Chapter 848 - Just how strong is he?
Chapter 848: Just how strong is he?
Polo did not expect that Han Hao would suddenly appear on the battlefield at this moment. He was astounded. Wearing an astonished expression, he asked, “Why are you here?”
There was not a shred of emotion on Han Hao’s face. His eyes were staring fixedly on Kage as though he was not surrounded in a chaotic battle scene. He replied, “Same as you – to kill!”
Polo stared blankly at Han Hao for a moment before he suddenly burst into laughter and said, “Well then, by all means, please proceed – he’s all yours. That’d save me some energy.”
As if Kage wasn’t already troubled enough by Polo, Han Hao had suddenly appeared to give him a bigger headache. Kage looked at Han Hao puzzlingly. He looked back in his memories and was certain that he had never met Han Hao before. “Who are you? I don’t remember meeting you. You are not one of my rivals.”
“You have recently raided a caravan carrying ores and minerals and slaughtered a bunch of them, did you?” asked Han Hao in a cold voice instead of immediately attacking Kage.
Polo’s followers were still attacking Kage’s. Soon, several more of Kage’s followers died by having their divine energy sucked dry. The godhunters’ made wild, loud battle cries as they flew all around, intercepting their victims who were trying to escape.
Kage felt more and more worried and for the first time in a long time, he felt regretful. His followers were being brutally murdered but he did not know how to handle the situation. It was obvious that Polo wouldn’t have attempted the assassination without bringing forces of much greater strength and quantity than that of Kage’s. He knew that escape would be very difficult.
“That’s right, I plundered a batch of ores not too long ago,” Kage did not deny the accusation, “But what has that got to do with you? You sure weren’t there at that time. The only person that escaped wasn’t as powerful as you.”
Han Hao nodded and replied, “The one who escaped is my friend. I’m here to chop your head off and bring it to him.”
“Ha, boastful big talk. You really think that you can stop me?” shouted Kage. He glanced at Polo and Han Hao with his cold eyes as he said, “How foolish of you to think that you can kill me. Humph, I still have more followers at my base. Once I assembled all my followers, you will know the consequences of offending Sovereign Salas and me!”
“Be careful, Han Hao. He might try to escape by some special means!” shouted Polo.
By now, most of Kage’s followers had been killed. Against two formidable experts that were Polo and Han Hao, Kage knew that it was impossible to fight his way out and that he must abandon his followers.
Kage knew that as long as he is alive, there is hope for recovery. Upon finishing his words, Kage took out a wind energy divine equipment that Salas had bestowed upon him – Wind Lace, and tried to leave the battlefield as soon as possible.
The seven bone spurs on Han Hao’s back suddenly whooshed out following his thought. Before Kage could activate the Wind Lace, the seven bone spurs had zipped through the air and arrived before him. Meanwhile, Han Hao, wielding his three-meter long bone spear, was rapidly shooting towards Kage like a fiend.
Right when the Wind Lace was ready to be activated, Kage discovered that seven dreadful energies had surrounded him, blocking him from escaping. An extremely bizarre boundary abruptly formed around him. Air and wind had stopped circulating within the boundary.
Kage was appalled. He realized that it was not possible to utilize the Wind Lace inside the bizarre boundary.
With the seven bone spurs starting to attack him, Kage had no choice but to put up defenses and temporarily postponed his plan to escape. He took out a dark shield and as soon as he raised it, intense element of darkness gushed out from it. They formed a large mass of dark clouds and enveloped him.
Just like Rose, Kage possessed mid-stage highgod strength in the energy of darkness. A character of his strength was considered pretty formidable among the average Fringedwellers. However, against Han Hao who dual-cultivated in the element of death and demonic arts, Kage stood little to no chance of winning.
Kage felt as though the outcome of the battle had been decided ever since he was enveloped by the bizarre energy-field generated by the seven bone spurs. When Han Hao reached Kage, he was bombarded with an even more powerful wave of ferocious attacks.
Including the bone spear in Han Hao’s hand, the altogether eight bone spurs whooshed all around under the control of demonic arts. They flew erratically and every one of them carried the power to kill. They were rapidly dismantling the defenses Kage deployed using his darkness divine energy.
Kage tried ramming in every direction but realized that he could not free himself from the eight bone spurs. Since the start of the battle, Kage could only take defensive measures. Although he had the Wind Lace, he was not able to use it.
Although Polo was well acquainted with Han Hao, he did not have the chance to witness Han Hao attacking a person. Therefore, Polo at this moment had his full attention on the callous-looking Han Hao. After observing Han Hao with glistening eyes for a moment, he was yet again shocked.
Even since Han Hao joined the Godhunter Alliance, many had been trying to guess his actual strength. At first, Han Hao was only barely able to defeat a midgod. But then, one day, Han Hao managed to kill a highgod. This caused everyone to re-evaluate their judgement.
