Chapter 160 - Croak Croak Ribbit Ribbit

"Talon?" Liam's eyebrows shot up in shock to look at the bird descending from the sky. It was like a sight for his sore eyes, coming to rescue him at the nick of time.

But even with Talon, it would be difficult to get away from the gnomes as they could shoot both of them down.

They had to be fast enough. Otherwise, they had to disappear somehow. Maybe, I can ask him to do that attack and…

Liam's brain spun quickly and started making calculations. However, he had gravely mistaken. It was not Talon. It was just a random small bird. It wasn't even level 10.

"Fuck." Liam realized that he had inadvertently slowed down because of this and hurriedly picked his speed back up again.

But the next second, he immediately halted. "Wait, how is this guy alive? How is it flying around in the gnome territory? Shouldn't they have shot and killed it?"

As he thought about this anomaly, a small idea popped up into his mind and his lips curled into a big grin.

It looked like luck was still on his side!

Liam instantly reached out to his inventory and retrieved a small bottle that looked like perfume. He then sprayed it on himself, putting it back safely into his inventory.

1 second went by. 2 seconds went by.

The gnomes were almost on his tail. They ran towards him without stopping and chased him relentlessly. 

In a couple more seconds he would be right in their vicinity.

Just like the ones he had faced before, these guys also had bombs, preinstalled machine guns, and lots of bullets to spare.

As if killing Liam was the only thing they were meant to do in their lifetime, they chased after him. However, when they arrived at the spot, there was no one there.

The trail was suddenly cold.

"BEEP INTRUDER ALERT"

"BEEP INTRUDER ALERT"

"BEEP INTRUDER ALERT"

They kept repeatedly chanting like broken tape recorders and looked around, but there was absolutely no trace of Liam anywhere to be found.

They waited around. They searched for him in all nooks and corners of all rocks. They looked as if they were not ready to give up at all.

They lingered around and searched their entire zone with a fine-tooth comb and yet they were unable to find their intruder.

They finally gave up after several minutes and thorough checking and retraced their steps, probably returning back to their base. Their incessant alarm also quieted down.

One after the other all the mecha gnomes had left the spot like trained soldiers in perfect order.

Complete silence resounded in the mountainous terrain without any living being in sight, even the mechanical one.

Of course, none except for one.

A few more minutes passed when a single frog sitting innocently in the midst of this vast nothingness croaked and moved, its figure instantly shifting to a human form.

"He He." Liam chuckled and ruffled his hair. His heart was beating wildly and he felt exhilarated to escape death like this.

He had been sitting like a stone or rather a stone frog right under the noses of his enemy.

In fact, he had watched everything from the start to the finish, right out in the open, but the gnomes did not care at all, because he was just a harmless weak little frog.

How did he become this?

It was all thanks to the [Toad Spray]. 

Naturally, the effect only lasted this long because he did not breathe, let alone move when the gnomes were present.

Also at this stage of the game, everyone's soul was extremely weak. Soul strengthening potions were only introduced later in the game.

So thanks to his weak soul, he was stuck in the form of a weak helpless common toad for several minutes.

The spell had worn off as soon as he moved and tried to break free. What a simple and efficient item! It could be used on enemies but it could also be used on oneself.

Liam sighed in relief and stretched his body, letting loose a few cracks.

"Now! Just what the hell triggered my god damn chain reaction set up?" The smile on his face disappeared, replaced with a grave cold look.

Everything that happened in the mecha gnome valley was methodic and predetermined. There was simply no chance for an anomaly to occur.

But still, something like this happened and it could only mean one thing!

There was someone else here!

It could be a beast. Sure. 

But no beast would wait for such an accurate opportune moment to strike, especially at one that does the maximum damage to Liam.

"Nope. It is definitely someone I know." Liam replenished his stamina, mana and once again activated his [Stealth] skill.

Now that he was safe, he did not walk away from the campsite. Rather he walked towards it. This matter was far from over.

Someone wanted to steal from him? Dream on!

They dared to play him like this and use him, then they also had to pay the price for it!

As Liam walked back over to the narrow valley with the two caves lining it on opposite sides, he could clearly hear more sirens blaring and explosions resounding.

The mecha gnomes were once again at it and were shouting their loud ear-piercing alarms.

"BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"

"BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"

"These bitches clearly don't know what they are doing." Liam chuckled and moved closer, once again hiding in a corner and carefully observing the area.

Bingo!

Just like he had guessed they were other players in the valley!

But they definitely did not come here with the same preparations as him. How could they?

This might be both of their first time coming here. 

However, while Liam knew at least half of what he was up against, they simply had no idea.

Just judging from the number of dead players lying on the ground like a lizard run over by a truck, one could clearly see that they had never faced a mecha gnome before.

They were about 40 players in the valley and currently more than ten of them were dead. 

Not just that, but the remaining players were also in very bad condition. Along with aggroing the mecha gnomes, they had also aggroed the overseers and the sentinels.

They seemed to have literally gathered every single gnome in the two campsites combined.

"Kek. Enjoy the fireworks." Liam chuckled and a cold glint flashed across his eyes as he happily stayed on the sidelines and watched the show.

He had no plans of interfering any time soon.

And as for how these players had sniffed this place out or rather him, he did not bother thinking about that.

In 'Evolution Online', there were several methods to find out about a player and also to reach their specific location within seconds.

Since these people had absolutely zero chance of stumbling across this area this soon in the game, they probably came here by tracking him.

Liam himself had used one such service previously to identify his 'close friends'. 

And apart from the shady network in the underbelly, there were several different methods to do this and though most of them were extremely hard to come by, they were still possible.

Unless he catches one of the players and tortures him again and again, it would probably not be possible to find out what exact method they used.

Liam did not plan to waste his time by thinking about this. 

He had better things to plan…

Just when he had thought that he had bitten off more than he could chew, some willing helpers came to his aid all on their own.

How could he let this precious opportunity slip by?