"Marauder"

Tierney climbed the Upper Hive Tower, ascending upwards using the curved structure of the Gothic flying buttresses.

Even the bravest person would struggle to maintain their balance high in the air amidst howling winds and lashing, ash-laden rain.

But Tierney was close to completing the Path of Ascension, far surpassing ordinary people.

Gray rain provides excellent cover for the "Marauder".

The toxic clouds over Terra felt familiar, just like those over his homeland, Vostonia.

However, with the arrival of the Monarch, the establishment of the Paragon City, and the imitation and changes by other Hive City, his homeland became increasingly unfamiliar.

Tierney even heard from his fellow countrymen from Naryan-Mar, the northernmost hive Hive City, among the new recruits of the Legion's Auxilia, that they had seen the Sun in the Upper Hive, something unimaginable to the hive people of his time.

As he pondered, the locating runes on the helmet's visor flashed.

Tierney stopped, and in an instant, he drew a dagger from his waist with his right hand.

After becoming a "Marauder," he experimented with various weapons in the training cage of the Void Hunter, eventually finding that short swords and daggers were the most suitable for him.

Of course, for him, who had undergone modification surgery, the length of the short sword was close to that of an ordinary person's long sword, and the dagger was close to that of a short sword.

The "Marauder" twisted his wrist, and the dagger, as if it were part of his body, plunged into the Reyna House's Hive Spire.

Using his superhuman strength, he firmly adhered to the outer wall of the Hive Spire and used "Extraordinary Observation" to observe the patrol patterns of the guards and the location of the cameras inside the Hive Spire.

After circling the Hive Spire, the "Marauder" devised a route of action.

He silently counted the time in his mind, and after the patrol team passed by again, he climbed onto the windowsill.

The Marauder's large hand inserted the tip of the dagger into the crack of the balcony door, and with a flick of his wrist, he opened the latch.

Open the window, roll over, and close the window as you land.

The Marauder's movements were fluid and seamless, his massive body making not a sound.

Upon landing, the "Marauder" immediately crouched down, avoiding the cameras, and quickly made his way to the marked location on the helmet 'Eyepiece rune— the Reyna House's library.

This was not the first time the "Marauder" had broken into the Reyna House's Hive Spire; he had previously successfully "stole" the Hive Spire's blueprints and located the library.

The book he's looking for is most likely kept in the family library.

Given that it was written during the Long Old Night, Terra's environment is no longer what it once was, it would have little value to the current Reyna House and is unlikely to be placed in Carles' study.

The "Marauder" reached his left arm behind his back, and the "Agile Hand" awkwardly unzipped the gray zipper of the black backpack, pulling out the Reyna House key.

He inserted the key into the Cogitator, and after a series of green runes lit up, the golden door slowly opened.

Tierney pulled out the key and slipped into the library.

The moment he stepped into the library, his Spirituality was immediately stirred.

Observing the environment is only a small and unimportant aspect of "Superior Observation." For "Marauder," its greater value lies in their ability to immediately identify the most valuable items when faced with a large number of objects.

As the golden door slowly closed, the "Marauder" had already swept past the first row of bookshelves. He quickly arrived at the A-3 bookshelf, tucked the dagger back into the tactical pouch at his waist, and then pulled out a thread-bound book from among hundreds of books.

After quickly flipping through a dozen pages, he discovered that it was a geographical treatise.

Although it wasn't his goal for the trip, he still put it in his backpack.

As soon as he put the books into his backpack, he felt something melt inside him, and his steps became Feather Fall.

The Marauder continued on his way without stopping, heading straight for his next target.

After reading nine books in a row, Tierney still couldn't find that one.

Is that book not considered "valuable"?

If that's the case, it'll be troublesome. The Reyna House's collection of paper books exceeds 100,000 volumes; going through them one by one would take a lot of time.

Following his "Superior Observation," the "Marauder" found the eleventh book. After opening it, he saw that the title was "Monster Compendium" and continued reading.

His finger stopped when he turned to page thirty-three.

