Chapter 334: Devil Tongue
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The Pale Hand's appearance startled everyone!
Marvin noticed that a few leaders of the Wolf Spider mercenaries had unpleasant expressions.
It seemed they weren't happy about a Legend joining.
'Worried about dividing Saruha's treasures? Why should they be? Since the Wolf Spider mercenaries dared to hire outsiders, they should be satisfied with someone so powerful joining.'
Marvin was a bit curious.
That Pale Hand looked like an ordinary person, but Marvin could feel that his body contained terrifying burst power.
That guy had definitely also reached the Godly Dexterity realm, and surely had first class slaughtering abilities.
After all, Pale Hand was an authentic Legend class, far superior to the basic Legend Thief or Legend Assassin classes.
Back when the South Wizard Alliance withstood the Ancient Red Dragon Ell's attack, they had dispatched Shadow Thief Owl and another Legend Assassin to deal with him. That man was a Pale Hand!
That Pale Hand wasn't the same person as the one here. In fact, because of the existence of the [Pale War Banner], Pale Hand was the advanced Legend class the most frequently seen in Feinan.
The Pale War Banner organization had a complete method to advance to Pale Hand. There were various qualifications needed to join them, but as long you voluntarily joined the Pale War Banner and obeyed the organization's rules, you could get the Pale Hand Advancement Manual.
Compared to the overall more powerful and well-rounded Ruler of the Night class, Pale Hands could be considered specialized killers.
They used more aggressive long daggers and were more adept with various killing techniques.
In short, this was a group of peak Assassins not to be trifled with.
...
The appearance of a Legend class naturally added a few variables to this adventure.
But the Wolf Spider Leader still remained calm and just introduced this Legend to everyone.
His name was simple, Sky. But just like Marvin's [Kerry], who knew if it was real or fake.
After the Pale Hand joined the troops, he didn't say much, merely waiting calmly for the arrangements.
But Marvin felt something odd about him.
This guy's expression was a bit strange.
Even if he had no evil intent toward Marvin, it would be better to be careful.
"Good, since everyone is here, we can go," said the head of the Wolf Spider mercenaries.
The group finally went on their way. They rode on young horses and left Ruins City, going eastwards to arrive at an uneven mountainous forest.
At the corner of the road turning to the south, the people dismounted their horses and followed the scout on foot.
The hills there were mostly rather desolate and they often met monsters.
But with such a large party of adventurers, how could they be surprised by any attacks?
The party travelled easily through the hills, meandering until they finally reached a small mountain stream as the moon reached the highest point in the sky.
"Saruha's entrance, here it is."
"If not for a random accident, we wouldn't have found it. We can control the opening and closing of Saruha's door. After our Wizard opens it, the Wolf Spider's people will go in, and everyone else would follow, is that fine with you all?" the Wolf Spider leader asked loudly.
No one objected.
...
Under the moonlight, the vice-leader Lilia took out a simple scroll and stood in front of the mountain stream as she started chanting in a low voice.
The mountain stream was flowing against an immovable rock with moss spreading on both sides. The Wizard continued to chant softly.
After a short period of time, the scroll in her hand suddenly cast a light.
The mountain stream stopped flowing, as if time was frozen.
"Quick! We only have three minutes! Everyone going in needs to be careful of the enemies," Lilia urged.
They rushed quickly toward the door, as if not wanting to be last.
Marvin was neither slow nor swift, and settled at the end of the group.
At that time, a familiar voice could be heard beside his ear. "Long time no see, Mister Marvin."
"Pardon me, I am Kerry," Marvin answered to the cloaked figure.
Gwyn coldly snorted back, "Regardless of how you disguise yourself, I'll always be able to see through it."
"How is that? And don't you have any issues walking out in the open as a member of the Bright Side on the western seashore?" Marvin asked sarcastically. "This is the Dark Side's headquarters. Oh right, how is your younger cousin?"
Gwyn remained silent.
Although Marvin had handed Karnoth to him that time, Karnoth had already turned and gotten [Bloodthirst]. With no other recourse, Gwyn could only put him in custody at the Bright Side's headquarters to be punished by the Elders.
There was no need to talk about the result. Whether it was the Bright Side or the Dark Side, the fate of traitors was very bitter.
...
