As a mercenary leader who had managed to do well for himself, how could he not have a trump card?
It wasn't an easy matter for a mercenary to come into contact with the world of magic. It was only through various coincidences that a mercenary group might accidentally come into contact with a magus. This mercenary leader's luck was actually quite good. When he was young, in his early years, he had followed his former team as a trainee. At that time, his boss had led their team to rob a tomb.
After all, when funds were tight, one had to prioritize filling one's own stomach. Most importantly, that was an area where wars frequently broke out. From time to time, a missile would blast out one or two ruins, especially underground ones. At this time, the mercenary groups would, like vultures that had smelled rotting flesh, quickly gather there to snatch a fortune.
"If we're lucky and snatch a rare treasure, the mercenary group might even disband on the spot. Everyone will have a considerable amount of family assets and go to a peaceful world to live. As long as one isn't a person who pursues the thrill of life and death, who the hell would be a mercenary? Isn't it just because of a lack of money?"
The mercenary leader still remembered his former leader saying such words. He never concealed his own desire for money. But it was just such a person who had died on the road of pursuing money. That's right, it was that tomb of a Roman nobleman. It was also there that he had come into contact with the other side of this world, the legendary magi. Of course, in his eyes, there was no difference between them and magicians.
Although the world of magic has a very clear distinction between "magic" and "sorcery," in the eyes of ordinary people, this distinction is not that big. To be able to rub your hands together and create fire out of thin air, to control shadows, water currents, earth, and even to create alternative forms of artificial life—what was the difference between this and the magicians in their myths and legends?
Of course, in the distant past, before humanity had a way to replace magic with technology, those magics were also called "sorcery." After all, the term "magic" (magecraft) and the strict distinction between it and "sorcery" (true magic) were also slowly established in the long passage of time.
Of course, the mercenary leader would not say this in front of a magus. After all, that group of magi were all serious old fossils, who were inexplicably serious about the distinction of some concepts. Of course, this was also related to the characteristics of magic. An ordinary person like him, who had only come into contact with the world of magic, and couldn't even be considered a novice, naturally wouldn't know so many detailed things.
But as long as they could use some magical energy, use some ordinary strengthening and transformation magic—these, in the eyes of magi, were just the most basic of basic magic—it was already enough to make the strength of a mercenary group grow exponentially. Of course, even so, it still took a lot of effort for them to learn how to use these magics from the mouths of magi.
In fact, the easiest way was to find a magus who was about to die. After this magus died, they would secretly take away his notes and see if there was any magic they could learn. It had to be the kind of inconspicuous magus. Otherwise, the Clock Tower might still retrieve the Magic Crest on the magus who had no heir. Of course, those with no special value would be left alone.
But magi, in the end, all had a certain obsession with their own research and the Root. Even the most ordinary magus would look for their own heir. Therefore, there were even fewer ordinary people who had set foot in the world of magic. After all, the world of magic was supposed to be hidden from ordinary people.
In the tomb of that Roman nobleman, there was a dagger that could be called a decent Mystic Code. The whole thing was made of gold, but in the process of forging, other materials and inscribed magic had been added, making it invincible. It was also this dagger that had led to the death of his old leader.
An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth. Before they had even left the tomb, a magus had made a move on them. And his old leader had naturally also died in that tomb. Compared to those mercenaries who were blown to pieces on the battlefield and couldn't even put together a complete corpse, to be able to die in the tomb of a Roman nobleman, to some extent, could also be considered as having a place to rest after death.
Most importantly, even if all the burial goods were taken away, this place still had exquisite carvings. The wealth and honor he did not have in life, he could enjoy after death. Perhaps for this mercenary leader, such an ending was not so bad.
And he, as a trainee member back then, was naturally walking at the very back. It was also thanks to this reason that the magus's move had not been able to take him out in one go. This also gave him a chance to counterattack. It was also thanks to this magus not being a very strong existence, and even not having the Mystic Code items he used most often, otherwise he would not have come to the tomb to directly look for an ownerless Mystic Code.
It was precisely because of this that this mercenary leader had, by a stroke of luck, obtained a set of magic notes and a Mystic Code. Relying on this dagger, which could pierce through all defenses, he had also completed several assassination missions, thus reaching his current position.
Of course, this so-called "piercing through everything" was this mercenary leader's own idea. At least, since he had obtained this dagger, he had not yet encountered anything he could not pierce. Naturally, this mercenary leader believed that the weapon in his hand could, of course, pierce through the defense of the Kamen Rider before him. He would surely be able to defeat this Kamen Rider. Surely!
In these years, which were not short for a human, to have accidentally seen the other side of the world already meant that he was lucky enough. In that case, he, who was so lucky, should also be able to turn this danger into safety this time...
Faced with the stabbing dagger, Sakura did not dodge, nor did she retreat. A faint pattern flashed across the form-fitting suit on her body. It was just that this faint pattern was not seen by the mercenary leader.
CLANG—!!
After the dagger collided with this suit, it made a metallic sound. This sound directly made the mercenary leader's eyes widen. He was a little confused as to why this dagger couldn't even pierce through a suit that looked like leather. He had clearly injected magical energy into it.
In response, Sakura did not say much. Although the suit on her body looked like leather, it was actually made of nano-level special metals, using Faerie Letters and Aslan's unique forging technology, combined with some of the unique technologies of the machine gods. In order to combine these metal elements, Shinji had even shut himself in and researched for a full half a year.
For Shinji, Antarctica's number one human genius, to have spent so much time researching, one can imagine just how special this technology was.