Night Ranger

Chapter 533: Ethereal Jar

The situation was developing so quickly that Marvin could only follow Hathaway’s arrangements for now.

He was quite worried about Isabelle’s safety, and even if he guessed from Bandel’s tone that there would temporarily be no threat to her life, how could Marvin feel reassured when such a gifted girl landed in the hands of a lunatic?

And he still had Molly, too.

Griffin had already died, but that girl had left a deep impression on Marvin. He swore to himself that if he was able to, he would put an end to all this.

The first step was to kill this Wilderness God’s avatar!

From Hathaway’s words, the Wilderness God’s slumber was a type of fake death. A very powerful God had put him into a near-death state, to the point that he could only retain the Source of Fire in his avatar, slowly absorbing power through it.

For the past years, that flame had always been hibernating in the middle of the Life-Severing Ivies and was the source of their ability to absorb power.

Now that the flame had gone into the Lich’s lamp and been taken away, the Wilderness God’s powerful Divine Laws lost their effect over this space.

Otherwise, the Legend Laws wouldn’t have recovered.

After losing the blessings of the Divine Laws, the ivy that had seemed so scary before was now just a bunch of plant monsters with a bit of Divinity.

Although it was the avatar of the Wilderness God, it wasn’t unbeatable!

…

Marvin quickly opened the lid of the jar in his hand, as Hathaway had instructed.

Without any other action on his part, a sharp wave of sound burst out from the jar.

It heated up, and if not for the gloves he was wearing, Marvin would have been unable to keep holding it!

“No… This is the Ethereal Jar…”

“You are a Witch!” the Wilderness God’s avatar bellowed.

All the cyan ivy gathered back around the flaming flower, apparently wanting to protect it.

But it was already too late.

Marvin had been hiding in the Shadow Plane for so long waiting for the right moment. With Hathaway as a distraction, he would definitely achieve his goal.

He rushed back and forth among the ivy, using the distortion ability of his Night Boundary.

He arrived in front of the flaming petals in a blink.

The previously ruthless flower became extremely dispirited when facing Marvin and the Ethereal Jar.

Marvin’s hand deftly bypassed the ivy and snatched a petal from the flower. He stuffed it into the Ethereal Jar.

“Wuwuwu…”

The Ethereal Jar let out a low sound. Under the oppressive sound, the blazing petals weakened.

“I won’t allow you!”

The Wilderness God’s avatar struggled in vain.

It gave up on everything else and pulled all the cyan ivy back, ruthlessly pouncing on Marvin!

“Careful!” Hathaway shouted.

She didn’t expect that despite being suppressed by her Witchcraft, the ivy could still rush back so quickly.

In a few seconds, Marvin would be surrounded by the Life-Severing Ivies!

The others actually took advantage of the reprieve to adjust themselves and escape.

The temple started shaking like it was about to collapse!

“This place is very dangerous, we have to find a way to leave!” one of the powerhouses among them yelled loudly. “Minsk, do you have a way?”

They seemed to be old acquaintances.

Minsk pointed at the ivy and coldly said, “If it doesn’t die, we won’t be able to leave.”

They all became silent.

They had a deep impression of the tenacity of these Life-Severing Ivies. Completely killing them… wasn’t that easier said than done? There seemed to be an endless amount of them. They would never finish cutting them all down!

“That kid is in danger,” someone said worriedly. The others also had similar expressions.

But no one went to help. With such a large, writhing mass of Life-Severing Ivies, who would rashly approach?

The chant coming from Hathaway’s mouth became sharper.

The powerful Witchcraft power formed into a wave, permeating through the whole area and redoubling their suppression on the ivy.

Marvin took a quick glance back and knew that the matter couldn’t be delayed, so he pushed his speed to the limits!

His silhouette was like lightning, frantically flickering among the cyan ivy, plucking the flaming petals one after the other and squeezing them into the Ethereal Jar.

As Marvin plucked the final petal, all the ivy shuddered, and the ceiling started crumbling, sending a large amount of stone falling down!

An angry roar echoed through the space and completely pushed back the influence of Hathaway’s Witchcraft chant!

“Leave quick!”

Hathaway’s voice echoed in Marvin’s mind.

Marvin smiled. His hand shook and a shadow passed through all the ivy, flying toward Hathaway’s hand.

The Ethereal Jar!

The Anzed Witches’ Artifact, and also one of the symbols of the Witch Queen.

Hathaway froze. Marvin’s action was beyond her expectations as it was completely different from what she had previously arranged.

Her plan was to leave after getting her hands on the flaming petals.

Unlike the others, Hathaway had the ability to come and go as she pleased due to her power as the Witch Queen.

But she didn’t expect that Marvin wouldn’t escape after accomplishing her mission.

His silhouette sank into the layers of cyan ivy.

In the depths of the hall, the roar kept echoing, louder and louder. The pillars were shaking, slowly falling apart.

Everyone kept running away, but they discovered with shock that the boundary was continuously shrinking.

With all the ivy at the center, the temple’s space kept shrinking, collapsing!

“Guys look!” A voice burst from one of the survivors. “There is a door here.”

The others looked over, and sure enough, there was a faintly flickering door in the darkness. Everyone charged over, grasping onto their last hope.

Only a few people managed to stay calm, including Minsk.

He looked at Hathaway and asked, “You are able to kill it, so why aren’t you doing so?”

Hathaway coldly replied, “What do those people have to do with me? I only came to reclaim my power.”

As she said this, a red glow came out from the Ethereal Jar.

The lid of the Ethereal Jar opened on its own, a complete petal slowly floating out.

Hathaway gently opened her hand and the red petal fell into her palm.

Just before it landed, a five-colored flower blossomed from her palm, and the red petal fell onto it, perfectly cleaving to it.

She nimbly waved her wrist and the six-colored flower disappeared without a trace.

Meanwhile, most of the Legends were rushing toward the door.

But what they met was only a bloody sky!

“These fools actually went into its stomach.”

Hathaway looked disdainfully at those people, before looking back at the place where Marvin had disappeared in that mass of ivy.

She hesitated briefly, but then opened her hand, making a gesture to cast a Witchcraft.

But suddenly, a loud cry came out from the pile of cyan ivy!

Golden light burst all round as a majestic Griffin frantically flapped his wings, fighting his way out of the writhing thicket!

Using two claws, he was holding a green object that looked similar to a heart!

Chapter 534: Collapse

“You are more reckless than I thought!”

Hathaway’s nervous expression eased immediately as she looked at the golden form of the Griffin. She paused for a bit before adding, “But you are also braver than I thought.”

“Woosh!”

Marvin dismissed the effects of his Royal Griffin Shapechange and regained his Human shape.

He was still holding that green heart in his hand.

At that time, the entire space was trembling crazily.

Those who had rushed through the door were all torn to pieces, and the temple itself also started collapsing.

The roars in the dark hall became louder and louder.

But it seemed to Marvin that the roars, which had started with anger and hunger, had gradually become filled with fright!

“I grabbed his heart,” Marvin softly said. “Didn’t you say that unless we killed him, no one could leave?”

Hathaway nodded, before grimly pointing out, “But that was for ordinary people, I have ways for you and me.”

Marvin shrugged.

Although he had guessed that, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to kill the Wilderness God’s avatar.

From Hathaway’s previous explanation, Marvin was pretty sure that the Wilderness God’s avatar had been at his weakest just now.

He was already used to having the [Source of Fire] and bound the Legend powerhouses using that power.

After losing it, he was still the Wilderness God’s avatar, but the meaning had changed.

He had already lost his Divine Law and was just a powerful Legend level monster.

This meant that he could be killed.

When Marvin was caught in that predicament, he perceived the heart’s rhythmical beating. It was exactly as Hathaway told him before.

As long as he could grab it, the Wilderness God’s attack wouldn’t mean much.

Thus, he decided to make his move.

An ordinary body naturally couldn’t withstand the siege of so many Life-Severing Ivies.

But the Royal Griffin’s body was different.

“Woosh!”

A few rays of light flashed and the green heart was shredded into pieces!

A mass of green liquid bubbled up crazily as an anguished howl echoed from the darkness.

The edge of the space began to brighten while the temple continued collapsing, and after the ceiling fell apart, it revealed a crimson sky!

The trapped Legends were all shocked as they saw the changes in the surroundings.

Finally, their sight gathered on what was left of the heart in Marvin’s hand.

Gasps echoed one after the other.

After the last pillar collapsed, the shrine was completely destroyed.

Naturally, this wouldn’t cause much threat to those Legends.

If the Wilderness God’s avatar died, this space would merge with the Crimson Wilderness, with the eastern part of Holy Light City.

