196 Bizarre Situation (1/2)

”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.

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.