Marvin infiltrated the castle and used stealth, being extremely careful at every step.
Gnoll shadows began appearing one after the other in the castle surroundings.
The more he looked, the more alarmed he felt.
These gnolls weren’t fighters!
There were only common gnolls without any fighting strength, and for the most part, old weak women and children.
There were more than two hundreds of those gnolls!
This meant that it was a medium sized gnoll tribe. They should have about one hundred and fifty gnolls with real combat classes.
This wasn’t an amount that a twenty man garrison could deal with, let alone all those mutated aardwolves.
He walked around the castle very carefully.
Fortunately, he was very familiar with the terrain and the gnolls had pretty poor perception. He was able to calmly withdraw.
But what made him somewhat puzzled was that he had met the majority of the gnoll tribe forces, but still wasn’t able to find the boss.
The gnoll tribe roughly had a hundred and fifty qualified as fighters. Among them were six level 3 Petty Officers and two level 4 Adjutants.
The leader was definitely a rank 2 class-holder
Marvin noticed that those mutated aardwolves didn’t listen to the ordinary gnolls, or even to the adjutants.
They seemed to be controlled by someone even more powerful.
‘Their leader, what is it?’
Harboring doubts in his heart, Marvin clenched his teeth and wanted to go further in.
But at that time, on a street not far from there, a group of gnolls were escorting a thin and small guy.
Marvin narrowed his eyes and was immediately startled!
Gnolls were normally small enough, but that guy was especially abnormal.
It looked as small as a five or six years old child. His fur and color was actually very smooth and the rest of the gnolls looked at him with eyes filled with respect.
‘Oh my god! Am I mistaken?’
‘The gnoll race widely known for being dumb as fuck, actually gave birth to a Sorcerer?!’
Marvin’s quick judgment told him to quickly get out of there.
The most basic innate Sorcerer spell, [Eye of Pain], was the bane of all stealth techniques.
He was alone in enemy territory, he couldn’t stay there!
_______________________
1-The character for work can also mean “to fuck” ()
Chapter 32: The Singing Voice in the Secret Path
Chapter 32: The Singing Voice in the Secret Path
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Inside the tunnel, Marvin started to relax, his heart still beating fast.
‘Almost got found out!’
‘Luckily, there were tall gnolls on his side obstructing his line of sight. If he had found me, I would have been in trouble. There are so many gnolls and mutated aardwolves that even if I used Hide, I wouldn’t be able to escape.’
Marvin was really scared this time.
He hadn’t anticipated that a Sorcerer would be born among the gnolls.
They weren’t kobolds, which had the blood of their ancestor, a huge dragon, flowing in their veins. So, how could a Sorcerer, this kind of outstanding class, appear in a gnoll pack?
Marvin was unable to understand.
But Feinan’s world was full of extraordinary things. Since that pack of gnolls had a 2nd rank Sorcerer leading them, their danger level went up.
Marvin would have to issue a specialized target. Only then would it be possible to win.
After all, a strong Sorcerer supporting his strong allies in the battlefield was extremely powerful.
Because the Sorcerer class was limited by bloodlines, it had always been considered as a second-rate class. However, after the Great Calamity, because their spells were unrelated to the Universe Magic Pool and because of the chaos magic flowing in Feinan, instead of being negatively affected their spells became easier to cast and stronger.
After the Great Calamity, Sorcerers were the group that benefitted the most.
Marvin remembered that in the surroundings of the Rocky Mountain to the southwest, the group of Sorcerers exiled by the wizards successfully established a large country after the Great Calamity.
Even though the country only stood for less than three years, if it wasn’t for a few gods targeting it, it might have conquered the south.
The leaders of the country were in fact three Heavenly Awakened Sorcerers.
The players talked about the [Three Fate Sisters], all extremely beautiful.
This gnoll Sorcerer that Marvin encountered in White River Valley naturally couldn’t compare with the strongest Heavenly Awakened Sorcerer, but he still couldn’t underestimate it.
He noticed that the other side was constantly using [Eye of Pain], meaning that he was very alert.
It also showed that his magic power was very strong. Eye of Pain continuously consumed energy but he was able to stand up straight, showing that his bloodline was quite strong.
This kind of guy was the nemesis of Stealth users like Marvin.
If Marvin was a Thief, he would be ruined!
Fortunately he wasn’t.
The Ranger’s advantage was that even if Stealth was restrained, the close range abilities were still impressive.
Marvin rested for a moment in the tunnel, and soon afterwards he was ready to go back.
When he passed by the fork, he suddenly heard a faint singing voice behind that huge rock blocking the path.
That voice was very gentle. If not for the fact that Marvin’s hearing was extraordinary, along with the quiet secret path, he wouldn’t have been able to hear it.
‘What?’
Marvin heart raced, he quickly approached and stuck his ear to the stone.