They were now standing in the midst of the ruins. The distant snowy mountains in the north and south could be seen on both sides.

For a long time, cheers rang across the ruins!

“You saved everyone,” a clear voice echoed behind Marvin. “You are a hero.”

Marvin’s heart moved, and he immediately turned around.

Surprisingly, behind him was Half-God Minsk, who he had spent all this time looking for!

…

The matter of the Wilderness Hall had not yet concluded, but for the Legends who had been captured there, the nightmare was over for now.

There were no more than thirty survivors.

This included the powerhouses who had been trapped over the years, such as Minsk.

He explained that he had been attracted by a Nature aura and mistakenly entered the Wilderness Hall.

He didn’t know there would be such danger before entering it.

This was all a huge conspiracy, with Lich Bandel as the one behind the scheme. He had been controlling the Wilderness Hall for so many years as he carefully chose strong Legend powerhouses as offerings.

Everything he had done before was to pave the way for today’s event.

Fortunately, Minsk was quite sharp. After discovering that something wrong, he hid his own identity.

He even temporarily relinquished his Nature Power, giving up his connection with the Green Sea Paradise in order to trick Bandel and appear to be an ordinary Legend. He remained trapped on the ceiling, enduring the vitality absorption of the cyan ivy for all this time.

Fortunately, although he was only a Half-God, he was also the child of an Ancient God. This resulted in him having a huge amount of lifeforce, which allowed him to last till now.

Although this didn’t seem to be a good time for it, Marvin still quickly finished his own mission, telling Minsk what he knew about the Migratory Bird Council and the Ancient Nature God’s matter.

After listening to Marvin’s explanations, Minsk didn’t seem very worried.

“It is indeed a very terrifying matter for the Nature Power to be withering, but I believe in my father. He only slumbers, he didn’t fall.” Minsk muttered on, “Moreover, this isn’t urgent compared to what is about to happen on the Crimson Wasteland. It’s something we can deal with later.”

Marvin’s eyes widened as he asked, “You want to help with the ensuing events?”

Minsk looked at Marvin and Hathaway with a smile. “I’m sorry, I heard too much.”

“Those who were there are very grateful to you because you saved their lives, but they will definitely leave this damned place. They won’t help with what’s coming.”

“As for you, it didn’t sound like you plan to leave. I heard the Anzed legend, did you come to represent the Anzed for the debt?”

Hathaway snorted coldly. She seemed quite on guard toward that Half-God.

“In any case, I can’t leave now,” Minsk continued with a smile. “My friend over there can leave to tell a nearby town about the news of the possible resurrection of the Wilderness God. I don’t know if it’ll have much meaning since after all, the Crimson Wasteland was originally intended to be a land of slaughter, but being able to save a few lives should be considered quite laudable.”

“As for me, I do want to follow you back to Feinan. But we have to stop the Lich’s crazy plan now.”

Hathaway indifferently said, “I have no interest in the Lich’s plan, I only wanted to get my things back.”

Minsk nodded before turning to Marvin. “What about you?”

Marvin looked at some information flashing on his interface before gripping his daggers. “Bandel caught my friend. I have to save her.”

“Moreover… he shouldn’t treat a little girl like that.”

Killing intent flashed in Marvin’s eyes.

Although they had fought together only once, he still had a deep impression of the Paladin, Griffin.

Sometimes, there were people that you could find worthy of trust after just a short time.

That follower of the Truth God was clearly one of those.

Marvin would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel like avenging him.

Moreover, Isabelle was still in that bastard’s hands.

“Good. Seems like we agree,” Minsk muttered. “I can try to communicate with the lifeforms in the surroundings to try to find out where that filthy skeleton went.”

“No need.” Surprising Minsk, Marvin actually pointed toward the southwest and asserted, “He is definitely there.”

…

South of Holy Light City, in the Black Forest, three people were rushing forward at high speed.

Marvin’s speed was something obvious, based on his Godly Dexterity. Minsk was the son of the Nature God and was an outstanding Ranger. He was extremely familiar with forests and even forests contaminated with magic couldn’t restrict him.

As for Hathaway, she was moving through the air in a strange way, apparently using some type of Witchcraft.

Her body was leaning slightly forward, floating and flying at high speed through the forest.

Marvin kept looking at Hathaway’s flying posture and couldn’t help but remark, “I thought Witches all rode on brooms.”

Hathaway rolled her eyes at Marvin, apparently losing patience with him. But she still said, “Earlier on, and by that I mean during the ancient times, in the era of the old Witch Queen, the Anzed Witches had to ride a broom. This was our trademark.”

Minsk nodded, apparently familiar with that era.

“Then you… ” Marvin wanted to say something, but hesitated.

Hathaway coldly snorted, “I changed that rule. I have the power to do so as the new Witch Queen.”

“Why?” Marvin asked curiously.

“I think riding a broom is stupid!” Hathaway snapped. “Are you satisfied with that answer?”

Marvin laughed and didn’t say anything else. He was already very happy to be able to meet Hathaway again.

This was a wonderful feeling.

Even if she was much different from before, he could still see the traces of the old Hathaway.

He believed that her memories would come back with the passage of time.

“Are you sure it’s this way?” Hathaway frowned. “The magic pollution here is too serious. Many Mana Wraiths are howling in my ears, I can’t stand them.”

Marvin nodded. With a solemn expression, he assured, “I’m certain. This matter is definitely related to the Regis Ruins.”

“Bandel had once been a caster of the Regis Ruins. He was a disciple of the Wilderness God and became infatuated with Miss Silvermoon. Coincidentally, I discovered Miss Silvermoon’s body in the Regis Ruins. I think this can explain many things.”

Minsk’s voice echoed behind him, “This… Perhaps the one Bandel is planning on resurrecting isn’t his teacher.”

They reached the entrance of the Regis Ruins while they were talking.

Marvin waved his hand. “It’s here, please be ready. Maybe we’ll find that the Wilderness God has already been resurrected when we go in.”

“That wouldn’t be funny at all,” Hathaway said as she took the lead. “Even if he has been resurrected, he still owes me.”

She then went through the entrance.

Chapter 535: Evolution! False Divine Vessel!

The three quickly made their way through the dark passage.

All three were peak experts. Even if Minsk’s strength had somewhat suffered over the years, he could still keep up.

Unlike the last time he tracked the Jade Banshee, this time Marvin felt an indescribable pressure.

He could faintly hear a beating heart.

This definitely wasn’t the Dungeon Core’s heartbeats.

Everything felt old.

He was a bit nervous.

He calmed down after glancing at the new information on his interface.

He had already become a lot more powerful.

Even if the Wilderness God did resurrect, he wouldn’t be completely unable to retaliate.

…

Because the previous event had wrapped up so suddenly, and because Marvin was rushing from the Wilderness Hall to the Regis Ruins, he could only check his gains on the road.

The results were very surprising. He hadn’t expected that killing an Ancient God’s avatar that had already been nearly unconscious would increase his strength so substantially.

This wasn’t reflected in just the hundred-plus thousand experience points, or the 12 Comprehension points, but also most significantly in Marvin’s advanced False Divine Vessel having a formidable evolution!

The advanced False Divine Vessel had been given to Marvin by the Fairy guarding the Chromatic Dragon God’s Divine Source.

In order to get it, he’d had to put that hot potato in his storage.

Despite the Fairy guaranteeing that Dragon God Hartson, who had been playing dead, wouldn’t be able to locate that thing, that was on the assumption that Marvin didn’t provoke him. But that thing had always been a time bomb. Dragon God Hartson wasn’t only on the level of someone like Dark Phoenix; he was one of the peak powerhouses in the Universe.

After Marvin left the Elemental Plane of Water under Louise’s cover, he checked for a bit before confirming that this thing wouldn’t trigger a disaster, which slightly reassured him.

As for the Dragon God’s Wrath instance follow-up, he wasn’t too clear about it. Professor and the others should have handled that matter properly.

And with Louise’s help, the Water Elemental Sovereign should have temporarily lost his interest in the matter.

This was the best news for Marvin.

It was a pity that from another point of view, the advanced False Divine Vessel he received wasn’t as useful as it should have been.

The False Divine Vessel gifted to him by Endless Ocean could absorb Divinity and add some Divinity bonuses, but it didn’t have a direct strength increase.

After fusing the advanced False Divine Vessel with his own Divine Vessel, it only seemed to become a bigger vessel.

Apart from that, he didn’t find any new functions of it.

The Fairy said that the Divine Vessel would need to be cultivated for a very long time because it had been with her for so long and also because Marvin’s was quite different.

