Archer's Adventure Manual

Chapter 186 Mark Sobers Up

Mark Warren looked closely at the somewhat familiar-looking young man in front of him, then shook his head slightly. "It's been a while, I don't remember."

"So you're from Rockfall Town? Why are you in the Legion?"

Roth looked at Loran and remembered, explaining, "It's like this, this young man joined our legion during our march. I suppose he used to be from Rockfall Town. Hearing that Rockfall Town was in danger, he joined our legion to come and help."

Mark suddenly understood. "I see. As someone from the same hometown, I am very grateful that you have come back to help Rocky."

Loran smiled slightly. "I still have many questions on my mind since returning to Rockfall. I wonder if I could speak with Mr. Mark in private?"

Roth, ever the tactful one, said, "I'm going back to have a drink with my brothers. Mr. Mark, you should have a good chat with your fellow countrymen."

And so, Mark and Lorraine walked to another deserted spot.

Mark was unaware of what Loran had done that day, treating him merely as an adventurous outsider, and remarked to Loran about the current state of Falling Rock Town.

"During that monster attack, all I felt was despair, but thankfully we held on and saw the final glimmer of hope. All the sacrifices and perseverance were worth it," Mark said with deep emotion.

Lorraine looked at Mark with interest, then suddenly asked a question that caught Mark somewhat off guard, "Mr. Mark, I remember you have a fiancée, right?"

Mark was taken aback. "Fiancée...?"

Mark's somewhat fragmented memories began to surface sporadically, and a slight throbbing pain appeared in his head.

A very puzzling thought suddenly occurred to him, and he looked at Loran with great confusion, "I...do I have a fiancée?"

Lorraine blinked, quite surprised by the answer; she hadn't expected Mark to have forgotten about it.

Would a normal person who has only recently gotten married forget his wife?

Mark probably wouldn't, since even if he bought a fake Thompson, he wouldn't question its authenticity.

"Think about it carefully," Loran said again.

Mark naturally began to ponder, and the more he thought about it, the more his head throbbed with pain.

Loran seized the opportunity, and a scythe quietly appeared in his hand. Taking Mark by surprise, Loran swung the scythe at him.

In the void, Mark's soul sat there quietly.

The souls of some monsters surrounded him, but they did not entangle Mark's soul like the three mages did.

Mark gently grasped the soul of a monster and began to caress it.

Loran walked gently towards Mark, asking with some confusion, "They're monsters, don't you reject them?"

Mark's soul trembled slightly. "They may be monsters, but they can make me forget my pain and let them think for me. It's actually not bad. I don't want to face this world anymore."

"I remember you. I have a fairly strong impression of you. The day I bought the necklace for my fiancée, it was you in the antique shop."

"Later, I found out that the necklace was fake, and I took the initiative to tell my wife that I really wanted to talk to you about it."

"However, my wife stopped me. She didn't think it was a big deal. She felt my sincerity. Whether the necklace was real or fake was no longer important to us."

Loran raised an eyebrow, surprised that Mark wasn't a complete idiot; he had managed to tell that the necklace was fake.

Loran had another question in his mind, "Then why did you go back to Thompson's antique shop to buy things again? Do you enjoy getting ripped off like that?"

Upon hearing this answer, Mark, who was acting as the soul, immediately turned pale. "No, it's not that. Because although that necklace is fake, it's not that fake."

"My wife encountered some accidents while traveling, and the necklace emitted a strong light at the critical moment, protecting my wife."

"Its material isn't real, but it acts like a talisman, which is why I'm buying it again."

Loran suddenly realized, but now was not the time to argue about it. Loran raised his scythe. "Now I can help you. Do you want to accept my help?"

"Those entangled souls that make you forget your pain might be an anesthetic for you. Do you want to kill those souls?"

Loran could tell that Mark's soul knew everything, and that he had willingly accepted the monster's soul's role, which allowed him to forget his past pain.

Therefore, the real problem that needs to be solved is Mark's own mental state, and liberating his soul is only a one-sided solution by Loran.

What Loran is more looking forward to is Mark's own choice, so that Mark can become a better helper for him.

After pondering for a long time, Mark clenched his fist and said with a sharp look in his eyes, "Chivalry is about being brave enough to face anything even if you know everything... I had no choice before, but now, I accept your help."

Mark's soul said with relief.

"Alright." Loran swung his scythe and slew all the monsters, and at the same time, his proficiency with the Shadow of Death also increased accordingly.

Even the flesh-and-blood eye in her mind was speechless. "Damn it, you're just asking for trouble. I've been so good to you, why do you have to resort to that heartless man's methods..."

Loran ignored the Eye of Flesh and Blood. His actions were indeed somewhat unethical, but it was one of the few means he, a nobody, had to protect himself.

The void space dissipated, and Mark before them looked the same as before, yet very different.

"Thank you, sir." Mark's eyes were glistening with tears; he had remembered everything now.

The wedding day, which is usually one of the four great joys in life, turned into a complete tragedy for Mark.

A large number of monsters attacked, and he led his soldiers in a valiant fight, but to no avail. His wife, unable to keep up with the legion, was eventually killed by the monsters.

He would never forget that day, and he would risk his life to avenge his wife.

"Tell me, what's their plan?" Loran looked at the drunken soldiers, then glanced down at the wine in his glass.

Mark said gravely, "There's nothing wrong with this beer, but it can greatly numb the soldiers' minds. That terrifying substance from the Creator only works when facing targets that don't pose a significant mental threat."

