Chapter 167: Capturing the Female Alchemist Alive

"Watch out!" Seeing Han Shuo rush out, Emily warned him with a hint of worry.

The courtyard of the inn was the size of a basketball court. With Han Shuo's swift speed, almost by the time Emily finished speaking, his figure had already appeared in the corner where Belinda and the other three were standing.

However, the moment Han Shuo made his move, the three Fulica brothers, having understood his intention, had already tightly encircled Belinda, who was controlling the puppet beast. The three brothers formed a triangle around Belinda, all six eyes locked vigilantly onto Han Shuo, their magic swords clutched tightly in their hands as they awaited his approach.

Amidst his rapid charge, Han Shuo chanted a low-level spell, "Dark Mist." The moment he arrived beside the four of them, the spell was immediately unleashed, enshrouding Han Shuo, Belinda, and the others in total obscurity.

"Damn it, he's actually a necromancer!" Fulica cursed. The magic sword in his hand suddenly burst with blinding lightning, illuminating the pitch-black surroundings enough for them to see.

Two zombie warriors, along with a little skeleton holding a bone blade, suddenly appeared within the dark mist at Han Shuo's summons. Driven by Han Shuo's magical incantation, the two zombie warriors and the little skeleton simultaneously launched an attack on the three Fulica brothers.

Even with the illumination of the lightning, the area obscured by the dark mist could not be seen clearly, especially in the dead of night. As the caster, Han Shuo lurked within the darkness, hovering around the three of them like a ghost, not rushing to strike immediately.

After closing in on the three brothers, the two zombie warriors suffered devastating blows. Wielding a fire-attribute magic sword, one of them chopped away a zombie warrior's wooden club with scorching heat, and fierce flames instantly engulfed the zombie warrior. The other swordsman, who had mastered wind-attribute magic, moved with incredible agility, his magic sword flashing at a dazzling speed.

In the blink of an eye, a dozen strikes landed on the other zombie warrior, incapacitating it in an extremely short span of time.

Simultaneously, two bone spears pierced through the air, targeting the elder Fulica directly. The little skeleton also brandished its bone blade, thrusting toward him.

To Fulica, the threat of the bone spears was obviously greater than the little skeleton wielding a bone blade. Hearing the incoming rush of the spears, he immediately concentrated fully on the sound, swinging his sword toward their origin. A flash of lightning cut through the darkness, and both bone spears were deflected.

Suddenly, the little skeleton, which had just been moving as sluggishly as a normal skeleton warrior, burst forth with astonishing speed. The bone blade it thrust toward Fulica landed fiercely right on his chest.

"Watch out!" Belinda, who was nearby controlling the puppet beast, suddenly noticed this sudden change and shrieked a warning.

Fulica was startled with dread; it was too late to block again. He instinctively scrambled to dodge, but a large chunk of flesh on his chest was still sliced away by the bone blade, leaving him wincing in agonizing pain.

The shrill whistle of the Demonic Blood-Shedding Blade suddenly pierced the air. Bathed in a breathtaking crimson glow within the darkness, it swiftly shuttled back and forth among the three Fulica brothers.

Two soft thuds echoed, sounding like wooden stakes punching through paper wallpaper.

The other two men, who had just finished off the zombie warriors, had not yet figured out what was happening when they suddenly felt a chill in their chests. Looking down, they saw a bloody hole in their torsos, with blood spurting out like arrows.

With two heavy thuds, the men, staring at the bloody wounds on their chests, collapsed to their knees and crashed to the ground.

On the other side, because Belinda had been distracted, the previously perilous situation for Caspian eased. Noticing that the puppet beast's movements had suddenly become sluggish, he immediately waved his staff, once again binding the creature with tangled tree branches.

Beneath the tree, Emily drew her magic staff, her gaze shifting continuously between the puppet beast and Han Shuo, as if assessing which side was in greater danger.

"Don't kill her! Capturing her alive is best!" After the Demonic Blood-Shedding Blade was stained with the blood of the two magic swordsmen, its shrill whistling grew increasingly piercing. Seeing a streak of red thread weaving through the darkness and drifting toward Belinda, as if about to slay her in the next instant, Emily could not help but cry out softly.

