Night Ranger - Chapter 460-466
p>Marvin abruptly turned around, but the space behind him was empty.
That strange voice seemed to have come out of nowhere.
“Who is it?” he asked in a loud voice with both his hands on his curved daggers, on guard.
His Perception didn’t notice anyone when that voice echoed.
Only silence followed.
That voice from before didn’t speak again.
Marvin carefully inspected his logs and found no skill check against an illusion or anything else like that.
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That voice had a purpose, but it was strange.
Marvin coldly snorted and ignored it as he entered the forest.
He wasn’t spineless enough to be scared away by a sentence.
…
The forest was very dark.
Compared to Thousand Leaves Forest, the Lumber Woods’ trees seemed taller.
But unlike the vibrant and lush Elven forest which felt full of vitality, the Lumber Woods’ tall trees seemed to be deformed.
The layers of bark seemed like elderly faces, strange and indifferent, making anyone that looked at them extremely uneasy.
Who knew how the lumberjacks could work in that kind of environment?
Marvin didn’t know too much about this forest. As a matter of fact, the Lumber Woods were considered as dangerous as the wilderness by many forces’ intelligence groups. It was even a grade higher than the Dead Area.
Therefore, he was very cautious and kept following the river after entering.
On both sides of the river, there were many abandoned logging sites. This part was the place where the lumberjacks kept working, after all, so it couldn’t be too dangerous.
Otherwise, those weak humans wouldn’t be able to survive there.
What annoyed Marvin was that this forest was extremely vast, and the trail ended at its entrance. Tracking Butterfly would be really difficult.
He followed the river and met some random humans. They had lost their minds to the Chaos Magic Power.
Marvin wasn’t lenient.
This world was cruel. If they couldn’t resist, they would turn into Monsters and keep wandering the land, bringing more harm to other lifeforms.
Marvin hurried and eventually found a strange comb in the lumbered clearing.
‘An Elven comb.’
The comb was in between the logging sites and the river, very conspicuously resting on a stone.
It was clearly a signal left behind by Butterfly.
Perhaps she ran out of breadfruit and could only use another way to leave a trail.
‘She knew I would follow the river…’
‘She left breadfruit and a comb. This proves that she was still clear-headed when she did this.’
‘What is she doing in the end?’
But regardless, since he got something of hers, he could keep tracking her down.
He unhesitantly used Night Tracking.
Just as expected, that thin red line appeared in his field of vision and pointed toward the depths of the forest.
Marvin had no choice but to leave the river and head deeper into the Lumber Woods.
From the details of Night Tracking, Butterfly shouldn’t be too far away.
What was she doing?
The answer would soon be revealed.
But just as Marvin prepared to go forward, that voice echoed once again. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be misled by others.”
“This forest is a dead place, no one knows how many lumberjacks died here.”
“The Alliance only sees this place as a goldmine and doesn’t care how many people they sacrifice. Trust me, if you go in, you’ll die.”
Marvin quickly looked around again.
But no one was there!
“Who are you?” Marvin asked with a heavy voice.
On the surface, he looked calm, but he had already activated [Earth Perception]!
The next second, every sentient lifeform that was nearby appeared in Marvin’s mind.
He could feel the salmon moving in the river, the crabs running amuck on the riverbank… As well as a repulsive tree!
He instantly understood.
Even if that voice didn’t echo again, Marvin had already locked onto the other side!
It was the extremely ugly tree!
“I thought it was something else…” Marvin sneered, “Turns out it’s a [Whispering Treant].”
The other side remained silent.
But it didn’t matter anymore. Marvin had found the origin of the voice and naturally wouldn’t be disturbed by it.
In fact, a Whispering Treant wasn’t a nature-type creature. It was said Evil Dragon Tidomas, now the 2nd Overlord of the Negative Energy Plane, used spells and curses to create these kinds of Treants.
Whispering Treants had no fighting ability and could only frighten people.
They were very rare in Feinan, so he hadn’t expected to see several of them in the Lumber Woods.
The rumors about Devils must have come into being because of these Treants.
Marvin was a Ruler of the Night, so the Treants naturally couldn’t do anything against him, but they still tried to threaten him.
This was due to their instinct.
But thinking about it, regardless of who it was that planted these Whispering Treants, it meant that this forest had a huge secret.
Hidden secrets.
Marvin’s curiosity was roused.
He ignored the Treant and rushed deeper into the forest.
…
The dark forest might feel really unpleasant to others.
But a Ruler of the Night and Night Walker would actually feel like a fish in water.
Marvin’s speed wasn’t affected by the terrain.
After an hour of crazily running, Marvin eventually reached his goal.
‘That girl really went far.’
Marvin estimated that he had already reached the deepest parts of the Lumber Woods. This place should be the core of the forest.
Why did Butterfly run here?
Marvin kept going forward while thinking about it.
Not far ahead, he saw a gap between some bushes.
Marvin softly walked over.
After moving a branch aside, he caught a glimpse of some ruins.
He suddenly froze.
There was an ancient inscription at the edge of the ruins.
Ancient and strange runes appeared before Marvin’s eyes.
In the middle of the rubble, there was an altar that had partially fallen apart, presumably due to the passage of time.
‘This is…’
‘This is a temple!’
Marvin suddenly felt as if he couldn’t utter a word.
Lumber Woods, Chromatic Dragons, a temple amidst ruins…
These things all felt familiar.
‘Is it really the [Dragon God’s Wrath]?’
He thought to himself, ‘Then, the ruins are not only the temple of the Chromatic Dragon God, but also the place where his corpse is buried…’
Suddenly, a hand grasped his shoulder!
p>”You really followed!”
After that hand touched his shoulder, a voice spoke next to Marvin’s ear.
Marvin was surprised.
That woman clearly had no fighting ability, so how could she approach him so quietly?
If she had been holding a weapon, could he have been sneak attacked?
He looked at the Wood Elf with shock.
Butterfly was still unrestrained as she chided, “Don’t look at me like that, it’s not that I became frightening, in fact, your reactions have worsened.”
“This is the Hall of Loss. I didn’t expect to find out one day that the story told to me in my childhood was real…”
Marvin frowned and immediately checked his logs:
[You discovered the Hall of Loss]
[Noble Knowledge Reminder: The Hall of Loss seems to be inextricably linked to the Evil Chromatic Dragon God]
[You reached the surroundings of the Hall of Loss, suffering from the effect of the Slow Halo; Perception reduced by 70%]
…
70% Perception reduction!
Marvin couldn’t help but cough in surprise.
This place was so scary.
For Marvin, who relied on his nimbleness and senses, this place was simply a nightmare!
“Is it the effect of the Chromatic Altar?”
Marvin glanced at that badly damaged multi-colored altar. Although it was already shattered, he could still feel a faint strange power.
“No,” Butterfly answered, “the Chromatic Altar is already broken.”
“There is another force nearby suppressing our Perception.”
‘Our Perception?’
Marvin couldn’t help but inwardly curse. It looked like Butterfly wasn’t affected too much.
This Wood Elf was really weird.
“Hold on… Let’s start from the beginning.” Marvin couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t we agree that you would wait for me? I still have an important matter to take care of!”
Butterfly blushed in shame. “Eh! I forgot about that matter.”
“Because of some special reason, I couldn’t help but follow here.”
Marvin looked at her and didn’t know how to deal with her.
“Your Gold Feathered Griffin?” he asked.
“I let him hide, he is too conspicuous,” Butterfly answered naturally.
Marvin scratched his head. “What did you plan to do?”
“What’s the [Special Reason]?”
