Re: Evolution Online

“Ha ha, I see you’re not one for idle chatter. I won’t push your patience any further—let’s cut straight to business before more uninvited guests show up. I suspect you’re already pondering whether to team up with me. Allow me to put that doubt to rest for you.” The robed guy Nolan started walking back.

“You should do the same.” He winked at Liam before his entire being started crackling with lightning.

Nolan’s eyes flashed with excitement as he raised his staff high, summoning a surge of raw, violet lightning that cascaded from his fingertips. At his command, the sky started changing.

The storm overhead roiled violently, drawing forth the raw fury of tribulation lightning from the churning clouds. The two forces met in a spectacular collision—a searing bolt of combined power that slammed into the metal fortress with an ear-splitting crash.

In that brilliant, fleeting moment, a small, jagged hole was blasted into the fortress’s surface, sending shards of molten metal and sparks spiraling into the air. The impact reverberated through the walls as if the ancient structure itself groaned in protest.

“By the gods, did you see that?” Nolan exclaimed, his voice edged with both triumph and urgency. He glanced upward at the swirling storm. “If I’m not mistaken, that opening won’t stay open for long. We’d best get through, and fast.”

“Understood,” Liam replied, his eyes locked on the pulsing breach. They only had a couple of seconds before the hole closed completely. The two of them shot forward and landed inside just in time.

From the explosive lightning outside, one would have expected the inside to be damaged at least a little, but what Liam saw shocked him. The walls had already fully repaired themselves, and there wasn’t as much as a scratch on the inside.

The hole they had come in had also completely vanished. It was as if they had somehow teleported inside.

“Self-healing, quite elegantly so,” Nolan thought out loud. “If only we could harvest some of this metal.”

The exact same thought was running through Liam’s mind, but the man in front of him was shaking his head. “We better give up on that. This place is extremely bothersome. They should be here any time now if I am not wrong.

Even as they were talking, the ceiling in front of them started moving. The small metallic tiles in the wall started building onto themselves, and a protrusion jutted out as if it was going to come down the next second and bar them from going forward.

Liam swung his head around to see that another similar event was happening behind him. “We need to keep moving.” Without wasting any time, he dashed forward.

“No, we cannot pick a direction just yet. We need to see where they are coming from.” Nolan shouted, but Liam did not care.

Seeing that, Nolan gritted his teeth and followed Liam. It was just in time—two thick metallic slabs slammed down behind them, sealing off the path they’d just left. The deafening clang of closing metal echoed in the corridor. There was no turning back now.

“Damn it,” Nolan muttered, his eyes flashing as he tightened his grip on his staff. “You should not have done that.”

Liam didn’t slow down. “We need to keep moving.” He pointed at the ceiling that had once again started to bubble up.

Nolan looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he too had to agree with Liam and continued running. The two of them ran at an explosive speed, and yet the corridor seemed to be endless.

Metal slabs slammed behind them one after the other. The more they increased their speed, the more the walls reacted to them.

Metal slabs slammed into the walls behind them in rapid succession. Each collision reverberated like the toll of a death knell, and the fortress itself seemed to shudder in response, rearranging its interior with ruthless efficiency.

The corridor twisted and turned endlessly without any exit in sight. The two of them ran for a couple of hours before they finally ran into something akin to an exit or, more specifically, a dead end.

Both men skidded to a sudden halt at a dead end. Nolan’s heavy breath filled the silence as he surveyed the sealed corridor, the walls reassembled with an almost deliberate precision. “Shit! Is this where we started?” he panted, his eyes darting about in disbelief.

Were they running around in circles? The man who had seemed confident before now no longer appeared all that composed.

“I thought you knew about this place.” Liam raised a brow.

“Not everything, damn it.” Nolan chewed his fingernail, looking around in confusion. “Let’s try breaking these damn walls.”

Liam nodded. “I agree, but we should try breaking the inner wall, not the outer wall.”

“Okay. Put your strongest leg forward.” Nolan declared, and he began gathering a ball of threatening energy in his palm—a swirling mass of violet lightning and raw arcane power. The energy crackled and pulsed, ready to explode.

Liam prepared his attack as well, icy cold energy swirling in front of him.

“Now!” Nolan shouted, and with a fierce cry, he hurled the swirling sphere of violet lightning at the inner wall. Liam was about to do the same when he started the familiar metal bubbling over their head.

In that split second, he thought of an idea and sent his icy power shot up above rather than onto the inner wall.

“What?” Nolan was shocked and was about to complain when he noticed that a small hole had appeared above their head. It was impossible to go through the hole, but now that there was an opening, Liam tried minor teleportation and ended up on the other side of the wall.

Nolan’s eyes widened on seeing what had happened. The hole was closing in fast. Liam simply watched, not in the least bothered to cast another attack to widen the hole. Gritting his teeth, Nolan tried the minor teleportation with nothing to lose and thankfully ended up on the other side too.