"You need to be careful," Marvin suddenly cautioned.
Gwyn was slightly distracted.
"You are looking for the holder of the Holy Blood?" Marvin whispered, taking advantage of the noise made by everyone as they rushed in. "Great Duke William truly has faith in you, to actually send you alone to the western seashore."
"I'm not alone…" Gwyn didn't finish his words as he suddenly realized that he had been tricked by Marvin.
But Marvin's words had been enough to shock him.
"How do you know so much?" asked Gwyn in surprise.
Marvin laughed mischievously. He was just guessing, yet it managed to draw out such a response from Gwyn.
As expected, this guy had come for the Holy Blood.
The struggle between the Bright side and Dark Side was really desperate.
However, after Marvin the info out of him, he ignored Gwyn and rushed toward the door.
Gwyn frowned and followed closely behind.
Everyone went through the door one after the other. The Wizard looked at the remaining two people apprehensively.
Pale Hand Sky and the Wolf Spider's leader.
"Mister Sky, I hope you can do as you promised, to not negatively affect our exploration."
"After all, we have always respected the Pale War Banner. And we never lowered the amount paid every year," the Wolf Spider leader reminded cautiously.
He knew that this Pale Hand was quite frightening. Him coming this time was an unwanted disaster!
The originally perfect exploration now had an unwanted variable, so how could he not be anxious?
The Pale Hand sneered, "You are worried about me taking your spoils? This is funny. I only came to kill. I have no interest in that Saruha thing."
"Don't hinder me and I might even give you a hand."
After saying this, he snorted and rushed in.
The Wolf Spider leader and the Wizard glanced at each other. The latter gently consoled, "It's alright. Even if he is overbearing, his words are still reasonable."
Rem was silent for a second. "If only… Well, let's go."
The two put away the scroll and went in together.
A few minutes later, a crimson-colored bat suddenly dove down!
She approached the mountain stream and flew around it a few times before landing on a stone, slowly transforming into a completely naked woman.
She casually waved a hand and a faintly crimson negligee appeared on her body.
It couldn't block people's gazes, but she didn't care.
'I arrived late. Eh? How come there is the aura of our people?'
'Forget it, I'll wait here. I don't believe they'll stay too long in that vestige.'
'I hope you don't die in there.'
Stephanie yawned. 'That would be too boring.'
...
Darkness covered the vestige.
The Wolf Spider mercenaries had explored this area before and thus had some understanding of the place.
They couldn't start a fire!
They also couldn't use any lighting equipment.
This was what the Wolf Spider mercenaries requested of the hired experts.
They could only touch the walls with their hands to move forward.
Because if a light appeared in this place, it would trigger a small rockfall.
There was definitely a light-sensitive mechanism. Unfortunately it was too complex, and even the strongest Thief of the Wolf Spider mercenaries couldn't remove it. As for Pale Hand Sky, although he was a Legend, he was specialized in slaughter, not in removing traps and mechanisms.
If it was a genuine [Trap Master], there might have been hope of settling this problem.
"Be as silent as possible. Those with Darkvision have priority. It's better to get past this part quickly." Rem's voice echoed in the darkness.
Because of the previous explanations, everyone remained calm and moved forward in succession while touching the wall.
But this was completely unneeded for Marvin, whose Darksight let him see clearly.
It wasn't a long tunnel, and a large curve appeared at the end. There, he saw a shadow.
Recalling the path in his memories, Marvin came to a conclusion. 'Turns out the Wolf Spider mercenary group found the back door!'
'I knew this path didn't feel too familiar…'
'Oh shit, if this is the back door, then the first monsters would be those things!'
Marvin's expression sank. If the Wolf Spiders didn't make proper preparations and directly came across these monsters, they might suffer!
But Marvin continued hiding his own strength. The Pale Hand in the group made him very worried. Even though he could see clearly, he still pretended.
Because he could feel that a pair of eyes was watching him and Gwyn.
The other side might have Darkvision or Infrared Vision.
He had to be low-key and make himself look weak.
...
The group moved forward and soon arrived at that curve. The scout in front found the mark he left previously and quietly told Rem, "It's about here. After this part we can light our torches."
Rem nodded and urged everyone forward.
Soon, everyone had crossed that trapped area.