The voice gradually turned clear. It seemed to be using a very old language to sing. Marvin carefully listened for a moment, before noticing that this was the language of the Anzed people.
The Anzed were a race that had already died out. They were the origin of the wizards but they disappeared in the long river of history.
In general, many places in Feinan had descendants of the Anzed.
During significant occasions, such as funerals, paying respects to gods or ancestors, and other similar occasions, there would be elders in charge of praying in the Anzed language.
But the average person wouldn’t be able to speak or understand the Anzed’s ancient language.
But Marvin understood!
He checked his Nobility class knowledge and surprisingly found [Anzed Language].
He suddenly felt that the Nobility Class was simply a thousand times better than the Civilian class. It came with horsemanship, accounting, and other practical abilities, and it was unexpectedly still proficient in all kinds of rare languages!
In the game, only a small amount of players checked the Nobility class and Marvin had no interest whatsoever towards it. As a result, he didn’t know its secrets.
This time he got into an noble body and was finally able to experience the benefits of this class!
He listened carefully and found out that that voice was androgynous and was singing only four sentences:
“One flower, two flowers, tonight the devil won’t return home.”
“Hating the rain falling, hating the thunder rumbling, I sit in the well, weeping.”
“Dressed in white for a celebration, dressed in black for a funeral, midnight bell has yet to stop ringing.”
“The deceased, has yet to die.”
…
The voice was extremely scary. The more he listened to it, the more scared he was.
Those four sung lines kept echoing in his brain for a very long time!
He suddenly forced himself to move away. As voice gradually became quieter, he took a look behind.
“There is something inside!”
Just now, that scary voice mana
ged to completely scare the usually extremely daring Marvin.
That kind of indescribable feeling…
‘Could it be a fear skill?’
Marvin frowned and checked the logs but didn’t find any fear check or anything similar.
Furthermore, he was wearing [Vanessa’s Gift] which increased his fear resistance by 10 points. Ordinary fear magics wouldn’t work on him.
But that frightening feeling actually came from the bottom of his heart!
It wasn’t a fear skill, but this voice felt as if it was causing some kind of resonance inside his blood vessels.
‘Is there a treasure, or a monster inside?!’
Marvin looked at the stone behind him with a pale face. He ultimately raised his spirits and threw this matter to the back of his head for the time being.
He had to focus his energy. He couldn’t be distracted by these things. The strange singing voice would have to wait until he recovered White River Valley.
…
Marvin quickly got out of the secret path and returned inside the farmhouse a panicked and still tied up Lola.
“What do you want to do?”
The girl became extremely scared. She had sat and thought there for quite a while, feeling sure that this vicious guy wouldn’t let her off.
‘That guy, how will he take care of me? Using my body first and then death? Or would I be treated the same as those gnolls, just a slash and it’s over?’
Lola had thought a lot. The more she thought, the less she was able to accept it. No matter how bad she was, she was still better than the gnolls, right?
‘It’s probably going to be the first.’
As she thought of this, she became even more scared.
As a result, when Marvin untied her she broke out into a unprecedented struggle… Which was quickly restrained by Marvin.
“Keep moving and you’ll die,” Marvin said in an ice-cold voice while putting his curved dagger on her neck.
His tone was cold, probably because he was still suffering from the influence of the singing voice.
Lola was scared and started shivering, her recently found courage disappearing in an instant.
‘I guess I was born under an ill star.’
She simply closed her eyes, awaiting her fate.
How could she have expected that at that time, Marvin would instead ask her, baffled, “What are you doing?”
“Ah?” Lola opened her eyes, clueless.
Marvin said softly, “Get ready, I’ll get you through the gnoll perimeter.”
…
If it was Marvin alone, passing through the gnoll perimeter would be extremely easy.
But taking a burden along was a lot more troublesome.
Lola didn’t have any class abilities, so not only was she unable to help him, she was also lagging behind.
Fortunately, Marvin thought of a way. He lured away the aardwolves guarding some key areas and then dragged Lola out of White River Valley.
Three days later, when Lola stood once more in front of River Shore City, she was overjoyed.
‘Finally back to the civilization!’
She had gone through some hard times from those filthy gnolls in the White River Valley dungeons.
She could have been swallowed whole, fried or even steamed: not everyone had the chance to experience this.
Lola felt happy to have survived, and almost cried.
“Thank you, thank you very much.” She sincerely thank Marvin.
Even if the guy before her eyes was extremely fierce, he didn’t seem as bad as she imagined…
Still wearing his mask, Marvin was whispering something, hesitating. He then suddenly asked, “You know the path to Jewel Bay?”
“Ah?” Lola was startled.
“I know you aren’t a chamber of commerce leader’s daughter. I also know that you are only a swindler. But I decided to give you a change.”
Marvin took out a pouch and gave it to Lola, “There is some money inside, enough for you to make a trip to Jewel Bay and back and still have some leftover. You can use it to hire some manpower to protect you or bribe a few people.”
