Tom
Chapter 97 - Daylight Robbery?
The nagas immediately became joyful and the beautiful woman slithered forward to personally hand Liam the two pearls.
Unlike the others, she had a golden serpentine figure which was very eye catching.
Liam looked at her from top to bottom, carefully observing all the details and as she extended her hand, with the two pearls on her palm… he abruptly gripped her hand tightly.
Having not expected this, the soft hand tried to pry out his hold but to no avail.
"You! What are you doing? Didn't we reach an agreement just now?" The naga anxiously hissed at him.
"Yes. Yes. We still have an agreement. I merely stopped you because you are forgetting something important!" He let her hand go.
"Huh? What?"
"Please remove all your cloth, armor, and jewels and leave them here."
"WHAT?"
The five nagas looked utterly shocked and angry as they glared back at Liam. "Pervert! Get away from her highness!"
One of the naga guards standing on the right took out a spear and came at Liam.
But his level was only 18 and Liam casually blocked it. He almost wanted to laugh at this pathetic display of strength, but he didn't take it too far.
Even if their levels were suppressed, they might still possess some sort of life saving trump card. It was best not to underestimate them.
"Wait and hear me out." He raised his hands in front of him and signaled them to stop. "If you leave everything behind, then I can convince my allies that I killed you all."
"This way you can rest assured and no one else will come chasing after you." He explained with a calm smile.
"Oh!" After hearing Liam's words, the guard turned to look at his companions as he was now confused.
All the other nagas also had similar expressions.
It looked like they weren't able to figure out if the person in front of them was simply robbing them in daylight or sincerely intended to help them.
After a couple of seconds, the astoundingly beautiful naga bit her lips and finally relented. "This…This seems to be a good idea. Just leave everything here. We need to get out of here right now."
A cold glint flashed in her eyes as she gazed at Liam one more time before removing several things that were donned on her slender seductive upper body.
She now only had a piece of cloth wrapped around her chest, covering her big melons and even her spear was placed on the pile.
All the other nagas did the same as well and everyone threw Liam a dirty look before hastily fleeing from the spot. Liam no longer held them back.
He watched the group of nagas slither swiftly, disappearing somewhere in the distance. He wondered they were going.
"Well. That doesn't concern me I guess. I should put these back quickly."
As his two pets and his undeads watched him curiously, he pocketed every single item that was left behind by the nagas.
He didn't bother looking at these right now and just hurriedly threw everything in his inventory before the other demons could spot this pile of loot.
He had no intention of turning in any of these as a war contribution.
Only after fully cleaning out every last piece of loot, he fell back onto the grass, completely relaxed, and took a deep breath.
This invasion quest was turning out to be extremely rewarding, giving him one surprise after another! Liam grinned.
His conversation with the trigger happy male naga had already given him an idea.
He now knew exactly how to finish this quest and reap the maximum rewards! In fact, he should have thought of this long ago!
All he needed to do in these invasion quests was simply survive. As for gathering resources, he just had to take out a few gold coins and give them to the leader!
It was as easy as that!
Liam sprinted back to the group of demons and once again joined them in bashing down the few nagas. He stood at the back and tossed out one fire ball after another, paying attention to his training.
[Ding. You have received 75 experience points]
[Ding. You have received 60 experience points]
...
Small lumps of experience points started accumulating and the fight continued for some more time, proceeding smoothly as expected without any other surprises.
Liam also continued to be a team player and provided support from the backlines.
A couple of hours later, suddenly, everything became dark and Liam's vision blanked out. He couldn't see anything and he also felt a sort of pull on his body.
The next second, he found himself back in the nether realm, other demons as well standing beside him, all of them cheering loudly in unison.
Oh? That was it?" Liam looked around his surroundings when a series of notifications chimed in.
[Ding. You have received 50000 experience points.]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. Your pet 1 has reached level 15]
[Ding. New evolution paths available]
[Ding. Your pet 2 has reached level 5]
Liam glanced at the notifications calmly, but he was interrupted by the leader of the squad. "You don't have anything to contribute soldier?"
"Oh!" Liam was surprised by the hostile tone and when he looked up, he saw all the other demons going up to the front to drop equipments and several things on the ground making a huge pile.
