Chapter 57.2

Oswald paid no attention to anything else. However, when he heard the prefix "you don't know," he felt subtly upset. He despised anyone that Kevin could remember but he couldn't, feeling very disgusted.

Especially when he noticed that Kevin's tone was not very pleasant when he mentioned this person, his disgust deepened.

"I have to—" Kevin began, about to say something.

Suddenly, the hundreds of people scattered throughout the underground palace began to stir, some of them showing signs of awakening simultaneously.

Coincidentally, Oswald couldn't help but compare this situation to the one just before.

Connected to the eerie sounds coming from underground.

It was clear that Kevin shared his thoughts. He abruptly halted, turned his head to observe the people in the underground palace, and muttered under his breath, "As I suspected..."

The sun was on the verge of setting, signaling the time for their pilgrimage.

No matter how you listened to that sentence, it held a sense of paranoid yet captivating madness. In Oswald's opinion, no sane person would utter a sentence without a clear beginning or end or a discernible meaning.

But the puzzling thing was that, to have such an influence on so many people, the other party must surely have a significant background.

The individuals who should have been in a deep sleep in the underground palace began slowly opening their eyes, one by one.

And then, Kevin abruptly rose to his feet, striding through the crowd towards someone who had just sat up in a corner.

"Hiss—my back... Kevin?" The man rubbed his stiff back in a dazed state. When he looked up, he was startled by the person standing before him. "Why are you here? No—"

He scratched his curly hair, which looked like a chicken coop, and turned his head to glance at the underground palace. He asked blankly, "Who am I? Where is this?"

The man with the question mark floating above his head was none other than Mi Ao, the leader of the Bronze Garrison. He had a close encounter with the godhead, but he didn't have the good fortune of dying. Instead, he had simply fallen asleep.

Kevin knelt in front of him and spoke decisively, "Are you awake? Should I slap you to fully wake you up?"

Mi Ao immediately straightened his back and replied, "I'm awake, stop pestering me. First, tell me where we are, why we're here, and what happened to our comrades?"

"This is the dungeon of Old Rose Castle. You were summoned here by something. There were soldiers from various city-states, the frontier guards from the Northern Emerald Country, and the group led by Wood and Nick."

Kevin gave a concise explanation and then continued with a solemn expression, "Some of those who were summoned have died, but you survived.

"Now, I need you to gather everyone and head to the Silent Valley in the east. Along the way, if you encounter people who are unconscious and mention wanting to 'pilgrimage,' stop them and bring them there too."

"Hold on, why?" Mio asked, perplexed.

"Because in the Silent Valley, outside sounds are isolated. I can't hear the chaotic temptations from outside!" Kevin said, giving him a slap and urging, "Hurry up!"

"No! Wait a minute! You just said the frontier guards from the Northern Emerald Country are here?! How am I supposed to lead them?"

Mi Ao questioned with an expression that said, "Are you joking with me?" "There's no way they'll listen to me, right?"

Kevin grabbed his head, turned Mi Ao in a certain direction, and pointed to the group of bewildered people in the middle of the underground palace. He stated, "All their weapons have been disarmed. Do you think they'll listen to you?"

The frontier guards from the Northern Emerald Country exchanged blank glances, then looked at the Bronze Army of the Golden Lion Country and the advance army that surrounded them in a large circle. They also noticed their intact weapons. They fell silent for a moment.

Guards: "......."

Bronze Army: "..."

The silence lasted for about a second before the soldiers of the Bronze Army stood up, one after another, tightly clutching their weapons and condescendingly surrounding the guards.

It was truly... perplexing to suddenly capture a group of giants.

"What about you?" Mio couldn't help but grab Kevin and ask, "Your voice doesn't sound right. Where are you going?"

"I have something else to do." Kevin excused himself, and Oswald, a large black dog with enormous wings, leaped over the crowd and landed behind him.

The captives looked gloomy at the sight of the fearsome creature.

"Where did such a big dog come from?" Mi Ao asked, taken aback.

Oswald and Kevin exchanged a glance. How should they put it? The Golden Lion Kingdom had its fair share of unruly generals who loved to die.

"It's a mount," Mi Ao said, staring at Oswald in awe. "It's quite majestic!"

Kevin waved his hand. "Enough talking. Let's pack up and go."

Wood rubbed his shoulders as he walked over, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

He frowned and said to Kevin, "Your Excellency, I heard another voice just now, something like 'pilgrimage.' It's hazy, but the voice is very familiar."

Kevin tilted his head to look at him. "Familiar?"

"Remember when I told you that we all had similar dreams in the secret passage? Someone kept mentioning the Old Rose Castle in the dream, and we all ended up dreaming about it. The voice this time was very similar to that person's."

Kevin's eyes narrowed. "I see."

Kevin pressed Mio's shoulder and patted Wood's back, his voice grave. "Remember, do not sleep until you reach the Valley of Silence. No matter how tired you are, do not lie down on the ground to rest. Do not listen to any whispering voices. Just remember one destination: the Valley of Silence."

With that, he hurriedly followed the stone steps out of the underground palace. Oswald leaped up and followed him, and they soon returned to the ruins of the tower. Kevin knelt down and pressed his palm against the ground, then pointed in a certain direction.

"Sirius, you know the way. Can you keep your eyes on that direction?" he asked.

"What is it?" Oswald asked.

"I want to find the source of the sound, let's find it along the way!" Kevin said coldly. "We'll follow Sirius's directions and see where it leads us."