Chapter 234: Finding The Truth Behind The Missing People

Chapter 234

Only Sylph was still standing upright next to him. Though her body was kind of shaking violently as she bit her lower lip so hard that blood trickled down her chin, barely managing to maintain a sliver of consciousness in the process.

Alex’s expression immediately became serious.

"Sylph, stay with me."

His voice was low but very firm as he stepped closer to her. He could obviously see the struggle written all over her face, with the way every few seconds that passed by her pupils seemed to lose their focus as the strange melody continued drifting through the forest.

But Sylph clenched her fists and forced herself to reply.

"I... I’m trying."

Her voice sounded strained, almost as though every word required an enormous amount of effort.

Struggling through the hazy feeling wrapping around his mind with additional help from the system’s, he turned his attention toward the others, who were all still moving forward in that strange trance.

From how things were looking, their movements all looked unnaturally slow, but there was still this strange sense of purpose behind it.

And they weren’t even stumbling randomly through the woods like mindless beings, instead their feet were carrying them along a particular path, as if some invisible hand was quietly guiding every step they took.

"Mia!" Alex rushed forward and grabbed her shoulder. But the bubbly little woman who could normally chat for days unend without any rest didn’t even react one bit. Her head merely tilted slightly before her body continued moving.

Still Alex tried waking her but sadly nothing happened.

Alex frowned. Then he reached toward Allen next and shook him by the shoulder hard enough that even a car would have been knocked off balance.

Allen simply continued walking. It was almost as though Alex wasn’t touching him at all.

"What the hell..." Alex’s eyes narrowed.

He tried clapping loudly beside Allen’s ear, then grabbed his arm and attempted to turn him around, but no matter what he did Allen continued moving forward.

In a way the whole thing reminded him of someone walking in their sleep. Except that this one was far far more disturbing. These people weren’t merely asleep. It was clear as day that someone or something had taken control of their minds.

Alex quickly moved from one squad member to another, attempting everything he could think of to break them out of the trance.

He called their names, shook them, slapped their shoulders, and even briefly used a weakened form of his Celestial Thunder ability in an attempt to shock their senses awake. Still nothing seemed to be working.

"It’s no use." Sylph said while wiping the blood from her lower lip with the back of her hand. "Whatever is controlling them is operating at a level far stronger than simple hypnosis."

Alex glanced at their teammates again.

"From the way all of them seem to be heading in one particular direction, it looks like they’re being led somewhere."

Sylph nodded slowly.

"It seems so." Her eyes followed the direction in which the others were moving. "And whatever is controlling them must most likely be the same thing responsible for all the disappearances."

Alex’s expression hardened. Dammit! Whatever creature or entity was responsible for all the strange disappearances had apparently found a way to lure its victims into the forest without leaving behind any evidence.

And now their squad had walked directly into its territory.

Sylph took a slow breath.

"Since we can’t wake them up let’s just follow them to wherever they are going because whatever is controlling them is clearly taking them to where it is. If we stay behind, we may lose our chance to find the source."

"You want to follow them into whatever trap is waiting for us?"

Sylph’s expression became grim.

"We don’t have much of a choice." She looked toward the squad members mindlessly venturing deeper into the forest. "If we turn around now, we might never find the thing responsible. Besides, the only way to save them would be for us to kill whatever is controlling them."

Alex understood her reasoning. As dangerous as it was, she was right. If they wanted to save their team they had to kill that son of a bitch controlling them.

"Alright. Then I guess we can only follow them."

Sylph looked at him for a moment before giving a small nod of her own.

"Stay close."

So that was how they began to follow their teammates from behind. At first it had been faint enough to resemble distant music carried by the wind.

But the deeper they went, the clearer it became. The melody was beautiful on a scale that no music made by humans could ever dream of reaching. Now that was the most disturbing part itself.

There was something almost heavenly about it, something so peaceful that Alex could feel the tension slowly leaving his muscles whenever he allowed himself to focus on it.

His eyelids grew heavy again. Alex immediately shook his head and repeatedly told himself not to listen to it, but that was proving to be difficult for someone like him who could pick up even the faintest sound of earthworms in the soil.

At the end he had to resort to covering his ears with his hands, which helped just a little bit to reduce the strange melody.

