Chapter 309 – Lost
Lost
The Argus Family’s Marquis illness demanded immediate attention, and time was running short. If they were unable to send the Dragon-Blooded Flower Bud back to the Marquis on time, he would very likely be poisoned to death.
By then, Jenny’s two uncles would have most likely seized control of the internal powers within the Argus Family.
This was a scene that Jenny was not willing to witness.
However, to let her and James pass through the Weeping Ghost Grounds? That would only be courting death!
Hence, after hearing that Leylin agreed to it, Jenny and James were exhilarated.
“Oh, I got this! So, we’ll pass through the Weeping Ghost Grounds, right? This name is really distasteful!” Baelin spoke casually and returned to the driver’s seat, before cracking his whip.
As a local, the only knowledge he knew of his world was Potter Town and the nearby Woody Wastelands. Due to the limited traffic and deficiency of information that Potter Town received, he had no knowledge of other places.
In fact, this was his first time travelling!
Along with the horse neighing and the creaking made from the spokes of the wheels of the horse carriage, they gradually entered the area of the Weeping Ghost Grounds.
As the Weeping Ghost Grounds was labelled a forbidden area, very few travellers dared to tread through it. The roads had long since been abandoned, with many weeds and shrubs growing on the sides. Baelin could barely recognise the tracks that were once used as they travelled on uneven ground.
As the horse carriage went deeper into the Weeping Ghost Grounds, a layer of thin mist veiled the area, slowly engulfing their surroundings.
At first the mist was rather mild, but as it got denser, their vision was reduced to only a distance of five metres from the horse carriage.
“Lor… Lord Leylin! The mist is too dense now…” Baelin slowed the pace of the horse carriage. To be going quickly under such poor conditions was simply seeking death.
“I got this!”
Leylin waved his right arm, and a thread of grey mist swirled in his palm. It was dispersed in one moment yet they converged immediately after.
“There’s a bit of chilliness in this aura. Also, it’s not purely made from water vapours…”
He then ordered, “A.I. Chip, analyse components!”
[Beep! Mission establishing, gathering source material, analysis beginning…] The A.I. Chip’s voice intoned.
Very soon, a composition image appeared in front of Leylin’s eyes.
[The main component of this mist is water at 98.2%. There are also mixed amounts of salt, protein and other digestive enzymes…] [Through comparison with the database, it is determined to be the tears of a human! Accuracy: 99.99%]
The A.I. Chip’s reply shocked Leylin a bit. After a moment had passed, the corners of his lips curled upwards.
“Using tears as mist? Interesting! I have even caught a whiff of some spirit bodies in this…”
“Lord Leylin, is there anything wrong?”
Jenny and James looked at Leylin, their eyes filled with worry. During the A.I. Chip’s analysis, outsiders could only perceive Leylin staring blankly for a second before grinning to himself.
Weeping Ghost Grounds was a forbidden area established atop countless skeletons. If not for this official Magus, Leylin, standing guard this time, Jenny and James would not have dared to approach this area.
Furthermore, even with Leylin around, Jenny and James were still wary after entering the Weeping Ghost Grounds and did not let their guard down for a single moment.
“Lord Leylin! The mist is too much; I’ve lost my way…”
At this moment, Baelin stopped the horse carriage and turned back with an apologetic expression.
“This… How can this happen?” Jenny and James looked at each other before stepping out of the horse carriage. Very soon, they were stupefied by the amount of mist there was.
In front of the horse carriage were three forked paths, they seemed to be like branches of an ancient tree, winding and crooked, heading towards different directions.
There stood a badly damaged, rotten wooden signpost with countless vines creeping on it.
On the sign, the black words which had almost faded away were the names of the different paths and even had arrowheads pointing to their locations.
“Hut of the Weeping Woman, Paradise of Wailing Creatures, Jones’ Pastry Shop…What strange names are these?” Jenny was bewildered. “I haven’t been here before, but according to the map there should only be one path, nothing like forked paths of any sort…”
“It seems like we’ve met with some trouble!” James sighed exasperatedly, but deep down he felt a little more relieved.
Previously, he did not know what terrors were hidden inside the Weeping Ghost Grounds, which made him be on guard all the time. However, now that trouble had presented itself, he felt a little better.
At the very least, now that some troubles had appeared, their party had to solve them.
“Hng! Petty tricks!”
At this moment, Leylin walked out too. As he saw the sign, his expression showed distaste.
