I checked every room multiple times and even used my bell to see if there were any hidden rooms but no luck.
Were they out on a mission?
Maybe we can lay a trap for them here for when they get back.
That would be the perfect outcome.
I left the underground base without a problem and got back to the camp.
There I saw everyone waiting anxiously looking towards the tunnels.
I just ignored them and went towards the captain's temporary house, there I saw Merry with Alexa and the two generals of each army.
"I finished my scouting. While there is something that's bothering me, we're safe to attack them."
Everyone in the room was startled except for Alexa.
Realizing that they weren't in danger the generals made a fake cough and looked at me.
"What did you see, how many enemies were there?"
Then I proceeded to tell them everything I saw, from the number of rooms to what equipment each person wore.
Once I was done, Merry had a determined look in her eyes while the generals looked troubled.
"There are a lot more nobles than we expected in this operation, some of them we didn't even suspect. I don't know if we should arrest them or kill them here."
"While it's true that the nation would be in trouble for a while, it's still better if we get rid of the weed now before it would spread. What I'm more worried is the fact the Prince and the Monster Lords are not here. Where could they be?"
We all looked at Merry, who had her eyes closed trying to sense something.
"I still feel the Zobie Lord in that mountain. Unfortunately, I can't tell how far apart he is, or if he's invisible, we'll have to expect an ambush just in case."
I'm not too worried about that Lord since he's much weaker, I'm worried about the Shadow Lord.
While they were talking about their strategy to attack, I got closer to Alexa and whispered.
"Can you use the compass to see where the Shadow Lord is?"
Why would he go to the Coral Kingdom?
Is there a town there that caught his eye?
But maybe that's good since it means we are not going to fight 2 Monster Lords at the same time.
"I could capture a noble, bring him here, and we could question him on what they are planning."
Everyone stopped and looked at me with surprise.
"If you could do that, it would be for the best."
I nodded my head and went back outside not forgetting to tell Merry that the Shadow Lord wasn't here.
I passed the security of both camps and looked for the most important looking person in the tunnels.
Luckily it wasn't that hard to find him since he likes to show his status through expensive accessories such as a purple robe, golden bracelets, and paintings on his face.
He was alone in the biggest room looking over some paperwork with a tiered expression.
Since he was alone in the room, it was easy for me to take out my sword and gently tap his shoulder.
"Wha-who are you, how did you get here?"
"There's no reason for me to answer your question. Now follow me and don't make any noise. My sword is pretty sharp and I could cut your neck in one swing."
The noble face suddenly paled and tried to back away, unfortunately, there was a wall to stop him.
"O-ok, I'll follow you."
Just to be sure I took out an invisibility potion and splashed it onto the noble, making only a few floating accessories visible.
I asked the man to take those off, and with a hand on his shoulder, I guided him towards the exit.
He was surprisingly obedient on the way out, maybe a sword to the neck was truly a great motivator.
Once I arrived at the general house, I asked for a bucket of milk and wondered how the generals were surprised by the identity of the Noble.
"Secretary Trojen! What are you doing here, were you taken as a hostage?"
This guy was the secretary of this Nation?
He sure doesn't like to have a humble look, maybe that's why he was appointed by the previous Sultan.
"I don't think so, I saw that he was living in the best room of the base, and people were respectful towards him."
The faces of the two generals became complicated, clearly, this would become more troubling then initially thought.
"It doesn't matter who he is, we still need information from him!"
Merry came as the reasonable voice.
At first, the secretary was cagey about the information, but after we showed him that he was going to lose either way, he decided to share with us what actually happened a few months back.
When we heard the whole story, we were all taken by surprise.
The Prince didn't make a deal with the Shadow Lord, instead, he had complete control over him by holding the spawner hostage.
This was very dangerous since he could assassinate the new Ruler of the Sandstone Nation in one night.
They planned on doing that after they eliminated a majority of the nobles who supported her to get to power.
He doesn't want a civil war to start once he'll get to power after all.
This is what shocked the generals.
What shocked Merry was the fact that he didn't know that the Zombie Lord was in the mountain as well, it was very hard to keep in check the Shadow Lord and they had his literal life in their hands, they wouldn't trust the Zombie Lord no matter what he said.
But what shocked me the most was what he said at the end, where the Prince was going right now.
