Butterfly even claimed that when they flew over a mass grave, the Golden Griffin saw a Reaper from the Underworld.
This made Marvin shiver.
Back when he was on the verge of death, an Underworld Reaper had wanted to take his soul.
If the denizens of the Underworld wanted to participate, then the situation in Feinan would be a lot more troublesome.
After the Universe Magic Pool shattered, there were forces from four places that invaded Feinan: Hell, the Abyss, the Negative Energy Plane, and the Astral Sea.
The only saving grace was that these four powers didn’t see eye to eye.
Who wouldn’t be disgusted by Evil Spirits? They were too filthy! Everyone loathed Demons because they felt that Demons were brainless, just a group of lunatics. And who wasn’t vigilant against the Devils? The high-ranked Evil Spirits knew the origins of the Devils. They were descendants of the Ancient Angels and they could betray their own anytime.
Hell and the Abyss were natural lifelong enemies. At the bottom of the endless Abyss and the Nine Hells was the Bloody Wasteland, where a battle had been raging for who knows how many millennia. Whenever Demons and Devils met, they always ended up in a fight to the death.
The Astral Sea’s Gods were generally mortal enemies with the other three groups.
The Gods did jointly attack the Universe Magic Pool, but that wasn’t so that Feinan could be ruled by a group of filthy magic races.
Feinan was already in a terrible mess because of these four forces attacking at the same time.
If there was a fifth force in this Universe that could be compared with them, it would be the Underworld.
The most powerful Necromancer, the Necromancer Monarch, seemed to be an Underworld Sovereign’s representative on Feinan. He had summoned a great number of Red-Clothed Corpse Servants here previously, and Marvin found their fighting strength quite amazing.
To Marvin, ordinary Undead might look very frightening, but their fighting strength was quite average.
But Red-Clothed Corpse Servants were different. This kind of Undead creature was able to eat the energy of the four totems boundary, making it clear how fierce they were.
‘I hope it’s only Butterfly’s nonsense,’ Marvin comforted himself.
From what he remembered, in this disaster at least, the Underworld’s Sovereign and the Astral Sea’s Ancient Gods chose to remain neutral, with no plans to meddle with Feinan.
…
As they approached Steel City, Marvin was even more careful.
The Golden Griffin was indeed powerful, but with the progress of the disaster, there should already be many creatures that had evolved into flying Monsters.
The closer to a city, the more careful one needed to be.
Butterfly had no fighting strength, so if they met a large group of enemies, even escaping would be troublesome.
Thus, he made Butterfly land in a small forest east of Steel City.
Using his Earth Perception, he found a relatively safe area for the Griffin to protect Butterfly and then left on his own.
Steel City was already destroyed.
Marvin followed the corpses westward, frowning.
The bodies on the road were in horrendous states. Some had their entrails coming out of their bellies or had crushed limbs. There were also small amounts of ice, acids, or ashes on some of their bodies.
The physical brutality was caused by beasts that had turned into Monsters, while the latter traces were the masterpieces of Wizard Monsters.
From the faintly detectable arcane energy on these limbs, it could be seen that the injuries had been caused by the Ice, Fire, and Acid spells most loved by Wizards.
After all, these were considered the most destructive low-rank spells.
Marvin kept moving while Stealthed, not wanting to have to fight his way through.
But those Monsters roaming on the road didn’t care about that.
His 200 SP in Stealth was enough to hide from Gods, but in front of some of the Monsters, it actually lost its effectiveness!
They relied solely on their killing instincts to forcibly uncover Marvin’s position.
Marvin had no intention of being entangled with them, so he kept using Shadow Escape and other skills to shake them off.
Only a few of the Monsters were able to distinguish Marvin’s aura.
As for the Wizard Monsters, they originally should have been able to find Marvin… after all, the Wizards’ detection spells were still very impressive, especially in the current environment. With the collapse of layers of the Universe Magic Pool, the Chaos Magic Power greatly empowered their spells.
But unfortunately for them, they had already lost their minds and could only recklessly cast spells on instinct. Marvin just had to carefully avoid them.
Moreover, Constantine killed quite a large number of Wizard Monsters with Glorious Wind. As a result, Steel City turned out to be less crowded with Wizard Monsters than Marvin had imagined.
This was quite fortunate.
…
He came to Steel City mainly for the development of his territory.
He needed weapons and food. These were things that a big city like this one would have ample reserves of.
Especially the former, since Steel City was the biggest producer of weapons for the South Wizard Alliance. It definitely had a great amount of top-grade military weapons.
Marvin knew that there was a secret warehouse here that was also a concealed Sanctuary.
‘I wonder if there are people alive in that Sanctuary.’
‘The Great Calamity came so fast that there shouldn’t have been many people who were able to react…’ Marvin thought.
He kept following the road.
At a juncture of the street, there were a few crows eating a middle-aged man’s rotting flesh.
When Marvin walked past, they didn’t even react.
