After killing the Poison Lizard, Marvin safely arrived at that underground river.
The river was actually very narrow, it was more of a rapids than a river.
This was also the reason it was safe.
If it was really a large underground river, there might have been terrifying [Aboleths] or other big underwater Aberrations.
These monsters weren’t something Marvin wanted to come across at the moment. They were usually very troublesome because they were natural stalking predators. Even the early warning abilities of the Ranger and Night Walker classes might not be enough if they launched a sneak attack.
Marvin smoothly reached the river bank.
This small river would keep him company for a week. This would be a very boring period.
But it was a lot better than trudging through the desert.
He took a small golden bull from the Void Conch and then silently chanted an incantation.
In a flash, the golden bull became bigger and was more or less the shape of a small boat.
This was one of the golden bulls Marvin obtained from the Hidden Granary. He had asked the nameless alchemist to add a shrinking and enlarging ability to it. He hadn’t been too hopeful about the result, but that guy unexpectedly succeeded.
Moreover, it was an enchantment that could repeatedly be used.
The food in this golden bull’s belly had already been emptied so Marvin used it as a means of transportation. It would be very handy on the river at the very least.
He softly put the golden bull on the river and then hopped on!
Under the acceleration of the river rapids, the golden bull boat hurriedly drifted forward, and in a blink, it was already far in the distance!
…
The golden bull proceeded down the underground river while Marvin maintained his vigilance.
When tired, he would use the Wishful Rope to tie it to a rock and find a hidden place to rest and take a nap.
When hungry and thirsty, he would eat rations and drink water.
Marvin hadn’t experienced days like that for a long time.
He cherished the memories of these solitary adventuring days. Even if it was dull, it made him more clear-headed.
Although there weren’t huge monsters around the underground river, there were still many smaller monsters roaming about.
Fortunately the river was quite fast and Marvin whistled past them before they could react.
The only trouble Marvin met was a Behir drinking on the river bank.
(T/N: Great serpentine monster with twelve legs and an electrical breath, often mistaken with a wingless blue dragon.)
That guy was directly blocking Marvin’s path.
Marvin originally thought there would be a hard fought battle, but he hadn’t thought that the guy would hesitate and let him off.
It spoke a few words in Undercommon, which Marvin didn’t understand, and then cleared out of Marvin’s path.
Marvin surmised that this guy let him off mostly because of his Dragon Slayer title.
It was common knowledge that Behirs abhorred all Draconic lifeforms, and Marvin’s body appeared to have the aura of a dead Dragon.
Perhaps because it felt that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” it didn’t make things too complicated for Marvin.
Of course, Marvin still thought that the main reason was still those three Lizards’ bodies on the ground.
Rashly starting a battle against an enemy of unknown strength was clearly not wise.
Marvin luckily averted a battle once again.
Behirs were very troublesome lifeforms. Their skin was sturdy and unless Marvin turned into an Asuran Bear, he probably wouldn’t be able to harm it.
And in the Underdark, the Asuran Bear’s fighting strength would be limited.
…
After about a week of travel, Marvin left the river, put away the golden bull, and then followed a path on foot.
Rocky Mountain was already very close, but even if it was only the outskirts of the Underdark, there were still monsters roaming about so he still had to be cautious.
And the hot spring Marvin had planned to visit was also in the vicinity.
This hot spring had mystical effects, and could substantially improve his Constitution. Marvin knew that what gave this hot spring its effects was that fragment of [Earth Crystal] at the bottom of the water.
From Marvin’s previous experience, after a human soaked in the hot spring for some time, he could raise his Constitution by one or two points.
Such a benefit was hard to come by.
It was a pity that this hot spring wasn’t easy to access.
There was a Hook Horror family occupying the surroundings. Their leader was an elite variant female Hook Horror.
Marvin previously had a battle of wits with her and it took him a long time to take care of her.
But he came prepared this time, so it should be a lot easier.
He silently checked the path, having activated his Listen skill for a long time.
At that moment, Marvin heard an ear-piercing sound!
Chapter 253: Hook Horror
Chapter 253: Hook Horror
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The subtle sound kept getting closer.
Marvin knew this was the scraping sound of a Hook Horror’s legs when moving on stone walls.
Only with a sufficiently high Listen skill could he notice the Hook Horror before it found him.
Marvin silently listened for a while, quickly concluding, ‘Only one, probably dispatched by the group to hunt.’
‘A common Hook Horror shouldn’t be too hard.’
But Marvin didn’t treat it lightly. This kind of lifeform was a very frightening predator of the Underdark. It had a vulture-like head with bony hooks in place of hands, and their legs were thick and solid with sharp claws. Hook Horrors walked on two legs and could also climb cliffs. The very hard carapace layer on the back made them the natural enemies of rogues!
Ordinary Thieves might not be able to break through a Hook Horror’s defense at all.
They would be blown away by the hooks and might lose their lives.
