Night Ranger

Chapter 487: Withering World Tree

Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation

A shadow was swiftly flickering through the lush forest.

Its short body was moving quickly along while still remaining obscured by the foliage.

It was early morning in the North. The sun had just risen and there was still some dew left on the trees in the Supreme Jungle.

The Shadow passed over the dew but didn't leave any traces.

It seemed as if it was out of this world.

It was proudly observing the surroundings as it scurried around. Those were important pieces of information, and after returning, it was bound to receive a reward.

That group of wretched Druids definitely didn't think that a Devil would be able to infiltrate their half-opened Sanctuary.

Thinking of that, its pride intensified.

But suddenly, a forceful hand grabbed its vital part!

It tried to flee using its superior speed, but the other side seemed to know its abilities and firmly held onto it, making it unable to escape.

Marvin looked at this mouse-like lifeform with interest.

It wasn't something seen very often. Hell's Familiars were rare even in the Nine Hells.

This thing didn't have the aura of a Devil and it was small, quick, and could Stealth. It was a natural scout.

In fact, if not for Marvin accidentally stepping into Hell before, his contract wouldn't have resonated with it and he wouldn't have been able to discover this Familiar.

A Familiar's fighting strength was low. Once found, there was nothing they could do but try to escape.

Especially now that it was captured by Marvin, a Legend powerhouse. Taking care of a Familiar wouldn't be an issue for him.

He looked at the Familiar with a gaze full of curiosity as he gently asked, "Little guy, I know you can understand me."

"Now, tell me, who are you loyal to?"

...

In the depths of the Supreme Jungle.

Jadeite City.

A few tall silhouettes stood on a platform spreading from a huge tree, overlooking the entire homeland of the Druids.

They remained silent. A leaf slowly fell down.

"Another one."

"The World Tree keeps withering."

"We can only sit and wait," one of the Druids said with a heavy expression while looking at the wilted leaf.

If Marvin was here, he most likely would have recognized the people present.

A few of the Migratory Bird Council's higher-ups, the most powerful Druids of the North, were gathered there.

Sky Fury, Mother of Creation, Dark Blue Moon.

And there was a wrinkled old man.

The old man looked very old, as if he might leave this world anytime, but his eyes were still full of vitality.

"We must ascertain why," the old man slowly said.

The next second, a light suddenly burst out in his palm.

Within the light, in a dark green ocean, a shadow was moving forward.

They all looked at that shadow, which had a mist appearing over his face.

"This matter has been like this since that Viscount Marvin entered the World Tree." The old man shook his head. "And from what we know, his power and prowess recently greatly increased. In fact, ever since he appeared, his strength has been increasing extremely quickly. From an unknown youth to a powerhouse able to kill a God…"

"Anything that doesn't conform to the rules of nature is peculiar."

The other three Great Druids looked at each other in dismay, wanting to speak but not knowing what to say.

Ultimately, Mother of Creation stood out. "I treated Viscount Marvin once. At that time, he was almost killed by Glynos and almost died under the curse of Nightfall. While we were in contact, I didn't get the impression that he was the kind of person that would steal the power of nature."

Sky Fury seconded, "I fought alongside him once, and Lorant also doesn't believe that he is that kind of person."

The old man slowly reminded, "But we know that Viscount Marvin's Domain is [Shadow]."

The Great Druids frowned at these words.

This was also the reason they were doubtful.

The North's Great Druids considered themselves to be the World Tree's Guardians. They guarded the peace and order of the forests of the North. But they recently found something weird.

The originally lush World Tree seemed to be withering!

This wasn't a trivial matter.

In all of Feinan's history, the World Tree had never withered.

The Great Druids searched through countless books, yet didn't find any related records. Meanwhile, the World Tree kept withering day by day at a rapid pace.

Even more so since the Gods attacked the Universe Magic Pool.

But the Druids clearly understood that the Universe Magic Pool and the World Tree weren't related. They could easily ignite the Source of Fire's Order because the Supreme Jungle was blessed by the power of nature.

It could partly resist the Chaos Magic Power.

Even if the Universe Magic Pool was completely destroyed, the mighty power of the slumbering Nature God would still continue to bless this territory.

The World Tree also wouldn't be affected directly.

Thus, there must be another reason.

The Migratory Bird Council attached a lot of importance to this matter and kept investigating it before it alarmed the council's Chairman, Old Ent, who had been slumbering for a long time.

After Old Ent awakened, he used a special Divination skill.

Nature-based Divination wasn't powered by the Universe Magic Pool, so it wasn't affected much by the Calamity.

They then saw the scene.

