Chapter 74 You Were Quite Useful

Daniel had Travis, the guy who found the map, lead the way while he hung back, but Gregory stopped him.

"I'll take the rear! You guys keep an eye on the front," Gregory said seriously, sensing something was off about the place.

Lorna glanced at Gregory. Even though he could be a bit harsh, he always got things done efficiently.

She smiled and moved ahead.

"Come on, what are you scared of? With Travis leading, we should be fine, right?" Lorna said with a grin as she caught up to Travis.

Her smile grew wider when she saw Travis take a step back.

She walked briskly, with Daniel and his team following, and Gregory and the others bringing up the rear.

The group moved quickly; they were all cops and occultists, so they had good stamina.

The sky was getting darker fast.

"We need a boat to get across here," Travis suddenly stopped and turned to tell them.

They had entered a restricted area of the scenic spot, taking undeveloped paths up the mountain.

In front of them was a large, deep lake, surrounded by towering trees.

The trees blocked the light, making it even darker.

Lorna's eyes were dim as she stared at the lake, lost in thought.

"Everyone, set up camp here and rest for a bit. We'll make a raft and continue when it gets lighter," Daniel decided after checking things out.

Everyone started setting up tents on the spot.

It was completely dark now, and the lake reflected a few clouds.

Lorna looked at the distant lake, feeling like something was watching them, unsure if it was a fish or a snake.

"Ms. Martin, I'm sorry, but you'll have to make do with us," Daniel said apologetically as he approached Lorna.

They had only brought two large tents, each fitting about eight people.

Lorna shook her head, saying it was no big deal. She had slept in trees before; this was nothing.

After a day's journey, everyone was a bit tired. Daniel assigned two young officers to take turns keeping watch, one of whom was Travis.

Daniel winked at Lorna.

Lorna got the hint, settled down, and closed her eyes to rest.

She didn't plan to sleep; it was too dangerous here, and she was always on high alert.

The others slowly drifted off to sleep.

Lorna was suddenly startled by the sound of splashing water from the lake. She quietly opened her eyes just a sliver.

She saw that one of the officers on watch had already collapsed on the ground, while Travis was standing boldly by the lake.

Lorna glanced at the lake and was stunned.

There was no reflection on the lake.

But there was a moon in the sky; it wasn't cloudy!

Lorna's internal alarm bells were ringing. Just as she was about to wake Daniel, she saw Gregory come out of a tent to use the bathroom. Groggy, he noticed something was off with Travis and greeted him.

"Travis, why aren't you sleeping? Get some rest; we have a long day tomorrow," Gregory kindly reminded him.

Lorna watched Gregory, feeling somewhat exasperated. The aura above Travis's head had turned completely green, yet Gregory remained oblivious to the situation.

Lorna was ready to take action.

She had already figured out that Travis was dead, and his body had been taken over by Nyxara, who was mimicking him to blend in with the group.

Suddenly, a strange disturbance came from the water, and Lorna's eyes snapped open.

"Get up!" Lorna shouted. Daniel and the others were startled awake, and they saw a group of deep green water snakes behind Gregory, their faces turning pale.

"Gregory! Get back!" someone shouted.

Gregory was already on high alert, feeling the hairs on his body stand up. He wanted to run but was trapped by Nyxara.

"Something's wrong! He can't move!" Lorna, who had been watching the whole time, suddenly realized that Travis was already collapsed on the ground.

There was only half a shadow left under Gregory's feet. He was being possessed by Nyxara, but as a talented young occultist, he could resist for a while.

"Don't just stand there! Help me!" Gregory could still speak. He desperately channeled his energy to suppress Nyxara and shouted for Lorna's help.

Lorna seized the moment, seeing that Nyxara was mostly inside Gregory, and used a Space Scroll to trap Nyxara.

After Nyxara was captured, Gregory collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat from nearly exhausting his energy.

Lorna handed him a cup of Spirit Alcohol. "Drink it."

Gregory took it, sniffed it, and his eyes lit up as he drank it all.

He felt his energy quickly returning, a look of joy spreading across his face as he slowly stood up.

"Where did you get the Spirit Alcohol? Can you sell me some?" Gregory asked while drawing a sword to cut down a water snake flying at him.

"Daniel, use this!" Lorna tossed a string of crystals to Daniel.

"Just cutting them won't kill them. Haven't you noticed these snakes are strange?" Lorna reminded.

The crystals Lorna threw could repel dark energy and, combined with Gregory's sword, were very effective.

Soon, Daniel and the others, working with Gregory, killed the snakes.

Then the group gathered around the body of Travis, which had turned into a corpse.

Daniel's eyes were filled with sorrow. "I didn't expect Travis to have died at the last location. Ms. Martin, what was possessing Travis?"

"It was Nyxara!" Gregory interjected.

"I've read about this demon in books. It's said to be born in deep forests where sunlight never reaches, formed by absorbing the miasma of decay and the dark energy of necromancers. It can possess dead bodies and mimic them," Gregory explained, looking refined again.

Lorna nodded, giving Gregory an approving look.

"Thanks for saving me earlier," Gregory said reluctantly to Lorna. If it weren't for her, he might have been possessed by Nyxara.

"No need to thank me. You were quite useful. Nyxara seemed to like you a lot," Lorna said, stifling a laugh. She had noticed that Travis had been hovering around Gregory quite often.

Gregory shivered and rubbed his arms.

"So the woody scent on Travis came from here," Daniel recalled.

Lorna nodded.

"What do we do now? Without Travis, how can we find the place?" Daniel asked, not having been involved in the previous case and unaware of the location.

He looked at the other officers, who also shook their heads.

Lorna chuckled. "We should leave here now. The woody scent is unique. The wood should be nearby; I can smell it."

The group quickly packed up and followed Lorna.

"Don't we need to make a raft to cross the river?" Gregory asked, puzzled.

"If you want to get bitten by snakes, go ahead," Lorna teased.

"Crossing the river was just Nyxara's ploy to lure us into the attack range of the creatures in the lake. There must be dangerous creatures in the lake; we should avoid it," Lorna said, sensing the danger from the creatures lurking in the lake.

Gregory, feeling embarrassed for not realizing Nyxara's presence and getting attacked, followed along.

Lorna shook her head with a smile and took out a deep green gem filled with water elemental power.

With abundant water sources here and the woody scent still on Travis, Lorna took a piece of cloth from his clothes and infused a bit of the scent into the green gem.

This way, as they followed the water sources, the gem would heat up when they encountered the wood with the scent.

The group walked for a long time without stopping.

"Is this really reliable? Can we actually find the wood with just a green gem?" Gregory grumbled.

Daniel glanced at him, and Lorna suddenly stopped.

"It's right here," Lorna said, looking towards the nearby woods.