Han Sen jumped onto the blood kirin’s back. Then, the blood kirin roared and flew towards Ice Blue Knight King and the others.
“Ignore those other guys and kill him first,” Han Sen instructed, thrusting his Thunder God Spike toward Ice Blue Knight King.
Instead of answering, the blood kirin simply kept roaring as it headed for Han Sen’s target.
“Charge!” Ice Blue Knight King called to the Ice Blue Knights as he swept his greatsword at the blood kirin.
The blood kirin paid no mind to the other Knights, though. The Knights had previously exploited the blood kirin’s stupidity to land a few blows, but now that the creature was following Han Sen’s commands, they found themselves having to give the creature an even wider berth.
“Han Sen, if you keep this up, you will never be allowed back into the Ice Blue Knights!” Ice Blue Knight King shouted, watching an Ice Blue Knight get torn to shreds by the blood kirin.
“I’ve already quit the Ice Blue Knights. Do you really think I plan to return after all this? When you guys decided to fight with me, you should have said your prayers and readied yourselves for death!” Han Sen shot back.
Ice Blue Knight King did not speak again. He had treated Han Sen as Yisha’s student. He thought of Han Sen as a junior, and he had never thought he would have to take the young man as an enemy.
Even though Han Sen had betrayed the Knights, Ice Blue Knight King only wanted to teach him a lesson as a senior Knight. He wanted to grab Han Sen, take the slate, then haul Han Sen back to his rightful place in the Knights.
It was only now that Ice Blue Knight King realized he had been wrong about Han Sen since the beginning. He never considered Han Sen as an equal, and it never crossed his mind that Han Sen would see him as an opponent. Or a competitor.
Han Sen wasn’t a junior who required protection or could be ordered around. Han Sen was a mighty elite who had exactly what it took to survive and thrive in that cruel world. He was holding his own despite the many powerful enemies that wanted him dead.
Ice Blue Knight King’s realization might have come too late. If he had considered Han Sen as a real threat in the beginning, he wouldn’t have given Han Sen any chance to escape the base. He would have taken Han Sen down as soon as possible, and he wouldn’t have chased after Han Sen alone when he first made his escape.
The blood kirin chased the group back to the hellish skeletal gate, killing everyone but Ice Blue Knight King, Crime, and one other Ice Blue Knight along the way.
Han Sen and the blood kirin didn’t dare draw too close to the gate, though. Han Sen allowed the three survivors to escape. Then, he went back to the lotus mountain where the blood kirin lived.
“I was foolish. I should have treated him like a genuine opponent.” Ice Blue Knight King stared at Han Sen, who was riding away atop the blood kirin. His face was expressionless, showing no hint of anger or sadness.
From that moment on, Ice Blue Knight King was going to treat Han Sen like a genuine opponent. To go against a strong opponent, though, he’d need more than the few students he had.
Crime looked grim. “Is that guy really Yisha’s student? He seems scarier than Yisha. I fear we may have underestimated him.”
“You cannot blame us for that. Who would have assumed that a Marquise could pose such a threat?” asked the other Ice Blue Knight, whose name was Harder.
Harder was feeling rather conflicted at that moment. He and Edward had been very close, so he knew just how terrifying the man had been.
Although Edward was just a hybrid Extreme King and his attack power wasn’t too strong when compared to the rest, his powers of observation and his movements were splendid.
Harder again envisioned Edward lying helpless under Han Sen’s attack, and the Ice Blue Knight struggled to find words to describe what that horrible sight had done to him.
Although Han Sen was just a Duke, no one dared treat him as a Duke anymore.
Fox Queen met Ice Blue Knight King and the other two at the gate. She frowned and said, “Where are the others?”
Ice Blue Knight King told her what had happened. He spoke plainly and without exaggeration, describing Han Sen and the blood kirin’s power. And he did not hide the fact that his group had well and truly failed.
“Interesting. Very interesting. The blood kirin became half-deified that quickly? And Han Sen was riding it in battle?” Fox Queen squinted her eyes.
She didn’t blame Ice Blue Knight King. After a moment, she said, “You guys can stay here to aid Mister White in breaking the restrictions of this place. When I break the chains binding me here, I can go and take him down myself.”
Back in the blood kirin’s valley, Han Sen allowed Bao’er and the others to leave Destiny’s Tower and relax for a bit. He also wanted to discuss their game plan for the coming conflict.
Han Sen had used the blood kirin’s power to defeat Ice Blue Knight King and the others for the time being, but he didn’t think they were safe yet. And that made him even more worried.
Edward and the others had been able to find the palace and bend the restrictions to gain entry. That meant one of them understood the structure of the palace, at least to some degree.
Fox Queen hadn’t sent Mister White after them, and that was probably because Mister White knew the most about the palace’s composition. If he was able to break Fox Queen’s restrictions, then Han Sen would be in big trouble.
Han Sen stood no chance of defeating an unhampered deified elite, even if he had all sorts of deified items to use against her. And now, Han Sen was stuck in the White Bone Hell. The palace was his only means of escape. Unless he wanted to stay there forever, he would have to leave through the skeletal gate.
“But the blood kirin is only half-deified. If I could make it deified, it would be easy to ride it out and slaughter whatever got in our way,” Han Sen thought to himself.
Han Sen’s team talked for half the day, but they didn’t come up with anything that seemed really promising. Han Sen decided to focus his efforts on absorbing all the Ghost Bone power he could. He hoped to get The Story of Genes to Duke class. The more power he had, the better his chances of survival would become.
“Even if Fox Queen really does manage to escape, she won’t kill me if she can’t find what she wants. That means I might still have a chance.” As Han Sen rested, he fidgeted with the stone plate. He kept thinking about how things might play out.
The blood kirin and Han Sen were very comfortable with each other by this point, but only Han Sen could get close to the beast. The creature’s presence was too menacing. It looked at everyone else like slabs of meat. The blood kirin looked likely to jump forward and gobble them up at any second.
Han Sen kept practicing with The Story of Genes. A month went by, and The Story of Genes was progressing quite well. It was still a long way away from becoming Duke, though.
Suddenly, the whole of White Bone Hell began to shake, and Han Sen heard Fox Queen’s voice coming through the hellish skeletal gate. “My good little brother! Your big sister is coming to find you.”
Fox Queen stood in front of the gate, and the metal shackles were still visible on her neck, arms, and ankles. The metal chains that connected to the shackles, however, were gone.
Mister White, Ice Blue Knight King, Crime, and Harder stood behind Fox Queen. It was like they were now her people.
Fox Queen’s aura spread across the White Bone Hell, searching for Han Sen. But suddenly, two shadows appeared from the mountains. It was Han Sen and the blood kirin. That surprised her. She had expected Han Sen to try to escape, not come looking for her.