People said that he failed to reach godhood and fell into a deep sleep, but in fact, he only failed at the last moment. He had successfully formed a divinity.
And right now, that divinity was quietly sitting inside the underground maze of the Scarlet Monastery.
Marvin wanted this divinity, but not right now, as his current strength was too weak. That sleeping half-god lich would kill him in mere seconds.
…
The Ranger Guild had a Wizard Alliance alchemist shop, and he spent a large amount of money there to buy an essential item. The most important void conch.
[Void Conch]
Quality: Uncommon
Capacity: Four cubic chi¹ empty space.
Requirements: 10 Intelligence.
(T/N: 1 chi = 0,33 meter)
This clearly was a storage item. The void conch was the most common storage item because its raw material itself contained some dimension space. It only needed to be refined a bit and it would turn into a decent magic item.
This thing was obviously worth a lot, and Marvin spent 3 wizard golds on it.
Storage items were very expensive like uncommon items.
Another thing worth mentioning was the [Wishful Rope]. It too was an uncommon item, costing 1600 silvers, far cheaper than the Void Conch.
This was a multi-functional rope, said to come from the hand of a high elf. Based on its various kinds of enchantments, this rope could display all sorts of effects. This was adventurers’ most wanted equipment.
Unfortunately, the average adventurer couldn’t afford uncommon items. More than a thousand silvers… They might not be able to earn that much in their lifetime.
Marvin was different, buying the Wishful Rope while not thinking too much about it, because he was relying on this equipment to enter the Scarlet Monastery.
Without it, he would be unable to pass the monastery gate’s Pain Monks.
…
Hall Mountain Range, on a nameless peak.
Marvin, with twin blades in hands and the Void Conch around his neck, carefully treaded on the rough and uneven mountain path.
Feinan’s wilderness was quite a dangerous place. Although it wasn’t too bad right now, after the calamity, the wilderness would be filled with monsters infected by chaotic mana. These creatures would be called devils. They were a lot stronger than they originally were, and more bloodthirsty.
A lot of cities even fell under those monsters’ destructive power.
From Marvin’s memories, River Shore City was one of the few southern city states that hadn’t been overcome by the monsters. The reason was simple: River Shore in the south and Jewel Bay in the north both had a large scale influx of players. With the help of the players they fought back the large amount of monsters and thus River Shore City was saved.
But this time… Marvin had a bad feeling. Those “gold children” players praised by all the natives might not be there this time.
If that was the case, the problem was whether River Shore City was able to defend itself with its own power.
But River Shore City was still a relatively safe place before the calamity. Especially this mountain. Because of that divinity’s slight suppression, the creatures still possessed a bit of animal instinct and wouldn’t draw close.
This actually let Marvin’s burdens decrease.
Marvin followed a small path and was soon in front of a valley surrounded by dense fog. That place was the Scarlet Monastery’s main entrance.
Two 2 meter tall Pain Monks each holding an iron rod were solemnly standing, looking far in the distance as if they were statues.
In fact, they weren’t living beings, but once an outsider approached, they would be activated by the lich’s enchantment magic.
At that time, Marvin would need to face two 3rd rank class holders, [Monk lvl5 – Ascetic Monk lvl 5 – Pain Monk lvl 2].
Pain Monk melee abilities were among of the best out of the 3rd rank classes. Not to mention the half-god lich who casted many curses on their bodies, each a strong buff. If you wanted to get rid of these guys you had to be at least Legend level.
Or send an army of 2nd rank adventurers. In some cases, human wave tactics could be quite useful.
…
Marvin wasn’t intending to go through the main entrance, and instead planned to take a shortcut.
The Scarlet Monastery was built in a valley in the middle of sheer cliffs, with no suitable places to climb.
But there was always an exception.
Marvin knew that there was a goblin cavern nearby, and after eliminating the few goblins inside you could find a small platform.
Using the wishful rope there he could descend to the Scarlet Monastery.
But it was a bit risky.
Inside the Scarlet Monastery, aside from the scarlet slaves, there were those freak Demon God Enforcers. Scarlet slaves stayed within the range of their areas, but those Demon God Enforcers liked to move outside their areas, constantly roaming everywhere. This added a lot of unstable factors to Marvin’s infiltration plan.
But what plan didn’t have risks?
Marvin circumvented the valley by using a narrow and winding road around the peak.
Half an hour later, he really found a hidden entrance concealed behind a large amount of grass.
The goblin cavern. It often hid six to eight goblins. They might be carrying weapons but they should be rough weapons, as they preferred using clubs.
Goblins had an average level around 2. Only large goblin tribes might have goblins above 1st rank.
Marvin might have been unable to defeat a goblin before he had become an adventurer. But he had already raised his Ranger level to 4 after his battle at the Pyroxene Bar, thanks to Diapheis and his subordinates giving him a considerable amount of battle experience.
He was still a powerless noble just a few days ago. If anyone knew about this kind of leveling speed they would be shocked.
Marvin currently had 90 HP. He bought a set of leather armor at the Ranger Guild that could take some attacks while guaranteeing that his dexterity wouldn’t be impeded. This level-up also gave him 24 skill points, making his skill points reach 42.
