Chapter 116 - Formidable
Moonlight robes were a type of dark robe. This dark robe was woven from the hair of a dark eagle, which was a seventh level spirit beast. Not only did it fly fast, what was most notable about it was its strong defense. Generally, magic and martial art attacks would have no effect on it. Dark eagles were known as the black kings of the sky. They were elegant and a little rebellious.
This robe could defend against fifth level magical attacks, as well as fourth level or less martial art attacks. It was a high level magic item with a market price of twenty five thousand to thirty thousand gold coins.
As for the wind magic staff, it was made from a century old willow tree that had been soaked in the blood of a wind spirit beast. Not only did it increase the strength of wind spells, it also made black magic spells stronger. The entire staff was blue with a crystal set at the head. The market price for this magic item could be about twenty thousand to twenty five thousand gold coins.
Laura was going to give these as a gift, but the price wasn't low, and reached fifty thousand gold coins. This was equivalent to half the tax of a small territory.
The next morning, Laura, Nier, and Kun were riding in a carriage on their way to Stony Mountain. This time they were followed by twenty guards with Sergio as the leader.
Laura was quite confident that no one in Casa city, including the Purcell clan, would dare to attack them. Because of their identity, if someone dared to attack them, that was tantamount to angering the entire Markey clan.
Right now they were sitting in a carriage that was pulled by snow stallions, while Sergio was riding a third level horse spirit beast. They were moving fast. Normally it would take two days to go from Casa city to Stony Mountain, but for them half a day would be enough.
The moment Laura left Casa city, this news was directed towards Zhao.
This result was what Zhao wanted to see. In the living room of his manor, Zhao smiled as he sat next to Green. "It seems that Laura is worth cooperating with. Just after she got back from Montenegro Fortress, she is coming to visit us."
Green smiled slightly. "Yes, they seem to actually have quite a bit of conscience. But if we want to further cooperate with them, we still have to test them to see if we could work together."
"I was thinking the same thing. After all, we have too many things that other people would be jealous of. Even if Laura is credible, there is no guarantee that the people around her won't be greedy. We still have to be careful," Zhao said.
Green nodded. "Then shouldn't we go prepare to greet them?"
"Ah, yes, you should get ready."
Shortly before noon, Laura asked, "Sergio, how much time before we get to Stony Mountain?"
While riding his horse next to the carriage, Sergio at once said, "Miss, you can already see the mountain rocks by now. But the mountain has gone through a big change."
"Oh? Really?" Laura opened the front of the carriage to take a look.
The carriage had two doors, one in the front and one in the back. There were two rows of benches on the left and right side of the carriage, with a small box in the middle, containing things to eat. The box was designed with ice magic, keeping the stuff inside at a lower temperature. There was also a magic lamp in the carriage that was used to heat things. It could be said that this carriage was like a room that was a full six square meters, three meters long and two meters wide. It was big enough that you could sleep comfortably in.
Because of this design, the cost of this carriage was very high. Only those with identity and status would be able to afford it.
Laura looked out of the carriage and saw Stony Mountain. However, it didn't have its original look because the whole mountain was surrounded by a cloud of black fog. She then understood why Sergio said that Stony Mountain looked different.
The reason why Laura knew what Stony Mountain originally looked like was because it had a hot spring. When the merchant that owned Stony Mountain wanted to sell it, he mentioned that it had a hot spring that could be used to raise fire fish. Of course, Laura as a businessman wouldn't let such an opportunity pass by, so she came to Stony Mountain to examine it. But in the end, although there were a few small fire fish, the hot spring simply didn't have the ability to raise them at a large scale, so Laura gave up on it.
However, she still remembered what Stony Mountain was supposed to look like, but now it was covered in black fog.
Kun couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at Stony Mountain. "To cover up a whole mountain with a blanket of darkness would require a black mage to at least be at the sixth level. It seems like Zhao really is very powerful."
On the Continent, it was recognized that a black mage that had managed to reach the fifth level was very powerful. That was because black magic was very weird, so almost no one was willing to challenge a fifth or higher level black mage.
Laura smiled slightly. "Of course, Zhao's strength is stronger than a sixth level. He was able to deal with the Immortal Mercenary Group. Plus he could summon more than a thousand undead, and each of those undead were very powerful. A sixth level mage couldn't do that, right?"
Kun nodded. "Ah, it seems like his rank should be at the eighth level, otherwise it would be impossible for him to defeat Garan. But then again, what happened to the one hundred assassins of the Purcell Duchy that were with him? It's not very likely that they were all killed. Some of them must have fled. Yet, none of them have come back. If they're not alive, then they would be dead, but no one has found their bodies."
"Those assassins might not be easy to kill, but don't forget that Zhao could summon more than a thousand undead, so wouldn't those undead thirst for flesh? Or maybe Zhao used his abilities as a black mage to turn them into undead? It's not impossible for Zhao to kill Garan's army and bring them back as undead."
Kun's face changed, then he nodded his head. "That is most likely what happened. It seems that Zhao is more ruthless than I thought. I am now even more curious about him."
The carriage stopped at the bottom of Stony Mountain. Just then the black fog became more volatile, and then it split apart, revealing a road that went up the mountain. In the middle of the road was a man that had a helmet covering his face. Laura recognized him. He was one of Zhao's followers.
The man standing in the middle of the road was of course Green. Zhao had sent his assassins to track Laura's every move ever since she left Casa city. When she arrived at the mountain, he ordered for the black fog to separate.
Green bowed to Laura, and said, "Welcome, Miss Laura. My master knew that you were coming here today, so he specially ordered me to come greet you. Please follow me." Having said that, the black fog split again and out came Alien. Green jumped on its head, then it turned its huge body and walked straight up the mountain.
Laura didn't know what to do for a moment, but as she saw Green walking away, all she could do was tell the carriage driver to follow him.
Kun's face didn't look so good as he watched Green. "Laura, this Zhao isn't so simple. It's likely that he really destroyed Garan. He was actually aware of our whereabouts, so he would have known in advance if Garan had tried to set up an ambush."
Laura nodded. "I didn't think that Zhao would be so powerful. Oh, but the more powerful he is, the better. We need a formidable ally."
Kun was sullen as he muttered. "Allies that are too formidable might not necessarily be a good thing."
Translator Notes: This chapter is to make up for the one I missed on Sunday, 5/22