Chapter 257: Death and cruelty. (2/2)

”Oh! Kahum! Haha... I got carried away,” Old Kure coughed before he continued,

”Anyway, Hm... I think I was training in the forest when Old Gu had approached me, introducing himself with that annoying smile of his...”

Kure told them about his first encounter with Old Gu.

It wasn't anything special because Old Gu had just told him that he was some sort of a candidate and disappeared afterward.

”The next time I saw him was when I had suddenly found myself in a giant tournament of... death and cruelty,” Kure's voice turned solemn as he recalled the past.

Many like him were summoned inside that forest where Old Gu explained to them about their situation.

Out of more than a hundred 'candidates' like him, twenty was the limit of people who would get out of that forest alive.

Not only that, but Old Gu also informed them that unless anyone of those twenty survivors brought the hearts of at least ten more candidates that they defeated by themselves, they wouldn't proceed to the 'next stage', and it would all be for nothing!

From the tone of his voice and how Kure had clenched his fists in anger, Ozul could guess that he probably couldn't proceed to this next stage and only managed to survive in those twenty.

”Only two monsters were able to proceed to the next stage while as the old man had said, only a total of twenty were left alive out of those more than a hundred candidates after a month of grueling experience,” Kure took another deep breath as he could never forget that one month of his life.

For a moment, no one said a thing as they thought about how unnerving that experience might have been.

Kure then lifted his head back up and said, ”The current only four Rank-10 Mages of the continent were all the previous candidates. The rest either died fighting each other later when we had become Rank-9 or perished in the hands of time.”

'No wonder all of the four ancestors were so reserved in the old man's presence,' Ozul thought silently.

”What about those two who had passed the test?” Ozul asked after another round of silence.

Kure turned towards him and replied, ”I don't know. In fact, no one knows except for that old man. We never got to see those two ever again after that.”

Ozul began to think of a few possibilities, but he couldn't draw any cogent conclusion based on just this much information alone.

”What about that old man? Is he really some sort of a deity?” Raymond asked doubtfully. He couldn't believe that a person with that sort of character was some god.

”Only that old man can answer this question. Except for the fact that he had done this previously as well, we don't know anything about that old man. What I can tell you is that even after being a Rank-10 Mage, the thought of attacking that old man still gave me goosebumps,” Kure answered with creased eyebrows.

Ozul didn't add anything because he also agreed with Kure. Whenever he thought of attacking Old Gu, a gut feeling told him that he wouldn't stand a chance.

”Is he even from this world?” Ozul muttered unconsciously, which caused Raymond and Alver to look at him weirdly.

”Haha... how could that be, ne—” Raymond was cut off by Kure,

”No... it is quite possible actually. I have almost roamed this whole continent many times already, and I can confidently say that there isn't some cult of extremely skilled experts hidden anywhere.”

A thoughtful expression appeared on Ozul while the two brothers were shocked to hear about such an absurd possibility.

”Whatever it is, the old man is strong beyond imagination, that I am sure of. And only those who passed his test can tell us more about him... if we can ever meet them, that is,” Kure stated while shaking his head.

Even while standing at the peak of this world in terms of strength, he was still helpless about this situation involving that old man.

Kure then suddenly turned towards Ozul, and with a glint in his eyes, he spoke, ”You... are you a candidate this time?...”