Warriors will die if they charge.

Chapter 75 The End Is Not the End

"You mean, you encountered a ghost who shared ancient secrets with you, promising to give you a beautiful tattoo if you could awaken the sleeping gods? Oh, tough guy, you're really out of your mind. I admit that temple was beautiful and mysterious, but it had nothing to do with the sacrifices, plagues, and sleeping gods you mentioned. It was all a conspiracy by the snake people."

In the bright sunshine, Rye Wine, who had returned from the Bloodline Apocalypse, was still reviewing this bizarre experience.

Marcus tried his best to convince Bardin that the adventure was not a complete failure. He even produced an obsidian mirror and parchment covered in Navatar script as proof, but the dwarf scoffed and complained, "The backpack is gone, the money is gone, and even the fruit I was going to use to make beer is gone. What a terrible adventure. While there's still some time, let's hurry up and pick some Mayberries, lest we can't even afford beer when we get back to town."

No one believed Marcus's nonsense. After all, the Water Queen was a goddess of a lost civilization, which was too absurd, even more absurd than Marcus being a mage.

The matter came to an end, and they left Bloodline Apocalypse and returned to the normal rainforest environment. But everyone knew deep down that it was not a dream. Seth, whose plans had been disrupted by Rye, had his eye on this team that never played by the rules.

The slick, snake-like sensation seemed to linger behind Marcus, who was examining his new tattoo, when suddenly his nose twitched, and he looked toward Trish, who was hiding in the shadows of the woods.

That doesn't make sense. Zhuo'er's sense of smell is much more acute than mine; I can even smell the stench of the snake people, but she's still sulking like a Muggle.

"We should go find Mayflower; those lovely little flowers might salvage some of the damage," Bardin offered an important suggestion, but Marcus didn't nod in agreement. The dwarf glanced suspiciously at the rainforest behind him: "Tough Guy?"

Marcus shook his head; he just had a vague feeling, but wasn't sure.

"Let's go find May Rei."

Following the path they had come from, Rye Wine found more than ten Mayflowers by the stream. This amount of money was barely worth mentioning, since Marcus would never use the golden scale to complete the mission.

He needed to find the water ghost queen wandering in the rainforest—at least to find out about Houqin, what kind of person could silently guard the pool, using the last remaining shred of obsession to protect the last ray of civilization.

As they approached the adventurers' camp, Trish noticed Marcus constantly looking back and asked curiously, "You've been looking back the whole way. Is the Water Queen tempting you again?"

"I did hear some sounds—" Marcus was a little confused. The farther away from the rainforest they were, the more indistinct the sounds became.

"What did the voice say?"

"There were three different voices: one cursed me to a terrible death, one called me brother, and the last called me child."

Trish chuckled for a moment, amused by the words: "Alright, brother, kid, damn Marcus, we need to get ready to go back to town. If you're still feeling a bit fuzzy, go see Dr. Pedro."

"You've learned to joke around too? That's rare, Zhuoer."

"Not a single minute is peaceful with you and that noisy dwarf!" Drow rolled his eyes at him, his expression full of disdain, but then he noticed Drow's still puzzled look: "Is someone following us?"

Marcus nodded slightly, signaling to Trish to maintain her relaxed posture; the guy wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

Returning to the stream where we first picked Mayflower, the traces of the battle have been completely eroded by the rainforest. The hurricane swept everything away, and the insects and ants eagerly devoured the nutrients given by nature to make up for the losses suffered in the disaster.

The entire forest then circulates in some strange state.

"Has it not shown up yet?"

During the harvesting of Mayflower, Trissy and Marcus stood very close together, a position he had maintained for a long time, to the point that even the easygoing dwarf noticed something was off about the tough guy.

"But I don't think it's over yet—when do you think the snake will strike?"

"At the most unexpected moment, just like a spider ensnares a bird in its web, your disguise is too clumsy and it discovers you."

"Heh, who told that certain wary Drow Lord to always stare at everything around him with those red eyes? Is it because my elbow doesn't make you feel safe?"

"Perhaps? Ha."

Rye Wine found more than ten Mayflowers by the stream. This amount of money was barely worth mentioning, since Marcus would never use the golden scale worth thirty gold coins to complete the mission.

He needed to find the water ghost queen wandering in the rainforest—at least to find out about Houqin, what kind of person could silently guard the pool, using the last remaining shred of obsession to protect the last ray of civilization.

The adventure was nearing its end, and there was still some time before Hawke set sail. Marcus spent some time in the now-peaceful adventurer camp, arm wrestling with some seasoned warriors, while also studying the Path of the Serpent given to him by Thick Harp.

Overall, this parchment scroll recording ancient wisdom is based on the warrior philosophy of Navatl culture, which states that warriors need to have a body as strong as a python and the determination to kill with a single blow.

There are two sets of skills: one is martial arts using weapons, emphasizing speed and agility, and the other is unarmed wrestling, with grappling and strangulation as its core.

Marcus felt that the gift from the thick zither was very generous. He had always been troubled by the fact that his unorthodox fighting style relied too much on brute force and talent, and it was difficult to use against some skilled opponents.

The River Town warrior, who left a deep impression on the camp with his sharp tongue, was also jokingly given an elegant nickname by the adventurers: "Bird Tongue." His extremely strange mouth always reminded people of a parrot chirping in the forest.

Time passed slowly, and Hawke's ship arrived as promised. Marcus stood on the boardwalk, looking back at the steaming riverside forest, and gripped the obsidian dagger at his waist.

This isn't over yet. Once I figure out the Obsidian Mirror, I'll continue this adventure.

Jenny eagerly ran onto the springboard. Her short time with the rye wine was just a small episode in her career as a magician. Perhaps later she would use the Riverside Forest as a topic of conversation in the academy, and exchange some of her experiences in the Bloodline Apocalypse for the opportunity to step into the hall of magic.

But now, all she wanted was to hurry up and get out of this cursed forest. She carefully reviewed the whole process in the union bedroom.

It is believed that only by incorporating Marcus's encounters with past ghosts into the analysis can everything be considered appropriate.

Now a crucial question arises: will the snake people easily let go of mortals who interfere with evil rituals?

The farther away from here the better; she never wants to experience the scene of people distrusting each other again.