Chapter 196 - Bizarre Situation
"The two palace guards. They haven't returned yet?"
Zorbek glanced blankly at Leon with confusion. The two palace guards had returned some time ago, but the prince would not ask this question without reason.
"Yes, they had already returned, Your Highness. Why did you…"
Zorbek spotted the two palace guards, Scott and Willy among the group, but he noticed the numbers didn't add up. They were still short two palace guards from the original 20!
"Huh? Where's Damir and Lutheran?"
Once the question was raised, the group threw glances at each other and became startled. Damir and Lutheran were just with them a moment ago, but they were gone. No one knew or how they just silently disappeared.
"Damir and Lutheran were just with us a moment ago…"
"I was just talking to them just now too…"
"That's right. How did they just slip away unnoticed?"
Suddenly, the cold air made some of the palace guards shiver. Unlike the others, Leon had already learned the history of the Nova Empire. However, even though the palace guards don't know what happened, they could still guess that a lot of people had died in this place.
No matter what caused the ancient civilization to perish, would the people at that time abandon their weapons? The palace guards certainly didn't think so.
"Maybe… we disturbed the resting place of the dead and angered the spirits. Damir and Lutheran could have been spirited away."
A palace guard gulped when he arrived at this conclusion, while several others paled after listening. Most of them hadn't seen an evil spirit, but they grew up listening to ghost stories from their parents.
Parents read ghost stories to scare their children to sleep, saying that the evil spirit will take away if they don't. Often, the children would either cry or be too scared to fall asleep instead. But the point is, if they were asked if they believe in ghosts, every one of them would nod their heads without a doubt.
Humans had a rich imagination, but it didn't stem from nothing. There was always a source that inspired them.
As for what inspired people to come up with ghost stories, it was Extreme Misty Forest. Anyone who've heard the wails of the misty forest would know that ghosts and spirits were indeed real.
"Ah… rest in peace, comrades."
The palace guards expressed their condolences when they heard that Damir and Lutheran might be spirited away. There's no coming from that one.
"Enough nonsense. You're all grown men. How can you still believe in such childhood superstitions?" Zorbek barked.
Leon frowned. It was no superstition. If a person was possessed by an evil spirit, they turn into a violent bloodthirsty fiend and attack other humans on sight. Only a high-level evil spirit that cultivated its intelligence would possess humans and lure them away.
But he didn't believe that was the case either. Although the air in the underground was cold, it wasn't yin. Even if there were any evil spirits born underground in the ancient past, they would have been drawn to Extreme Misty Forest out of instincts for survival long ago. Only a place like Extreme Misty Forest could nurture evil spirits.
The depths of the gloomy underground, the only current source of lighting came from a single sunstone slotted in the center of the gathering point.
"Can I bother your Highness to use your special eye technique to scout the surroundings for the two men?" Zorbek requested politely after his earth senses failed to pick up anything in its limited range.
Leon nodded and activated his [Spirit Eyes] to scan the vicinity of their gathering point. He also used his divine sense to search the blind spots inside the nearby buildings. But after a moment, he shook his head. "They're not in the vicinity. It seems they have left the designated area."
When he was searching with his [Spirit Eyes], he found many traces of footsteps, some of which lead outside the designated area and deeper into the underground. There was also no trace of a struggle.
When he saw this, his first thought was the palace guards had gone rogue. But upon further thought, it shouldn't be the case. The two backpacks of the two palace guards were still here.
Greed and ambition fester in the presence of great treasures. However, the palace guards were already permitted to train with the earth crystals. Transcendence was within their reach. There was no reason for betrayal unless they had other motives.
Leon thought of another possibility for the two palace guards' disappearance.
Leon already knew there were plants growing in the underground world. There might be a plant capable of emitting hallucinogens and bewitched the two missing palace guards into silently leaving the designated area. Although Leon had yet to confirm whether it was a hallucinogen, he had started to smell a strange scent in the air.
"Damir and Lutheran left the designated area? Why would they do that?" Zorbek frowned. "Should we go look for them, your Highness?"
"Wait."
Leon took in several whiffs of the strange scent to identify it. A Tier-3 Poison Cleansing Pill was already in his hand just in case. The strange scent was slowly drifting over to their location with increasing clarity and foulness. It was the smell of turd…
Leon froze and dropped his pill.
A few moments later, the others also began picking up the smell and discussing among themselves.
"You smell that? Something smells like shit."
"I don't think I want to smell that…"
"It seems to be coming from that direction."
Leon glanced in the direction the palace guard pointed. The direction led deeper into the unexplored ruins. After picking up his pill, he said, "Ahem… Let's go check it out. We can leave our stuff here."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The group complied. With two fewer people, they couldn't carry everything, and it would only slow them down in the case of an emergency.
As the group headed over, Leon scouted the area with [Spirit Eyes] for hidden danger. They several buildings but they ignored it and went straight to the source of the smell.
Within the remains of an alleyway between two half-buried buildings, they arrived at the designation. Although they had already expected it, they were still taken aback by the sight. It was two lumps of fresh turd.
The group was filled with confusion.
Seeing the group fall into silence, a palace guard spoke, "We didn't come here to admire other people's turd, did we?"
"Why on earth would they come all the way out here to take a dump without a word?" Zorbek frowned. He couldn't understand the two missing men's thoughts.
"Maybe they were embarrassed to disturb the group with the foul smell?" A palace guard speculated.
"Didn't the smell end up drifting over anyway? What's there to be embarrassed about? We are all men."
"Actually, not all of us…"
The group stole several glances at Lilith. They didn't know how Lilith got rid of her wing, but without it, she looked no different from any other ordinary girl. They couldn't look at her with the same prejudice without the distinct feature that set their races apart. She was quite a fine lass.
Lilith was filled with a weird feeling and oddly creeped out by their stares. She didn't expect to see such a major change attitude just by hiding her wings.
"Ahem." Leon interrupted with a cough. He wished the group could take the situation more seriously. "Take a look at the lump of shit. It's been squished and there's a trail of skid marks leading deeper into the ruins."
Actually, the palace guards were only trying to loosen the tension. Stiff movements wouldn't allow them to perform in their optimum state. The palace guard appeared lax, but they had never dropped their guard.
Zorbek followed the traces pointed out by Leon, before he frowned. "Something had dragged them away. There are no other traces of battle or resistance, but it's safe to say that their chances of survival are close to zero."
"The trail ends here," Leon stated.
At the end of the trail, they could see the ground was intertwined with roots and filled with cracks. The cracks exposed many holes large enough for humans to crawl through. Also, the air was getting fresher.
They had arrived at the perimeters of an ant nest, but it was strange why the air was getting fresher.
Did the ants build their nest under a sea of plants?
"I don't detect any creatures lurking inside. However, my sense doesn't reach very far. It will be unwise to enter these holes, your Highness. We could get swarmed by ants." Zorbek warned while looking at the ant tunnels.
Leon agreed.
Entering such narrow tunnels will put them at a severe disadvantage by restricting their movements and ability to adapt to changes. It was no different from throwing their life away.
"Should we abandon them and turn back?" Zorbek suggested hesitantly. Although he was unwilling, he couldn't endanger the prince.
"No, we need to get to the bottom of this. If they are still alive, we will bring them back. If they are dead, we will bring back their corpses. They after all part of the elites of our kingdom. We can't abandon them. I want everyone to be on high alert and watch the ant holes as you pass them. We will continue forward in the open space."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The palace guards answered with relief and enthusiasm. They were also unwilling to abandon their comrades.
Although no one knew why the two left the designated area without order, they intended to find out exactly why.. There were bound to find the answers on the other end of the ruins.