“Ah… The special reason?” Butterfly suddenly grabbed Marvin and hid in the bush on the side.
Her movements were graceful and Marvin couldn’t help but go along with her…
“Look, she came…”
…
A huge shadow came up from another part of the forest and rushed over.
Winds cut through the trees, creating rustling noises.
The huge creature folded her wings and slowly descended, landing above the ruins.
She had precious gemlike green eyes and her green scales were blending in with the forest leaves. She stopped at the edge of the ruins and sat down quietly, apparently waiting for something.
“Green Dragon?” Marvin was filled with doubts.
Seeing his doubts, Butterfly whispered, “I found this Green Dragon by chance and followed it into the forest.”
Marvin had an annoyed expression on his face.
He was someone who planned his moves meticulously, but that girl in front of him was too much of a wildcard.
Because she noticed a Green Dragon, she followed it?
What was so special about it?
She wasted so much of his time!
He was about to tell Butterfly that he urgently needed to rush to the Supreme Jungle and had no time to spy on a Dragon near the Chromatic Altar.
Who would have thought that a powerful Dragon Roar would come from the east at this moment!
‘Another Dragon!’
Marvin’s expression was solemn.
Moreover, he was a bit familiar with that Dragon Roar!
The huge body was awe-inspiring, along with an overbearing Dragon Might!
The previous Green Dragon didn’t give that kind of feeling to Marvin.
But this larger Dragon was different.
His body was covered with blazing scales, his eyes looked menacing, and when he landed at the edge of the ruins, he crushed a large part of the forest!
“I hate those Treants! They speak too much nonsense! Foolish Tidomas!”
The newcomer was waving his limbs and tail around and uprooted all the surrounding trees.
Fortunately, Marvin and Butterfly were hiding in the bushes, and the other side didn’t use large-scale magic, so they were able to narrowly escape.
Marvin’s expression changed.
If it was only the Green Dragon, he wouldn’t care.
Although the Green Dragon’s strength was around the middle among the Chromatic Dragons, with the Dragon Slaying Spear and his Ruler of the Night class, he wouldn’t have an issue at all… As long as he didn’t give her the opportunity to cast a Dragon Spell, he would easily be able to kill her.
But the new arrival… Even Marvin couldn’t handle him!
Ancient Dragon Ell!
Marvin didn’t expect him to appear here!
After he invaded the East Coast, Ell was chased by Ivan for a while, but eventually recovered.
He was undoubtedly powerful. In all of Feinan, perhaps only the people on the level of the Plane Guardians could contend with him alone.
Marvin estimated that he couldn’t kill him even with the Dragon Slaying Spear.
Let alone now that there was a Green Dragon at his side that couldn’t be considered weak either.
From the thickness and the degree of transformation of the Green Dragon’s scales, Marvin estimated that this Dragon’s age should be between that of an Elder Dragon and an Ancient Dragon.
They were both incredibly powerful Dragons.
‘Even though the Red Dragons and the Green Dragons are Chromatic Dragons, they simply can’t work together, so why are they here?’
Marvin gave an inquiring look at Butterly.
The latter also looked puzzled and shook her head.
She seemed to be scared by Ell’s appearance and didn’t dare to say anything else.
Marvin kept calm and carefully observed what was happening.
After Ell vented, the situation calmed down.
The Green Dragon said in a low voice, “Tidomas’ origin is very suspicious, don’t rashly mention his name.”
“He is just a corrupt Dragon Tomb Guardian,” Ell scoffed in disapproval.
The Green Dragon said in a measured voice, “Over the years, there were many Dragons who became corrupt. But not one was able to become a Negative Energy Plane’s Overlord. To gain approval of that life brewing in the Evil Spirit Sea… It’s not that easy.”
Ell let out a heavy snort, apparently not wanting to keep talking about this topic.
Shortly after, he impatiently roared, “Those three fools are still not here?!”
“Calm down, Ell,” the Green Dragon said in dissatisfaction. “This is my domain.”
Red Dragon Ell sneered, “Could it be that you want to fight me, Modana?”
The Green Dragon didn’t back down. “I don’t fear any challenge in this forest. Sir Hartson gave the secret key to our clan and gave us the power to guard it!”
Ell’s amber eyes were full of anger. “Foolish Hartson!”
“Just because you Green Dragons are more deceitful and sinister, he believed you were more intelligent. He didn’t know of your cowardice and shyness. Because of this, we have waited for so long!”
“I can’t wait to get back!”
Modana coldly countered, “Only I kept my composure. Now is the best timing.”
“Those Plane Guardians and fools obsessed with justice are dealing with the Gods, so now is the best time to use that secret key.”
At that time, a thunderous sound came out.
A few shadows descended.
“I have to agree that sometimes, being cautious like Modana is reasonable.”
A spotless white Dragon as cold as the snow at the top of a mountain quickly descended. He elegantly walked to the Green Dragon’s side and looked at Red Dragon Ell. “If you learnt a tiny bit of patience, you wouldn’t have been beaten so miserably in the East Coast.”
This was a White Dragon!
Marvin looked at the scales on his neck and felt his throat being stuck.
‘Shit!’
‘Is this a group of Ancient Dragons?’
Ancient Red Dragon, Ancient White Dragon… He didn’t even need to guess about the other two shadows.
An Ancient Blue Dragon and an Ancient Black Dragon, the latter of which was one of the two Black Dragons left in Feinan.
The other one, Izaka, was still enslaved by Marvin.
This Dragon was his mate, named [Ikarina]. These two seemed to be twins.
…
Having his scar exposed in public, Ell went berserk.
A dark red light flashed on his chest. This was the sign of his Dragon Breath being prepared!
“Good!”
Black Dragon Ikarina coldly interrupted, “Since everyone arrived, stop your senseless fighting.”
“Since the Chromatic Dragons are gathered, it’s time to open the [Nightmare Boundary]!”
The Blue Dragon nodded. “Isn’t that the reason we gathered today?”
“After the Dragon God fell, the Chromatic Dragons split up and became unable to cooperate. It is time to end this situation.”
“[World Disaster, Black Dragon Return], half of the conditions for the prophecy have already been fulfilled. We have to work together for the remaining half!”
Red Dragon Ell let out a heavy snort and took the initiative to walk to the edge of the Chromatic Altar.
The five Dragons all used a shapeshifting skill at the same time!
Their clothes were made of the same color as their scales and thus they could easily be recognized.
They stood on the side of the altar, apparently feeling around for something.
…
‘What are they planning?’
Marvin frowned.
The Dragon God Wrath expansion didn’t have too much information. It was said to be related to the Dragon God Hartson and the world he established.
The secret of the Lumber Woods was too ancient. It was from the same era as the Night Monarch.
Maybe only the Chromatic Dragons’ leaders knew about it.
Butterfly’s face was full of excitement like she was watching a huge play.
Marvin simply remained silent.
He felt that he had to do something.
But at that time, a heavy voice came out behind him. “Hey, little things, this matter isn’t something you can blindly mix in.”
‘Damn weakened Perception!’
Marvin turned around very uncomfortably.
A huge head was staring at him.
p>A dense fog had appeared around Butterfly and Marvin without them noticing.
This layer of fog wrapped around them, but wasn’t threatening, it was actually very comfortable.
At that instant, Marvin was greatly surprised!
That was another Dragon!
But this time, the Dragon appearing in front of him was an elegant and noble Silver Dragon.
The Metallic Dragons were different from the evil Chromatic Dragons. They were mostly kindhearted, and Silver Dragons were a perfect example.
