Chapter 578: Three Major Leaders
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Stephen thought to himself, The scoundrel who has once landed me in a horrible situation actually did not show a tinge of remorse or guilt now that we met again. He’s pretending like he doesn’t know me at all. How shameless! Not only did this b.a.s.t.a.r.d almost kill me in the Abyss of Tharlen, he even s.n.a.t.c.hed away the three relics of Geresco that should have belonged to me. There is no doubt that he could enter the Legendary-realm so soon and enjoy such a huge reputation in the Breezy Plains all because of the relics. I should be enjoying that.
Stephen was furious beyond words.
Although Stephen was just an Archmage, he was not at all afraid of Lin Li who was already a Legendary-mage, because they were now in the Dark Blade’s campground and in the presence of the three leaders of the Dark Blade, who included his father. He was confident that they could defeat a Legendary-mage who had just entered the Legendary-realm.
At this moment, all Stephen wanted except revenge was to s.n.a.t.c.h the three relics of Geres...o...b..ck. Since Lin Li could rely on Geresco’s relics to advance to the Legendary-realm, why couldn’t he do so too?
He was especially enticed by the Book of Eternity, which contained all of Geresco’s life experiences. It was a holy grail that all mages looked up to and coveted. Putting the Archmage Stephen aside, even a Legendary-mage like Borg was just as tempted by the Book of Eternity as he was by the Immortal King’s treasure.
Stephen actually had a simple mindset. Instead of painstakingly searching for the Immortal King’s treasure, he decided that he’d rather try to defeat Lin Li and s.n.a.t.c.h the Book of Eternity from him before considering anything else.
However, before Stephen could even rush towards Lin Li, Borg rushed forward and stopped Stephen from proceeding. He barked, “Outrageous! Master Felic is my guest. Stop making a fool out of yourself. Get lost!”
Stephen immediately stopped in his tracks, and glared at Lin Li who was standing a short distance away. However, he had no choice but to suppress his resentment out of fear of his father. He turned around and stormed back into his tent angrily. However, he did not seem as angry as he really was on the surface. In fact, he seemed a little thrilled.
Stephen felt that his father was not actually blaming him for being rude, but rather had other plans in mind. Since Felic was a Legendary-mage, it wouldn’t be hard for him to flee if they were to really get into a scuffle. Hence, he felt that his father had to be planning to lure Felic in before the three of them colluded to defeat him. He thought, Felic is just a minor Legendary-mage who has just entered the Legendary-realm. He probably won’t even be able to keep up in battle and stay alive for a moment. By then, the Book of Eternity will belong to me and Father. It will be easy for me to enter the Legendary-realm then.
Regardless of Stephen’s dreams, Borg led Lin Li and Cheyenne to the largest tent in the middle of the camp. When the subordinates outside the tent saw Borg, they quickly bowed to him respectfully before extending their hands to pull the curtains up.
There were already two people in the tent. They seemed to be waiting for Borg to come back. Sensing the energy fluctuations in the two’s bodies, Lin Li guessed that they should be the other two Legendary leaders of the Dark Blade. From the appearance of the two of them, he could tell that one of them was a Warrior, while the other was a Bandit.
The person who was dressed like a Warrior had long curly blond hair and a thick beard like Borg. His appearance reminded Lin Li of the nickname Golden Lion. Looking at the Warrior’s body, he realized that he was tall, burly, and clad in a simple half-body soft leather armor, which revealed his bronze-colored skin and toned muscles that were like copper cast iron that contained huge destructive power. Judging from the energy fluctuations in his body, Lin Li was reminded of the Sword Sage of the Storm from the Warriors Union in Alanna. Although he didn’t know who the stronger one was, he could at least confirm that the Legendary Warrior in front of him was at least level-21.
The Legendary-mages were familiar with Rule Power, and were masters of elemental Rules, thus allowing them to create Magical Domains that could be completely controlled by their minds. In the Legendary-realm, Warriors were known as Sword Sages, and were in the pursuit of the ultimate development of their own power and the exploration of their own mysteries to obtain more power. The strength of a particular individual was actually subjective—a matter of opinion. Wisdom or power alone couldn’t be a standard for comparison between the strong and the weak. Although humans in Anril generally believed that Legendary-mages were stronger than Sword Sages and other professions of the same level, no one would really despise or belittle Sword Sages. Those who had had probably faced terrible consequences.
When the benefits were tempting enough, even brothers would turn against each other, let alone partners who had nothing to do with each other, and only decided to work together at the last minute. Lin Li did not doubt it at all. If he were to abandon Cheyenne from the Malfa Family and work alone with the Dark Blade, he would definitely be attacked by them in the end. Even if he owned all kinds of treasures, he would probably be at a loss in the face of the joint attack by the three Legendary leaders.
Not to mention, Lin Li shifted his attention onto the Bandit whom he felt he could not see through. It seemed that he was level-21, but Lin Li somehow felt that something was wrong about him. However, he could not put his finger on it. He could not tell if it was due to the fact that Bandits had special abilities or because of another reason. However, he could not help but feel uneasy about being unable to see through him, hence keeping his guard up.
Rumor had it that the founder of the Dark Blade was a powerful and mysterious Bandit. Lin Li reckoned that it had to be the person in front of him1. Among the three Legendary leaders of the Dark Blade, Borg was probably not the most terrifying. Instead, it could be the Bandit Lin Li could not see through. He might not be stronger than the other two, but Lin Li found him even more dangerous.
Based solely on appearance, the Legendary-realm Bandit looked more like a traditional aristocrat who was from a n.o.ble family with copious heritage. His dark brown hair was meticulously combed back, and his mustache seemed to have been trimmed too. His white shirt was combined with a well-cut jacket, which made it impossible for anyone to a.s.sociate him with scheming bandits.