Thus, he temporarily didn’t bother with it.

That advanced Divine Vessel had always been calmly revolving within his body, only offering some helpful bonuses.

It didn’t even seem to react after Marvin killed Greater Demon Balkh.

At that time, Marvin obtained many Comprehension points and had a faint feeling that his Divine Vessel had absorbed something, but he didn’t find anything afterwards and thought he had imagined it.

After all, False Divine Vessels were among the few things Marvin was unfamiliar with in this world.

As the crystallisation of the wisdom of Humans, surpassing the Universe Laws and the Gods’ limits, they weren’t that simple.

Marvin originally thought that it would continue to remain mostly inert, but when he crushed the Wilderness God, time seemed to come to a halt.

Marvin noticed that when the space they were in collapsed, the Life-Severing Ivies formed bitter faces, and those faces were attentively watching Marvin.

Ultimately, those vines dissolved into cyan smoke, which shrouded the place for a short while before gradually disappearing.

They merged with Marvin’s body. To be more precise, something within Marvin’s body took the initiative to absorb them.

Marvin was puzzled at the start, but after looking at his interface and checking his body’s condition, he understood.

He hadn’t expected that he would be able to absorb the Wilderness God’s remaining power!

The advanced False Divine Vessel was naturally the reason for that.

This “supreme treasure” that the Fairy had claimed was on the level of Artifacts had finally shown its effects.

A part of the essences had been absorbed by the Essence Absorption System and turned into experience and Comprehension, becoming a great help for Marvin’s class system. The remaining power had been completely assimilated by the False Divine Vessel.

This was why the ivy all disappeared after Marvin killed the Wilderness God’s avatar.

If not for the False Divine Vessel, they might have had to fight with the remaining ivy. After all, even though the Wilderness God’s avatar had already died, the remaining Life-Severing Ivies would still be left as a bunch of brainless monsters.

After helping everyone survive, Marvin profited greatly.

On Marvin’s interface, the information about the advanced False Divine Vessel appeared in front of him:

[Advanced Divine Vessel… Divine Power Pool established…]

[Power Absorption…]

[Domains detected, fusing Domains…]

The lines of logs were dazzling.

These logs then appeared:

[Advanced False Divine Vessel (First Advancement) (degree of fusion 13%)]

[Divinity: 7/36]

[Domain 1: Slaughter (Using 3)]

[Domain 2: Shadow (Using 3)]

[Domain 3: Plant Metamorphosis (Using 2) (Recover 1)]

[Divine Power Pool: 14]

…

A small distorted space appeared within the False Divine Vessel.

This space was called the Divine Power Pool by the False Divine Vessel. As the name implied, this was a space used to store Divine Power. Divine Power originally belonged to the Gods and as far as Marvin knew, the only ways to control it were through transforming Faith Power or swallowing others’ Divine Power.

Clearly, Marvin’s share of Divine Power was obtained from the Wilderness God avatar.

He not only got two points of Divinity (Plant) from him, but also obtained a great amount of Divine Power.

Those 14 points represented how much Divine Power he’d gained.

Of course, if he couldn’t use Divine Spells, Divine Power became meaningless. Moreover, if he couldn’t replenish the Divine Power Pool, he would use up this power sooner or later, so he hadn’t been as excited about it initially.

But he soon found out a very important bit of information.

Domain Fusion.

Legend powerhouses grasp Domains, Gods merge with the Laws, and False Divine Vessel holders manipulate the Laws!

After the advanced False Divine Vessel gained a large amount of power, it fused with Marvin’s Domains as well as the Domain he swallowed from the Wilderness God.

Thus, he now had three Domains, far exceeding the reach of ordinary Legends.

The most frightening part was that he could use Divine Power to make these Domains tangible!

This was a very frightening concept. Marvin didn’t realize it at first, but afterwards, the information that kept appearing gave him a new understanding of the advanced False Divine Vessel’s power.

Ordinary Legends could at most draw support from their Domain’s Laws to defeat their enemies.

They couldn’t make their Domains tangible and turn them into their own weapons.

But Marvin could. The prerequisite was using the Divine Power inside the Divine Power Pool.

Of the three Domains, [Slaughter] and [Shadow] were the Domains Marvin had formed himself. Thus, these two Domains could only consume Divine Power, and couldn’t supply Marvin with it. He didn’t have any Faith Power from followers, after all.

The third Domain, [Plant Metamorphosis], seemed rather weak, and was probably the weakest Domain controlled by the Wilderness God. But it had a very powerful advantage, which was to replenish the Divine Power Pool!

Through his connection with the False Divine Vessel, Marvin learnt that the so-called [Recover 1] meant that each week, Marvin would obtain 1 point of Divine Power through the Plant Metamorphosis Domain!

It offered some additional possible development paths for Marvin, albeit only a few.

‘No wonder these Ancient Gods are so powerful, totally different from the New Gods. They can gain Divine Power through their Domains!’

Marvin suddenly understood.

Unknowingly, he came across a taboo issue in the Gods’ realm.

With regards to the differences between the New Gods and the Ancient Gods, the most noticeable characteristic was whether they ascended through the Fate Tablet. But in fact, New Gods and Ancient Gods were like two different kinds of lifeforms.

New Gods could only draw from the Faith Power of their followers and turn it into Divine Power, but Ancient Gods were different.

Including sinister Evil Gods like the Wilderness God, they were all able to absorb Divine Power directly from the Universe.

No wonder there were no Ancient Gods participating in the attack on the Universe Magic Pool, besides the Plague God who wished for chaos.

But there was surely another reason for him to participate in the attack. It might not be as simple as Marvin had thought… They didn’t only attack for the 4th Fate Tablet!

There must still be a huge secret hidden behind.

…

In any case, after obtaining the ability to materialize his Domains, Marvin now had the strength to go head to head with Gods.

But this was in theory. Marvin didn’t know what would happen in practice.

He only knew that if he met with another event like being trapped in the Wilderness Hall, his Legend Laws wouldn’t be removed again, because he could make his Domains tangible, allowing him to have strength on the same level as Gods.

Although it would use up his limited Divine Power, it could greatly bridge the gap in power between Gods and mortals.

Marvin understood how the Winter Assassin was nearly able to assassinate a God.

In their previous discussion, he had learnt that Isabelle’s teacher also had a False Divine Vessel!

‘In this world, becoming a God really isn’t the only path to break through the limits and gain formidable power.’

Marvin’s confidence was rekindled.

He tightly gripped the daggers in his hands and suddenly disappeared, causing Hathaway to look over in surprise.

The end of the passage appeared before them.

An earth-shattering roar echoed!

Chapter 536: Sacrifice! Life and Death!

This terrible roar was very familiar.

Marvin had heard it in the depths of the Wilderness Hall.

But this time, the power contained in the roar seemed a lot more powerful.

It sounded like a beast gradually awakening.

The Wilderness God!

Even though Marvin was in Stealth, his speed was still extraordinary. He rushed to the edge of the cliff, overlooking the entire dungeon.

The other two also caught up just behind him.

The three stood side by side on the cliff, watching the shocking ritual that was taking place in the center of the dungeon!

“No good, he already started!” Minsk’s eyes were very sharp, allowing him to clearly see what was happening on the public square.

Marvin’s heart was beating very fast.

He also saw the array.

On the square with Miss Silvermoon’s statue, a huge array had already been set up.

A rare jewel, a magic plant emitting an evil aura, tools containing all kinds of colored liquids… They were arranged in a certain pattern, forming the array.

When seen from the cliffside, it seemed to be a very simple design.

A six-pointed star.

The original symbol of magic.

Marvin recognized this array.

It had a very simple name, [Life and Death].

The upper part of the six-pointed star seemed to be painted spotlessly white, but after looking at it carefully, it could be seen that it was actually wiggling grass.

That grass’ color was clearly very special. Who knew where Lich Bandel got them from?

The lower part was pitch-black, and it was also made up of the special wiggling grass.

The ritual tools were set up on the edge.

The tall Two-Headed Bone Dragon standing guard over the array. Lich Bandel had already turned into a black fog and was frantically flying along the edge of the array, making final arrangements.

The Jade Banshee was helping him finishing up.

What worried the three on the cliff was the coffin they saw at one end of the array.

Bandel had obtained the Divine Source spark from the Life Severing Ivies, and it was now floating peacefully in the coffin.

That roar had also come from the coffin.

Given such circumstances, even a fool could guess that the Wilderness God’s slumbering body was in that coffin.

Only in that way could the spark used as a seed of resurrection calm down.

Surprisingly, on the other end of the six-pointed star was the statue of Miss Silvermoon!

