Chapter 963: Imprisonment
In the control center, the members of the House of Han banded together to resist Regis and Isaiah’s persecution. The Five Elite Zombies unleashed their power to gather the energy from the Sky Annihilation Formation to where they were, using it to form the most formidable defense they could. They turned the secret chamber into an impregnable shelter that left not a seam undefended.
Everyone knew that it was only a matter of time for Regis and Isaiah to make their way here. Even though they knew hiding wouldn’t do them much good, they had little choice but to do so. At the very least, within this secret chamber, there was no way Regis and Isaiah would be able to break through the heavy defenses Han Shuo had so painstakingly set up.
Before Han Shuo had left, he said that he would return at the soonest possible time once he dealt with his errand. As such, the rest were counting on him to return. All they had to do was to hold out until he did.
Han Shuo had told them before that within Pandemonium, his power would be greatly boosted. No matter what kind of edict or energy the overgod cultivated, if they didn’t have a Quintessence, they wouldn’t be his match in his domain.
“Bryan will definitely return before they break the defenses!” Emily said with confidence.
“Don’t worry. Even if Father isn’t able to make it back in time, the five of us will be able to hold on for some amount of time if we give it our all to operate the Penta-elemental Undead Formation,” Han Jin said with a relaxing smile, comforting the nervous ones among them.
“If I use my treasure, I will be able to fend off one overgod at least. I can promise you that they would be completely preoccupied with me,” Andrina said in a relaxed smile while clasping Han Jin’s hand tightly. It seemed that her mind wasn’t dwelling on the danger they were in at all.
Hearing all that, the expressions on the others’ faces relaxed considerably. They no longer spoke of much dread and instead turned their discussions on when Han Shuo would return, as well as how close they had cut it moments before they reached the control center.
Han Hao didn’t say much during this time; the rest had already considered him their main pillar of support. It was thanks to his judgment that Han Tu was notified in time to transport the core members of the House of Han to a safe zone under such dangerous circumstances.
“Let’s not be too optimistic yet. We need to be prepared for the worst that can come,” Han Hao said calmly. He turned to Andrina and said, “Currently, there are seven overgods in Pandemonium. While Dagmar, Asser and Dhaka are currently temporarily restrained, once Miller figures out what’s going on in Pandemonium and saves them, they will number seven overgods, Ossora included. I worry that the defenses in this room won’t hold out for too long.”
Once he said that, the others’ expressions changed once more at the realization of the number of terrifying enemies that were currently in Pandemonium.
However, apart from Miller, Isaiah and Regis, as well as the trapped Dhaka, Dagmar and Asser, Ossora was still unaccounted for. Any one of the seven overgods were formidable foes. If they didn’t work together, the secret chamber might yet hold out for quite some time. But if they did, their terrifying combined force was hard to even conceive of. No matter how confident they were about Han Shuo, they didn’t really think the defenses he laid would be able to take the combined assault of seven overgods.
“What do we do, Big Brother?” Han Jin asked.
“I’m still thinking.” Han Hao slowly sat down with his brows furrowed, thinking in silence.
……
Within the underground palace, Regis, Isaiah and their subordinates wiped out the House of Han warriors whenever they came across them and continued towards the direction of the secret chamber within which Han Hao and the others hid.
So far, only the core members of the House of Han were allowed into the underground palace, apart from a small number of guards who served as messengers. As such, Isaiah and the others didn’t run into many people apart from those from the Profound Continent.
Regis and Isaiah searched through a whole area and only managed to kill a few dozen guards. They were quite curious why the powerful House of Han only had so few guards. Little did they know, most of the guards resided within the mountains outside of Pandemonium. Thanks to the crisis they were facing, Han Hao and the rest had already sent word out to them before they retreated to the reinforced room.
The warriors in the mountains had retreated even further through the paths opened up by Han Jin where it would be difficult for Regis and Isaiah to detect.
Currently, the two just encountered Miller. Regis smilingly asked, “Let me guess – he brought you here?”
MIller laughed and nodded. “That’s right. How are things here?”
“The core members should have gathered together. Hehe, that saves us trouble from having to hunt each of them down separately.” Isaiah pointed above him and said, “They’re there. The more defenses there are, the more likely they are to reside in that direction.”
“Dhaka, Dagmar, and Asser are all in Pandemonium as well. Ossora told me about it before he led me here. He said it was the three that told him about the news,” Miller praised, “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed there were so many traps in this place that could even keep those three caught up. It truly is wondrous.”
“Yeah. Thankfully, we snuck in by pretending to be Ossora’s men. Otherwise, we might’ve been trapped like Dhaka and the others. This Bryan really is quite the amazing figure,” Regis said.
“Speaking of them – what should we do about Dhaka, Dagmar, and Asser?” Miller said to Isaiah, who had planned the whole operation with Ossora. The rest now followed the two’s lead.
“What does it have to do with us?” Isaiah said, “They fell into the traps of their own accord. We didn’t lure them there on anything. We are under no obligation to save them.”
Miller and Regis locked eyes and laughed, agreeing tacitly with Isaiah’s decision.
