Re: Evolution Online

"Arrange a meeting for me with your big brother."

Madan chewed his nails and stared at this one-line text again and again unblinkingly. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. One devil wants to meet the other. What am I supposed to do now?"

He was already relieved that their 'big brother' had let them simply leave the team, just like that, without any sort of repercussions whatever.

And now… he had to go back and ask for a favor?

"Fuck." Just the thought of it made Madan nervous. He shook his head and thought about his alternatives. What if he brought this to the guy as a business proposition?

He thought about it for a second but then once again shook his head. "Damn it. That also won't work. The crazy guy will once again start blabbering about fate and the future and drive me crazy."

"ARGHHHH! Just what am I supposed to do now?! Should I just tell him that big brother didn't agree to a meeting?"

That seemed to be the best option for now. Madan spat out bits and pieces of his dirty nail and stood up as if he had decided his course of action.

However, all of a sudden he froze. He couldn't help but think of the meeting with Liam that had gone exceedingly well. 

To be honest, just like Anya had been warning him from the beginning, he at least expected to die once or twice. If not for that, then the meeting should have gone horribly wrong.

But none of that had happened. Everything went so smoothly. Suspiciously so. Just thinking about it, gave a chill to the guy. Maybe all along, he was let off only because of this meeting?

If perhaps this meeting did not happen… then… maybe that guy would hunt him down and kill him after all?

"Fuck. I am so dead. That maniac might just do it."

No matter how he looked at this he was definitely caught between a rock and a hard place. He could neither arrange the meeting nor let it go.

ARGGHHHH! Madan shouted in frustration.

Meanwhile… back at the dungeon…

ARGGHHHH!

Liam shouted as he repeatedly slammed the black dragon sword onto the lava giant. After every single time he attacked, he had to move because the giant was ready for the next attack.

However, he soon grasped this rhythm, and with Crawford and the Howler demon backing him the rest of the fight went smoothly. The boss was put down just like the other lava mobs.

<Ding. You are the first to clear 'Pits of Lava' on normal difficulty. Your grand achievement will be etched in history>

<DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congratulations to the 'Crimson Abyss' guild party for the first clear of the 'Pits of Lava dungeon' on normal difficulty>

<DING. Realm Announcement: Congratulations to the 'Crimson Abyss' guild party for the first clear of the 'Pits of Lava dungeon' on normal difficulty>

A series of notifications and abundant experience points instantly chimed in. Liam, however, ignored these things and quickly went ahead to take note of the small fox lying down on the ground in a corner.

Weirdly enough she had a small smile on her face as if she was dreaming and she looked extremely comfortable that Liam did not feel like disturbing the little thing.

Unfortunately, to reset the dungeon he had to go back out and come in again. So he lifted the little thing and walked out. Behind him, the howler demon collected the drops and followed Liam out of the dungeon.

Once outside, Liam quickly took a look at the drops most of which were quite useless except for the pair of boots which gave a bump in the fire resistance.

Tossing the others into the inventory, he equipped this set of boots and once again rushed back into the dungeon carrying the fox along. He only had about a dozen fire-resistance potion bottles and he wanted to make good use of them all.

So once again the rodeo started all over again. This continued for six hours straight when the potion supply finally ran out.

Liam huffed as he walked over to the barren cracked lands some distance away from the main dungeon. The elves were still standing there, patiently waiting for him.

He waved at them and went to sit beside them. However, he remained silent, checking his status first. 

He had started this whole dungeon business at Level 51 with about 40% of the experience bar filled up. Now, he was at Level 52 with about 80% of the experience bar filled up. And to do this, it had almost taken him the entire day.

"So one level per day?" It did not sound bad, but Liam frowned. For others, this might be an insane leveling speed, but for him, this was just simply not going to cut it.

At this point, there was no way he could afford to spend his time here in the middle of nowhere, grinding endlessly in a dungeon.

However, at the moment, this seemed to be his only option. It was impossible to cross the barbarians territory when he was this weak. The elves made that clear.

"I hope this is at least helping you." Liam turned to look at the fox who seemed to be slightly doing better? Maybe not? He really had no way to tell.

He stroked the creature gently and lovingly when Lyana unexpectedly spoke up. "That dungeon is helping the beast." She said, affirming his theory.

"How do you know?" Liam was surprised, to say the least.

"Ummm… I am weak right now. So I can't say for sure but I can vaguely sense the life force of the beast." The elf looked reluctant to answer the question almost as if she regretted blurting it out in the first place.

"Hmmm… Thank you for telling me this." Liam thanked her sincerely. 

He wanted to ask more but he decided to wait until he finished the quest. Hopefully, by then the elf would be more willing to answer the questions. 

His gaze left the sleeping fox and flickered towards the dungeon in the distance, thinking about the more pressing issue.

He was now completely out of the fire resistance potions. So how was he going to continue these dungeon runs?