‘Hold on… What’s going on with that guy?’ Marvin felt rather startled when he noticed the arrangement.

When he came here last time, he had heard some things, clues that suggested that Bandel was very infatuated with Miss Silvermoon.

But based on the array before him, Miss Silvermoon statue’s location was shockingly in the [Death] location, while the Wilderness God’s coffin was standing in the regular resurrection location!

This made Marvin feel puzzled.

Could that guy really want to just resurrect the Wilderness God?

Apart from those two, there was a surprising silhouette in the center of the array.

The young girl, Molly!

The girl that Paladin Griffin had sworn to protect.

She seemed to be in a bad state. Apparently, the power of the curse was flaring.

Marvin frowned and asked, “Why does this array require Molly?”

Hathaway said, “The [Life and Death] array needs a medium. That girl’s body is very special. When there is a lack of energy, her hidden treasure might be able to charge the array. Her constitution is also very suitable for handling the conflict of Life and Death.”

“Her condition looks terrible. Regardless of the outcome of the ritual, she might die soon!”

Marvin’s heart tightened. He looked around.

Molly wasn’t the only one brought here by Bandel. Isabelle was also there!

But soon, Marvin felt somewhat relieved.

Isabelle had been bound by a special method of the Lich and was standing outside the array, like she was really being treated as a “spectator”.

She seemed helpless, but fortunately, she wasn’t part of the array, so she wouldn’t be harmed by it.

With this in mind, Marvin checked the array once more.

Besides the tools, the most important thing the Lich prepared was a crimson stone.

That crimson stone was wrapped in a huge piece of amber.

When the Lich took the amber from a different dimension, the entire space shivered.

The continuously roaring voice in the coffin also started trembling. It was quite clear that the Wilderness God was longing for this stone!

“This is the Death Vessel.”

“The energy of those who died in the Autumn Hunting Ground and the Legends who had been sucked dry coalesced into that stone through a sacrificial ritual.”

“The power in that stone is too frightening, and thus it needs the [Origin Amber] as a seal. No wonder the Wilderness Hall weakened after he left. Bandel took the core of the Wilderness Hall with him!”

Without waiting for Marvin to ask, Minsk explained what he knew.

As it turned out, the energy obtained by Bandel in the Hunting Ground was all in this Death Vessel.

If someone freed that energy all at once, it would be enough to destroy this world!

Naturally, it could also support a God’s resurrection!

Actually, the Wilderness God should have needed far more power than this to resurrect.

But after obtaining the Domain of the Wilderness God’s avatar, Marvin understood that if Bandel wanted to resurrect the Wilderness God, a spark was enough. He just needed to turn the spark into a small flame and it would burn on its own.

As long as there was any sign of resurrection, the Domain on his body would automatically speed up the absorption of Divine Power.

However, Bandel had still needed to do so many crazy things in order to get enough “nourishment”. It showed how frightening the power of the Wilderness God was.

Marvin felt cold.

He definitely couldn’t let that guy succeed.

The other two clearly agreed.

But when Marvin was about to suggest that they coordinate to make a plan, Hathaway suddenly flew out!

“Hold on! We need a plan!” Marvin let out in a low voice as he ground his teeth.

Hathaway’s voice softly floated back. “There is no we. You helped me find the Lich, which I appreciate. But we don’t have the same goals, I only want to get my things back.”

“As for stopping the Evil God’s resurrection or saving the world, I have no interest in this.”

With a “Woosh”, she sped up and rushed above the array!

Marvin and Minsk glanced at each other, they could only clench their teeth and rush down the cliff, using their peak speed to charge up to the array.

She was right: the three had come here with different goals. Hathaway wanted to recover the last power of the Anzed Witches, while Marvin came in order to save Isabelle and Molly. As for Minsk, he was the only one of the three who addressed the big picture, wanting to stop the Evil God’s resurrection.

In such a situation, talking about cooperation was nonsense.

They were all fighting for their own goals.

…

When Hathaway’s silhouette stopped above the array, the fog moving around the edges of the array also stopped.

Bandel’s voice came out. “Witch?”

“What are you planning?”

He sounded quite surprised!

Hathaway expressionlessly said, “I have no interest in your plan. Return to me what belongs to the Anzeds and I won’t get involved.”

Bandel let out a forced laugh. “I don’t remember taking anything belonging to the Anzeds.”

Hathaway pointed to a certain location.

Bandel followed the direction of the fair finger and noticed the coffin… No, it was actually pointing to the daggers on both sides!

Cold Light’s Grasps!

…

“I didn’t expect it, I didn’t expect it… That damned Witch actually snatched my Artifact in order to stab it in the Wilderness God’s coffin. What was it used for in the end, a lock?”

“Moreover, this is the array of Life and Death. It looks like the Wilderness God will really resurrect. I really brought a disaster onto you this time.”

The Winter Assassin sighed in Isabelle’s ear.

Although Lich Bandel didn’t do anything to her, it was clear that she wouldn’t be able to survive alive if the Wilderness God resurrected.

The Wilderness God was an inauspicious name in the ancient era. He was a very brutal God, so how could he let a mortal like Isabelle get away?

At this time, even the knowledgeable Winter Assassin didn’t know what to do.

The spell that the Lich used on her wasn’t any kind of spell he knew about!

The Winter Assassin and Isabelle went all-out, but couldn’t remove the binding.

She couldn’t even move, let alone get hold of Cold Light’s Grasps.

Feeling helpless, the Winter Assassin could only curse the damn Witch once again.

When Hathaway appeared, he couldn’t control himself. “It’s her!”

“It’s that swindler!”

Isabelle frowned.

“Who is?”

Marvin’s voice appeared from another side. Because they had previously established a mental connection, now that he was close enough again, he could also hear the Wisp’s complaints.

“You finally arrived, kid!”

The Winter Assassin was overjoyed. He soon emotionally recalled, “It’s that woman!”

“She is the Witch that turned me into a Wisp that year!”

Marvin was stunned.

But now wasn’t the time to discuss this. He wanted to save Isabelle first.

The Lich was still arguing with Hathaway, so now was the chance.

But he frowned when he examined the binding.

This wasn’t any ordinary binding spell.

‘This kind of aura…’

‘This is the power of Witchcraft!’

Marvin was a bit surprised as he wondered, ‘How could Bandel use Witchcraft?’

At that time, the Witch Queen in the sky proudly said, “Return the daggers to me and you might be able to continue with your plan.”

The Lich sneered, “Witches really are a bunch of frogs at the bottom of a well.”

“Do you really think that the Anzeds are the only ones in this world able to wield the power of Witchcraft?”

Chapter 537: Night Flower

When she heard Bandel mentioning Witchcraft, Hathaway’s already impatient expression suddenly became unsightly.

She asked with an icy voice, “Where do you think the power of Witchcraft that you wield comes from?”

“She originally borrowed our Anzed power, and the return deadline is today.”

“I’ll give you one last chance!”

“Hand over the [Night Flower]!”

At that instant, Hathaway’s air of being a young girl faded.

It was replaced by a monarch’s domineering attitude.

Her gaze was cold and tyrannical, which felt quite out of place coming from a young girl.

Marvin’s heart felt even more complex.

From what the Winter Assassin just said, it was Hathaway herself who had transformed him into a Wisp.

But that was countless years ago.

Could they be two different people with the same appearance? Or was it possible for the Witch Queen’s appearance and rank to be inherited?

Marvin didn’t know the answer.

What he was more concerned about right now was Hathaway’s safety.

But from her tone, she didn’t seem to be afraid of the Lich even though she was still gradually recovering her power.

‘It should be really hard for Bandel to harm her… But that thing in the coffin…”

Marvin couldn’t help but involuntarily look at one side of the six-pointed star.

The flame was still flickering, and strong lifeforce fluctuations were emitted from the coffin, seeming like a sort of heartbeat.

And Cold Light’s Grasps were still stuck into both sides of the coffin.

Marvin frowned.

‘Something is fishy…’

Minsk appeared at Marvin’s side and quietly said, “She can’t pull out Cold Light’s Grasps.”

“There is a strange seal that is using Cold Light’s Grasps to seal the Wilderness God’s main body!”

Marvin was a bit surprised.

The Cold Light’s Grasps were quite outstanding, but from what he knew, they were an Artifact at most.

The strength of an Artifact was usually dependent on its synergy with its owner. As a descendant of an Ancient God, even though Miss Silvermoon had earned Faniya’s favor and became a God with Lance’s help, for someone that was partially considered an Ancient God, she wasn’t especially powerful.

