Chapter 22: The Mountain Vine Squad
Along the dry official road, smoke and dust billowed as four people on two horses rushed forward.
Four grown men squeezed onto two horses; at first glance, they did not look like any powerful force, but rather a standard makeshift troupe.
According to the original course of events, at least a second-rate mercenary group would have been sent to round up Chen Mo.
After all, this bounty came from the Zircon Family of the Green Pine Kingdom.
When Black Raven Castle’s Swift Owl sent word that one of their direct descendants had allegedly been killed by an apprentice, and the suspect might have already fled to the Southern Continent, the head of the Zircon Family displayed textbook “noble rage” — polite, restrained, and with just the right hint of loss of composure.
With so many children at home, he could not even remember what the one sent to Black Raven Castle looked like; as for emotion, there was none to speak of.
But the honor of the Zircon Family could not be desecrated.
Sending family warriors to the Southern Continent was not realistic. The status of a noble worked well in their home country, but once abroad, it might only earn them a better table at a banquet, nothing more.
Which noble family did not boast an ancient lineage? Especially this generation of nobles; most were descendants of sword-bearing nobles forged on the battlefield during the century-long wars. Trace their lines up a little, and you might find blood ties between them.
For problems that were slightly troublesome like this, the Zircon Family had its own solution: issue a bounty.
Use the official Mercenary Union channels? Too slow. For top-tier cross-border assassination missions, the review processes of various countries could drive people insane: procedures so complicated they bred despair. At best two or three months, at worst half a year or more, and if the other side intentionally dragged things out…
A certain Radiant Sanctuary Paladin who defected from the Mist Moon Divine Court and hid freely in the Sky Dome Empire was a living example. The Mercenary Union of the Sky Dome kept demanding evidence and procedures from Mist Moon, and the back-and-forth review dragged the mission release out for forty-seven years, turning an assassination contract into an obituary notice.
All things considered, in order to deal with this “unknown probationary apprentice” more quickly and efficiently, the Zircon Family chose underground channels.
Veteran mercenary Luke had told Chen Mo many tales of the continent and anecdotes from various countries, but in the end he missed one important point: besides the official Mercenary Union, there were Mercenary Black Markets everywhere in every country.
To post a mission at the Mercenary Union, you had to comply with the laws and regulations of that country. But what about missions that did not meet those norms?
Where there was demand, there was a market. What could not stand under the sunlight would naturally retreat into the darkness.
Those pleas from shadowy corners, those unspeakable acts of theft, robbery, assassination, and slaughter, surged like underground rivers and gave birth to the monstrosity known as the Mercenary Black Market.
While Chen Mo was still on the airship overlooking the sea of clouds, the Zircon Family’s magic communication had already arrived at White Stone City. By the time his feet stepped onto the land of the Southern Continent, the squad that had taken the job was already flexing their muscles at White Stone Outpost.
The Zircon Family’s plan was near perfect. Unfortunately, the world loved its ironic twists.
The initial bounty authorized by the Zircon family head was forty gold coins — a hefty sum enough to tempt a mid-sized mercenary group, intended to purchase a good posthumous name for Little Golden Hair — that unlucky Nineteenth Succession Heir — and it was, in a sense, worthy of his status.
However, the one handling it was the Zircon Family’s eldest young master. This future head of house naturally lacked goodwill toward any “brother” ranked behind him.
So he casually shaved off thirty: “Black Raven has already said he’s just a probationary apprentice who can only summon Skeleton Spearmen. Ten gold coins is enough to kill him a hundred times. Why waste more?”
The head butler turned and instructed the Butler of External Affairs: “The decision from above: a bounty of three gold coins. Move quickly and do not let that kid slip away.”
The Butler of External Affairs informed a steward: “Sixty silver coins. Not a small amount. This is a Zircon Family mission; surely there will be sensible mercenaries willing to serve.”
By the time the mission was finally posted in the underground black market of White Stone, only twenty silver coins remained, plus a vague promise of “the friendship of the Zircon Family.”
