One step forth, one step back.

Bho Jin found his legs were confused all on their own.

To go ahead or to stay back.

Hey... Even though he wanted to go on this big adventure, a part of him was still terrified, though not so much since they were in a large group.

There was something about being in a group that made things better.

In honor movies, those at the back and the front got attacked first. So should he pull his grandfather and stay in the middle?

No! Such a thing would be cowardly!

Or so his righteous self thought because in the next moment, his body reacted faster than his thoughts.

And before he knew it, he was walking down the boat’s rusting bridge in the middle of the group.

!..!

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The gang of normies led by Dorian finally placed their feet on the strange bluish-purple soil.

"How peculiar..." Gia Ming commented.

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The feeling the ground gave them was indescribable.

What sort of soil was this?

One couldn’t say it was mushy, and one couldn’t say it was rugged or sturdy.

It was... It was just weird.

Some of the officers wondered if they could take a sample.

But after considering it, who knows if the soil would leave some defects on their being after getting in contact with it?

The Grandmaster said this place is a fitting place. So the soil should also have such a deadly effect, no?

Everyone knew the price of being too greedy. So they curbed their curiosity, not daring to touch anything without approval.

At least, they were Navy personnel and well-trained guards. Imagine if some crazed scientist had come here?

Such people would damn the consequences and take what they so deemed fit.

"The things of this place must never leave this place."

Dorian’s words echoed in their minds. And Gia Ming secretly swore that even if they found survivors, they would search them all before taking them out.

You must be joking!

What if taking anything from here will make their world rot instead?

Don’t even think about it!

(*^*)

.

"Stay close."

Dorian’s words were like a heavenly command. And everyone flowed behind him like ducklings following their mother.

Into the strange forest they went.

The bare trees were the tallest they had ever seen and the most crooked.

No leaves were in sight, whether on the forest floors or the trees themselves.

The scene made them feel like ants walking past several towering flower stalks.

--Silence--

Except for the strange sounds from the forest, the terrorizing burden of the dreadful silence only heightened their senses even more.

Old Bho didn’t know when, but he and the others had long been walking on their tippy toes like creepers in the night.

No... It was more accurate to say they were walking like T-rexs with their hands curved forward and their heads swiftly turning left, right, front, back, and all directions one could think of.

They began to smell, hear and feel things they wouldn’t normally notice.

And soon, one of the Bho guards let out a weakened cry, stammering and pointing at a space far to the left.

The poor man looked livid.

"I, I, I... I saw something... I saw something in there!"

What?!!!

Everyone looked around, now subconsciously feeling they were being watched.

Gia Ming clenched his fist, trying to get a group on himself.

"You... What..." He stalled guard through his constricted throat. "Please, tell us... What did you see?"

The frantic guard placed his hands on his head in horror.

"This is it, right? In honor movies, the one who sees it first is also the one who gets to die first, right?"

Bho Jin wanted to say comforting words, but according to his horror movie knowledge, it was always the case.

"Good Heavens! I’m going to die."

(>:T0T:<)

.

The guard looked like he lost his soul.

And with his hands in his pockets, he lazily looked at the frantic group before him. "Relax... None of you will die."

Ah!--

The guard seemed to have seen his salvation, looking at the Dorian like the savior of the world.

He wanted to kneel and kowtow but was too afraid to touch the soil with his palms.

"Thank you!... Thank you, Grandmaster!" The man bowed severally, finally getting a hold of himself.

Yes, yes... That’s right.

A powerful person like the Grandmaster who took them in should be able to bring them all out safely, right?... RIGHT?!!!

Everyone was inwardly asking these questions, though from how Old Gia and the rest acted, they mainly believed it to be so.

Well, at this point, what other choice did they have than to believe?

Dorian stared at the guard with a lazy glint in his eyes.

"Tell me... What did you see?"

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Everyone’s ears were perked up, also wanting to know what it was.

But they saw the guard scrunching his brows and shaking his head in confusion.

And as he spoke, his dialogue became stilted.

"That... That’s the thing... I can’t be certain I saw what I saw because it would be too ridiculous."

"More ridiculous than the fact that you’re in another space entirely out of our usual world?" Old Bho blurted. At this point, keep science and what you think is rational out of it.

"Don’t worry; we won’t think you mad or try to put you in a loony bin."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

.

Look here, man.

Just spit it out already.

"What did you see?"

"You."

The guard pointed at Gia Ming.

"..."

"I saw you over there, with an unnatural smile that reached your ears... And then, and then, I panicked."

What? Him?

Gia Ming was not only dumbfounded but scared as well.

At this point, though Dorian hadn’t told them what they were up against, everyone had a bunch in their gut.

"Hold hands!" Gia Ming bellowed. "Let’s hold hands!!"

What if they accidentally bring a fake into the group during their journey?

Looking at each other, who knows if an enemy has already disguised themselves and sneaked into their group as one of them?

"Hold on... Hold on..." Bho Jin interjected. "You said it had an unnatural smile, yes?... In that case, we also have to smile every now and then to confirm ourselves as the real ones."

Dorian chuckled.

As an exorcist, how can he not tell a fake from a real with a single glance? Even the air of an ordinary human was different from the rotting air from underworld beings.

Moreover, thanks to his third eye, he could pick any differences up with his eyes closed.

But maybe because he also enjoyed watching the group amuse him, he didn’t say a thing.

What’s more, he was watching the enemy too.

[Host, you’ve located the source, haven’t you.]

’Hmhm.’

[Then why don’t you end things now?]

’Even if I told you... You’re too stupid to understand.’

[...]

Bad host. Bad host.

Woooooooooo~

The system wanted to rush into its master’s arms and cry its eyes out.

But little did it know that even if it did, its master might repeat the same thing its host usually told it.

’Noisy.’

[...]

The system was bound to be bullied no matter where it went.

.

Dorian squinted his eyes, feeling the strangeness in the space.

’For an underworld creature to open such a space as large as this means they have an artifact in their possession.’

Though the artifact’s grade seemed low, it was still powerful in its own right.

Beings like the Underground Princes looked down on these sorts of artifacts.

But other understood beings wouldn’t.

And from the strength the space emitted, he felt it should belong to a fallen underworld general.

However, something was off about it all.

Why?... Why did he get a sense of heavenly mist dangling between the sea of rotting air?

Loki!!!!

All his senses and feelings pointed at that trickster.

Heavenly wisp can not exist with that of the underworld.

So how did that guy do it?

The thin whiff he sensed was too faint and near non-existent, giving him the hunch that even if some gods and angels came here, they too wouldn’t be able to sense it.

So the question now was, why could he when others couldn’t?

What was so special about him that allowed him to sense it all?

’Interesting...’

Dorian was getting more and more curious about his origins.

But forgetting that matter, he wondered why that Trickster left a whiff of himself here.

A hair strand...

It should be a single hair strand the bastard left behind.

But how did he manage to preserve it without the evil around eroding it or noticing it?

Dorian pushed back the few strands of hair hovering over his face, once again confirming how dangerous this Loki fellow truly was.

’He might just be the biggest undecided player to change the course of the war’s events.’

But for which side he was playing for, no one could truly be sure.

Well, whatever the reason for Loki keeping a whiff of himself here, Dorian didn’t care.

In the end, this space... This rotting place… must be destroyed.

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