The Cold Light’s Grasps were also an Assassin-type Artifact. Though the daggers were quite fierce when used for killing, there should be nothing about them that would cause worry when it came to other fields.

But Minsk said that they were the key to the Wilderness God’s seal?

Although Marvin’s Perception allowed him to probe the array with his senses, it wasn’t enough to let him learn anything specific concerning Cold Light’s Grasps.

With the help of Earth Perception, he could only get some confusing information.

The [Life and Death] ritual was taking shape and there was already a hint of space distorting, making it hard to see through.

But Minsk, as the son of the Nature God, had some unique abilities.

He shouldn’t be wrong.

Moreover, the Winter Assassin, who had been using the Cold Light’s Grasps for a long period, also said that the daggers looked somewhat different now.

It looked like there was a much more complicated power on it now compared to back when he had held them.

Marvin also clearly saw that the coffin kept shuddering.

If not for the two daggers holding it in place, the coffin might have already opened!

‘This Lich is really strange… If he truly wanted to resurrect the Wilderness God, why not release him from his coffin?’

The more Marvin thought about it, the more confusing the situation became. He decided to hide Isabelle for now because he and Minsk weren’t able to take care of the binding spell. The spell was apparently from the Witchcraft system, it was hard for them to find a way to resolve it for the moment.

That decision was immediately contested by the Winter Assassin.

Isabelle herself was obviously not willing to be stuffed in a piece of paper.

But their opinions were ignored by Marvin.

At such a crucial time, he didn’t dare to take any risks with her safety.

After training for so long, his Origami had progressed greatly.

He had already been able to fold some paper clones before, but back then, he could only control three at most. After recently gaining an enormous amount of experience, Marvin had unlocked the ability to turn the battle exp into skill points through the Essence Absorption System. Despite the exchange rate being incredibly low, Marvin couldn’t stand having so much exp and not being able to use it. His Origami skill had reached Greatmaster level!

An Origami Greatmaster could use paper to fold a special space to carry people.

He could only hide or store away dead things before, but now he could carry a living person. The skill Owl imparted to him was clearly a curious one.

Of course, besides Origami, Marvin still had [Eternal Night Seal], which could also transport living people. But compared to the spotless storage space of Origami, the pitch-black space of Eternal Night Seal wasn’t the first choice to transfer Isabelle and the Winter Assassin. And the latter was somewhat a bit more wasteful compared to the former.

Marvin moved very quickly and had already put Isabelle in the space before she could blink.

This skill made Minsk have a whole new level of respect for Marvin.

“What is this strange skill? It can hide a living person like that?”

Minsk was surprised. As an Ancient God’s descendant, he was quite knowledgeable. From what he knew, the skills able to hide away living people were mostly Divine Spells, or simply a method to hide people within the user’s God Realm.

For mortals to also have this kind of strange skill was truly inconceivable for him.

Marvin smiled but didn’t say anything.

Minsk understood. Everyone had their own secrets, and they had just met. Marvin wouldn’t necessarily answer any given question.

…

They both looked at the center of the array.

A fight had broken out in the sky above the array!

Sure enough, Hathaway and Bandel didn’t come to an agreement. Bandel wouldn’t agree to return Cold Light’s Grasps to Hathaway.

The Ashes Queen wasn’t someone with a good temper. It was quite normal for her to attack someone who disagreed with her.

The Two-Headed Bone Dragon was continuously spouting a gray fog, and with the help of the Jade Banshee, this fog covered the entire Life and Death array, preventing the fight between those two from disturbing the ritual.

As Marvin watched, he felt that the fight between the two was very strange.

The Lich himself was a member of the Regis casters, who were skilled with magic that utilized negative energy. Furthermore, most of them had extremely high magical talent.

From what Marvin remembered, Liches typically had many spells that targeted vitality. They were especially proficient with combat magic.

But Bandel didn’t use any spells in this fight.

They were both using Witchcraft to fight.

The deep Anzed Language kept echoing in the mysteriously quiet dungeon. Hathaway took the lead.

[Witchcraft – Locust]!

In an instant, countless Ghost Locusts came out of the Astral Plane and rushed toward the black fog covering Bandel!

In the black fog, two green lights were flickering. They were Bandel’s soul fire!

The Ghost Locusts were the first lifeforms discovered in the Astral Plane by mankind. It was said that they had signed a pact with the Anzed Witches.

That Witchcraft was equivalent to summoning magic.

But summoning magic had restrictions with respect to quantity. Witchcraft didn’t have the corresponding restrictions in the Plane Laws!

From this point of view, Witchcraft was a type of power that was seemingly above the Plane Laws!

The Lich under the black fog had no flesh, only pure extreme negative power. Ordinary magic couldn’t harm him.

But these Ghost Locusts could.

They started crazily swallowing the black fog itself.

Although the Locusts died after swallowing the black fog, there was still an endless swarm of them Ghost Locusts appearing in front of Hathaway.

In a short time, a third of Bandel’s fog disappeared!

The Lich naturally didn’t just sit and watch.

He fought back.

The same Anzed Language came out of Bandel’s mouth!

Then, a strange energy was emitted from him.

[Witchcraft – Stop]!

Every Ghost Locust came to a standstill.

They seemed to be at a loss, as if they didn’t know who they should listen to.

Both sides had the power of the contract!

Hathaway’s expression worsened even more.

“She gave that to you!” Her tone was filled with anger.

“If we had known at the time, we wouldn’t have lent you the Night Flower!”

The Lich coldly snorted, “Witch, since you already saw my Witchcraft, you should understand, you can’t beat me.”

Hathaway waved her hand, and all the Locusts disappeared.

“The Anzeds’ Iron Law… The holders of the highest Witchcraft Authority can’t hurt each other. Did I say anything wrong?” Bandel laughed, pleased with himself. “You can’t harm me.”

“Thus… If you understand your position, leave quickly. My teacher won’t be as nice once he recovers.”

Hathaway paled, wanting to say something, but hesitating.

As for Marvin and Minsk, they had heavy expressions.

“The highest Witchcraft holders can’t hurt each other?”

Marvin recorded this sentence in his mind.

‘What is the highest Witchcraft Authority? My Witchcraft Authority should very low, right? I don’t know if I can harm Bandel, then.’

But regardless of whether he could, the situation looked quite terrible.

If the Wilderness God really resurrected, the entire world would fall into turmoil. And the Crimson Wasteland would definitely collapse.

Who knew if the Gods would act?

If the three Great Gods joined hands, they would be able to suppress the Wilderness God, but they were now attacking the core of the Universe Magic Pool.

He couldn’t put any hope on them.

Marvin took a deep breath.

If Bandel wasn’t doable, destroying his array would be fine!

The Life and Death ritual was isolated in a separate space. It would be very difficult for Marvin to get in. He tried the Shadow Plane, but the area was restricted, so he couldn’t find the entrance to the Shadow Plane.

‘Damnit! If this goes on, the array will really be activated.’

Marvin kept his Stealth active as he searched the perimeter of the array, looking for an entrance.

At that time, Molly, who had been suffering from the curse up until now, suddenly opened her eyes.

She looked toward Marvin.

“Kind Mister, did Uncle Griffin send you to save me?”

Her voice was clear and ethereal, as if it could pierce through everything.

Marvin was faintly startled.

She could see him?

Chapter 538: The Power of the Domain!

Marvin was currently in Stealth.

A mortal simply couldn’t see through him unless they relied on very special abilities.

Because of Hathaway preoccupying him, even Lich Bandel didn’t notice Marvin approaching, let alone the Jade Banshee and the Twin-Headed Bone Dragon.

But the cursed little girl was looking at him, blinking!

‘It’s not coincidental…’ Marvin thought, feeling startled.

Bandel had mentioned that there was a treasure hidden in Molly’s body… could this be related to her curse?

Regardless, he had to find a way to save her.

Watching such a young life dying in front of him wasn’t Marvin’s style.

But the Life and Death array already started, isolating it into a separate space.

If Marvin forcibly entered, there would be only one consequence: being crushed by the array!

Unless he had the strength of Gods.

…Hold on!

The strength of Gods!

An idea flashed in Marvin’s mind.

The next second, he unhesitantly drew on the False Divine Vessel, using [Plant Metamorphosis]!

In the Divine Power Pool, 2 of the 15 Divine Power points were instantly consumed.

Some changes were visible on Marvin’s body. Because he held it back somewhat, the tangible Domain didn’t expose itself in front of everyone.

But the sensitive array felt it.

It was the Domain of the Wilderness God’s avatar after all.

Many of the Lich’s spells were inherited from the Wilderness God, so they both had something in common!

Marvin tried to approach the Life and Death array while Bandel was distracted.

