GDK 475: Counter-Attack
At little skeleton’s reminder, Han Shuo immediately came to his senses and stabilized his frame of mind. He focused up his consciousness, and sensed Gilbert’s yet-to-dissipate soul in an instance.
The Demonslayer Edge suddenly flew out from Han Shuo’s body and generated an intensely strong suction power. Gilbert’s unscattered soul was drawn to it. In a split second, he flowed into the Demonslayer Edge.
Although the Demonslayer Edge temporarily couldn’t a.s.sist Han Shuo in battle, absorbing one soul wasn’t a problem. As the master of Demonslayer Edge, Han Shuo could even establish a region within the Demonslayer Edge specially for Gilbert where he could take refuge.
Han Shuo dispelled his sorrow. He suddenly recalled that the demonic arts and necromancy magic, his forte, were sinister arts the righteous despised. Whether it was demonic arts or necromancy magic, they provided the pract.i.tioner with extreme proficiency towards souls.
Han Shuo only thought to himself for the shortest moment before realizing that, regardless of whether he utilized demonic arts or necromancy magic, by making use of Gilbert’s mighty soul, he could rebuild his physical body and have him revived. As long as Gilbert’s soul remained, he wasn’t completely gone.
With that in mind, the grief which Gilbert brought to Han Shuo weakened a great deal. After the Demonslayer Edge returned into Han Shuo’s body, Han Shuo took one look at fire elite zombie and found fire elite zombie almost at the point of complete exhaustion. He immediately knew that he could not hesitate a moment longer.
The cold air in the Jadefrost Cage was as chilling as usual. At the moment, the demonic yuan that once filled Han Shuo’s body from top to toe was drained to his knees. Yet, the energy being unleashed from the Jadefrost Cage still seemed infinite and everlasting. This left Han Shuo with the realization that the opponent had definitely surpa.s.sed them in terms of endurance.
“Move!” Han Shuo shouted and descended straight towards a narrow slit in the lavafall.
Before Han Shuo made it near the lava c.h.i.n.k, the whole ravine suddenly started to tremble. Blazing high temperatures soared ever higher and higher. Fierce magma shot out like geysers.
All of a sudden, a strong feeling of longing filled the entire ravine, like a grief-stricken mother bitterly awaiting her long lost child’s return and finally finding him at the doorsteps.
“She, she knows I’m back!” fire elite zombie was pleasantly surprised and transmitted to Han Shuo. He too seemed overjoyed.
Han Shuo finally arrived at the gap in the lavafall. He deployed a protection s.h.i.+eld, enveloping Elizabeth and the cage, and descended further down.
While climbing down, as the refiner of the fire elite zombie, Han Shuo could clearly feel that fire elite zombie was communicating with the Lord of the Flames down below. Upon arriving in this region, along with the climbing temperatures, the exhausted fire elite zombie started to restore bit by bit.
Fierce blazes violently roared all around them. Fiery bubbles popped up from the place of extreme fire. Terrifyingly high temperatures filled the area surrounding them.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar came from the place of extreme fire. When Han Shuo looked down, he discovered that the enormous body of the Lord of the Flames was slowly emerging from there. On the cliffs nearby, countless Scorching Demon Warriors were raised at an unknown time. Their eyes trailed Han Shuo and his party, who were gradually descending.
Upon sensing Han Shuo on the alert, fire elite zombie hastily transmitted to him, “Father, don’t be worried. She will help me!”
“Okay, it’s all up to you now!” Han Shuo trusted the fire elite zombie very much. When the fire elite zombie rea.s.sured him that there wouldn’t be a problem, he immediately let go of his worries.
Right after Han Shuo said those words, fire elite zombie, holding his FIre Lotus, landed on the body of the Lord of the Flames that just emerged from the place of extreme fire. Fire elite zombie then sat on the wide shoulders of the Lord of the Flames. Unending streams of energy were suddenly released from the Lord of the Flames. A dozen or so streams of magma even spewed from her mouth. Like fiery silk, they all wrapped around the Jadefrost Cage.
