Night Ranger

Chapter 21: The Abandoned Altar

Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation

Marvin skillfully went through the forest, moving at lightning speed through the gap between the trees toward the exit.

A lot of classes actually had an unexplained hidden talent. Thieves’ hidden talent was that while going through a marketplace, they could stay composed while stealing. Wizards’ hidden talent was that they could quite easily focus their attention. As for rangers, most of their hidden talent would be displayed in the wilderness.

They felt like a fish in water while going through a forest in the wilderness.

Marvin immediately left after obtaining the lich’s severed finger from the magic chest.

He already got the things he could get a hold of, and now he had to retreat. After all, the scarlet monastery was filled with danger everywhere, like demon god enforcers and other monsters, some way too powerful for Marvin. It would quite stupid to take pointless risks.

He went through the Hall Mountain Range all the way to the northwest, while avoiding potential hidden monsters.

There was an abandoned altar in that area not too far away. Going there was a necessary part of Marvin’s plan.

It’s just that with the headless girl’s assistance, he had managed to obtain the severed finger of the lich, truly a nice surprise. It meant that he could make use of it inside the altar to obtain many more good things!

While walking, Marvin checked all his logs:

[Knowledge – Gods (Lich severed finger)]: You obtained the severed finger of a lich. By chance, the finger has a weak trace of divine power. This was a quite powerful lich, on the brink of reaching godhood. However, he failed at the last moment. But he won’t give up. He is still sleeping, waiting to make a comeback. He is able to feel every part of his body and in this severed finger is hidden the secret to successfully reach godhood. This little bit of divine power is a very precious resource in the hands of a God Alchemist or a Witchcraft God. But for others, this thing would only bring troubles.

There was no doubt that Marvin belonged to the "others". He wasn’t a god, nor was he the child of a god, and as such, he couldn’t absorb the severed finger’s divine power. Keeping this severed finger for a long time could only lead him to a disaster. As such, he didn’t intend to keep this precious item from the start.

He planned to offer it as a sacrifice on the altar.

A severed finger with a bit of divine power, there should be quite a lot of gods or alchemist gods interested in it. Among those, there should be some Old Elven Gods who stayed away from worldly matters.

...

Old Elven Gods were the 2nd generation of Old Gods. In the first generation, there was no one left apart from the hidden and secluded Wizard God Lance. They all fell. Marvin remembered that this old god was an unconventional one among the gods. When the gods of heaven decided to join hands to attack the Universe Magic Pool, he was part of the minority against it.

Just this point let Marvin have a good opinion of him. To the mortals, the destruction of the Universe Magic Pool was a calamity that couldn’t be stopped.

Otherwise the South Pearl Tower scholar would not name this great change "The Great Calamity".

But the gods, not wanting to be left out of the search of the 4th Fate Tablet, ultimately launched an attack on the Universe Magic Pool. The Wizard God Lance had already left a long time ago, so they already forgotten his glory and strength. The Universe Magic Pool was originally created to help the ordinary people on Feinan Continent, to let them master magic more easily so they could turn into strong wizards and withstand the continuous flow of monsters.

At the same time, the Universe Magic Pool was also a barrier surrounding Feinan Continent, protecting Feinan against those extremely powerful guys, making them unable to enter.

Because this protection was in the best interest of all living things, its founder, the Wizard God Lance, was revered by all races as the supreme god, slightly placed above all other old gods and new gods. With regards to Lance’s strength, a lot of gods were disgruntled, but none dared to say a word.

And now, the Wizard God had already left Feinan for more than a millennium while all the other gods had been restless for a long time.

A disaster had already started brewing and no one could avoid it.

Marvin took a deep breath and sped up the pace.

...

Two days later, Northwest of Hall Mountain Range.

[You found the Deathly Silent Hills]

[Knowledge – Geography +1]

[Knowledge – Geography (Deathly Silent Hills)]: The hills in front are somber and desolate. It’s a rather complex terrain. There will often be some terrifying creatures roaming about in this kind of environment.

