Mistand 6

Oldie only sat crossed-legged on the floor and seemed to be in a good mood.

"You tricked us," Mika said, however, Lia thought things weren't this easy.

"A drinking party is fairly suitable, don't you think?"

"What's your goal?" Mika's suspicion only rose.

"Fighting is tiresome. Raise your glasses and enjoy the night," Oldie laughed as if someone told him a funny joke, then he turned serious, "I really have nothing to do with them but they occupy most villages and prey on any people coming."

Oldie was relaxed but the situation was tense. At least several men surrounded the house, each of them looked more ferocious than the other. If they were as strong as the previous ones, Mika would have a hard time dealing with them.

The worse thing was that neither Mika nor Lia could use their powers in front of the strange Oldie in order not to reveal themselves.

It seemed Oldiee could read Lia's thoughts as his sharp gaze stayed on her and his voice hollered, "Everyone in Mistand is strong. Don't think anyone weak scurries round here. No one in their right mind would come to Mistand without knowing how to defend themselves or purge ghosts."

So, was Oldie also fairly strong? His attitude was way too lax for this situation. Either he really was with the other men or it was as he said, everyone was strong including him. But he made no attempt to fight nor protect himself. He only stayed there and watched them. To be precise, watched Lia.

Lia was finally sure Oldie had some kind of interest in her or there was something about her that he wanted to know, worse he knew her identity. She couldn't get rid of this feeling or his gaze.

"You have a disgusting taste," suddenly these words that Lia coldly spit, stunned Oldie.

"I do?"

Lia sneered and gripped her knife harder. The upside was that neither of the others had any powers, including the man, Lia was sure of it.

"Should we run?" Mika whispered as the men came closer.

"My guess is that Oldie has nothing to do with this but I'd like to know his purpose."

"You want to protect him?"

"I doubt we need to do that, he's strong enough I reckon. We should get rid of the men. Lure the fight outside, so he can't see your power."

"Ok," Mika nodded. Lia prepared herself. In the worst case, she'd need to use her power.

Oldie still sat there and hummed happily while the other men drew closer and finally entered the house.

"Lucky day," one of them said and stared at all three of them.

Lia has heard this before. The previous four men also thought they were really lucky. However, suddenly Lia realised that no ghosts surrounded the village, there was no sight of them. Was it because of Mika's talisman?

But individual talisman should only protect the one carrying it from the ghosts and not cover a large area such as this village. Lia saw that the men carried large axes and she instantly didn't want to fight anymore. Getting cut by an axe was a bloody and very painful experience Lia rather never want to have in her life.

However, the men didn't stop until they cornered Lia and Mika, while three of them crowded Oldie sitting on the ground. Lia heard him talking to them, probably spouting nonsense, but Lia actively cut him out. She had to focus on the fight and not get distracted by his incessant talking.

The seven men that targeted Lia and Mika had greedy and blood-thirsty eyes. Their intent to feast on them poured out in waves crashing on Lia's body using it as the sandy shore to take the sand back into the water.

"Do you all want to join the Ghost King's army?" Lia's question wiped off their grins and they stopped.

"Is there anything more worth it?" one of the men answered.

"Why would you want to submit to anyone's control? Living freely isn't that much more worth?"

Another man started laughing and hollered, "We're prisoners, there's no freedom for us."

"But the prison and the family supervising you all have disappeared, what's keeping you here?" Lia wanted to draw out more time but she was sincerely curious as to why these so-called prisoners stayed here and wanted to serve the Ghost King.

It was natural to have a prison to confine immortals who harmed others, however, Lia never considered the possibility for such an existence in the Immortal World.

Maybe because immortals couldn't die back then, immortals harming each other wasn't dangerous, at least that was what Lia thought.

So, it was surprising to hear that a prison has existed yet since when? Until when? Since when have these prisoners stayed here? Where did they hear of the Ghost King? Naturally, the prisoners would think if they served the Ghost King they'd be freed of their sentence and not regarded as prisoners anymore.

However, no one would know of their identity or existence. So why would they believe joining Min was the best option?

"Little girl, you came to Mistand without knowing? It's the same for Neverland. Once you enter, you'll never be able to leave, why else are we stuck here?"

"Then why do you believe getting stronger would help you to join the Ghost King? If as you said, you can't leave, then how will you join?" there were many holes to be filled from what the prisoner said.

Lia understood that Mistand was like a labyrinth only without borders and walls. Once in, it was extremely difficult to get out again. If it weren't for Mika's compass then they wouldn't be able to navigate through Mistand.

"There are ways to get out of Mistand obviously but we don't have it. Enough talking!" the prisoners remembered why they were here in the first place.

But something was still nagging Lia, "Then how did you evade all the ghosts?"

Mistand was basically swarmed by ghosts. If they were really stuck here, they would sooner or later get eaten.

"Good question, the answer is-" the prisoner swung the axe towards Lia. Mika, who has silently listened to the conversation, pushed Lia to the right and lured three of the prisoners with him to the left.

Separating and getting the prisoners away from each other was the only way for them to defeat them. If Mika could hold on for long enough, once Lia was done she could help him.

She was confident enough fighting against people without powers. Lia drew the four prisoners' attention and jumped over their attacks and ran outside.

Perfectly timed, Lia kicked the door and ducked as the axe flew over her head and landed on the ground, stuck.

She jolted towards the axe, pulled it out and with a heavy spin threw the axe into a random house, then she grabbed the knife from her thigh and ran towards another house.

The prisoners followed her around the back of the house. The moment Lia saw them, she threw her knife at one prisoner, stuck on his forehead. Then using the brief moment of surprise she ran to prisoner no.2, kicked him to the ground, pulled out the knife from his mate and stabbed him in the chest.

From the ground, she spun around prisoner no.2 landing behind his head while her hand still held the knife in his chest. The other two prisoners charged at her but at once Lia ripped out the knife, with one clean cut she tore through their throats.