Marvin invested 20 skill points in the new skill [Climb].
In fact, he needed at least 30 points in Climb to be able to use the rope to enter the Scarlet Monastery. But the Wishful Rope had a hidden bonus lowering the Climb requirement by 10 so he only needed to use 20 points. The remaining 22 were saved for later use.
…
He pushed the grass thicket aside and crouched down before walking in.
He used a flint to light a simple torch he had also bought in the Ranger Guild, making a faint flame appear inside the cavern.
A weird shout echoed from the depths of the cavern.
With a torch in his left-hand and a curved dagger in his right, Marvin bluntly started killing his way in.
Half a minute later, a few green bodies were spread on the ground in the depths of the goblin cavern.
These goblins were all uncivilized and hadn’t developed any wisdom so one couldn’t speak with them. Their strength was low and thus, they quickly turned into corpses under Marvin’s dagger.
Goblin caverns had this particular smell of rotting creatures. Most people would directly leave. But Marvin still carefully searched the surroundings in case there was a treasure chest or maybe some spoils of war.
He knew that goblins were usually quite poor but he would still not exclude an unforeseen event. Being over-cautious would sometimes bring an unexpected harvest.
Marvin found an undamaged chest in a corner of the goblin cavern.
There was a copper lock on the chest and it looked like someone had tried to force it open. No need to guess, as it was certainly the work of those goblins.
‘There is some mud on the chest. They probably dug it out of the nearby swamp. The copper lock has magic imbued in it, so it’s probably a magic lock. However, the magic in the air seems quite weak. Probably a lo
w rank enchantment.’
‘What is hidden inside?’
Marvin took a scroll from the void conch with hesitation.
This was a costly scroll known as a [Lesser Magic Unlock Scroll] used to replace Thief skill, Unlock.
There were two kinds of unlock scrolls: the first one opened ordinary locks while the second opened enchanted locks, the latter is especially expensive. Marvin bought 10 common unlock scrolls and only 5 magic unlock scrolls.
There were many places hiding treasure chests inside the Scarlet Monastery. Marvin’s target was those hidden treasure chests.
He wasn’t sure if this small treasure chest in front of him was worth using a magic unlock scroll.
‘From my memories, there should be three treasure chests with magic locks in the second hall, while the rest are all ordinary locks.’
‘The second hall has corpse seeker with a keen sense of smell roaming about. With my current level I won’t dare to try sneaking around.”
‘Might as well give it a shot.’
Marvin made up his mind and ripped a Lesser Magic Unlock Scroll.
A pale white key flew out from the scroll and entered the lock.
Clank! The lock opened.
Marvin listened attentively. There shouldn’t be any traps inside but for the sake of being cautious he stood away from the chest and used a twig to open it.
There was no trap inside the chest, as expected.
Marvin sighed in relief and approached.
Inside the three chi tall chest, Marvin saw a few pieces of yellow parchment along with a blue colored gem.
Chapter 17: Ghost Hallway
Chapter 17: Ghost Hallway
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Holding the few pieces of parchment, Marvin felt moved.
He recognized the language but he didn’t speak it.
This was the language of the ancient goblins. Before the goblin clans fell, this race had quite a dazzling civilization. Their accomplishments in the engineering field rivaled those of the dwarves.
Marvin knew very little about the ancient goblins’ fall, but he was quite knowledgeable on the their strong engineering.
‘Looks like these sheets contains knowledge of the ancient goblins’ engineering.’
‘I don’t have an engineering class, and even with the nobility knowledge field, I still can’t read it.’
‘But this thing must be kept carefully, it might come in handy later.’
Marvin didn’t recognize the character at the top, but he could understand the design.
There was a realistic symbol on top of the stack of parchment. If he guessed right, that should be a very famous kind of construct in engineering, the mechanical ghost statue.
It seemed that this treasure chest wasn’t dug up by the goblins, but rather had been handed down from generation to generation.
Marvin took the stack of parchment along with the gem made from an unknown material and carefully put it away.
There were quite a lot of blue colored gems, but he was a total beginner in the [Geology] and [Jewel Appraising] fields so he couldn’t tell this gem’s origin.
He had to find a specialist jewel appraiser.
But since the gem and the blueprint of the mechanical ghost statue were stored together, it was safe to assume that they probably came from the same place.
…
Because of the stack of ancient goblin parchments, this small and damp goblin cavern didn’t feel so dirty any more.
Marvin cheerfully followed the small path down.
He soon arrived at the end of the cavern and started feeling the walls. A small platform appeared in front of him after pushing a stone.
The sunset could be seen in the distance as dense fog rose up in the valley.
Marvin’s small body stood on the platform, staring at the bottom.
He only saw the monastery gate not too far away. Those two Pain Monks were guarding the door, completely ignorant of what was happening inside.
The scarlet slaves would hide in the Ghost Hallway’s back door to pray, so if there weren’t any problems, they would avoid going outside.
