The cold wind passing through the vast paddy field felt extremely terrifying.

The sky was quite dark, and if one was to look down at the dark soil, they would be able to see a frightening crimson color.

This was the Crimson Wasteland.

Marvin was quickly leaving the edge of the paddy field, alone.

He now had a simple map in his mind. The map included the topography of Eisengel and the area to the northeast.

In Eisengel, no one could get anything without paying the price. If Marvin wanted a complete map as a newcomer, he naturally wouldn't be able to.

He had to complete a mission.

He thought for a bit and decided that in order to save time, he would undertake a mission that was rather difficult.

The reason this particular mission was rated at a high degree of difficulty was because it had been hanging on the announcement board for two weeks, but after all that time, no one completed it.

Moreover, few people were interested in this assignment even though the reward reached 30 Blood Essence Stones.

After Marvin discussed with the manager in charge of the missions, he managed to negotiate a standard Eisengel beginner toolbag as a bonus.

Usually, the newcomers would have some advantages when completing their first tasks, to help them along.

Marvin only needed to complete a beginner patrol mission in order to get a complete beginner toolbag.

The toolbag consisted of three different things: A set of two maps, which consisted of a Crimson Wasteland map and a map of Eisengel's surroundings. An instant teleportation scroll that could send the user back to Eisengel if they were within a radius of one kilometer. And lastly, a small cloak that was said to be able to hide the user's aura.

As for the newcomers' patrols, they were relatively simple. They only had to patrol within Eisengel, but the time was quite long, as the typical stint was two weeks.

Marvin was prepared to stay at most twelve weeks in the Crimson Wasteland, so why would he waste two weeks on a patrol mission?

Thus, he chose the fastest way.

Even if that mission was truly a bit problematic.

...

The northern part of Eisengel's paddy field was a rough, mountainous area.

The rugged area was covered in a great number of spatial cracks and void whirlpools. If someone flew over the mountainous area, they would likely fall into a spatial crack or a void whirlpool and end up in some random corner of the Universe.

Thus, the Crimson Wasteland's people established a path.

This path was called the [Withered Leaf Promenade].

From what he saw on the map, the Withered Leaf Promenade connecting Eisengel and the northern Black Swan Hill was a rather important communication path.

But recently, some monsters appeared there.

These monsters were native to the Crimson Wasteland.

The people here were familiar with the indigenous monsters. They included shriveled zombies, blood puppets, trolls, and other such creatures.

But this time, some Abominations and Trappers appeared within that group of monsters.

A patrol first discovered this abnormality and recorded it down before reporting back to the camp.

Then, a mission was posted, calling for an in-depth investigation.

The camp sent two of the most powerful scouts to investigate the matter of the Abominations and Trappers behind this.

The answer was soon obtained.

A third of the way down the Withered Leaf Promenade, there was a small canyon.

The canyon was originally empty, but now, there was an altar set up in the canyon.

The altar's owner was known as Balkh. This wasn't a given name, but rather a family name.

If Marvin wasn't wrong, the [Tyran Lord], who had the family name Balkh, was one of the most powerful lords of the Abyss.

As for the owner of the altar, Balkh, even if he wasn't his son, he was still related to the Tyran Lord.

Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to use Balkh as his own family name.

The scouts investigated and understand that the Abominations and Trappers wandering along the Withered Leaf Promenade were all summoned by that Balkh from the altar.

He was apparently experimenting with some mysterious magic.

As a Demon Lord, Balkh had extreme magic power. He was a caster from the Abyss and he was much more powerful than common Legend Wizards.

It was well known that because of their constitutions, when Demons studied magic, it would be much simpler than for other lifeforms.

Because Chaos Magic Power originated from the Abyss, Demons and Magic Power were interrelated.

Both were in line with the law of [Chaos and Madness].

But due to the Demons generally having low intelligence, they were mostly used to causing destruction and using power to solve their issues.

This led to most Demons relying on their innate skills to cast some spells.

Genuine Demon Wizards were rare.

And Balkh was one of them.

...

'The camp once sent two peak Assassins to eliminate Balkh, and I heard that one of them was a Level 4 Legend Ace Assassin…'

'But they failed. This shows that Balkh was on guard. That's quite normal, since even a Demon Wizard wouldn't dare to relax on the Crimson Wasteland.'

'The intel also said that Balkh raised a Magic Dragon. This Magic Dragon remained invisible while protecting him, and could absorb his injuries.'

'The two previous Assassins failed because of the obstruction of Balkh's Magic Dragon. And once the Assassins' first attack was blocked by the Wizard, he was able to rain down countless instant spells as a counterattack.'

Marvin continued moving along while calmly thinking of possible countermeasures.

Demon Wizard Balkh wasn't an easy target. Marvin was clear about this point from the moment he took over the mission.

But the bold and skilled Marvin wanted to try it.

This time, he chose a different method than the other Assassins.

The others chose to quietly hide and ignore all the monsters, going in a beeline toward Balkh.

But Marvin chose to kill his way over!

He didn't want let those monsters on the Withered Leaf Promenade go.

A wobbly shadow appeared in front of him.

It was covered in a black fog, with shattered cuffs around its legs and wrists.

The cuffs were imbued with powerful magic. Who knows how it could have destroyed them?

It was an Abomination.

One of the things Balkh summoned.

Marvin took a deep breath before silently entering Stealth.

With deft steps, he quickly moved around it, without the Abomination noticing Marvin's existence.

Marvin then glanced at a line on his interface and instantly used a skill.

"Woosh!"

A cold light flashed from his daggers, as the sneak attack was quietly launched...