The Nature God's power was shockingly being stolen!

Moreover, that person was absorbing the power at a crazy rate, and this was the cause of the World Tree's withering.

Because of the Divination's restriction, they could only see a shadow.

From what Old Ent deciphered, this was most likely a powerhouse holding the [Shadow] Domain, or a God with the Shadow Godhood.

The Shadow Prince, the most likely culprit, had already been sent flying by Marvin.

From the information they got from the Astral Sea, after the Shadow Prince sealed his own God Realm, he sank into eternal slumber. Clearly, Glynos couldn't be the one stealing that power right now.

There were few potential culprits remaining.

At that time, they thought of Marvin.

When Marvin called for the Migratory Bird Council to help deal with Dark Phoenix, Old Ent learnt from Sky Fury that Marvin once went in the World Tree, and thus became interested in Marvin.

Information about him began to steadily flow into the Council's hands.

All the Great Druids looked at it, and even those who always had a good relationship with Marvin couldn't help but be swayed somewhat. It wasn't for no reason; Marvin's progress over the span of a few months couldn't simply be described as amazingly fast. It was heaven-defying!

Five months ago, he was still a 2nd rank Night Walker.

Now, he had become a Plane Destroyer, Dragon Slayer, and God Slayer!

He founded White River Valley, the first territory to ignite the Source of Fire's Order during the disaster.

He used his own power to destroy the Black Dragons of Feinan, ruthlessly making one of them submit to him.

This kind of power seemed to coincide with the theft of the Nature Power.

Old Ent not making a move right away was due to the opinions of Sky Fury and the others.

And after Dark Phoenix's death, he quickly made some preparations.

Endless Ocean's matter was just an excuse. Although the Great Druids were inflexible, they wouldn't treat their own like that.

His target was Marvin.

"If he is really the one… What will you do?" Mother of Creation asked softly.

Old Ent gazed into the distance. There, a youth was grabbing a Familiar while slowly walking toward them.

"It is not him." The wrinkles on Old Ent's face deepened.

...

Unlike White River Valley, the Druids had the support of the World Tree. Thus, after they ignited the Source of Fire's Order, they transformed the Supreme Jungle into a Sanctuary.

But that Sanctuary wasn't like White River Valley's sealed type, this was a half-opened type of Sanctuary.

Everything related to Chaos Magic would be expelled.

This also was one of the reasons Marvin chose to enter the Supreme Jungle quietly. Otherwise, even if he could enter the territory, he wouldn't be able to cover his tracks.

After grabbing that familiar, he naturally interrogated it.

But it was a pity that one reason Hell's Archdevils liked Familiars was their ability to keep secrets.

Hell's Familiars were stubborn and wouldn't talk. Getting information from them was very hard.

Marvin wasn't worried. Although the Familiar didn't tell him anything, Marvin already guessed some things.

His Hell Corps Contract had resonated, which meant that this thing most likely came from Diross' Hell.

It might even be the familiar of his grandfather, Diross Cridland.

'He already took care of the Archdevil? Or did the Archdevil take care of him?'

Marvin was quite interested about his own grandfather. In Lavis, he learnt a part of the truth. But Marvin felt that the Duke's words might not be correct. What happened to Diross? That was what Marvin was looking forward to finding out.

Marvin would be happy if he could see the relative suspected of having turned into an Archdevil in his trip to the North, as long as the place wasn't a battlefield.

The importance of the World Tree was well known. Hell and the Abyss' forces were trying to climb up the World Tree to reach the God Realms in order to conquer the Gods' armies.

Feinan's World Tree was one of the easiest entrances they could use.

It would be normal for the Devils to be interested in it.

As he thought of this, Marvin suddenly realized something was wrong.

When he entered the Supreme Jungle, he didn't feel the shock that he felt when he entered it for the first time in the game.

This place should be filled with Nature Power. Shouldn't he receive a willpower check the first time?

Marvin subconsciously checked his interface and found a willpower check… But the difficulty rating was only at [35], and because Marvin's willpower was too high, he didn't even feel it.

This was no surprise since Marvin was a lot more powerful than the young adventurer who had entered the forest at the time.

However, he clearly remembered that the Nature Power's willpower test should have a difficulty rating of [60]!

It might be fine if there was a small deviation, but he certainly wouldn't misremember by such a huge margin!

'Could there be an issue with the World Tree?'

Marvin rushed toward a Druid Village to ask about recent events.

He quickly heard some information that confirmed his guesses.

The Migratory Bird Council's latest order was for all those in the Druid villages on the edge of the forest to migrate toward the depths.