Simultaneously, the place of extreme fire, which had existed for who knew how long, and that even nurtured the treasure of fire attribute – the Fire Lotus – suddenly seemed to come alive. Thousands and thousands of strands of yuan energy of fire flowed into fire elite zombie’s body. In no time, the fire elite zombie was restored with all the energy he previously exhausted.
The Fire Lotus suddenly exploded with magnificent rays. Under the manipulation of fire elite zombie, it mobilized the enormous yuan energy of fire in the place of extreme fire, sending out small clouds of flames that fluttered their way onto the Jadefrost Cage.
Han Shuo immediately felt the pressure on him greatly reduce. After such actions by fire elite zombie and the Lord of the Flames, the piercing cold of the Jadefrost Cage was all being used to resist the onslaught of the flames. Han Shuo no longer needed to continue resisting with excessive use of his demonic arts. Even Elizabeth and the dark dragons whose bodies were almost frozen stiff recovered in the heat of the place of extreme fire.
Thousands of miles away at the Shrine of Ice…
“Not good! There’s an intense energy of fire pouring into it. What’s going on?” that sacred grade magus that had been licking Ice Celestial Corey’s a.s.s, suddenly made a huge change in expression and cried out in surprise.
The previously calm, unruffled faces of the experts of the s.h.i.+ne of Ice were replaced with solemn expressions. Each and everyone of them casted their gazes on Ice Celestial Corey, their leader.
Even Ice Celestial Corey took a shock. Through some kind of mysterious connection, he also felt the changes to the Jadefrost Cage located in the Dark Forest. That energy which deepened all of a sudden revealed itself to be the most scorching energy of flames. As far as the Shrine of Ice was concerned, such fiery energy was what they most loathed, and also the most th.o.r.n.y energy to handle.
The sudden surge of this incomparably mighty energy completely disrupted Ice Celestial Corey’s calmness. Under the attentive gazes of his subordinates, Corey pressingly turned over in his mind to come up with a countermeasure while trying to determine the source of the fiery energy that suddenly appeared.
After quite a while, Corey spoke again, “It must be them making a comeback at death’s door. As long as we go all-out to withstand this wave of attack, they won’t have any more energy to resist!”
“Lord Corey, if this turns out not to be their final push before they die, and we exert all our strength to resist this wave of attack, if, and this is completely hypothetical, by any chance, their strength exceeds our’s combined, it would be very difficult for us to retreat by then,” another sacred magus of the Shrine of Ice suddenly weighed in.
After letting out a cold groan, Ice Celestial Corey said, “There are no mistakes in my judgement. Even if another ent.i.ty steps in, with so many experts from our Shrine of Ice cooperating, how many in the whole of Profound Continent can withstand us? Be at ease. This time I will be exerting all my strength, and undoubtedly will freeze them all to death in one go!”
Seeing that Ice Celestial Corey was somewhat displeased, the others did not raise any more objections. Corey’s ego was infamous in the s.h.i.+ne of Ice. He was a man who would never listen to others’ opinions. Once he made his decision, all that one could do was wholeheartedly execute his plans with no questions asked about whether his decision was right or wrong.
Under Corey’s command, the strongest few of the s.h.i.+ne of Ice, using the mysterious magical array, began to release the divine energy from their bodies with all their strengths, intending to get rid of Han Shuo and the others located far in the place of extreme fire once and for all through the Jadefrost Cage blessed by Ice G.o.ddess.
Back at the Dark Forest, in the place of extreme fire…
“Master, what do we do? What should I do?” Elizabeth, who could finally talk, shouted frenetically.
“Maintain this state and hush. This time it won’t be us that will have headache!” Han Shuo insisted before ceasing to respond to Elizabeth.
The inexhaustible yuan energy of fire in the place of extreme fire, through the two existences of fire elite zombie and the Lord of the Flames, poured onto the Jadefrost Cage. Scorching heat filled the entire region. The patriarch of dark dragons, Gilges, finally awoke from his fainting due to the roasting heat.
“Foolish little one, where is Gilbert that silly thing? Where is my grandson?” After Gilges woke up, he anxiously looked everywhere for Gilbert.
“Patriarch, Gilbert is….. he’s dead!” a dark dragon sighed sorrowfully with teary eyes.