Very soon, a layer of red light flashed past Leylin’s pupils, and the surroundings underwent a tremendous change.
The grey mist immediately thinned, revealing many bizarrely shaped trees. As for the signpost, many tiny three-headed snakes and toads now covered the words which were previously there.
“These are only the effects of poltergeists, affecting the mental soundness of regular humans and even acolytes. If it’s only up to this extent, it would be such a disappointment.”
“Now I will lead the way, and you will just follow my movements.” Leylin let Jenny and James sat in the horse carriage as he took up the role of assistant driver.
“Yes, my Lord!”
After Leylin sat beside him, Baelin inhaled a deep breath, feeling much more relieved than before, “Which way do we go?”
“None of those paths, head to the extreme right!”
Leylin sneered at the originally pitched forks. At this moment, in Leylin’s vision, the three paths had all disappeared, turning into three huge caves that were covered by trees.
If the horse carriage entered those areas, they would definitely meet with a dead end. Once they had deviated from the main path, they would be trapped in there.
“But, those are granite rocks! How are we going to travel through that?” Baelin scratched his head.
The direction that Leylin had pointed in was where a large granite rock sturdily stood, with algae growing on it.
*Pak!* Before Baelin could finish talking, he was smacked on the head by Leylin, “Just go where I tell you to, why do you have so much rubbish to say?”
Baelin wailed, but his experiences and training with Leylin allowed him to quickly follow the instructions given.
The horse carriage moved forward, charging towards the ten meter tall granite rock.
“Hey Hey! There’re only five more metres, should we stop now?”
Baelin questioned Leylin as he rode forward. However, as no reply was given, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and urge the horses forward.
“Three metres! One metre now!” Baelin cried in alarm but at the very end he gave up and shut his eyes.
*Pop!*
As the head of the horses crashed into the granite rock, the expected impact and cries did not happen.
Baelin widened his eyes in shocked, and very soon a strange sight occurred!
The heads of the two horses had already extended into the huge granite rock. Looking at this scene, it seemed like the huge rock had swallowed them.
The huge rock continuously engulfed the horses from their head to their necks, to their back and tails, and finally towards Baelin.
“Yikes!” Baelin unconsciously extended his right hand to block the impact, but very soon a flash appeared in his vision.
*Pop!* A feeling like walking past a wall of water came onto him, as Baelin looked at the surroundings in awe.
After passing through the granite rock, the mist thinned by a considerable amount. With the torches carried by the horses and the frightening physical abilities as a Grand Knight, Baelin’s vision had already extended to over a dozen metres.
On both sides of the road were black birch trees, growing in an orderly fashion. In the middle was a small path, which was where the horse carriage was travelling on. As for the original three forked pitches, they had completely vanished by now.
“Did we stumble upon some strange illusory spell earlier?” As a level 3 acolyte, James was the quickest to understand what had happened.
However, Leylin did not answer his question. On the contrary, he turned even more solemn, much more than when he looked at the pitched forks.
“The direction is wrong! This isn’t the scene that I saw earlier!”
In his earlier observation, the correct path that Leylin saw should have been a small road laid with brambles, but not such a neat and orderly looking road like this.
“Don’t tell me that I have also been influenced by the illusion earlier?” Leylin’s face turned dark.
However, the astonishment deep within his heart far surpassed what his face revealed. He was already a rank 2 Warlock! Although he was injured, a simple spirit body could no longer affect his senses.
“A.I. Chip! Scan the surroundings!”
Leylin rubbed his temples and ordered as a flash of blue light glowed in his eyes.
[Beep! Mission establishing, beginning scan!] [Alert! Alert! Due to unknown interference, the scan is unable to be accomplished. Will try again in 1 second…Bzzt..Bzzt…]
The A.I. Chip responded. However, very soon the feedback received was like a broken tape mixed with a radio with no signals, giving off a buzzy feedback noise.
This piercing noise grew louder and louder, finally turning into the ear-piercing wail of a woman.
“Wuu…Wuu…”
This noise filled Leylin’s head, making him dizzy.
“Have you guys heard anything? I think I hear a woman crying!”
In reality, Baelin muttered. He soon received the responses of Jenny and James, “Us too!”
“Over there!” James suddenly pointed.
Leylin also looked in the direction James had indicated, and under a rotten birch tree, a woman wearing a long black dress was crouching and weeping.
“This voice! This voice! It’s Marsha’s! I won’t ever forget it!”
An incredulous look was on James’ face. He quickly hopped off the horse carriage and rushed to the woman.