858: Chapter 848: Not to be Missed 858: Chapter 848: Not to be Missed The term “Iron Madonna”, despite containing the word “madonna”, has absolutely nothing to do with any sort of maternal sympathy.
The Iron Maiden is actually an instrument of torture, also known as the ‘Iron Virgin’, a particularly cruel device from medieval Europe.
It was a human-shaped cage, a closed framework or simply a box that could be opened and was just big enough to enclose a person.
The side facing inwards was lined with long iron spikes, and when a person was shoved inside and the cage closed, the individual would be pierced into a sieve, that was the Iron Madonna.
If someone were to be executed with the Iron Madonna, it certainly wouldn’t happen as quickly as slamming a door shut; rather, the doors would close slowly, forcing the person inside to watch helplessly as the spikes impaled them.
The Iron Madonna Mercenary Group truly lives up to their name.
Just how strong the Iron Madonna is, is difficult to describe, but it can be said that the Iron Madonna could beat up any other mercenary group in the world, any of them!
Large mercenary groups aren’t very strong, as their quality deteriorates when their numbers increase.
A group with over one thousand is considered large, but such a large scale draws the attention of nations, almost negating their reason for existence.
Hence, without exception, large mercenary groups are just masses of cannon fodder recruited in bulk or temporarily cobbled together, doomed to fade away, making any claim of being the “top large mercenary group” irrelevant.
Two hundred plus is nearly the maximum size a mercenary group can achieve under modern societal conditions, since daring to call themselves mercenaries already indicates they are an unruly and fearless armed faction willing to do anything for money.
Any larger and they’re practically seeking their own demise.
The only ones that can exist at such a significant scale are formal private military contractors, and beyond that, the few super-large companies like the Deyang Group or the Armored Group, which can only undertake defensive or military support services.
Blackwater Company has a considerable size and strength, but the reason for its fame is that its PMC employees killed eleven civilians in Iraq, which once broadcast globally by the media, either made them infamous or increased their notoriety, although Blackwater did indeed grow significantly as a result of their bad reputation.
If Blackwater Company is vilified for killing eleven people, what about mercenaries?
Mercenaries are the real cold-blooded killers who mow down people like grass, and mercenary groups are aggregations of scum that commit every conceivable evil deed.
The Satan Mercenary Corps is definitely the conscience of the industry, never slaughtering innocents or committing rape and pillage.
But once the fighting starts, no matter who the enemy is, see if they would spare anyone.
Therefore, the very existence of mercenaries is an intolerable destabilizing factor to the world.
Thus, a mercenary group with thousands of members willing to do anything for money would definitely be immediately targeted for repeated suppression.
In addition to environmental factors, it’s also because talent is rare that an elite mercenary group with over a thousand people just won’t happen.
Like Satan Mercenary Corps, Gao Yang could expand the scale, but finding individuals who are capable enough to match the team is all too difficult.
Fodder is easy to come by; you could recruit thousands with no effort at all.
The simplest way is to visit a few large Tuareg tribes, who, for a price, can gather an army in minutes.
During the latter stages of the war in Libya, it was mercenaries from Mali and other countries who carried on the fighting.
As for assembling a group of all-stars, the elite of the elite, into a mercenary group, forget about thousands, even achieving five hundred is impossible.
Just look at how many special forces units around the world, without padding their numbers with logistical or civilian personnel, and not counting new soldiers still in training and not ready for combat, have combatant numbers exceeding one thousand.
Consider how few formidable special forces there are across the whole world.
Competent individuals may not be scarce, but how many top-tier special forces are willing to become mercenaries after retiring?
The reason for discussing special forces is that the Iron Madonna exclusively consists of them, Iron Madonna only accepts retired special forces.
Moreover, they still reject those not hailing from notably prestigious units, even if they were part of special forces beforehand.
Therefore, the Iron Madonna is a mercenary group entirely composed of retired special forces.
According to Iron Madonna’s standards, among Satan Mercenary Corps’s twelve individuals, only Eileen would qualify; the rest would be utterly ineligible to join.
The Iron Madonna is famous for its many victories and notably, for never having suffered a defeat.
Of course, if there were any defeats, outsiders would be unlikely to find out, but the strength of the Iron Madonna is universally acknowledged.
With a size of over two hundred, the Iron Madonna Mercenary Corps cannot possibly take on too many large contracts.
Therefore, the Iron Madonna operates in numerous small teams for desert warfare, jungle combat, street fighting, and even security, assassinations; there’s no job they won’t take.
The biggest competitor for the Satan Mercenary Corps is not other ultra-small mercenary groups, but the Iron Madonna, because the small squads of around ten people from Iron Madonna can take on the same contracts.