He didn’t rashly charge in. Instead, he probingly took a step into the array.

A heavy force washed over him!

But Marvin was actually pleasantly surprised!

This force wasn’t rejecting him… It actually had an accommodating feeling.

The sensation was quite comfortable, like being a fish in the sea. Marvin quickly rushed in!

Everything happened quietly, and even Minsk didn’t notice him manage to get in.

All he was looking at was the pitiful appearance of the small girl.

Molly almost couldn’t stand.

She was bruised, her lips were purple, and she was shivering all over.

One, or maybe several, scary curses flared up on her body at the same time. The little girl was clenching her teeth, with blood seeping out of her dried lips!

“Ah…”

She let out a low sound.

Although that voice was very low, it attracted everyone’s attention.

None of them were able to stop themselves from looking over.

She was kneeling on the ground, and her head suddenly jerked up!

It was a startling scene.

Some cobweb-like threads were forming on her pure white cheeks, and they kept spreading!

The most frightening things were the two lines of blood that started coming out of her eyes!

“I can’t see!” Molly wept pitifully.

“Why can’t I see anything?”

“Uncle Griffin! Where are you?”

Hathaway looked down coldly at that scene as she hovered in the sky.

Bandel frowned.

The ritual had already started, so if he wanted it to be successful, he would have to start making his move.

But this Witch’s existence was a problem.

He needed to put all his strength into the ritual, or else his plan would fail!

And Hathaway clearly wouldn’t give him such an opportunity.

She might not be able to hurt him, but she could still make him fail via indirect means.

This was something Bandel couldn’t accept.

As for the matter of Molly’s death, to be honest, even if Bandel had been a kindhearted youth, he had turned into a Lich long ago. His heart had already died after so many years.

It was just another gifted girl, a dead person was just a dead person.

It didn’t actually matter to him whether he used this girl as a medium or not. He had already made enough preparations, after all.

…

Inside the array, Marvin clenched his teeth when he saw that scene and dashed over to Molly’s side!

This suddenly revealed his whereabouts, because he was inside Bandel’s array!

Because of Hathaway distracting him, Bandel hadn’t noticed Marvin entering the Life and Death array.

But now that Marvin made a move, he was immediately detected!

“Damnit!”

“Who are you?!”

The Lich’s soul fires were extremely bright as he roared, “How could you get in my array?”

There was a strange expression in Hathaway’s eyes.

This was an array that mortals couldn’t get into!

Because Life and Death were the Domains of Gods!

But Marvin was able to sneak in silently.

When she thought about it, it seemed that this man had always been able to do something unexpected.

…

Marvin rushed to Molly’s side and helped her up.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll get you out of here.” His tone was sorrowful.

The curse flaring up on Molly’s body was very troublesome. He didn’t know how Griffin was suppressing it before.

Maybe only something like the Truth Scale could suppress her.

With her current situation, Marvin knew that even if he brought her to Mother of Creation, it would be hard to save her.

But regardless, he would bring her away.

Molly’s body was very light. Marvin carried her and it felt as if he were carrying a ball of air.

Her body was cold and blood was still flowing down from her eyes.

“Is it you, Mister Marvin?”

“Did Uncle Griffin send you? It must be…” she mumbled.

Marvin bitterly looked at the girl in his embrace, letting out a grunt of acknowledgement, before starting to run toward the boundary of the array!

…

“You wish!” Bandel got angry.

‘What is going on today!?’

‘People keep coming out of nowhere, trying to disturb my plan!’

The Anzed Witch was one thing, that woman wasn’t to be trifled with. She had six kinds of the Anzed’s Highest Witchcraft Authority.

He had previously gotten a contract with a woman and obtained the 7th Witchcraft Authority, allowing him to use the Anzed Law to keep her in check.

‘But what about this man in front of me?’

Bandel had a pretty good memory and recognized that this guy was one of the Legends he had previously captured in the Wilderness Hall.

‘How could he be here?’

‘Did something happen to the Wilderness Hall?’

That wasn’t the point, though. This guy ignored him and openly tried to snatch his ritual’s medium. This was something Bandel definitely couldn’t forgive!

“Since you are courting death, die!”

The Lich’s voice sounded extremely sinister.

Following his roar, changes started appearing in the array.

The negative energy flowed crazily and a cyan ivy started growing, rushing toward Marvin!

Hathaway and Minsk both felt concerned.

“Careful!” Hathaway couldn’t help but shout.

This wasn’t the Wilderness God’s avatar, but rather, power coming from his main body!

It simply wasn’t something Marvin could fight.

The Lich was still sneering.

In his eyes, Marvin was already screwed.

He only had one end, and that was to be absorbed by the array and turned into nourishment for the Death Vessel!

But something happened that shocked them all!

Just when the ivy pounced on Marvin, he let out a loud shout.

The formidable Domain he had drawn out was no longer restrained after being prompted by the advanced False Divine Vessel.

[Domain – Plant Metamorphosis]!

Full expansion!

When he felt this familiar aura and power, even Bandel fell into a daze.

This was the power of the Wilderness God!

‘How could that kid have it…’

But he couldn’t ponder about it right now, because with the power of the Domain flowing out, the situation had changed greatly!

All the cyan ivy surrendered and automatically opened up a path to speed up Marvin’s retreat from the array!

Minsk’s eyes were close to popping out of their sockets!

‘Could this be the Wilderness God’s main body?’

‘Or an illegitimate child of the Wilderness God? No way, I never heard of the Wilderness God leaving any son behind, the women he captured were also eaten up…’

Minsk was in a daze.

But the array didn’t attack Marvin and instead helped out; this was a fact.

Before anyone could react to the strange development, Marvin carried Molly out of the array.

“What the hell are you?!” The Lich’s voice was extremely heavy.

“A mortal.”

Marvin’s answer was simple.

“Master, I recognize him!”

The Jade Banshee remembered Marvin and pointed out, “He was the Paladin’s companion, the Legend Great Druid who broke through our blockade!”

The Two-Headed Bone Dragon let out a low roar, apparently expressing his agreement.

“Legend Great Druid?”

The Lich’s soul fire flickered.

“Who you are doesn’t matter!”

“You’ll die today!”

“You two, kill him! Bring me back my medium!” Bandel ordered.

The Jade Banshee and the Two-Headed Bone Dragon immediately got ready to attack.

In their earlier encounter, they chose to retreat not because of Marvin, but because of Griffin’s Truth Scale!

After losing the intimidating Truth Scale, there was no way that Claudy, the Two-Headed Dragon famous for terrorizing the Crimson Wasteland, would be afraid of a mere mortal.

Even if something seemed rather strange about that guy.

Marvin tightly held Molly as he faced the two of them calmly.

He only coldly warned them, “You should probably care about what’s more important to you.”

The three were startled by his words.

Then, everyone looked at what was happening inside the array!

At one of the point of the six-pointed star, a small silhouette flashed near the coffin.

Hathaway!

Bandel felt like falling apart!

‘What the heck is happening today!’

‘Why does it look like everyone is able to enter the array?’

‘This is [Life and Death]! Any mortal would be crushed when entering!’

But he didn’t have time to be complaining about it, as Hathaway was already reaching the coffin.

Her eyes were fixed on the Cold Light’s Grasps!

“Stop!”

Bandel wasn’t the only one who shouted. Minsk also yelled!

But Hathaway wouldn’t listen to them.

“Lost things eventually make their way back to their owner.”

“The Ashes Authority will finally shine.”

“Return, my Night Flower.”

“Thud! Thud!”

After Hathaway’s soft voice drifted out, the two daggers automatically broke away from the coffin and fell into her hand.

A smile appeared on her face.

But the next second, a crazy laughter burst out and echoed through the Dungeon!

“No one… Can stop my resurrection…”

“Even the disciple I’m most proud of, Bandel!”

Chapter 539: Wilderness God!

At that instant, the entire Dungeon seemed to go silent.

It was as if the air had been instantly drained, making all sounds die out.

All that was left was the peaceful lull, as well as the quiet sounds of breathing!

The Lich’s soul fire kept flickering very rapidly. This meant that his soul was now extremely nervous, or on guard!

Hathaway reacted quickly, relying on her unique Witchcraft to leave the Life and Death array.

‘That voice…’

‘Was it the Wilderness God?’

Marvin’s hairs were standing on end, and a chill spread from his bones to every corner of his body.

He had never heard a voice like that.

It was just a few sentences, just a few words… And even though the voice had spoken in Common, it gave out a feeling of boundless evil!

Even that group of Evil Spirit Overlords hadn’t given Marvin such a feeling.