They lived in cold mountains, liked to control clouds and fogs and would never rashly injure anyone.
The Silver Dragon’s beautiful eyes were staring at Marvin, “I heard of you, little guy.”
“You have a weapon that could pose a huge threat to the Dragon Race, but it’s clearly not enough in front of these five crafty Ancient Dragons.”
“Take advantage of my fog tricking their sight to safely leave.”
Marvin didn’t have the time to say anything before a wide-eyed Butterfly asked, “You are a Silver Dragon, right?”
The Silver Dragon gently answered, “Of course.”
“I heard the Chromatic Dragons and the Metallic Dragons are mortal enemies. You came for them?” Butterfly asked.
The Silver Dragon nodded.
And Marvin on the side didn’t even need to check the other side’s scales to guess that this was also an Ancient Dragon!
The Lumber Woods would be lively today, there was such a large group of Ancient Dragons.
Normally, these lifeforms would spend their time hibernating.
But today they actually gathered at the edges of these ruins.
A single Silver Dragon definitely wasn’t a match for a group of Chromatic Dragons.
Marvin thought of something, “You have other friends, right?”
“Indeed.”
A familiar voice came out of the fog as a few shadows came over.
“I truly didn’t expect to meet you here.”
A man wearing a copper colored armor smiled while looking at Marvin.
“Professor?” Marvin asked probingly.
The latter nodded.
As expected, the Chromatic Dragons weren’t the only one who gathered, the Metallic Dragons did so too.
The Metallic Dragons shapeshifted into humans in order to shrink their sizes and avoid being found.
Marvin quickly counted. Including the Silver Dragon, who kept his original form, and Professor there were altogether only four Metallic Dragons.
Based on their clothes’ colors, they were easily distinguishable. The group consisted of a Silver Dragon, a Copper Dragon, a Brass Dragon, and a Gold Dragon.
‘They look no different than humans right now.’
‘This is a 7th-circle Shapeshift skill at the very least… Sure enough, all of them should be Ancient Dragons?’
Marvin bitterly smiled.
Four Metallic Dragons, five Chromatic Dragons.
These individuals purposely gathered here and definitely weren’t just passing by.
Is the Dragon God’s Wrath really happening early?
Marvin couldn’t rule out this possibility.
Because of his own arrival, this world’s history changed way too much.
Saruha, Secret Garden, and other instances were appearing in advance. For the Dragon God’s Wrath to happen earlier wasn’t out of the question.
But he felt unsure this time.
He had the game experience as a foundation before, but already in the Secret Garden he had came across the feeling of not being in control.
If not for meeting his grandfather, he might have tumbled in that space crack.
And this time, he completely lacked understanding of that Dragon God’s Wrath part.
Without his prophetic abilities, Marvin was no different from others.
Unfortunately, he would only lose his grasp on it more in the upcoming days.
After all, the future was changing.
Marvin took a deep breath. Thankfully, he already prepared himself mentally for this.
He asked in a low voice, “What’s the situation?”
The Copper Dragon looked at the others, then at the five Chromatic Dragons around the altar before saying, “Let’s find a place to talk.”
…
North of the ruins, in a hidden cave.
A deep blue Dragon Eye was floating in the air, taking in what was happening in the ruins with a single glance.
Under Professor’s introduction, Marvin got to know the other three Metallic Dragons.
Silver Dragon Stein, Gold Dragon Modique, as well as Brass Dragon Cromwell.
They were like Professor, Ancient Dragons. They were powerful and wouldn’t appear in front of mortals.
“Seems like you gathering here has something to do with the Chromatic Dragons’ Dragon God?”
Marvin inquired while looking at the scene happening in the Dragon Eye. The Chromatic Dragons in their human shapes were discussing something.
In any case, since it was already happening, it was better to hear about the details.
As for Butterfly, she was all the while earnestly pleading for a Silver Dragon’s Scale… The reason was that it looked beautiful, which made the Silver Dragon Stein both amused and embarrassed.
Dragon Scales were very precious to Dragons, they couldn’t simply give them away. But Butterfly’s clear eyes and earnest pleading made it hard for him to refuse.
Marvin was disinclined to take care of that Wood Elf, in fact, he probably wouldn’t be able to.
Professor mumbled, “Since you followed Green Dragon Modana and accidentally run into this matter, I won’t hide anything from you.”
“In fact, this matter is quite simple: The Chromatic Dragons want to open the [Nightmare Boundary]. We had foreseen this and want to prevent it.”
“It’s just that there was a bit of an issue when gathering our forces…”
…
From Professor’s story, Marvin was able to understand the ins and outs of the matter.
The Dragon God’s Wrath expansion in the game would unfold many years after the Great Calamity.
The key to this was the [Hartson Temple].
Hartson once was the Chromatic Dragon God and was also one of the Evil Gods.
In ancient times, he lived in the Lumber Woods, ruling over his kingdom there.
At that time, the Chromatic Dragons had yet to split up, they were gathered as subordinates by Hartson and revered him as a God.
At that time, the Chromatic Dragons were far different from now, they were very weak and only had the instincts to fly and use Dragon Breath.
Moreover, they were also dumb, not much more threatening than a Wyvern. The Evil Dragon God Hartson granted them wisdom and magic while also granting them different properties based on their subraces.
Thus, clans appeared within the Chromatic Dragon race.
Hartson’s original goal was to make his people develop on their own, but a split ultimately happened. After obtaining power, they started a power struggle and fought over territories.
And some of the Chromatic Dragons even started feeling uncomfortable living in the forest due to the attributes given by Hartson, such as Blue Dragon who liked to live in the desert.
They began revolting.
Facing such an annoying event, the Dragon God Hartson opened a Demi-Plane within the Lumber Woods.
His Demi-Plane had all kinds of environments, deserts to suit the Blue Dragons, mountains for the Red Dragons, swamps for the Black Dragons…
That plane was vast enough to fit them all and they also didn’t need to fight over territory.
Perhaps Hartson originally thought of calming down his people.
It was said that he had an agreement with the Wizard God Lance. If too many Chromatic Dragons appeared in Feinan, then Lance would take action to restrain those deemed chaotic and evil.
In short, after the Demi-Plane was created, Hartson stuffed all his people in.
He originally thought that there would be no animosity that way.
But he miscalculated.
The name of that Demi-Plane could no longer be found and was now simply called [Nightmare Boundary] by the Chromatic Dragons.
The reason why it was called Nightmare Boundary was because the Chromatic Dragons were originally very dissatisfied by this Demi-Plane, they felt like they were captives.
After obtaining power and crafty wisdom, many Chromatic Dragons stealthily used all kinds of methods to take advantage of Hartson’s Slumber to leave the Nightmare Boundary.
The most excessive ones were from the Black Dragon Clan.
After being defeated in their first war against the Red Dragons, they felt humiliated.
They were angrily complaining at the stingy Hartson for not granting them magical abilities while making their breeding abilities so low. Thus, after losing the war, the whole Black Dragon Clan defected the Nightmare Boundary.
This was a huge matter.
The Red Dragons became the Nightmare Boundary’s masters and unrestrainedly celebrated, rousing up the slumbering Hartson in the process.
Seeing the chaos of his Nightmare Boundary, Hartson was thoroughly angered.
He expelled all the Chromatic Dragons from the Nightmare Boundary and sealed it.
He sealed some of the abilities of the Chromatic Dragons and set the Lumber Woods as a forbidden ground for four clans, only leaving the Green Dragon Clan, who knew their place, and granting the key to opening the Demi-Plane to their leader while leaving behind a prophecy.