Light began to illuminate the dark tunnel, coming from all kinds of lighting equipments.
In the western seashore, the trade and smuggle of Alchemy items was quite popular. Wizards' crafts could be freely auctioned here and thus a lot of useful items would end up in the hands of wealthy adventurers.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is more or less where we stopped exploring."
Rem held a two-handed greatsword, seriousness showing on his face. "We might meet a lot of monsters from now on, so be alert!"
They all nodded and drew their weapons.
The Wolf Spider mercenaries spontaneously stepped into a formation, while the hired outsiders were more adept at fighting alone so they moved to the surroundings of the formation.
They walked slightly ahead. After all, adventurers were greedy.
But Marvin and Gwyn were hanging at the rear of the formation.
"Why are you standing back here?" Marvin asked.
The latter's answer made Marvin speechless. "Because you are in the rear. My luck shouldn't be too bad if I follow you."
As the two were talking, the person at the forefront already turned the corner.
Marvin squinted.
In that instant, a strange "Zzzz" sound burst out of the tunnel. A few tentacles dripping light yellow liquid rushed out from the dark stone walls and coiled against a few scouts at the front!
As everyone recoiled in shock, the walls on both sides slowly split open and turned into bloody maws!
"Heavens!"
"What is this thing!"
"Save me, quick!"
Shouts rang out in an instant.
"Cut off those tentacles!" Rem loudly ordered.
He moved quickly and took the lead to chop off a thick tentacle to save a scout.
But the others weren't that lucky. They were dragged one by one to the bloody maws and were chewed on in front of everyone!
Blood splattered and pieces of bones were spit out!
Even Marvin couldn't help but feel numb when looking at this scene!
He had only heard that Saruha's back door had a group of Tentacle Horrors hiding and waiting for prey, but he had never seen them with his own eyes!
"This is an Evil Spirit!" the Wizard Lilia cried out in alarm, "How could there be Evil Spirits in Saruha?"
In the confusion, everyone kept retreating backward. At that time, a loud "Stop!" startled everyone.
Marvin, who was standing at the end, had suddenly shouted.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Hiding behind all of us and yelling at us to stop, are you trying to show off?"
The others were quite dissatisfied with Marvin.
Marvin pointed at the yellow line on the ground and mocked sarcastically, "Then let's retreat into a rockfall."
They all paled!
They were carrying light sources!
Just as Marvin said, if they moved past the line, it would trigger the trap in the tunnel. What they would face at that time would be a lot worse than the Tentacle Horrors. A large scale rockfall was enough to bury them all!
For a moment, their gazes toward Marvin became quite complex.
Did this guy recover his wits at this moment, or had he kept his calm all along?
During such a chaotic and panic-filled situation, he was still able to pay attention to this detail.
As they had retreated, the Tentacle Horrors didn't let them off.
Those tentacles with light yellow liquid crackled through the walls as they rushed over.
"What should we do!"
"Leader?"
They shouted in alarm. They didn't think that the Tentacle Horrors would able to move this far.
"You can't use large scale spells here, the tunnel is too weak! The gathering and release of spell energy might lead to a collapse!"
Lilia's expression was quite unsightly.
Rem stood at the front. He bit his lip as he watched the approaching Tentacle Horrors. "Kill them!"
But a lazy voice resounded at that time. "Forget it. Since I asked for a favor, I might as well help this time."
The Pale Hand.
He had been watching indolently from within the group, not wanting to help at all.
But what disappointed him was that they hadn't even reached a room yet and the Wolf Spider mercenaries were already pushed into a corner!
But then again, Tentacle Horrors were one of the Evil Spirits that were troublesome to handle, perhaps second only to Brain Eating Monsters!
Sky's figure suddenly disappeared!
"Die!"
A simple word.
A shadow flew past the light and began to slash left and right in the tunnel.
Most people couldn't even see his hands move.
Marvin could actually barely keep up with the other side's attack speed. His killing efficiency almost made Marvin blush with shame!
He figured he could deal with the Tentacle Horrors quite easily. After all, he had his exceptional daggers and #4 Holy Water.
But it wouldn't have been as smooth as it was for Sky.
He was simply moving back and forth, constantly skipping through the Shadow Plane, passing through a Tentacle Horror each time he made a move!
