Chapter 121: It turns out it was our own people
Duke used a floatation spell to arrive where the two had been hiding and inspected the four surroundings for a sign of anything out of the ordinary, with a lofty air and above everything. The senior swordsman Erick also rushed in from a distance and carefully poked his head through the shrubbery. He raised his head towards Duke up in the sky, “Mister Duke, nothing out of the ordinary here!”
The wind archmage Duke closed his eyes and didn’t say a word, concentrating and listening to the wind, as if trying to obtain some clues.
Situated within the thick growth of branches and leaves, Han Shuo and Emily were completely concealed. Their surroundings were also covered by a grey magic wall from the dark major arts. The dark major magics were veiled in mystery and adept at hiding traces of movement. As a fellow archmage, it would be difficult for Duke to detect the dark magic wall that she had set up.
After a low exclamation, Emily looked at Han Shuo, extremely astonished. “How did you do that?”
His expression grave, Han Shuo looked at Duke, who hovered in the distance, and made a careful gesture, indicating for Emily not to speak and alert Duke and Erick.
Extending a finger to tap Han Shuo’s forehead, Emily smiled. “What are you being furtive and scared about? There are thick branches and leaves concealing our whereabouts. The wall I just set up has sound insulating properties. Even if Duke is a wind major archmage, he won’t be able to hear a bit of our conversation. What are you worried about?”
Emily had spoken several times, but Duke, standing in the distance, was still listening with his eyes closed. It looked like he truly hadn’t discovered anything. Heaving a sigh in relief, Han Shuo grabbed the finger that Emily had extended and bit it, making her roll her eyes at him with a brightly flushed face.
“Speak, how did you do it?” Emily, her face brilliantly red, stared at Han Shou as she asked.
At this moment, Emily was leaning on Han Shuo’s left side, and half her body was pressing against him. Her full chest was resting on Han Shuo’s left arm and her long and smooth thigh tightly mashed against his waist. Emily, with an extremely amorous expression, was an uncontrollable temptation for Han Shuo, who had just gotten an initial taste of the pleasures between man and woman.
Chuckling lowly, Han Shuo said, “So there’s a soundproofing effect. Heh heh, we haven’t done it on a tree yet!
Han Shuo grabbed Emily as soon as he’d finished speaking and moved to position her behind at his waist. He immediately started ravaging with his hands as Emily’s face and necks immediately flushed red from Han Shuo’s actions and the finger that he’d just bit. She said, “Duke is below and Erick is also observing from below as well. We can’t do this! It’s too embarrassing!”
“No worries, that’s what makes this exciting. Heh heh!” When Han Shuo had ripped Emily’s shirt apart, his mouth neared her earlobes and he kissed her tenderly as he chuckled evilly in a low voice.
After this string of teasing, Emily finally couldn’t hold it any longer and emitted a tempting moan from her sweet lips. She forgot everything that’d they been talking about before and no longer cared that they were in a large tree, with two enemies making observations around them. She voluntarily reached out a hand into Han Shuo’s shirt as her well rounded bottom searched for the right position.
“Ah… “ Both of them gave out a comfortable cry when he entered.
After a while, when Emily’s body had gone completely soft and she’d screamed herself hoarse, everything began to slowly calm down. Maintaining their position, Emily sprawled on Han Shuo’s chest and used her index finger to trace small circles. She asked again, “How did you do that?”
At this moment, the wind archmage Duke and Erick had long since left. An original demon trailed far behind the two and relayed everything it reacted to into Han Shuo’s mind. Because the two of them had come with the intention of finding the cemetery of death, their speed in walking away wasn’t that fast. They would find it difficult to escape the surveillance of the original demon within a short amount of time, thus Han Shuo wasn’t in a hurry.
His large hand unconsciously roved over Emily’s naked back, Han Shuo asked, “How did I do what?”
“I’m a dark major archmage and I didn’t discover when Duke was approaching us. You’re just a minor necromancer, how could you detect this disturbance? In addition, you’re a mage, but your adroitness and deftness in climbing this tree was more ridiculous than an ordinary swordsman. I’ve also seen how you’ve adjusted your breathing and heartbeat. What’s going on?” Emily breathed out lightly in enjoyment after they’d calmed down from Han Shuo’s motions and asked him on the side.
