“Close your eyes.”
“Now step forward.”
Marvin did as told.
“Creak!” Marvin opened a door and took two steps forward while closing his eyes. The quiet and peaceful surroundings suddenly turned clamorous.
A bird was chirping on top of a branch. It seemed like he had arrived in a forest.
The next second, Marvin opened his eyes and sure enough, he was in a small forest.
[You have discovered a mysterious location – Boknin]
[Knowledge – Insight +5]
[Knowledge – Insight – Boknin world]: This place is a painting made up of distorted space, located between Feinan Continent and the Underworld. It looks like an ordinary farm, but Evil Spirit envoy Morris rules over every piece of land here. He has two forces under his control, crow patrols and dark knights. Every fine thing in this place is false.
[You have entered the painting world – Boknin…]
He was surrounded by birds, fragrances and surroundings full of vitality.
Behind him was an almost dried up locust tree. He made sure to remember that tree’s look and location as it was his only way home.
The headless girl wasn’t able to come with him in the painting world, so he had to act alone for what came next.
His target was a castle on a hill in Boknin. This castle belonged to the lord of this area, known as old Morris, who apparently was an lower plane Evil Spirit Envoy specialized in removing people’s souls and sealing them in his own painting world.
Caution was required in this kind of place. Otherwise, a careless person might have to stay forever inside this terrible painting world.
Vanessa’s head was concealed in Morris’ castle bedroom. Marvin had to sneak in, steal the head, and then return it to Vanessa.
Then Vanessa’s soul could be freed, and Marvin’s quest would be completed.
‘If it were a high-level Evil Spirit Envoy, he should have been able to subdue the willpower of the girl’s soul. Morris is probably an ordinary Evil Spirit Envoy, perhaps a 2nd rank Evil Spirit Sorcerer.’
‘Unfortunately, the holy water sold by the Silver God Church had a very low concentration. If I could get hold of a #13 holy water, maybe I would have a chance to get rid of Morris.’
Evil Spirit Envoys and those like Heiss were different. Even though they might share the Evil Spirit Sorcerer class line, their races were different. Lower plane Evil Spirits were very vicious, had a strong vitality and didn’t have any weak points like human grave robbers.
…
Marvin walked quickly and stealthily out of the forest and arrived on a small hill mound.
He gazed into the distance from the small hill and saw a large field of wheat growing healthily and a few silhouettes roaming there.
Those were obviously the farmers tending to the land.
This was a true world.
“Really amazing…” Marvin was astonished.
There was a castle on top of a small hill at the end of the wheat field. Marvin crossed the wheat field without startling anyone.
His perfected Stealth had outstanding results, even if it was limited by the skill level.
He soon arrived at the castle.
There was only a bridge made of a single log outside the castle. The other sides of the castle were surrounded by cliffs.
And at the other end of the single log bridge was a team of guards.
‘A bit tricky.’
Marvin didn’t dare try to get past those guards using stealth; that would be courting death.
Stealth didn’t make someone invisible. What’s more, in broad daylight like right now, the effect would be very weak.
It seemed he needed to wait for the evening.
He found a hidden place to rest.
…
In the evening, an ox-cart set off from the ranch at the bottom of the hill and slowly made its way toward the castle.
Marvin’s eyes brightened from his hidden spot.
‘Hmm? The ox-cart upper layer is green vegetables and fruits? And potatoes?’
‘That farmer is going toward the castle!’
‘That’s it!’
He ran quickly.
…
The farmer driving the ox-cart was leisurely waving his long whip as the old cow slowly advanced and hesitated on the small path.
After passing a small curve in the road, the farmer suddenly saw a hint of silver through the corner of his eyes.
“Eh!?”
He immediately stopped the cart and jumped down.
That was a piece of silver!
A piece of silver, that kind of thing was good currency in any place, even in Boknin!
The farmer’s face showed a hint of happiness while checking his surroundings before quickly putting away this piece of silver. Afterwards, he quickly got back on the cart before setting out again toward the castle.
The farmer slowly moving forward didn’t find out that there was another person under his cart.
Marvin’s four limbs clutched onto the walls of the hollow depression under the ox-cart in an X-shape, with his back pushed against the bottom of the cart.
Fortunately he was only 14 years old this year with a small build, allowing his body to fit in this hiding spot.
He once had a similar experience, but at that time he had used the assassin’s special [Bone Shrink] skill to change his height and weight.
Five minutes later, the ox-cart arrived at the castle gate.
After a simple check, the guards let it go inside.
Marvin, still under the cart, felt his limbs getting very weary but clenched his teeth and persevered. This was the safest way to enter the castle.
The cart was slowly moving inside the castle, probably toward the kitchen or the warehouse.
Marvin carefully scouted around and when he saw that no one was around, he suddenly let go, silently lying on his stomach.
The ox-cart kept going, the driver completely unaware of what had transpired.
Marvin checked his surroundings, used Stealth and instantly disappeared into the castle main lobby.
