Chapter 335: Arrival of the Extraterritorial Airship
In order to fight against the "Black Gold Chamber of Commerce" of Canossa, the two major empires of Theed and Omar established their own official chambers of commerce.
However, in less than two years, the "Sunflower Chamber of Commerce" and "Sid Business Alliance" that were established by the old nobles with a lot of resources have long been defunct in name only.
The Omar Empire split, the old aristocratic groups fought each other, and the "Sunflower Chamber of Commerce" naturally collapsed.
Although the Sid Emperor's royal family tried their best to preserve the "Sid Business Alliance", internal corruption and external market exploitation directly led to the alliance becoming an unprofitable empty shell.
It’s not entirely the fault of the corrupt system and the incompetence of those old aristocrats, but rather that the opponents are too strong!
From a business perspective, there is no one in the Ice Ridge Wasteland right now who can compete with the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce.
Previously, Black Gold's headquarters was in Sid, and even though Kanoshati had arranged some measures in advance, he was more or less restricted by the Sid nobles.
After all, Theed is an ancient country with centralized lord power, and the status of the nobles is far above everything else.
But the sudden emergence of Black Dragon City broke this shackles.
Not to mention the private relationship between Canossa and Ryan, the business acumen of this Black Gold Vice President is also vicious.
When she was able to occupy Black Dragon City at a time when there was not even a shadow of the city, she relied on a little information from Ryan and placed all the chips of the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce on the future of Black Dragon City.
However, she made the right bet!
After Black Dragon City was opened to the outside world, the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce's business grew exponentially.
The Black Gold Chamber of Commerce is now like a "giant whale" without restraints, madly swallowing up the wealth of various territories and gathering towards Black Dragon City.
There were no accurate statistics in this era to prove how much money Black Gold had earned, but Ryan knew that it was absolutely correct to say that Canossa was "the richest woman in the world."
…
No one can stop the rise of Black Dragon City now.
Even though information is blocked in this era, and even though the two great empires of Theed and Omar have joined forces to block the border, interests will still drive countless people to take risks.
Bards, war refugees, scavengers and merchants... spread everything about Black Dragon City, the "City of Miracles", to every territory in the Ice Ridge Wasteland.
In a few years, Black Dragon City will truly become a soaring dragon that no one can defeat.
While Black Dragon City was developing steadily, no one knew that in the endless wasteland east of Omar... on the cliff that was not even marked on the map, a strange alien suddenly came down.
This is a steam-powered airship with billowing black smoke coming out of its chimney!
"Captain Jimmy, this place is really weird. The only way to get in is by following the route on this 'treasure map'. The 'Exploration No. 2' airship took the wrong path and disappeared..."
"I never thought that there were human relics left in the 'God-Forsaken Ruins'. The treasure map we stole from the [Steam Brotherhood] might really help us find some incredible treasures..."
"Who is the Black Emperor? He sounds like an emperor from an ancient civilization."
"It may be a discontinued civilization. Who knows? It looks like a civilization that was destroyed in the 'Hundred Races War' tens of thousands of years ago. Dozens of civilizations were destroyed in that war. This Monkel civilization is probably one of the destroyed civilizations..."
“…”
This steam airship is not very large, about the size of two football fields.
There were about a few hundred people on the deck of the airship, the highest level was the fifth level, and most were above the third level. They all wore gas masks, carried rifles and swords, and looked like bandits.
His attire doesn't look like that of a serious adventurer, but more like that of a phantom thief.
These outsiders looked at this secret forbidden area that had never been discovered by the outside world, and they were all full of curiosity.
The airship was traveling very fast, heading westward from the uninhabited area east of Oma, and soon encountered the first human territory.
However, they only sent the perception-type extraordinary people to sense it briefly and did not choose to contact these "natives".
Instead, he continued to head westward in the direction recorded on the "treasure map".
After realizing that the highest level of extraordinary people in the human territory was only level five, and that high-end combat forces were scarce, these outsiders completely relaxed.
“Captain Jimmy, these natives are so weak… That was the largest human settlement we encountered just now, and the strongest extraordinary person in it was only level five. And the number of extraordinary people above level three is only one in ten thousand…”
"Well... I was a little confused when I looked at the high-level items on the treasure map before. Now that I see these natives, I am sure that this world has laws and restrictions set by ancient strongmen. The laws above the fifth level of transcendence are restricted."
