Chapter 899: The Demon Arrives
The moment that Hill and Sha-t’o appeared, the House of Han’s struggle was basically over.
Both Hill and Sha-to possessed late-stage highgod strength. Other than the two, there were also five highgods of different stages of the Kiaran Family. In addition, the two divine guard Chiefs stationed outside the Kiaran Residence also possessed highgod strength. Thousands of divine guards were also rushing to the Residence from every part of the City. This great disadvantage that the House of Han was in cannot be negated merely with combat formations.
Sha-t’o was fuming when he returned to his Kiaran Residence and saw all the buildings that the House of Han had collapsed and the bodies of those they killed. He was so angered that he wished to skin every member of the House of Han.
Hill had arrived at the Kiaran Residence at the same time with Sha-t’o. He too saw the tremendous losses suffered by the House of Kiaran and that the House of Han guards were gradually retreating and defending themselves in a bizarre combat formation. However, not only did Hill not feel sad for the Kiaran Family’s losses, but he was secretly delighted.
In Witherbone City, the House of Kiaran was the only family clan that could pose a real threat to his position as the City Lord. But as Sha-t’o had always been loyal and devoted to him, Hill couldn’t find any excuse to diminish the House of Kiaran’s strength. He could not be happier to see the Kiaran Residence be covered with fire and blood. It was also a proof of the great team combat strength of the House of Han.
By now, the House of Han had been completely encircled by thousands of divine guards of Witherbone City. Hill was excited to think that the Witherbone City would soon obtain the secret formulas to their miraculous medicines and their extremely deadly demonic combat formations.
“How dare you attack us! You are asking for death!” shouted Sha-t’o. He was giving Bollands, Stratholme, Emily, and the others a death stare. It was as though he wanted to tear their flesh and devour them alive.
“We had enough of your intimidation and bullying!” Emily angrily replied, “You will have us killed no matter what we do. If you won’t let us live, the least we could do is make you bleed!”
“Well, very well then.” Sha-t’o put on a ruthless face, gestured, and commanded, “Kill them all! Show no mercy!”
A large number of divine guards and highgods had surrounded the House of Han. They temporarily ceased fire when Sha-t’o and Hill arrived. But upon hearing Sha-to’s command, they no longer hesitated and charged forward.
Knowing that the House of Han’s demonic combat formation was incredibly miraculous and deadly, Sha-t’o was not counting on the large number of his Kiaran Family divine guards. Instead, he was relying on his high number of highgods. He instructed the highgods to take the brunt while his Kiaran Family divine guards would be launching ranged energy-projectiles from a safe distance.
Five highgods under Sha-t’o and two highgods under Hill surrounded the House of Han from seven directions. The thousands of Witherbone City divine guards aimed their divine weapons at the House of Han.
The House of Han had no choice but to clump up and hold their ground. They knew that the Kiaran Residence must have been heavily surrounded by divine guards from all over the City. If they were to try to escape from the encirclement, they would be rather vulnerable and easily crushed by those Witherbone divine guards who had greatly outnumbered them. They thought that it was better to stay on their ground and kill those who come to them, inflicting the maximum harm at the cost of their own lives.
The House of Han understood that they had an advantage over their enemy in team combat strength. If they were to spread out, they would lose the only advantage they have. Not only would the House of Han hasten their doom, but they would also fail in causing significant harm to their enemies.
Every member of the House of Han wore calm faces despite facing certain doom. They were ready to put up what would likely be their final fight.
Seven highgods begin charging at them from seven directions. A dark, cloud-like canopy formed using the energy of death shrouded the Kiaran Residence while dazzling radiances burst from the remaining energy towers. The massive, ominous dark cloud slowly hovered to where those of the House of Han gathered.
The seven highgods unfurled their domains of divinity. Various elemental energies in the environment were assembled to form bizarre energy streams. When the seven energy streams made by the seven highgods shot towards the House of Han, it set a chain of deadly events into motion.
Thousands and thousands of colorful energy blasts rose into the sky and whistled towards the House of Han. There were also bone spears thrown. They were the top quality products manufactured from renowned Bone Refineries using the highest quality of materials. Not only were they polished to a mirror-smooth finish, but they were also filled with a great amount of the aura of death.
Every member of the House of Han wore calm faces. Despite having thousands of attacks swarming at them, not a single guard panicked and their breathing rate remained steady. They remain collected and organized as though those bright projectiles flying at them were just normal raindrops.