Remaining silent for a while, Han Shuo said, “Apart from training in necromancy magic, I’m also training in a wondrous martial arts technique. This wondrous technique is different from ordinary fighting aura. Therefore, I can count as a mage swordsman. All of the particular points you saw just now are because of this martial arts technique.”
Her body straightening slightly, Emily looked in astonishment at Han Shuo, “Such a wondrous martial arts technique exists? Then can you fight like a swordsman?”
Nodding, Han Shuo said affirmatively, “Of course.” His forehead then creased as he looked at Emily with confusion. “How do you know those two?”
It was Emily’s turn to be silent after his question. She hesitated, and then said slowly, “I haven’t told you everything about me because I was afraid of bringing you trouble. I’m actually someone from the Lancelot Empire and was escorting the McGrady Guild’s smuggled goods from the Brut Merchant alliance this time because I was investigating something. I wanted to get to the bottom of who was receiving this batch of resources that would be used for war.”
“Honestly speaking, I belong to a secret organization. Duke and Erick have come with an unspeakable secret to the Empire this time, and their actions threaten the livelihood of the Empire. Therefore, our organization is making a move against the two. Although I wasn’t in the Empire, I have the clearance level to know everything that happens.”
“I also saw Duke and Erick’s head shots within the organization’s files. The organization is sending people to shadow their movements. The organization said that they might appear on the borders of the Empire and thus wanted me to return to the Empire through the border. I paid quite a bit of attention, that’s why I know so much. Although our organization allows everyone their space and usually won’t interfere in members’ lives, there’s still no benefit if you know too much.”
The soft and tender voice emitted from Emily’s mouth as she calmly relayed the entire matter and her identity. After all of this, Han Shuo suddenly displayed a strange smile, scaring Emily. She wondered if something was up with him.
“What’s wrong? Are you frightened? Don’t worry, our organization answers to His Majesty the king and exists completely and only for the security of the Empire. We don’t interfere in members’ lives and I don’t think they will be of any threat to you. Oh, are you afraid of me? Are you prepared to throw me away?” Emily first explained, but then felt a bit afraid when she saw Han Shuo’s weird smile. This man had gotten everything of hers and was quite cute when he was acting bad. He had helped her heart enjoy the past few days in peace, and so she wouldn’t let him go, no matter what. Emily’s heart raced frantically.
Beneath Emily’s worry and fear, her previously reddened and flushed face appeared full of fear and trepidation. When she got to the end, her voice was choking up. No matter how strong or a mature a woman was, when she gave her body and heart to a man, she would display weakness and timidness in front of the man who had received her all. Emily was naturally no exception.
After a while, Han Shuo said with a shadow of a smile, “Your organization is called the Dark Mantle, right?”
Her heart leaping in fear, Emily’s body stiffened as she looked at Han Shuo in astonishment and shock. She asked, “How do you know that?”
His space ring lighting up, the iron medallion that represented his identity as a Dark Mantle member suddenly appeared in Han Shuo’s hand. Han Shuo said to Emily, “Because I’m also a member of the Dark Mantle!”
Emily, “…”
“Heh heh, who would’ve thought that we’d be colleagues? Hurry and let me see your medallion and let me know what rank you are?” Han Shuo chuckled oddly as he grasped Emily’s small hand and caressed her space ring with his finger.
“You wicked little brat!” Emily blanked for a moment and suddenly started chuckling delightfully, splaying herself on Han Shuo’s chest with tears of joy. She reached out her hand and ran it acorss Han Shuo’s chest. When Han Shuo was breathing out comfortably, her teeth suddenly bit down fiercely and started squeals from Han Shuo.
“See if you dare bully me again, humph!” Emily chuckled with pride when she saw Han Shuo scream out of startlement. She put on an air of glaring ferociously at Han Shuo before subsiding.
Feeling that the distance between them and the original demon trailing Duke was increasing further, Han Shuo suddenly pulled down his shirt and also looked over Emily before saying, “Let’s follow Duke and see what he’s up to?”
When Han Shuo finished speaking, Emily recited an incantation in a low voice and the grey air that had been surrounding them suddenly disappeared without a trace. As Han Shuo poked his head out of the leaves and grabbed Emily, he directly jumped down from the tree amidst her screams. He landed solidly within the shrubs in the back and didn’t cause any harm to Emily’s body.
