Night Ranger

Right after the explosion.

A candle was lighting the path in the damp tunnel.

It was a complex tunnel with numerous secret rooms.

Each room had strong defensive mechanisms. Though some rooms were left open, the stuff inside those wasn’t as good.

This was Overlord Diggles’ hidden treasure trove.

After he established the Decaying Plateau, he put all the treasures he collected from various planes there.

Shadow Thief Owl quickly progressed through this cave.

He didn’t have much time to take care of the locked rooms, so he swept those open rooms clean!

Despite this, the stuff inside was still priceless.

At that moment, Marvin’s voice echoed from the Thousand Paper Crane at his waist. "How is it, Sir Owl? Visiting the hidden treasury should be quite pleasant, right?"

Owl answered while still working on collecting the treasures, "Pleasant my ass!"

"Diggles sent a doppelganger after me!"

"Even though I followed your method, rushing as fast as possible to the treasure cave, while Diggles needed to use some complicated spells to enter, I still only have two minutes to steal everything! Damnit, is this the ‘plenty of time’ you promised me?"

On the other side, Marvin watched the White Deers leave as he shrugged. "Two minutes should be plenty of time for you, right?"

"Remember to move your hands faster, I also get a part of these treasures."

Owl couldn’t help but curse, "You deceitful kid, you made this Great Thief do the most dangerous work while you sit and wait for a share!"

"I am a thief, I can only steal things. But the situation has changed, Diggles is waiting for me outside! I’ve already turned from a thief snatching from the shadows to a robber stealing in plain sight!"

Marvin laughed for a bit. "Congratulations on your class advancement."

"I believe that with your strength, holding back Diggles’ doppelganger shouldn’t be too hard."

"But if you really can’t resist, strategic retreat is also part of the plan."

Owl stayed silent, apparently busy snatching some more things, ignoring Marvin.

Marvin knew that Shadow Thief wasn’t a very suitable class for battle. Holding off the Evil Spirit Overlord’s doppelganger would be highly difficult.

Regardless of how long he could hold him back, his part of the plan had already been achieved.

At that time, Hathaway received his signal and cast a Teleportation Door.

He unhesitantly walked in.

As a result, he saw Diggles’ expression. It looked like Diggles wanted to eat him alive.

Despite having experienced countless storms, seeing such an angry expression on the Evil Spirit Overlord made his chest instinctively fill with apprehension.

But he had no intention to fight with Diggles. After being teleported by Hathaway, he jumped on the World Tree and went inside a hole in the trunk.

In the hole there was a pale yellow piece of thin leather calmly lying there.

Marvin went over and grabbed it.

It was time to implement the second part of the plan.

...

Time flew by quickly in the hidden treasure trove. As Owl put away a locked treasure chest, Diggles finally caught up to him!

He was extremely angry!

He was actually slowed down by his own defenses.

Yet he didn’t know how this vile Shadow Thief managed to bypass them and stealthily enter his own treasure trove!

This was unforgivable.

"This is my domain. If you want to steal my things, you have to be prepared to pay the price!"

Diggles’ doppelganger coldly glared at Shadow Thief Owl. "And the price is death."

Owl bitterly laughed. "I don’t want to die."

His body then disappeared!

Diggles coldly snorted and his doppelganger also disappeared from the treasure trove.

Two minutes later in some corner of the Underworld, Owl awkwardly fell on the ground!

Diggles was invincible on this plane.

Even someone overpowered like Inheim was also unable to harm Diggles. All he could do is barely hold his own against him.

As for Owl, he couldn’t even resist at all!

In a mere two minutes, he cut a sorry figure under the chase of Diggles’ doppelganger!

Ultimately, a flaw appeared and he was caught, almost losing his life.

‘Yup, no way I can hold that one back,’ he thought gloomily.

Then, his body suddenly split into a thousand doppelgangers!

Each doppelganger fled to the Shadow Plane, using [Shadow Travel]!

As those thousand Owls fled to the Shadow Plane, a bit more than eight hundred of them were intercepted by Diggles while the remaining hundred-something doppelgangers managed to escape!

It was a big blow to his vitality.

‘Damn, next time I won’t listen to that bastard’s sweet words!’

Owl’s heart was still furiously beating as he cautiously moved through the Shadow Plane.

This was a lot more terrifying than standing against the Ancient Red Dragon!

He had the backup of many powerhouses in Tornado Harbor, and just had to play his role.

But this time he was facing the Evil Spirit Overlord’s doppelganger on his own, which was too much for him!

‘They should be about to start the second part of the plan.’

