Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters

by Dark Blue Coconut Milk

  Marvin grabbed the pitiful Duergar and brought him to Jessica.

  She was at a huge public square. From the buildings that surrounded it, the area looked like the place where the Duergar would hold celebrations and other various kinds of activities

  “Who are you? What happened here?” Jessica asked in a threatening tone.

  The Duergar were the kind to fear the strong while bullying the weak. It looked to him like it would be a bad idea to provoke these two Humans before him, so he immediately spat out what he knew, with some pauses so that Jessica could summarize it for Marvin.

  After a few minutes of questioning, Marvin and Jessica glanced at each other and let the Duergar leave.

  They already had the information they wanted.

  But it seemed that the situation was a bit trickier than they had expected.

  …

  That Duergar was named Shawn and had been a rather undistinguished inhabitant of Brightsow.

  He didn’t have the talent for crafting. He was very lazy and very poor. It could even be said that he was the lowest kind of existence in the city.

  If not for his cousin, who had a blacksmithing shop and frequently helped him out, he might have already starved to death.

  Normally, it would be very difficult to get any important information from this kind of person.

  However, the circumstances were a bit special at that time.

  From what Shawn said, some issues had cropped up in Brightsow City about two months ago.

  Marvin and Jessica recognized that as more or less the time when Black Dragon Clarke launched an attack on Hope City.

  The expansion of the Eternal Frozen Spring and the awakening of Black Dragon Clarke must be related.

  As for the details, Shawn himself only knew about the rumors. Fortunately, his cousin was quite an important figure in the city, and thus, he managed to hear some confidential information!

  It turned out that two months ago, the Eternal Frozen Spring had started spraying out Extreme Cold Water!

  That Extreme Cold Water froze quite a lot of rivers in the Underdark, including the ones that supplied Brightsow with fresh water.

  The leaders of the Duergar sent many craftsmen and scholars to search for a way to survive the Underdark Winter. Similarly extreme conditions had been recorded in history, but they had never been as serious.

  The climate began to seriously deteriorate, and under the continued effect of the Extreme Cold Water, the originally meager crops became even rarer, some people even began freezing to death within the city walls.

  During these harsh times, Brightsow sealed its gates.

  The Duergar gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

  Ultimately, they found a way to obtain enough water. As for the food, they could only plunder other cities.

  Plunder. Slaughter. Copulation. The three everlasting constants of the Underdark.

  They sent excellent craftsmen to the Deep Dark River in order to dig a well that could access the water.

  It had been recorded in history that during the Underdark Winter, many rivers would be frozen over, but there would still be water below.

  The result of the digging… was that they excavated a disaster!

  A few days after the start of the project, a couple of strange signs appeared.

  Some of the slaves in charge of the digging apparently suffered from a burst of epilepsy and died in front of everyone.

  The Duergar felt that this was a foreboding omen.

  Many of them believed that they should stop digging, but the leader of the Duergar was very obstinate. He personally took charge of Deep Dark River Project and ordered them to keep digging. They had to dig for fresh water!

  After three days, Brightsow received the news that they were successful!

  They successfully dug through the layer of ice on the Deep Dark River and found fresh water below.

  With fresh water secured, they should be able to survive the Underdark Winter.

  But just as Brightsow’s inhabitants were feeling overjoyed, ready to welcome their leader back, a high-tier craftsman arrived in front of the city, covered in blood.

  The guards hurriedly rushed him to be treated, but unfortunately, that Duergar had too many wounds. The Duergar were good at forging, but they weren’t particularly good in the medical field.

  The craftsman soon died.

  But as he did, he said a lot of crazy things.

  He warned the people of the city that they definitely shouldn’t open the door when those from the Deep Dark River Project came back.

  Because… they became monsters!

  Those were the craftsman’s last words.

  But no one believed him.

  Even if he had been a renown craftsman during his life, his words had been considered the nonsense of a delirious person on his deathbed.

  Only one person believed him.

  And that was Shawn.

  Because that craftsman was his cousin who had helped him for so many years.

  That could be considered quite lucky. After hearing of his cousin’s death, he immediately sold his cousin’s blacksmith shop and bought himself a place to live.

  He used the rest of the money to buy a lot of food and ale and then sealed himself in the cellar, living cut off from the rest of the world.

  At the same time, he made sure to pay attention to what was happening in Brightsow.

  He installed a prism that had been owned by his older cousin on his door.

  It would allow him to observe what was happening in the city.

  At first, nothing happened, and Shawn happily lazed around at home, eating, drinking, and sleeping.

  But later on, a large noise woke him up.

  He saw countless Duergar and other lifeforms running on the streets.

  They were fighting each other!

  Fear could be seen in some people’s eyes as they fled, while some others had completely white eyes!

  They looked like pure snow!

  Shawn was terrified at the sight, and he remembered the last words of his cousin!

  ‘They became monsters!’

  This was the only thought that the pitiful Duergar had.

  He didn’t dare to leave the cellar.

  Every day, he would use the prism to stealthily check the situation on the streets.

  The city was getting more chaotic all the time, until one day, some monsters charged into his house, and the prism exploded!