Marvin stopped at the entrance of the Deathly Silent Hills, silently comparing the path with the one in his own memories to see if he went off-trail.

He was quite lucky on the way here. Apart from a few ignorant and easy to slaughter goblins, he didn’t meet any notable monsters.

This was due to the fact that Hall Mountain Range was relatively safe.

However, the Deathly Silent Hills were different. That place not only had all kinds of nomadic races living inside, but also quite a few criminals and monsters. This place was very suited to hiding and as a result there were some strongholds here, gatherings of numerous fugitives from the surrounding cities.

Regardless of whether they were from River Shore City or Jewel Bay, all rogues would find their way to this region.

There were also man-eating plants that could eat a person whole without leaving a trace of blood, unknown venomous snakes able to kill you in a flash, unusual insects, and other things.

However, these were for the most part concentrated in the depths of the Deathly Silent hills.

Marvin didn’t plan on going in one of those deep areas, his target being a small cavern in the outer region.

He stopped on top of a small hill. According to the sun’s position and the path in his memories he verified a few times, this was the correct path inside the hills.

...

He had almost arrived near his destination in the evening, when Marvin suddenly met with an unexpected person.

On the small open space in front, an enraged brown bear was roaring.

On the other side of the brown bear was a tall man wearing a long black gown and wielding a pair of daggers, moving at an incredible speed.

His attacks were extremely ruthless and sly, each stab finding its way into an exceptionally painful place, but shallow enough to not let this forest overlord die.

The brown bear angrily roared, attempting to grab this human that was continuously injuring him. But it was extremely clumsy!

‘At least 20 points of dexterity!’

‘Curved Dagger Great Master...’

‘2nd rank ranger advanced class... Based on his dagger skills, he should be a [Dark Murderer]!"

Marvin hid himself below the tree, silently watching this scene. He started getting worried.

This guy was too strong!

He was completely toying with this brown bear.

It seemed like he didn’t want anything from the brown bear apart from the pleasure he got from toying with it.

Or perhaps he was tempering his own skills. Anyways, this kind of person was not to be trifled with.

The perception of that kind of guy was definitely very high. Even if Marvin was quite confident in his own stealth, if he was found, it would be quite troublesome.

He was hidden there, motionless, and he even reduced his breathing frequency to the minimum.

He watched the black clothed guy killing his brown bear toy. When the brown bear died, the blood all over its body had already dried and the fur broke down from not being able to take any more damage from the continuous flashing cuts.

This kind of killing skill really was very cruel.

The dark clothed man stopped attacking and suddenly looked over where Marvin was.

‘Bad! He really found me.’

Marvin knew that it would be quite difficult to hide from the expert with his own stealth.

But that black clothed man didn’t immediately act, seeming to hesitate for a moment before smiling.

"I’m in a good mood today so I’ll let you off."

After he said that, a shadow flew from his hand.

Pah!

The shadow stuck itself on the ground three steps in front of Marvin.

The black clothed man turned around to leave, took a few jumps and disappeared in the forest.

Marvin wiped the sweat off his forehead and came out of the shadows.

‘Such good luck. It seems like he had something else to handle.’

He took the yellow card from the ground, and printed on it was a fanged spider!

Marvin’s complexion immediately changed.

Shadow Spider!

That guy was a killer of Shadow Spider!

That yellow card was a warning. A warning that Marvin must not appear in his sight again, or he would ruthlessly kill him.

‘Shouldn’t the Shadow Spider headquarters be in the north?’

‘Why did a member come to the south?’

Marvin felt that there was some unusual implication.

Anyways, this was a very troublesome situation. River Shore City was the only major city in the surroundings, so he had a feeling that he was going to meet this killer once again.

‘Troublesome...’ Marvin shook his head. If they met, he would be completely suppressed.

He had to quickly get stronger!

He got back on the move, looking at the surrounding caverns.

And finally, before the sun fell behind the mountain, he found the remote quiet cavern.

It was very quiet inside the cavern, as no monster dared to approach because of the old god’ss blessing.

Marvin went straight for the end of the cavern and arrived in front of that abandoned altar.