was vast, and though many gods lived there, they were still outnumbered by mortals in terms of population size and density. Although Fort Lasberg was larger than the territories of the Lancelot Empire, it was home to only about five thousand gods, compared to at least several tens of millions of mortals living on the Profound Continent.
The situation in most of the cities of Elysium was similar to that of Fort Lasberg. They never lived as densely as the mortals on the low level material planes. Even the City of Shadows had only tens of thousands of inhabitants. It was said that the most populous city on Elysium had two to three hundred thousand gods, a number that pales in comparison to the cities of mortals.
After wandering around Fort Lasberg and assessing its condition, Han Shuo and his apprentices finally made their way to Erebus' temporary residence in the centre of the fort.
The residence, like the fort, had originally belonged to the House of Lavers. The buildings were tall and massive. It was many acres in size, occupying more land than the Laver residence in the city, as the price of land here was cheaper, not to mention the smaller population.
Although this Lavers' residence occupied a larger area than the one in the City, it was far inferior in terms of facilities and decorations. There were no energy towers and boundary towers covering every space, nor were there elaborate boundaries to protect the gymnasiums from intense bursts of energy. The interiors of the buildings were not lavishly decorated, but rather minimalist in style.
Erebus was usually pleased by Han Shuo's arrival. He led the four of them into the largest room of the residence before saying with a smile, "The City Lord has given Fort Lasberg to your House of Han. You, Bryan, are the true host and master of this residence. I'm just a visitor staying here for a few days.
"My House of Han has yet to receive the official documents. Until then, Fort Lasberg is under your command," Han Shuo replied with a smile.
"Bollands, now that Bryan has returned, are you really going to leave the Third Corps?" Erebus asked after turning to Bollands with a smile.
Before Han Shuo left to refine his demonic weapon, he had arranged for Bollands to work under Erebus. Unlike Ayermike Cotton and Stratholme the old monster, Bollands' strength would increase the more he killed. Slaying a god would cause his killing intent to condense into substance, forming an energy similar to demonic yuan and divine energy, allowing his strength to soar.
Bollands was a notorious assassin on the Profound Continent where he was born. A professional in the art of killing, he had assisted Erebus in eliminating countless enemies during his service in the Third Corps. He was such a good helper that even Erebus was somewhat reluctant to see Bollands leave the Third Corps.
Bollands wore an emotionless expression and nodded. He said, "It is my senior who taught me every skill I know and asked me to work in the Third Corps. Now that he has returned, I must leave Third Corps and return to him."
"Bryan, why are you always so lucky?" Erebus said enviously.
"You see, I have the blessing of the Goddess of Destiny!" Legend has it that the Goddess of Destiny controls the fate of others. According to Aobashi and Erebus, Han Shuo had certainly won the favour of the goddess. Therefore, Han Shuo's words were half joking and half true.
"Alright, let's get down to business. I know your purpose for coming here, as Lord Andre told me a thing or two earlier. I have been paying attention to a mountain relatively far away from Fort Lasberg and my men had gone to scout it. I got some useful information out of it," Erebus' face turned solemn and he said in a deep voice, "The mountain doesn't belong to any town. It lies between Hushveil City and Darksoul City. The incident began when some of our city's divine guards heard that a huge energy crystal deposit had been discovered in the area. Andre sent his men to scout for information, but they have yet to return with any news. They have probably met their demise.
"It was then that Andre informed me of this. Since I happened to be in the area, I sent a small squadron to scout. According to the reports that came back, there is definitely a huge deposit of energy crystals there!"
"Otherwise, did you find any useful information?" Han Shuo smiled mischievously as he said, "You should know the City Lord's intention. I need to take over the Crystal Deposit in order to take over the Fifth Corps. The three major family clans must have begun to exercise their power and resources, which surpass mine. If you don't have enough information for me, I doubt I could find it before they do!"
"I have confirmed the exact location. In addition to the forces from our City of Shadows, there are divine guards from Hushveil City and Darksoul City. I'm sure that conflicts will be inevitable. Be mentally prepared!" Erebus thought for a moment and continued, "You will learn the details of the situation from Anito. Just contact him when you get there."
"How do I contact him?" asked Han Shuo.
"Don't worry about that, Bollands should know how!" Erebus smiled and said, "Although you have worked with our Third Corps, you haven't spent much time with us. Bollands, on the other hand, has learned our ways. He has actually worked here instead of just tagging along for the credits like a certain rascal!"
