Gulp! Gulp!
"Hehe… calm down. You did very well..."
Looking at his stupid and smug expression, Atlas couldn't help but curse him: "Damn you... did you enjoy the show?"
Gulp! Gulp!
"Passable…"
Hearing his answer, Atlas stared at him with an odious gaze as if he wanted to bite his throat.
"Hey... Hey... Don't make that scary face... Hahaha..."
Gulp! Gulp!
"Anyway… I have to admit you have a truly peculiar artifact… But I don't understand one thing… Why are you fighting with a pickaxe? It's a pretty good treasure with decent runes, but is it worth wasting your Chaos Energy like this? I find it somewhat strange..."
The young man did not immediately answer his question. Instead, he calmly placed his faithful companion at his side and only then replied: "Compared to other weapons, I find it much more manageable. Furthermore, with that technique, even a useless stick can become a lethal weapon..."
The young man's words contained an ounce of truth and were the best excuse he could find at the moment. After all, there were myriads of techniques in the universe, and some of them could fortify an object and enchant it to some degree.
"Well… you're partly right. But sooner or later, that little pickaxe will reach its limit, so if you care so much about it, you should put it away on a bulletin board and get a more suitable weapon."
Gulp! Gulp!
Fortunately, Drunkum did not probe further and changed the subject: "So, did you like this place?"
Atlas didn't answer immediately and prevaricated, staring at him with a bored expression, to say the least.
"Hehehe… come on, I've seen you cheer before, and... I'm sure you gained a lot of benefits from here, so don't be so angry."
Gulp! Gulp!
In fact, Drunkum's words were the truth, but it was better not to give too much satisfaction to that crazy old man, so he asked him something else: "Hmm… What kind of creature was that from before? It seemed very powerful..."
A wooden chair appeared out of nowhere, and Drunkum sat down calmly as if the damned graveyard didn't bother him.
'Old madman…' Atlas thought, seeing the old man's careless attitude.
Gulp! Gulp!
"Hmm... I think a conglomeration of several evil spirits..." Drunkum replied, but he didn't seem convinced: "… Hmm… Well… I'm not entirely sure, too. However, he was not an opponent within your reach. "
"Really?!... I didn't notice it." Atlas was slightly annoyed and replied with a bit of sarcasm: "… Old drunkard… don't tell me you're still tired? You have surely enjoyed your time and satiated your appetite, so why are we still here? Shouldn't we keep going toward my friend's location?"
Gulp! Gulp!
"Calm down... for the moment, we can't sail because, for the time being, the place over there is packed with a bunch of bastards."
Atlas scrupulously looked around before yelling again: "What the hell are you talking about?... Probably the fumes of the wine are clouding your mind..."
Luckily, old Drunkum was a calm man and wasn't bothered too much by his constant yelling. In fact, he calmly explained the situation: "Hey, calm down... Those bastards are smarter than the brainless creatures you fought a while ago. Indeed, they regained their previous cultivation realm and maintained a clear and intact consciousness, making them even more powerful... It's simple for those bastards to hide using the nefarious dark energy that rules over this place."
Atlas was a bit suspicious, but he still rechecked the gloomy waters, this time with his unique eyes, which allowed him to see the truth behind the veil of deception.
"Mmm?!"
As soon as the Obsidian Eyes took effect, the world in front of him changed, too...
The sky filled with darkness, and dancing lightning cleared ...
The purple water changed color to a beautiful crystalline blue...
What looked like bone dust was transmuted into golden sand...
Even the rocks returned to their original color, abandoning that disgusting pitch-black color...
"What the hell is going on?"
Atlas gasped at the shocking discovery and stared like a fool at the beautiful world that had unfolded before him.
"So, it was all an illusion? How the hell is that possible? Who can be powerful enough to affect such a vast area?"
The young man soon turned his gaze back, but when his eyes landed on the old man, something even more strange caught his attention.
"Ohi... what is that damned thing?!"
Feeling his intense stare, the old man halted what he was doing and stared back with a confused expression.
"Mhm?! What are you talking about?!"
"It's hovering around your head. It's a strange gaseous mist. It's pitch dark and sure ominous." Atlas commented, barely holding back the impulse to take a step back and move as far as possible from him, "How can you not feel it? It's there!!"
The old man heard his words but strangely didn't react too much, as if truly he didn't feel it at all.
"I don't know what you are talking about..."
"Nonsense..."
Atlas trusted his godly eyes and their absurd power, so he doubted the old man's response.
That damned thing was dangerously intimidating, but he didn't let it conquer his young heart and stepped forward, slowly approaching him.
Atlas could feel faith but tangible resistance before him, making him realize that all this matter was even more strange than he had imagined.
He could feel a dangerous threat growing inside his heart, but he didn't stop. Instead, he moved over, almost reaching the old man.
"What are you doing?" Drunkum asked, seeing the young man extending his hand toward his face.
"Stay still... I can't do anything to you, anyway..."
Indeed, in Atlas' current realm, he was as weak as a tiny ant, so Drunkum let him continue, still keeping an eye on him. After all, a minute seed of doubt had inevitably formed in his heart after Atlas's comment.
In the midst of that deadly and barren land, Atlas's hand was almost in close range with that ominous and dark mist, but suddenly, something unexpected happened.