“Ahhh…..”
As grief attacked into his heart, Gilges let out a mournful bawl.
At this moment, the party from the distant Shrine of Ice launched a ferocious counterattack. Cold, frosty air increased three folds and overflowed from the columns of the Jadefrost Cage and made contact with the high temperatures of the place of extreme fire, which, in an instant, produced thick smoke that covered Gilges and the others.
The extreme frigidity, like water in a collapsed dam, violently gushed towards Elizabeth’s body through her two hands. Han Shuo was startled, and hastily concentrated all his attention, wildly sending his remaining demonic yuan into Elizabeth’s two hands.
“Arhhh… That hurts!”
Elizabeth let out an agonizing shriek that sounded like a pig being slaughtered. Red, white, and green lights radiated from her two hands. In a moment, it would be frigid cold, in another, it would be scorching hot. When these two opposing energy forces collided, she felt pain that she had never felt before.
Previously, as Elizabeth’s body was frozen stiff by the cold, the pain wasn’t as difficult to bear as her body was numbed. But now, with the ice thawed, the pain became much more distinct and tormenting.
At that moment, Han Shuo couldn’t attend to Elizabeth at all. As he unceasingly deployed his demonic yuan to congeal and form flames on Elizabeth’s two hands, his consciousness suddenly felt something faintly from the Jadefrost Cage. When he concentrated, Han Shuo’s consciousness seemed to sense a few presences from an extremely distant place. It was as though some kind of miraculous connection bound together the Jadefrost Cage with some sort of energy from that distance place.
Suddenly, it became clear to Han Shuo. The presences that his consciousness felt on the Jadefrost Cage was a trace of the souls of Ice Celestial Corey and his party. If they were to transmit their energy onto the Jadefrost Cage through this mysterious method, their mental strength had to be highly concentrated. Therefore, through this mysterious connection, Han Shuo’s mighty consciousness could faintly sense them.
Just as Han Shuo comprehended those thoughts, the Jadefrost Cage again burst out with ten times the coldness. Thick smoke enveloped the air of the entire place of extreme fire. Even the fiery threads that the Lord of the Flames had spat out were rapidly solidifying.
The Lord of the Flames seemed to have never met with such a th.o.r.n.y problem. Suddenly, irritated, she raised her head and let out a roar. The entire ravine, including the place of extreme fire, seemed to reverberate with her roar.
All of a sudden, the magma in the place of extreme fire bubbled up. As a counterattack from the angered Lord of the Flames, yuan energy of fire that were nurtured in this place of extreme fire over tens of thousands years converged and travelled along the fiery line shooting from the mouth of the Lord of the Flames to the Jadefrost Cage.
Fire elite zombie leapt head-on into the place of extreme fire. The Fire Lotus in his hand instantly mustered the terrifying energy within the place of extreme fire. The Fire Lotus no longer let out clouds of flames, but with fire elite zombie’s hurling, carrying boundless energy of fire, bashed towards the Jadefrost Cage. “Father, be careful!” fire elite zombie’s message arrived subsequently.
Han Shuo understood that the battle had now come to its most critical moment. He gathered all his attention. Even his mighty consciousness which had been meticulously hiding from the six-horned Soul Race tribal king, with no misgivings whatsoever, fully unfolded to firmly lock onto the souls attached to the Jadefrost Cage.
“Hang in there, they will be done for in no time!” within the s.h.i.+ne of Ice far far away, Ice Celestial Corey exclaimed.
Everyone there put forth their greatest strength. The divine energy which they obtained from the Ice G.o.ddess for their piousness, like runaway horses, rushed into the Jadefrost Cage a great distance away.
Rumbles…
When the Fire Lotus bombarded on the Jadefrost Cage, a terrifying sound could be heard. Clouds of flames hopped out from the Fire Lotus and attached themselves onto the columns.
The dark dragons inside the Jadefrost Cage took a jolt. The young lady even spat out a mouthful of blood. She seemed to be injured by the sudden jerk.
When the Lord of the Flames unleashed all her strength, the fiery threads attached to Jadefrost Cage gushed forth with seemingly inexhaustible energy. Even more white smoke spread in every direction.