"Hehe, then there probably won't be any danger in our treasure hunt this time. Since the strongest of these natives and magical beasts are no higher than level five, we don't have to worry about being attacked by level seven or level eight high-level magical beasts like outsiders do when we just sail for a while... As for these level five magical beasts, let alone our more than 20 level five extraordinary people, with the mechanical airship, we can easily kill them with a little trick."
"Don't underestimate these natives. They can survive in such a harsh environment. Maybe they have awakened some extraordinary abilities that we can't imagine because of the environment..."
"But then again, the fog in this forbidden area is really toxic. I don't know how the creatures here can survive in such a harsh environment..."
"Even through the gas mask, this awful black fog makes my throat burn. It's a miracle that those natives survived."
“…”
"The technology of these primitive people is really backward. Those clumsy mechanical cities can only run on the ground, and the speed is so slow. By the way, such a large-caliber cannon will only add weight to the mechanical city..."
"You forgot that there are no magic cannons here. We can only use gunpowder, so naturally the larger the caliber, the better."
"Haha, that's true. But this backward mechanical city, no matter how big it is, can only be beaten under the air superiority of our airship."
"Forget it, forget about those natives. Let's go find the place on the 'treasure map' first and see what treasure is there. The war outside is very chaotic right now, and those guys from the 'Holy Light Alliance' may attack us at any time. We can't stay in this 'God-forsaken Ruins' any longer..."
"I don't know what the 'Holy Light Alliance' guys are doing to suddenly declare war on our 'Mapson Empire'. It's such a remote place, and there aren't many high-level resources. What's there to plot against..."
"Who cares? For us Phantom Thieves, the more chaotic the situation, the better. If the Brotherhood of Steel hadn't been defeated in this war, our Red Shark Group wouldn't have gotten the treasure map..."
“…”
These outsiders looked at the mechanical cities they encountered along the way with sarcasm in their eyes.
In their opinion, this mechanical city that can only run on the ground is too crude.
The "Red Shark Phantom Thieves" traveled westward, across the entire Omar Empire, and soon arrived the Alcolon Mountains.
After all, there is no satellite positioning system in this era, and direction depends entirely on perception.
As luck would have it, as the group of guys were walking, their way was blocked by the towering Alcolon Mountains.
After all, the treasure map was hand-drawn. They knew they were close to the treasure location, but they didn't know where the treasure was exactly.
Just like the previous crashed airship, they began searching around the Alcolon Mountains.
Then, they traveled west along the mountains and unexpectedly found the Black Dragon Pass.
Today, Black Dragon City has already built roads outside the pass for the convenience of caravans.
This group of foreign thieves were also surprised when they discovered a human city near the location marked on the "treasure map".
"There is actually a human settlement in this basin? Could it be that the 'Black Emperor's Tomb' has been discovered by these natives?"
"It's hard to say. Let's capture a few people and interrogate them mentally to see if they know the place on the treasure map. If it is really found, we can search the nearby territories and maybe find the treasure. If not, we can go look for it again."
"Um."
This group of foreign thieves were also very smart. Although they didn't speak the same language, they had a map in their hands, so it wasn't difficult for them to extract simple information through mental torture.
Just when the thieves were planning to capture a few "natives" for interrogation, they discovered a caravan on the road.
This caravan consisted of a small number of people, and they were flying a flag with a black iron bird printed on it. This was clearly the team from the "Black Gold Chamber of Commerce"!
…
The mechanical airship made quite a bit of noise.
As it descended rapidly and headed towards the caravan, Canossa in the team had already discovered these uninvited guests.
If it were someone else, seeing this steel monster flying in the sky, they would surely be horrified.
But as one of the few people in the Ice Ridge Wasteland who knew the truth about the mechanical airship, she did not panic, but only felt solemn.
She looked at the guys jumping down from the sky with great force, and murmured, "Finally they are here..."
In fact, she knew that she might encounter this situation when she first saw the wreckage of the airship.
Since people outside the fog can enter here for the first time, then they can also come in a second time, a third time...
In the past, Canossa was always accompanied by high-level guards because she needed to hide the fact that she was a supernatural being from outsiders.
Now, everyone in the Ice Ridge Wasteland knew that she was not only an extraordinary person, but also a "legend". Naturally, there was no need to hide it anymore, and the team did not need to bring too many guards.
Therefore, on this trip, she only had a third-level guard captain with her.