Han Shuo turned to Bollands and saw him nod. Bollands did indeed know how Third Corps agents communicated in the field.
"Well then, I will be on my way. Hopefully I'll be the first to arrive!" After receiving useful information from Erebus, Han Shuo decided not to stay longer than necessary and to leave quickly for his destination.
Erebus knew that the sooner Han Shuo got there, the better. So he did not ask him to stay and said with a smile, "Good luck on your journey. I hope you return with good news!"
"The Fifth Corps will be mine when I return!" said Han Shuo, laughing. His relationship with Erebus was deep, so he was not scrupulous with his language. After mastering the Avicii Godslaying Sword Formation with his seventeen flying swords, Han Shuo had enough confidence in his strength. Han Shuo believed that he could successfully take over the crystal deposit if they did not run into any mishaps.
"Master, what are we going to do?" Gilbert asked after they had left Fort Lasberg with Han Shuo.
"That depends on the situation there, but our ultimate goal is to take over the crystal deposit. Energy crystals are good stuff. They are very much in demand in the Cities of Gods," Han Shuo replied.
After traveling around Lasberg Fort, Han Shuo discovered that while the fort was great at producing all kinds of ores, there was plenty of room for improvement in terms of defence. He found that the number of energy towers and boundary towers was insufficient. In order to improve the defences, Han Shuo would need a large amount of energy crystals. Occupying this huge energy crystal deposit, which had not yet been claimed by anyone, would be useful for this purpose.
The group of four travelled for five days, and in the evening, they arrived at the mountain that Erebus had pointed out to them. Han Shuo immediately deployed his demon generals. He found that there were many gods in the mountain.
Soon after arriving, Bollands discovered several unique symbols on some large trees. He pondered for a moment before walking over to Han Shuo and respectfully saying, "Senior, come with me!"
Han Shuo knew that Bollands had discovered Anito's message and followed Bollands along with Sanguis and Gilbert.
In one of the caves in the mountain, Han Shuo saw Anito. A small squadron of divine guards was usually ten men strong. But Han Shuo saw only three beside Anito, who looked despondent. His clothes were dirty and torn. There were also some blood stains on his chest. They seemed to have suffered great losses.
The sadness disappeared from Anito's face as Bollands came into view. When he saw that Han Shuo had also arrived, his face lit up with joy. He even shouted, "Lord Bryan has come!"
The three divine guards beside Anito knew Han Shuo's name. The gloom in their hearts lifted and joy appeared on their faces.
"Anito, what happened? You seemed to be badly injured!" Han Shuo asked puzzled with knitted brows.
"It's those from Hushveil City and Darksoul City. Six of our comrades have been killed!" Anito said angrily.
"The most despicable of them is that guy named Eugene, who joined forces with our city to attack the Godhunters. Unexpectedly, he would strike such vicious blows against us just to get his hands on the deposit!" a divine guard named Deco said angrily. Han Shuo had seen him around Erebus when they went to attack the Godhunter base.
"Eugene?" Han Shuo was stunned for a moment, but a cold smile soon appeared on his face. "How unexpected, an acquaintance!" Eugene had mocked and ridiculed Han Shuo throughout the Godhunters' raid. He was prejudiced against Han Shuo because of his close friendship with the owner of the Godswamp Pharmacy , Hassling. Han Shuo did not expect to lay his deadly hand on the divine guards of the City of Shadows.
City of Gorging Clouds, Darkwater City, Dark Stone City, Mirage City, Darksoul City, City of Shadows and Hushveil City were the seven major cities of the Darkness Dominion, ranked from the most powerful to the weakest.
Although all seven cities served the Overlord of Darkness, they were independent of each other. There was competition and minor friction between them. Although there had never been an all-out war between the cities, there had always been minor clashes between them.
The seven cities bordered each other, so it was common for some conflicts to arise over territorial claims. It was common for a few divine guards to perish. The seven city lords were all fine with such minor conflicts and insignificant casualties. After all, the clashes between smaller family clans in rival cities were much worse, often resulting in the massacre of an entire family clan.
All three Overgods of the Dominions of Death, Darkness, and Destruction considered benevolent competition to be helpful in developing the fighting abilities of their servants. As long as the conflicts didn't threaten the stability of their dominions, they would simply ignore them and leave them alone. Only when major conflicts arose that could seriously affect the overall strength of the Dominion would the Overgod intervene.