"Yes. Yes. I do." Liam took out a single gold coin from the inventory and gave it to the leader. "Ummm… I only managed to pick this one up." He hesitantly answered.
He wanted to test the waters first by starting small.
And just as he had expected, the leader's eyes widened in surprise!
"Oh! This is a gold coin! Bravo! You have done well! You have done really well! You have made our Lord proud by collecting so many resources."
[Ding. You have been rewarded 100 contribution points]
Chapter 98 - Fast Leveling!
Hmmm… 100 contribution points for 1 gold coin?
Liam grinned and called after the leader who had started walking away. "Boss! I also found this one!" He gave another gold coin to the leader.
The demon was perplexed. His huge nostrils flared in excitement. "You have outdone yourself, soldier! You have shown true potential and excellence!"
[Ding. You have been rewarded 100 contribution points]
'Another 100?' Liam had in fact expected only 50 or so, considering that the reward probably capped after a certain limit, but clearly, if there was a limit at all, this wasn't one!
He had to try again!
"Leader, wait a second. Ahh! I found another coin!" He shamelessly fished out another gold coin and handed it to the demon.
"Lad! How did you get your hands on so many gold coins!!"
"Aha ha ha… these were gold coins? I just picked them up because they were shiny and I thought they might be useful somehow. Aha ha ha"
"What a lucky fellow! You have such good luck and intuition! Your skills are also excellent! These are the traits of a good leader!"
"I hope you will be able to successfully lead your own squad soon!"
[Ding. You have been rewarded 50 contribution points]
[Ding. Your rank has been upgraded]
[Rank: Senior Soldier] (0/1000)
Liam saw that he was now a senior soldier. The points this time were lower and coincidentally they helped him level to the next rank as well.
"This should be the limit. 250 contribution points for one invasion quest. I should join another invasion quickly and see what these upgrades are useful for."
Liam looked around and saw another demon squad assembling nearby.
Since it was wartime multiple squads were doing this day in and day out, in preparations for gathering more resources for the upcoming war. So there was no lack of teams to join in.
He quickly approached the leader and the quest notification chimed in. The leader was in fact more than happy to accept him as he was a senior soldier.
[Ding. New Limited Quest available]
[Ding. Survive the mission and bring back adequate resources]
[Ding. Reward: +50 contribution points; +50000 experience points]
[Ding. Do you wish to accept the quest? Yes /No]
"Yes." Liam muttered and joined the team. A few minutes later, the portal was once again activated and this time they were transported to somewhere dark and dingy.
The demons started scrambling, trying to look around and Liam as well materialized a fireball. If possible he wanted to start fighting before his companions started dispersing by themselves.
Luckily for him, the very next second a group of short skinny creatures ran towards them. Their heads resembled that of a rat and they had sharp protruding teeth.
[Kobold]
Level 18
[Kobold]
Level 14
[Kobold]
Level 19
…
…
…
The creatures were not high leveled but their numbers were not small. They continued pouring out from everywhere.
"Keee! Keee! Keee!"
"Keee! Keee! Keeee!"
"Intruders! Intruders!"
The demons who had moved away from the group immediately ran back.
"Attack! Kill everything!" The squad leader demon shouted loudly.
And immediately, an intense battle erupted. This time it was completely different from the grasslands where they had landed for their previous mission.
But Liam didn't mind at all.
This in fact worked out well for him.
He casually moved from his spot at the back and settled in the center, in the midst of the demons.
From here, he started once again casting fireballs, the fox as well repeating his actions. He specifically aimed for the Kobolds that had low health and were already severely injured.
And bang!
[Ding. You have received 10 experience points]
Bang!
[Ding. You have received 10 experience points]
…
…
…
This is ridiculous! This has to be the easiest way to level in the entire game!" Liam grinned from ear to ear.
He had a lot of good things meticulously planned but this was a pie that had fallen on his lap out of nowhere.
It looked like those pigs whom he had slaughtered were in reality pinatas.
He had broken them and the candies were still dropping one after the other, long after their eternal death.