When the foreign thieves of the "Red Shark Group" saw that the strongest in the team was only a third-level extraordinary person, they jumped down without hesitation and surrounded Canossa and the others.
…
When the other people in the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce saw the flying mechanical airship for the first time, they all had expressions of fear on their faces.
Mechanical city...can it fly?
This is something beyond their understanding.
They don't know where these guys came from...
However, although they were shocked, the Chamber of Commerce's well-trained guards also took action and protected Canossa.
The trembling voice of the third-level guard captain showed his uneasiness. He asked Canossa: "President, this..."
"Send a signal to Black Dragon City."
Canossa's expression was calm, and he responded calmly, "Leave those guys to me."
She knew that this group of people came from outside the fog.
While speaking, Canossa glanced at the group of phantom thieves and muttered in his heart: "As Dr. Irubek analyzed, these guys are really weak... Is this the level of fighting spirit of the fifth-level extraordinary from outside the domain?"
When Irubek analyzed the bones from the wreckage of the airship, he had already come to this guess: the physical fitness of the people outside the Ice Ridge Wasteland is far inferior to those who have reproduced under this black fog.
Although there were two fifth-level extraordinary people among the people who jumped off the airship, in Kanossa's eyes, both their fighting spirit and pressure were only at the level of ordinary fourth-level extraordinary people in the Bingji Wasteland.
In the eyes of a legend like her, this kind of guy is not worth mentioning at all.
…
This group of thieves, who obviously had bad intentions, jumped off the airship and surrounded Canossa and his group.
They were mumbling something in an incomprehensible language.
Seeing the beautiful Canossa, these guys also had other ideas.
"Haha, there's actually such a tender-looking girl among these natives? Don't kill her yet, leave her here for the brothers to enjoy first..."
"The strength of these natives is quite strange. A third-level extraordinary person actually possesses such a huge amount of fighting spirit, which is almost the same as our fourth-level..."
"Who cares? No matter how strong he is, he is still level three. Kill those guards first, keep the woman alive, and get her onto the airship."
“…”
Naturally, these guys did not sense that Canossa had completely restrained his aura.
They just thought she was an ordinary person.
Although Canossa didn't understand what these guys were talking about, he could see what their lustful looks meant.
At this time, when these foreign thieves looked at the people from the Black Crystal Chamber of Commerce with an expression as if they were slaughtering livestock, a cold snort sounded.
"snort!"
Then, a murderous intent that made people's hair stand on end suddenly overwhelmed the entire place.
Of course, Canossa didn't wait for these guys to make a move, and her graceful body suddenly turned into a shadow.
Just when no one could see clearly what was happening, suddenly the heads of the two level five extraordinary people who were nearby exploded!
After a moment's pause, everyone present finally reflected in their minds what they had just seen.
Those foreign thieves who were about to take action were instantly frozen in place, holding their weapons, at a loss as to what to do.
They were all shocked, with expressions of fear on their faces.
What did I just see?
That woman...
Blast a fifth-level transcendent’s head with one punch?
With two consecutive punches, he killed two captain-level masters?
At this moment, Canossa's aura was not concealed at all, her skin was shining with golden light, and her golden body of the "Divine Steel Realm" was revealed.
Behind her, the shadow of the god in the state of magic release also exuded a kind of pressure that made people tremble in the soul.
At this moment, the group of thieves from the "Red Shark Group" finally understood something.
Although he didn't understand why a native who they thought was an "ordinary person" would suddenly burst out with such strong fighting power, the powerful aura like that of a sixth- or seventh-level magical beast really made them breathless.
The tangible murderous intent in Canossa was like a stream of ice water, extinguishing the arrogance and superiority of this group of foreign thieves.
…
Just as these dozens of thieves jumped down, Captain Jimmy was watching the show on the mechanical airship.
Although the third-level "indigenous" guard captain seemed very powerful, he was only equivalent to the fourth-level members among them.
In their eyes, the entire caravan posed no threat at all.
However, this contempt did not last a minute.
They saw a scene that shocked them.
The woman covered in golden light killed two of his fifth-level team leaders in one encounter.
Moreover, behind her, there appeared the "phantom of the god" that only high-level transcendents could comprehend!
Seeing this, Captain Jimmy seemed to have seen some incredible and terrifying scene, and his face turned pale with fear.
He broke out in a cold sweat, muttering to himself like a possessed person: "The secret method of unlocking the magic... What kind of horrible monsters are these natives? They can master the 'magic unlocking' at the fifth level?!"