This prophecy was related to the return of the Chromatic Dragons to the Nightmare Boundary.
Even Professor wasn’t too clear about the details.
In short, after this, the Chromatic Dragons began to act unrestrained on the continent.
At that time, there were countless casualties among the Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and other races.
Their cities fell, their wealth mercilessly plundered.
The Chromatic Dragons were enjoying their final glory.
In fact, Feinan’s most famous three Dragon Slaying Weapons were also created at that time.
And what happened next was within Hartson’s expectations: The Wizard God who had given a warning long ago had ruthlessly made a move.
He slayed more or less 70% of the Chromatic Dragons and scared the rest of the Chromatic Dragons back to their nests.
At that time, they started to miss the magnificent Nightmare Boundary.
But the Nightmare Boundary was already closed.
And the Dragon God Hartson also fell for some particular reasons.
His temple became ruins, and he was buried under the temple, constantly guarded by a loyal guardian.
That guardian’s name was [Tidomas].
Years passed.
The Great Calamity approached and the Black Dragon Clan was almost extinguished by Marvin. The Chromatic Dragons suddenly realized there was an excellent opportunity.
Because the content of the prophecy already happened, it was time to open the Nightmare Boundary!
It was time to retrieve the power Hartson took away from them.
p>”There are two specific things in the Nightmare Boundary which the Chromatic Dragons are most concerned about.”
Professor was watching what was happening in the ruins while explaining to Marvin, “The first is Hartson’s Crystal Statue.”
“The second is a Rainbow Spring.”
Hartson’s Crystal Statue was said to have been made by the Chromatic Dragon God Hartson himself before his death.
This artifact had a very special function. The artifact holder would have three chances to order the Chromatic Dragons in Feinan.
This was a very frightening ability.
It had to be said that a Dragon could take a city down by himself, and a group of Dragons could defeat a few Mid Gods.
And there should be about forty Chromatic Dragons in all of Feinan. In fact, there should have been more, but Marvin killed quite a few Black Dragons, and there was also that Red Dragon sent to distract Ivan, who ended up dying.
These Dragons were like the Shadow Dragons lifeforms, they were genuine Dragons.
Although the Chromatic and Metallic Dragons were True Dragons and were still far less powerful than the rare Epic Prismatic Dragons and Time Dragons, they were still quite strong.
An Adult Chromatic Dragon was equivalent to another race’s squad of ordinary Legends.
As for the powerhouses within the Dragon Race, such as Ancient Red Dragon Ell, they were second only to the people with the strength of a Plane Guardian, few people were their match in the Plane.
Once Hartson’s Crystal Statue was found, there was an opportunity to order those powerful Chromatic Dragons.
This ability was something all the Chromatic Dragons yearned for.
Moreover, it was rumored that Hartson’s Crystal Statue was refined from a fragment of Fate Tablet and contained the secret to become the new Chromatic Dragon God.
Ordering the Chromatic Dragons was just the simplest ability.
In short, this Crystal Statue was something those five Chromatic Dragons were determined to obtain.
The second thing, the [Rainbow Spring], also couldn’t be ignored.
Like the Crystal Statue, they were both hidden in some location of the Nightmare Boundary. Even the Green Dragons who were the closest to Hartson didn’t know where.
They could only fumble with the information they had.
But the only thing that was certain was that before his death, Hartson clearly said that the abilities he sealed were poured in the Rainbow Spring.
Finding the Rainbow Spring and absorbing the water would let them break through their limits and possibly reach the highest level of the Dragon Race.
In fact, to a powerhouse like Ell who already reached his upper limit, the Rainbow Spring was actually the most captivating thing.
Having reached his upper limit, if he wanted to become stronger, he would have to rely on external help.
The Rainbow Spring left behind by Hartson was definitely the thing he was focusing on.
…
In order to compete for these two things and ensure their cooperation, the Chromatic Dragons set down some rules.
For this event, their clans could only dispatch their strongest.
This was a good news for the Black Dragons on the verge of extinction.
As for the most numerous Red Dragons, they were actually disdainful. Ancient Dragon Ell’s strength was clearly above the other Dragon Clans’ Ancient Dragons. They were certain Ell would triumph.
Thus, the five Dragons gathered in Lumber Woods.
They began following the clues that were left behind and tried to open the secret Chromatic Altar, thus opening the ancient Nightmare Boundary.
But they were wasting a lot of time preparing this plan.
And during the process, some news were leaked.
In fact, this wasn’t strange.
The Metallic Dragons were naturally antagonistic toward the Chromatic Dragons. Almost every Chromatic Dragon’s nest was monitored by a Metallic Dragon. They intercepted some information exchanged during Chromatic Dragons’ discussion and naturally made a move.
Although Hartson’s Crystal Statue and Rainbow Spring had close to no effect on the Metallic Dragons, they definitely couldn’t allow the Chromatic Dragons to obtain them.
Otherwise, not only would it create a disaster for the Metallic Dragons, but it would have catastrophic consequences for the entire Feinan.
The majority of Chromatic Dragons were ruthless, advocating scheming, slaughtering, and chaos.
The current Feinan was already changing due to the Great Calamity. Gods, Demons, Devils, Evil Spirits, and Monsters were already hard enough for Feinan’s defenders to handle, if a group of ruthless Dragons who regained their powers appeared… The Metallic Dragons couldn’t imagine what would happen.
Thus, with Professor in the lead, the normally lax Metallic Dragons unprecedentedly united.
They closely followed the plan and gathered the experts of each Clan today.
Moreover, they contacted far more powerhouses than just the Chromatic Dragons.
But there was still a problem in the Metallic Dragons’ side, they were quite lax.
A few invited Ancient Dragons were still on the way and who knew when they would arrive.
“But to have four of us rushing here is already quite satisfying.”
After saying this, Professor awkwardly laughed, “My compatriot always lacked the concept of being on time.”
Marvin inwardly shook his head before suddenly recalling that Professor sent him on a delivery before!
“Hold on…”
“You made me go to Xunshan Monastery before…”
Marvin’s words had yet to finish before a tall man’s shadow appeared at the entrance of the cave.
“It was for this.”
Blade Master Kangen.
A smile appeared on Professor’s face, “Since you came, then Louise and Carter shouldn’t be late.”
“I left them to monitor the northern part of the forest.” Kangen calmly said, “There seem to be some traces of movements from Green Dragons and Blue Dragons there.”
“Hehe… Seems like the Chromatic Clans are scheming against each other.” Brass Dragon Cromwell chuckled, “I’ll bet that there will be a chaotic fight before they get hold of those things.”
“The prerequisite is that no one finds the Crystal Statue.” Professor said in a heavy voice, “That is the key to uniting the Chromatic Dragons.”
The others nodded.
If a Dragon really obtained the Crystal Statue, then once the Chromatic Dragons were unified, their power would be even more frightening.
“Aren’t we here to destroy their plans?” Gold Dragon Modique couldn’t help but ask, “Why aren’t we making a move? We can catch them unprepared.”
“This would be meaningless.”
Professor explained, “The key to open the Nightmare Boundary is in Green Dragon Modana’s hands. That thing is for a one-time use. If we make a move now, it’ll stop their plan, but it won’t ruin their chances of obtaining the Crystal Statue or Rainbow Spring in the future.”
“The Chromatic Dragons are very crafty, facing our encirclement, they would definitely choose to flee, or maybe we would be the trigger making them united. That’s not our goal.”
“If they escaped, then we might not know how long they will take before coming back. We can’t watch over these ruins for a lifetime, right?”