"So an Iliger came to us a few days ago and apparently they have a weapon that could hurt the System, and they need the help of the Shadow Lord to get to it or something similar. The Prince didn't tell me a lot of details and I don't think that Iliger told him the whole story either. So yesterday he took the spawner with him and left towers the Coral Kingdom to meet with the Iligers."
I could feel the blood freezing in my veins.
Why did the Piligers get in contact with the Prince?
I thought they wanted only a select few people to know about the Fake System, and what are they planning on using the Shadow Lord for?
They shouldn't have information about the guardians, and even if they did I don't think they'll want to bring a ticking bomb with them so close to Alexa's main body.
Everyone had their worries about the newly acquired information, but we soon decided to attack.
Since they didn't expect us to find them today, it was the best time to get rid of the camp.
But the Zombie Lord was still a wild card, so me and Merry decided to wait as a backup in case anything happened.
With everything done, we set the two armies close to the cave system but far enough not to be seen.
We selected a few people and made 3 groups of 5 people each and used an invisibility potion on them.
They would be the first ones to attack and cause chaos.
Once the chaos would ensue, the rest of the army buffed by speed and strength would attack as well.
The groups were selected and splashed with the invisibility potions.
Five minutes later we could hear the enemy yell, which was the signal for the rest of the attack.
The enemy was attacked on all sides, it was clear that we would win this battle with minimal casualties.
Suddenly Merry put her arm on my shoulder.
"I feel the Zombie Lord getting closer. I think he was sitting on the other side of the mountain. He's on top now."
Both of us looked at the top, but the moonlight wasn't powerful enough for us to see clearly what was there.
Looks like Alexa managed to see the Zombie Lord with no problem. I wonder if it plans on attacking us, or only watching from the side.
"Do you see anything Trader?"
"No, but Alexa saw him on top of the mounting looking at us. I will try to get closer with Alexa so it can scan it."
If it manages to get only a small sample, we should be able to make another soul compass that would point toward the Zombie Lord.
Merry nodded her head, and with Alexa we went up the mountain.
A few minutes later Alexa spoke once again.
That's not good, we didn't manage to get close enough yet.
"Can you use an Enderpearl?"
"Doesn't matter, we can still work with this. Hold it and drop it in my cloak."
Alexa seemed confused but still followed my instructions.
With the pearl in my cloak, I used it as a slingshot and threw it towards the top of the mountain.
I didn't throw it far enough but it was close enough for Alexa to start scanning.
As the Perl hit a block, Alexa disappeared from beside me just as the Zombie Lord jumped off the mountain.
Did we miss him?
"Alexa, did you manage to get something?"
I waited anxiously in silence looking towards the top of the mountain, until the usual monotone voice appeared in my head.
"Phew, glad to hear that. Let's get down and see how the battle went."
With the mission finished, we went down the mountain and saw how the soldiers were moving the bodies out of the tunnels.
It wasn't a pleasant sight to see, but those were the results of humans fighting.
It was not supposed to be a pretty sight, and even Merry seemed uncomfortable with the situation.
"Trader! I'm glad you're doing well, I felt that the Zombie Lord jumping away and I thought something happened to you."
"I'm ok, I didn't manage to get close to it, but Alexa managed to get what we wanted."
"That's good, how do you feel after such a busy night."
She said that while getting closer to me.
Something was not right, she was way too interested into this conversation... then I realized she was trying to get distracted from the battle that happened besides her.
While she was trained to fight against humans and monsters, that doesn't mean she was ready to take a humans life. Even if humans In this world look very different from our original world.
This made me think at my first kill.
I was in the Nether, fighting against the guards that attacked my tribe.
I rembered how I shot a firework at him, making him fall ending in him falling to his death.
I felt nothing at that time, and even now.
Let's not think too much about that, I already have a lot on my mind recently, there's no need to have a mental breakdown as well.
In the meantime let's dirtact Merry.
"Where do you think the Zombie Lord would go next?"
"I don't know, but I feel that he's jumping towards the center of the desert."
He doesn't want to regroup with the Shadow Lord?
What's happening here, something doesn't add up.
"Alexa, you have the location of both of them, are they going to meet in a secret location?"
"It's clear what they want to do. They either want to split us up, or lead us away from the Shadow Lord since they know we can only track one of them."
Merry got serios and started to think.
"I think we'll have to split up."