Angel Mercenary Corps’s biggest rival is also the Iron Madonna, because the Iron Madonna can conveniently and swiftly assemble teams of any size.
The Iron Madonna is a long-established mercenary group, having existed for over twenty years.
They have a loud reputation, a solid brand, and no known defeats; of course, even if there were any, outsiders likely wouldn’t be aware.
Yet it is widely recognized that the Iron Madonna is powerful indeed.
Nate was already crazy enough, but during a casual chat, Nate himself admitted that Iron Madonna was the only Mercenary Group he would never provoke actively.
Not going out of his way to provoke them didn’t mean he could always avoid them, so the Angel Mercenary Corps indeed had crossed paths with Iron Madonna before.
In the encounter they fought, two members of Angel were injured, and three from Iron Madonna, nearly no difference in outcome.
However, since they had clashed, it indicated that it was only a small squad of Iron Madonna.
If Iron Madonna had mobilized in full force against Angel, it’s likely that the name Angel would no longer exist by now.
After all, while their combat capabilities were approximately the same, the size of the two mercenary groups was an entire magnitude apart.
Now, the Satan Mercenary Corps had the opportunity to measure up against Iron Madonna, but the problem was Gao Yang didn’t want this chance at all.
For Gao Yang, even though it was just fighting against a small squad of Iron Madonna, the biggest trouble was that Iron Madonna was just too massive.
Not to mention that Iron Madonna’s jungle warfare squad was definitely a tough bone to crack, even if he were to annihilate a small squad of Iron Madonna, they could send even more people after him for revenge, a problem Gao Yang had to consider.
But ultimately, the main reason Gao Yang refused to take the mission was the meager pay.
Five million dollars for Gao Yang and his crew to risk their lives against Iron Madonna was a joke.
Justin’s wishful thinking was too loud.
For an adversary of the caliber of Iron Madonna, even for combat against a squad of similar numbers, the starting price could not be less than ten million dollars.
If there really were a price Gao Yang couldn’t refuse, he actually wouldn’t mind matching up with Iron Madonna after all.
He’d just have to ensure that the confidentiality measures were up to par.
Being a mercenary, if you cower at the mention of a formidable opponent, you might as well retire.
Gao Yang wasn’t afraid to take a gamble, but if he was going to risk his life, the price had to be right.
He wasn’t foolish enough to take on a mission with high risk and low reward, so he didn’t hesitate to hang up on Justin’s call.
Gao Yang figured Justin would call back, so he didn’t rush to leave the bathroom.
Sitting on the toilet, he waited for almost two minutes, and the phone rang again.
“Fifteen million dollars!”
Justin was straightforward and to the point.
After hearing Justin’s new offer, Gao Yang hesitated for a moment, but ultimately spoke in a deep voice, “You’ve finally put forward a sincere price.
However, I need some time to think it over and also discuss it with my team.”
Justin sighed and said, “Fine, I’ll give you two hours to think it over, but you’d better not keep me waiting too long.”
After hanging up the phone again, Gao Yang pondered for a moment and then made a call to Little Donnie.
When Little Donnie answered, Gao Yang said in a deep voice, “Has Justin reached out to you?”
“No, what’s up?”
“He has a job for us, our opponent is Iron Madonna.”
“Iron Madonna?
I haven’t caught wind of that, absolutely no whispers about it.
The news hasn’t spread in the circles, but…
F**k!
It doesn’t matter how many they are, we can’t take this gig.”
Gao Yang spoke sternly, “Justin offered five million; I refused, and he immediately upped it to fifteen million.”
“That’s big money!
Still, I think we shouldn’t take it.
Where is it, and how many are the opponents?”
“The Amazon Rainforest of Brazil, a squad of ten.
There can’t be any deception; Justin doesn’t dare lie about this.”
Gao Yang was certain Justin hadn’t lied about the number of enemies because for such a high-risk mission, they had to receive half of the fee upfront, and if upon receiving the deposit they discovered a significant discrepancy in the enemy headcount, they could abort the mission and keep the deposit.
Little Donnie, clearly torn, said, “If there are only ten of them, then the price is indeed very good.
But considering the opponent is Iron Madonna, I can’t offer you advice since high returns come with too high risks.”
After a few more words, Gao Yang hung up and then called Glolov, speaking in a deep tone, “There’s a big job, referred by Justin.
Heading to Brazil’s Amazon to rescue Friend of Nature personnel, our opponents are a ten-man squad of Iron Madonna, fifteen million dollars.
Let the others know and discuss whether to take it or not, and be quick about it, the other side is waiting for a response.”
Without elaborating, Glolov hung up, and it took only about ten minutes before Glolov called back, saying right away, “Let’s take it!
We can’t miss out on a big deal.” (To be continued.
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