“Thus, to foil their plans, we have to let Green Dragon Modana use her key.”
Facing Professor’s analysis, some raised objections.
Silver Dragon Stein reminded, “But if she uses the key, the Night Boundary will open.”
“You know that we can’t enter the Nightmare Boundary. As Metallic Dragons, it’ll have a repelling effect against us, we simply can’t enter Hartson’s world.”
Professor nodded, “Thus, I looked for a few helpers.”
The other Dragons immediately looked at Blade Master Kangen.
The latter straightforwardly said, “There should be no issue with Louise, but it might not be so with Carter. He is an Assassin, and when I looked for him, it was for a surveillance request, he might refuse to enter the Nightmare Boundary.”
Professor unhesitantly said, “My Shapeshift skill is at the 10th-circle, it should be enough to fool Hartson’s repelling boundary. I should be able to go in as a Human…”
“This makes three of us.”
At that time, Marvin couldn’t help but interrupt, “Can I ask what’s your plan?”
…
Ruins, shattered Chromatic Altar.
“Modana, you already tried 64 times.”
Ell’s irritated voice echoed once again, “That’s just the first door, I see no need to find the correct combination, just shatter it.”
“Or we could look for another way to enter the underground temple. Anyway, we know that the entrance to the Nightmare Boundary is on the 3rd floor of the underground temple.”
The green clothed woman was crouching by the Chromatic Altar, patiently repairing it stone by stone, apparently trying to restore it to its former condition.
This place once had a magnificent building with many passages leading to the underground temple.
But after the fall of the Dragon God Hartson, these passages had been sealed.
To reach the underground temple, they had to go through the Chromatic Altar.
“You obviously know that Hartson didn’t only take power from you, but also [Patience], why not try to overcome it?”
Modana answered Ell while she kept trying to restore the Chromatic Altar.
The Ancient Red Dragon immediately burst with rage, if not for the other Dragons, he might have already attacked.
At that time, when the Dragon God Hartson took things away from them, it didn’t only contain power, there were also other things.
The Black Dragons were deprived of their [Reproduction], thus the low fertility they were complaining about became even more pathetic.
The Green Dragons lost their [Courage], thus they used schemes and rarely confronted their enemies from the front.
The Blue Dragons lost their [Precise Cognitive Abilities], the White Dragons lost their [Advanced Wisdom], and as for the Red Dragons, they lost their [Patience].
The lack of these things amplified the Chromatic Dragons weak points. This also was one of the reasons why the Chromatic Dragons hated the Ancient Dragon God Hartson.
Let alone the fact that he let a Lesser Dragon guard his bones and allowing thus the latter to become corrupt, leading to him becoming an Evil Spirit Overlord!
It was said that Tidomas’ success was related to the Dragon God’s bones.
He obtained a large power through the Dragon God’s bones and was then acknowledged by the Evil Spirit Sea.
After these things happened, the chaotic and evil Chromatic Dragons naturally didn’t have a good opinion of Hartson.
…
Time slowly passed and after roughly eight minutes, the Chromatic Altar had been restored.
“Fixed.” Modana stood up and looked at the rest, “We only need to use a Legend item to open the passage.”
“Who will go first?”
p>Once the Chromatic Dragons disappeared at the altar, the Metallic Dragons showed themselves.
“You really don’t need our assistance to enter the Demi-plane?”
Silver Dragon Stein, still somewhat worried, doubtfully looked at the five individuals, “It might become troublesome if you meet a Chromatic Dragon in the underground temple before getting in the Nightmare Boundary.”
Marvin rancorously smiled, he had a similar concern.
After hearing Professor’s plan, Marvin naturally chose to join in.
In any case, this event was unfolding right before him, and Professor promised to help him reach the Supreme Jungle at the fastest speed after this. It would be a lot better than the unreliable Butterfly and her Griffin.
Moreover, his Chromatic Dragons Enmity was second only to the Evil Spirits. He was bound to be enemies with them, so it would be more advantageous to cooperate with the Metallic Dragons to stop them from increasing their strength early on. And if he waited for an opportunity to use his Dragon Slaying Spear, he might be able to get some unexpected rewards in the Nightmare Boundary.
The Dragons had no objections to Marvin’s participation.
Dragon Slayer, Plane Destroyer, God Slayer… Obviously, these titles made the aura on his body quite convincing. Although the Dragons rarely paid attention to humans, when one had so many world-shaking achievements, they had no choice but to lower their prideful heads and give due respect.
With Marvin joining, the team became composed of four people.
Blade Master Kangen, Louise, the unknown person who was Kangen’s friend and a very reliable female caster, Marvin, and Professor who could use an advanced Shapeshift skill.
This was a pretty good team because the Metallic Dragons heard of three to four places where the Crystal Statue or Rainbow Spring might be, thus they needed enough people to fight against the Chromatic Dragons.
But at that time, a conflicting voice echoed.
“Can I also come in?” Butterfly asked very naturally.
The Dragons looked at this insignificant Elf and their eyes became wide open one after the other.
Silver Dragon Stein bitterly smiled while looking at the shining Dragon Scale in her hands, decisively thinking of sternly stopping her.
This wasn’t a game. The enemies were all Dragons at the peak of Feinan, they had the most frightening physiques and magic, combined with the most malicious temperament. Five Ancient Chromatic Dragons, even the Ancient Metallic Dragons wouldn’t look down on them.
A Wood Elf with low strength, did she want to become a Dragon snack?
But Stein didn’t have time to say anything before he heard shocking words, “Of course.”
Professor’s voice seemed categorical.
Butterfly was overjoyed while the other Dragons all had doubtful expressions.
…
Besides the Chromatic Altar, Professor, who had shapeshifted into a human, looked like a wise and farsighted Senior.
He gently patted Stein’s shoulder, “Rest assured, there are only top class powerhouses in our team.”
Stein once again glanced at Butterfly who had yet to reach 3rd rank and inwardly shook his head.
The others also very much disapproved of Professor’s decision, but the Copper Dragon’s status amongst the other dragons was clearly very high, therefore his decision didn’t meet any objection from them.
Thus, under the Metallic Dragons’ expectant gazes, they began discarding Legendary Items on the altar like the Chromatic Dragons did.
Every time a Legendary Item was used, it would grant the right to use Teleportation.
It had to be said, the Chromatic Altar’s appetite was quite huge, it actually needed Legendary items to be activated.
Fortunately, Marvin had a group of Ancient Dragons at his side.
That group of Dragons wouldn’t be lacking in treasures gathered over the years.
Kangen entered the Altar first.
He was followed by Louise who was covered in thin black clothes all over, to the point where Marvin couldn’t even see her clearly. But he knew she was strong, definitely not weaker than him.
Next was Butterfly. The Wood Elf excitedly sneaked into the altar and disappeared in a flash.
Marvin worriedly took a step forward and was the 4th to go through the Chromatic Altar.
…
The Chromatic Altar used random teleportation. It would teleport anywhere in the underground temple.
The underground temple’s surroundings were enveloped by a mysterious barrier, forcibly entering would only collapse the temple.
According to the map the Metallic Dragons took a hold of, the underground temple had a total of five floors. Each floor had a different layout and the map was badly damaged. Finding the entrance in the lower layers wouldn’t be easy.
The most troublesome part was that in the process they might meet a Chromatic Dragon or a Monster who lived in the underground temple.
Because of the proximity to the Dragon God’s tomb, these Monsters had Divinity!
After finding about this, Marvin was a bit regretful that he released the Hellhound.
