《Night Ranger》Chapter 166. Loot!
Advertisement
A miserable shriek echoed through the First Hall!
Even more surprisingly, the poison mist around the Corpse King started gradually disappearing.
Its HP rapidly declined, with a third disappearing in mere seconds.
Its body was close to falling apart, and many holes appeared in the bandages covering it.
‘As expected, even if #11 Holy Water isn’t the strongest, it has some wonderful effects against the undead.’
‘That old fellow Collins sure has a lot of good things in hand! Next time I’ll have to find the chance to profit a bit more,’ Marvin snickered inwardly.
Other people would put frightening poisons in syringes. But what he poured in his syringe was pure Holy Water.
This Holy Water was also part of a deal between him and Collins. This was a small bottle and was considered an advance payment.
Without the #11 Holy Water, with its extreme efficacy against the undead, how could Marvin dare to attack this freakish Corpse King?
But it was all good now. The thorniest problem, the poison mist, had already disappeared.
Marvin began his performance!
...
"It is Holy Water… I can smell that disgusting smell," said the cloaked man in the group of mysterious people said.
"This kid’s way of thinking is really novel."
"Based on the stakes, your small blood slave is mine, isn’t it?"
The masked man was furious, but could only helplessly nod.
But his expression while looking at Marvin became even more ruthless.
That guy actually made him lose a rare tender blood slave he had just earned. He would definitely look for a chance to teach him a lesson!
...
In the other man’s eyes, Marvin performance could be described as magical.
After the syringe was used, the corpse king completely lost its initial overbearing aura.
Marvin was like lightning, coiling around him at high speed.
His blade skills left others dazed.
Cold light kept flashing from his daggers as the Corpse King tried to angrily counterattack. But it was originally sluggish, and after losing the poison mist’s protection, it simply couldn’t follow Marvin’s speed.
The bandages!
In Marvin’s opinion, this Corpse King’s most valuable possessions were the bandages twisting around its body.
Other people wouldn’t know, perhaps thinking these smelly and disgusting things were only the Corpse King’s ornaments, but he knew they were a Magic Item.
He had to completely take it off the Corpse King’s body, or else it would be a waste of resources, and a waste of his Holy Water too.
For this reason, Marvin was very careful.
He used the Armor Strip skill he had used last time on the summit to take off the Guardian’s armor.
Both daggers acted simultaneously, doing all sorts of movements which had been brought to the point of perfection.
Advertisement
In just ten seconds, the Corpse King’s bandages were gradually undone.
And Marvin was continuously rotating around the Corpse King.
Everyone felt dizzy.
Shortly afterwards, Marvin finished perfectly taking away the bandages.
And the current Corpse King was like an arrow at the end of its flight.
The #11 Holy Water was flowing inside its body. To those undead monsters, this was simply the most frightening nightmare.
It was naked all over and was just a mass of rotting flesh. Now this Corpse King wasn’t too different from those ordinary Corpse Seeker, besides having a bigger build.
"Bang!"
Marvin firmly pulled the bandages to him before carefully putting them away in his Void Conch, as if he had gained the most precious treasure.
Everyone’s view of Marvin suddenly changed a bit.
Admittedly, this guy was actually not that bad at fighting.
But his taste… Look at the Corpse King. Even if we pretend it was a beautiful woman when it was alive, it was now rotten beyond recognition.
He wanted to keep this corpse’s putrid clothing?
All kinds of filthy ideas appeared in everyone’s mind as Marvin boldly resumed his attack!
This time he was truly launching a fierce assault.
Reckless Dual Wielder and Burst were continuously used as he frantically slashed his daggers, completely cutting apart the Corpse King’s rotting flesh!
"Crash!"
Marvin crouched and broke the Corpse King’s kneecap.
He then turned, taking advantage of the angular momentum to hit the shoulder blade!
"Bang!" The Corpse King’s arm was cut off.
What followed was like a show.
Marvin once again revealed his exquisite dagger skills.
He seemed like a chef that required perfection, as one slash after the other directly cut the Corpse King apart into eight pieces!
Following the Corpse King’s final bone falling, Marvin slowly stretched and let out a long breath.
Fighting a duel with the Corpse King still put some pressure on him.
It was a battle that required high focus after all. Without the help of Holy Water, he wouldn’t have had any hope.
Even so, to cleanly get rid of the Corpse King without any injury, and without showing any of his cards apart from his dagger skills was also a kind of challenge.
Fortunately, not only did he manage to do it, he did it perfectly.
He even faintly felt that his Dagger Mastery was about to breakthrough.
This was a fantastic feeling, but he was unable to find it on the logs so Marvin thought it might have just been imagined.
But he still had this feeling.
Soon.
....
The scene of Marvin killing the Corpse King so neatly and easily was seen by everyone, leaving them astonished.
They finally began to acknowledge that this Baron Marvin really had skill.