Heh. Liam chuckled. "Can I reach Level 30 in the remaining 48 hours?" He began pumping out more firepower and sending the Kobolds to their deaths faster.
The nether realm was really treating him too well!
The second invasion mission ended faster than the first one or rather it simply seemed that way since right from the start until the very end, the group had continued slaughtering Kobolds one after the other.
They had landed smack dab in the middle of their nest and there was nothing else that they could do.
The gains this time were also not much as the Kobolds were just as poor as the demons. However, that was only for the rest of the squad.
Liam, of course, handed over 3 gold coins and earned the maximum contribution point rewards and the experience points boost, also gaining another level!
He was smashing through this laborious part of the game at an insane pace!
Leveling in this manner was extremely efficient, quick, and not to mention addictive. As an added bonus, he was also able to train properly with so many demons tanking for him.
Liam was fully pumped up and he did not plan on stopping any time soon. After completing the second invasion mission, he immediately dived into another one.
This time they had landed in an impoverished orc village. There was really nothing in the village except for mundane common items. These orcs did not rush to fight them either.
In fact, all the orcs that were remaining in the village were either elderly or women or children. However, the demons still continued slaughtering and pilfering and Liam as well did the same.
If he hesitated here now, then he would be facing the same situation later on. Only the strong had the right to survive and only the truly powerful had the right to show kindness.
Since he was neither, at least yet, he simply slaughtered everything in sight, just like he had done before without skipping a beat.
Chapter 99 - Slapping With Gold
[Ding. You have received 50000 experience points]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. You have received 250 contribution points]
…
…
…
[Ding. You have received 50000 experience points]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. You have received 250 contribution points]
…
…
…
[Ding. You have received 50000 experience points]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. You have received 250 contribution points]
…
…
…
After the Kobolds and Orcs, it was the goblins' and lizardmen's turn to get wrecked, and in the blink of an eye, Liam was already at Level 26.
Every single invasion mission he had joined in had ended successfully.
Even the four or five squads assembled in the central area had noticed this and everyone was extremely excited about it, both the leaders and soldier demons alike.
Their success rate had never been so high! And their coffers had never been so full!
The last squad leader held Liam by his shoulder as he praised him endlessly. "You are a true warrior! Your potential is limitless!"
"As a reward for your meritorious deeds, you have now been promoted to a leader position! I wish you good luck! For the Lord! Huzzah!"
"Huzzah!" Liam mimicked his actions while already beginning to look through this new development.
He had filled up his contribution points by shelling out gold and running through invasion missions back to back, but he hadn't at all expected this to happen!
He could now command a squad? Did this mean that all the demons under him would listen to his commands? Was this going to be temporary or permanent?
What about the experience points? Was he going to get more experience points now? After all, this time he would be leading the invasion mission and would no longer be just a soldier.
What about the resources gathered? Could he possibly pilfer some before submitting the total resources to the higher ups?
Just how high was he in the hierarchy?
A million questions popped up in Liam's brain as he had absolutely no prior knowledge of these things at all. No one had done such quests in his past life.
"Alright. No need to rush too much. I should take it one step at a time. Let me start with the first invasion mission."
He opened the system interface as he saw a new notification pop up.
[Ding. Your rank has been upgraded]
[Rank: Squad Leader] (0/1000,000)
[Ding. You are now able to recruit up to 5 soldiers]
"What only 5 soldiers?"
He was quite shocked as every single invasion mission he had participated in had at least 30 or so demons which was why they were able to handle things easily.
What was he going to do with just 5 soldiers?
"I need to talk to someone first and gather more information." Liam walked out of the crowd and started observing the other squad leaders for a while.
The procedure seemed to be easy enough. They purchased the inscription for the invasion portal from a big bulky demon at the counter, where they submitted the resources as well.
It looked like one was a pre-requisite for the other, but Liam decided to worry about that later. After purchasing the portal inscription, the leader walked up to the front of the square.
All he then did was clear his throat loudly and a dozen demons quickly assembled before him. "Seems simple enough." Liam scratched his chin.
He decided to do the same and imitate them. He went to the counter and tapped. "I need an invasion portal inscription."
