Chapter 898: Cornered (1/2)
GDK 898: Cornered
Dagassi had relayed Sha-t’o words clearly. The House of Han must surrender every last bit of their secrets to the House of Kiaran within just three days. Otherwise, they will be exterminated.
Emily, Phoebe, Stratholme, Bollands, Sanguis, Gilbert, and other core members of the Han Family gathered to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum. They were all wearing gloomy and grave faces.
By now, it was obvious to Stratholme that the missing House of Han guard must have been abducted by the House of Kiaran. Otherwise, Sha-t’o wouldn’t have known about the existence of those remaining demonic combat formations.
Emily and Stratholme exchanged glances. They both knew that it was no longer necessary to conceal the matter. Stratholme revealed to the party about the disappearance of one of their guards before he solemnly said, “It seems that Sha-t’o must have learned some secrets of our family clan from the guard. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have suddenly demanded us to surrender all our secrets in just three days.”
“I have personally trained every one of our guards and I’m absolutely confident that they wouldn’t say a word,” remarked Bollands confidently after thinking for a moment.
Before they were recruited into the House of Han, the guards had to pass thorough background checks and all sorts of personality tests. They would then be trained and tempered mentally and physically through various methods. These guards would place the interests of the House of Han above their own lives.
And as a matter of fact, the House of Han guard who was abducted spoke not a word despite having been tortured. He had even bit his tongue off. Such was the faithfulness of a House of Han guard.
“Sha-t’o cultivates the energy of death. As a late-stage highgod, his mastery and understanding of the soul would be beyond our imagination.” Fanny who cultivated the energy of death, explained, “I believe in the loyalty of our House of Han guards. But after a person dies, their memory and soul don’t immediately vanish. Given Sha-to’s strength, it wouldn’t be too hard for him to extract some information from his soul.”
The party immediately understood what must have happened after hearing Fanny’s explanation.
“It seems that this is as much time as we could buy. If Sha-t’o learned the secrets of our House of Han from the divine guard’s soul, then he will never ever let us off. No matter what we do, our only way out is death,” said Emily after she sighed in despair. With things having come to this, even the optimistic Emily saw no hope of survival.
Bollands who still wore the same calmness and indifference on his face, in a firm, decisive voice, proposed, “Then we shall wait no more. We will strike this very night and take as many kills as we can!”
Bollands had been very calm all along. It was him who had been keeping Sanguis and Gilbert from doing anything rash. He had followed Emily and Startholme’s strategy to buy as much time as they could. He even endured an insult from Sha-t’o. But surprisingly, he was also the first in proposing a kamikaze attack.
Sanguis and Gilbert who were prepared to do so a long time ago had ferocious lights bursting from their eyes. They seem strangely excited after hearing Bollands’ words.
Emily nodded firmly. In a resolute voice, she said, “Tonight it is! We will give our lives to cause the greatest casualties to the House of Kiaran. The House of Han may be annihilated, but we won’t go down without a fight!“ It seemed as though she would welcome death with open arms.
Emily looked at the faces of all those gathered before she suddenly smiled and said, “But know that we will not die in vain! Bryan will avenge our deaths - it will only be a matter of time. He will kill all those who have directly or indirectly participated in this!”
“Let us disperse and take a quick rest. We will assemble before dawn and we will strike as one,” said Bollands. As the instructor who had trained every House of Han guards, he was most capable of coordinating an assault, such as the one the House of Han was about to do.
Those core members of the House of Han silently dispersed to take their possibly last recharge. Bollands then immediately assembled the House of Han Captains, informing them about their upcoming plan and strategy.
*** While the House of Han was quietly getting prepared, Sha-t’o, the patriarch of the Kiaran Family went to the City Lord of Witherbone City at his Mansion. He revealed the information he extracted from the soul of the House of Han guard to City Lord Hill.
Hill was rather annoyed at first, thinking that it was not necessary for him to be briefed with every nitty-gritty detail. But after hearing that Han Shuo had killed many of Larikson’s highgods and even forced Larikson and Felder to flee, his annoyance turned into shock. He put on a grave face and said to Sha-t’o, “Tell me everything you know about this guy in detail!”
There had been many rumors about the City of Shadows’ House of Han which had gotten their way to Sha-t’o and Hill’s ears. However, the two weren’t people who would trust unverified news and they were unaware of many of Han Shuo’s secrets. Therefore, Sha-t’o and Hill had not taken Han Shuo as a potential threat from the beginning.
They may not believe in rumors, but they had absolute confidence in the memories of that guard’s soul. Sha-t’o explained all the previously unknown secrets about Han Shuo to Hill. Both of them noticed the profound graveness in each other’s eyes.