The Ultimate Evolution
chapter-1241

"What...What kind of power is this?!?!" Dark Sky screamed hysterically in desperation and panic, not only from the pain, but also from fear!!

People often fear the unknown. That was why a lot of big, muscular men were terrified of ghosts and other supernatural things. To Dark Sky, Sheyan's 'Extinction' ability was something completely unknown to him, so he naturally felt lost and afraid.

Dark Sky soon realised that, although most people would have already given up on him after he teleported to the top of another hill, but the opponents he was facing this time were rapidly approaching him again. More terrifying was the fact that all the mounds and stones blocking their way would bizarrely shift to the side, while some shallow ravines would fill themselves up! Those people were thus dashing towards him in a straight line!

Not having to move around obstacles may only win them a fraction of a second each time, but when dozens of those fractions of a second added up, they would save minutes.

In a pursuit where a moment of difference may result in death, seconds were precious enough, let alone minutes!

Seeing the enemies who were closing in on him like predatory beasts, Dark Sky completely lost his previous determination and his will to continue fighting. He said dejectedly while gasping, "Let's run first, Florence...."

The silver metal box beside him was already covered in cracks like a tortoise shell. A silver light was constantly surging on it, trying to repair the cracks, but every time the self-repair was about to complete, a fierce flash of light would always appear and re-damage the box!

When Florence heard Dark Sky's words, it clicked a few times, the glow on it flashing in rhythm with the noise.

Dark Sky instantly remarked in shock, "What did you say! That guy's hand hides a power that even the Realm can do nothing against?"

A few different expressions could be seen rapidly cycling through Dark Sky's face. Suddenly, he opened his mouth wide, then stuffed his only remaining little finger inside and bit down hard. Blood splashed, and his face turned even paler. He only had one hand remaining, and doing this took a lot of effort. He started sweating due to the pain.

Dark Sky spat out his little finger. It suspended halfway in the air. Then, the finger broke down into orderly lines of little blocks like a Rubik's Cube too. The little blocks rotated rapidly and the finger soon turned into a strange-looking crimson bug that had a row of eyes on both sides of its body. It floated in the air like a fish swimming in water. It swiftly "swam" away and disappeared into the distance, seemingly carrying a message for the last remaining member of Dark Sky's party.

At this time, blocks appeared on the silvery-white metal box again. The blocks rotated and the box transformed into a pair of glider-like silver wings. However, the cracks caused by 'Extinction' were still clearly visible on them.

Dark Sky quickly put on the gliders and turned back to look at Sheyan with a deep gaze. Sheyan was still more than a hundred meters away. When he saw what Dark Sky was doing, he could not help muttering to himself, "You dare fly here?"

Sheyan's doubt was not without reason. Since the replica arks had been continuously destroyed, the authorities were naturally in a panic. They had surely mobilised all military forces to all the assembly sites. The fight between Sheyan and Dark Sky just now was not quiet at all, so it should have alarmed the nearby army. If Dark Sky dared to glide in the sky right now, he might very well become an easy shooting target!

Looking at Sheyan, Dark Sky screamed with bitter hatred, "Why do you cause trouble for us? Why are you killing our only hope of reviving our party?"

"One, I chose the Salvation side, so we're on opposite sides. Two, I'm on a side mission," answered Sheyan flatly.

Dark Sky let out a wild laughter. "Excellent! Excellent!"

He laughed wildly, but tears flowed from the corners of his eyes at the same time. He then pushed off with his feet and began to glide in the air.

"Even if I have to die, I won't let you benefit from it!"

Sheyan sighed helplessly as he watched Dark Sky glide towards the ridge nearby. But at that moment, from Heping Town below, the tile roof of what looked like a common residential house suddenly slid to both sides, and a rotating multi-barrel missile launcher appeared from within.

Dark Sky was prepared for something like this happening. He never intended to fly far, only far enough to be out of Sheyan's reach. He had already calculated the required distance very accurately, which was a little more than two kilometers. With his gliding speed after putting on the wings formed by Florence, even with the damages on them, it would only take him 18.7 seconds to cover this distance!

The multi-barrel launcher instantly fired a missile directed at Dark Sky. It dragged a long trail of white smoke behind it, so the missile gave off the illusion that it was flying very slowly, but in fact, it was surprisingly fast.

