Cultivation Through Artifacts

After paying 50 Gold Coins for the Phoenix Tear, Khal picked up Rubie and went to find Liza.

Luckily, he didn't have to search for a long time as she was practicing next to the same lake as previously with her Master, thus he walked straight to them.

"Khal! Wait, What happened with her?" Liza noticed Khal's approach so stopped practicing, but when she noticed Rubie's weak state she became a bit worried.

For her, Rubie was the same as for Khal, hence seeing her like that made her heart tighten a bit.

"It's a long story so I will tell you later. Instead, can I ask you to look out for her, please? I have a few things to do."

Noticing the sharp and cold glint in Khal's eyes, Liza understood that something must have happened, hence glanced at Jane on her side, hoping she could help.

"You just continue to practice, I will take care of her," said Jane and without a second thought took Rubie away from Khal's hold.

"Thank you very much! I will definitely pay your kindness back!" bowed Khal politely and with a quick spin, burst back toward Moon Mountain.

"Her brain and organs seem to be recovered from a horrible condition so luckily she will be alright, but she still needs to rest," said Jane and glanced at Liza.

"I will be right back."

"Un." nodding, Liza watched as Jane vanished into thin air and shifted her gaze toward the direction where Khal just ran away, her eyes holding a bit of worry.

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With his First Form, Khal reached the cave's entrance in no time at all and went inside.

Thanks to the fact that the Crystal Bats have been killed and the whole route toward the pit was cleared, Khal met with no Beasts at all.

Soon, he arrived at the edge of the crater and gazed down, concentrating if he could see or at least hear anything down below.

'...'

Ding!

"KREEIIIKK!"

Following a sharp sound that seemed to be Alde's Beast Slayer Bell, a blood-freezing scream broke out from the deep darkness, causing Khal's eyes to show a hint of coldness.

"He is still here..." without thinking any further, Khal summoned his Chameleon Armor and after changing its appearance into the exact same material as that of the cave's wall, he started to descend.

The way down was pretty easy as small holes and gaps were everywhere on the wall's surface, so Khal reached the bottom almost in no time.

However, during his descent, he made sure to scan his surroundings, especially the area below him from where the continuous deafening screams and sharp ringing tone could be heard.

"Just die already!"

DING!

"KREEEIIKK!!"

Once on the bottom, Khal turned his gaze toward the middle, only to see Alde wave his Beast Slayer Bell and his sword nonstop, while a creature similar to a blood-red centipede with a size of a human arm was running here and there, completely ignoring Alde's attempts.

"Why does this shit not working!? Fucking crap!"

BAM!

Slamming the bell onto the ground and crashing it into pieces with his feet before kicking it away, Alde raised his sword and stared at the Beast that was crawling around the place without rest.

However, Khal didn't look at Alde, but instead, his gaze caught the item on the ground which shone with a gentle crimson hue and emitted a gentle power he recognized really well; the Power Core his bracelet detected before!

"I should get that." thought Khal, and with slow and stealthy steps approached the debris on the ground.

Meanwhile, Alde who seemed maddened to the utmost extent, raised his sword and pointed it toward the Blood Centipede.

"If I alone can't kill you, then 3 more of me will!"

Swish!

"!?"

Khal was about to pick up the Power Core from the ground, when suddenly his movements stopped whilst his gaze halted on Alde's figure that suddenly began to duplicate!

Yes, duplicate! Like a slime that you pull toward two opposite ways, Alde's body expanded then snapped and a new Alde appeared next to the original one!

This happened two more times, and in a blink, there were four, exactly the same looking Alde before Khal, dumbfounding him to his very core!

"Are you kidding me, right?" thought Khal and without further thinking, he picked the Power Core up from the ground before putting it into his Spatial Ring.

"Such a Talent can truly exist?" asked Khal inwardly, as Alde's ability made him feel troubled.

While Khal watched Alde and its duplicates from the shadows in deep silence and thoughts, the 4 Alde's charged at the Beast, each of their swords already lit up with white light.

Swish!

With a powerful swing, 4 white crescent arcs appeared in the air and flew toward the Beast like bullets, but because of the creature's speed, none of them reached their targets.

Instead, they have given the Beast an advantage; with the help of the smokescreen, the Beast disguised its movements, and once close enough it leaped at Alde's original body, burying itself deep inside his body!

Khal seeing this seemed happy but at the same time sad too. He rejoiced that Alde will finally die, but also felt a bit of a regret that it was not him who killed him.

"Well, whatever. At least I don't need to cover my hands with bl-, huh?" however, just as he could have finished talking, a confusing and terrifying sight has appeared.

The moment the creature buried itself into Alde's body and began to such his blood away in a crazy manner, Alde's body indeed died, but his duplicates did not!

They were moving and doing perfectly fine, ignoring the fact that the 'original' Alde has been dead long ago!

"What is happening? Shouldn't they disappear once the original body was killed?" asked Khal himself with deep shock, but soon found out it was truly not the case at all.

The three remaining Alde moved and acted just like previously, and attacked the Blood Centipede inside the dead body with their swords!

"DIE!!" 

Swish!

"KREEIIKK!!"

With a smooth cut, the Alde in the middle sliced the dead body up together with the Beast inside it into several pieces, ending the creatures deafening scream in a wink!

"Hmph! Half a step or not, before me you are still trash." sneering coldly, the remaining two duplicates melted back into his body, making Khal feel even more shocked and scared.

It seemed Alde's consciousness could freely swap bodies among his duplicates, thus no matter what happens, until he has at least one remaining copy of himself, he can remain alive!

"I must kill him. His ability will be too much to handle if I let him go away now!" thought Khal and without hesitation summoned his Soul Piercer and pulled its string backward.

In a flash, black mist in the shape of an arrow emerged between his fingers, and once fully materialized, he fired.

Swish!

"Huh?" feeling that something was amiss, Alde turned around but it was too late for him to react.

With a black line that seemed to be fully invisible inside the almost pitch-black darkness, the arrow appeared before Alde's face and flew through his head!

Paff!

Without any opportunity to say anything or even realize what happened, Alde's Soul was pierced and like a sandbag, his body fell onto the ground, no longer breathing.