God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World!

Chapter 552: The Powerful Presence

The pressure ahead of Sophie’s group was too stable to be a normal wandering monster. Since he sensed it hadn’t moved from its spot.

Although he wanted to reach the deeper part of the Buried God’s Tomb as quickly as possible, he could not afford to lose valuable subordinates because of one bad route. Broken Dawn was not just a guild name to him, because every useful member there was a future weapon, and throwing them away inside a tomb like this would be stupidity.

IceQueen looked at him with a faint frown. "What is not good?"

Gabriel did not answer immediately, and instead turned his head slightly toward the left side of the corridor.

There was a narrow passage there, half hidden between cracked wall lines, and from the way the guide’s expression changed, it was clearly not part of the arranged route.

The guide noticed his movement and stepped forward at once. "That is not the way."

Gabriel did not answer; he stepped toward the side passage, and the moment his foot crossed that line, the qi pressing against his body became heavier. The air inside the passage felt colder, and the stones on the floor were darker, as if very few people had passed through there for a long time.

ChaosCleric looked from Gabriel to IceQueen. "Is he seriously leaving?"

"Proceed without me. I will catch up," he said without looking back.

IceQueen’s eyes narrowed, and for a brief moment it looked like she wanted to stop him. However, the thought disappeared almost as quickly as it came, because White Phantom was not a normal guild member she could command like everyone else.

Her fingers tightened once at her side before she spoke. "We continue."

Some of the ChaosKnight members looked surprised, but no one argued. IceQueen gave one last look toward the passage Gabriel had taken, and although her expression stayed calm, the slight furrow between her brows showed that she did not like losing sight of him here.

Gabriel moved deeper without looking back again.

He did not rush blindly through the same corridors everyone else was using. His perception had already spread through the nearby structure, and from what he sensed, the side path was narrower, rougher, and more dangerous.

However, it also cut across several linked chambers and could bring him closer to Sophie’s route much faster.

The tomb seemed to resist him the moment he chose it.

Dead qi clung to his body like thick water, slowing his mana and pressing against his skin with a cold, damp feeling. His steps remained even, but each breath carried a dry taste. The faint light from the old wall markings was barely enough to show the path ahead.

He passed through the first dense pocket of yin energy after less than a minute.

His mana flickered once inside his body, not enough to harm him, but enough to make his eyes narrow.

The accumulated energy there was old and heavy; if someone with weaker control entered carelessly, their internal flow might collapse before they even saw an enemy.

"Annoying."

A second passage appeared soon after, lower and tighter than the first. The ceiling nearly brushed the top of his head in some sections, and the walls were so close that a larger weapon would have been useless there.

The yin energy there was worse.

Gabriel’s mana flickered again, this time for a little longer, but his body adjusted quickly. He pressed his presence down, kept his breathing even, and crossed the section without slowing more than necessary.

Ahead, several presences entered his perception.

A Tianlan group was moving in the opposite direction. Their steps were light, and their qi was linked in a loose defensive pattern, but compared to Gabriel’s current speed, their movement felt slow.

Gabriel passed them without stopping.

To them, he was only a blur.

One cultivator flinched so badly that his sword almost left its sheath. Another turned his head toward the side passage, but by the time his eyes moved, Gabriel was already several meters behind them.

"What was that?" one of them whispered.

The group slowed at once.

Gao Ren, who stood at the front, turned his head with a tense expression. His pride from earlier had not vanished, but the presence that had just passed them made his throat tighten slightly.

He had not seen the figure clearly.

He had only felt it.

The presence had moved past them without attacking, but every instinct told him that if it had wanted to kill them, none of them would have had enough time to raise their weapons. That realization left the group silent for several seconds.

A younger cultivator swallowed. "Senior Gao, should we check?"

Gao Ren’s eyes remained on the dark passage for a moment longer before he looked away.

"No," he said in a low voice. "Continue forward."

---

Gabriel was already far away by then.

He moved through another narrow turn, stepped over a broken section of floor, and used his perception to avoid a faint formation line buried under dust. If he had crossed it directly, the ceiling might have collapsed or the tomb might have released another group of undead.

’Close... I’m close,’ he thought, picking up the pace.

Meanwhile, on Broken Dawn’s side, the group had stopped in front of a wide chamber-like passage. Unlike the narrow route behind them, this place had more space, but the air felt more dangerous.

Sophie stood at the front with her veil hiding most of her expression. Her hand rested near her weapon.

Her posture was calm, but if one paid close attention, they would have noticed the slight tension in her fingers.

Ragnarok99 frowned. "Why did we stop?"

The guide raised one hand, warning them not to move forward. "There is something ahead."

Cassie looked past him, her eyes narrowing as she tried to see through the poor light. "A horde?"

"No," the guide replied.

That answer made the group more cautious.

Bunny stepped closer to the side of the wall, her fingers tightening around her weapon. "If it is not a horde, why does it feel worse than one?"

The guide did not reply at once. Instead, he looked forward.

Everyone followed his gaze.

At the far end of the chamber, there was a figure standing in the shadow. It had the outline of a knight, tall and unmoving, with old armor covering its body and a long weapon resting beside it.