Conflicts over natural resource claims were common in the Darkness Dominion. Wallace, who had sent Han Shuo on this mission, didn't care what Han Shuo did. All he cared about was that Han Shuo would end up in control of the deposit.
"Tell me the whole story," Han Shuo asked in a deep voice.
"Eugene and his divine guards are also here. There are many deposits on this mountain. We claimed a relatively large deposit in the name of Lord Erebus. But before we could extract the ore, Eugene came and claimed that they had discovered the deposit first and demanded that we leave. When we didn't, they attacked us. We lost three of our comrades to them!" Anito said angrily.
"Eugene must still be holding a grudge against Erebus for being rude to him, so he took advantage of the situation to take it out on us!" remarked Deco. He had seen the friction between Erebus and Eugene during the raid on the Godhunters. With Aobashi and Blightsoar present, Eugene had no choice but to hold his grudge in silence. He dared not confront Erebus.
But the situation was different now. Since Wallace had made the task of occupying the depot a competition to decide the new chief of the Fifth Corps, Erebus had not come in person. In Erebus' absence, Eugene had no qualms about attacking Erebus' divine guards.
"Which camp is Eugene in? Show us the way!" Han Shuo said calmly after hearing the whole story.
"Lord Bryan, Eugene has brought about fifty divine guards with him. Isn't our force a little too small?" the startled Anito replied, "I've reported the situation to Lord Erebus. We have been instructed not to do anything rash and to wait for other competitors from our city to arrive before attacking Eugen".
"Nope, the few of us are enough," Han Shuo said proudly. If he waited for other competitors to join him, even if they managed to take the deposit, there would be disputes when it came time to share the booty. It was in Han Shuo's best interest not to allow any of his competitors to claim the deposit.
"What are you talking about? Just do as my master asks and cut the crap," Gilbert shouted bluntly.
"Anito, lead the way!" said Bollands in a menacing voice. He had a murderous air about him!
After seven years in the Third Corps, Bollands had developed friendships with many of his comrades. Eugene's actions in killing his former comrades had enraged him. Bollands had killed many divine guards from other cities and had an extremely intense killing intent. After practising demonic arts, he became more murderous and bloodthirsty. Apart from Han Shuo, no one could control him!
Anito knew Bollands well and knew that the old man was a cold-blooded, bloodthirsty madman. He was a little afraid of Bollands and replied in a trembling voice, "Very well. But you must be careful. Eugene, our opponent, is a Highgod!"
"Eugene is nothing to my master," Sanguis said coldly.
Sanguis, like Han Shuo's apprentices and women, had blind faith in Han Shuo. They believed that there was nothing he could not do. Although Sanguis had never met or known Eugene, he was confident that Eugene would lose to Han Shuo!
Bollands and Gilbert both nodded their heads at Sanguis's remark, agreeing with his words.
"Well then, come with me!" said Anito. For whatever reason, when Sanguis shot him a look, Anito felt an even greater pressure than Bollands. In his eyes, Sanguis, Bollands and Gilbert were all wild, ruthless characters. Since Anito had never seen the wild side of Han Shuo, he couldn't understand how Han Shuo, someone who always wore a smile and was polite to others, could keep the three monsters in check.
Soon enough, with Anito leading the way, the group arrived at a huge cave.
"Huh?" a divine guard who worked under Eugene and guarded the entrance to the cave smiled sinisterly and asked, "Do you still have the courage to come back? Do you think Lord Eugene was too merciful not to kill you all last time?"
"Haha, they came back to die!" said another divine guard, laughing. They obviously did not consider any of the newcomers a threat.
Anito turned to Han Shuo as if begging for help as he said, "Lord Bryan?"
"Oh no, you brought reinforcements. Haha!" the divine guard exclaimed mockingly, as if he had not noticed Han Shuo until Anito spoke.
"Senior, shall I?" If it had been earlier, Bollands would have charged ahead a long time ago. But now that Han Shuo was with him, he would ask Han Shuo for instructions. He dares to be disrespectful to Erebus and even to Wallace, the City Lord. However, he would never be rude to Han Shuo or go against his wishes because he knew that everything he had was given to him by Han Shuo!
Han Shuo still had a warm and calm smile on his face as he nodded at Bollands. He said, "Go ahead, but don't make it too bloody!"