The big bulky demon snorted coldly and looked up at him, his gaze very stern and cold. "A newly appointed leader?"
He looked at Liam from top to bottom and was clearly not pleased with what he saw. "Hmph. It looks like these days just about anyone is capable of becoming a squad leader. Hmmm…"
Ummm... What is with this attitude? Liam was amused.
He waited for the demon to respond but the other party returned back to whatever he was doing after he was done passing judgment.
"The invasion portal inscription?" Liam patiently asked him again.
Heh. The bulky demon sneered and did not look up at him this time. "It will be 50 silvers. Can you afford 50 silvers?"
"I don't know how you got promoted to this position but don't think that it is so easy to be a leader! You probably got lucky and received a windfall, thus collecting a lot of points."
"Or maybe you managed to bribe someone… Hmm…"
"Indeed. We do have demons like you once in a while. Just give up and join more fights and gain more experience on the proper route."
"Or perhaps you wish to die a fiery death…" The bulky demon started ranting and he didn't look like he was planning on stopping any time soon.
And Liam did not have the luxury of sitting here and listening to him all day. He silently took out a few gold coins and banged them on the counter.
"That should buy me a few portals, right?"
The demon who was still continuing to talk whatever came to his mind, absent-mindedly looked up to see what the lucky fellow was blabbering about.
"A few portals? Did you hit your head… Ah...!" Taken aback by surprise, he jolted to stand straight from his desk.
He had not seen these many gold coins at the same time!
His eyes glistened with greed as he stared at the amount of wealth and a thick tongue stuck out, the demon licking his dry chapped lips.
He gulped and looked at Liam blankly, wondering just what sort of luck this greenhorn demon had run into!
His level was 50, almost twice as high as the tiny demon's, and yet he had never seen such wealth. What a shame!
His blank look turned sour and he seemed even more upset than before, but in the end, all he could do was gnash his teeth and take out 30 scrolls for the 15 gold coins.
Chapter 100 - There Is Always A Way
"Useless thing. So what if you have the money? Hmph. Did you really think invasion portals are child's play?"
Liam could hear the bulky demon ranting once again behind his back, but he did not dilly dally and quickly walked away, putting everything in his inventory.
He knew that he could possibly be attracting some unwanted attention by purchasing so many scrolls at the same time. However, he had a few plans in his mind so he purchased in bulk.
"Portal… check. Now for my recruits…" Liam walked over to stand in the square beside the other leaders. "Recruiting for invasion!" He shouted at the top of his voice.
He was even louder than the other leaders.
However… once again he was completely ignored. None of the demons even turned towards him or threw a glance at him.
"Are these guys avoiding me because I am a new leader?" Liam chuckled helplessly. He did have a backup plan so he wasn't too worried.
He changed his tactics this time around and shouted again. "Recruiting for invasion quest! Need 5 soldiers! Paying 10 silver each!"
"Huh?"
"What the hell?"
"Who is this new guy?"
All the demons finally started paying attention to him. A few even gave him the stink eye as he was clearly bribing others into helping him.
But Liam didn't care as he got the result that he expected!
Almost instantly, a group of demons rushed over and started lining up in front of him. "Oops. I only need 5!" Liam chuckled.
He took a look at the group gathered and a sudden thought popped into his mind. He was not yet sure if he would be able to forge some sort of long-term contract with them.
But if he could…
"You. You. You. You and you!" Liam pointed at five young demons who looked considerably weak and inexperienced. "How many missions have you guys been on before?"
"None, leader."
"Same here. None leader."
"Me too."
"Me too."
"I have also not joined any quest before."
They looked worried thinking that Liam was going to reject them. 10 silver coins was a lot of money for them.
But he instead gave them a thumbs up. "You guys are hired."
"What? Why would you choose a complete beginner? Leader! I have already completed several missions. You should take me."
A few demons started complaining, disgruntled with the situation. Liam, however, simply shrugged. "Next time!"
He did not engage them further and quickly started activating the invasion portal inscription. As soon as he did, a notification popped up.