“Let’s go to where they’re hiding. Remember. We can’t kill anyone before Bryan shows up. Pandemonium is far too interesting. In the future, we will be the ones to control this place, so we need to force Bryan to reveal all its secrets to us before we wipe him out,” Isaiah said.
“Naturally.” Miller and Regis laughed heartily.
The reason they were so careful and meticulous when dealing with Pandemonium was the various amazing defenses it had that could even entrap three powerful overgods like Dagmar, Dhaka and Asser. In their eyes, this little remote base was more valuable than the prosperous Omphalos.
The way they saw it, the Godhunter Alliance will succeed in their invasion of the Fringe. Before the battle even ended, they were already thinking about how they could split the territory.
In the near future, the Fringe would be split among the twelve Hegemons of the alliance. The alliance was by no means tight knit, for it was but an alliance of convenience rather than mutual conviction.
As such, the heavily defended Pandemonium was highly sought after. With it, they would be able to afford offending other factions of the alliance without any worry for retaliation, so taking Pandemonium was a top priority.
Soon, the three of them arrived outside the secret chamber. Colorful lights seeped out of the walls. Upon closer inspection, the wall seemed to have a crystalline structure and didn’t resemble earth at all. Strands of mystical energies flowed through the patterns on the wall, giving off a repulsive impression.
The moment the three of them approached the room, they felt a gentle force pushing them away from it. Even overgods like them couldn’t help but take a few steps back, which only served to fuel their excitement.
“It’s mysterious alright! Ossora really wasn’t lying!” Isaiah said with a face filled with excitement. “It’s no wonder he decided to sell Bryan out and work with us. I believe he’s been pining after this location for quite a while now. People are greedy by nature. Anyone who has seen the wonders in here would want to have it all for themselves!”
“It truly is arcane,” Regis said as he carefully sensed the energies infused in the wall. Impatiently, he said, “I can’t wait! Let me give it a try.”
Isaiah and Miller smiled at each other before taking a few steps back to give Regis the space to test it out. Bolts of lightning accumulated into a thick body of electricity before Regis sent it smashing against the colorful wall. A loud rumbling could be heard as the power of lightning dispersed without a trace.
“Amazing!” Regis cried. He felt that the strike which contained eighty percent of his power had only given the wall a slight dent, before it proceeded to recover without a single scratch.
“It truly is surprising,” Miller agreed. His eyes flashed as he summoned a gigantic blade of wind and sent it at the wall. With a loud click, the blade he formed from the wind element and his divine power disintegrated.
“There is a mystical power in the wall that can disrupt the structure of the elements. That Bryan really is an unparalleled genius. I really don’t know where he learned how to manipulate such unheard of energies,” Miller said thoughtfully after his attempt.
“Haha, according to the intel we received, he will be returning soon. With a hidden pawn like Ossora and the members of the House of Han still here, we can toy with him slowly. After we extract all the secrets about Pandemonium from him, Dhaka and the rest won’t be able to do anything about it even if they make it out!” Isaiah exclaimed. Pandemonium was truly filled with wonders. He was ecstatic at the notion that it would all soon be his.
“Come, let the three of us give it a try. No matter what kind of defense, it has to be sustained by energy. I believe it won’t hold as long as we keep attacking it!” Miller said with a serious look.
It was common knowledge since time immemorial that any kind of barrier or seal needed to have some kind of energy source to remain operational. These could come from energy crystals from energy towers or the divine power or elements that the deployer of the barrier infused beforehand. Any kind of energy could be used to fuel barriers.
But no matter how powerful, each strike the barrier took would sap away at its energy reserves. The moment it was all drained, the barrier would crumble no matter how powerful it was.
Miller and the rest naturally understood all this and made their preparations. They took turns battering the wall with strikes of lightning, earth and wind.
Phoebe, Emily, Stratholme and the others within the barrier felt the whole room shake from the strikes. The booming was so loud that they could almost physically feel it.
However, the secret chamber had been gathering natural energy from the environment for years. The defenses were as strong as they were rumored to be; the wall wasn’t broken through even after Miller, Isaiah and Regis launched their thirtieth attack.
The three of them looked at the crystalline wall with disbelief. They didn’t think that ten strikes from each of them, all overgods, were still not enough to crush the wall.
“Stop attacking!” someone called out when the three were still deliberating whether they should continue. Ossora soon emerged from the earth and continued his explanation. “The harder you hit, the more the energy that’s keeping Dhaka and the rest trapped will be transferred over. If you go on they will be able to escape. If that happens, we won’t be able to keep Pandemonium for ourselves!”
“How’s this happening?” Isaiah asked, stunned.
“I felt a flow of energy clearly from above coming towards this location. As your attacks intensified, the flow also quickened. I am certain of this!” Ossora pressed.
The three immediately stopped attacking, now even more awed by Pandemonium’s mysteries.
“We must prepare to put up a show. Bryan will be coming back here any moment now,” Ossora said, seeing that they’ve stopped. He seemed to be filled to the brim with confidence.