At that time, a huge Fireball suddenly flew over and crashed into the crows!
The Fireball’s explosion almost blew Marvin up despite him still being Stealthed.
He looked up and saw that the spell was cast by an expressionless Wizard Monster.
After shooting the Fireball, he seemed unsatisfied with the effect and crazily followed up with a Lightning Storm.
Marvin had a bad feeling and hurriedly departed.
…
Marvin went through many corners of Steel City and avoided disaster by a hair’s breadth several times.
There were no living people left, only Monsters.
He sighed as he finally found the location that he remembered.
It was the entrance of the sewers.
Chapter 453: Morrigan’s Heart
Chapter 453: Morrigan’s Heart
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
In his past life, by the time the players entered Feinan half a year after the Great Calamity, many forces had managed to establish themselves.
At that time, the group that controlled Steel City was known as [Illusory Scorpion].
The name sounded decent, but it originated from a group of mountain bandits that occupied a valley north of Steel City.
These mountain bandits had no Wizards among them and their leader was very determined. They had once been mercenaries who were famous in the North’s City-States.
It was said that the leader later committed a crime and had no choice but to flee to the South. He took some people with him and formed them into a bandit group.
However, his means were very ruthless. He not only plundered, but also killed. He never left a witness and he didn’t shrink from pillaging or raping.
Although he wasn’t a Legend, he had the strength of a Half-Legend.
Under his tough rule, the bandits who lost their minds to Chaos Power were buried alive.
In that way, although his group lost some people, it wasn’t harmed too much.
After the turmoil from the Great Calamity started to subside, they slowly cleared out the corrupted b
easts and Wizards near the valley. Later on, they seemed to have received help from a mysterious power, letting them gain control of Steel City.
Marvin wasn’t too sure about who this backer was. When he passed by Steel City in his past life, the players had already destroyed [Illusory Scorpion] and a few guilds had divided up the resources of Steel City.
…
Although he didn’t know much about their backer, the video of the instance had been shared by the guilds and Marvin had watched it.
As a professional gamer, he was fascinated by these kinds of things.
It was also in that video that he noticed the most important part of the city!
Indeed, Steel City had many weapons warehouses, but in fact, there was a hidden place that stored a great amount of food and top-grade military weapons!
It was an underground stronghold called [Morrigan’s Heart].
Morrigan was the name of Steel City’s first generation Lord.
This City Lord planned far ahead and left a refuge for the future generations.
Because of Steel City’s special function, many residents were soldiers or were otherwise related to the military. Most ordinary people weren’t allowed in and even merchants didn’t have the privilege to spend the night in the city.
This was the South Wizard Alliance’s most important military fortress.
The city stood among a forest of Wizard Towers.
Alas, it was also because of this that Steel City suffered even more at the onset of the disaster!
The current Steel City had already become nothing but rubble and ruins.
But Marvin was pretty sure that Morrigan’s Heart should still be in decent shape!
The weapons there weren’t ordinary by any means. The place was rumored to hold many military-grade Alchemy materials and Magic Weapons!
The South Wizard Alliance had been storing things up for many years and its strength wasn’t as simple as what was visible on the surface.
In fact, if the Wizards had found a way to avoid being affected by the collapse of the Universe Magic Pool, then even if the Gods invaded, the Alliance might not necessarily be powerless against them.
…
Marvin maintained his Stealth as he quietly opened the entrance to the sewers before going in.
“Shhhrrh!”
Two huge, deformed rats rushed right past Marvin.
His Stealth was too high so these Monsters didn’t even sense him.
‘Eh?’
Marvin was slightly surprised.
‘There is someone here?’
He had very sharp Perception and managed to faintly hear some footsteps far in the distance!
‘Has someone found Morrigan’s Heart before me?’
Marvin frowned and immediately hastened his steps while making sure to keep his Stealth up.
…
The sewers had tunnels snaking out in all directions and the whole place was filled with a rotting smell.
A large amount of rat corpses were floating on the water, and sometimes there would be the corpse of a stray cat, a lizard or some other animal.
The sewers reeked all over.
Marvin followed the path he remembered, sometimes stopping for a few seconds to make sure of his way, and finally arrived at the entrance of Morrigan’s heart, which was a hidden door.
Only the people with the secret key could open it.
But that hidden door had already been opened!
Sure enough, there really was someone here.
Marvin didn’t worry about it and slowly went in.
After entering, he saw four fierce men standing on guard, each holding a broadsword in his hands.
Illusory Scorpion!
Marvin’s heart sank.
How could this be!
These mountain bandits actually found Morrigan’s Heart first?
Based on the course of history, they should still be in that fortified valley trying to get rid of their internal issues.
How could they have the strength to come get the weapons and food from Morrigan’s Heart so quickly?
Marvin was puzzled by this discrepancy.
But those four men before him were indeed from Illusory Scorpion. There was no doubt about this.