Advertisement
Being able to join an army and receive Lady Madeline’s recognition was really because of his ability.
After all, apart from the Wizard corps, who else here would dare to say they could win a duel against a monster like the Corpse King?
Even if they were given #11 Holy Water!
Sprinkling Holy Water on the Corpse King would have next to no effect because of the protection of the bandages.
Even if they managed to find an exposed spot and get the holy water on its skin, the effects would be quite minor.
Only a move like Marvin’s could forcefully pour Holy Water into the Corpse King’s body, bringing out its full effects.
But this action which looked so easy was in fact extremely hard.
Only someone like Marvin who had killed that thing many times could do it.
After getting benefits, Marvin quickly returned to the army.
Madeline nodded. "Great job. You have the right to loot first."
Marvin froze, before secretly rejoicing.
When he mentioned loot earlier, he had been referring to the Corpse King’s bandages. He hadn’t expected Madeline to misunderstand him.
From what she said, it seemed he would have priority in looting the First Hall!
Since that was the case, Marvin wouldn’t be polite.
He certainly wouldn’t tell Madeline that the Corpse King’s bandages were already a Magic Item. And not just any Magic Item, but an extremely rare one.
He simply nodded silently.
...
The battle concluded soon after.
The Corpse Seekers clearly lost their will after the Corpse King’s death.
With the Paladins and the guards working together, the Corpse Seekers were wiped out.
The entire First Hall was swept clean.
The squad in charge of logistics began to gather the loot. This squad was composed of Madeline’s trusted aides, or maybe slaves, and would definitely be trusted, or maybe controlled.
Under Madeline’s orders, the First Hall was quickly cleared.
Most of the loot consisted of three things. One was the Corpse Seekers’ weapons, or items on their bodies. These were basically of little value. The second was those coffins. There were a total of thirty coffins, including the Corpse King’s stone coffin. These were enchanted with dark magic and should bring have some value if sold to the Necromancers of the Despair Hill. As for the third thing, it was treasure chests the rogues found. There weren’t many of them, but they might hide precious objects within.
Madeline took a glance at Marvin, hinting that he should go first.
Marvin mumbled, pretending to look at the treasure chests for a moment, but when everyone thought he would pick the treasure chests, he pointed at the other side.
"I’ll take these."
His finger was surprisingly pointing at those coffins!
Everyone looked at Marvin with their expressions becoming more and more confused. Was this guy a fool, or did he have another plan?
Could he be a Necromancer? Could he want to turn living people into Corpse Seekers?
This shouldn’t be… There was no mention of any ghosts coming and going through White River Valley.
As for selling them, who knew how much those Necromancers could fork out? This was surely far less profitable than the treasure chests which could bring tangible benefits, and without any risks.
After all, dealing with Necromancers could easily lead to them attacking you to take your treasures..
"You want these coffins?" Madeline was also surprised.
Marvin nodded. "You can decide on the distribution."
Since he said this, Madeline had to give him a fair amount.
Marvin had definitely established a great service in that fight. Anyone could see the strength the Corpse King displayed. If not for Marvin bravely rushing out and single-handedly killing the Corpse King, they might have lost a few people.
In the loot distribution, she had to satisfy Marvin.
Therefore she hesitated a moment and ended up giving half of the thirty coffins, including that stone coffin, to Marvin.
Marvin had no objection to this. He was already very satisfied with half of the coffins.
These coffins might be useless to others, but for him, it would be an experiment.
He had a way to turn a malicious coffin into a cultivation tank. Through this cultivation tank, he could slightly increase a human’s constitution.
After some improvements, it would be perfect for raising his garrison’s strength.
But he couldn’t do this by himself. He needed someone good at Necromancy to help him.
As for that person, Marvin naturally already had a candidate in mind.
...
The loot was quickly split, and the First Hall was also swept clean, to ensure there were no monsters left.
After overcoming the First Hall, Madeline didn’t rush to attack again. Instead she ordered Guardians to tear down the entrance of the monastery and block the passage from the First Hall to the Second Hall.
They began setting up camp in the First Hall.
Steady progress was the key to victory.
"It’s already nightfall. We will rest for the night and attack the Second Hall tomorrow," Madeline ordered.
Everyone began busying themselves and tents were slowly set up inside the Scarlet Monastery.
Marvin and Isabelle were assigned to a separate tent.
...
Very late at night, Marvin left the tent, careful to not wake the little girl.
He quietly walked along and soon arrived at a corner of the First Hall.
But he couldn’t have guessed that a mocking voice would suddenly call out behind him.
"You think you can deceive everyone?"