  That was the scariest time for Shawn. Fortunately, the entrance to the cellar was very well hidden, and none of the monsters found it.

  Thus, Shawn remained hidden in the cellar day after day.

  Eventually, he ate all the food he had and drank all the alcohol. After feeling famished for several days, he decided to leave the cellar.

  But when he stepped outside onto the streets, he found that the city was already empty!

  Everyone seemed to have disappeared!

  Shawn couldn’t do much on an empty stomach and decided to look for something to eat first, and then alcohol. He wouldn’t be able to survive without alcohol.

  As a result, he met Marvin and Jessica.

  …

  “Clearly, those disappearing Duergar all went toward Hope City.” Marvin shrugged as he stated his conclusion.

  The Dark Specters had certainly awakened, but the question was, how many Ghost Mothers had awakened?

  Chapter 573: Eternal Frozen Spring

  Chapter 573: Eternal Frozen Spring

  Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation

  Based on Shawn’s story, the change in the Eternal Frozen Spring really was related to the return of the Dark Specters.

  This was actually good news for Marvin.

  The [Underdark Winter] was a large-scale storyline quest, and although Marvin didn’t directly participate in it, he had read many messages about it in the forums and had a pretty good understanding of the quest.

  The Eternal Frozen Sp
ring was a very mysterious place, known as the coldest place in the world.

  Even the peak of the snowy mountain in the Far North wasn’t as cold as the Eternal Frozen Spring.

  Some believed that the Ice God slumbered below the Eternal Frozen Spring, while others said that the Eternal Frozen Spring was the convergence point of the Universe’s cold essences.

  But whatever the case, the Eternal Frozen Spring was a very dangerous area.

  When the [Final Ghost Mother] instance was unveiled, countless guilds had been wiped out at the Eternal Frozen Spring.

  Afterwards, people gradually summed up their experiences.

  To get rid of the Final Ghost Mother, one had to do a preparatory quest to obtain a sword that was specialized in killing Ghost Mothers. At the same time, they had to resist the countless Dark Specters on the path to the Final Ghost Mother. This required five Wizards with 6th-circle barriers against ghosts. The last thing needed was high Cold Resistance.

  Marvin remembered that when the Eternal Frozen Spring instance was first unveiled, the price of equipment with Cold Resistance became outrageously excessive. Furthermore, ruthless merchants were adding to the momentum.

  But, simply put, the difficulty of this instance was way too high.

  Even a typical team of Legends wouldn’t be able to clear it!

  From this, it could be seen how frightening the Final Ghost Mother was!

  …

  “As far as I know, the Dark Specter clan didn’t originate from Feinan. They invaded Feinan in ancient times and created panic in Feinan’s lifeforms.”

  “But under the guidance of the Night Monarch and other heroes, the people of Feinan killed the Ghost Mothers and sealed the Final Ghost Mother in the Eternal Frozen Spring.”

  “This was because the Dark Specter clan only had one fear, extreme cold.”

  “But after so many years, Dark Specters appeared once again. There was only one possibility: Not only had the Eternal Frozen Spring’s seal become loose, but after a millennium of tempering and enduring, they got rid of their last weakness. They no longer feared the cold.”

  Taking a deep breath, Marvin calmly continued his analysis. “But the good thing is that the Dark Specter clan is a kind of very peculiar community. They don’t have their own awareness. They are all controlled by a Ghost Mother. A Ghost Mother represents a collective consciousness, and overall, their actions are controlled by the Final Ghost Mother. After such a long time, the number of Ghost Mothers in the Eternal Frozen Spring should be no more than five, but each Ghost Mother would probably control thousands of Dark Specters.

  Jessica immediately understood Marvin’s meaning. “So you’re saying that these monsters don’t have individual thoughts and that as long as we kill these Ghost Mothers, the Dark Specters will also die?”

  Marvin nodded.

  In his eyes, rather than their previous weakness to the cold, this was the Dark Specters’ biggest flaw.

  Although the Dark Specters could be very destructive, they had no wills of their own and could only listen to the Ghost Mothers.

  The Ghost Mother behind the group of monsters attacking Rocky Mountain should be hiding somewhere.

  It seems that the Final Ghost Mother in the Eternal Frozen Spring had cooked up a big scheme.

  After eliminating Brightsow, she began to lead her own pawns toward the surface.

  Marvin knew that the Dark Specter clan was very frightening.

  Unlike other monsters, their only purpose in the world was expansion!

  Continuous expansion!

  Up until the entire Universe became a world of Ghosts!

  This lifeform was somewhat similar to the Astral Plane Locusts. But Locusts would inevitably have natural predators, but this didn’t seem to be the case for the Dark Specter clan, at least in this Universe.

  If he had any choice, the Night Monarch wouldn’t have just sealed the Final Ghost Mother away.

  He did so because he was unable to kill her.

  The Dark Specters were that frightening. Hope City was surrounded by bodies taken over by Dark Specters and was on the brink of crisis.

  Fortunately, before Marvin left, he took the time to tell Kate what he knew about Dark Specters.

