Close Combat Mage
chapter-168

Duo Mei looked at the winding caravans, and breathed out, “What are the carriages carrying? Is there anything of value?”

The girl opposite of her said happily. “The carriages all carry precious magic diamonds from the country, Nisa. There are a total of 100 carriages and 1000 boxes of magic diamonds!”

“Gasp!” Duo Mei couldn’t help but inhale sharply. It seemed like this merchant group wasn’t from here, but another country, Nisa. Otherwise, how could they gather so many expensive magic diamonds?

Thinking for a bit, Duo Mei carefully made some calculations. One carriage could carry 10 boxes, and each box most likely had 100 magic diamonds. That meant 100 carriages had a total of 10,000 magic diamonds. Each one was worth about 50,000 gold, so the value of these 100 carriages was 500 million. This was equivalent to half of Nisa’s semi-annual total magic diamond output!

Duo Mei clenched her teeth and loudly declared, “The transport section from the thief group should come and immediately begin moving. Transfer all of these things and bury them in a secret location. For the short term, these things cannot be used. Otherwise, we’ll definitely end up inviting trouble!”

All the girls showed expressions of admiration after hearing Duo Mei’s words. That’s right…one could rob merchant groups however they pleased, but one couldn’t steal from another country’s merchant group. Otherwise, the opposite party would dispatch large groups to chase after them. If the other country didn’t kill them, the grudge would never end. No matter how large a group was, there was no way they could go up against an entire country, even if Nisa was only a small country.

Seeing the transport group drag the carriages away from the merchant road one by one, Duo Mei couldn’t help but survey her surroundings. It was no wonder that this merchant group had had so many powerful warriors and mages. In addition, not a single person had tried to run away, even as they were being completely annihilated. It was all because they were another country’s merchant group!

Duo Mei shook her head, and stopped herself from pondering this any further. She would not take pity on those guys; since they had decided to float around outside, it would be hard for them to avoid being attacked from the dark. If they were scared, it would’ve been better if they hadn’t come out at all. The Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes’ last experience on the merchant road had allowed them to mature.

One of the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes then ran over and said in a low voice, “Duo Mei, the merchant group just sent some news: our 108th car of merchandise was stolen again. This time, it’s the work of a powerful thief corps. Their general headquarters are located in…”

Nodding her head, Duo Mei quickly fished out a map, and quickly circled a location on it based on the girl’s report. She then added a note to it.

After everything had been completed, all of the carriages that had been on the merchant road had been completely moved. Duo Mei looked around and said strongly, “Now that this has happened, someone will surely come and investigate the situation here. Moreover, we’ve probably accumulated a ton of liabilities. That’s why…the Dark Angels thief group will temporarily become the Blood Angels mercenary group and suppress that thief group, getting back everything that they owe us!”

The Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes unanimously agreed with Duo Mei’s decision. After handing the aftermath for the thieves’ logistic section to sort out, the girls removed their black thief flag and raised their crimson Blood Angels flag. They then began to head towards the locations of dozens of thief headquarters marked on the map; since they dared to steal the Golden Angels merchant group’s goods, then they had to prepare themselves to be massacred by the Blood Angels mercenary group.

During the next month, the entire Gold Triangle entered turbulent times. The Blood Angels mercenary group attacked and purged all of those that dared to steal the Golden Angels merchant group’s goods. A total of 68 thief groups were pulled up from their roots, and completely eradicated.

Meanwhile, Duo Mei had received Suo Jia’s letter of reply. Within the letter, Suo Jia had scolded their cowardice; so what if the merchant group was from another country? They were a thief group, their business was the exchange of looting each other. If the group was afraid of the repercussions, then they might as well come home and start babysitting kids. Even if the opposite party was another country’s merchant group, it was no excuse for their behavior.

The thief union was a high existence within the country. They received protection from the thief alliances throughout the entire world. Merchant groups from other countries were still merchant groups, and thus were included within a thief group’s target range. There was no need for bearing any additional responsibilities; as long as one could undertake the other party’s ambitions, everything was OK!

In the letter, Suo Jia also told them that nobody would ever want to resist them that stubbornly. With their speed and strength, even if they couldn’t defeat their opponent, they could run. If they couldn’t outrun the enemy, then they could wear the opponent down. Those that couldn’t be worn down…could be taken down with the help of the potions. Nobody that couldn’t be defeated in these ways existed within the Holy Light Empire. The Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes weren’t incompetent, nor were they just using the potions to play around.

A few days later, after all the thief groups had been eradicated, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes once again changed their flag to that of the Dark Angels thief group, and openly put the 100 carriages of magic diamonds onto the market. In a mere instant, the entire country was completely shocked!

At the same time, the decimation of the 68 thief groups had allowed Blood Angels mercenary group to gain large amounts of treasure. Not only had they made up for the merchant group’s losses, they had even earned millions times more in profits!