Leveraging the original demon tailing Duke, Han Shuo and Emily exchanged some information. Han Shuo also told Emily about his recent experiences within the Dark Forest. However, he picked which ones he could say, and still concealed what he had to conceal.
“A minion of the Third Dark Star, you need to listen to me in the future or I can directly punish you!” When she knew that Han Shuo was just a lowly Third Dark Star, Emily continued to lightly tease Han Shuo along the way. Candide, one of the three heavyweights of the Dark Mantle, was at the highest level of Fifth Dark Sun. Emily was already a Third Dark Sun and thus her status within the Dark Mantle would surely be very high. No wonder she had the authority to know so much.
“Who would’ve thought you would be a Third Dark Sun! Heh heh, so what if you are? You’re still conquered by my prowess! You live if I want you to live, you die if I want you to die.” Han Shuo smacked his palm on Emily’s butt and laughed delightedly.
“You crude, despicable little brat! I’m going to make you completely tame and make you answerable to me sooner or later!” Emily’s hand that was curled around Han Shuo’s arm suddenly pinched him fiercely, and wasn’t in the slightest bit angry about Han Shuo’s crudeness.
His body suddenly froze as Han Shuo discovered, through the original demon, that Duke and Erick had actually discovered traces of the cemetery of death. Duke kept circling the area around the cemetery of death with a frown on his face, as if he’d discovered something.
Emily stopped when Han Shuo halted and looked askance at him, opening her mouth to ask, “What now? Are you annoyed at me because I said I would tame you? You know I’m joking!”
Shaking his head, Han Shuo said lowly, “Should we kill Duke and the other?”
“Let’s not for now. If I’m guessing correctly, the old fox Candide must be planning on thoroughly understanding Duke’s intentions. That’s why he’s still alive. Otherwise, there’s no way that the two of them would be able to leave the Lancelot Empire alive. You’ve just entered the Dark Mantle so you don’t know how strong the organization is. It’s impossible for a wind archmage and a senior swordsman to escape from that sly fox Candide’s hand.” Emily mused deeply and then opened her mouth to explain to Han Shuo.
“I actually understand, because I answer directly to Candide!” Han Shuo said in a low.
Covering her surprise and looking at Han Shuo, Emily said lightly, “You’re joking! You’re just a Third Dark Star! You don’t have the right to be managed by him at all?”
Shrugging, Han Shuo said, “If you don’t believe me, you can look into the internal information of the Dark Mantle. I was directly inducted by Candide, and he said that I would be under his deployment in the future. That’s how things are.”
Emily rather believed Han Shuo after his words. She stroked his cheek as she said, “You’re quite something alright. How did the old fox take a fancy to you?”
“Let’s not talk about this, we should hurry and follow them. I think Duke and them are planning on doing something.” Han Shuo suddenly said and tugged Emily towards Duke and Erick’s direction.
Leveraging the original demon’s vision, Han Shuo discovered that Duke and Erick were circling the outside of the cemetery of death. It looked like Duke had indeed discovered something. He changed magical incantations and released several Grim Wind spells. They howled around the edges of the cemetery of death, attempting to discover something.
Just as this moment, the concealed original demon discovered someone crouched within the shrubbery. This man wore a body of dark brown clothing, with the color of the clothing melding into the trees. He lay there unmoving, and it would be difficult to discover him if one didn’t look carefully.
His clothes and actions clearly indicated that he was after Duke and Erick. From the information that he’d just received from Emily, Han Shuo’s thoughts raced and he immediately understood that this man was likely someone that the Dark Mantle had sent to keep an eye on Duke and Erick.
The Grim Wind spells blew randomly and tore through everything around them. When one of the Grim Wind spells blew over, it happened to crash directly into him. Although the man lay crouching on the ground and didn’t move, a bloody furrow was gouged out of his body and he involuntarily cried out from the pain.
“Who is it?” The sensitivity of Duke’s ears were beyond belief as he heard a cry of pain from such a distance away. He’d been standing within the bushes, but suddenly once again, used the levitation spell to drift through the air and make straight for where the person was.
Seeing that he’d been made, the person immediately stood up and planned on hastily leaving the area. However, as a wind archmage, Duke’s speed was obviously faster than this person. He’d arrived behind the person with a whoosh as soon as he’d activated the levitation spell.
