Chapter 325: Infiltration (3)

Leon hummed. "Is that so? Does this passage lead to it?"

"No," She answered, still shivering. "At least not directly. T-this passage will only lead you to the underground drainage, and from there y-you can access the old gate which leads to t-the shrine."

Leon nodded once again, then frowned. Now that he was done questioning her, he didn’t know what else to do with her.

Should he kill her or release her? If he killed her, there was a possibility that the king or someone would notice.

After all, he had read several cliché plots where the elders were informed of their younger relative’s death by a life bead or life tablet shattering.

Who could guarantee that such a thing didn’t exist in real life?

However, he also couldn’t release her. If he did, there was no doubt that she would go report him immediately.

Clicking his tongue, he pulled the dagger away from her. Before she could be relieved, a powerful strike hit her neck, knocking her unconscious.

He carried her back into the bedroom, then lay her on the bed to make it seem like she was sleeping.

’Wouldn’t it be weird to sleep with nothing but a towel on?’

He scratched his head in a dilemma.

In the end, he decided to leave her as she was. Not to be racist, but he wasn’t interested in alien women with blue skin, so changing her clothes wasn’t tempting to him in the slightest.

He left the room, quietly returning to the dark passage and taking the only other route available. According to the princess, that was the only route leading to the underground drainage.

Meanwhile, just a few minutes after he left, a knock resounded on the door of the princess’s bedroom.

Naturally, she couldn’t answer since she was unconscious. The knock resounded again, but there was still no response.

After a moment of silence, a man’s voice could be heard.

"Velora, it’s your father knocking on the door. Open up now."

Yet, there was still no response.

"Did she sneak out again?" The man muttered, then forced the door open.

He stepped inside, his gaunt figure flooding the room with his suffocating presence. He immediately locked his gaze on his daughter on the bed, his brows furrowing.

"Why are you sleeping in nothing but a towel?"

He stepped closer, his eyes sharp. "Velora...?"

Still receiving no response from her, he realized something was wrong. She might be playful, but she wasn’t stupid enough to ignore him for this long.

Tapping her shoulder, he turned her to face him. His eyes widened, catching the small wound on her neck.

’She has... been assassinated?!’

Boom!

The other furniture in the room crumbled as his rage exploded. The entire castle shook, and every other person in it felt horrified.

Who had made the king angry?

"Despite his rage, the king quickly noticed that she wasn’t actually dead—just injured and unconscious.

He quickly activated one of his healing abilities and healed the small cut. Then, he scanned the room for traces of an intruder. There was none.

’Who did it?’

He knew Velora wouldn’t harm herself, so it was obvious that this was someone else’s doing. Gritting his teeth, he stood up and turned to the door.

Just in time, three figures entered the room. The First Queen and Second Queen, and Velora’s second brother.

"What happened to her?" The First Queen asked worriedly. This was her daughter.

The king growled. "Someone attacked her and knocked her unconscious. I’ll skin them alive once I find them."

With that, he stormed out of the room. Velora’s second brother trembled and muttered. "Father is absolutely enraged. Whoever did this intentionally wanted to anger him."

The second queen frowned. "But who would do this? Everyone knows Velora is King Jared’s reverse scale."

The young man agreed with her.

Sadly, a certain Darkness Addict didn’t know the gravity of what he had just done.

Instead, he was busy scouring the underground drainage in search of the old gate described by the princess.

’Ugh, damnit. I should have brought her with me.’

He facepalmed as he looked around. The underground drainage was unexpectedly neat, and was nothing like he thought it would be.

There were no rats or muddy water in the drainage. Instead, crystal clear water flowed underground, glinting brightly.

Leon was almost tempted to cup a drink, but he held back. After all, he wasn’t sure of the source of the water.

Shaking his head, he ignored it and continued walking around.

Boom!

Suddenly, he felt the entire underground chamber shake, like something had slammed into it. He frowned and immediately hid himself.

He remained hidden for a few minutes, and when nothing happened, he stepped out again.

’It must be from the castle above. What could have happened?’

He thought with a frown. Even if they had discovered the unconscious princess, that couldn’t have caused an explosion, right?

’Not like it matters. If the princess has been found, it’s only a matter of time before they know I’m after the Heart. I have to hurry.’

Taking a deep breath, he spread out his Shadow Sense through the entire underground drainage.

It felt a little dizzying, but he quickly adapted and found the old gate Princess Velora had spoken about.

Approaching the rusty gates, he easily broke the lock and forced it open. The gate groaned loudly, which made Leon freeze in shock.

’What the hell? Keep quiet, damnit!’

He slipped inside and left the gate open. Climbing down a flight of stairs, he quickly arrived at another passage that lead to a small entrance.

Crawling through the entrance, he finally landed in a circular chamber. He immediately stood up and dusted his cloak before looking around.

Ignoring the paintings and weird characters on the wall, he focused his gaze on the altar at the center of the room.

It was an altar made from red stones, or perhaps dyed with blood. Leon’s brows furrowed at the ominous feeling it gave.

He ignored the altar as well and looked at the transparent crystal placed on it. Inside the transparent crystal lay a literal beating heart.

It pulsed weakly, sending a shimmer of light down to the altar.

’So it’s not just a heart metaphorically...?’

Glancing around to ensure he was alone, he took a step towards the altar, then froze.

Hissssss-!

Something slithered along the walls above him, and an enormous creature slowly lowered its head from the ceiling.

"Alien...?"