As for the Demon God Enforcers, there were only a few of those freaks in the whole monastery. Marvin hoped his luck wouldn’t be too bad as the monastery was quite vast. Surely he wouldn’t bump into one right?
On the side of the small platform was a small tree with deep roots, even growing inside rocks.
Marvin tied one end of the Wishful Rope to the tree, and the other end to his waist.
Under the sunset, he held firmly onto the rope, cautiously going down, bit by bit.
Marvin’s nimble shadow could be seen slowly climbing down the cliff in the fog.
Three minutes later, his feet touched the bottom.
‘Got down safely.’
He checked his surroundings and found no traces of the Demon God Enforcers.
After chanting the incantation to untie the rope, the Wishful Rope automatically coiled itself toward the top, leaving no trace behind.
It would remain on standby until Marvin wanted to go back up. He would just have to say the incantation and the rope would stretch back down again.
This was the skill of a high elf after all. Only they had the ability to make such ingenious equipment.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was still a bit of light in the sky, Marvin prepared himself to use his hands to feel his way in. He then arrived at the first hall.
But at that time, the sound of a horse approaching could suddenly be heard, coming from the depth of the valley!
‘Not good!’
‘It’s a Demon God Enforcer!’
‘He is close!’
Marvin stiffened and stuck himself to the cliff wall almost instinctively. He quickly moved a few steps and found a small depression.
Hide!
[Hide (41+9) skill successfully used!]
[Wilderness bonus effect…]
[Environment (Mountain Wall, Dense Fog) bonus…]
…
The tall armored horseman on a frightening warhorse arrived at the empty space outside the Ghost Hallway.
There were around ten meters from here to the door.
Marvin gripped his curved dagger firmly, extremely nervous.
He would be unable to beat this kind of Demon God Enforcer!
The Demon God Enforcer by itself was close to two meters tall, and he was riding a frightening warhorse. Marvin might not be tall enough to reach his waist.
On top of that he was wearing a full set of heavy armor which was the bane of the Ranger class.
His curved dagger slashing at that kind of strong armor would probably just bend. As for a hitting a vital…
Since they were creatures that had already died once, they no longer had any vitals.
Assuming this thing was only at the 2nd rank, Marvin estimated that even if he was a Phantom Assassin at the peak of the 2nd rank, it would still be a tricky situation fighting one of them.
Its defense and vitality were both high enough to make people infuriated.
Holy water would work, but sadly, the holy water in Marvin’s Void Conch was just common holy water with a really low concentration.
The holy water sold by the Silver Church was seriously diluted. The holy power contained inside was probably not even 1/100000.
It was enough to deal with mere zombies, but using it to deal with a Demon God Enforcer was as ridiculous as trying to kill a vicious dog with perfume.
Marvin could only pray that his hiding skill was able to display its effect.
That Demon God Enforcer was quickly passing by Marvin when he suddenly halted.
Marvin heart sank.
But contrary to his expectations, the Demon God Enforcer abruptly let out a few weird and unpleasant sounding words.
It didn’t take long for the monastery door gate to open.
The Demon God Enforcer pulled on the reins and the warhorse
went straight inside, not looking back.
Those two Pain Monks were still expressionless as the door once again closed.
A cloud of dust flew.
…
‘Luckily I didn’t climb down slower and meet a Demon God Enforcer.’
Three minutes later, Marvin was soaked in sweat all over and, not daring to stay there, quickly entered the Ghost Hallway.
His Hide skill had saved him this time. Maybe the Demon God Enforcer also hadn’t expected that someone could sneak through under the strict watch of the two Pain Monks.
But if it was when he was hanging in mid air, he could have done nothing to conceal himself or to hurriedly deal with his stuff.
This Demon God Enforcer must have been out to carry out a mission. Their boss, [Avenger] Fegan, a man full of ambitions, was staying in the third hall. In the past he was the sleeping lich’s follower, but later he started having ideas on that divinity.
A troublesome guy in short, and Marvin had no intention to look for Fegan to drink a cup of tea.
His main goal this time was those eighteen rooms between the 1st Hall and the Ghost Hallway.
There might be scarlet slaves monsters in those rooms. They weren’t dead but the Demon God Enforcers deprived them of their ability to think. Killing them would reward a pitiful amount of experience and it was unlikely to give him anything.
However there were a lot of treasure chests inside those rooms, and these were Marvin’s targets.
Marvin used Stealth, walking cautiously inside the quiet Ghost Hallway.
Although the Scarlet Monastery wasn’t an underground city and the probability of traps being there was low, Marvin was still doing a dangerous job, so he had to be careful.
Triggering any trap would be a terrible thing, especially an alarm trap.
Paintings were hanging on both sides of the Ghost Hallway. They were all portraits. Knights, nobles, wizards, scholars….
These portraits were all smiling, but it was a very weird smile.
If you stared at a painting for too long, it would send shivers down your spine.
Their eyes felt like they were staring right back at you. Their smiles seemed to hide wicked intentions.
There was something off about these paintings.
But Marvin didn’t examine them, as he had often gone to the Scarlet Monastery. As long as he didn’t pay attention to those, he wouldn’t get into trouble.
Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters Page 12