GDK 410 – Sudden changes within Ossen City
Han Shuo knew that Charles definitely wouldn’t let him off. However, Han Shuo didn’t expect that Charles’s retaliation would come so quickly and that violently.
That same night, Han Shuo who was studying the method of connecting to the netherworld suddenly felt through his consciousness several formidable auras that were gradually heading for his mansion from afar.
Han Shuo was suddenly roused from his contemplation, immediately sending out twelve mystic demons, spreading out in twelve directions with the mansion as the center, like a spider web.
A five hundred strong knight troop, including two hundred Temple knights from the Church of Light headed for Han Shuo’s mansion from four directions. The Church of Light’s light grand magus Kosse, a few other unfamiliar experts from the Church of Light as well as formidable deathsworn under Ashburn were separately leading troops as they encircled the mansion.
There was no moonlight that night. In the pitch-black curtain of night, they did not conceal themselves, simply heading openly toward Han Shuo’s mansion. Han Shuo was able to see the killing intent within the eyes of these knights.
Han Shuo was alarmed, hurriedly exiting his hidden room. The scene he saw through the twelve mystic demons simply exceeded Han Shuo’s imagination. No matter how large the influence Ashburn and Charles had, how would they dare to be so unbridled in the capital of Lancelot Empire, Ossen City?
The area Han Shuo was living in was surrounded by wealthy and respectable people and were all influential characters within the Empire. Even though it was a moonless night, such a large movement would definitely be unable to be concealed. Furthermore, Ossen City was the Dark Mantle’s headquarters. Ashburn was after all not King Uhtred. On what basis is he so unbridled?
A series of misgivings rushed into Han Shuo’s mind. He only felt that Ashburn must be insane. Such a crazy movement definitely shouldn’t be something that old fox dares to do. Unfortunately, with the appearance of Kosse and the presence of other members of his dukedom already proved that this operation is indeed incited by Ashburn.
While Han Shuo was still at a loss, a nearby mansion suddenly ignited in flames which reached the sky. A mystic demon just happened to see the situation in that direction and observed a group of knights charge in and kill everyone they see. In the blink of an eye, blood dyed the ground red and not even one servant was let off.
Han Shuo vaguely recalled that the mansion should be Count Talric’s. Talric was inclined toward Lawrence. Han Shuo even saw him in the morning and found out through Lawrence’s introduction that his mansion wasn’t far from his own. He didn’t expect that Talric’s mansion would already be in its current state.
A thought flashed in Han Shuo’s mind, in sudden realization. Since Ashburn dared to act so brazenly and disregard King Uhtred’s authority, there are only two possibilities. Either Ashburn knew that the situation was far from good and preemptively revolted.
The other possibility was that King Uhtred had already died. In that case, Ashburn would no longer be restricted by anyone. Hence he would dare to freely act, eradicating the people who were detrimental to him at the fastest speed and swiftly take Ossen City under his control.
However, if Ashburn wanted to revolt, he should have acted from the day King Uhtred made known that he would support Lawrence and definitely wouldn’t look on unfeelingly as Uhtred delegated power bit by bit toward Lawrence. It seems that the first possibility was much smaller and that King Uhtred’s sudden demise was instead the most plausible.
With this suspicion, he only kept two mystic demons within his mansion, spreading the other ten mystic demons further away. Among them, one mystic demon directly headed in the direction of the royal palace.
Through the mystic demons, Han Shuo discovered even more troops being mobilized in the pitch-black night. There were other regions who were similarly engaged in cruel slaughter. These included nobles who supported Lawrence as well as powers under the Second and Third Prince.
All of a sudden, huge clouds of smoke rose from the entire inner Ossen City. Ashburn and Eldest Prince Charles had without a doubt already launched their operation of massacring the influences that opposed them to officially start on this moonless night. Any powers that opposed Ashburn and Charles were fated to meet with death or injuries tonight.
Coming to this realization, Han Shuo rapidly headed for Steward Kallas’ room. Steward Kallas was quite old and hence didn’t sleep deeply. Furthermore, Han Shuo deliberately made louder footsteps when he headed over. Hence, Kallas immediately woke up.
“Lord Marquis, what’s going on?” Kallas had never seen Han Shuo that impatient. He nimbly sat up and immediately inquired. “Don’t bring anything along, immediately wake up all the servants. All of you are to leave the mansion and flee for your lives. Duke Ashburn has revolted. A regiment of knights is currently heading for this location. Once they arrive, everyone here will be killed. Hurry, leave this place immediately!” Han Shuo rapidly explained the situation. Once he finished explaining, he didn’t wait for a response and hurriedly left the mansion, immediately heading for the Boozt Merchant Guild where Phoebe was.
