"I'm here bitches! Let's see the bastard who took away my food..."
A few steps away from the exit, the creature's shouts were so loud and joyful, yet as soon as he stepped inside, it was as if all his world crumbled.
"Bloody hell!... What happened here??"
Atlas looked in confusion at the tiny creature who entered so arrogantly and commented: "Mhm?! Is that your friend? How could a lizard enter this place?"
Recovering from the shock, the so-called lizard looked at him with a ferocious gaze: "Damn human... How dare you compare me to those lousy worms... listen well... They call me Eternal... They call me Overlord... and even Godly... but I'm the only Eternal Nine-Horned Dragon in the entire universe."
Initially, Atlas was quite intimidated by it, yet noticing its low Cultivation Realm, he felt funny.
"Little thing... if you are a Dragon, then I'm one of the Progenitors... What a braggart..."
Atlas's words were a complete mockery and touched one of the creature's sore spots.
"Damn, your grandfather!"
"Hey... little lizard... what a foul-mouthed mouth you have." Atlas scolded, giving the creature no time to complete its awful curse.
"Such an annoying human..." The creature roared with arrogance: "Before... I kill you. Tell me what you did to my precious tree... I won't eat you alive if you give me a satisfactory answer."
Atlas couldn't believe his ears.
Wasn't that lizard a bit too crazy? Couldn't he see the difference between them?
Atlas was about to shout at him when Falerra stepped in: "Ohi... little fellow... whose tree is it?"
Falerra's voice brought a bit of calm into the cave, but it didn't last long.
"It's you, Falerra... Where is my tree?" The creature said after a bit of pause.
"Again, with this story? Did thousands of years of sleep make you stupid?" Falerra retorted sarcastically.
"What the hell... Did I sleep for so long? What happened to you?"
Finding out the truth, the creature asked more questions.
"You lazy pig... The Stony Tree of the Underworld is gone. The fruits are gone. There is nothing here anymore..."
"Gone... what the hell are you talking about? An Immortal Tree can't just disappear like that... Who did it?"
Falerra looked at Atlas for a moment but didn't tell the creature the truth about the past: "The past is in the past... Now... since you are here. I have a proposal for you..."
The creature had a lot of questions floating in his mind, but he listened patiently.
"I know where you can find the Celestial Golden Durian..."
Falerra placed the succulent bait right in front of the creature's nose, and sure enough, the creature's interest was piqued.
"Really... tell me where... Damn, I'm so hungry."
"Hehe... Well... You should ask this human since he is the new owner of the tree..."
His words were a huge surprise, yet not so much to lose his arrogance.
"Human kid... If you tell me the truth, I promise I won't kill you."
Atlas listened attentively to their conversation, finding this story quite interesting, especially when Falerra tried to con that creature.
Atlas had an idea about Falerra's plan, yet the creature was too arrogant and decided to teach him a lesson: "Have you checked inside your ass? Geez... your rear stinks to high heaven, if not more..."
Atlas responded with such a serious face that the creature took a moment before exploding: "Ungrateful fellow... I was good enough to give you an opportunity, but you asked for it..."
ROAR!!
A defiant roar shook the cave, and what followed was even more shocking.
The little creature's body started enlarging, reaching the size of Atlas's companion, Uranus.
The nine horns on top of his head were also more prominent, giving him an aura of dominance.
His form was the same, still a lot bigger.
Atlas was surprised but not scared because the creature was just a tiny Primordial Lord Descendant at the primary stage, nothing too tricky to handle.
"Damn lizard... I was waiting to beat your foul mouth for a long time..."
Atlas stepped forward holding his loyal companion, yet it wasn't in his usual battle axe form, but it was a hammer.
Boom... boom... boom...
The lizard charged with his massive body, leaving behind a long trail of imprints.
Atlas wasn't idle either and activated the Solaris Eternis Catcher to his fullest.
His figure disappeared from the ground and reappeared an instant later, right above the creature's head.
Astra bashed down and...
Boom!
The impact was tremendous...
|||
Somewhere in the Divine Sect...
"How long has it been?"
"Almost six months passed, yet there is no news about him."
"It's such a pity..."
Inside the highest pavilion, the elders have reunited again around the miniature model of the Maze of Despair.
Each month since Atlas's disappearance, they met in this place to discuss some news, yet the mystery of Atlas was a significant point each time.
"Sect Master's niece and her group went there too, but she came back with nothing at hand... Maybe he ran away using a Teleportation Talisman or some portable formation."
One of the dwarfs in the room shared his thoughts, yet some people inside the room had different opinions.
"No way... we found no residual power around his last position... So, he must be still inside."
"Mmm... That's probably the case. After all, the Maze of Despair did not use all of the actual space in the canyon. Instead, he may have found some hidden passage left by our ancestors. I heard it happened in the past, too."
Everyone shared their thoughts, yet no one knew what truly happened. After discussing it a bit more, they changed the argument.
"The next entrance test will start two weeks from now… Hopefully, we will find some other interesting child."
One of the old men in the room sighed deeply, hearing his old friend say, "In fact, we really need freshmen..."
After the first one, the others also expressed their hopes, and just like him, they prayed with all their heart.
"Well... we will send all the scout's groups out in one week. So, inform them about it!"
While Atlas was battling the little dragon, the Minosir Cretion Divine Sect was undergoing its annual recruitment event.
Atlas could have participated, too.
Unfortunately, he didn't want to wait so long and chose the most brutal way, crossing the Maze of Despair...