In his past life, by the time the players entered Feinan half a year after the Great Calamity, many forces had managed to establish themselves.

At that time, the group that controlled Steel City was known as [Illusory Scorpion].

The name sounded decent, but it originated from a group of mountain bandits that occupied a valley north of Steel City.

These mountain bandits had no Wizards among them and their leader was very determined. They had once been mercenaries who were famous in the North's City-States.

It was said that the leader later committed a crime and had no choice but to flee to the South. He took some people with him and formed them into a bandit group.

However, his means were very ruthless. He not only plundered, but also killed. He never left a witness and he didn't shrink from pillaging or raping.

Although he wasn't a Legend, he had the strength of a Half-Legend.

Under his tough rule, the bandits who lost their minds to Chaos Power were buried alive.

In that way, although his group lost some people, it wasn't harmed too much.

After the turmoil from the Great Calamity started to subside, they slowly cleared out the corrupted beasts and Wizards near the valley. Later on, they seemed to have received help from a mysterious power, letting them gain control of Steel City.

Marvin wasn't too sure about who this backer was. When he passed by Steel City in his past life, the players had already destroyed [Illusory Scorpion] and a few guilds had divided up the resources of Steel City.

...

Although he didn't know much about their backer, the video of the instance had been shared by the guilds and Marvin had watched it.

As a professional gamer, he was fascinated by these kinds of things.

It was also in that video that he noticed the most important part of the city!

Indeed, Steel City had many weapons warehouses, but in fact, there was a hidden place that stored a great amount of food and top-grade military weapons!

It was an underground stronghold called [Morrigan's Heart].

Morrigan was the name of Steel City's first generation Lord.

This City Lord planned far ahead and left a refuge for the future generations.

Because of Steel City's special function, many residents were soldiers or were otherwise related to the military. Most ordinary people weren't allowed in and even merchants didn't have the privilege to spend the night in the city.

This was the South Wizard Alliance's most important military fortress.

The city stood among a forest of Wizard Towers.

Alas, it was also because of this that Steel City suffered even more at the onset of the disaster!

The current Steel City had already become nothing but rubble and ruins.

But Marvin was pretty sure that Morrigan's Heart should still be in decent shape!

The weapons there weren't ordinary by any means. The place was rumored to hold many military-grade Alchemy materials and Magic Weapons!

The South Wizard Alliance had been storing things up for many years and its strength wasn't as simple as what was visible on the surface.

In fact, if the Wizards had found a way to avoid being affected by the collapse of the Universe Magic Pool, then even if the Gods invaded, the Alliance might not necessarily be powerless against them.

...

Marvin maintained his Stealth as he quietly opened the entrance to the sewers before going in.

"Shhhrrh!"

Two huge, deformed rats rushed right past Marvin.

His Stealth was too high so these Monsters didn't even sense him.

'Eh?'

Marvin was slightly surprised.

'There is someone here?'

He had very sharp Perception and managed to faintly hear some footsteps far in the distance!

'Has someone found Morrigan's Heart before me?'

Marvin frowned and immediately hastened his steps while making sure to keep his Stealth up.

...

The sewers had tunnels snaking out in all directions and the whole place was filled with a rotting smell.

A large amount of rat corpses were floating on the water, and sometimes there would be the corpse of a stray cat, a lizard or some other animal.

The sewers reeked all over.

Marvin followed the path he remembered, sometimes stopping for a few seconds to make sure of his way, and finally arrived at the entrance of Morrigan's heart, which was a hidden door.

Only the people with the secret key could open it.

But that hidden door had already been opened!

Sure enough, there really was someone here.

Marvin didn't worry about it and slowly went in.

After entering, he saw four fierce men standing on guard, each holding a broadsword in his hands.

Illusory Scorpion!

Marvin's heart sank.

How could this be!

These mountain bandits actually found Morrigan's Heart first?

Based on the course of history, they should still be in that fortified valley trying to get rid of their internal issues.

How could they have the strength to come get the weapons and food from Morrigan's Heart so quickly?

Marvin was puzzled by this discrepancy.

But those four men before him were indeed from Illusory Scorpion. There was no doubt about this.

They had the bandit group's unique mark, along with a rather heavy killing intent that could be noticed with just a glance.

Although their strength wasn't outstanding, they had experienced many bloody battles.

Being able to survive up till here in spite of the Calamity explained a lot.

They were watchfully guarding the entrance to Morrigan's Heart. To Marvin's surprise, he saw that one of the bandits was holding a very valuable Gem of Seeing and using it from time to time to look for any invisible intruders.

Unfortunately for the bandit, Marvin's Stealth had reached such heights that a mere Gem of Seeing wasn't worth his attention.

...

After passing the four bandits guarding the door, Marvin quickened his pace again. He skirted past a few obvious traps and then reached the center of Morrigan's Heart!

To add to his confusion, he saw that this place was occupied by not just one group, but two!

Marvin identified one of the groups as Illusory Scorpion's people, the bandits.

As for the other group, they seemed to be in the weaker position. They had women, children, and some that were so old they had trouble walking.

However, they still had some robust young men among them, and from the way they stood, they should be soldiers.

The two sides seemed to be negotiating.

Marvin thought of something and sneaked over to eavesdrop.

...

"Senma, don't be too greedy."

The group with soldiers was headed by a robust man. He insisted in a deep voice, "We keep our original conditions. You can keep a third of the weapons."

"The true treasure of Morrigan's Heart needs a Wizard to open it, so we can only get the more ordinary weapons for self-defense."

"If we humans massacre each other during such desperate times, then we are done for. Thus, I'm willing to split the weapons with you."

"But the food, definitely not!" the soldier finished decisively.

The people behind him were showing determined expressions and even seemed unafraid of death.

That man called Senma was the leader of the bandits.

He chuckled while glancing at a few young girls behind the soldiers. "You are quite correct. For mankind to keep proliferating, we have to cooperate."

"Thus, I only ask for half of the weapons... and one third of the food should be good enough."

He then smirked and added, "Oh right, those few girls behind you aren't bad, they are old enough to give birth. There are no women in our stronghold. Share some with us, for the sake of mankind..."