dusk.

Rosen followed Falk all the way through a narrow and desolate valley.

The valley was covered with jagged rocks, without a single tree or even much weeds.

The road was also very difficult to walk on, and from time to time one had to climb over rocks blocking the road.

'Gugu~~Gugu~~Gugu~~'

From time to time, the calls of various strange small animals could be heard from the cracks in the rocks and deep in the weeds, making the valley seem even quieter.

This place is already far away from the pilgrimage route.

In the valley, besides Fok who led the way, there was also Rosen who followed all the way.

In Rosen's perception, he could not sense the presence of any elves within a radius of 2 kilometers.

It should be considered one of the few wilderness areas in the Holy Elf Empire.

Rosen followed behind Fok leisurely and commented, "This place is really remote."

Falk nodded repeatedly.

“It’s a little remote, but it’s still safe.”

"Walk a little further and when you reach the end of the valley, there will be a hidden cave. After passing through the cave, we will be completely safe."

His tone sounded calm, but his soul revealed a combination of anxiety and urgency, and the closer he got to the cave at the bottom of the valley, the stronger the fluctuations became.

Obviously, the answer is most likely in the cave.

The cave is not far away.

Rosen concentrated on sensing the situation inside the cave, only to discover that the cave was shrouded in an extremely dense soul mist, and his void vision was completely ineffective.

He then tried various detection spells, but they were still unable to penetrate the fog in the cave.

"Hmm~ Interesting."

Such concealment capabilities are certainly not something that a low-level elf with 4th-level mana can arrange, and it doesn't even seem like something a powerful god can do.

"Some great god must be targeting me."

At this point, only the great God has the ability to block Rosen's perception.

"Who could it be? What do they intend to do to me?"

Rosen was very curious and felt it necessary to get to the bottom of this matter.

What he was about to do was quite exciting, but he didn't want to have the interference of a great god out of nowhere.

So, this troublesome matter needs to be resolved.

Soon, the two reached the bottom of the valley, less than fifty meters away from the cave entrance.

Falk waved to Rosen and said, "I'll lead the way, follow me closely."

He stepped forward without hesitation, but the fluctuations in his soul told Rosen that this guy was controlled by a strong fear, as if he was gambling with his life.

Rosen stopped.

He could feel that, although he was still some distance away from entering the cave, if he took one more step forward, he would enter the foggy area.

The last 50 meters away from the cave is the true essence of this mysterious foggy area.

At first glance, there is nothing in this distance, but after careful perception, you will find that there is actually an extremely sophisticated illusion arranged here.

Here, illusion and truth overlap almost completely, almost perfectly deceiving the explorer's perception.

But once you step inside, the illusion will instantly change, and the scenery will suddenly change, trapping you inside.

Rosen felt that any powerful god, even a careless great god, who came over would step into the trap without realizing it and allow his opponent to play with him.

But of course this couldn't fool Rosen who was on high alert.

Fok took a few steps and saw that Rosen had not caught up, so he urged him, "Hurry up, what are you hesitating about?"

Rosen is not stupid, so how could he take the initiative to step into a trap set by others?

He stepped back and shook his head. "Sorry, man, the game is over."

After saying this, he no longer paid attention to Fok and turned away.

"Hey~~Don't go~~Don't go~~"

Fok became anxious and turned around to chase after him.

Rosen quickened his pace.

The other man also started to jog and soon reached Rosen. He asked breathlessly, "Rod, why are you running?"

Rosen waited for him to catch up, then on a thought, he used a wizard's hand to lift this lower-level elf of unknown origin into the air.

"Okay, stop pretending. Now tell me who is behind this."

"No one told me to do that."

The wizard's hand immediately gripped his throat, tightening it little by little.

"No, no, no~~ I said, it's an upper-class elf."

"I don't know his name, or even what he looks like, but he said all we have to do is find a way to get you to the cave."

"His power is very terrifying and can easily take my life. I have no room to refuse him."

Fokke was a very loose-lipped man, and he confessed everything at the slightest threat.

The soul fluctuations told Rosen that these were the truth.

This lower-level elf was just a small figure, so Rosen naturally wouldn't bother with him. He took out a few sun nuts from his pocket and handed them over.

"Take this money and get out of here. Forget about what happened today and pretend that nothing happened. Otherwise, you will die a very miserable death."

"Okay, okay~~ I'll leave now~"

The lower-level elves ran away, crawling and tumbling, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Rosen returned to the front of the foggy area again and shouted at the cave 40 meters away.

"Dude, if you want to fight me, just do it. If you want to say something to me, just say it. Don't be so mysterious."

There was no way he could enter the cave anyway.

After shouting, there was no response except the echo of the valley.

