Paul was not the only one shocked by the unexpected turn of events. The group of men, including Jason, who wasn't aware that the golden-patterned pickaxe was terrifyingly sharp, gasped in shock.
Meanwhile, on the side, Jason's gaze was now fixated on the golden-patterned pickaxe with boundless greed in his deep, black eyes. Initially, he had planned to sell it for dirt cheap because, aside from the fancy golden patterns engraved on it, the pickaxe seemed to have no shocking effect when he tested it out.
However, just then, when Paul swung it against the golden wall, the pickaxe instantly glowed briefly, and then it easily broke through the wall that would have taken them many hours or even a day or two to eventually break through.
Earlier, it had taken them four whole hours just to make a few inches of a dent in the golden wall. From morning till now, which was midnight, they had only managed to break halfway through the golden wall with their previous pickaxes.
However, the golden-patterned pickaxe, although it looked ordinary without the golden patterns, only needed one hit to bring the entire golden wall to the ground. That outcome visually showed just how valuable the golden-patterned pickaxe was compared to the ordinary excavating pickaxes they carried.
Jason suddenly thought of a possibility: 'Could this ordinary-looking pickaxe be an artifact?'
Regardless of whether it was one or not, he wasn't going to let the others have it now that he had witnessed its potent effect with his own eyes.
...
A while later, the group of four to five entered the space that was revealed behind the broken-down golden wall after clearing the debris and vacuuming the dust away from the entrance. As they did, they discovered an open space that looked like the interior of a room.
At the center of the open space behind the cavern wall was nothing but an ancient-looking altar with a floating book on top of it vertically. The book's entire cover, including the paper, was golden in color, and it appeared to be made out of stone. There were some words written on it, but they couldn't be made out in the distance.
However, one look and one could tell that it was without a doubt a priceless treasure. That was because the book was shining with blinding golden light, and the energy that exuded from it not only felt soothing to the mind and body, but it also caused one's heart to palpitate with endless desire.
Everyone blankly stared in the direction of the ancient altar, lost in thought with mesmerized expressions. They all seemed to have been enchanted by the aura emanating from the golden stone book.
At this moment, a silhouette surreptitiously strode past everyone, taking advantage of the others' delirious state. Everyone immediately snapped back to reality and noticed the identity of the silhouette a distance ahead of them.
It was Paul.
Swiftly, Paul dashed to grab the item on the altar before anyone could catch up to him. He thought that the others would undoubtedly follow him, but he was solely wrong about his assumption. He only heard some strange noises and commotion behind him, but he couldn't care less about that right now.
Nobody followed him as he expected, so he managed to grab the golden book without any trouble. He showed a greedy smile on his face as he stared at the golden stone book in his hands, but then he suddenly heard a hoarse and demanding cold voice below the ancient altar.
"Now, why don't you hand that over, Paul? I promise I will spare your life for old times' sake."
It was at this moment that Paul looked below the altar, and to his absolute shock, at some point, all their comrades had been bloodied and sprawled on the ground with fist-sized holes in their chests. Fresh blood was gushing out ceaselessly from the holes in their chest.
They were all dead!
"Jason! What have you done?! Are you crazy?!"
Paul was livid at the sight displayed in front of him.
"What have I done? Am I crazy?"
Jason cocked an eyebrow in a puzzled manner and said: "I could ask you the same, Paul. What do you think you're doing right now?"
"I was just..."
Paul was at a loss for words before shaking his head and said: "That doesn't matter. How dare you kill our comrades?! For what reason?!"
"Of course, it mattered. And you should know the reason better than anyone else."
Jason stated meaningfully, and then he continued: "As I said, what do you think you're doing right now? Weren't you also attracted by that mysterious golden book in your hand? Isn't that why you rushed over to get it before anyone else?"
Paul was speechless for a moment and then suddenly realized something and said: "Going by your words, you too were attracted by the golden book, but I'm confused. If that is the case, why didn't you come after me or grab it for yourself?"
Jason suddenly broke out into frenzied laughter as if he just heard the funniest question in his entire life.
"You really are stupid!"
He then coldly said: "Did you think I would risk my life to grab a suspicious item on a random altar without any precautionary measures?"
"Y-You bastard! You murderous son of a b*tch! You used me to test for traps and then killed our comrades to keep the treasure for yourself!"
Paul instantly understood the implication of his words and was full of hatred as he pointed his trembling finger at Jason. He thought that it was strange that no one followed him to grab the treasure, but it turned out Jason had killed everyone else, and then used him as bait to grab the golden book for himself.
"That's right."
Jason casually admitted and coldly said: "You're not too dumb, after all. Now, hand it over! If you dare play any tricks, I will kill you instantly!"
Jason then menacingly took one step forward while emanating a terrifying aura from his body. Each step he took afterward brought an uncanny pressure on Paul, intimidating him.
However—
"In your dreams! I would rather fight you to the death than give you this treasure book! We're both Rank 3 Advanced Plane Combatants! Did you really think I'd be afraid of you?! Bring it on! Let's see who would die first!"
With that declaration, Paul stowed the golden book in his chest pocket and then rushed towards Jason, who only sneered coldly and threw a casual, blurred punch, directed at Paul in the distance.
Boom!
Instantly, Paul was sent flying, blood spraying from his mouth, his chest sunken from the damage inflicted by Jason's attack. Shortly after, his head smashed against the ancient altar behind him, breaking his skull open as blood flowed profusely out of it.
Fresh Blood dripped down onto the strange patterns beneath the ancient altar, activating a mechanism that ignited the entire structure in a blinding white light.
Jason saw the white light enveloping Paul and immediately sensed that something was wrong.
He shouted: "No!"
He threw another powerful, airborne punch at Paul, who was still delirious and dizzy from hitting his head. But before Jason's ethereal punch could land on him, Paul vanished on the spot, leaving Jason's deadly attack to smash into the ancient altar, crumbling it into dust.
"F*ck! Paul, you son of a b*tch! Don't let me get my hands on you, or I will tear you to pieces, limb after limb!"
Jason was instantly enraged. He had let his guard down, never considering that something like this would happen under the ancient altar. He had lost his chance at obtaining a tantalizing treasure before his eyes.
However, he quickly turned around and gave chase. He believed that whatever that strange light was, it couldn't have teleported Paul too far from their current location. With the help of a special tracking method, he was confident he could easily locate Paul if he was within close proximity.