“You Dark Mantle people again, you really linger and refuse to leave. You’ve discovered me even in the Dark Forest! I have to say that you Dark Mantle people are truly infinitely resourceful!” Duke said this with a light smile and chanted an incantation.
Great winds suddenly appeared in front of the Dark Mantle member, who was attempting to leave, obstructing his path forward. The howling wind formed blades of wind and criss-crossed as they shot towards the Dark Mantle member.
When his body met the obstruction, a dagger appeared in his hand as he dodged nimbly within the shrubbery, evading most of the attacks from the wind blades. He then waved the dagger to defend against the other wind blades. Explosions rang out, and although his dagger defended against a few of the wind blades, two deep gouges of blood appeared on his legs.
“Oh no, the observer from our organization keeping an eye on their movements seems to have been caught. We should hurry on over. You take care of Duke and I’ll handle senior swordsman Erick.” Han Shuo was deathly afraid that the cemetery of death would be revealed and thus planned on using Emily’s power to kill Duke and Erick once and for all. He immediately cried out when he saw this situation developing.
Emily’s facial expression immediately changed when she heard Han Shuo’s words. A grey robe suddenly appeared as it covered her entire body. She also casted the levitation spell and flew out after murmuring “be careful” to Han Shuo.
Apart from serving within the Dark Mantle, many within the organization had other identities. Therefore, unless there was no other option available, they wouldn’t easily show their true faces to others. This was the basic modus operandus of all Dark Mantle members.
When Emily left, Han Shuo also took out a grey robe to cover his entire body as two of the original demons flew towards Duke, with the other closely tailing Erick. Han Shuo was quite familiar with this area as he dashed over from another path and planned on intercepting and getting rid of Erick halfway.
Han Shuo’s injuries were mostly healed by now, and his magical yuan had greatly increased after last time’s experience of entering a demonic trance. As his magical yuan circulated now, it gave Han Shuo a feeling of being free from inhibitions.
When Erick heard Duke’s voice, he grasped his longsword and quickly, but cautiously approached the same spot. When he reached an uneven hill, Han Shuo, who’d been lying in wait, suddenly chanted a magical incantation. A bone spear suddenly shot towards Erick, and a crossbow also twanged when the bone spear materialized.
When the crossbow bolt shot out, Han Shuo’s body also shot out like lightning. When Erick saw these two attacks charging towards him, Erick completely lost his composure as he panicked and used a most practical, yet exceedingly ugly roll to move out of the way towards the front, not giving a thought to how he looked.
The ugly method was quite useful as he evaded Han Shuo’s two waves of attacks. Erick then appeared right in front of Han Shuo and stabbed forward with a sword imbued with dark green fighting aura. Han Shuo hastily took out the Demonslayer Edge, but his hand trembled slightly from the impact.
Erick also grunted, but didn’t actually make use of the opportunity to follow up. He stood up and chased in Duke’s direction.
Snorting lightly, Han Shuo grasped his Demonslayer Edge and quickly followed. Another original demon, who was observing Duke, discovered that Emily had already exchanged blows with Duke, and it seemed that she had the upper hand. It was a pity that she seemed to be a few steps too late as the Dark Mantle member already had multiple lacerations crossing his body. He seemed to be dead.
“Master Duke, I’m going!” Erick cried out loudly and charged over with upraised sword. Duke, in the midst of his fight with Emily, had his facial expression flicker rapidly, but when he saw Han Shuo chasing behind Erick, the staff in his hand suddenly shook as he released a hurricane spell, lifting up Han Shuo’s charging body and flinging it into the distance.
At this moment, the Eye of Darkness that had been stored within Han Shuo’s space ring actually flew out of the ring automatically, flaring out with sparkling green light, opening the boundary that protected the cemetery of death. Han Shuo’s body also landed within the cemetery with a thud.
“Oh, my gosh, it really is the cemetery of death!” Duke had been about to turn back and handle Emily when he saw the green light explode in the air, revealing the bizarre view of the cemetery of death. He immediately cried out with joy and suddenly dashed over, paying no heed to anything else.
Erick and Emily were both incredibly astonished. They first stared, dumbfounded, and then sprinted forward with all their might before the boundary to the cemetery closed again.