Re: Evolution Online

"Huh? So that was you at the back?" Eldrin stirred awake next. Or maybe he was pretending to be recuperating. Only the elf knew what he was up to. "You damaged us quite a bit you know?"

Hearing the elf's accusation, Rey immediately became flustered and tried to explain. "No. No. No. It was not like that. I didn't mean to hide it or anything. I only did it to help you guys. Do you know what was happening in that damned battleground?"

Liam raised a brow.

"Bloodsuckers!" Rey shook his head. "I don't think it was possible for you to have seen, bro. There was some kind of barrier that blocked them. I was on the other side and hence I was able to see."

"Half that battlefield was filled with bloodsuckers. They all had the trademark red eyes and pale skin."

"Impossible." Eldrin rolled his eyes. "You must have been under some sort of illusion."

"Nope. I am very confident. I saw it only for an instant but I was fully surrounded by several pairs of red eyes. If I had been even a second late in using my movement skill I would have already been killed."

"Look here, chap. Everyone climbing the Spire gets randomly pitted against when it comes to slaughter trials such as this. It should be impossible for so many members of the same race to gather together in a single trial." "Otherwise, the Spire wouldn't be so challenging. It wouldn't be so famous in the myriad realms. Everyone from all corners of the myriad realms enter this place. Do you even understand how vast and endless the myriad realms are?"

Rey suddenly felt unsure. He knew what he saw but at the same time, now that the elf laid it all out, it also sounded extremely ridiculous. "What if a whole lot of them entered the Spire at the same time? Isn't it possible for many to be in a single trial at the same time?" He hesitantly tried to explain.

Unfortunately, the soul minion who found the spot was not an indispensable one, so Liam did not intend to instantly teleport to the place by switching over. He also did not plan on decimating his soul army left and right without any reservations when there was no danger around. Especially because he was temporarily unable to broaden his army inside the Spire. The Spire did not allow him to harvest any souls.

Instead, the usual flying couch Luna helped everyone by teleporting them a bunch of times until they arrived at the center of the crater. Even during this trip, it was weird to see that there weren't any other living beings in the area besides them.

Liam's soul minions were still continuing to wander around to see if they would eventually run into some sort of village or town settlement but so far there was simply nothing and no one.

Even past the barren crater, there simply seemed to be nothing at all.

"What sort of trial is this?" Liam jumped down from the fox, sending a wave of his mana into the ground to sense the surroundings. The mana spread out like ripples on water, probing the earth to see if there were any beasts under the ground like on the other trial floors they had seen so far. Yet, it returned without bringing any hint of life or magic that could indicate the presence of other beings or a hidden mechanism that would trigger the next phase of the trial.

"This place..." Eldrin mused aloud, "it feels abandoned, but deliberately so. As if everything has been cleared out to leave this crater as the sole point of interest."

"Don't tell me…"

"Could this be one of the fabled non-combat trial grounds?"

"Huh? What the hell is that?" Rey frowned. They had already experienced one bad trial and now they had one more lined up the very next turn?

However, the elf unexpectedly flashed a sly grin. "No. This should be a good one."