Such fearless robbing instantly made the Dark Angels thief group and the Blood Angels mercenary group became the enemies of everyone in the mercenary and thief realms within the entire Gold Triangle. Even the Golden Angels merchant group had been spread as completely abnormal. After all…since their names were so close, and their flags were almost identical as well, even idiots would be able to guess that there was a relationship between these three entities.

Not only that, but just as Duo Mei had worried about, the Nisa country was not willing to just take things lying down. Even if they didn’t care for their losses, there was no way they could lose face. Moreover… that was half of Nisa’s magic diamonds supply. How could they ignore such losses? That’s why…Nisa dispatched a large brigade of people and horses, swearing that they’d completely destroy the Dark Angels thief group!

The current circumstance was like adding frost to snow. Originally…the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes could’ve simply put away their flag, and vanished without a trace so that the Nisa troop would keep searching aimlessly. However, Suo Jia didn’t allow this, since it would be letting a chance to train slip away. According to Suo Jia’s orders, the girls could change their identities, but they could only choose between the identities of the Golden Angels merchant group, the Dark Angels thief group, and the Blood Angels mercenary group. In other words, they had to display one of the three flags.

The Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes felt as if they were advancing dauntlessly in wave upon wave, through countless perilous situations, toppling mountains and overturning the seas. Before they had even finished killing off the first wave of enemies, the second wave would already arrive. Not long after their arrival, the third wave would also join in. Helpless, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes could only keep running away, and continue to encounter endless obstacles.

Originally, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes’ speed made it easy for them to run away. However, Suo Jia had commanded them to never leave the three major trade routes in the Gold Triangle, even if they died. Even if they did manage to escape these boundaries, they’d end up being obstructed by other groups, and the delay would allow their pursuers to catch up once more!

The entire Holy Light Empire was momentarily paying close attention to the movements within the Gold Triangle. Discussions about these events could be heard everywhere in the city. Everyone was trying to guess whether the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes would be eradicated, or if their pursuers would wear them down. The country had even set up a gambling joint for this, and started putting up bets.

There were two choices of bets. The first was that a Great Tri-Alliance between the thieves, mercenaries, and merchants would form and gain the final victory. The second was that the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and the Golden Angels would emerge victorious. As the bets opened, gold began to pour into the national treasury like a river.

Groups similar to the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes had appeared before, and it had occurred more than once as well. There had also been occurrences where the three great unions had allied together and surrounded and annihilated the groups. These things had occurred at least 1000 times. However, without a single exception, the independent group had always ended up losing. After all…how could individual groups go up against the Great Tri-Alliance?

Pretty much everyone thought that the final result would be the three Angels corps running away in defeat, and the final victory would go to the Great Tri-Alliance. The odds of the bets had already reached a shocking 100:1!

However, the next morning when people ran inside the tavern again, they were shocked to find out that the odds had become 10:1. After some careful investigation, they found out that last night, someone had bet a hundred billion in capital that the three great Angels groups would obtain victory!

This person was none other than Suo Jia. He had extreme confidence in the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenix corps. Even if they couldn’t overpower their opponents, they could also run away. Suo Jia had no intentions of compromising either. The final result would have to depend on who first became unable to bear the losses and be forced to leave the Gold Triangle.

The reason why he hadn’t allowed the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes to leave the three major trade routes was firstly to make them train, and secondly, to tell the entire world through their actions that: ‘We are conquering the area. Even if the three great unions form an alliance, they won’t be able to do anything. We welcome anyone to come at us, as long as you aren’t afraid to suffer from the losses.’

Suo Jia knew that once they emerged victorious in this battle, the entire Gold Triangle would become the three great Angels groups’. At that point…the three major cities’ commercial transports would be handled by the Golden Angels merchant group. All the merchant groups that passed through would have to pay a protection fee to the Blood Angels mercenary group. All the thief groups that attempted to steal within the area had to hand a fixed percentage of their earnings to the Dark Angels thief group! Suo Jia’s objective remained unchanged; the first was to earn money, and the second was to train in strength.

Although the battle was arduous, and could even be described as bitter…as the battle continued on, everyone gradually began to realize that the situation wasn’t quite right. No matter how long the fights went on, these Angelic Six-Winged Angels would seemingly never tire. Their battle qi was inexhaustible, and their consciousness and spirits were always at a newly energized state, as if they had just woken up. Their physical strength was also as vigorous as always, and their bodies seemed to be impervious to sword and spear. What exactly was going on?

Faced against these fierce, domineering, invulnerable Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes, everyone began to feel fear. However, the crusade had already begun; they couldn’t just start strong and finish weak. The Great Tri-Alliance couldn’t lose face. No matter how difficult it was, they had to continue charging forwards. They had to drive away these three great Angels corps out of the Gold Triangle!