Despite being enemies, those Witherbone divine guards were astonished by the fearless demeanor of the House of Han. City Lord Hill, who was experienced in training divine guards, was especially marveled. After seeing the valor displayed by the House of Han guards, Hill was filled with awe and he became even more determined to obtain their secret training method.
The House of Han stayed motionless to the thousands of attacks flying towards them. But moments before those attacks would land, their combat formation suddenly transformed!
The House of Han guards who were clumped up suddenly moved outward. They have originally spaced themselves just three steps from each other but had suddenly expanded to around ten steps apart.
The instance that they assumed the new combat formation, the House of Han guards got into action with great rapport. Some of them would deploy all sorts of boundaries and defenses to resist the bombardment while the rest would launch counterattacks without paying any attention to those energy fluxes and divine weapons shooting at them.
The instant that the House of Han assumed a new formation to defend themselves while counterattacking, those Witherbone divine guards could no longer stay calm. Some would deploy defenses while some would try to flee and evade frantically.
The two armies bombarded each other with swarms of bone spears, divine weapons, and energy fluxes. Moments after they exchanged blows, it became obvious that the House of Han had the lower hand primarily because of their low count of top-notch experts.
If there were just three highgods, Sanguis, Bollands, and Gilbert would be able to handle the attacks, albeit rather strenuously. However, they were facing seven highgods, with five of them being mid-stage highgods, with two late-stage highgods observing at the side. Due to the great differences in strength, the House of Han was no longer as unstoppable as they were before. One after another, the House of Han guards perished to the overwhelming energies shot at them.
But despite that, it would be obvious to any observer that the team combat strength of the House of Han was much greater than that of the Witherbone divine guards. If it wasn’t for the seven highgod experts, the House of Han might have a chance at crushing the thousands of Witherbone divine guards!
Many of those Witherbone divine guards wailed and scuttled when they were attacked. Many were killed when they collided with their comrades who were also trying to evade an incoming attack.
Meanwhile, every guard of the House of Han remained cool and silent despite facing attacks that filled the sky. They worked together methodically. Those in charge of defenses would put all their energy on defending while those in charge of attacking would be fully focused on attacking.
From start to finish, every guard of the House of Han had remained in their position. No one panicked despite seeing their comrades perish in the battle.
“Sha-t’o, ask your men to be careful. Make sure that they do not kill their leaders yet!” said Hill. He was observing the House of Han with admiration and he felt great reverence towards the person who trained those guards.
Hill knew that the moment a person dies, their soul will start vanishing and the memories contained within would disappear along with it. When a soul had completely dissipated into the environment, their memories would also be completely gone. No amount of the divine energy of death could restore it.
The reason Hill wanted to keep those core members of the Han Family alive was so that he could extract as much of their precious memories and secrets as possible.
“Understood,” replied Sha-t’o as he nodded. After seeing the great losses his House of Kiaran suffered to the House of Han, he was consumed by rage and had nearly forgotten their main objective. But he came to his senses after being reminded by Hill.
Sha-t’o first took a deep breath before he roared at the sky. Then, having gathered the attention of his highgods, he made a hand gesture.
As veterans of the House of Kiaran, those highgods immediately understood Sha-to’s wordless command. They became much more selective in their bombardment. Most of the attacks landed on those non-important House of Han guards.
It was those seven highgod experts who had caused the House of Han the greatest casualties. The seven would only attack and kill those guards on the outer perimeter but not harm those core Han Family members who were grouped together.
The Han Family looked at each other and they saw the despair in each others’ eyes. Stratholme and Emily were sharp-witted characters. They could instantly tell what their enemies were planning.
Bollands took a glance at Stratholme and Emily and instantly read their thoughts. He shouted, “Don’t do anything stupid. With the three of us here, there is no need for suicide. They won’t be able to extract any information from your souls even if you are the last one of us to fall.”
Bollands could tell that Stratholme and Emily were planning to kill themselves so that their souls would have dissipated before Sha-t’o and the others could extract anything from their memories.
Emily softly sighed and mumbled to herself, “Goodbye Bryan… I guess I will never see you again… “
It was at this moment that suddenly, as though Emily’s prayer was heard, a world-shaking roar sounded from the horizon. A ferocious aura carrying the desire to annihilate all things suddenly enveloped the whole Witherbone City!