But Dark Sky performed a clever maneuver in the air, and the missile rubbed past him. It landed on a mountain nearby and exploded with a low but deafening boom, stirring up dust and smoke dozens of meters high!

Dark Sky smugly flipped Sheyan a middle finger, because after escaping this missile, the path to survival now lay unobstructed in front of him. However...when Dark Sky was flying towards the opposite hillside, twenty more tile roofs slid open, and the same kind of multi-barrel missile launcher extended out from each of them. Every multi-barrel missile launcher could accommodate six Red Arrow VII air-to-air guided missiles!!

Amidst a series of firing sounds, all 120 missiles were launched at the same time. The white smoke they left in their wake almost completely engulfed the hillside!!!

"Oh hell...." This was the last thought that flashed through Dark Sky's mind. 120 missiles, all aiming for him. Even if he was on the ground, he would still be swept away by the terrifying destructive force and be reduced to ashes! Even Sheyan could not survive an attack of this magnitude.

The pale blue smoke from the explosion slowly dispersed. Some debris rustled down. Sheyan sighed. He saw that some soldiers were already rushing to the scene silently, so he quickly left together with Sanzi.

　　***

"How did this happen?" Zi exclaimed in shock as she stared at the object on the coffee table in front of her.

The party had already joined up by now and had come to a local five-star hotel. Sheyan was lying on the sofa with a bitter smile on his face. The object on the coffee table were the pair of dark green gloves -- the 'Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves'.

This pair of gloves which had seen its fair share of action recently, was rough and thick in appearance. They had the simple, direct style of mining gloves, yet the dark green glow on them was like the finishing touch of a decoration, so the clash of the two styles gave it a unique look that was not unattractive. Moreover, they were now streaked in black and red stripes thanks to the liquid metal life-form, which gave the gloves a fiercer vibe.

However, the gloves' appearance at the moment was greatly marred by a scar.

The scar actually looked very ordinary. It was just a trail of rust. The rust looked like it could be wiped away by a gentle swipe of the finger.

But somehow, the more impressive the rest of the 'Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves' looked, the more eye-catching the scar was.

Reef, Sanzi and Sheyan looked at each other for a moment. Sheyan then smiled bitterly as he replied, "I don't know either. I'm not sure what's going on. I found the scar about half an hour ago. What baffles me is that the Realm assessed the gloves but couldn't find any problems with them at all. The result says everything's completely normal."

Having inspected the gloves carefully for a while, Old Charlie suddenly said while appearing deep in thought, "If I'm guessing correctly, master, then it should be an effect of the law of time entropy."

"Time entropy? The poison of time in the legends?" Sheyan's voice abruptly turned hoarse. "How could this be? And why does time entropy have an effect on my equipment?"

(TL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(arrow_of_time) )

"In the legends, time is a poisonous thing. The poison of time is slow, resolute, irresistible and has no cure. All matters will be corroded by the poison of time and will eventually disappear, and that's where the theory of time entropy originated from. As for why its effect appears on the 'Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves'....that's not too hard to explain. It should be because of 'Extinction'," explained Old Charlie slowly.

Having heard Old Charlie's opinion, Sheyan murmured, "You mean....the 'Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves' can't withstand the attached power of 'Extinction'?"

"Correct," replied Old Charlie. "According to my inference, it might be because 'Extinction' is an ability that only Legendary equipment would have, and even Legendary equipment have very low probability of acquiring this ability. But, we successfully transferred 'Extinction' to the dark green grade equipment, 'Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves', through the liquid metal life-form G-spot."

"This is a violation of the rules of the Realm. It's akin to a truck that only has a carrying capacity of three tons being forcibly loaded with ten tons of cargo! Even if it can forcibly move, the lifespan of the truck will still rapidly decline due to wear and tear."

Sheyan nodded after listening to Old Charlie. "You're right. I should've thought of that."

"But why did the Realm determine that the gloves are perfectly normal when they're obviously damaged?" Sanzi questioned.

"Things that have defects but are deemed perfectly normal are actually very common. The examples are everywhere around us. I think you're just confused because you're too concerned," Old Charlie said. "For example, if an amputee has been living healthily for a year after being discharged from the hospital, wouldn't you say that his physical condition is perfectly fine?"