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough because some of the sound still somehow managed to find its way through.

Several minutes later, Alex nearly stumbled as his vision turned blurry, causing him to feel as if the forest was swaying around him.

He immediately clenched his teeth and forced himself to remain focused.

"This thing is getting ridiculous."

Sylph’s breathing became heavier. She had also followed Alex’s method of pressing both hands against her ears, but the enchanting melody continued reaching her.

"We can’t keep this up. If we continue to follow them any longer, we will become exactly like them."

"Wait! I think I just have an idea."Alex suddenly said, and formed a small thin shard of Deathfrost Bloom. "What if we temporarily make ourselves deaf. If we are deaf then the strange music will no longer work on us. At least that’s what I think."

"You can’t be serious about this."

Alex gave her a look.

"Let’s say we somehow make it there by a miracle. We can’t fight properly if our brains are struggling to keep themselves awake."

Sylph hesitated. Destroying their own eardrums was obviously not something a normal person would casually agree to.

Even an Awakened wouldn’t willingly injure themselves without a very good reason.

Alex continued.

"Besides with our natural healing, it would eventually be able to restore our hearing back, right?"

Sylph nodded reluctantly.

"Yes, but it’ll take some time for an injury like that to heal."

"Even if it takes too long...sigh... I have a healing ability that will heal us in less than a minute."

Sylph looked toward the others. Every second they wasted brought them closer to whatever waited ahead. Finally, she closed her eyes and said in a firm voice.

"Do it."

Alex nodded.

"Don’t worry I’ll make it quick."

Alex first used the shard to stab his both ears, deliberately damaging his eardrum even though it hurt like hell, before helping Sylph with hers.

The world instantly became deafeningly silent after that. For Alex, the sudden absence of sound was almost surreal. The sudden transition from hearing everything to complete silence was an experience he didn’t like one bit. At least the crappy melody was completely gone.

He turned to Sylph who was also staring back at him and gave her a thumbs-up to show it worked. Sylph stared at him for a second before reluctantly returning the gesture.

Good! It also worked for her. That was the most important part for now. And considering their natural healing the damage wouldn’t last forever. If necessary, he would just use his free purchase to get a Body Recovery Water from the system store later.

For now, they had solved the immediate problem. The squad continued moving, with Alex and Sylph trailing behind. Without the melody distracting them, the forest suddenly felt almost peaceful.

After several more minutes, the terrain gradually changed. The trees became less dense, and the ground began sloping downward.

Alex noticed large rocks scattered throughout the area, many of them covered in thick moss.

Sylph tapped his shoulder and pointed ahead, prompting him to follow her finger. Not too far away, there was a dark opening between two enormous cliffs.

Yeah, it was definitely a cave. And their mindless teammates were heading directly toward it.

Alex’s expression became serious.

The cave entrance was enormous, easily large enough for several people to walk through side by side, with dense white fog pouring from its mouth and drifting along the ground.

Alex glanced at Sylph, who nodded. So they followed.

The moment they entered the cave, the temperature was way colder than it had been outside. Also the walls were covered in various strange lines that glittered faintly under the dark night.

They continued deeper and were finally able to reach what looked like a massive underground chamber.

Alex stopped. Even without being able to hear anything, the sight before him was enough to make his entire body tense.

At the center of the enormous cavern was a vast underground lake. The water was so clear that it almost resembled a glass polished to perfection.

But that was not the only thing. There was also a strange pale light that shimmered beneath its surface, making the entire lake glow with an eerie beauty.

But the lake wasn’t what caught Alex’s attention. Above it were dozens of them ranging from humans to even wild animals like bears, wild boars and even hares.

They floated several meters above the surface of the water, suspended in the air by some invisible force.

Most of them had become pale and shriveled figures. With bodies that looked like it had been completely drained of life.

As for the others, they were still alive. Though barely. Their bodies were thin and their limbs hung limply as they floated helplessly above the lake.

Alex’s eyes widened. These were all the missing people. So they were here this whole time? And it looks like whatever had taken them had apparently been draining their life force from their bodies.

Alex’s fists slowly clenched. Then his eyes moved toward the center of the lake. Something was there. At first, it looked like a large shadow beneath the crystal-clear surface.

But then the water began to ripple, and a figure began to slowly rise from beneath the lake....