  With her Protection Fate Power and the power from the Source of Fire’s Order, even if that Ghost Mother went all-out, there should be no issue holding them off for another ten days, or maybe even half a month.

  And during that time, Marvin and Jessica could accomplish their goal.

  …

  “Then what are we waiting for?!” Jessica had always had a fiery temper. “You know so much about the Eternal Frozen Spring, so let’s kill our way in and get rid of that Ghost Mother.”

  Marvin smiled bitterly.

  “Even the Night Monarch couldn’t kill it. Are you sure your Fate Power will fare any better?” he asked.

  Jessica remained silent. She was a very powerful woman with a lot of self-confidence.

  In all of Feinan, Jessica was considered one of the strongest, if not the strongest, after the Plane Guardians.

  Even Marvin estimated that if he fought her, he would only have about a 30% chance of winning. Ruler of the Night was a powerful class, but it couldn’t rival the favorites of the Plane Will.

  Fate Sorceresses were the ones blessed by fate. They could use spells practically without limits. Each time they acted, multi-casting, critical effects, additional enhancements, or other such things could happen.

  Stat-wise, it could be represented as [Luck +5].

  But even so, Jessica didn’t dare to say that her strength was stronger than that of the Night Monarch!

  The Night Monarch had been powerful enough to rival an Ancient God.

  “Then what should we do?” She knew that since Marvin had asked like that, he had probably already come up with a plan.

  Marvin calmly told her, “Hope City won’t be captured in such a short time.”

  “If we want to breach the Eternal Frozen Spring, it won’t be enough with just the two of us. We need the help of other forces.”

  “Other forces?” A strange expression flashed in Jessica’s eyes.

  At that time, a dark shadow appeared on Brightsow streets.

  A Drow!

  Jessica was on guard!

  Marvin waved his hand, hinting that she didn’t need to be nervous.

  “Master… I immediately rushed over after your summons,” Raven reported obediently as she knelt on the ground.

  “Master? You actually have a Drow slave?” Jessica looked at Marvin with a weird gaze!

  ‘That guy is so wretched and horny, look at this Drow’s clothes, who knows what that guy is up to?!’ The Fate Sorceress already started worrying about her younger sister.

  Marvin coughed, trying to get rid of the awkward atmosphere. “It is quite helpful that you managed to survive despite the attacks of the Dark Specter clan. Now, I need to understand the current situation in the Underdark.”

  Chapter 574: Great Vortex

  Chapter 574: Great Vortex

  Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation

  In fact, as soon as Marvin arrived at Rocky Mountain, he used the book of Nalu to call for the chess piece that he had left in the Underdark.

  The Dark Elf, Raven.

  After they fought off the Black Dragons’ attack on Rocky Mountain, Marvin had given Raven an order.

  She had to do her best to establish a force in the Underdark, a force that didn’t follow any Gods.

  Because of the Book of Nalu, if Raven sought shelter from the Black Dragon God or the Queen of Spiders, they might notice that she was being controlled.

  Thus, Marvin had repeatedly warned Raven that she should establish a force that consisted only of non-believers.

  Fortunately, the Gods had yet to descend. Although the Underdark had a very vile environment that made life difficult, at least a third of the lifeforms there believed in a God. Most of them believed in the Black Drag
on God and the Queen of Spiders. However, the beliefs of these lifeforms were as fickle as their natures.

  To be frank, some of them were fake believers.

  They only actually believed in strength. If the Black Dragon God and the Queen of Spiders could bring them benefits, they wouldn’t care about selling themselves.

  At the same time, the rest of those in the Underdark were non-believers.

  After Clarke’s death, Raven very quickly gathered a group of followers from a small town.

  It was also a matter of luck. The force she established settled just east of the [Great Vortex], adjoining a hill with a group of caves. This was a relatively gentle and safe part of the Underdark.

  It was also because of this that they were able to survive the invasion of the Dark Specters.

  Thanks to Raven’s narration, Marvin and Jessica gradually understood the current situation in the Underdark.

  …

  In short, the creatures of the Underdark weren’t faring well!

  They had lost control of at least a third of the Underdark already, whether it was due to retreating ahead of time, or being swallowed by the Dark Specters!

  From what Raven said, the area west of the [Great Vortex] had already fallen to the onslaught of the Dark Specters!

  Marvin was worried by the speed of the expansion.

  A map of the Underdark appeared in his mind. The Great Vortex happened to be under the Sage Desert.

  In other words, more than half of the southern part of the Underdark had already been swallowed!

  According to Raven, the Underdark was already way different than before.

  Even the races that had long-held hatred between them put aside their differences and joined forces.

  They relied on the Great Vortex and established a stronghold there with an impregnable defensive line!

  All the Underdark’s races banded together to withstand the invasion of the Dark Specters!

  This war had already gone on for more than a month. The losses of the defenders were disastrous, but they also won some victories.

  A few days ago, during one of the Dark Specters’ attacks, their Ghost Mother’s location was exposed. Four Legends from among the allied defenders made a move together, going all-out, and forcibly killed the Ghost Mother.