Chapter 192

**Austin's POV**

"Wait! Slow down!" Julian, the king of the dwarf wolves, suddenly ordered.

All of us looked at him expectantly, "Did you see Elizabeth?"

"No, I saw a man. I think he is one of my people. He doesn't know that most of the people have managed to leave the Forbidden Valley. I should tell him the news."

None of us objected. Even the most quick-tempered Elroy didn't stop Julian.

Everyone sitting on this plane was the leader of a pack or country. It is our job as leaders to be responsible for each and every one of our people.

The plane landed slowly.

We all followed Julian off the plane. Only Caleb stayed on the plane to protect the pilot and his sister Carolina.

"Hello, I am the king of the dwarf wolves. Do you know that the curse has disappeared? Everyone can leave the Forbidden Valley now. Do you need us to send you up?"

The man turned around, and instead of showing excitement as we expected, he stared straight at Julian.

We all feared that this strange man would attack Julian, but then he suddenly said something that excited all of us.

"Do you want to find Elizabeth?"

"Where is she?" All of us asked almost simultaneously.

But soon, Brandon cautiously asked, "Who are you? Why do you know Elizabeth, and why do you know we're looking for her?"

Another equally cautious man, the alpha of the winged wolves, Isidore, did not speak as he spread his wings and flew behind the man to prevent the man from escaping.

The man wasn't afraid. He just stared at Julian and said, "Elizabeth is my best friend. She told me that she was the queen of the dwarf wolves. She did me a big favor and gave me a name, Francis."

We didn't let our guard down on him, and Julian continued to press, "Where is Elizabeth now?"

The man who identified himself as Francis pointed north and said, "The northernmost part of the forbidden valley is a sea. I once arrived there with Elizabeth. She said she wanted to try to swim across the sea, but she was swept under by the waves."

All of us were shocked and upset. We couldn't accept the fact that the girl we had been searching for so long had drowned.

Elroy even shouted outright, "This can't be true! You're lying! She couldn't have drowned!"

"She didn't drown. She could breathe underwater. And, she got to know a Merman who lived in the sea."

"She told me she wanted to live with that Merman forever at the bottom of the sea and asked me to leave. But I think she was coerced by that Merman, so I didn't leave and kept living near the sea."

"Take us to that sea! No matter how powerful the Merman is, we will defeat him and save Elizabeth!" said Julian. All of us nodded our heads.

Francis, however, shook his head, "There is no need for you to defeat him. He had already been defeated. That Merman used to be powerful. But his subordinates betrayed him, chained him, and forced him to kneel on the shore until he died."

"He deserved it! So where is Elizabeth now? Is she still at the bottom of the sea?"

Francis shook his head once again, "I found the Mermen kneeling on the shore a few days ago, and he told me that Elizabeth had left the sea. Since Elizabeth was carrying a piece of protective scale that belonged to him, he could sense Elizabeth's location."

Brandon said, "That means that if we save that Merman, he can lead us to Elizabeth, right?"

Francis finally nodded, "Yes. He may be the only one in the world who can sense where Elizabeth is. If he dies, then no one will know where to find Elizabeth. I tried to save him from his subordinates, but I failed and got hurt."

"I was about to start a second attempt to save him, and then I met you guys. I thought maybe we could work together."

We didn't fully trust what Francis was saying. It was possible he was lying.

But as far as I was concerned, I was definitely not going to let any opportunity to find Elizabeth pass me by. Even if it was a trap, I was going to check it out.

I looked at the others with questioning eyes, and they all nodded. It seems that everyone is thinking the same as me.

Even the most cautious Brandon and Isidore did not hesitate to follow Francis to the shore.

The sanest man cannot keep his sanity all the time.

We took Francis to the plane. Everyone watched him to prevent him from doing anything wrong, and we kept interrogating him.

"What was the hard part of the rescue mission?"

Francis replied, "That Merman is so badly injured that he could die at any moment, and he needs medical attention. The other end of the chain holding him is tied to the palace at the bottom of the sea. We have to break the chain to take him away. In addition, they can control the seabirds. The seabirds act as their monitors. Once someone approaches, the seabirds will alert and attack the comers."

Based on his description, Brandon pondered and came up with a battle plan.

Soon after, we saw the sea from the plane.

The black water was tumbling. Huge waves were lapping at the shore like angry beasts.

As we drew closer, we saw a man kneeling on the beach. His neck and wrists were wrapped in chains thicker than his arms.

As for his legs, they were pierced by two long swords and pinned to the beach, which made him unable to move, and had to endure the waves and the scorching sun.

"Didn't you say that this man in chains was a Merman? Why does he have legs?" The dwarf king raised his query.

"The last time I went to rescue him, he said he had been an alpha of the sea, but he had made a big mistake, and everyone hated him. His subordinates split his tail in two and turned it into legs in order to make him kneel down and repent on the beach forever until he died."