If he had brought that guy to the underground temple, the latter would have definitely eaten his fill and his strength would have substantially increased.
Naturally, to Marvin, lifeforms with Divinity had their advantages too.
Although his Fake Divine Vessel couldn’t hold too much Divinity, the Book of Nalu could easily swallow those.
Recently, Marvin and the Book of Nalu reached a new deal.
Marvin would give it a bit of Divinity and the Book of Nalu would leak some secrets Marvin wanted to know in exchange.
Marvin knew that this deal was very dangerous. The Madeline event made Marvin more vigilant toward the [Rebirth] chapter, but due to the Witch’s Tear’s boost in power, Marvin estimated that he could still suppress the Book of Nalu and would occasionally ask a few helpful questions.
…
Darkness was omnipresent.
As Marvin’s legs stepped on a damp stone, he smelled the odor of charcoal.
It smelt like a barbecue ruined by a messy chef.
No light, no flame, only primal darkness and turbid air.
The atmosphere here was simply too frightening.
‘I knew Night Walker was the best choice.’
The darkness wasn’t anything special to Marvin.
‘3/4 of Feinan’s instances are underground cities and in most of those underground cities, Darksight was a hidden advantage.’
Marvin remembered that in the past, a few guilds caused the prices of items with [Low Light Vision] and [Dark Vision] to reach the sky.
And [Darksight] was clearly something even more uncommon.
He moved uninhibited and relied on his sense of smell to quickly locate the place the burnt stench was coming from.
But all he saw was a dry area on the otherwise damp floor.
The area still gave off warmth and there were ashes on top. Looking closely, Marvin managed to find half of a fat worm on the edge of that area.
It had yet to die and was still struggling.
When Marvin softly touched it, it revealed its own weapon, a soft needle.
It could pierce through someone’s skin and absorb someone’s blood.
Marvin applied some force and ended the life of that thing.
He obtained a pitiful amount of experience from that guy.
‘Dragon Breath… Darkness Worm…’
‘Seems like Ell or that Ancient Black Dragon just passed by…’ Marvin made a simple guess.
This place was the nest of Darkness Worms, they were active in the surroundings and viewed this place as their own domain.
Up till an uninvited guest showed up.
And only the Red Dragons and Black Dragons were able to spew flaming Dragon Breath.
If it was the Black Dragon, Marvin wouldn’t be too worried. The Black Dragon was the only one he was certain of restraining among the Chromatic Dragons, otherwise, Black Dragon Izaka wouldn’t have been so obedient.
But if it was the Red Dragon, he would have to be a bit more cautious.
Ell was very frightening, Marvin didn’t want to be on the same floor as him.
But the underground temple’s layout was very strange.
This place was the link between the Nightmare Boundary and the Prime Material Plane, there was some space-time distortion. Even Marvin’s ability to enter the Shadow Plane any time had been restrained.
He also didn’t dare to act recklessly lest he might be sent to some endless corner of the universe due to his carelessness.
The last time, he had been rescued by Ding and Jessica after ending up in the Astral Plane. This time, there wouldn’t be someone to help him in this dark temple.
He stayed calm and slowly searched.
The temple was very vast.
The underground floors’ height reached ten meters and it was very spacious.
But for some reason, most of the floor was damp. Marvin was very curious to know where that moisture came from.
Was there a river passing by the 2nd floor?
He turned a corner and noticed a shadow.
Marvin frowned, that shadow was motionless and was looking at a huge statue with interest.
‘I really don’t know if I’m supposed to consider myself lucky… Or unlucky…’
Marvin muttered and quickly walked over.
With how the teleportation was designed, for him to meet up with Butterfly so soon… Was her Luck Attribute maxed?
The Wood Elf was holding her chin, staring at that huge statue and reading the characters on top of it.
Marvin rudely asked, “First, this is a dark area, Wood Elves don’t have Dark Vision, right?”
“Second, this is Draconic, do you understand Draconic?”
Butterfly was startled and jumped up. She turned and when she saw it was Marvin, she patted her chest and sighed in relief.
“I can’t see, thus I put on glasses.”
She pointed at those lovely glasses on her nose and said, “It can help me see things in the dark, otherwise I wouldn’t dare come to the underground temple.”
Marvin replied, “You shouldn’t have come.”
Butterfly ignored that comment and continued, “As for Draconic… Although I didn’t learn it, I found out today that I seem to be innately able to read it!”
“In any case, I can recognize the characters there.”
Marvin pondered.
He looked at that statue, it was a statue of a Dragon spreading his wings, and that Dragon’s head seemed familiar.
“It says there that this Dragon’s name is [Loyal Tidomas], so, interested in his story?” Butterfly casually asked.
p>”Loyal Tidomas? Are you tricking me?”
Marvin glanced at Butterfly before his eyes focused on the stele below the statue.
But unfortunately, he couldn’t read Draconic.
There were several ways to start learning this language.
First, reaching a high Affinity with a Dragon and have him teach you.
This method was quite difficult. It was very hard to get high Affinity with a Dragon. In his previous life, another player once tried to, and even though he could quickly increase his Affinity with the most kindhearted Dragon by gifting golds and treasures, in the end it only worked for a short time.
This was due to Draconic holding some Dragon Magic secrets, thus, regardless if it was Evil Dragons or Good Dragons, they had this uniform rule to not rashly impart Draconic to the other races.
For those who chose this path, it was bound to be filled with hardships.
The second method was even more exaggerated: Bloodline inheritance.
In general, some advanced lifeforms’ descendants might pass Draconic through bloodline. Unfortunately, few people had this identity. Even Draconic Sorcerers’ bloodline might not be pure enough to inherit Draconic.
The third method was the most feasible, that was to learn it through studying.
Unfortunately, from what Marvin knew, there were only two places in the world with books related to Draconic.
One was the Pearl Tower. Draconic was naturally among what could be learned in the City of Knowledge. The other one was the Wizard Alliance’s Comprehensive Library.
The Comprehensive Library was concealed by the South Wizard Alliance’s higher-ups, its location was endlessly drifting and it was hard to find. Even if Marvin wanted to look for it, without the Alliance’s secret pass and key, he wouldn’t be able to learn much from that place.
In short, it was hard for lifeforms other than Dragons to master Draconic.
Therefore Marvin was very suspicious, how did Butterfly learn Draconic?
It had to be known that Wood Elves’ innate gifts didn’t include [Draconic Mastery].
In fact, Marvin wasn’t sure whether Ivan, as an Elven Royalty, was able to learn Draconic.
…
But facts were in front of him.
Facing Marvin’s doubtful attitude, Butterfly quickly translated what was written on the stele.
Although he still doubted the credibility of her words, after hearing her translation, Marvin sank into contemplation.
He looked at that mighty and fierce statue of Tidomas and frowned.
If Butterfly’s words were right, then this matter was a bit strange.
This stele was crafted by an artisan of the Dragon Race, and based on what was written on it, Tidomas was the closest guard of the Dragon God Hartson. He was born in the Chromatic Dragons’ nest, but wasn’t tolerant towards Chromatic Dragons.
Indeed, he was an abandoned hybrid, the Two Headed Dragon. One of his parents was a Blue Dragon and the other was a barbaric beast from the Wilderness.
In short, the hybrid Tidomas was a pitiful creature abandoned in the dragon’s nest.
Hartson took him in, yet despite this, Tidomas was still rejected and bullied by others.
Around the time he reached adulthood, Tidomas personally ripped off his additional head that distinguished him as a partial wilderness monster and become a Dragon Tomb Guardian.