"That is, to turn people into those monsters that are neither human nor ghost... I think the creator's plan was to take advantage of the situation at night and transform all the soldiers into those monsters."

"While such methods won't render all the soldiers of the legion incapable of fighting, they will definitely create a huge obstacle. At that point, that guy will use manipulative rhetoric to control all the soldiers."

"That creator knows the weaknesses of many people, just like me. He lets those pathetic monster souls control my mind, make me forget those bad memories, and immerse me in the numbness of reality."

"In short... that won't be a good thing."

Lorraine frowned. "Is there any way to change this situation?"

Mark wiped his eyes. "I think there should be. Although Commander Lake was tricked into coming to the manor castle by Dunn using their friendship, there is still a leader in the legion, Vice Commander Roth."

"The Creator may not have realized the current situation yet, but there is still hope for us."

After saying this, Mark went to talk to Roth, who was drunk and thought that Mark wanted to chat with him about all sorts of things.

But Mark told him something that shocked him greatly. Mark recounted everything that had happened in Rockfall and some things about himself.

Roth originally thought that Rockfall Town was as peaceful as he had imagined, but he never expected that there were so many secrets hidden there.

Then Roth and Mark began to discuss the specifics. The Creator's actions would likely occur in the middle of the night, and they still had time to make adjustments.

But the soldiers had already drunk a lot of ale, and their minds were numbed by alcohol, making it difficult for them to adjust and launch a counterattack at this point.

There's only one way: stall for time.

Using his authority as deputy commander, Roth roused the soldiers one by one, forbidding them from speaking during the operation, and quietly carried out the relocation.

They moved from one inn to another. According to Mark, the Creator usually sends winged creatures from the sky to drop substances that can turn people into monsters.

As long as they can avoid that wave of material attacks, the soldiers of the legion may not be afraid of a direct confrontation.

Loran met Barton again, and Barton told Loran what he had seen and heard, but Barton's information was now somewhat irrelevant.

"I've made some progress, Barton. You can rest assured about your parents' situation; there won't be any major problems," Lorraine reassured Barton.

Barton breathed a long sigh of relief after hearing what Lorraine said. Regardless of whether what Lorraine said was true or not, he hoped it was true.

The drunken soldiers were very impatient. All they wanted to do when they were drunk was to sleep, but they never expected that Deputy Commander Roth would give such an unreliable order.

They were quite dissatisfied with Roth for a time, and because Roth was the vice commander, they became even more arrogant and their whispers continued.

Roth seemed somewhat impatient with these guys' blatant disregard for his authority. He turned to look at the marching legion and immediately spotted the whispering fellow in the crowd.

Lotte immediately locked onto the guy and walked straight up to him.

The soldier who had challenged Roth's authority was somewhat flustered upon seeing this scene, but he quickly regained his composure and, fueled by alcohol, glared back fiercely.

He looked very self-righteous.

Roth walked up to the soldier and coldly said, "Didn't you hear the order I just gave?"

The soldier scoffed, "You know perfectly well we've all been drinking, so why suddenly issue such a strange order to leave the hotel? And Commander Lake hasn't returned yet. I seriously doubt the professionalism of your orders!"

The soldiers whispered among themselves upon seeing this. They were all shocked by what the soldier had said. After all, Roth was a deputy commander. For him to say such a thing could only mean that he had really drunk too much.

A smile appeared on Roth's face. He didn't say anything more, just...

"boom!"

A cold fist slammed into the soldier's face, denting his cheek, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

The soldier sitting on the ground immediately began to beg for mercy, wriggling backward as he pleaded, "No, no, no, please forgive me, sir! My actions just now were somewhat extreme!"

Roth ignored the soldier's pleas for mercy and continued to beat him until he was bruised and battered, lying on the ground howling in pain, before he finally stopped.

Kill the chicken to emulate the monkey.

Rott's gaze swept around the room. "From the very first day you entered the Legion, you began learning the most important lesson of your lives: obey orders!"

After seeing what happened to this soldier, the other soldiers also became more obedient.

After dealing with this minor incident, Roth led his legion to successfully relocate, choosing a more secluded inn as their new base.

If such a strange substance is indeed being released, its effects can be minimized as long as one does not ingest too much of it.

Furthermore, the stronger one's mental strength, the less affected one becomes by this substance. Special methods are required to deal with adventurers and legion soldiers.

For example, the effects of alcohol, combined with the fact that the mind is relaxed during deep sleep, make it the easiest time to succeed.

Based on this, Roth established a rule of rotating guard duty, with the number of people taking turns being about one-third of the legion, in order to ensure that the legion was not affected to the greatest extent.

Looking at the well-prepared legion, Loran stood alone, gazing at the night sky, a hint of melancholy on his face.

Lorraine walked over to Mark. "Thank you for your help. You made a remarkable decision. What are you thinking about now?"

Mark Warren looked into the distance and sighed deeply. "I... don't know what to do. To be honest, you weren't the first people to come here. The first advance team and many other adventurers also came here before and after."

"And they all had similar experiences without exception. Among them were many rebels who either died or ultimately chose to compromise and help the creator to commit evil."

Mark looked down at his hands. "I seem to have caused a lot of harm without realizing it. The fates of those adventurers who came to help Rockfall Town are more or less related to me."

"If I can finally defeat that creator, I hope my ending will be that I die on the way to the charge."