Great Demon King

Chapter 340: The upside down Gourd Mountain

“No wonder, Celt has captured and killed three of our members during this time. He must have heard from Kassel that it was you who saved us last time. Celt should already know your identity by now.”

The traitor druid, Kassel, had been pursuing Cecilia and her group when Han Shuo had suddenly rushed out to block him. After returning to the Redbud Knights, Kassel must have reported the situation to Celt. As many members of the Dark Mantle knew of Han Shuo, the three captured must have revealed the truth under Celt’s torture.

“If that’s the case, I’d also like to use this opportunity to kill Celt. I’m sure he has yet to recover from his injury. Now is the best time to go for it.” Han Shuo’s voice was as cold as the tundra wind;he was determined to destroy his enemy at the roots.

“You’re right, Celt indeed hasn’t recovered, but because of this he is now heavily protected by the guards. The Redbud Knights are one of the top ten knight troops on the Continent, and Celt and Kassel aren’t its only experts. This time, I heard that the fire grand magus Marceau had also come along. That old woman’s too powerful, and extremely difficult to deal with.” Fearing that he had taken this matter too lightly, Emily hurriedly told Han Shuo everything about the Redbud Knights.

Han Shou’s lips curved into a disdainful smile as he replied, “That fire grand magus is already dead, so she won’t be posing a threat anymore. No worries there!”
Emily was once again stunned when she heard these words. She stared blankly at the confident Han Shuo, trying to feel him out, “You killed her too?”

Nodding his head, Han Shuo said, “Yup, still me!”

Emily was speechless.

Pulling Emily into his embrace, Han Shuo whispered with a grin, “I haven’t seen you in a long time, and I’ve really missed you too much. Bringing me to this remote corner, is it that you want me to… heh heh……”

Han Shuo’s hands started misbehaving as he clung to Emily. Panting softly under his skillful hands, her eyes turned soft as she petulantly proclaimed, “I only intended to discuss business quietly, don’t misunderstand!”

“I’ve already misunderstood!” Han Shuo let out a low growl, picked up Emily, and ran straight into the cave. The sound of suppressed panting and moaning echoed out from inside moments later.

After a long while, the two walked out from the cave, their clothes still a little messy. Emily’s eyes were watery, moist with a charming subservience. Her soft body leaned on Han Shuo as she spoke with a hint of worry, “Cecilia is in charge of this mission. She seems to have some prejudice against you; what should we do?”

“It doesn’t matter. My mission and yours don’t conflict, and I have no intention of taking credit from her. I only need to kill Celt, then go see if I can get any magic crystal ores.” Han Shuo didn’t care about Cecilia’s impression of him, nor did he hold any goodwill towards her. If it wasn’t for Emily being on her team, he wouldn’t have blocked Kassel from pursuing them last time.

“Aii!” Emily heaved a sigh and said to Han Shuo, “Cecilia is actually a very nice person. She is friendly with everyone, and my private relationship with her is even better. I don’t know why she would be like this towards you.”

“Let’s not talk about this anymore, I need to go to the mine. If anything happens, as long as I know you’re still here, I’ll come for you. Rest assured that no one will find me if I don’t want them to.” Han Shuo had obtained all the necessary information from Emily and didn’t intend to stay any longer. He was ready to go explore inside the magic crystal mine by himself.

The Dark Mantle’s purpose in taking a trip to the Dark Forest this time was to observe the movement of the Redbud Knights of the Brut Merchant Alliance. The higher-ups of the Empire naturally needed a clear grasp of what the Redbud Knights were doing at the border of Lancelot Empire. Cecilia was in charge of matters outside the border, so she had taken on this important mission. Her reports were needed to slowly unravel the intentions of the Redbud Knights.

Magic crystal mines were a scarce resource for any country. However, the underground world held all kinds of races, and their numbers were countless, almost beyond imagination. As such, the higher-ups of the Lancelot Empire didn’t intend to keep their knowledge of this mine to themselves. They only hoped to disrupt whatever the Redbuds Knights were planning and gain enough of an advantage to obtain some magic crystal ores.

When the Redbud Knights advanced into the underground world, they’d vanished without a trace after a tragic defeat at the magic crystal mine guarded by the lizardmen. However, according to Emily, they had yet to leave the underground world and seemed to have started plundering the other races down here.

Various races held sway over different regions in the underground world. The dark elves possessed a great number of dark magic equipments, the merpeople territory was rich with a variety of beautiful crystals, and other strange races had various rare resources.

Exploring the underground world was the same as entering a hunting ground to Celt. All of the races of this world had become his prey Except for the setback at the magic crystal mine where the lizardmen hindered his army, the valuables of the other races were all his for the taking.

The vast underground world covered an enormous area. Even the Dark Mantle, with its large manpower and secure base, couldn’t find any trace of the Redbud Knights; Han Shuo naturally wouldn’t waste his time on them. He was interested in the magic crystal mine and even more curious about the powerful entity that lived within it. He wanted to know how it could force Celt, a foe armed to the teeth, to retreat empty handed.

Han Shuo nimbly made his way through the lush shrubs of the lizardmen territory like a lightly flying insect. Numerous caves were hidden in the various crevices of the area. Thanks to his powerful consciousness coupled with a yin demon covering the area, Han Shuo didn’t rouse the attention of a single lizardman. He flew all the way to the innermost line, and stopped only when he reached a reddish-brown mountain with a bald top.

The underground world didn’t go without light all year round. Various glowing plants grew on top of the thousand-meter high rock wall, covering the underground world in a soft, dim light. The reddish brown bald mountain was roughly two hundred to three hundred meters high. No other plants or animals resided on it except for some reddish brown rock.

Looking from afar, this mountain was like an upside down gourd, wide at its peak and leaner further down. This made one worry if the slender mountain foot could bear the weight of the two heavy, gourd-shaped spheres of rock. Many large and small caves could be seen dotted across this bald gourd mountain. None of them betrayed their depths, seemingly bottomless and leading to who knew where.

Several reddish-brown lizardmen with weapons in hand were cautiously guarding the caves, alert against the possibility of the Redbud Knights invading them again. There were many messy footsteps, several uneven potholes, and some shrubs with scattered leaves around the mountain as if they had been cut across by a sharp knife.

Looking at this scene from the outside, Han Shuo understood that this place must have been the location of the battle. He examined the area minutely, brainstorming a method to infiltrate the magic crystal mine. Finally, he summoned the earth elite zombie and had the zombie take him to the depths of the bald mountain, to feel out the situation. If he couldn’t reach the center of the mine through the earth elite zombie, he would have think of other ways.

As long as the ground was soil, it wouldn’t hinder the earth elite zombie. The earth elite zombie appeared along with Han Shuo’s magic incantation, then disappeared into the earth in the blink of an eye. Through his spiritual connection with the earth elite zombie, Han Shuo knew he was slowly advancing to the mine as per his orders.

End of part 1 of the chapter.