Although he suffered bullying, and although the work of Dragon Tomb Guardians was loathed by all Dragons, Tidomas was still grateful to Hartson and was loyal till the end.
In the long years of guarding the Dragon Tomb, he stopped Evil Spirits, Devils and other Magic Races’ invasions many times. He always fought at the front by himself, and because of his existence, the Dragon Souls residing in the Dragon Tomb enjoyed their eternal rest for years without being disturbed once.
This particular statue was crafted after a frightening battle when Tidomas once again stopped a plot from the Evil Spirits and received an award.
Dragon God Hartson not only erected his statue inside the temple, he also transferred him at his side to become the closest Dragon God Guardian. It was said that he planned for his body to be guarded by Tidomas after his death.
…
This was the content of the stele’s inscription.
The superfluous words of praise were completely ignored by Marvin.
The rest was the important information.
The stele was clearly not written by the Dragon God, but by a craftsman of the Dragon Race tasked with it at the time.
From the way it was written, it was obvious the craftsman held a lot of respect for Tidomas.
He was the most loyal Guardian of the Dragon Tomb, Dragon God Hartson’s closest Guardian.
Why did he degenerate into the Negative Energy Plane’s 2nd Overlord?
‘Could Tidomas only have had feeling toward the Dragon God, and defected after he fell?’
Marvin inwardly analyzed.
He felt something amiss.
Because this reasoning didn’t make sense.
Becoming corrupt wasn’t enough to become an Evil Spirit Overlord.
According to the rumors, Tidomas relied on the Dragon God’s corpse to obtain the Evil Spirit Sea’s approval, thus becoming powerful and turning into a newly advanced Evil Spirit Overlord.
If Tidomas was truly loyal to the Dragon God, he wouldn’t go so far as to profane his benefactor’s body, right?
Along with the name of the new instance, [Dragon God’s Wrath], Marvin had a feeling that things weren’t as simple as they appeared.
…
“What are you thinking about?” After translating the inscriptions for Marvin, Butterfly seemed to have nothing to do.
“I’m thinking of your true identity.”
Marvin curiously watched Butterfly, “There aren’t many Wood Elves proficient in Draconic.”
From Marvin’s Perception, Butterfly was a common Wood Elf.
The other Legends also seemed to had had that feeling.
Marvin never doubted this before.
But Professor’s attitude today made him start doubting it.
Professor’s wisdom was outstanding. He could see things others couldn’t. He wasn’t the kind of person who didn’t care about others’ lives. On the opposite, he actually cared about lives more than anyone else.
In such a dangerous situation he still allowed Butterfly to enter the temple with them, this in itself raised a lot of questions.
Either Professor believed he would be able to quickly find and protect her, which wouldn’t make sense because it would waste his energy, or Professor believed that in such a frightening underground temple, nothing could harm Butterfly.
The second possibility felt unlikely at first, but after she translated the inscriptions on the stele, Marvin felt it was suddenly more likely.
Thus he wanted to figure it out.
But Butterfly was at a loss, “Me? I’m just Thousand Leaves Forest’s Messenger?”
Her expression was naturally not fake.
‘There it is again.’
‘Flawless expression.’
Marvin had a headache.
He changed his method of inquiring, “For how many years have you been Thousand Leaves Forest’s Messenger?”
Butterfly opened her eyes wide.
It seemed like the question baffled her.
She began to think hard.
Marvin shook his head and left Tidomas’ statue, dragging Butterfly to walk toward the darkness.
He couldn’t waste too much time on a random statue.
There weren’t other monsters apart from the Darkness Worms in this floor.
It seemed that this place was their domain.
The current Marvin was well equipped, he had all kinds of tools in hands.
To deal with a Darkness Worm, a Molotov cocktail and a staff equipped with a Sun spell would be enough to crush it.
It’s just that the gains from Darkness Worm were too pitiful.
After dealing with three Darkness Worms’ Nests, Marvin only obtained 1 point of Divinity.
He turned to Butterfly.
The latter was still immersed in her thoughts ever since he asked that question.
If not for Marvin pulling her, she might still be rooted in front of the statue.
Thus, he cautiously took out the Book of Nalu and let it absorb that Divinity.
The Book of Nalu seemed especially satisfied after obtaining that Divinity.
Marvin quickly used his finger to write on it:
–1 Divinity for 1 question?–
–Ask…. As long as I know the answer.– These characters quickly appeared on top of the page.
–The Path to the Nightmare Boundary.– Marvin quickly wrote.
The reason he so readily participated in this operation was due to the Book of Nalu. Thanks to it, he might even be able to obtain the Crystal Statue or the Rainbow Spring.
Although the Rainbow Spring would only work for Chromatic Dragons, as long as it was in his hands, Marvin might be able to give it another purpose. As for the Crystal Statue, Marvin wasn’t sure whether a human could become the statue’s owner.
If that was the case… The scene would be magnificent!
Marvin in control of twelve Shadow Dragons was already an awe-inspiring scene.
Just imagine if Marvin could order forty to fifty Chromatic Dragons with a wave of his hand…
Wouldn’t he be able to crush a Demon Lord’s territory or some layer of the Nine Hells?
…
But the answer of the Book of Nalu made him helpless:
–1 Divinity, 1 question. If you ask me the path to the next level, I’ll truthfully answer.–
–But trying to trick me into getting the path to the Nightmare Boundary… Do you think I’m dumb?–
Marvin rolled his eyes.
The Book of Nalu was actually negotiating.
This book definitely had a soul. Even if he was the master of that page, his position might be overturned anytime. He felt a headache just thinking about it.
He definitely wouldn’t give too much Divinity to the Book of Nalu, that would be walking to his own doom.
Since that was the case, the question had to be asked at the crucial time.
He quickly put away the Book of Nalu.
He would have to rely on himself to find the entrance to the 2nd floor.
At that time, an explosion suddenly echoed in the darkness!
Because the underground temple was very spacious and empty, the sound could echo from pretty far.
Marvin’s heart tightened.
‘Could it be that a Chromatic Dragon found one of his teammates?’
“Let’s go! We have to check!”
Marvin urgently said in a low voice. But he didn’t hear any footsteps behind him.
He turned around and froze on the spot!
There was no one in sight!
Butterfly had silently disappeared.
Marvin began to feel the coldness of the underground temple.
The explosions in the distance grew even louder.
Marvin took a deep breath and sat down on the damp floor.
He used the lotus position that the Monks commonly sat in and started using [Earth Perception]!
p>Due to the effect of the Slow Halo, Marvin’s Perception was decreased quite a bit.
But that didn’t necessarily mean that he had no way to feel this space.
Earth Perception, imparted to him by Blade Master Kangen would be the most effective method at this time.
This skill was based on the user’s mind’s understanding and connexion to the world, not on cold hard data.
Marvin’s understanding was pretty good, he had received this ability after mastering Desperation.
Under the effect of Earth Perception, he began to comprehend this space’s peculiarities.
The entire underground temple seemed to be composed of a paste-like substance, thus it felt especially damp.
Some data appeared on his interface as a result of his Perception.
And Marvin’s mind reacted to the corresponding data.
He entered a fantastic realm, it was the first time he didn’t need to be looking at his interface but could directly feel the data received.
The underground temple’s bricks were brownish white.
The texture wasn’t clear.
But in a place not far, there was a floor tile that turned black.
It seemed to have been burnt.
And Marvin knew that this wasn’t caused by a Dragon Breath or a Dragon’s spell.
That floor tile wasn’t black before.
Because he clearly remembered that a moment ago, Butterfly was standing on that same floor tile.