Unlike any of the previous monsters, this page has no illustrations.

[Eight-Legged Black Wolf]

He is a living shadow born from the Abyss eternal night.

He is the void of darkness that devours all existence.

Only the most foolish would stare at its form; those fools would bleed black blood from their eyes and die amidst the echoing murmurs.

[...]

Tierney's eyes lit up; the monster described on this page matched most closely the characteristics of the mythical creatures he had investigated that were most closely associated with darkness.

[The intelligence was correct. Compared to those half-imagined and half-created illustrated guides, the one in the Reyna House's collection does indeed contain useful information.]

Monster's name, detailed information...

Legend has it that the author of this book, Concepción Pereira, once saw a creature shrouded in darkness, and indeed he was right.

Tierney immediately put the Monster Compendium into her backpack, then quickly moved between the other bookshelves, placing the most valuable books one by one into her backpack.

Suddenly, his dark eyes flickered; the "Marauder's " Spirituality was stirred.

The "Marauder" immediately went to the bookshelf, pulled out the book written on parchment, "The Dust-Covered Golden Age," a book that includes twenty-three awe-inspiring ancient tombs across the five continents of Terra.

Tierney put "The Dust-Covered Golden Age" into his backpack, placing it together with "Monster Compendium".

With his backpack full, the "Marauder" arrived at the golden gate and listened intently.

Spirit Sight is the ability to see the colors of an aura through non- Spirituality barriers, but this is closely related to one's own level of spiritual attainment.

The "Marauder" cannot see the color of the aura through obstacles; he can only listen using Leman's Ear.

Tierney heard footsteps, then heard them leave, and then used the key to open the gate and returned the way he came.

The next morning, Nimrod obtained the <Monster Compendium> before leaving home, and he turned to the page about the eight-legged demon wolf.

[The Eight-Legged Black Wolf, the Mythical Creature Form of the "dark" Pathway is an eight-legged demon wolf, and this is no coincidence.]

This Eight-Legged Black Wolf must be Mythical Creature from the "dark" Pathway.

However, finding him will not be easy. The authority of the "Dark" Pathway is secret, and the Mythical Creature already possesses some of its characteristics. One can only hope that the Eight-Legged Black Wolf is not Sequence 2 creature.

Nimrod Lu stared intently at the pages, carefully studying the information on the Eight-Legged Black Wolf.

Where the Eight-Legged Black Wolf appears, people always fall into a deep sleep.

However, there is no record of fear, and its form is clearly defined.

It should be Sequence 4 Mythical Creature!

Nimrod concluded that he should continue looking at the records of its appearance and disappearance.

Eight-Legged Black Wolf arrives, stepping on the moonlight.

It flew towards the bright moon.

Does this simply refer to its appearance at night, or is it related to the Moon?

Sequence 4 Mythical Creature shouldn't be able to travel between Terra and the Luna, but Malcador mentioned it has followers.

Nimrod struggled to reach a conclusion, and after a moment's thought, he gave Tierney an order.

"Send a group of people to the Luna, and besides the Eight-Legged Black Wolf, keep an eye on the others."

He was determined to obtain the Primogenitor, but the current treasure-hunting team was not yet capable of accomplishing this task.

Acting rashly could lead to unforeseen changes.

"Those dilapidated domes are also magnificent ruins, where valuable items can be found."

"While you are on your mission, you also need to record detailed maps of the terrain and landforms."

"It's the same not only on the Luna, but in other places as well."

Nimrod added that these were all done incidentally, but they might come in handy at some point in the future.

He then took over <The Dust-Covered Golden Age> and discovered that it was the main material for the Sequence 8 in the "Savant" series, "The Archaeologist".

Besides this book, he had previously found sixteen other similar books in various libraries, all of which were also the main materials for "Archaeologist".

On the twenty-eighth day after the Primarch arrived in Terra, he received a message from Mars that all projects for the Gloriana-class Battleship built for him had passed inspection.

He waited two more days, and after finishing all his business in Terra, he boarded the Void Hunter and headed towards Mars.