They had the bandit group’s unique mark, along with a rather heavy killing intent that could be noticed with just a glance.
Although their strength wasn’t outstanding, they had experienced many bloody battles.
Being able to survive up till here in spite of the Calamity explained a lot.
They were watchfully guarding the entrance to Morrigan’s Heart. To Marvin’s surprise, he saw that one of the bandits was holding a very valuable Gem of Seeing and using it from time to time to look for any invisible intruders.
Unfortunately for the bandit, Marvin’s Stealth had reached such heights that a mere Gem of Seeing wasn’t worth his attention.
…
After passing the four bandits guarding the door, Marvin quickened his pace again. He skirted past a few obvious traps and then reached the center of Morrigan’s Heart!
To add to his confusion, he saw that this place was occupied by not just one group, but two!
Marvin identified one of the groups as Illusory Scorpion’s people, the bandits.
As for the other group, they seemed to be in the weaker position. They had women, children, and some that were so old they had trouble walking.
However, they still had some robust young men among them, and from the way they stood, they should be soldiers.
The two sides seemed to be negotiating.
Marvin thought of something and sneaked over to eavesdrop.
…
“Senma, don’t be too greedy.”
The group with soldiers was headed by a robust man. He insisted in a deep voice, “We keep our original conditions. You can keep a third of the weapons.”
“The true treasure of Morrigan’s Heart needs a Wizard to open it, so we can only get the more ordinary weapons for self-defense.”
“If we humans massacre each other during such desperate times, then we are done for. Thus, I’m willing to split the weapons with you.”
“But the food, definitely not!” the soldier finished decisively.
The people behind him were showing determined expressions and even seemed unafraid of death.
That man called Senma was the leader of the bandits.
He chuckled while glancing at a few young girls behind the soldiers. “You are quite correct. For mankind to keep proliferating, we have to cooperate.”
“Thus, I only ask for half of the weapons… and one third of the food should be good enough.”
He then smirked and added, “Oh right, those few girls behind you aren’t bad, they are old enough to give birth. There are no women in our stronghold. Share some with us, for the sake of mankind…”
Chapter 454: Duel
Chapter 454: Duel
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The people behind the soldiers paled once they heard these words.
They felt sorrowful about the situation.
Sure enough, the difference in strength was too big.
Marvin guessed that this group of soldiers had been in charge of defending this refuge when the Calamity struck.
When the disaster began, Steel City would have reacted as expected of a military city.
The army’s higher-ups sent the order to lead the noncombatants to the Sanctuary.
But they couldn’t handle what happened next.
The berserk Wizard Monsters destroyed everything.
Most soldiers died within the city proper.
Only a few of them survived the initial turmoil and were still able to defend the refuge with all they had.
Originally, the food and the weapons in the refuge would have been enough for them to survive for quite some time, but for some unknown reason, the Illusory Scorpion bandit group found the entrance of this Sanctuary.<
br />
The soldiers noticed some strange signs of activity a few days ago, and sure enough, Senma brought a large group of men to Morrigan’s Heart.
The defenders were completely caught off-guard and tried to rely on the advantage of their defensive positions to face the bandits.
Morrigan’s Heart was a true underground fortress, but it needed to be controlled by a Wizard Craftsman.
Normally, Steel City wouldn’t activate this kind of war refuge without a special signal.
The status of Wizard Craftsmen was also very high, so one wouldn’t stay hidden in an underground fortress for no reason.
When the disaster struck, the Sanctuary didn’t have a Wizard available.
Thus, even if they avoided the brunt of the Calamity, they still met with another source of trouble.
Since the soldiers didn’t understand how to activate the fortress’ defensive runes, they could only rely on the most basic physical defenses, which consisted of a few gates and traps, to confront the bandits.
If the other party really insisted on a fight, the outcome wouldn’t be good.
Marvin made an assessment of the strength of both sides.
The soldiers roughly had the manpower of a city guard squadron, twelve people. Apart from them, the group included three times that number in noncombatants consisting of women, children, and the elderly.
As for the bandits, there were thirty of them. Although their equipment wasn’t as good as what the soldiers used, they had a lot more people that could fight, even if their strength was uneven.
Besides the leader Senma, who was a 4th rank expert, the strength of the rest was around the 2nd rank, some were weaker, some stronger.
The soldiers, on the other hand, were all at least 2nd rank.
Two of them were 3rd rank experts and were probably vice captains.
Their leader was a 4th rank powerhouse, and was probably the reason why the bandits had yet to attack.
They might stand to gain a lot by fighting, but they would also suffer heavy losses.
…
‘4th rank Fighter… This guy should be one of the strongest soldier in the army.’
‘Although Steel City had many talented individuals, a Fighter at that level shouldn’t be just a Captain, right?’
Marvin was somewhat doubtful about this person’s identity, so he carefully observed him for a while and noticed that the soldier’s right foot slightly shuddered.
Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters Page 265