…
The lord’s bedroom was quite easy to find, as it was the highest room in the castle.
In general, only idiots would set traps in their own bedroom.
After learning through the servants gossiping that the city lord Morris would spend the night in his laboratory, Marvin waited until evening and then decisively sneaked into that spooky room.
He looked around the room for a while before finally beginning to search through the mess. Bat claws, a human skull, bones from the hand of a demon… Some spell reagents in short.
He finally managed to find a parcel among the mess. It was covered with a dark cloth with a special and somewhat strange nail keeping it closed.
This was exactly what Vanessa described.
‘A curse to turn one into an Evil Spirit Slave?’
Marvin recognized these patterns. It looked like this Evil Spirit Envoy had planned to turn Vanessa into an Evil Spirit Slave. It was no wonder that he didn’t want to destroy her soul.
He hid the parcel into the Void Conch, ready to leave.
But right when he was about to leave, footsteps could be heard from outside the bedroom.
Marvin heart sank as he rolled and hid under the bed.
One second later, fire brightened the room and a pair of cloth shoes appeared in his sight.
Chapter 20: The Lich’s Severed Finger
Chapter 20: The Lich’s Severed Finger
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
‘Damn it! Weren’t those slaves gossiping about Morris staying the night in his lab?’
When Marvin saw that pair of common cloth shoes from under the bed, he couldn’t help but silently curse.
In all of Boknin, the only one that could freely enter this room was certainly the city lord Morris.
A 2nd rank Evil Spirit Sorcerer and an Evil Spirit Envoy, qu
ite problematic.
If this old man was a cautious person…
Even if Marvin kept being cautious, he still had to deal with this turn of events. It would be hard to guarantee no mistakes occurred during the night.
He could only pray that the Evil Spirit Sorcerer would be unable to find his hiding spot.
The only thing that made him feel better was that Evil Spirit Sorcerers’ perception was the same as that of ordinary people, not that great. He would be unable to find him unless he used a detection magic.
…
Morris the Evil Spirit Sorcerer was holding onto a candle and pacing back and forth in the room for a moment.
He suddenly opened one curtain.
From his position, Marvin could only see that behind the curtain was a closet.
The should be a mirror in the closet.
The old man suddenly knelt down, putting the candle on top of his head and loudly chanting something.
The surface of the mirror rippled just like the surface of a lake.
Drops of sweat appeared on Marvin’s forehead.
‘Which Lower Plane Lord is he trying to contact?’
‘Damn it! Right at the time when he was going to contact an Lower Plane Lord?’
He was still calm, having quickly thought of three escape plans, but they were dependent on the fact that the evil spirit lord couldn’t enter Boknin as he wished.
Because of many god seals, evil spirit lords were unable to set foot on Feinan Continent. But this was a painting world!
This was Boknin!
A level 4 ranger facing a superior legendary evil spirit lord… His rich experience wouldn’t even matter!
He could only pray that neither the evil spirit lord nor the evil spirit envoy would find his hiding spot under the bed.
…
“Great [Nefarious Devil], your servant awaits your instructions.”
The old man’s respectful voice echoed in the room.
“Morris, you have stayed in this painting world for a long time,” spoke a gloomy voice from the painting. “I have something that need to be done. Swiftly take care of it! Boknin has four exits linked to Feinan world, and there are two among those that you can use. You may look for the [Avenger] Fegan. He will give you some assistance.”
“I have seen parts of an interesting future. All of heaven’s gods would inevitably be unwilling to be left out. Yet they didn’t expect that it would be the evil spirits’ era, our era.”
“I need you to spread some seeds…”
Marvin was unable to understand the words that followed.
They were talking in an lower plane language, each sentence able to evoke humanity’s deepest evils and fears.
But it made Marvin somewhat happy and surprised that during the entire process, the two didn’t even notice him.
It might be good luck that they didn’t notice that there was another person hidden inside the city lord’s room.
…
They finished their discussion ten minutes later. The mirror was once again covered by thick cloth.
Evil spirit envoy Morris left the room in a hurry.
Marvin wiped his sweat and let out a long sigh of relief. He didn’t dare to stay. He used Stealth and quickly left the city lord castle.
Getting in was difficult, but leaving was much easier, especially under the cover of the night as the effect of his Stealth would be quite outstanding.
He soon got out of the castle and finally onto a small path.
However, he suddenly felt like he was being observed by something.
A large amount of red-eyed crows suddenly flew out from inside the castle. He could faintly hear a bellowing cry afterwards.
‘Not good! I was discovered!’
‘The head most certainly had an imprint that would trigger once brought out of the castle and it would alert Morris!’
Marvin had one thing in mind.
He had to quickly leave this world now.
Fortunately, he wasn’t far from that strange locust tree.
As he thought of it, he began sprinting.
…
In the castle laboratory, the evil spirit envoy’s angry roar echoed through the entire room.
“Damn thief! Send the crow patrol and the dark horsemen! Kill him and return me my most beloved slave’s head!”