Advertisement
- In Serial42 Chapters
The Queen's Guard
Friedrich Schreiner is a proud gefreiter of the Queen's Guard, 2nd Company: the finest fighting infantry on the continent (barring the Temple Guard; but please don't bring that up). Service is honourable but, with the Empire on a peacetime footing, terribly boring. Affairs take a dramatic turn for the worse when a mysterious invader uses a forgotten and taboo magical means to breach the capital, plunging the nation into chaos and endangering the royal family. With events spiraling out of control, Friedrich is entrusted with a critical mission. Will hot lead, cold steel, and his determination be enough to see him through? The Queen's Guard is what I'm calling a black powder fantasy story: it's set in a loose equivalent of the early 18th century (plus or minus a few pieces I decided I wanted or didn't want). Magic exists, but not in a spell-slinging sort of way: it's Earth-shaking undertakings or minor enchantments forged in by master craftsmen, the grand working of a secretive cabal or a slight nudge to the course of a blow. I, the eternal optimist, have a full trilogy in mind. The first book is The Prince's Arquebusier, hence the cover and the title disagreeing! This is my shot at 2021's NaNoWriMo and RR Writathon! I've hitherto been terrible at writing long-form fiction, so this is an effort to break out of that by having some accountability in being supposed to post chapters regularly. Here's hoping it works! I have an outline, but not too much detail. I'll do my best to avoid continuity errors, doing anything glaringly stupid, or otherwise fluffing my lines, but I can't make any promises on that. Please do let me know any feedback! Always happy to improve. [participant in the Nov 2021 Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 94 - In Serial33 Chapters
The Ghost's Girl
"I know who I was. I was Aevlin, raised by Callily, wife of Alaric, son of the mad king," she said the words as if they belonged to someone else. Not her name, not her story. "I was a woodcrafter's apprentice, a strict woman's daughter, a selfish girl's sister. But you know that already. And she's dead." the girl's eyes glistened with tears that would not fall. She would not let them. "Does it matter?"The descendants of the last king have lived in hiding since before his death, but through a series of premeditated coincidences, Aevlin Saliz finds herself in her cousin's palace. There she faces the trials of mental labor, the allure of magic, and the stirrings of rebellion, all while doing her best to hide her identity as both royal and mage. But the desire to belong puts her independence to the test when a plot to overthrow the king in her name is uncovered. Aevlin must choose between quiet submission and taking control of her own destiny. [cover photo by Alice Alinari on Unsplash]
8 145 - In Serial11 Chapters
Fort Administrator
Dear Sir, You are invited to be considered for the position of civil administrator at the distant frontier outpost of Fort Amalveor. You may have heard rumours about this region. While it is indeed beyond the borders of the Polity, I can reassure you that it is a very calm and ordered land, sparsely inhabited, and largely untroubled. Should you decide to pursue this opportunity, please write back with the utmost urgency! The position has already been vacant for some time, and a talented administrator is needed with haste. Yours faithfully, Jessaire Sev-ConteneSenior ClerkNorth Hill Waypost Sebastian Lewis has been offered an administrative position at a minor outpost in a relatively obscure frontier territory. It isn't a position he's particularly well qualified for, but it's also not something he can bring himself to pass up. Packing his spare clothes, his outdoor boots, and of course his stationery set, he begins his journey into the unknown. This is a fantasy story with mysery and horror elements, following a protagonist with no special powers.
8 139 - In Serial27 Chapters
Vessel
A story of a hero, a boy, and the journey towards what should be a better future.It might be impossible to restore what has been lost, but perhaps something could be gained along the way.
8 124 - In Serial10 Chapters
Fableman
People say that if Charlie Pratt had a penny for every blunder, he'd fill his pockets and then misplace his trousers.When Charlie tries to learn more about Dalia Addair, the peculiar girl who lives in the haunted manor on the edge of town, he accidentally slots himself into her magical trial—a trial that she has spent her whole life preparing for; he gets a day.But something's wrong; the trial is unleashing monsters that haven't been seen for centuries, and powerful forces are determined to stop them at any cost.Without knowing whom they can trust, Dalia and Charlie must work together to survive, and finish the trials, if they don't strangle each other first.A Quirky and fast-paced magical academy story that proves how even the most unlikely of heroes will step forward... when there's a ten-foot troll screaming after him.
8 164 - In Serial11 Chapters
The Broken Crown: Cursed Prince
Many rumors reported hat Diliar has an underground gang called Khisfire. Some say that Khisfire is a gang of assassins. However, no one had ever met Khisfire. To be more precise, no one had ever managed to keep their lives alive long enough to tell stories about them. Isel, who had always enjoyed being a thief, had to change course when she met one of them. The only person who survived and a little secret was not enough to make her live peacefully because the misfortunes began to come one by one. Starting from the theft of panties which made her chased by the police, the murder of the king without a will, and then the leader of Khisfire who suddenly became a fugitive, all of which dragged Isel into the secret of Diliar. A secret that is darker than the darkness of the night and seems to take more than one life to survive One kingdom, one rightful heir, one crown, and only one life to survive
8 163