[Ding. New Limited Quest available]
[Ding. Survive the mission and bring back adequate resources]
[Ding. Reward: +500 contribution points; +50 contribution points for each surviving soldier; +100000 experience points; +10000 experience points for each surviving soldier]
[Ding. Do you wish to accept the quest? Yes/ No]
It looked like the rewards for being a leader were double that of being a mere soldier. Moreover, there were also sizable bonuses which made this whole thing extremely rewarding.
"Yes!" Liam grinned, rubbing his hands together. He was feeling both nervous and excited at the same time.
For the first time in this new life, he truly had no idea what was going to happen next and this pumped his body full of adrenaline!
"1… 2… 3…"
A big mark of blood appeared around them, entrapping them in a circle and the next second, Liam and his group appeared on another vast grassland.
As soon as they were transported, the demons started to run in all directions. Even though they had no experience, they seemed to still act on instinct.
"Stop. Don't run." Liam immediately commanded them. Unlike the other squad leaders, he decided to be more hands on.
He only had 5 soldiers to begin with so he couldn't afford to let them run wild. And even if he had 20 soldiers staying in the group formation or smaller groups was far more productive.
After hearing his orders, the demons immediately stopped running and came back to stand next to him. Liam also still had the 2 undeads with him and his 2 pets.
Including him, brought their ragtag team to a total of 10 members. "Not bad," Liam muttered, looking around the grasslands.
They were already lucky not to have landed in the middle of a sticky situation. So he didn't have any complaints.
He first took a few seconds to observe everything around them and when nothing appeared out of the ordinary, he immediately gave the order. "Move. Follow me."
He wanted to keep the pace of this expedition as the portal was only going to last for a couple of hours. They did not have much time.
Liam started by systematically exploring the area on his right. "Fly ahead and tell me if there is any danger." He gave the wind ripper its usual command.
The bird would have been able to contribute much more if he were to visit the beast association. Both of his pets were ready to evolve.
And all he needed to do was visit the beast association in any city and buy the required ingredients for their evolution.
This would give them a significant boost in their stats. They would become a lot stronger and contribute more actively in battles.
They would also be able to learn skills, or at least the wind ripper. The fox spirit beast was already able to learn skills after all.
Liam, however, decided to take care of this when his 96 hours window ended.
He was able to enter and exit the nether realm at will, but he wanted to use this golden opportunity that fell on his lap to the maximum that he could.
Things could change at any given moment, so he didn't want to take any unnecessary chances and test his luck. Then, later on, he could only regret this missed godly leveling opportunity.
"Let's go! Move!" Liam commanded his small motley group of five repeatedly. The level 15 to level 18 demons could barely keep up with him, so he had to reduce his speed quite a bit.
But Liam had his own plans.. Despite its disadvantages now, he had a feeling that in the long run, it would play to his advantage.
Chapter 101 - Living The Slow Life?
A few minutes passed and Liam's group was still unable to spot anything alive in the area.
There were just acres and acres of plain grasslands all around with a few small rocky heaps here and there.
Who were they supposed to loot and plunder?
"Well… it doesn't matter. As long as we survive for the next couple of hours, I should be able to get the experience points. Not to mention all the bonus experience points."
Liam shrugged and led his team back to the portal where they idly sat down.
The small fox and the bird tumbled on the green grass and played around. The sun was gentle and the breeze was comforting. It was a nice day to enjoy nature.
Some of the demons even started to lie down and look at the blue sky. Their own lands were not this pleasant. It was always dark and dreary, with black rain pouring from the sky endlessly.
So this change in atmosphere was very nice. One even fell asleep, snoring soundly.
They had all heard terrifying tales about invasion missions, but this didn't seem bad at all. They were almost regretful that they hadn't joined this type of mission sooner.
While everyone else was completely relaxing or rolling around, Liam sat down on the grassy ground in a meditative position.
Since he had nothing else to do at the moment, this seemed to be a perfect chance to test his proficiency in controlling fire magic.
He had been grinding out fireballs one after the other for a while now, so he wanted to see just how much he had improved.
Liam focused on the spot in front of him and summoned his mana there, picturing the image of a ball of fire. He then practiced making it bigger and smaller by regulating the amount of mana.
