Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

As Vanda's group furiously retreated back, Illyan was going through the ride of his life.

'It feels as if my stomach is floating,' Illyan thought as he felt the weightlessness of his body.

He was falling down, but he didn't feel fear or any anxiety despite that. There was a certain hunch that there would be no problem.

The place he was falling through at this very moment was the tunnel that had opened at the bottom of the altar.

The materials of the walls the tunnel was passing through changed once in a while. First, it was refined black rock, then normal rock, stone, and, in the end, soft dirt.

It was as if he were passing through the layers of the earth itself.

However, Illyan felt that he wasn't getting too deep inside the earth.

His spiritual perception was faulty at the moment, but he could still feel a little that the tunnel was uneven and had many turns.

Left and right, up and down.

But to Illyan, it felt as if he were still falling in the same direction.

There was nothing to feel despite taking the turns. Only his robe fluttered as he shifted his body once in a while.

'It must be because of that suction force,' Illyan thought as his body was guided through the tunnel.

The tunnel itself was just big enough to comfortably fit him, so he let the force take him and didn't resist.

Thinking it would probably take some time, Illyan closed his eyes and started to meditate to recover a little after the intensive fights he had gone through…

……..

A few hours later, somewhere deep in the mountains.

A place far from Faruin, where most animals fight for their survival every day because of the extreme infestation of trolls that have no natural enemies here.

One such troll was just climbing the mountain slope.

"Gruugh…" Heavily breathing, it used its long arms to push its body up while finding the optimal path to climb.

It was a difficult endeavor for the troll as it held an entire bear in one of its hands by the neck.

It climbed for a long time before it finally found the entrance in a very steep part of the slope.

The entrance was hidden by the leaves of the plants growing around the hole, but the troll vaguely remembered the place.

"Gruuhgh!" With a final exertion of power, it threw itself over the edge inside the hidden entrance.

There, it lay exhausted with the bear in its hand before falling asleep.

It was a small but deep cave that the troll had accidentally found one day. There was nothing of note in there except for a few plants that didn't need much sunlight, but that was all.

The troll made it its nest afterward, as it was the perfect place to rest. Nothing could climb here without exerting most of its strength.

Or, that was what its small brain thought.

A small tremor passed through the cave as dust and dirt flew everywhere.

Right at the end of the cave, the rocky wall started to vibrate until it collapsed as the rocks, broken down into smaller pieces, began to move in mysterious ways to form the edges of a circular opening in the middle.

The hole seemed to be the entrance to the hell of eternal darkness.

Nothing could be seen inside, and nothing could be felt from it either.

Only after a few seconds did the first sign of something happening finally show up.

After several hours of never-ending falling, Illyan's body shot up from the hole like a cannonball.

He prepared for the heavy landing, but surprisingly, his body went through a magical inertia break as he fell onto his legs without a problem.

'That was interesting. I guess the magic limit is only the skill and imagination of the user, huh?' Illyan thought as he stretched his body, which had been falling for a very long period.

He felt a little stiff, but the sensation disappeared in a second.

With his meditation, he had recovered most of his stamina and mental clarity, so his body could easily recover from something minor like this.

'Now then, where am I…?'

After Illyan warmed up, he finally assessed the situation.

In fact, he had already perceived the surroundings for any enemies in the vicinity since that was what his warrior's experience told him to do. He did it even before his legs met the ground. However, since he didn't feel any presence close by, he focused on his landing.

The cave was pitch black as the end of it was too far from sunlight, but Illyan could navigate through just fine.

'Empty cave… It is quite deep since I can't feel the exit even with my perception. Fortunately, it seems there is only one path.'

Since he was flushed out in the deepest part of the cave, he just needed to move forward to find the way out.

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He looked around to see if there was something of interest, and when he didn't find anything, he sat down on a big stone in the corner in a lotus position.

Illyan took a deep breath before exhaling the turbid air in his lungs.

He had been in a meditative state for a long time, but there was something that he hadn't looked into until now…

'Let's look at that chest. Can't let it sit in me like this,' Illyan thought as he meditated for an hour or so before using his spiritual perception to feel the insides of his body.

There, under his stomach, a beautiful chest was suspended in midair.

It wasn't in a material state, as it wouldn't fit in his body since it was too big. Instead, it was completely intangible, and its illusory image was the only thing Illyan could perceive.

He could feel it inside of him, but he couldn't touch it despite using the bit of spiritual energy he mustered.

'Should I try to open my stomach and get it from outside? No, since even energy can't touch it, then bare hands will be useless…' Illyan thought gloomily.

He didn't know if the thing was dangerous or not.

What if it suddenly flared up and exploded within him?

It wasn't something he appreciated.

'Moreover… What if someone can feel it from outside?' Illyan thought heavily as he tried to use his spiritual energy from the outside to feel his body out.

After a few seconds, he sighed in relief since he couldn't feel anything, but he was still uneasy.

However, it was at this moment that the chest suddenly shuddered as if it could feel his worries.

Runes separated from it and created rings around the chest as they revolved.

With each turn, they sped up as the chest in the middle started to shrink.

The rings of runes also shrank together with it as if to pressure it.

After a few minutes, the chest shrank to the point of disappearing together with the runes as they flashed for the last time before fading.

'W-where is it?' Illyan opened his eyes wide when he felt this happening inside of his body.

He tried to find the chest inside of him, but this time, he couldn't find any clue.

This unnerved him a little, but considering this was what he wanted, he decided to let it go.

