Chapter 971: Darkmon’s Unexpected Gain (Seeking Moon Tickets)
【Fossil Winged Dragon】 sucked away the last wisp of gray aura, then contentedly closed its mouth, and the tiny dragon head directly retracted back into the Magic Card.
At almost the same time, the flame inside the lantern suddenly extinguished and never relit.
Dark carefully perceived and was suddenly surprised to discover that the divine aura contained within the lantern had vanished!
He looked towards the 【Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes】, attempting to get confirmation from its mouth.
The 【Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes】 actually nodded and said, “This lantern no longer has any divine aura.”
A slightly odd expression appeared on Dark’s face. The divine aura of the lantern could not have disappeared out of thin air.
The only explanation now was that the divine aura of the lantern, along with the 【Ancient Power】, was completely absorbed by the 【Fossil Winged Dragon】!
Dark did not know whether this was good or bad, but whatever was absorbed by the 【Fossil Winged Dragon】 could not be regurgitated.
In short, he reopened the 【Eye of Truth】 to observe the lantern and found that the value of this ancient object had greatly decreased, making it no longer worth carrying.
“Although somewhat regrettable, there’s nothing else I can do.”
Dark thought for a moment, gently placed the lantern, now devoid of divine aura, on the ground, and then stepped back onto the 【Chariot of the Moon Goddess】, rushing toward the sky.
The blessing of the Wind Elemental still showed no reaction, indicating that Aurora had left this area some distance away, and waiting here any longer would not make much sense.
Before the cooldown of the 【Lost Prophecy】 ended, he planned to explore as far as possible around the palace.
If he was lucky, he might bump into Aurora or find some clue she left behind.
“If my direction is A, Blackwood Forest’s direction is C, then Aurora must have left in either direction B or D.”
“This is a coin. If it lands heads up, I’ll go in direction B.”
“If it lands tails down, I’ll go in direction C.”
After setting this rule, Dark looked at the already transformed 【Shenmi】 into its 【Sky Form】 and placed the coin on its paw.
【Shenmi】 caught the coin and tossed it — there was no unexpected incident like the coin standing upright; it finally landed with the number side up.
“Then we go in direction B!” Dark didn’t hesitate.
The result proved that the 【Shenmi (Sky Form)】’s 【Heavenly Grace】 was reliable.
Trusting in 【Shenmi】’s luck would lead him to destiny’s guidance.
After the direction was confirmed, the 【Chariot of the Moon Goddess】 immediately accelerated. Dark sat in the carriage, closing his eyes to rest.
The 【Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes】 and the 【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】 observed the surroundings on either side.
About five minutes later, the 【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】 suddenly shouted to stop. The 【Fairy Tale Animal·Little Rabbit】 immediately steered the carriage to a halt, but due to inertia, the carriage continued moving forward for quite a distance before turning. By the time Dark opened his eyes and looked out the carriage window, the black gas floating in the air came into view.
He instinctively covered his nose, remembering that the 【Shenmi (Land Form)】 had been continuously releasing the 【Fragrant Healing】.
All he could smell was the fragrance of flowers.
But the pollution of the black gas was evident.
The surroundings were nearly destroyed, with the ground looking freshly eroded, full of pits and holes.
The black gas clearly contained poison, and the plants corroded by it dripped black toxic liquid.
When the 【Chariot of the Moon Goddess】 returned to the location designated by the 【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】, Dark finally saw what had caused it to stop.
It was a massive pit nearly ten meters in diameter. At the bottom lay a grotesque and ugly corpse.
Those large amounts of black gas floating in the air were actually seeping out from the corpse! Dark tried to identify it, but could only determine that the original form of the corpse was likely a large, fat lizard.
Its long tongue hanging limply outside its mouth, motionless. If one knew more about this lizard, they might deduce the time of its death from the stiffness of its body.
From there, one could estimate how far the murderer was from this place.
Of course, this was all hypothetical since it couldn’t be done.
Dark directed the 【Chariot of the Moon Goddess】 to descend slightly, examining the lizard’s corpse and surrounding traces more closely.
“The flames, the ice… It looks like something Aurora did.” “But apart from the flames and ice, something pierced the corpse—a physical attack.”
“The traces suggest a large weapon imbued with purification power.” “This doesn’t seem like something Aurora would do. Could it be someone else, or is someone walking alongside Aurora?”
As more information entered his mind, Dark’s brain raced, simulating various scenarios.
Ultimately, he concluded that Aurora was probably involved in the killing of this lizard.
Moreover, Aurora wasn’t acting alone!
Logically, two people should be safer than one. However, from the signs, Dark felt suspicious.
If Aurora had originally followed the plan, choosing a relatively safe spot—outside the palace—to wait, then the reason she abandoned the plan and left must have something to do with the second person.
The only plausible explanation was that the arrival of the second person brought even more danger.
Perhaps this person wasn’t in a perfect state, possibly injured.
The people from the academy were the last to disappear among everyone, so those who vanished earlier might have encountered events in the 【Celestial Realm】 and thus could have been injured.
In fact, based on what Dark had seen, most creatures in the 【Celestial Realm】 were highly aggressive.
A single encounter could lead to a fierce battle. Anyone could be injured.
From the purification traces remaining on the corpse, the person was likely one of the 【Twin Holy Knights】.
“Is it Emily or Albert?”
“If it’s one of them, what monster could make them flee in disarray?”
“What exactly happened to their current situation?” Dark pondered, feeling increasingly worried.
The battle traces left behind were numerous. The monsters chasing them were not just one.
That dead lizard was merely one of them. They were still in grave danger!