He was now regretting that his Perception was so high.

The sharper the senses, the greater the impact!

…

“Respected Teacher, you’re overthinking it,” the Lich’s voice echoed. “This student has always been single-mindedly focused on serving you in order to let you recover and move unimpeded through the Universe!”

“Wizard God Lance has already disappeared. As long as the ritual is completed, no one will be able to stop you in the entire Universe.”

“You don’t need to doubt my loyalty!”

Despite the Lich’s voice being very calm, Marvin felt something off about it.

Hathaway’s expression changed.

She noticed that the Night Flower was embedded in the Cold Light’s Grasps with a neat trick.

But she did seem to have awakened the Wilderness God’s consciousness after pulling the daggers out of the coffin.

The previous roars now turned into a clear voice coming from the coffin, indicating the recovery of the Ancient Evil God!

“Ah?”

“[Life and Death], that ritual is still something I gave you. Bandel, you are my student, so I understand you very well.”

“You hated me ever since I killed her. Did you really think I didn’t notice that? And now you claim that you were taking the opportunity to help me resurrect? Hahahaha…”

“You want me to believe you?!”

Everyone froze.

As the echoes of the Wilderness God’s words dissipated, the coffin lid fell to the side.

The flame merged with a statue in the coffin.

That statue looked sinister. There were eyes grown all over the face, the body was surrounded by barbs and ivy, and it seemed to be a petrified man.

His movements were very stiff, but his voice was very clear, apparently not affected by the petrification.

‘This is the Wilderness God?’

Marvin held his breath.

Marvin could already feel his power despite the fact that he had yet to recover!

If the Wilderness God recovered completely, his strength might be above that of the current Tidomas!

Molly was still struggling in Marvin’s embrace.

However, when the Wilderness God appeared, the little girl opened her eyes again.

Despite the blood still flowing out of her eyes, she stopped struggling.

“What’s going on? Molly?”

Marvin noticed the changes in the young girl’s actions and asked in worry.

“That’s a bad person.” Molly pointed at the petrified man and conscientiously said, “Uncle Griffin won’t let him off.”

‘Griffin?’

Pain jolted through Marvin’s heart once more.

Clearly, the cursed girl’s awareness was far more confused than that of common children.

Griffin was already dead, and Marvin didn’t want to continue talking about that topic.

But looking at her serious face, Marvin couldn’t help but feel sorrow.

Griffin’s corpse was actually in Marvin’s Origami Space, along with Isabelle and the Winter Assassin.

When the Wilderness Hall collapsed, Marvin didn’t want to let the worthy Paladin’s remains end up buried under the rubble. He decided to take them with him to give him a proper burial later.

Unfortunately, Molly didn’t know of anything that happened after she was captured by the Bone Dragon.

Marvin only held the cold girl tightly, whispering, “Yes, I’m sure of it.”

…

“Teacher, you have surely misunderstood me,” the Lich explained. “You taught me the Life and Death ritual, so you can see that you are in the Life position.”

The petrified man went silent for a while.

But he suddenly violently shouted, “Witch!”

“Why is there a Witch! That bitch Faniya… She actually joined hands with the Anzeds to scheme against me…”

Although the petrified man seemed to be enraged, he didn’t look powerful. He glared angrily at Hathaway, who met his gaze without showing any weakness.

“You are the Wilderness God? Hehe, if not for me, your consciousness would still be locked inside that coffin. You should be thanking me.”

Hathaway arrogantly raised her chin.

She could see that the current Wilderness God’s aura felt very frightening, but he himself was actually extremely weak!

If she had fused with the last High Witchcraft Authority, then she would now be looking at the opportunity to slay a God!

Thus, she wasn’t afraid of him!

But the other people present were fearful and wary of the recovering Wilderness God.

Not everyone was immune to those waves of fear emanating from him!

Marvin had high Willpower, but even he didn’t dare look into the petrified man’s eyes. He felt that he would become petrified if he did.

This was the power of the Ancient Evil god!

…

“Thank you? Very well, just wait until I’ve resurrected and I’ll eat you first as thanks,” he viciously retorted.

His gaze ultimately landed back on the Lich.

“Bandel, I’ll believe you once for now. But you know that I’ve recovered this far now. If you dare to pull any tricks during the ritual…”

“You should clearly know the consequences.”

The Lich calmly replied, “Naturally.”

“In fact, the ritual had already started, only a small accident happened. You can start activating the Life and Death array’s power.”

The petrified man stood at the peak position of the six-pointed star, looking coldly at everyone present. He completely ignored Marvin and Minsk, as well as the Jade Banshee and the Two-Headed Bone Dragon.

It was like these people didn’t even exist to him.

This feeling was unpleasant.

“We can’t stop him,” Minsk bitterly said. “I kept trying to contact my father, but he hasn’t answered to me in a long time. It seems like there is really some problem. Otherwise, he would have answered, with such a great issue upon us.”

Minsk originally still had hope. The Ancient Nature God and the Ancient Elven God of yore were second only to God Lance. He definitely had the strength to stop the Wilderness God. But the Nature God wasn’t answering him, just like how the Migratory Bird Council had lost their connection with him.

“Leave this place.” Hathaway instantly appeared at Marvin’s side.

Although she didn’t care about the life and death of the Wilderness God, she still had an impression of Marvin.

Her instinct was urging her so much, and she didn’t want Marvin to die here.

“Leave? Too late,” the Lich’s gloomy voice echoed.

“Since my teacher has already recovered, how could you possibly escape?”

Then, the Life and Death array became fully operational!

The petrified man stood in the Life position and started pouring in the strength he had saved up over the years.

The flame shrank to a faint flicker, and a Divine Vessel began condensing out of nowhere!

The Lich’s fog quickly rushed around the array.

“He is right, you’ll all be my first meal after I wake up!” the petrified man howled with laughter.

In an instant, the space in the entire dungeon seemed to freeze as Divine Laws starting sealing it!

Even Marvin’s tangible Domain and Hathaway’s abilities were ineffective!

The group all went pale.

In fact, only Molly, still in Marvin’s embrace, seemed a lot better. Perhaps the power was helping to suppress the curse from flaring up.

“The day has finally arrived.”

“Finally… my power… came back…”

The Wilderness God felt the strength surging from the ritual, and he couldn’t help but sound gleeful.

But he suddenly felt startled for a moment before becoming furious!

“What are you doing!”

A strict voice rang through the dungeon.

The Lich coldly said, “I’m just doing what I should be doing.”

“Even if a stupid Witch disturbs my plan, I won’t give up.”

“Dear Teacher, you really did understand me.”

“I really… truly hate you!”

In a flash, everyone could feel the sealing from the Divine Laws instantly disappear.

A heavy weight seemed to be lifted from their bodies, and they all regained their freedom.

“Look!”

Minsk pointed at the Life and Death array.

Hathaway calmly chanted something, and the three of them slowly rose up and hovered in the air.

From that vantage point, they overlooked the Life and Death array and could see every change!

The originally pure-white grass was now changing at a visible speed!

From pure-white to pitch-black!

It was quite surreal seeing the wave of darkness spread through the grass.

And matching with it, the lower part of the array was also transforming. A great amount of a black aura rose up, leaving the white grass behind.

The three of them opened their eyes wide!

Life and Death were still Life and Death.

But the sides of the array had actually reversed.

Lady Silvermoon’s location suddenly became the Life position, while the Wilderness God became the sacrifice!

This looked simple, but to be able to hide something like that from the notice of the Wilderness God… Who knew how much the Lich had paid for that!

“He wants to resurrect Miss Silvermoon!”

“That’s not good!”

“Without the suppression from the Cold Light’s Grasps, Bandel might not be able to restrain the Wilderness God!” Minsk said while grinding his teeth.

Hathaway frowned, not knowing what to think.

The Wilderness God raised his head and was roaring angrily as he tried to struggle free of the ritual’s control.

At that time, Bandel couldn’t help but worriedly shout, “Witch! What are you still hesitating for?”

“Can’t you help? Do you really want to see the Wilderness God return?”

Chapter 540: Faniya

They all looked at the scene with strange expressions. Bandel was actually asking for Hathaway’s help?

The situation had escalated too quickly, and they weren’t able to react.

The Wilderness God’s consciousness and Bandel began their struggle.

The black side and white side of the Life and Death array were fiercely fighting each other.

The ritual itself had been built by the Lich, and even though it was essentially different, the one who taught him the method was still the Wilderness God. However, after researching it for so many years, he had already made many changes, and thus, he should have had absolute control over the ritual.

But for the ritual to go on smoothly, there was one condition.

The sacrifice couldn’t resist.

