Re: Evolution Online

"No need to fight anything. Let's keep moving." Liam frowned as he looked around the dark cave tunnels. The entire place looked like a maze, without any way out visible.

As soon as he realized that the nagas appearing were mere illusions, a part of him also expected the cave and the tunnels around him to also be illusions but that did not seem to be the case.

These indeed looked real. He touched the moist murky walls as he continued dashing forward, heading deeper into the cave tunnels.

A few seconds later, another group of nagas popped up but Liam completely ignored them.

He ran right through their physical bodies which turned into light dust the moment he touched them. The illusion did not work because he was now aware of it?

He now understood this place somewhat. "Such an elaborate illusion… what is inside these tunnels?"

The more he thought about his current situation the more uneasy he felt. This place was definitely not like any other regular dungeon space.

This was entirely something else. The six naga elites up front and all of these illusions… perhaps someone was trying to keep intruders out of this cave network?

In that case, there was either a grave danger inside or a huge opportunity, or perhaps both combined together.

Usually, danger and opportunity went hand in hand. So Liam was now even more impatient to get to the bottom of this.

He blew through the few illusionary naga mobs that appeared in front of him one after the other but after some time even they stopped coming out.

Liam's expression once again changed. The fact that no more illusions appeared was not exactly good news.

Because… this could only mean that…

The person or the inscription or the demon or whatever was controlling these illusions realized that he was here and he saw through their magic!

So their next attack would probably be stronger than this!

Who was he going to face next? He had a feeling that it was not going to be simple.

Liam started mentally preparing himself for what was about to come when suddenly the tunnel walls started becoming bigger and bigger.

The small tunnel opened up to a huge underground cavern and at the center of this cavern, there was a naga lazily coiled around.

Liam immediately stopped because for an instant three huge question marks appeared above this naga's head. 

However, he realized that once again this could be an illusion, so he shook his head, closed his eyes, and looked at the naga again.

Bingo! The naga that appeared in front of him this time was only Level 60!

But… a level 60 elite could control so many illusions? Was the previous question marks an illusion or this level 60 was an illusion?

He did not dare take another step forward as he silently stood and observed the creature at a distance.

But it looked like that was not entirely up to him. 

Just as Liam arrived at the mouth of the tunnel opening, he barely had a chance to take a look at the naga in front of him when suddenly something hurled towards him.

The next second he found himself standing at the center of the cavern or rather, he found himself bound and coiled at the center of the cavern.

The huge naga reared its head up and gazed at him with a pair of menacing eyes. 

He hissed at Liam as if he was saying something to him, but Liam couldn't decipher the language and understand his words.

Besides, he had other pressing issues at the moment. The naga had fully coiled around him and even breathing was impossible.

The condition right now was truly dangerous. He couldn't afford to let this continue any longer. 

So without paying any head to what the naga was blabbering, he willed the nether swirling around to form giant spikes that pierced the coils from all directions.

HISSSSS!

Though the thick skin of the naga was seemingly not injured, the coils loosened up a bit and Liam used this chance to quickly jump out and move several paces back.

HISSSSSS!

"Why do you attack when we are having a conversation? That's not good manners, boy."

"Hmmm?" Liam's eyes widened in shock. This snake was actually talking to him?

"Of course, I am not a brainless monster. I can talk in several tongues." The naga started slithering close to Liam once again.

"What can I do for you, my Lord?" Liam played along while his eyes simultaneously looked for ways out of this cavern. 

There was no way this damned naga was Level 60, it was still playing tricks on him and the tunnel he had come in was also blocked now.

He was completely trapped with this illusion bastard?

Liam shook his head and tried to really see through which is real and which is fake. He tried to observe even the smallest of the details of everything around him.

However, he couldn't find any hints. The reality or the illusion, whatever was around him was woven together perfectly!

How was he supposed to fight with such an opponent?

Liam hurriedly pulled over as much as nether toward him as he possibly could. Right now, against this unknown opponent, this was probably the strongest weapon he had in his arsenal.

He needed to use the natural affinity toward nether to his advantage and escape from here.

He started curling up nether around his arms and his body, creating a makeshift protective barrier.

However, in the middle of doing this, Liam suddenly had another thought. This naga couldn't possibly be manipulating the nether around him too?

Fuck! That was a frightening thought. If nothing around him was real, how the hell was he supposed to fight against this thing?

But could he really manipulate the nether as well? 

This was the first time that he was dealing with an enemy like this who could alter reality and it was not going well. 

He hated the feeling of being toyed around with and that was exactly what the naga was going with him. He was toying around with him.

The naga still probably did not even use a fraction of his strength and he was already losing!

Liam gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and tried to sense the presence of nether around him. He might not be able to fight back but this much he could do.

It only took him an instant to feel all the millions of wisps of nether all around him and he could tell that if he needed they would be at his beck and command within seconds.

However, he did not want that at the moment.

Liam wanted the nether wisps to stay where they were. Instead, he tried to sense the surroundings around him using these nether wisps.