Though Marvin had experience fighting them, he still wouldn’t treat it lightly.
After thinking through this, he took a tied wild boar out of the Thousand Paper Crane and threw it on the ground.
The wild boar was still alive! This was one of the profound mysteries of Origami.
It could only struggle in vain due to the bindings.
This kind of struggling would be easily detectable and attract the Hook Horror.
After setting everything up, Marvin used Hide and concealed himself on the side.
Hook Horrors had an unusual ability that let them find the location of an enemy using high frequency sound waves.
But Marvin hid behind a huge rock, which would be enough to ward off the sound waves.
Soon, a shadow quickly appeared at the end of the cave.
A lone Hook Horror.
Marvin held his breath. He wouldn’t have a lot of opportunities, because only the head and the heart were weak points of the Hook Horror, but to reach these spots, he would have to face the frightening hooks. Only by grasping the perfect timing could he settle the issue relatively safely.
…
The Hook Horror soon found the struggling wild boar.
Its exceptional intelligence stopped it from immediately rushing forward. Instead, it began to evaluate this prey’s strength.
It had never seen such a strange lifeform before.
This boar was brought in from the surface by Marvin, and the Underdark didn’t have a similar lifeform!
Or if there had been one, it must have already become extinct from being unable to adapt to the terrible environment.
The Hook Horror seemed to hesitate.
Marvin was waiting for this!
He quietly took out a sphere and gently let it roll over.
It was such an unremarkable movement, but it was still noticed by the Hook Horror!
It suddenly spread its sharp hooks and pounced over toward the sphere.
But a burst of light suddenly spread from the sphere!
[Sun Sphere]!
It contained a great amount of Sun magic and was the bane of many underground lifeforms.
The Hook Horror couldn’t escape on time and wailed.
It crazily swung its hooks at the sphere out of fear.
But then, the Sun Sphere exploded!
“Bang!”
The noise echoed through the cave.
The bursting energy wildly filled the cave and the Hook Horror’s forelimbs melted and were paralyzed. It frantically raised its head, trying to avoid being harmed by the Sun magic.
Three seconds later, the energy inside the Sun Sphere ran out, with only sparks remaining in the cave.
The Hook Horror was seriously hurt and tried to flee.
But at that time, Marvin finally made his move.
This was the time!
Night Boundary was quietly activated. Marvin’s silhouette was just like a demon, appearing on the Hook Horror’s escape path!
His daggers cut the Hook Horror’s forelimbs as if he was cutting through tofu!
A simple dodge and he avoided the Hook Horror’s counterattack with its beak. The next second, Marvin’s daggers ruthlessly slashed at the Hook Horror’s neck!
The Hook Horror wasn’t a match for the two daggers after being grievously injured by the Sun Sphere.
After a handful of seconds, it lost its head to Marvin!
But the sound of fighting already spread out.
Marvin soon heard rustling noises.
At least three Hook Horrors were rushing over, and they didn’t bother covering their tracks, instead rushing to provide assistance to their companions.
‘Half a minute at most.’
Marvin sneered, this was exactly what he wanted!
He didn’t take care of the Hook Horror body and went back to hide behind the huge rock.
In his hands were two more Sun Spheres!
This was part of Marvin’s plan, hiding behind the rock to evade the Hook Horrors’ perception, and then crazily throwing money at them!
That’s right, he was basically throwing money at them.
If a Wizard was here, he would be strangling Marvin while cursing him for wasting resources!
Using Sun Spheres like that?!
This was an item used to increase the strength of Sun magic for Priest and Wizards
But in Marvin’s hands, it was merely a consumable.
It was used as a grenade!
The crafting process of each Sun Sphere was very complicated, requiring the cooperation of a high level Alchemist and a high level Wizard.
It was to the point that in the entire South, no more than a hundred Sun Spheres came out of the Three Ring Towers and other Wizard organizations each year.
Marvin used his relations with Hathaway to buy six Sun Spheres from the Ashes Tower and Craftsman Tower.
Each Sun Sphere cost 1000 Wizard golds!
And this was a discount to give face to Hathaway.
The six Sun Spheres cost six thousand! Marvin bought it on credit.
Each Sun Sphere was worth two [Dragon Tooth] Artillery Shells.
But Marvin didn’t regret it.
He would normally avoid Hook Horrors, but he had to eradicate this particular family of them.
Spending a lot of money for that hot spring was worth it.
Not only would it raise his Constitution, but he would also get fragment of Earth Crystal!
In any case, Marvin was already deep in debt, so he didn’t mind adding a few more expenses.
Money, and fighting strength.
In a way, one was linked to the other.
Especially with Wizards, Alchemists, and other such professions.
In the past, he was a loner. A loner could be wealthy, but it couldn’t compare with that of the Overlord of a territory. Marvin, with his territory as a foundation and a gold mine as a guarantee, could borrow money very easily.
