Chapter 333: Pale Hand
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The power of the Holy Blood was quite frightening. It hadn't been easy for Jo to suppress it for so many years.
Marvin knew this. Wanting to completely suppress the power of the Holy Blood was impossible, so he had to find a way to guide her stably through the process.
He knew the most suitable master to tutor Jo, but time was pressing, and the Dark Side would be chasing after them soon.
They had to lie low first.
Marvin entrusted the mother-daughter duo to the Wood Elves. They could be considered having some power in Ruins City. By relying on Wood Elven spells, temporarily hiding the aura of the Holy Blood wasn't difficult.
Although some of those Wood Elves looked at Jo and Barbara with disgust, since it was Marvin's request, they could only comply.
When Marvin settled the two down, he promised to come back to get them in a few days and then left the area.
...
Next evening, on the eastern side of Ruins City.
A group of people were gathered.
When Marvin got there, a group of people hired by the Wolf Spiders had arrived. The other experts arrived at more or less the same time.
What surprised Marvin was that the Wolf Spider mercenary group truly hired a lot of people this time!
There was one other 4th rank expert. She was a Sorcerer who apparently came from Rocky Mountain.
The rest were 3rd rank powerhouses. For this exploration, the 3rd rank class holders would be the core strength.
The leader of the Wolf Spider mercenary group and two of the vice-leaders were also 4th rank experts. As for Bull, yesterday's Barbarian, he was the only 3rd rank vice-leader.
The entire Wolf Spider troop was about thirty people, each fully armed. With the hired experts, the amount reached forty. It could be considered a huge force in Ruins City.
"When does it start?"
One hired hand was clearly impatient. His upper body was bare and he had a pretty nice two-handed greatsword at his side.
3rd rank Warrior. Marvin only took a glance and knew who the other side was.
He was like the leader of the Acheron Gang he killed before, Diapheis. But this Herold guy was more powerful.
He was a mass of muscles, his endurance was comparable to that of the Barbarians. But then again, Warriors were originally Human powerhouses studying the Barbarians' body structure as well as their tempering style to develop their own melee class.
"Still waiting for two more. We will wait another ten minutes," a vice-leader of the Wolf Spider said gently.
She was a rarely seen female Wizard.
In general, Wizards were very rich in this era, so they would rarely appear among adventurers, instead studying in a Wizard Tower.
The reasons the Wolf Spider mercenaries were rather famous in Ruins City had a lot to do with this Wizard's contributions.
No one knew where the Wolf Spider Leader Rem found this 4th rank Wizard.
But for Marvin and the other adventurers, having a Wizard in the team, and a Half-Legend at that, meant that the exploration should be safe and easy.
After all, before the Great Calamity, the Wizard class was still the most powerful.
...
'Looks like they don't understand Saruha. They didn't bring a Cleric of the Silver Church.'
'I guess they think Saruha only has cold constructs?'
Marvin shook his head inwardly.
In Saruha, the most powerful monsters were still the Evil Spirits!
Two Evil Spirit Envoys were occupying the place. However, these two Evil Spirits had no relation to Diggles.
They were subordinates of the 2nd Evil Spirit Plane's Overlord, [Tidomas]!
These two Evil Spirit Envoys were considerably powerful and should have strength comparable to that of Half-Legends. They had been trying to control that place's construct. But with their Intelligence, it was simply impossible to control the constructs created by the Ancient Gnomes. Both sides were at war.
In short, Saruha was a chaotic place.
There were Evil Spirits and constructs, each occupying half of the territory.
...
As there was nothing around, Marvin began to recall his memories of Saruha.
Marvin faintly remembered that Saruha was an oval-shaped underground space. The oval was separated into five parts with a huge pillar in the middle. The pillar was covered in countless twisting chains, slowly revolving day and night.
Inside the pillar was the crystallization of the highest wisdom of the Ancient Gnomes.
It was a small firing silo. Below was a compressed air bag and explosive gunpowder.
In the past, the crazy Ancient Gnomes weren't satisfied with the flying altitude of their hot air balloons. They tried to go even higher in the sky, to surge to the Astral Sea. And Saruha was only one of their experimental bases.
At the start, this place was similar to one of those rocket launching sites from Marvin's world. Those constructs were mostly guard constructs or manufacturing constructs, and not battle constructs.
After the fall of the Gnome Empire, this place became deserted and was occupied by the Evil Spirits.
Saruha had a lot of pieces of knowledge of the Gnome civilization. The Mechanical Gargoyle blueprint he got before was relatively insignificant compared to what was in Saruha.
This was the reason he chose to explore place when he heard it was discovered.
If he could find the way to manufacture and control constructs, White River Valley would be even more resilient.
Constructs were powerful soldiers, and would be very suitable for defending the territory.
...
While Marvin was thinking, a shadow slowly walked over from the distance.
He wore a cloak and seemed steady and calm as he approached.
'It's him?'
Marvin stared blankly.
Although the cloak was a different color, a lush green, Marvin still recognized the other party.
Vampire Gwyn!
They first came into contact back at the Scarlet Monastery, and then Marvin had "robbed" him of a Dense Blood Nucleus while leaving Ancient Castle Tulip.
The relationship between them was a bit complicated.
They weren't enemies, but they weren't friends.
The Bright Side had always been a relatively awkward existence. It was the Dark Side with their anti-human policy that Marvin had no issues killing.
As for Gwyn's appearance, Marvin actually didn't know how to handle this.
He also looked exceptionally beautiful. Killing him would be a pity.
Obviously, this was only Marvin mocking himself. When he glanced at Gwyn, he started thinking about how to use this guy to get a meeting with Great Duke William.
...
"Good. Sir Gwyn also arrived, so we are only missing one right now.
The Wizard Lilia confirmed Gwyn's identity and smiled.
But when the last one was mentioned, Marvin noticed the Wolf Spider's few leaders showing an uneasy expression.
'Who is the last one?' Marvin wondered.
...
In the twilight of the setting sun.
"Woosh!" A shadow appeared in front of everyone.
"Sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, I was delayed by a petty matter, making me arrive late."
"Let's start."
That man had a slight smile.
Marvin sharply inhaled. "Pale Hand!"
One of the Thief Legend classes!