“I need you to do something for me.”
Lola looked at Marvin startled.
“You know about me?” She looked at him suspiciously. “Did the White River Valley Lord tell you? Are you one of his men?”
Lola was racking her brain.
Marvin didn’t explain. “Almost.”
“Why do you trust me?” Lola took that money pouch, mixed feelings filling her heart.
“I merely think that you haven’t found yourself yet, that you didn’t want to become a swindler.” Marvin lightly added, “Perhaps you aren’t so bad.”
“I want to give you a chance.”
Chapter 33: Dragon Strength
Chapter 33: Dragon Strength
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Marvin parted with Lola outside River Shore City.
He wanted to give Lola a chance to change because she displayed some talent.
Even if she was a swindler, she might become useful with a bit of training.
Someday in the future, Marvin might not be able to everything himself; he might need some talented people to help him manage his territory. And Lola had this kind of aptitude.
Even if Lola took the money and ran, Marvin’s losses would only be a bit of money.
And if Lola brought back good intel from Jewel Bay, then she would have passed Marvin’s first test.
At that time, White River Valley should already have returned to Marvin’s hands.
‘Don’t disappoint me.’
Marvin looked at the girl’s figure disappearing into the woods. He then finally took off his mask before walking into the city.
…
River Shore City seemed as peaceful as usual.
But this calm was only a camouflage. While Marvin was walking down the streets, he could see the fear and worry in the eyes of the civilians.
There were a lot more soldiers patrolling. When he was going through the city gate defenses, they asked more questions than usual.
After all, the news of the legendary wizard Anthony had already spread through the East Coast.
This powerful person whose strength was protecting the peace of East Coast all along. The people hadn’t even finished mourning their protector’s disappearance when the Twin Snakes Cult people came out and did something ruthless.
They used a small village as a blood sacrifice.
Women, old people, youths… They were all skinned to make a skin kite that was hung outside the village.
Even if that was in the vicinity of Sail Boat City and far from Jewel Bay, people were still afraid.
After being suppressed for many years, the Twin Snakes Cult was finally unable to hold back their ambitions.
And the worst part was that rumors about wizards beginning to lose magic power began spreading in the streets. The diviners were already unable to use magic.
The fact that Miller’s family slaughter, which was the talk of the town, had not been solved was clear proof.
The City Lord hadn’t shown his face in a while and neither had the wizard regiment’s chief. The City Hall could only send more patrols.
These patrols could appease the civilians for the time being.
But they couldn’t stop the attacks of the Twin Snakes and other evil followers.
River Shore City and even the entire East Coast were in an unstable situation. It was said that all kinds of thieves’ silhouettes could be seen on the main road.
This was a warning sign of the chaos that would fall across this world..
Marvin was walking in the street, as chill winds were blowing around. He couldn’t help but pull on his clothes, and walk with steady steps.
…
Ranger Guild.
A young man covered in dust and wearing a mask came in.
A few employees took a glance a him from their c
ounter, before losing interest.
This guy seemed to be just a 1st rank ranger, so it shouldn’t be important business.
But surprisingly, that guy quickly walked to one counter and knocked on the small table.
“I need an appraiser,” Marvin said in a rough voice.
The sleepy girl behind the counter yawned, “What do you need appraised? I’m also an appraiser, and I quickly reached advanced appraiser level.”
“You won’t be able to.” Marvin shook his head, “I need a master level appraiser.”
“What?” The girl was startled.
‘Master level? What kind of thing need a master level appraiser to personally identify it?’
She looked at Marvin suspiciously, “Are you sure? I can identify some things.”
“It’s related to ancient goblin knowledge, and also compound potion knowledge.” Marvin went straight to the point.
The girl suddenly froze in place.
She hadn’t mastered these two types of knowledge.
Only master level appraisers had the chance to know about those two.
“Please wait a moment. Our guild only has one master level appraiser.” The girl added, somewhat embarrassed, “But he is sleeping at the moment…”
“No worries, I can wait.” Marvin picked a place to sit.
The girl curiously checked him out and couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know the fees of a master level appraiser?”
Marvin nodded, “500 silvers.”
“You really have that much money!”
The girl had a whole new level of respect toward Marvin. This seemingly thin and weak guy who wasn’t carrying many things actually had that much money.
Marvin sized up the girl and suddenly asked, “You are still an apprentice?”
The girl nodded, “I am a disciple of Master Cole.”
“Seems like you aren’t the only disciple of Master Cole.” Marvin said.
His eyesight was quite acute. This girl was sensitive to money. She was wearing plain clothes and one look was enough to know that her family’s financial situation wasn’t that good. But she seemed smart.
If Master Cole thought she was important, she wouldn’t end up with a job at the counter.
The appraiser class needed to use a lot of money in the early stages, so being able to reach advanced level appraiser when coming from a poor family wasn’t bad.
Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters Page 21