…
The Hook Horrors’ footsteps could be heard approaching and the monsters soon appeared, one in front, two in the back.
One of them was clearly taller than the others.
This was the female Hook Horror, which the leader of the entire Hook Horror family.
These lifeform lived in a matriarchal community and usually a female Hook Horror would lead a few male Hook Horrors.
Marvin clearly remembered that this nest of Hook Horrors had four members, the female and the three males. He just gotten rid of one of the males, leaving the other three members.
Thus, he unhesitantly used those two priceless Sun Spheres and then drew back!
The next second, just as Marvin anticipated, the Hook Horrors subconsciously used their hooks to break the spheres!
The Sun Spheres weren’t able to handle their hooks and were punctured.
The Sun Sphere in itself was a very unstable Alchemy item, so if a hole appeared, the Sun energy inside would burst out!
Light filled the cave.
Marvin mentally counted and when he felt it was a good time, he took advantage of the dissipating Sun energy to dash out like lighting, under the wailing of the three Hook Horrors!
He would naturally reap the harvest after spending so much money!
…
The four Hook Horrors gave Marvin close to 10000 exp. This experience was really easy to get due to those Sun Spheres.
In the past, Marvin had an annoyingly long fight with that female Hook Horror. After dying once, he managed to find a flaw and kill her.
That time was when Marvin was at his lowest.
Remembering about it, he really suffered from working alone back then…
Now that he had started anew, the rich and overbearing Marvin would immediately reverse the situation and simply sent the whole Hook Horror family on their way.
Hook Horrors’ bodies had nothing valuable, so Marvin casually chopped down some scales and then used Night Tracking.
With this skill, he could follow the Hook Horrors’ trail to their nest.
And the hot spring was in their nest.
…
Some clean white eggs were arranged in the dark nest.
These were Hook Horror eggs. But they had no value besides being edible…
Marvin collected the eggs because he wouldn’t pass on something that could be used.
After fumbling around the edge of the nest, he finally found that hidden spring.
It was called a hot spring, but in fact it was more of a small deep pool of water whose temperature was quite high. At the bottom was the fragment of Earth Crystal, but he needed to go down very deep to be able to get it.
Naturally, he had made proper preparations.
He had an expensive underwater breathing potion, along with two spares.
He changed to lighter clothing and drank down the potion before jumping in the hot spring.
He had to grab that fragment of Earth Crystal first.
…
A small scouting team walked down a small dark path.
“There is a nest of Hook Horrors in front, we will take a detour,” said a sweet-sounding female voice.
The other men nodded in succession.
This was a group of Dark Elves!
They were simply called Drows.
The Drows lived in a matriarchal society, so the captain of the team was a woman.
But at that time, a drow reported, startled, “I saw Hook Horror corpses!”
“Hook Horror corpses!?”
The captain was shocked. “Which power could actually kill off this Hook Horror nest?”
“Wait… According to the traces the attacker was alone!” the male draw observed.
The woman was silent for a moment before decisively ordering, “Greg, Amir, follow me. The others, search in the sur
roundings.”
“Check for traces of any suspicious lifeform!”
Chapter 254: God Domain
Chapter 254: God Domain
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Dark Elves were relatively strong lifeforms in the Underdark.
Out of all the humanoid lifeforms, Dark Elves had the best physical abilities, far exceeding the Wood Elves, Sea Elves, and other Elven races.
This might be because the Underdark was a vicious place that followed survival of the fittest.
The Dark Elf scouts were naturally elites among elites.
And Raven was able to become this squad’s captain. Though she wasn’t at the 4th rank yet, most 4th ranks weren’t her match!
She brought two subordinates and quickly checked the Hook Horror corpses.
Even if Marvin was very cautious and tried to leave as few traces as possible, caves and underground areas were the Dark Elves’ home!
Soon, they slowly found their way into the Hook Horror’s nest!
‘Seems like those four Hook Horrors were part of the same nest.’
‘To kill them all, and alone, this must be the work of an expert.’
‘From the marks on the bodies, it seems he used curved daggers… Could it be an expert from [Dark City]?’
Raven considered this, silently pondering.
It was highly possible that it was someone from the same race, but that might not necessarily be good.
Killings among Dark Elves of different clans was very common, and would sometimes even happen within the same clan.
Dark City was that Evil Eye’s domain, while Raven’s lord followed another lord.
Both sides were like fire and water.
‘No good. This operation was ordered by Leader Clarke. We must keep it confidential.’
‘Twelve scouting parties were dispatched at the same time to quietly wipe out the humans at the surface.’
‘Only in that way would our surprise attack be effective. But if information leaked…’
Raven didn’t dare to think about it.
Clarke’s fury was something these poor Dark Elves wouldn’t be able to handle.
…
“The other side is a master and there are traces showing that he broke into the nest.”
“He might still be in the vicinity.” A subordinate reported in a low voice with a vigilant expression.
Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters Page 154