Especially so violently.

And the Wilderness God clearly wasn’t the kind of person to sit still and wait for his death.

The petrified man was moving rather stiffly, but the power oozing from his body still gave goosebumps to the onlookers.

The flame blended in his body and surged to his head. The Divine Vessel behind him was becoming increasingly clearer.

This was the Tangible Divine Vessel characteristic!

If he condensed the Divine Vessel and ignited his Divine Fire, the Wilderness God would be resurrected.

Bandel had made countless plans, but he hadn’t thought that Hathaway would get in the array and take Cold Light’s Grasps!

The daggers were the keys to sealing the Wilderness God’s consciousness.

With his consciousness sealed, the ritual definitely would have proceeded smoothly.

But the current situation had already changed.

The Lich had the initiative since he was able to move the energy between the two sides of the array, switching the Life position and the Sacrifice position. But the Wilderness God wasn’t one to be trifled with. He forcibly relied on his own Divine Power to try to revert the array.

Not long after, they could all feel that he had started absorbing Miss Silvermoon’s power!

“You won’t be able to stop me! Hahaha…” The Wilderness God howled with laughter.

In a cloud of dark fog, Bandel frantically flew around in the array.

He was trying hard to alter the contents of the ritual, using items in order to suppress the power of the Wilderness God through the ritual itself.

But this seemed futile.

The Wilderness God was more proficient than he was with the Life and Death Array, despite all the changes. Even if he could slightly alter it, the Wilderness God could also tinker with it in a split second.

It didn’t take long for the black and white sides to start returning to their original forms!

Once this was completed, the Wilderness God’s resurrection might truly come to pass!

“Crack!”

Amidst the Wilderness God’s laughter, a shattering sound boomed from nearby.

The Lich froze.

A crack had appeared on Miss Silvermoon’s body.

A cobweb-like crack spread down from her shoulder.

In a few seconds, her entire right arm disintegrated, turning into a pile of rocky pieces on the ground!

“No!”

A heart-wrenching roar came out of the black fog!

“I won’t let you harm Luna again!”

Following the Lich’s deep roar, a muffled incantation echoed eerily.

This time he didn’t rely on the array, because he had understood that he was far from the Wilderness God’s level of understanding in the Life and Death array.

He started using the power of Witchcraft!

At the same time, another sharp and pleasant voice rose up in the dungeon!

Hathaway finally came to help.

She didn’t like to butt in on others’ matters that didn’t concern her.

But the Wilderness God gave her a foreboding feeling. If he really resurrected, it would surely be bad news for everyone.

She had hesitated a bit before making a move!

Her hands were crossed over her chest, and six lights of different colors were moving at her fingertips.

Marvin knew that each light was from a High Witchcraft Authority.

In the legends, the power of the Anzed Witches came from the 7 High Witchcraft Authorities. The seven of them formed a scepter. Later, because of some conflict, the scepter broke up into 7 petals.

The legend said that whoever gathered the seven petals would be able to recreate the supreme scepter and let the Anzed Witches regain their glory. Before coming to the Crimson Wasteland, Hathaway had already collected five petals. And in the Wilderness Hall, she obtained the 6th petal, the Cyan Petal, thanks to Marvin helping with the Ethereal Jar. The Cyan Petal had been stolen by the Wilderness God a long time ago, and because that Witchcraft really suited his avatar, he had merged them together.

After going through the Ethereal Jar, the Cyan Petal returned to its original form, ready to merge once again with the others. Thus, the current Hathaway already had six High Witchcraft Authorities.

The 7th petal was embedded in the Cold Light’s Grasps using a very complicated technique, so for now, Hathaway could only store the daggers away. She couldn’t fuse with the Night Petal at the moment.

When she did, her power would increase drastically once more.

But now she was forced to act without it.

The Wilderness God was becoming increasingly more powerful. Despite the Lich going all-out, the ritual was clearly in his favor!

The Divine Vessel behind the petrified man was becoming much clearer.

But after Hathaway made a move, the situation swung yet again.

A great amount of hidden Witchcraft power, far superior to Bandel’s, burst out of her body and actually managed to suppress the Wilderness God’s aura!

…

“This isn’t something we can meddle in,” Minsk muttered bitterly.

He was a Half-God, he was extremely powerful because he inherited the Ancient Nature God’s bloodline, and his talent was outstanding. Even when travelling through the Crimson Wilderness, he didn’t meet too much trouble. But after meeting the Wilderness God, he kept being unable to do anything.

Especially this time. He wasn’t trapped, but still couldn’t get involved.

His strength emphasized Nature. Now, the Nature Power was withering, he couldn’t contact the Ancient Nature God, and he had still yet to regain all of his own power. He simply couldn’t fight against the Wilderness God’s resurrection.

“We should leave here quickly.”

Marvin was silent.

He estimated that with his own level of power, handling the Wilderness God might truly be difficult.

Even if he used all the power in his Divine Vessel, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to the Wilderness God’s consciousness.

This was really a depressing matter.

He nodded, holding Molly while looking up at Hathaway.

“He is right, you should leave.”

Hathaway’s words were fast but gentle and reached Marvin’s heart. “I might not necessarily be able to keep suppressing him.”

“You be careful too,” Marvin replied with a heavy expression.

They were able to control the flying Witchcraft that Hathaway had cast on them as long as it remained active, so it wouldn’t be a problem for Marvin to quickly get away.

But they’d barely started flying away before a roar was directed at them!

“That’s my treasure!”

“You can’t leave!”

A powerful gravitational force pushed down on Molly’s body.

This girl, who had been enduring pain all this time, suddenly spat out some blood.

And not only Molly was harmed, but even Marvin was caught off guard. The effect of the Witchcraft dissipated, and he fell down from the sky as the force continued to press down on them!

Fortunately, Marvin was able to adjust himself as he fell, ensuring Molly’s safety in his embrace!

His back thudded into the ground!

This was the first time Marvin had crashed down from such a height, but thankfully, his body had been refined by reaching the Legend realm. What would kill a non-Legend might only cause him some harm!

‘That guy was busy with Bandel and Hathaway, but still had the strength to stop me!’

Marvin felt worried.

He couldn’t help looking at the [Ancestor’s Mystery] hidden on his wrists!

This pair of bracelets had been used by the Cridland Clan to control the Archdevil’s head. But Marvin had already noticed that there was something else extraordinary about them.

It had to be known that the last owner of the bracelets was Marvin’s grandfather, Diross!

In a hidden part of the bracelets, he found out a communication imprint.

This imprint should be less than 100 years old.

Marvin reasoned that this imprint must have been added by Diross.

To defeat a God like the Wilderness God, he might really need Diross’ strength.

Marvin hadn’t used the communication imprint yet because he wasn’t too keen on being too close to Hell’s forces.

Who knew what plan his grandfather had?

There was a limit to the idea that “blood is thicker than water”.

In this Universe that was gradually going crazy, kindness was often a luxury, but sometimes, even basic morals were too.

Marvin didn’t know what the price would be to ask Diross for help. He felt that each time he received aid from Hell, he was incurring a debt… He worried that one day, there would literally be Hell to pay.

And there were many things he couldn’t afford to pay.

Thus, he wouldn’t use it unless it was a last resort.

But now, that time seemed to have come.

It wasn’t just him. Minsk, the Jade Banshee, and the Two-Headed Bone Dragon had also been trying to flee, but were now unable to.

The Wilderness God’s power was covering the entire dungeon.

Being able to exert such power when he had yet to resurrect was quite terrifying.

Hathaway was very strong, but she had yet to fully master the six High Witchcrafts. The future Ruler of the Anzed Witches, the Ashes Queen, might be no worse than the Wilderness God, but she was still too inexperienced!

Soon, the Witchcraft’s power was gradually being offset.

The ritual was slowly pushing in the Wilderness God’s favor once more.

Many more cracks appeared on Miss Silvermoon’s body!

“Even if it costs me everything!”

The Lich’s voice had already turned into an anguished wailing!

The fog over his body had become extremely thin. His power was clearly exhausted and he wanted to make one last move.

He unwillingly gave a last glance at the statue of Miss Silvermoon, before the dark mass of fog rushed at the petrified man at the peak of the star!

Molly suddenly opened her mouth and let out a confused “Eh?”

At that moment, a soft voice sighed.

The sigh echoed in each person’s mind like a spring flowing gently, making everyone feel comfortable.

A blurry shadow was now outside the array.

It felt like the moon suddenly rose in the dark dungeon.

Pure coldness. High and noble.

“Faniya… You came after all.”

The stone covering the man’s eyes shattered, exposing his bloody eyes!