He began thinking hard to remember that floor tile’s original color before his mind jumped up again!
‘Reddish brown!’
‘Yes, it was reddish brown!’
Marvin didn’t really care about the color of the temple, but under the effect of Earth Perception, he could feel a few clues.
Clearly, Butterfly didn’t disappear without a reason.
She had previously been standing on that floor tile.
And now, that floor tile turned black.
The rest of the floor hadn’t changed and was completely white.
The exploding sounds were still echoing in the distance.
‘Could it be that the red floor tile was the passage to the 2nd floor?’ This thought flashed in Marvin’s mind.
This was a very likely idea.
Although Butterfly was unreliable, she still wouldn’t decamp without leaving a word or clue.
She most likely triggered a mechanism unintentionally and left involuntarily.
And this was the Dragon God’s temple, if there was such mechanism, it was most likely leading to the next floor.
Marvin recovered from his immersion in Earth Perception and experimented with the black floor tile for a bit, with no results.
After some time, the black floor tile turned white and blended with the other bricks, visually no different from them.
‘Was it a one time use kind of thing?’ Marvin looked at it pensively.
But in any case, this path was clearly blocked.
He hesitated for a bit before quickly rushing toward the explosions!
He already knew that something happened, he might have a better chance by going over to try his luck.
…
Marvin’s footsteps were completely silent in the dark temple.
He carefully observed the floor on his way.
But although this long corridor was filled with floor tiles, they were all completely white.
He didn’t glance upon a single reddish brown floor tile.
This annoyed Marvin a bit.
After passing through this dull corridor, a light blue glow shined ahead of him.
There was a ruthlessly dazzling light, and the exploding sounds came from there.
In fact, rather than an explosion, it would be more accurate to say that it was some repressed Dragon’s roars.
Marvin’s footsteps stopped outside the blue light, looking at its center with apparent pity.
Seemingly sensing someone approaching, that light shrinked, before angrily moving forward, showing the appearance it had held before its death.
But Dragon Souls were mostly incorporeal, the form it appeared at was also very vague.
Marvin clearly understood that this was a Dragon Soul, but anything further, he didn’t know.
This pitiful Dragon Soul wouldn’t be able to injure Marvin.
It was trapped.
Marvin cautiously sized up the Dragon Soul’s state. Despite the outward violence, it was severely weakened.
In the middle of the blue light, a total of six huge Dragon teeth seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and nailed the Dragon Soul to the ground.
These Dragon teeth were light yellow, marked with runes carrying a great amount of Divine Power.
They were absorbing the Dragon Soul’s power.
It was a fierce power.
Marvin frowned.
Who could be so evil that they wouldn’t even let a Dragon Soul go?
These Dragon Teeth were extremely frightening things, refined by Alchemy along with Divine Power. Even if they seemed rough, they were actually very sharp and were filled with small barbed tips.
An instant of carelessness, and one’s strength might be absorbed in an instant.
From what Marvin sensed, these Dragon Teeth seemed like corrupt Monsters longing for life.
But they were apparently lenient toward that Dragon Soul, otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to keep up for this long.
‘It’s a pity, if only there was a Master Alchemist.’
‘A knowledgeable Legend Wizard would have been good too. Who knows how useful a Dragon Soul like this could be?’
Marvin looked at the weak and angry Dragon Soul and inwardly shook his head.
He had no way to subdue that thing, this wasn’t within his specialties.
However, when he wanted to walk away, he noticed a darker spot within the blue light!
Because of the blue light, the surroundings were blue, apart from that floor tile.
‘Reddish Brown floor tile!’
Marvin was overjoyed.
But there was a problem.
That floor tile was at the center of the blue light, in the center of the Dragon Teeth encirclement.
If he wanted to step on that floor tile and activate the mechanism, he would have to get within the Dragon Soul’s boundaries.
That truly wasn’t something easy.
Although the Dragon Soul was injured and couldn’t harm Marvin, as a particular type of force field, it might not necessarily let Marvin get in.
He tried to walk a step nearer to the blue light, but how could he have imagined that a Dragon Head would form and try to bite him right away!
Marvin dodged with Shadow Step and the Dragon Head only pounced at empty air.
But that floor tile was still far from Marvin.
This was quite troublesome.
The blue Dragon Soul bellowed, seemingly saying something.
Marvin’s heart moved, he knew that there were many Dragons who kept the wisdom they had during their life. For this guy to be able to live till now, he might be able to communicate.
The problem was that he didn’t speak Draconic.
Thus he could only probe, “Hey, do you speak Common? If you do, we might be able to have a discussion.”
Then, the Dragon Soul turned silent.
The blue light pulled back before a small Dragon Head appeared.
He said in a deep voice, “Release… Release me…”
Marvin clapped his hands, there was a good show!
…
Braziers, mural, and a faint burnt smell.
Butterfly was standing in front of a mural in a daze. There was a faint layer of mist in front of the mural, so she couldn’t see clearly.
A wise older man stood by her side, the two were standing shoulder to shoulder and the man let out a long sigh.
“This is the 2nd floor of the underground temple.”
“There is some stuff written on the mural… If you are curious you might as well take a look. But you might regret it afterwards.”
“In fact, ever since you had been attracted to the Lumber Woods by that Green Dragon, some things were already bound to happen.”
Butterfly looked at Professor in a daze, “Such as?”
“You are bound to regret.” Professor answered naturally.
Butterfly frowned, “Why?”
“Because you’ll definitely end up looking at that mural.” Professor said confidently, “You are that kind of person.”
Soon after, he turned toward the darkness.
Next second, the mist surrounding the mural disappeared and the images became clear.
“Hmpf! You say that as if you know me.”
Butterfly rolled her eyes, not caring about the difference in strength between them.
It’s just that… She was hesitating due to Professor’s words.
Her curiosity prompted her to look, but Professor wouldn’t say such words without a good reason.
Moreover, there seemed to be a voice in her heart shouting, ‘Don’t look, don’t look.’
It was only a mural, what could possibly happen?
Butterfly mumbled before taking out a white flower. She started tearing the petals off one by one, “Look, don’t look, look…”
…
Underground temple, 1st floor.
The communication between Marvin and the Dragon Head was very strenuous.
Although that guy kept his wisdom, his intelligence was clearly on the verge of death.
He could speak Common, but not very fluently and it was somewhat strange.
He kept asking Marvin to release him.
And the most annoying part was that he hadn’t told Marvin how to take care of those Dragon Teeth.
With just Marvin, it would be impossible to get rid of the Dragon Teeth.
This didn’t mean that Marvin couldn’t do anything to those Dragon Teeth.
In fact, as long as he used Weeping Sky, these Dragon Teeth would turn to dust in an instant.
The problem was that the Dragon Soul would also be destroyed in the process.
Marvin felt that the Dragon Teeth were somehow linked to something in the underground temple. If he forcibly destroyed them, it might create a disaster.
Thus he still tried his best to communicate with the Dragon Soul.
After chatting for a bit, although it still wasn’t completely foolproof, Marvin more or less figured what the Dragon Soul meant.
There was something on the 2nd floor of the underground temple that could settle these Dragon Teeth.
The Dragon Soul hoped Marvin could help release him and was willing to give him some benefits.
Hearing about the benefits, Marvin was suddenly exhilarated.
After a brief hesitation, since both sides had an issue with proper communication, he took out the Book of Nalu.
–Serve as a temporary translator–
–Can you understand Draconic?–
Marvin inquired.
Quickly, the Book of Nalu answered:
–One Divinity, translator for an hour–
