Inside the cave.
A woody fragrance lingered on the air as the fire's light dwindled.
Chrove's shadow covered its flickering light; he stood, astonishment clear in his gaze.
It must be said.
The artifact was incredibly useful with its diverse features—even identifying weapons!
He was bewildered and incredibly excited to run experiments to know the limit of the artifact.
However, he soon noticed that it cannot identify an item with higher quality, which he thought was quite a shame.
'This consumption is simply too absurd!'
He clicked his tongue in disappointment.
It was indeed a wonderful artifact, but the mental consumption was too high.
But despite that, for a 'free' artifact, he was very satisfied.
'It will be very useful to identify items description, the condition to use, the rank, and whether it could inflict me certain dangers.'
Or at least, my insight could help.'
It will be very useful in this unfamiliar yet familiar world.'
As for Neil?
He had already gave him, his disciple, a 'chance' to see at least the corpse of his 'family'.
'Buried' in the depths of the mountain, although dangerous, he naturally was not worried about his safety.
Suddenly, a loud furious voice shook the whole cave startling the scattered beasts outside, causing yet another chaos.
"Show yourselves disgraceful bastards!"
Rumble.
The cave shook momentarily, startling Chrove who was rejoicing.
!?
So quick!
An intense feeling of dread assaulted him, causing his stomach to turn upside down.
What powerful aura!
His sixth sense lamented, telling him to escape.
But before he could move, the gravity surged almost instantaneously, forcing his body to slump down in struggle.
The pressure was horrifying—enough to crush mortals in mere seconds.
The cave trembled in an alarming rate.
The tremors was though intended to collapse the whole cave system itself!
Seeing this, Chrove quickly called out void intending ro store the artifact inside.
But it couldn't be put in!
His pale face turned solemn, it turned into frown, reverence, and then despair!
'This absurd power...!'
The pressure inserted towards the artifact actually far surpass what was directed towards him!
Its power was incredibly powerful that a subtle ripple seemed to have form, enveloping the artifact.
'To think it could be restricted like this...'
Boom!
The cave's entrance was revealed, the formation placed as traps were already dismantled, no—they were destroyed using absurd and terrifyingly powerful strength.
'That Old fellow yesterday was actually just the tip of an iceberg...now this is an old monster...'
His face turned solemn but he remained sensible.
He knows as a person whose experienced war countless of times—despair, panic, and impulsive actions will lead to death.
He started to use all his remaining strength not to struggle but to seal his void space.
"Hmmp!"
The ceiling was directly broken apart causing rocks to rumble throughout the cave.
Not only did he break the entrance destroying all the traps and formation, he actually broke the ceiling of the cave oh so casually!
A cold snort echoed through the air.
It was the Old Sage!
His robe was extremely elegant, it was like a painted canvas turned into life. With white long beard that fluttered with the air, his face was cruelly cold.
The Old Sage appeared like Death, ready to harvest his life.
He took a sharp look at the devastated figure of Chrove, his eyes a piercing disdain.
The fierce wind gushed in roaring like a wild beast upon his impending arrival.
The Old Sage retracted his gaze, like what he looked at was but a piece of trash, he didn't even took a time to take a second look.
He slowly landed on the ground, the dusts particles voluntarily avoiding him like a plague.
The Old Sage's body then started twitching uncontrollably.
His eyes revealed twisted desire towards the location of the artifact.
Then, in an instant, his figure vanished startling Chrove.
'So fast!'
He appeared next to the artifact instantaneously.
His fingers twitched as they hovered over the artifact, his breathing shallow and uneven. His eyes turned bloodshot as he wildly explored the surface even embracing it.
It was an obscene sight of perverse ambition.
The expression on his face was twisted, like that of an obsessive fanatic—completely insane, consumed by perverse desire.
Chrove suddenly had an absurd idea.
'If I can use this chance to take advantage of this, with Tranquil Deception I might reap benefits. I cannot escape nor will this old sage allow me to. This power is simply too absurd...'
He had two choice.
Die fighting or die with mercy—but he chose the third option: overturn the situation and make it favourable to mine!
Thinking of it, he had no other choice but to cram his mind, , he broke the silence and said.
"This 'junior' was blind, I have made a grave mist-"
Before he could continue, he was met by a fiery gaze which seemed to have seen through all his intentions, causing him to be stupefied.
Then a voice reverberated.
"Scram."
With a wave of his hand, the gravity became even more unbearable, causing Chrove's bones to shatter.
Keuk—
The ground plummeted leaving a small crater inside the cave, where in the center knelt Chrove.
He tried to persevere though tears of blood had long gushed from his eyes.
But it was all useless.
His desperate measures failed.
Then, the pressure from the gravity dispersed, but the world turned grim and everything went quiet.
Perhaps it was the unique beauty of death that he saw when he died, but he saw the moon—it was crescent, illuminated by the stars—it was beautiful.
Boom!
He was laced in half, but it did not stop upon him dying.
The Old Sage burned his body using the profoundity of fire, he used his energy essence to completely eradicate the corpse.
He did it all without batting an eye.