'I will deal with it with the help of Aurelia later on. Now, I need to prepare for Vanda's search for me.'

Considering that there was nothing else to do in the Iron Troll Mountains anymore and the fact that she was quite obsessive with him, there was a big chance she would look for him or at least for his body.

If that was the case, then her not finding him could reveal something and make them suspicious.

On the other hand, if he could manage to pull one over them, then he could get rid of any suspicion and would be able to act without surveillance in the future.

'But before that, I will need to find out where this cave is… I guess it is time to leave. I am not tired anyway.'

A few hours had passed since he entered the cave, so there was no time to waste as Vanda must have left the citadel some time ago.

Thus, Illyan made a somersault from the rock he was sitting on and set off into the absolute darkness in front of him.

His pace was quick, but he was far from hurrying.

The spiritual perception was helpful, but it would be difficult to keep up if he went too quickly.

And heading into a dark place without knowing the area would be too foolish.

In the end, even his quick pace slowed down.

The cave had several turns and even narrow passages where he needed to crawl through small spaces.

Still, in just a dozen or so minutes, he felt a slight breeze caressing his cheeks.

This confirmed that the place Illyan was going to was truly the exit, so he could walk with peace of mind.

However, just as he sighed in relief, the cold winds brought another surprise…

'This stench… It is the smell of death. No, not only that. There is also some slightly familiar smell…'

Illyan frowned when he realized this.

He had definitely smelled this disgusting stench somewhere. But where… Ah?!

Then, his eyes opened wide in realization.

'Damn it. That stench is coming from the troll, isn't it? Is this its nest?'

Illyan clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He didn't want to fight the troll. It was strong, and its body parts were not valuable to him at all.

He would lose precious time while fighting it without knowing if he would win.

Normally, trolls were considered peak Apprentice Stage creatures.

However, no one in the Apprentice Stage would bother to fight one-on-one. Especially in frontal attacks.

Their low intelligence was the key to successfully hunting them down with large numbers of people.

But Illyan was in a narrow passage alone.

There were no tricks to take advantage of.

And soon, his suspicion was confirmed when he finally saw small rays of light from behind the next turn in the cave.

The moment he followed the rays of light, he also noticed the huge shadow.

The shadow wasn't the same as the darkness within the depths of the cave.

The reason behind it was the huge mountain that stood at the entrance of the cave, with the rays barely passing over its edges.

But Illyan could see that it wasn't truly a mountain.

It was just a very humongous creature peacefully sleeping in front of him.

'I won't be able to pass without touching it. The clash is inevitable.' Illyan frowned as he watched the beast sleeping while hugging the corpse of a fat grizzly bear.

Illyan sighed in resignation.

'Then an ambush it is.' He massaged his right arm with his left hand as his blood energy surged within it.

Illyan forced all of his blood energy into his right forearm and fist. His veins started popping up as his bones creaked.

He knew that using the Blood Ignition spell during the fight would be impossible, so he decided to spend all his energy from the beginning.

There was nothing else to do anyway.

His mind energy was devoured.

His flow had diminished to the point of not being useful.

As for his newfound aura… It was useless to him since he didn't know how to activate it.

He had tried during the tunnel fall, but he didn't manage to do it.

The only thing he could use now was his blood energy.

"Ah…" So, he exhaled once more as he prepared for the attack.

The quiet mumbles resounded in the cave as Illyan chanted the spell of [Blood Ignition].

He was quiet, but even if he wasn't, there was nothing to be afraid of since trolls were not that sensitive to sounds.

While he spoke the incantations, his leg muscles contracted as he crouched down.

The troll was too big.

He needed to jump on top of it to do some damage.

'Let's go!' And so, he lunged on top of the mass of flesh as his arm veins started to glow in a reddish hue.

The troll, which had been sleeping until now, finally felt something was off, with its instincts ringing bells in its mind.

The body stirred, and the head rose in confusion.

Squelch

"Uurrrgh?!"

Blood and flesh scattered everywhere as the troll's face exploded.

Illyan's right arm was a bloodied mess, but he didn't even frown as he jumped over the head of the troll, hoping to escape.

However, the place was too narrow.

The furious troll roared in indignation as it tried to stand up.

Illyan had to jump back since the troll's back could easily crush him against the ceiling.

Boom

The entire cave shook heavily as Illyan fell back.

Looking at the troll from the front wasn't exactly a pleasant sight.

The troll that had just woken up had the entire left side of its head crushed.

The eye had burst open, and the lower jaw was hanging freely.

The rage coming out of the remaining eye was palpable, though, as Illyan could feel the bloodthirst it was giving off.

However, the most surprising thing was something else.

'Ah, this is why I didn't want to fight this guy. How am I supposed to kill it? I am now getting how my enemies must feel when dealing with me…'

Illyan clicked his tongue as he looked at the troll's head.

Trolls were known for their robust physiques, with thick skin that was hard to penetrate.

Even Illyan would have problems attacking it with a sword.

However, the full-powered spell took care of that as it easily penetrated the skin and crushed the skull.

The real problem, though, was…

Crack

The jaw, which had been hanging up there, suddenly clicked back to its original position as the missing teeth grew out of the bloodied gum.

The eye socket, which was empty, suddenly had blood and other bodily fluids coalesce into the shape of an orb as it slowly regenerated.

That's right.

Trolls were always known for their monstrous regeneration that defied any logic.

Because they were monsters.

"Grooooaaaaaar!"