At the edge of the depression grew several clumps of strangely shaped plants.
They stood about half a foot tall, with long, curled leaves in a deep, nearly inky green. Extremely faint silver specks, like stardust, flowed through their veins.
The entire plants gave off an aura of cool tranquility and strange vitality, utterly out of place amid the surrounding deathly stillness.
These were Kress Grass. Judging by the number and brightness of the stardust-like specks in their veins, they were of quite good quality.
After spotting this patch of Kress Grass, neither Duke nor Merrick moved forward. Instead, they exchanged a glance.
"Come out. Stop hiding," Duke said, looking toward several large boulders ahead.
Seeing that the people concealed ahead still showed no movement, the yellow sand around him began to swirl as he prepared to strike.
At that moment, several people emerged one after another from the shadows ahead. There were exactly five of them—three liquefaction wizards and two gasification wizards.
The leader was a burly man with a full beard named Yoni, who appeared to be the head of the group.
Yoni glanced at Duke and Merrick. "How did you find us?"
He had thought their concealment methods were decent. He had not expected Duke and Merrick to see through them at a glance.
Duke had naturally discovered them through the Dark Eye within the shadow space. Through that space, he could see all five hidden people clearly. As for Merrick, he had detected them using an energy detector.
Even after being exposed, Yoni was not nervous. He still said arrogantly, "Since you didn't take the bait, be sensible and hand over everything valuable you have. We can spare your lives."
He could also sense that Duke and Merrick were not easy opponents, so he was not