After joining Liam, Nolan gave him a death glare and gritted his teeth, but the man had no time to speak his mind. The hollow space above the tunnel was rapidly closing in as the metallic walls of the fortress once again began to adjust and remodel.
By this point, Liam was pretty sure that the damn thing was alive. It sensed every little thing and adjusted its strategy accordingly, all in fractions of seconds, and everything aimed to kill the intruders.
Liam's gaze instantly shifted upwards. It seemed counterintuitive, but he had a feeling that they should be going upwards rather than inwards.
The structure was buried in the sands, which meant there shouldn't be anything upward, and yet the ferocity with which the fortress was attacking them was higher when they tried moving up.
Maybe there was some spatial distortion at play, which made them think up was down and down was up. The walls were quickly closing in, and they only had a split second to make a decision.
Liam did not bother consulting with the guy as he once again aimed an attack at the upper ceiling that had started to bubble. Nolan saw what was happening and begrudgingly did the same.
With their combined effort, they easily blasted a hole in the structure again. Without hesitation, the two of them used minor teleportation and appeared on the other side. They had to repeat this a dozen times when even Liam began to wonder what the hell they were doing here.
Finally, after the fiftith time, they teleported into what looked like a room. A huge metallic chamber with no windows or doors. The chamber was utterly silent save for a low, almost imperceptible hum.
Liam's eyes widened as he hurriedly looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Nolan, on the other hand, let out a hysterical laugh. "We are finally here, damn it. This is where we were supposed to begin. Prepare yourself. The worst is coming and my reserves are almost empty."
Liam met the man's gaze, and there was madness in his eyes. Before he could wonder if the other party was doing something to sabotage him, the walls around them started shifting. Twelve protrusions appeared on the four walls surrounding them, and each protrusion morphed itself into a humanoid figure.
More specifically, like a metallic golem—except these were no ordinary constructs. Liam watched in awe as these golems shifted in forms like a much more complex, expensive version of the ones in Transformers, and their hands turned into guns.
Mana sizzled from the guns, potent, concentrated mana that was capable of blasting a hole in any Dao field.
"Hey Jonah, this is where you are going to be happy you teamed up with me." Nolan suddenly spoke up. "Guard me. Give me a few seconds, and I can disarm all of them! Ahhhh! Just trust me for once, damn it! Otherwise, both of us are going to end up dead in the next second."
Liam indifferently prepared to deal with the golems in the way that he would. All twelve of them were preparing a synchronized attack, and there was no time to counterattack first, so he instantly started erecting dao fields left and right.
An ice barrier sprang up first, followed by nether. The twelve metallic golems unleashed their synchronized salvo of sizzling mana, and the barrier shuddered under the barrage. From the looks of it, two barriers were simply insufficient to hold back the attack.
"Here. This should buy you some time." Nolan threw out a talisman. Liam was a little shocked to see the effect of the talisman. It somehow amplified the effect of his dao fields.
Liam's nether ice field became more than just a shield—it transformed into a resonant lattice of frost and nether might. The talisman's energy interwove with his dao fields, intensifying the barrier into a crystalline dome that shimmered with black veins.
Each facet of the barrier now pulsed with a rhythmic cadence, absorbing the sizzling mana blasts like a magnet for raw, dissipating energy.
"Hold it for a few seconds. Please just trust me this once, you paranoid maniac." Nolan shouted again.
Liam's face twitched. No matter who it was, he was not prepared to trust a random person in a dangerous place . But he had definitely earned at least a few seconds of trust with the talisman. He acted as if he was going all out and maintained the barrier.
Surprisingly, just like the guy had advertised, he had somehow managed to snake his purple lightning into the first golem, and soon the entire golem began to glow purple.
Sizzling sounds came from different sections of the golem, followed by sparks and metallic groans. Soon parts of the damn thing started to explode. Small, small interruptions started cascading, and in the blink of an eye, the entire thing exploded in the face of the other eleven golems.
"Not bad!" Liam was visibly impressed. He glanced at Nolan pensively, which made the man shiver. "This is my arcane lightning. You cannot replicate it. You need me to get through these sentinels." Nolan blurted out as if he could read the thoughts running in Liam's mind.
Liam could only chuckle lightly. "Do I look like that much of a villain to you?"
Nolan rolled his eyes and replied with a sharp glance before turning back to his work, his hands crackling with violet energy as he hurled another surge of arcane lightning at the next golem. The creature shuddered under the assault, its metal plating fracturing as sparks and molten fragments cascaded into the air.
Nolan managed to move the golems close to one of the walls of the room before they exploded. The blast revealed a small opening through which Liam could see the outside. Not that it helped. There was only metal everywhere, just like the same metal they were currently inside.
Every inch of this place was a freaking metal coffin and they had to be careful. Otherwise, they could simply be buried in her forever.