“They’re too powerful! Lord Corey, I can’t resist anymore!” the sacred magus who had been praising Corey shouted, frightened.
With fire elite zombie and Lord of the Flames cooperating to harness the energy that had been in the place of extreme fire for millions and millions of years, they utterly crushed all those of the Shrine of Ice. The Jadefrost Cage began to gradually melt under the scorching heat.
Through Elizabeth’s two hands, Han Shuo was able to see that Ice Celestial Corey and his party were incapable of enduring any longer. Han Shuo’s consciousness even felt that the few presences that had shrouded the Jadefrost Cage all along were fading away by the second.
It was at this moment that Han Shuo, who had been waiting for the right moment, suddenly made a move. While they were all frantically resisting the counterattack of the flames, all of Han Shuo’s mental strength, his consciousness included, pounded at that few souls like sharp sword.
“Pfff…………”
The group of experts in the Shrine of Ice, including Ice Celestial Corey, oozed streams of blood from their mouths. They felt as though their souls were hacked into pieces and sustained heavy damages.
With that, they no longer had any energy to resist. The Jadefrost Cage shattered with a loud crash. Thereafter, not a trace of frigid energy could be sensed at this place of extreme fire.
Elizabeth’s two hands were freed. Han Shuo arrested her fall without ha.s.sle. The entire race of dark dragons were just set free from their incarceration. Although they had yet to fully recover, they were still able to hover in mid air with minimal effort. Not one fell into the place of extreme fire beneath them.
Thousands of miles away at the s.h.i.+ne of Ice…
Corey and the others, who were still frozen like ice sculptures, exploded from the ice and shot out. Ice Celestial Corey’s body even flung into a distance, dripping with fresh blood all over.
The Shrine of Ice, enveloped in arctic cold all year long, was suddenly a.s.saulted with a puff of warm air. This lofty, majestic shrine constructed out of ice crystals was being reduced to a lifeless body of water.
Disciples who were practicing martial arts and water magic in the s.h.i.+ne of Ice suddenly perceived high temperatures which they instinctively loathed and feared. Great frowns married their faces as they tried to look for the source of the heat in alarm. Soon, they discovered that the largest shrine that housed the sculpture of their Ice G.o.ddess for them to consecrate was also slowly thawing.
Such a thing had never taken place for the last millenniums. This phenomenon, to those in the s.h.i.+ne of Ice, was seen as more threatening than even demons ascending from the gates of h.e.l.l. They were panic-stricken and terrified with no clue of what happened.
Could it be that the Ice G.o.ddess had abandoned them?
While the Shrine of Ice fell into tumult it had never seen for thousands of years, Han Shuo let out a sigh of relief. But he soon took a shock, gazing at the Lord of the Flames in the place of extreme fire underneath him with an unimaginable expression.
All he saw was that the gargantuan Lord of the Flames, whose body was cast with magma, iron, and stones, was undergoing a shocking transformation. Chunk after chunk of stone as red as branding iron eroded from it in the thunderous roar of the Lord of the Flames. An insurmountable amount of energy was erupting from her body.
Gradually, as the t.i.tanic body of the Lord of the Flames swayed, her body grew in size. The lava from all over the place of extreme fire flooded into her like river rapids, seemingly supplying her with tremendous amounts of energy nourished by the place of extreme fire wince the beginning of time.
Right before Han Shuo’s eyes, the Lord of the Flames first grew wildly huge, her body almost filled the place of extreme fire. But after a while, the rocks on her body were shaken out rapidly. While lava watered down, her body then started to shrink bit by bit.
Han Shuo looked towards the Lord of the Flames without blinking. He sensed that as her body became smaller, the energy inside her grew even more powerful. Soon after, strands of fiery rays burst out from her body. She was like a miniature sun, radiating light so glaring that one would be convinced their eyelids were transparent.
“Hahaha, I have finally evolved! Finally evolved!” With Han Shuo watching attentively, the Lord of the Flames, dazzling with red light, released a belly laugh. Gradually, the red light faded, revealing a plump middle-aged woman with red skin before Han Shuo.