There weren’t any more speculations about the Legendary Bandit, apart from the rumors of his formidable power. No one knew his origins, and his past was a mystery that couldn’t be seen through. However, Lin Li knew that what he saw was the true image of the Bandit, devoid of any disguise.
Although the special nature of the Bandit profession would often require them to change their appearance to hide their ident.i.ty during missions like stealthy a.s.sa.s.sinations, the act of disguising had become insignificant for Legendary Bandits. It would be useless to rely on those tricks to deal with another Legendary figure of the same level, after all. Besides, there was no need they dealt with the targets below the Legendary-realm.
Therefore, the impeccably dressed aristocrat was presenting his true appearance as a Legendary Bandit. Of course, that also made Lin Li a little more curious about his origins. He wanted to know what made a traditional aristocrat turn into a Bandit and establish such a huge bandit organization like the Dark Blade.
While Lin Li was observing the two Legendary leaders of the Dark Blade, they, too, were in fact scrutinizing Lin Li, the young Legendary-mage. They were not surprised by the arrival of Lin Li, because it was no secret that the Malfa Family cooperated with the Tower of Dusk. It could be said that everything about Aminya City was known to the Dark Blade. Hence, it was logical for Borg to go to Cheyenne to discuss the cooperation and invite Lin Li for a visit too.
The Legendary figures knew very well about the hardships of the journey, and they could hardly believe that a young man barely past 20 had within a short period of time already completed the journey that they had spent years to complete. Stephen said it was because of the Book of Eternity, but the three Legendary powerhouses knew that the book alone was not enough to take Lin Li to such heights, as much of it was a summary of Geresco’s life experience.
If Legendary figures represented legends in the hearts of ordinary people, the young Master Felic of the Tower of Dusk could be considered the legend of all legends. It was not a gauge of how strong he was, but he was so powerful that he intimidated all three Legendary leaders. It was surprising enough that Lin Li had already made it to the Legendary-realm at such a young age even though he was only at the bottom.
“Cheyenne is an old friend of ours, so we can save the introductions. However, I must introduce Master Felic of the Tower of Dusk.” Borg introduced Lin Li to two of his peers before saying to Lin Li, “The one with the mustache is Lansdale, while the one with the beard is Baldela. They’re the other two leaders of the Dark Blade. Please come with me…”
Lansdale was the mustached Bandit, while Baldela was obviously the bearded Warrior who resembled Golden Lion.
They chatted and exchanged greetings cordially, after which Borg led Lin Li and Cheyenne to their seats. Five Legendary powerhouses gathered in a tent, an uncommon scene that could rarely be seen, especially since the Malfa Family and Dark Blade had an intense feud. None of them remembered ever having such a calm and harmonious conversation while being seated opposite each other.
Of course, they were not completely calm and harmonious. Well, at least Cheyenne was not as composed as he appeared to be on the surface, especially after seeing the map in the tent. Lin Li was not very clear about the map, because it was not the design sketch of Sky Castle. It was different from what he saw at the Malfa Family. However, Cheyenne obviously knew what it was because he was the one who’d ill.u.s.trated it according to the narrative of that High Elves Print, so no one knew every feature better than he did. Although the map was slightly different from the one he’d made, it was clearly also created based on the transliterated High Elves Print.
Noticing that Cheyenne had shifted his gaze onto the map, Borg smugly said, “What’s wrong, Cheyenne? The things you mentioned are all here. I didn’t lie to you, did I?” He then made eye contact with his peers smilingly.
When Borg had proposed the cooperation earlier on, he had said that he owned not only the treasure map, but also information that Cheyenne and Lin Li didn’t have. The treasure map was now hanging in the tent, and Cheyenne was very clear about its authenticity. There were also some clues on the map which hinted at the existence of the information.
Cheyenne took a closer look at the hanging treasure map, and soon saw that there were plenty of details on the map that had been modified, including some of the areas he himself had felt vague at the time. Everything was clear on the map. After all, the Dark Blade was the owner of the area, and—to put it simply—understood the geography of the place better than Cheyenne did. The locations of the gullies and hills were also clearly annotated on the map.
From these details alone, it could be seen that the Dark Blade did not come to take advantage at the last minute, and instead had put in lots of effort. In fact, Cheyenne also knew that cooperating with them would be their best bet given the situation that they were currently in. The danger in the Haiga Mountain Range was far beyond what most people imagined; hence, it was necessary for them to have the Dark Blade guide them during the exploration. Of course, Cheyenne still felt rather uncomfortable at the thought of his own family member leaking the information and the treasure map.
Actually, everyone knew that cooperation was the only option for those who wanted to obtain the treasure of the Immortal King. The Dark Blade seemed to be powerful with three Legendary-realm leaders and more than 200 elites who were at or above level-15, but it would be impossible for them to make the treasure entirely their own. Putting aside the obstacles that they might face during the quest, the Dark Blade might not be able to take it if the Malfa Family were to relentlessly attack them, let alone with a young Legendary-mage.
The same was true for Lin Li. With the powerful support of the Dark Blade, at least their journey before finding the treasure would be easier, and their chances of finding the treasure of the Immortal King would also be higher. As for what problems the three parties would face during the distribution of the loot after they found it, that was not the focus of consideration for the time being. As long as it was guaranteed that Lin Li would obtain Thunderbolt and the treasure that sealed it, Lin Li couldn’t be bothered with the rest.
Borg looked at the contemplative Cheyenne, and turned to look at Lin Li. He suddenly yelled out of his tent, “York, tell Stephen to come here immediately.”