Chapter 401
401: The alliance based on benefits
It didn’t take Han Shuo much effort to thoroughly understand the situation through the mystical demons snooping around. The one behind this hostility directed at Trunks and the Soul Destroyer was Florida of the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band. The other participants included the House of Menlo as well as Laureton of the Cairo mercenary band.
In this world, there was no eternal friends, only eternal benefits. These words had accurately summed up the situation!
In the past, when Laureton and Florida had been competing for power, Han Shuo and Trunks had sided with Laureton. The night Laureton had been surrounded by the four great powers in the small mountain valley, Han Shuo had even aided him to come out of it alive.
From that time, the Cairo mercenary band and Soul Destroyer mercenary band had close relations with Laureton and Trunks constantly cooperating. In the eyes of outsiders, the Cairo and Soul Destroyer mercenary bands had seemed to have formed an alliance.
However, with the Soul Destroyer rapid development in addition to Han Shuo’s blazing reputation in the Lancelot Empire, it had pushed the Soul Destroyer mercenary band to become the fifth great power in the Valley of Sunshine. In the recent days, Trunks killing Butcher Gustav had caused the residents in the Valley of Sunshine to be alarmed. Laureton and Florida who were originally the two most promising contenders for the control over the Valley of Sunshine had finally realized that the situation was delicate.
When one’s own interest was threatened, friendship and alliance were as fragile as the vows of politicians. Florida and Laureton immediately joined forces. Since Adam Menlo had been heavily injured by Han Shuo previously, he was extremely happy to also participate in this long-planned insidious scheme.
The result was Trunks being ambushed by Laureton and the rest while on the way back from Janet’s place and the mercenaries with him completely annihilated. Trunks himself had been captured alive and imprisoned in a hidden cave within the belly of a mountain valley. The major powers had all sent their experts to keep watch over him.
They didn’t immediately kill Trunks because although Laureton and the rest coveted the wealth of the Soul Destroyer mercenary band, they didn’t have much information on the detailed layout of the Soul Destroyer mercenary band’s base. Therefore, they intended to get it from Trunks’ own mouth before making their next move, which would also help decrease the losses on their side.
However, Trunks’ tenacity was beyond their expectation. Under the rounds of torture and extortion, he still hadn’t revealed any information that they’d wanted. Hence, his body was tormented black and blue till he was on the verge of death.
“I have no interest in caring about you, but Trunks’ life is to be kept. This is the decision agreed by all three leaders. No matter how you tortured Trunks, I have no problem as long as he doesn’t die. But if you kill him, we will have to bear the blame of negligence. Do not cause troubles for us!” Trulla wasn’t afraid of Asa, placing the iron in its original place as he said coldly.
Some of the injuries on Trunks’ body were starting to rot, there was even pus flowing from his neck and chest. Trulla who standing nearby involuntarily covered his mouth when he smelled the nauseating smell, disgusted as he fanned with his hand, “F*ck. You can still stand it?! Forget about it for today. Wait until his body gets better before toying with him again. Otherwise, everyone will object.”
As Trulla said this, he had already lost his patience and walked out. A few members of the Cairo mercenary band looked at Asa in annoyance. One person chimed in, “Asa, your Florida has also agreed. You’d better be more content, don’t break the rules.”
The others people in the mountain cave all revealed an annoyed expression. Even the members of the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band who were stationed here with Asa also persuaded him to not make a fuss. Thinking for a while, Asa turned his head to glance at the unconscious Trunks who was on the verge of death, the fury in his heart subsiding a little.
With that many people dissuading him, Asa also didn’t dare to recklessly act on his own accord, so as to avoid rousing the anger of others. He understood that his position in the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band was no longer as firm due to the death of his father Gustav. What was more loathsome was that the bandit group had split up after his father died and simply didn’t remain under him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had to stay in the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band and suffered humiliation.
While Asa was drowned in hatred, sounds of heavy steps resounded from the outside. The sounds were very faint at first, gradually becoming clearer.
“Who is it?” The still unhappy Asa shouted loudly, “Since you’ve already come, don’t you know to report your name?”
The sounds of footsteps were still approached slowly. However, the person didn’t respond. Asa couldn’t help but curse again, “F*ck, are you mute? Don’t you know how to speak?”
“Something’s not right!” Trulla frowned, suddenly taking out a long sword as he said to the people next to him.
“Only we know about this place, what can go wrong? You’re overly suspicious. Don’t those fellows always deliver our food at this time? It must be them!” Asa took this opportunity to say a few words to Trulla.
The footsteps were still approaching. The sound of each step contained a strange rhythm, giving rise to a sense of terror in people’s hearts. It was as if a demon was slowly nearing, its ghastly huge mouth hidden within the darkness, ready to bite into your neck at any moment.
