Chapter 254 – Encountering a Little Thief on the Road Pt. 2
Since Suo Jia didn’t know the way, Suo Jia could only employ the four thieves to lead him, and Suo Jia rushed to Emerald City. There, they reached an extremely prosperous city in the middle of a forest.
After reaching Emerald City’s thief union, the four thieves drank with Suo Jia once more before leaving. As for finding Nicole, that was Suo Jia’s own problem. The four thieves only knew of such a person; they didn’t know where she lived, or her most recent traces. Actually, a thief’s tracks were virtually impossible to grasp. Wanting to find her was fine, but that required luck.
Suo Jia searched for many days, and asked around quite a bit too. However, he still wasn’t able to gather any detailed information. Everyone knew of Nicole, and also confirmed that she lived in Emerald City. However, none of them knew of her current whereabouts.
However, his efforts during these days weren’t wasted. Suo Jia had still learned quite a bit from the words of thieves. Nicole was a descendent from a thousand year old influential treasure hunter family that had lasted many generations. The reason everyone knew of her was not because of how powerful she was, but because ten Legendary ranked treasure hunters had been among Nicole’s ancestors, as well as one Epic ranked person.
On average, Nicole’s family would produce a Legendary ranked treasure hunter every century, and an Epic ranked person every thousand years. Although their family had already declined…the knowledge that Nicole’s family had accumulated over the thousands of years still existed.
What did ten Legendary ranked treasure hunters and one Epic ranked hunter appearing every thousands of years signify? That’s right…it meant that Nicole’s family had 10 ancestors that had successfully passed through the Greater Trade Routes. One of them was even a leading figure in the Greater Trade Routes. That’s why, they definitely had a world map that was unimaginably complete.
Suo Jia learned from word of mouth that Nicole was the last generation from the family, as well as the last person. Her parents had both died already. While Nicole’s current whereabouts were unknown, people in Emerald City had seen her not too long ago. That meant he’d be able to find her if he was lucky enough.
Finally, after a few more days of scouting, Suo Jia realized that by just idly hoping for a chance, it would be very hard to find Nicole. Although Emerald City was large, going outside to test his luck might offer a better chance.
Suo Jia left the thief bar, and followed the road to leave the city district. He looked at the sketch he had obtained of Nicole, and muttered this stimulating name to himself. He had this nagging feeling that he’d seen her somewhere before; even the name seemed somewhat familiar.
“Goddamn, hurry up and catch him. He stole my wallet…” A furious roar came from in front of Suo Jia.
He raised his head in shock to look across from him, only to see an energetic black-clothed figure turn around the corner as fast as lightning, currently running over towards Suo Jia. In the blink of an eye, the masked, black-clothed person had already dashed to where Suo Jia stood.
Suo Jia could tell that this gale-like figure was the said thief that had stolen the wallet. However…this was none of his business, and he had no desire to rashly show his ability. As long as it wasn’t his wallet being stolen, he wouldn’t bother paying the thief any attention.
The black-clothed person suddenly increased in speed as he rushed towards Suo Jia. Seeing this, Suo Jia subconsciously used the Rising Wave Steps. His body shifted strangely in attempt to evade and let the opposite party through.
However, Suo Jia had made a huge mistake. The Rising Wave Steps utilized feints to trick the enemy’s mind and conscious. While it clearly looked like one was going to the left, their body was actually shifting right. While it looked like one was advancing, their body was actually backing up. This made it impossible for the person to get hit by attacks.
However, this footwork was only effective in battle. It was meant to be used when the enemy was diligently trying to attack a person. But now, both Suo Jia and thief wanted to evade each other. Thus, Suo Jia had made a fatal error.
Seeing Suo Jia’s body move right, the black clad thief shot Suo Jia a grateful glance, and was prepared to break through Suo Jia’s left. However, Suo Jia’s Rising Wave Steps were reverse, so his body was actually shifting to the right.
“Bang.” With a muffled sound of collision, the black clad thief violently crashed into Suo Jia. The two of them were momentarily sent tumbling backwards. The large momentum caused them both to fall down at the same time, miserably rolling along the ground.
“Quick…capture him. He’s already fallen, so hurry up and get him.” As soon as the two fell, an indignant roar rang out from around the corner. The next instant…a few dozen figures quickly came around, charging over at Suo Jia and the masked black-clothed thief.
The black clad thief glared at Suo Jia in anger, but didn’t have any time to pay him any mind. The thief crawled up with difficulty, preparing to run away. However, just as he stood up, he suddenly staggered, and fell back down. It was clear that he had sustained serious injuries from the collision just now.
That tiny delay was enough for the enemy to reach him already. Dozens of figures surrounded Suo Jia and the masked thief. Then…a stout fatty walked over with a fierce expression. His fat hands pointed at the masked thief as he shouted in anger, “Hit him. Hit him until he dies. Daring to steal even my money, he’s too brazen.”
The surrounding warriors all pulled out their weapons and headed towards the thief. Seeing this, Suo Jia couldn’t help but frown. In his opinion, the thief’s stealing had been right and proper; if he was in the thief occupation, stealing was natural. Since he had been caught, all the fatty had to do was demand his wallet back. Why was it necessary to beat the thief to death?
As Suo Jia was thinking this, the fight had already started. As the warriors moved in to attack, the masked thief displayed extremely nimble movements, and his body quickly flashed through a narrow space to escape. In just a moment, he’d successfully dodged dozens of attacks.
However, the enemy just had too many people. The space they encircled was too small. While he could flee through that space, it was still pitiful. Even after he strived to continue evading several attacks, the black clad thief was finally unable to dodge any further. After being hit by several strong attacks, his body bled furiously as he fell to the ground, and his body violently shuddered. However, the thief’s exposed pair of eyes still flashed with a light of contempt.
“Damn…” The fatty cursed and said mercilessly, “Wrap him up. Since he dared to steal my money, I’ll definitely chop of his hands.”
A few warriors walked over, prepared to seize the masked thief and break his hands. Just then, a frigid voice rang out, “That’s enough. You shouldn’t go too overboard, this much should be fine already.”
All the people froze, and turned around in confusion towards the source of the voice. Everyone watched as Suo Jia slowly crawled up from the ground. The fall just now had covered Suo Jia’s blue mage robe with dust; even a section of his face had gotten dirty.
After seeing his sorry state, the people clearly didn’t pay him any mind. What kind of powerful figure would fall to such a state after a collision with a thief? Although he was a mage, any mage would be unable to defeat a warrior at such close range, no matter how formidable they were.
The fatty inquired, “Oh. You’re the guy that helped me stop this guy just now. But…despite that, you don’t have the power to prevent me from punishing this little thief.”
The fatty abruptly turned around and coldly declared, “What are you all still waiting for? I already said to wrap this thief up and chop off his hands. That way, he won’t be able to steal anymore.”
The warriors once again raised their weapons, swinging them down towards the black clad thief lying on the ground. Against these warriors, the black-clothed thief could only close his eyes in despair. At such a close range, a thief couldn’t possibly go against a warrior head-on.
“Hiss…” It was clear to see that the black clad thief was just about to be detained. But just then, a soft whizz sounded out, and a freezing air quickly brushed past all the warriors’ bodies. Feeling the powerful undulation of magic power, the warriors all turned around in alarm, aiming their weapons towards the source of the chilly air.
Although it was close range, the warriors all knew that the repercussions after a mage had wantonly activated magic would be quite heavy. A mage’s destructive power far surpassed a warrior’s. Allowing a mage to act was equivalent to courting death.