This mansion was bestowed to Han Shuo by Uhtred. However, Han Shuo clearly didn’t take it as a real home. There wasn’t anyone here that Han Shuo truly cared about. Han Shuo also had a habit of keeping valuables within his spatial ring. At this moment, there weren’t any person or item that was worth. Hence, he immediately left after warning Kallas.
There weren’t many people who knew of Han Shuo and Fanny’s relationship. Furthermore, Fanny and Lawrence didn’t have any interactions. On top of that, Fanny’s father was Firenze. As the Lord of the Southern border, Firenze was one of the few people that Ashburn worried about. Han Shuo simply didn’t need to worry about Fanny’s safety.
Emily was within the Dark Mantle Headquarters. Within the entire Ossen City, the defenses of the Dark Mantle Headquarters was the most secure. There were countless teleportation arrays within that linked to every major city within the empire. Even if Ashburn had overwhelming methods, he also wouldn’t be able to breach the Dark Mantle Headquarters in a short period of time. Wanting to capture the higher ranking people of the Dark Mantle was even more impossible.
Hence, Han Shuo was similarly not worried about Emily.
However, Phoebe was close to Lawrence and the Boozt Merchant Guild had repeatedly foiled Grand Duke Ashburn’s matters. Hence, they were the most likely to be attacked.
As the Grand Duke of the empire, the power Ashburn wielded was second to King Uhtred. Even Phoebe’s master sacred swordmaster Karel would similarly not be taken seriously by Ashburn. With the full support of the Church of Light, the number of experts Ashburn controlled was surely even greater. It was almost impossible for sacred swordmaster Karel to depend on his own strength to kill Ashburn.
Han Shuo traveled as fast as lightning, directly heading for the Boozt Merchant Guild. Along the way, he discovered through his mystic demons, even more, changes happening within Ossen City. Many mansions were reduced to ruins in an extremely short period of time. A few small mansions were subjected to a number of large-scale killing spells and were razed to the ground within a few breaths.
Ashburn’s vicious actions were extremely resolute. As long as it was a hostile power, regardless of whether they were servants or guests, he didn’t let a single person off. Many of the nobles’ mansions were involved in the cruel massacre. During this course of events, the army he controlled headed for the city gates, probably intending to seize control of all the city gates.
The teleportation arrays within Ossen City had been seized by Ashburn a long time ago. Layers upon layers of troops firmly surrounded the magic arrays. No one would be able to leave Ossen City through the magic arrays. It seems that Ashburn and Charles had planned to thoroughly seize control of the entire Ossen City, disposing of all their enemies within.
The mystic demon that headed for the royal palace heard wails even before it neared. Troops that were under Eldest Prince Charles had already seized control of the royal palace. The mystic demon simply made a pass around the palace and discovered that King Uhtred had indeed died and some rebels were already killed on the spot.
From these signs, Han Shuo suddenly realized that King Uhtred’s sudden demise was perhaps related to Eldest Prince Charles. Otherwise, the royal palace wouldn’t be sealed off, not allowing any news to be spread. The other princes were unfortunately kept in the dark, simply unaware of the king’s passing.
Within Ashburn’s mansion, Ashburn and Eldest Prince Charles were seated together with many supporting nobles who had darkened expressions. As they directed officers to seize important positions, they read out names of nobles one after another, sending their subordinates to go and eradicate them.
A mystic demon stayed in the vicinity and was able to clearly listen to the conversation between Ashburn, Charles and the others. Han Shuo finally understood that tonight’s incidents were indeed Ashburn and Charles fiercely striking back.
Out of a sudden, a mystic demon who had reached Boozt Merchant Guild ahead of time saw from afar a squadron of soldiers currently killing people unfeelingly. The merchants and guards of the Boozt Merchant Guild died tragically one after another under the arrows of these soldiers. However, it was fortunate that these people had just begun at the front of the building and clearly haven’t penetrated into the interior. Han Shuo reckoned that Phoebe was still fine for the time being.
However, Han Shuo was still extremely worried, activating the Art of Demonic Ninth Heavens to its peak, heading for the Boozt Merchant Guild with the speed of a meteor. He constantly prayed inwardly that nothing would happen to Phoebe. If anything happened to Phoebe, even though Han Shuo had previously promised Uhtred, he would ignore that promise and skin Charles alive.