The daggers in his hands were slightly longer, but very light. Each time the shadow flashed past, a Tentacle Horror would fall to the ground.
"Woosh!"
In a mere ten seconds, more than twenty Tentacle Horrors hiding on the walls were cleanly cut down!
This was the strength of a Legend.
Marvin took a deep breath. He could also do it, but he wouldn't have finished as quickly.
Even though they both had Godly Dexterity, the Pale Hand had other specialties and skills to increase his speed. Marvin estimated that he would only last ten moves against him!
Even if he transformed into the Fierce Asuran Bear, Sky would easily behead him!
Pale Hands were the strongest Assassins. Even an Ancient Dragon's defense could be easily torn through, let alone a lifeform like an Asuran Bear.
'I'm not match against him, but what about fleeing?'
Marvin made calculations.
He was quite pleased with the results. His Night Walker skills should still allow him to escape.
Pale Hands pursued peak killing abilities but gave up on a lot of tracking methods and utility. He wouldn't be a match for him in a fight, but escaping should be fine.
Thinking of this, he felt a bit more at ease.
...
"Let's go."
Along the tunnel, tentacles were continuously squirming on the ground.
Sky didn't pay attention to them, and even stepped on a throbbing tentacle and crushed it, as he impatiently said, "Rem, surely this should count as repaying the favor?"
Rem quickly nodded.
But a shadow appeared in his heart.
He hadn't expected Saruha to be this frightening. The Wolf Spider group had just entered and already met this kind of challenge!
What would they encounter if they kept exploring?
This Pale Hand wouldn't help all the way.
He got a headache thinking of this but immediately waved his hand. "Let's go!"
...
The remaining scouts looked at each other, but didn't dare walk forward.
It was the same for the hired adventurers.
The recent attack of the Tentacle Horrors had startled them and three people were swallowed whole by the monsters. They didn't want to end up the same.
Rem slightly frowned. No one dared to walk forward!
He fiercely said, "Who can find a path?"
"Scouts will have the highest priority over choosing loot. At the same time, if you find something, it'll be yours!"
With such a heavy reward, a few Thieves among the Wolf Spider mercenaries became restless.
But with their companions' flesh beside them, they were still hesitating.
Rem almost wanted to curse them.
The Wolf Spider mercenaries were considered the most famous in Ruins City. They took countless risks, but had never met this kind of situation!
Losing people when they just entered had cast a shadow on their hearts!
After all, these Tentacle Horrors were very unfamiliar lifeforms to them!
It was pretty normal that no one dared to scout in this situation.
But finally, a soft voice could be heard from the back of the group. "I'll do it."
Marvin pushed through and arrived at the front.
He looked straight at Rem. "The stuff I find will belong to me?"
Rem saw a ray of hope. How could he not agree? He immediately nodded.
Marvin inwardly sneered. After the Tentacle Horrors would be a small scale treasury.
His luck was pretty good this time.
Suddenly, another voice spoke out. "I'll go together with Mister Kerry."
The cloaked Gwyn also followed closely.
Marvin had a wry expression.
This guy was very crafty! But it was just as well.
"Being alone isn't safe. With two people, we can look after each other," Gwyn suggested. "To avoid another disaster, we will keep a certain distance from the main group."
Rem almost applauded Gwyn!
Where could he find such an agreeable kind of scout?
He immediately promised, "When we return, both of your rewards will be doubled!"
Marvin didn't respond and walked past the area where the Tentacle Horrors had appeared to plunge toward the depths of the tunnel.
The Vampire Gwyn was following along, sticking close to him.
And from within the big group, Sky was watching Gwyn's back attentively. After a while, he grinned.
___________
A/N (Translator summary): Today's chapter is big, 6000 characters. Coconut also said it is inferior to the previous 'outburst' and it's mostly due to Coconut being ill, so it has been very hard for him. However this note was also to say that the book reached one million characters and had reached a third of the story.
"See you at two million characters".
T/N: I rarely do put a word about the Author's notes in here because they're mostly related to the daily release or related to the chinese site of the website or the chinese side in general, and those are unrelated to us international readers. But here is the short summary of the note following this double chapter.
The author has mentioned being sick a few chapters ago which was why there were a few shorter chapters recently.
Also, my birthday is the 30th, so better give me a rain of power stones on that day!