Had it not been for Emily's warning, the Demonic Blood-Shedding Blade would have claimed Belinda's life in the next moment. Hearing Emily's soft cry, Han Shuo immediately understood her intention. With a thought in his mind, the blade flew backward and instantly fell into his palm.

Fulica, who had narrowly escaped the little skeleton's bone blade attack, felt excruciating pain on his chest, but this torment was short-lived for him. At that moment, seven blood-red bone spikes on the back of the little skeleton suddenly shot out, pinning him firmly to the ground.

The seven blood-red bone spikes now glowed with an eerie crimson light. Fulica's blood rapidly drained into the spikes, and within a remarkably short time, all the blood in his body was sucked dry by the seven bone spikes, leaving his body shriveled like a large piece of sun-dried cured meat.

While the seven bone spikes were engaged in this evil blood-sucking act, the little skeleton holding the bone blade appeared extremely gratified, dancing merrily with its weapon in a carefree manner that instantly induced an irrepressible sense of terror in Belinda, who was watching from afar.

"Don't move." In the darkness, Belinda suddenly heard a cold, stern voice from behind her, and then felt the bizarre weapon that had just harvested the lives of her two subordinates press against her neck.

"Who on earth are you? How dare you meddle in the affairs of the Church of Calamity?" Belinda showed no panic. Her sapphire-like eyes stared straight ahead, her tone remaining very soft and calm as she spoke.

"Cut the crap! Stop the puppet beast immediately, or you die right now!" Clayton had already been killed; making an enemy of the Church of Calamity was already a certainty for Han Shuo. Acting lawlessly and without any taboos, why would he care about threats from the Church of Calamity?

The stern tone and the baleful aura radiating from the Demonic Blood-Shedding Blade made Belinda realize that Han Shuo was by no means joking. After a brief pause for thought, she said, "You will surely regret crossing us."

As she spoke, through some unknown method of control by Belinda, the rugged iron-armored puppet beast, standing a formidable four to five meters tall, vanished into a strange magic scroll held in her hand.

With a sharp slap, Han Shuo applied a bit of force, striking the back of Belinda's head, which made her body go limp and caused her to instantly lose consciousness.

Over on the other side, after the seven bone spikes had drained Fulica of all his blood, they retracted back into the little skeleton's spine. By now, the dark mist was gradually thinning. Seeing that the overall situation was settled, Han Shuo recalled the little skeleton once more.

Taking a deep breath, Han Shuo scooped up Belinda, tucked her under his arm, stepped out from that area, and came to Emily's side.

"Let's go. Leave the rest to Elder Caspian," Han Shuo said, looking up at Caspian above and chuckling softly.

Since the puppet beast had vanished, Caspian naturally had no more worries. Hearing Han Shuo's words, he looked down in great surprise and asked, "Who on earth are you? Why do you know my name is Caspian? We must have met before!"

"Hehe, we have indeed met, but we're not close. Well, the people here are all innocent; they were just affected by a paralyzing incense and will slowly wake up even without your rescue. We need to take this member of the Church of Calamity away for interrogation, so we won't stay here any longer," Han Shuo replied with a smile, looking up at Caspian.

"No way. This woman is from the Church of Calamity. If today's matter isn't handled well, it could bring you colossal trouble. I think it would be much more appropriate for you to hand her over to me; I will handle this properly," Caspian said, sounding somewhat reluctant as he descended from the tree upon hearing that the two intended to take Belinda away.

"We of the Dark Veil have already intervened in the affairs of the Church of Calamity; it is not your place to inquire," Emily, who had remained silent until now, suddenly glanced at Caspian with displeasure and said with a stern face.

Hearing this, Caspian was momentarily stunned before nodding in sudden realization. "So you are from the Dark Veil. Since that's the case, there's no problem at all. Take that woman with you; I'll ensure everyone's safety here."

"Then many thanks," Han Shuo said while casually picking up the magic swords of the three Fulica brothers and stripping them of whatever valuables they carried on their persons.

"Let's go, stop searching, there's nothing left," Emily glanced sideways at Han Shuo with annoyance, seemingly amused by his greed.

"If this woman wakes up, explain the sequence of events to her so she doesn't grow overly suspicious," Han Shuo said, pointing at Candice on the ground, before leaving with Emily to return to the stronghold of the Dark Veil.