Lars skillfully dodged the crumbling ceiling block which descended to his right, spinning away from it at break-neck speed. He whistled out a breath of relief when he smoothly avoided that probably 40-ton slab of reinforced concrete - and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end when he saw the endless pouring down of earth, sand and stones from above that followed after it!

Even with his great abilities, he admittedly was not a physical-focused Legendary cultivator and would be severely injured if that landed on him...!

'Better hurry! Hopefully I can locate the hidden treasure trove as well; but even if I can't, my priority is to make it out of here in one piece...'

As Lars raced after the last rat, he scanned over the underground complex and mapped out the updated situation. The ground was now just slightly damp as the waters had receded completely.

Lars wondered how they achieved this; even on Earth, the levels of construction and engineering would be hard-pressed to pull off this feat except through the use of actively-powered magic formations.

Whereas with the Laughing Man dead and the structure of the underground complex collapsing, it was perhaps a miracle of engineering that the waters could drain away given that the compound was right beside the Gorun River and also a few hundred metres underground.

That brought up the point - the moment the waters had completely drained away, the entire underground hideout had tremored simultaneously and begun collapsing bit by bit

'Perhaps there was some timer tied to the Laughing Mans' death, a self-destruct mechanism...? Dastardly... As in his lifetime he stole, killed and destroyed to enrich himself and expand his powers, even in his death he strives to deprive others of his wealth...!'

'With how wealthy the Underworld branch here in Gorun City is, it's a wonder that he wasn't already breaking into the Mythical stage... There couldn't have been any lack of secret treasures or cultivation-enhancing resources... Nor would he have any want for more physique-building herbs...'

Lars mused over the fact that the criminal leader seemed rather weak, not even at the limits of the Legendary stage when he had clashed with him. Nonetheless, Lars was glad to eliminate that potential problem as quickly and cleanly as possible... If the Laughing Man had brought to bear his runes, items and trump cards, it would have been a different matter altogether with Lars likely to sustain heavy injuries if he wanted to pin him down and kill him.

'Perhaps it was just a limitation of his talents...? A pity for him... No matter! Regardless of his background or the situations that brought him to this end, the great crimes he has perpetrated over his lifetime must come to bear - he deserved his ignominious death here, buried under thousands of tons of dirt and earth in a watery grave...'

He scanned the area and continued tracking the movements of the escaping cloaked figure heading to the east where he supposed the walls could be broken through to the river bed. Seeing that his target was now only less than a kilometre away from the edges of the underground complex and close to escaping, Lars urged himself onwards at maximum speed, forgoing his earlier efforts of approaching undetected.

Momentarily he spared an ounce of focus to check on Duke Silvan's similar pursuit and nodded when he saw that the fleeing rat was already eliminated, it's mana signature erased wholly. Duke Silvan had then forcibly broken his way through the earth above and presumably burrowed up to the surface.

'Looks like I'll have to arrange a way to meet him later without drawing attention... Wait... What?!?'

Lars' full attention was drawn immediately when he saw something that confounded him.

He had earlier been at nearly the south-most tip of the underground hideout and weaving through the honeycomb of corridors and pa.s.sageways headed in the north-eastern direction to cut-off his prey who fled to the east. All this while, he had been constantly calculating and recalculating the necessary trajectory to make sure he intercepted his target.

But the moment he averted his attention to the outcome of Duke Silvan's chase, his target had abruptly changed direction!

'Wait... That... He was supposed to be running to the east, but after stopping at that one point, he's suddenly changed direction and is running west again...? Why would he turn back into harm's way...? There's no escape route to the west, so why is he... Wait, could it be... No, it *MUST* be!'

'A hidden treasure trove!'

Lars' heart pumped with urgency as he continued to narrowly dodge the falling slabs of reinforced concrete and granite falling down like Tetris blocks. His mind spun frantically as he changed his direction to catch up to his prey.

With the building collapsing like this, would he be able to eliminate his target and still get out safely...? Could he even get out alive if he delayed his escape too much...?

'd.a.m.n... I have no idea of how long this place will still hold up before it crumbles entirely... Maybe at most 2 minutes left... Can I...? Can I make it in time...?'

'F*** it! I've gotta try! For money!'

And Kizorik and Velzash lazily echoed their host's thoughts, crying out in unison, 'For money!'

'.......Do you two ever do anything useful...?' Lars shook his head in mock despair at the two freeloaders in his mental realm as he redoubled his efforts to chase his target, all for the sake of money.

'Hey!! Watch your mouth!!! I'm not lazy or useless!! I'm just... I'm just...' Kizorik was fl.u.s.tered and turned red-faced as he shot back at Lars while the fairy-like demon Velzash pouted in dissatisfaction at Lars' mental jibe.

