Catastrophe Card King - Chapter 1560

Chapter 1560: Chapter 475: Sophia Jones Arrives_3 Chapter 1560: Chapter 475: Sophia Jones Arrives_3 …

West City, Leather Street.

The Adventurers’ Marketplace here was even busier than a month ago, with many more stalls set up.

Adventurers casually spread cloth on either side of the street and put out ancient relics still redolent of the earth for sale right there in the open.

Leonard Churchill walked down the street, as usual, looking at the goods on the stalls.

It had to be said, the market had been seeing more and more high-quality items recently, with a constant stream of high-tier Demon Beast materials appearing.

Having lived in Gathering Spirit City for so long, Leonard of course knew the reason.

With more and more adventurers joining recently, the previously discovered cluster of relics was being developed at an increasing pace.

Those rarely visited depths of the forest were mostly home to top-tier Demon Beasts and various unpredictable dangers. But lately, with a surge of large Mercenary Corps and high-tier Hunters arriving, such treacherous places were gradually being explored, naturally resulting in more and more good finds.

As Leonard walked down the street, he would occasionally see some adventurously powerful adventurers.

Most of them wore the badges of their teams’ leadership, “King’s Knights,” “Golden Spear,” “Silver Moonlight,” “Red Oak” … these top-tier Mercenary Corps of the Southern Continent could all be seen.

It wasn’t just civilian adventurers, but also noble private soldiers in uniform armor.

And there were also the “Holy Dragon Knights” of the Holy Church’s main force, clad in their pristine silver armor.

These people had all come to Giant Spirit City within the past month from other places.

The news Leonard got from the Information merchant was that the Remnants of the Light were driven deep into the Magical Beast Forest and vampires from the Crimson Sect had been spotted in Giant Spirit City… The Holy Church issued an extermination mission, and all the great nobles and the Three Great Kingdoms sent troops to come here.

The city had suddenly become so lively.

Leonard had watched events develop step by step, so none of this was surprising to him.

He even speculated that there was more focus on the Magical Beast Forest by so many major forces, likely due to the Emperor’s Relics and that “rumor.”

Leonard now almost confirmed that Emperor Lanlingster had perished somewhere in the Magical Beast Forest.

He had previously wondered why it was a specific place and not elsewhere.

Now, there was a piece of gossip among adventurers that the location where those Curse God Cards were found was an ancient relic of a powerful and mysterious civilization.

The civilization was so powerful that it fatally attracted even top-level Card Masters and might contain the secrets of Ancient Deities.

There were many such rumors.

Leonard had heard at least dozens of versions.

Most were hearsay.

Very few of the adventurers who ventured into that dangerous area returned alive, and the few bits of information were monopolized by the real high-ups.

Without his own intelligence organization, Leonard could only rely on those scattered bits and pieces of information to speculate.

These days, judging from the reactions from all parties and the recruitment situation at the Mercenary Guild, the nobles were truly willing to pay any price to explore a dangerous part of the Magical Beast Forest.

That meant the “rumor” was largely credible.

There truly was an ancient civilization’s mysterious relic.

Leonard’s intention to venture into the Magical Beast Forest this time, aside from a bottleneck in his training, was largely due to curiosity.

With those thoughts in mind, he arrived at the branch office of the Mercenary Guild on Leather Street.

He would come here daily to check for information.

The Magical Beast Forest was fraught with peril, teeming with innumerable top-tier magical beasts. Even the Ninth Rank leader of the Rebel Dragon Army, Grieff, had once said he returned wounded, and Leonard, a Sixth Tier, wasn’t so arrogant as to think he could traverse that dangerous forest alone.

Especially the region the legend pointed to, an area that required a large team for any hope of survival.

Thus, Leonard was also looking to find an appropriate Mercenary Group to join and explore the Magical Beast Forest together.

…

“The ‘Gemstone Cave’ exploration, Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps is recruiting Card Masters of Fourth Tier and above,…”

‘Three-Headed Poison Dragon Beast’s Lair,’ Wind Demon Mercenary Corps is recruiting Fire Element Professional Sequence High-Order Card Masters, Antidote Pharmacists, Plague Spellcasters. Demon Beast Materials to be distributed based on contributions, under contract. Additionally…’
‘Dwarf’s Flame Demon Channel’ hunting a Seventh Rank Flame Demon, seeking Sixth Tier and above Black Knights, Priests, Pharmacists skilled in crafting potions for fire resistance…’
‘…’
Leonard Churchill was looking at recruitment notices in the Mercenary Union.

Finding a suitable team, with a similar destination, was not an easy task.

Recruitment calls for low-level Adventurer Groups were everywhere, but summoning High-Order Card Masters had to be approached with great caution.

There were quite a few Mercenary Groups and Adventure Groups formed by High-Order Card Masters in Giant Spirit City.

But aside from when they were short-staffed, they rarely recruited unfamiliar faces, and they were very cautious.

After all, in the perilous Magical Beast Forest, having familiar and well-coordinated teammates could even be a matter of life and death.

Just like the team Leonard once belonged to, if coordinated well, a small squad could exhibit several times its combat power.

Although Leonard was strong enough, he did not wish to bring trouble to his future adventures, so he scrutinized the options very carefully.

Information from pubs, Information merchants, guild reputations, personal observation… he had noticed a few medium-sized Mercenary Corps through various channels of information.

But none particularly pleased him.

Leonard needed a strong team, but such teams usually did not recruit openly.

Honestly, although he wasn’t an expert in healing, his knowledge was adequate for a Healer role, and finding a team with that Professional Sequence wasn’t too difficult.

He was thinking of checking again for a few more days, and if nothing suitable came up, just casually contact one of the teams on the list.

However, at that moment, a few mercenaries, causing a commotion, entered the noisy Mercenary Union. They approached the bulletin board and started looking at the information…

Normally, this would not be strange.

With more than a hundred thousand people passing through the guild daily, there were many High-Order Mercenaries as well.

But for some reason, Leonard felt a sense of familiarity and looked over.

Suddenly, he recognized someone among those few people as oddly familiar.

‘Isn’t that… the Revolutionary Army’s cadre ‘Broken Gunman’ Anlos?’
Leonard wasn’t mistaken; that laid-back guy was indeed Anlos, whom he had met once before at the Flood Gang, though there were some differences from his memory.

Seeing this person, Leonard thought he might have been mistaken.

But a careful glance at the companions around the individual confirmed he was right.

‘Deadly Poison Doctor’ Bonnie, ‘Holy Hammer’ Sam, ‘Blaster’ Rosin, ‘Demon Sword’ Caesar Christ…

Aren’t these all the cadres and key members of the Eastern Wasteland Revolutionary Army?

‘Why have these folks come to the Southern Continent?’
No sooner had this thought popped into Leonard’s head than his gaze instinctively moved to the person leading the group, clad in armor and carrying a Great Sword nearly as tall as herself.

The armor fit perfectly, clearly designed for a woman.

Even though a cold steel mask hid her face, the wave of familiarity overwhelmed him, and he recognized her instantly, thinking in astonishment, ‘Aunt Jones?’
Leonard had not expected to encounter Sophia Jones here after such a long time!

Perhaps because he had looked over for a moment too long, the woman carrying the Great Sword sensed she was being watched and cast a quick sideways glance.

In the instant their gazes met, Sophia Jones recognized Leonard, and the caution in her eyes instantly shifted to a gentle smile.

She was one of the few who knew Leonard was in Giant Spirit City.

She had intended to come to the Hunter’s Association to announce her arrival.

But she had not expected such a coincidence, to stumble upon him directly.