Deep in the castle, countless crows flew out from the top of a crucifix. As they flew out, the shape of a badly mangled human could be seen tied up on the crucifix.
Horses stomping on the ground could be heard echoing, as each and every dark horseman rushed out from the darkness to kill.
…
Marvin’s shadow was quickly skimming between the wheat fields.
There were so many patrol crows in the sky, he couldn’t even hide himself!
So he simply stopped hiding, directly exposing himself and sprinted at maximum speed toward the location of the tree he remembered.
Those patrol crows were frantically diving down, trying to slow Marvin down.
“Drop dead!”
Marvin was also angry.
He quickly swung the curved dagger in his hand as if weaving a net made of slashes.
In the blink of an eye, five or six crows died under his blade.
But more and more crows would group up and dive down, so Marvin could only roll away, cutting a sorry figure, to avoid them and then get back up once again.
His rolls skills were refined through countless amount of PK. This kind of dodge looked as if he was in dire straits, but it was actually a pretty useful fighting skill.
However, the patrol crows still managed to reduce Marvin’s speed and delay him.
When he rushed into the forest, blood all over his body, a dark horseman was already coming to attack from the side.
As he heard a horse rushing toward him, he saw a tall and impressive figure in front of the tree, blocking his path.
Clang!
The dark horseman unsheathed his heavy sword. He wore a helmet while lifting his sword with one hand, and holding the reins with the other.
The horse was crazily rushing over.
If they were on a difficult terrain they would fight as infantry, but either way they dominated over their opponents. With the mount’s charging power, aside from barbarians, no adventurers would dare to stand in front of them.
Marvin’s pupils dilated. There was only one horseman!
‘I still have a chance!’
He suddenly took two curved daggers from his waist and began to run toward the forest, taking a roundabout route.
The dark horseman was relentless in his pursuit.
Marvin abruptly took a big stride forward, and went around a huge tree.
The dark horseman pulled on the reins, cleverly controlling his mount to move past the tree.
But during that time, he had a blind spot appear in his line of sight!
At the split second when he got his horse to go around the tree, Marvin appeared in front of him.
“Get lost for me!”
He jumped high and grabbed a branch with both hands, and firmly kicked the dark knight’s body.
At that time, the horse running at such high speed unexpectedly became an inconvenience to the dark horseman.
His body couldn’t help but fall backward, awkwardly tumbling on his back on the ground.
Marvin’s body adjusted itself with incredible flexibility, unexpectedly seating him on the horse’s back.
[Getting on a horse in motion… Check in progress (Dexterity 19)…]
[Horsemanship (30) used… Skill successfully used!]
…
‘Fortunately this body knew [Horsemanship]!’
Marvin felt he needed to take back what he said about that good-for-nothing. One of the advantages of being a noble was that they could learn impressive horsemanship.
Civilians couldn’t afford the costs to learn horsemanship, and in fact, they couldn’t even afford to raise a horse.
&nbs
p; His body was leaning quite low while he made the horse charge toward the tree.
He could hear more and more horses on both sides of the forest.
Even more dark horsemen were surrounding him.
Marvin held his breath, and used all his strength to force the horse to dash toward that tree!
The dark horsemen on both sides were closing in, and one of them raised his longsword and ruthlessly slashed down.
‘Now!’
Marvin stepped on the stirrup and flipped, not only dodging the dark horseman’s longsword, but also throwing himself at him.
“Fall down for me!”
He pulled at the steady dark horseman’s waist, and taking advantage of the split second where he lost his balance, he managed to make him fall from the horse.
But the horse unexpectedly neighed during that moment, and fell down to the side due to the loss of balance.
Marvin also stumbled and fell to the ground.
And he was only ten steps away from the tree!
But another dark horseman on the side came slashing at him.
Marvin took a deep breath and raised his right hand:
“Vs’bon!”
Rainbow Jet!
Frightening rainbow rays interweaved together, forming a net, and blocked the advance of the dark horsemen.
Marvin took advantage of the situation and got up from the floor before hurriedly rushing toward the tree.
…
‘That was close!’
Marvin’s body fell in the ghost hallway.
And surprisingly, that headless girl’s painting disappeared from the wall.
“Thank you. I already shut this exit, so monsters from Boknin shouldn’t be able to come out for the time being.”
The pleasant sounding voice echoed behind him.
“This is your head…”
Marvin softly put the parcel on the ground.
“Thank you, thank you a lot. I finally have… Freedom.”
The parcel opened on its own, a gray flickering light coming from it.
Marvin’s heart skipped a beat and he turned around.
Behind his back stood a beautiful girl. She should be in a soul state. Since her head was retrieved, she should be a regular ghost now.
“I want to leave, this is an ominous place. You shouldn’t linger either,” Vanessa said gently. “While you were helping me get my head back, I helped you open the magic lock on that chest. Consider it to be a small token of my appreciation. Still, thank you…”
Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters Page 14