'Just what...? Huh?? Come on, tell me just what it is you do everyday apart from eating, sleeping and shooting your mouth!!!' Lars made a show of aggression but chuckled in his heart while he teased the adorable penguin who used sharp-toothed dentures to look fiercer.

'...Hmmph! Lars, you better watch out! While I don't know about lil' bro Kizorik or whether he ever does anything useful or not, but as for me...'

'You don't even have to ask! I don't ever do anything useful! That's my motto in life! Never do anything useful, in case people actually ask you to do work!'

'.......' Lars and Kizorik were both left speechless at the shamelessness level 100 of the vegetarian world-destroying demon. Then they both exchanged a glance and let out a sigh, deciding that bickering with someone so shameless in the conversation would just be a waste of breath.

Then Kizorik spoke more seriously, adding, 'Well, Lars, I've got good news for you; I haven't been just lazing around doing nothing, y'know!'

'...Oh really...?'

'YES!!! Don't question me!!! Ahem, now what was I saying... Oh yeah!' Kizorik roared out in anger then quickly smoothed down his ruffled feathers and continued.

'I've stored up the Abyssal energies and the death energy you've gained over the last couple of weeks and with just a little bit more, I'll be able to rank up!'

'....And what's the significance of that...?' Lars didn't really find the news all that great as his mind was right now only on finding the hidden treasures of the Underworld and getting out alive, just like the proverbial "Boarding a sinking s.h.i.+p just to plunder it!". Or something like that.

'...Alright, I guess you wouldn't know because I haven't told you before, BUT! What it means is that I'll soon be able to release my demonic powers to help you in battle!'

'How will that work...? Like, you'll be able to manifest and attack enemies by... Nibbling on their toes? HAHAHAHAAHHAHA BLAAAAAAARGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!' Lars put on a serious face initially as he tried to imagine how Kizorik would help in combat, but then when he actually visualised it, he ended up spraying saliva in front of his mouth as he was flying.

...And as he was flying at incredibly high speeds, that meant that he immediately flew into the spray of saliva, covering his entire face with his own spit!

So while Lars' eyes turned red from disgust and he hurriedly washed off and wipe his face (while still flying almost at top speed), Kizorik who had initially had his heckles up in indignation was now rolling on his back, clutching his belly laughing while Velzash covered his mouth at the sight, his tiny body convulsing as he tried to withhold his guffaws at the hilarious sight!

'Okay, okay...! Enough of that! Just tell me what it means when you say you can help me in battle!'

Wiping his tiny beady black penguin eyes of the tears of mirth, Kizorik explained, 'Yeah, yeah... Just give me a moment to recover... It's pretty painful y'know, laughing so hard like that...'

But when Kizorik saw Lars' eyes turn murderous and glint with a flash of homicide reflected within, Kizorik hurriedly shouted out, 'Alright!!!! Don't kill me!!!! I'll tell you, I'll tell!!'

'What it means is that I can now manifest for roughly 2 minutes in a degenerated version of my transformed self - not as a penguin, but with a human appearance! And in that form I'll be roughly at the peak-Legendary stage, heh heh heh...'

'Of course, while in your mental world I'll still remain in the form with the lowest energy consumption... Demons constantly expend energy if they're not hibernating, y'know...? Which means I've never been lazy or a sleepy-a.s.s! I've just been... Conserving energy, y'know...'

Lars' eyes widened as he thought about the various ways he could make use of the additional battle power - it was essentially like doubling his current capabilities overnight! With Kizorik's powers as his hidden card, perhaps challenging the Mythical-realm was no longer a pipe dream...?

So he ignored the penguin's self-disclaimer about him not being lazy and just nodded, saying, 'Excellent! Buddy, that's great! We'll just have to try it out soon and practice fighting together... What do you need to break through to that level up...?'

'Oh, not much. Just about another 2 million Abyss Points...'

'TWO MILLION??? WHAT, YOU THINK ABYSS POINTS GROW ON TREES...???!? YOU THINK I CAN JUST SUDDENLY CONJURE THAT UP OUT OF NOWHERE? AND YOU SAID THAT IT'S JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE-- Hold up, our prey has just stopped moving even though he knows we're coming! It doesn't seem like he's doing anything at that spot either, just...'

'I think he's waiting for us...? Hah...! He's a fool if he thinks we'll negotiate with a criminal! It'll be immediate death the moment we lay eyes on hi...'

Lars' voice trailed off as he turned the final corner to his target and saw a long-cloaked man with white hair, a white beard and a stern but gentle demeanour.

A face he recognised.

Mr White.