At that point, the monetary incentive was gone; only the noble status of the Zircon Family lent it any weight.
Then the interested mercenary groups asked around and learned that this little necromancer apprentice with the bones was traveling on an airship chartered by some young lord from the Cloud Mist Territory.
In that case, “the friendship of the Zircon Family” might bring “the displeasure of the Emerald Duchy.” Forget it. For such a paltry sum, let someone else earn it.
In the end, the only ones to take this mission were the poorly informed and dirt-poor 【Mountain Vine】 Adventurer Squad before them.
The captain was a veteran Bronze Pattern Swordsman. The team included a newly promoted Bronze Pattern Scout, plus two small-time goons with no tier at all. They had set up an ambush in advance on a dirt slope outside the wasteland. When they saw that the coachman obediently drove the carriage into the designated “slaughterhouse,” they immediately spurred their scrawny horses forward, charging in with great bluster.
At least, that was how it felt to them.
They charged into the wilderness and saw the lonely carriage. The 【Mountain Vine】 captain’s heart settled. He raised his voice and shouted, “You little brat from Black Raven! Get out here and let your master have a good look at you…” Before he could finish, a dark, round object spun through the air with precision, flying straight toward them.
What greeted them was a defensive grenade.
Do not be fooled by the terms “offensive” and “defensive.” In actual combat, defensive types were far more vicious than offensive ones.
Offensive grenades emphasized mobility. They were meant to be thrown while charging, with just over three hundred fragments and an effective killing radius of three to four meters.
Defensive grenades were meant to be thrown from behind trenches or fortifications to hold positions. The one in Chen Mo’s hand was a reinforced model, loaded with more than sixteen hundred steel balls. Its effective killing radius was at least double that of an offensive grenade. Anyone within twenty-five meters risked injury.
Using the carriage for cover, Chen Mo hurled this 82-2 and immediately slipped behind the carriage body.
Boom—!
A dull explosion blasted across the wasteland.
The 【Mountain Vine】 squad still had some vigilance. At the instant Chen Mo threw that unknown object, the riders instinctively yanked their reins in an attempt to turn aside. Unfortunately, it was too late.
Dense steel balls swept out like a storm of metal, radiating wildly in all directions, shrieking with a sound that made one’s scalp crawl.
The Bronze Pattern Swordsman at the front took the brunt of it. He reflexively raised a hand to block, but it was pointless. The steel balls punched easily through his thin leather armor with sickening, squelching sounds.
The look of shock on his face had not even fully formed before the shockwave blasted him off his horse like a torn sack.
The squad member behind him had slightly better luck — his captain became a human shield, absorbing most of the explosion’s force. Even so, several steel balls ruthlessly bored into his thighs and side. Worse, one treacherously tore through his throat, twisting his rising shriek of agony into a strange, short “heh…” that cut off abruptly.
The ones bearing the heaviest physical damage were the two unfortunate war horses. Their screams were drowned by the explosion as both crashed to the ground. Their heavy bodies rolled six or seven meters with the force of inertia. Their bellies and necks were instantly riddled with countless bleeding holes, and scorching hot blood gushed out like streams, quickly soaking the dry ground red.
Steel balls, shockwave, flame, and the crushing fall of the war horses — a single grenade neatly wiped out all four mercenaries.
Of the four, only the Bronze Pattern Scout reacted the fastest. At the moment the grenade flew over, he almost instinctively executed a perfect stirrup-drop maneuver, narrowly avoiding most of the lethal steel balls.
However, fate outplayed him. One of the heavy falling war horses landed squarely on him, pinning him underneath and leaving him unable to move.
The small goon behind, no longer shielded by the Bronze Pattern fighter, had his abdomen blown open. As he was flung through the air, his intestines spilled out, mixed with blood.
He tried in vain to press them back with his hands, but his arms would not lift. His eyes, clouded by blood mist, were filled with stunned confusion.
Wasn’t he supposed to be someone who had not even entered a tier, just a probationary apprentice?
Zircon Family swindlers!