‘That Marvin really doesn’t fear death...’ Owl was thinking as he continued through the Shadow Plane.

The second part wasn’t related to him.

But he still wasn’t relieved.

Suddenly, he noticed the backs of two people ahead of him!

Owl stiffened!

He stopped moving.

The Shadow Plane was a peculiar place where space-time was distorted. He stood there and watched those two backs.

Those two people were looking in another direction.

Owl followed their line of sight and saw a Shadow Thief blinking away.

That Shadow Thief was Owl himself!

‘This is the previous me!’

Owl had a good understanding of the Shadow Plane.

He instantly understood what happened.

People were watching him, or at least that image of him, when he went through the Shadow Plane to enter the Underworld earlier.

Owl was extremely familiar with one of the two people.

It was actually that Glynos who had been humiliated by him, stripped naked!

Owl’s scalp went numb.

If this was Glynos’ avatar, then that other person...

‘No good!’

‘Marvin and the rest are in danger!’

Owl clenched his teeth and sped up, immediately returning to Feinan.

He couldn’t use the Thousand Paper Crane in the Shadow Plane.

It could only be used to communicate in a material plane. As for communication across planes, even if it could be done, it would use a lot of the Thousand Paper Crane’s lifespan. But he didn’t worry too much about that at the moment!

"Marvin! There is a situation."

"Glynos appeared. And there is another guy. There is the symbol of the Plague God’s cult on his clothes. It’s highly likely that this is the Plague God’s avatar!"

...

In the World Tree, Marvin heard this news and faintly frowned.

The appearance of the Shadow Prince wasn’t too surprising. After all, this guy was completely humiliated by Owl last time, so he would definitely have some hard feelings.

But the Plague God’s avatar appearing was a bit unexpected.

Furthermore, there was another invisible threat, Bamboo. He had already considered that this operation wouldn’t escape the sight of the World Ending Twin Snakes. So many Legends gathered in one location, and many of them were great characters that were wanted by them.

When would those enemies hidden in the dark emerge? Marvin wasn’t sure.

He had prepared good strategies against them.

But the Plague God’s appearance wasn’t in his calculations.

He thought for a while and finally said a name to the Thousand Paper Crane.

...

Feinan. Marvin’s voice came out of the crane.

After Owl heard the name, he tried to ask something, but unfortunately the Thousand Paper Crane suddenly ignited.

It turned into a pile of ashes in the blink of an eye.

Communication across planes was something that consumed large amount of energy. Even though Owl’s Origami was a secret technique from ancient times, it couldn’t avoid this issue.

He took a deep breath. Since things had reached this stage, he could only give it a try.

He then headed southeast!

...

On his Supreme Throne, the furious Diggles didn’t move his main body at all from the start!

He always sent his subordinates and doppelgangers to fight.

But the current stalemate made him extremely impatient.

The World Tree’s Seed that Endless Ocean and Sky Fury were growing really gave a powerful support to the team of Legends.

Ivan and Inheim were each fighting off one doppelganger.

And Hathaway was using a Legendary item, the Candleflame Necklace, to summon twelve Fire Elementals!

These Fire Elementals were also enjoying the World Tree’s bonuses.

The Corrupt Titans emerging from the Rotting Sea one after the other were not actually real Titans. They were merely Titans’ descendants that were caught by Diggles and turned into degenerate lifeforms by Diggles by using negative energies.

Their strength were far from a real Titan’s strength. The Fire Elementals were able to barely contend against these monsters thanks to the World Tree’s bonuses.

As for the rest of the Evil Spirits, Lorant personally took care of them.

The Heavenly Deer had many abilities and they had could naturally restrain Evil Spirits. With Hathaway also casting a large scale Legendary spell to sweep them out, Diggles’ subordinates couldn’t even get close to the World Tree!

Diggles was infuriated!

Although his other doppelganger was quickly rushing back, the longer this dragged on, the worse he felt.

If these guys came to conduct a rescue, then their purpose should have already been accomplished.

So why hadn’t they tried to leave yet!?

Diggles was no fool, and he felt a bit worried.

At that time, that Ranger who hid in the tree hollow came out and stood on a branch of the World Tree.

His eyes rested on Diggles’ Supreme Throne!

Diggles’ heart sank.

Even if this didn’t feel logical, he still had a bad premonition.

Could they have already figured out the throne’s secret?

...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Owl just sent me some news. The Shadow Prince and Plague God’s avatars are peeping on this battle."

"I don’t know how many others are watching from the sidelines, but we have to act fast."

Marvin adjusted his breath and said with an extremely calm tone.

"Time to make a move!"