Trulla threw a disdainful glance at Asa, thinking that this bandit’s son was indeed not a true mercenary. Be it Cairo mercenary band or the House of Menlo, they were both strict and well-disciplined organizations. There would absolutely not be such a conduct of coming without giving a signal.
“Brothers, be a little careful. The situation is a bit strange!” Trulla tightly grasped his long sword and warned the people on his side.
Some experienced mercenaries from the Cairo mercenary band didn’t need Trulla’s reminder and had already gathered together cautiously. Even Asa’s group from the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band had also clearly separated from the other two powers.
At this critical moment, as the three powers had only joined forces for profit, they still only trusted their own people rather than the fake allies who reluctantly cooperated for the sake of benefits. The Valley of Sunshine was precisely such a place. They were enemies, be it past or future. However, they currently stood together peacefully in the face of a common enemy.
Tap… tap… The footsteps were getting closer, becoming clearer!
Trulla glanced at the fire adept mage next to him and said, “Cast a flame!”
When that fire adept mage heard Trulla’s order, a fire snake meandered its way into the passage, the brown-gray wall could be seen clearly when it glided through.
At this point, even Asa knew that something was wrong. He stared raptly at the only entrance. The members of the Cairo mercenary band had a tacit understanding among themselves as they formed a square formation, ready to face the incoming person’s attacks at any moment.
While everyone was focusing their attention on the only tunnel, a string of clear, crisp sounds suddenly rang out from Trunks’ location behind their backs. All of them who had their eyes glued on the tunnel turned around to look when they suddenly heard such loud sounds breaking the silence.
Right next to Trunks was Han Shuo with the Demonslayer Edge in hand and a darkened expression as he cut off the iron chains on Trunks’ body. The durable iron chains which were made from the recently mined mithril broke apart with each crisp sound. The slender chain piercing through Trunks’ shoulder blade was also carefully taken out by Han Shuo.
Trulla’s group who had suddenly turned around didn’t know how Han Shuo got in. There was only one tunnel which they heard the sound of footsteps from within the cave and they’d all placed their full attention there. Yet, they really hadn’t seen anyone coming in from the tunnel!
However, Han Shuo had indeed suddenly appeared out of thin air, as if he’d been standing there all along. His sudden arrival was in such an eerie way that it gave people an extremely vexed feeling.
Seeing the gloomy-faced Han Shuo appear, all of the people keeping watch on Trunks inside the mountain cave felt their hearts tremble momentarily. They saw that Han Shuo had acted as if he didn’t see them and only focused on breaking Trunks’ shackles with a dark expression. Unknowingly, a feeling of terror couldn’t help but gradually form from the bottom of their hearts.
Although Han Shuo hadn’t been present in the Valley of Sunshine, stories of him were always spreading around the Valley. The people in the mountain cave, including Asa and Trulla, were all experts of the three powers. Not only did they know of Han Shuo, some of them had once witnessed with their own eyes Han Shuo’s actions.
Presently in this narrow belly of the mountain, Han Shuo had noiselessly appeared like a ghost, only silently removing Trunks’ shackles. The invisible suppression was as heavy as a mountain, causing palpitations as they grew flustered.
Asa’s lips were dry. He once had his hand chopped off by Han Shuo. At that time in the mountain valley, he had witnessed Han Shuo’s every blow as he struck Ferguson to death. When Han Shuo left, the stories of him didn’t disappear and were instead spread throughout the Valley of Sunshine by the mercenaries who traveled extensively. In particular, the deed of Han Shuo beheading the dragon knight Celt was even more rapidly exaggerated.
Asa knew full well the relationship between Han Shuo and Trunks. He watched as Han Shuo worked on removing the bindings of the dying Trunks with a somber countenance, an icy cold chill abruptly spreading through his entire body. Asa’s mind spun rapidly and he suddenly came to a very wise decision after watching Han Shuo for only a dozen seconds.
Whoosh! Asa was the first to rush into the tunnel to leave the cave, fleeing without a fight!
“Damned bastard!” Trulla turned to take a quick look, lowly cursing at Asa’s shameless cowardice. Shortly after, he also felt a bit terrified, tightly gripping the long sword in his hand as he put on a strong front and looked coldly at Han Shuo, “Count Bryan, this has nothing to do with you. You can’t dictate the matters in our Valley of Sunshine. If you leave now, we won’t stop you. Otherwise…”
“Ah? Asa, why do you already returned?” Not waiting for Trulla to finish, the fire archmage next to him suddenly cried out in surprise.
Trulla was stunned. He didn’t rebuke the underling for cutting off on the threat that he’d summoned his courage to say. Trulla promptly turned around to see Asa having a bitter expression as he really returned step by step. Tap, tap… The footsteps in the cave still echoed within everyone’s hearts and actually became heavier!