Rosen shrugged. "Whoever you are, I don't have time to play games with you. Since you're not showing up, bye."

'109'

When the countdown reached 3, the mysterious being finally couldn't hold back any longer.

A disembodied voice came from the cave.

"Your Majesty Rosen, guess who I am?"

Rosen paused, thought for a moment, and said, "I guess you are the witch Patnaros."

There are a total of 7 great gods in the void.

The supreme god Gomil is sleeping, and the goddess of life Adela is a decent person who would not be mysterious.

Alamanni, the ruler of the night, has made peace with him.

The remaining four great ones are the level 18 God of War Hercules, the level 17 God of Destruction Karl, the level 18 God of Order Talos, and the level 17 Witch Partnaros.

The first three have nothing to do with Rosen, only the latter has some connection.

So, Rosen naturally guessed the latter.

"Guess wrong, guess again."

Rosen had no way of judging whether this was true or not, but Lai Fu's new ability, "mind reading", could tell.

This ability can comprehensively determine the opponent's intentions through information such as sound waves, mana fluctuations, soul fluctuations, etc.

Rosen is an emperor and has to meet countless people every day. He has also seen many void gods and demons, and has long trained his mind-reading skills to an incredible level.

At this point, the mind-reading result is "98% chance of being a lie."

In other words, the other party is most likely a witch.

Rosen thought back to the rumors about the witch and felt that the actions before him were very consistent with her mischievous personality.

Therefore, it is almost 100% certain that this is a witch.

This made Rosen feel slightly relieved, because he didn't have any major conflicts with the witch. Although the witch liked to play tricks on people, she had no evil deeds in the mortal world.

So, most likely, she just wanted to play a trick on herself.

But no one likes to be pranked, and Rosen certainly doesn't want to either.

So, he smiled faintly and said, "Miss Patnaros, if you are so free, just find a place to sleep. Why bother to have fun with me?"

"I'm not a witch."

"Don't be so stubborn. The Moon Lord, Shar, told me that you might cause trouble for me. So I have been waiting for you."

"Besides, it doesn't matter whether you admit it or not, because I don't care."

After saying that, Rosen continued to move away from the cave.

"Well, I am."

The tone of voice changed from vague to clear and soft, which reminded Rosen of Alice's cat.

He turned and looked towards the cave entrance: "Then stop hiding. If you have anything to say, just say it. If you want to cause trouble, just come and I will take care of it."

A voice came from the dark cave: "I just like hiding."

"Then I'm leaving."

Rosen turned around and left very decisively.

"etc!"

Rosen kept walking.

"I'll be waiting for you in the deepest part of the cave. I've also set up a very interesting maze in the cave. If you can find me through the maze, I'll tell you how to deal with the Sword of Extinction."

Rosen paused, half turned around and said, "What if you set up a death trap instead of a maze? Wouldn't I be tricked by you?"

"I guarantee it's a maze. I swear on my reputation."

"This is our first time dealing with each other, and we are totally incompatible. It's useless for you to swear anything."

At this point, Rosen changed the subject: "Of course, if you want me to trust you, you can mortgage a divine weapon to me."

"Hmph~ You're dreaming."

"Without the artifact as collateral, there is no point in discussing this matter."

After saying that, Rosen turned around and continued walking forward. After about five steps, he heard a faint sound of breaking air behind him.

The sound was not loud, and the speed was not fast. He moved aside a little, and then he heard a 'thump' sound beside him, and a dark blue 'stone' the size of a fist fell to the ground.

"The Freezing Stone, as long as enough power is input into it, it can be used to freeze everything, including the soul of the Great God."

Rosen broke off two shrubs to make 'chopsticks', picked up the dark blue stone and examined it carefully. After thinking for a while, he picked up a leaf, wrapped the stone, put it in his pocket, and turned away.

"Thank you for your artifact, witch. I'm leaving now."

"What do you mean?"

"I believe you set up a maze in the cave, but I never said I wanted to enter the maze and play games with you, right?"

"As for this artifact, since you offered it to me, it belongs to me."

"So, bye."

Rosen walked quickly without looking back. At the same time, the alert level of "Heart of the God of War" was raised to the highest level, ready to deal with the witch's attack at any time.

When I walked about twenty steps, I heard an angry voice behind me.

"Rosen, I'm very angry now!"

The weather suddenly changed.

In a flash, the color changed from the dim red of dusk to an eerie deep purple.

Soon after, Rosen also saw thick dark purple mist appearing around his body, pressing towards him from all directions.

This mischievous witch took the initiative to give up the so-called "cave maze game" and attacked Rosen directly.

This is exactly what Rosen wanted.

He is not afraid of impromptu attacks, but he is afraid of carefully planned traps.

(End of this chapter)