Chapter 354 The Intriguing and Unexpected Guest 2
"There's no need for excessive formality." Seeing that the situation was progressing even more smoothly than he had imagined, Leo Ray raised his eyebrows slightly.
He then spoke seriously, "I have already witnessed the sudden disappearance of the City Lord Mansion, along with the small island it was located on."
The top priority now is to find the cause of the disappearance as soon as possible.
Next, please tell me everything you know about the situation, as well as any unusual events that have occurred during this time."
"Understood, my Lord. Then, let's start with the anomalies that have occurred recently."
On the other side, Gregory Mason, the Mystara City Defense Army Battalion Commander who had previously seen Leo Ray in Golin City as Orion Wolfe's escort, bowed slightly and began to describe the situation to Leo Ray.
Through Gregory's detailed introduction, Leo Ray learned that many strange phenomena had indeed occurred in Mystara City in recent days, unlike anything they had encountered before.
First, the energy particles in the air would occasionally experience unusual fluctuations, returning to normalcy most of the time, and repeating this many times without finding any cause.
Second, the water levels of both the Protective City River and the Lake in the Island in the city center had mysteriously dropped to varying degrees, as if they had been drained.
Third, at night, people would occasionally hear a sound similar to shattering windows but couldn't find the source of the sound.
Fourth, many households' pet orioles had vanished inexplicably in the city recently.
"Furthermore, to be honest with you, my Lord, we only summarized these events just now."
At this point, Gregory shook his head helplessly and continued, "Among these four points, only the first one was known by our City Lord. The other three were reported by the city's residents to our Defense Army. Although we conducted a series of investigations, they did not attract much attention."
"That's right. It wasn't until the City Lord Mansion disappeared that we realized, in hindsight, that there might be some potential connection between these events."
On the other side, Kara let out a sigh and followed, "If only we had linked these incidents together earlier and reported them to the City Lord, he might have noticed something."
"That being said, my Lord, even though we have combined all the unusual events that have occurred recently, we are still at a loss as to their connection." Subsequently, Gregory exchanged a helpless look with the other two battalion commanders before continuing.
"I see." As he listened, Leo Ray stroked his chin, mumbling to himself, "Occasional abnormal energy fluctuations, declining water levels of the Protective City River and the Lake in the Island, shattering window sounds, and the disappearance of the orioles…"
After pondering for a moment, Leo Ray tilted his head and asked Taylor, Gideon Black, and Scarlett, "What are your thoughts on this?"
"In response to your question, my Lord, it is difficult to make an accurate judgment on the current situation.
It is also impossible to analyze whether there is a hidden connection between these four events.
Perhaps some of them are related to the disappearance of the City Lord Mansion, while others are caused by entirely different matters."
Gideon Black pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and replied, "The most intuitive of these is the abnormal energy fluctuations that have appeared in the air.
However, as everything around us is currently normal, this point cannot be directly understood."
"That is indeed true."
After nodding slightly, Leo Ray pondered for a moment and asked the three Mystara City Defense Army battalion commanders in front of him, "Regarding the intermittent abnormal fluctuations, when do they usually occur? Is there a pattern to them?"
"In response to your question, my Lord, they usually appear at noon and midnight, and only last for a very short time." Hearing this, Gregory immediately answered, "At first, including the City Lord, everyone thought that some mage or alchemist within the city was studying some rare spell, so we sent a few elite mage squads to conduct further monitoring in the city.
However, since the abnormal energy fluctuations only lasted for a very short time, we could never confirm their specific source."It wasn't until we discovered that the time of the abnormal energy fluctuations seemed to be quite consistent that we began to take it seriously.
However, just today, when the City Lord was preparing to thoroughly investigate this matter, the City Lord Mansion, along with the small island it was on, vanished."
At this point, Gregory Mason swallowed nervously, looked up at the blue sky above, and added, "Lord, it's almost noon now.
If everything goes as usual, that strange energy fluctuation should appear again."
Just as Gregory was saying this.
The next second, a sudden change occurred.
Accompanied by an inexplicable energy wave, it swept by.
Without any warning, the calm lake surface ahead suddenly became turbulent.
In an instant, waves rolled in one after another, continuously washing over the neatly arranged stones on the shore, stirring up higher and higher splashes.
Following that, amidst the howling gales, some strangely-shaped silhouettes abruptly emerged on the turbulent surface of the lake. At a glance, there were more than twenty of them.
Upon closer observation, these silhouettes were actually black stone giants, covered from head to toe in a pure black color.
The giants stood about 3 meters tall, and under the brilliant sunlight, they emitted a strange, dark glow from their bodies.
Moreover, bizarre purple patterns continuously flashed on these tall, black stone giants.
Their soulless eyes emitted blood-red radiance, making them look extremely horrifying.
Most crucially, the aura around these stone beings was powerful, clearly reaching the level of Tier 3 Powerhouses.
"More than twenty stone giants with Tier 3 strength – where did they come from?!"
Seeing this scene, the faces of the three Mystara City Defense Army Battalion Commanders were filled with disbelief.
"Lord, please be careful. We'll handle this!"
Immediately after, the three commanders with grave expressions on their faces slightly bowed to Leo Ray and began to direct the surrounding Defense Army soldiers to form a formation.
At the same time, several Defense Army mages also fired red magic flares into the air, apparently requesting reinforcements.
For a moment, the situation became tense and chaotic.
"Lord, this seems to be an advanced magic puppet."
On the other hand, Scarlett's face was filled with solemnity as she said, "However, I have never heard of these black stone giants before.
Moreover, I can confirm that the energy fluctuations emanating from them are very strange, and there is no record of them in the Grand Attic Library of the Magic Tower."
"Lord, I did not sense the energy fluctuations that are usually emitted when summoning magic puppets."
It seems that these black stone giants were not just summoned." Gideon Black's voice then reached Leo Ray's ears.
"Lord, besides these magic puppets, I have not detected any other powerful auras."
It seems that their controller is not here." Finally, Taylor bowed slightly and reported.
""So that's how it is. There's been no news from the missing City Lord Mansion, yet now a group of Tier 3 advanced magical puppets appeared out of thin air? It seems that things are getting more and more complicated."
Looking at the black stone giants that had rushed towards the shore and began indiscriminately attacking the soldiers of the Defense Army, Leo Ray's expression was solemn as he lightly said, "Well then.
The most pressing matter right now is to help the soldiers of Mystara City clean up these unexpected guests."
"Understood, Lord!"
Upon hearing this, aside from Taylor, who remained by Leo Ray's side at all times.
The rest of their strong allies immediately transformed into shooting stars, charging directly at the group of black stone giants.