325 A Ghastly Face (2/2)
Lumi was deeply immersed in cultivation and did not know what happened. Only after Leon shook her was she roused awake from deep cultivation and became startled in the next moment.
”Ah? W-What is it, Leon?”
”We have company,” Leon repeated.
”W-Where?” Lumi looked around but did not see where this so-called 'company' was. She looked around with confusion before asking, ”Are you playing a prank on me, Leon?”
”No, I'm not. There was something here just now, but I killed it.”
Leon frowned.
After activating [Spirit Eyes] to search the surrounding, he found nothing. Even his divine sense did not pick up anything.
”This is strange. I am not picking anything.” Leon stated. His senses would not fail him, not unless he was experiencing an illusion or a hallucination of some sort.
Did he unwittingly get himself affected by the hallucinogens again? No, that should not be possible. He would not feel anything from an illusion or hallucination, but he definitely did when he struck the ghastly face.
”How did that thing sneak up without me noticing though?”
Leon began feeling a bit of dread towards the Weeping Forest. People had always feared the unknown, and he was no exception.
”Um…”
”What is it, Lumi? Did you discover anything?”
”Well… I don't know what you saw earlier, but there seem to be people coming from over there though.”
Lumi pointed in the distance to the left of them.
A few hundred yards away, a group of six figures traveled on the thin stretch of empty dry land located between the Black Swamp and the Weeping Forest.
These people wore fur cloaks and had fairly massive builds compared to the average adult human. Some had bone swords and daggers strapped to their side, while the others had large bone hammers and spear strapped to their back.
Although they were all hooded, Leon could tell that they were humans through his [Spirit Eyes]. After he confirmed this, he said with surprise, ”Oh? It's a group of six humans.”
”Really? We didn't have to wait long at all.”
Lumi was also surprised, not expecting to encounter humans first.
Also, they had only been on top of the Weeping Tree for 20 minutes at most.
”Yeah, but we do not know if they are friendly just yet, so we will continue watching them for now. Try not to make any noise for now.”
”Mm, got it.”
While Leon was facing the approaching six humans' direction, he vigilance was raised to the max.
He had not gotten over the previous matter with the ghastly face and did not know when another one would suddenly pop out.
If possible, he did not want to stay in the Weeping Forest for too long. It seemed very eerie and dangerous. But at the same time, he also wanted to get to the bottle of it.
…
”Pick up the pace, everyone. If we are too slow, we may not have time to pick up treasures.”
”Haiz, why did the Chief have to send us out to look for survivors? If anyone had been left behind in the Black Swamp, they would have already joined the pile of bones. Don't tell me, the Chief wanted to collect their remains?”
”Maybe. In any case, those people don't t seem to be from around here. They wear strange clothes and know some weird skills too. Perhaps, the Chief found some use for these people.”
”Do you remember the way, Big Brother?”
”En, it should have been around here. Alright, let us get this over and done with quickly. We don't want to lose a layer of skin while we are in here now.” The leader of the group said.
”Haha, I'm not worried about that at all. I can hold on for a whole day before these black waters do me any harm. I am more concerned about whether we run into more of those patrol demons.” The most robust person said.
”Alright, alright, can we hurry? You all have Tier 4 soul weapons, but I'm still using a Tier 3! I want a Tier 4 soul weapon too!” The younger male of the group complained.
With that, the group of six soon disappeared into the shroud of miasma.
Meanwhile, back on the Weeping Tree's top, Leon's eyes lit up slightly as he overheard their conversation. The talk was brief, but he was able to learn a lot.