The main reason that the godhunters were not able to fathom Han Hao’s strength was because he cultivated in demonic arts. By combining the energies of two different universes, Han Hao often could slaughter an expert of greater strength. Polo had heard from various sources that Han Hao was an early-stage highgod of death. After meeting Han Hao several times and having sensed his aura, Polo also thought it to be true.
However, what he saw right now contradicted his belief. Han Hao had demonstrated overwhelming strength against a mid-stage highgod expert. Right from the beginning, Han Hao had been exerting so much pressure on Kage that the latter could not make a single counterattack!
<i>Just how powerful this fella truly is?</i> Polo asked himself as he watched the battle with lights twinkling from his eyes.
<i>Shhhuk!</i>
Finally, the bizarre and unpredictable attacks of the eight bone spurs caught Kage off guard. One of Han Hao’s bone spurs stabbed his shoulder.
Soon after receiving the stab, Kage felt mentally exhausted while the divine energy in his body was circulating uncontrollably like feral horses freed from captivity. A numbing sensation started spreading from the shoulder. Kage turned to look and he discovered that the flesh on his shoulder was slowly rotting away. It looked as though millions of tiny worms were tearing his flesh.
<i>It’s venomous!</i> Kage was greatly alarmed and horrified.
After having fought Han Hao for a while, Kage discovered that the emotionless Han Hao was simply the perfect killing machine that doesn’t make any mistakes. He saw that Han Hao had displayed not a single emotion throughout the battle. He was like a chess grandmaster, calmly and systematically eliminating his opponent’s pieces and pushing them closer and closer to defeat with every move.
<i>Who the hell is this person? Is he even a person? How is it even possible that he doesn’t have the slightest bit of emotion?</i> The fear in Kage’s mind grew as he fought Han Hao.
Han Hao might be slightly better than Han Shuo at understanding and using the Nine Changes realm. Perhaps it was due to the unique circumstances of his genesis, Little Skeleton would not feel the slightest emotion when he fought others. This allowed him to achieve absolute calmness of the heart and soul, entering the optimal realm state every time.
One would be able to fight at his fullest potential if one was able to stay completely calm in a battle and not be affected by the opponent’s provocative languages. Kage came to recognize just how terrifying it was to fight someone who could do so.
<i>Pow!</i> A burst of the aura of death erupted from a bone spur and it slammed Kage, causing him to stagger backward.
The other bone spurs that had been lying in wait suddenly swarmed at him. Three of them broke through Kage’s defenses and pierced his back.
Han Hao suddenly stopped attacking. He looked at the dying Kage and said in an indifferent voice, “Those followers of yours in your underground base – I’ve killed them all. The savings you had – I’ve taken them all!”
When Han Hao finished those words, the three bone spurs stabbing on Kage suddenly turned alive and started boring into his body like worms.
<i>CrackCrack… CrackCrack… </i> Bone-chilling noises started playing from inside Kage. Then, suddenly, blood spurted out from every one of his orifices. He was visibly losing vitality as blood escaped from his body.
The three-meter long bone spear cut across his neck and sent his head spinning into the air. The bone spurs caught the flying severed head and carried it into the glass container that Little Skeleton had prepared.
<i>Splat!</i> Kage’s body that lost it’s head abruptly exploded. The three bone spurs looked as though fed leeches and returned to Han Hao’s spine.
By now, all of Kage’s followers had been killed. Polo and his godhunters were staring foolishly at Han Hao. They had witnessed Han Hao mercilessly murder Kage and saw absolutely no emotion on Han Hao’s face. It was as though Han Hao was so used to doing it that he was numbed by it.
<i>No wonder Chief would value him so highly. This teenager is truly terrifying. He is ruthless and merciless at such a young age, not to mention powerful. He is destined to achieve greatness!</i> thought Kodiak. He suddenly felt that Polo’s judgment power was almost as extraordinary as Han Hao.
“Ermm… Han Hao, I guess I owe you a thank you,” Polo was between laughter and tears. His original plan was to kill Kage and bring his head to Han Hao as a gift. But out of his expectation, Han Hao appeared out of nowhere and killed Kage himself. With that, instead of Han Hao owing Polo a favor, it was Polo who owed Han Hao a favor.
Han Hao turned to look at Polo emotionlessly. He nodded and replied, “You are welcome. You have taken care of Kage’s followers for me. We have the same goal. We don’t owe each other anything.”
“Well, all right then.” Polo thought for a moment before he asked, “If Salas investigates Kage’s death, what are you going to do?”
“Just find a few scapegoats nearby and throw their bodies here. Make it look like it was the other four Sovereigns who did it,” Han Hao bunched his brows slightly and continued, “Kage is just an insignificant character. I doubt that Salas cared about him as much as Kage thought he would.”
Polo nodded, put on a mischievous smile and said, “Indeed, we shall make it so!”