Making it smaller required more mana compared to making it bigger as it was more difficult to compress the ball of burning energy.
The attack would also have a lot more impact and attack damage when compressed to the maximum.
Liam continued practicing this technique and just as he had expected, just spamming one skill over and over again and again had helped him a lot in the comprehension of the spell.
Watching him do various things and play with fire, the small fox that was jumping around, suddenly stopped and landed in front of him.
It cocked its head to the side and observed his actions for a few seconds, before attempting to repeat them.
Just like Liam, the fox as well produced a ball of fire and shot it out towards a distant rock.
Bang! The impact on the rock was clearly visible.
For the next attempt, just like him, the fox as well made the attack smaller and compressed.
BANG! This time the impact was even better!
As Liam watched this, his lips twitched. It had taken him so many hours of practice and two lifetimes to grasp this same concept, and the small spirit did it in a single try?
This was innate talent. This was genius.
Spirit beasts were supposedly born from a fragment of the element to which they had an affinity, so it was not that surprising that the fox was a lot more talented than him.
But unlike the fox, he was not a born genius so he had to rely on this kind of rote grinding to really drill the concept into his brain.
Liam chuckled wryly and continued his practice. He aimed for the same rock and sent out another attack.
This time he tried compressing the ball of fire as much as he could and also fiddled with the blasting speed of the attack to give the maximum impact.
After doing this a few times, it was very clear to him that the stronger and more compressed an attack was, it was also that much faster.Liam then tried adjusting the shape of the attack and turning his miniature fireballs into fire bullets.
This proved a lot more challenging than simply fiddling with the size of the attack. Reducing a fire ball to a fire bullet was basically compressing it several times over and over.
Liam began sweating profusely just after a few seconds of practice. His stamina was also plummeting steadily, for which he tossed a berry into his mouth and kept going on.
He had two hours to spend and he was determined to train thoroughly with the time in his hands.
Bang! He tossed an attack aiming at the same rock.
And immediately after… Bang! The fox as well sent out an attack. It was treating this as its playtime.
In this manner, the two of them kept shooting at the rock one after the other.
His attacks became a lot more refined and he now had more control over his mana, but Liam was still not satisfied as he hadn't yet heard the notifications that he was waiting for.
Sucking in a big breath, he was just about to cast another attack when suddenly, a loud rumbling noise echoed.
The noise instantly woke everyone up, including the wind ripper and the demons who had nicely fallen asleep.
Liam as well sprang to stand up alertly, ready to attack. He looked around to see what the hell was making this noise and what enemy they had to face.
But nothing seemed to be coming for them. He looked in all directions and there was absolutely no beast or monster approaching them.
"Hmmm… What is happening?" Liam pondered and just as his eyes shifted, he finally noticed something moving.
The big heaping pile of rocks that he and the little fox had been practicing on all this while actually moved!
The rocks rumbled and tumbled until they rose up to form some sort of a giant rock being.
The thing was like an iceberg with only the tip having been visible earlier and now that the whole body was revealed, it was nothing short of terrifying.
"Fuck!" Liam cursed as he looked up, staring at the enormous rock giant.
Chapter 102 - Let's Dance
[Rock Giant] (Elite Boss)
Level 25
Health: 999800/ 1000,000
GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
The giant opened its mouth and yawned loudly. "Who dares to disturb my slumber?"
All the demons immediately started running towards the gigantic monster, shouting equally loudly.
All they knew was fighting, so each one of them gripped their spears and hatchets and started running towards it.
Liam watched this and instantly ordered them to stop. "NO, don't run towards it!"
Approaching an elite 10 levels higher than them without knowing about any of its attacks or strengths was the same as committing suicide.
He didn't care if these demons died but he didn't want to lose his bonus points. Also, he was just starting to fatten them up. How could he afford to lose them so soon?
"RUN AWAY and wait for my command!"
Liam as well distanced himself from the rock giant and then sent out a condensed fireball, the best attack that he could conjure after all the training.
Bang!
A chunk of dust flew from where the fireball hit the giant, and then the damage number popped up.
-10
What the hell? Liam's eyes widened in shock. Some elite bosses had a high defense which reduced the efficiency of the attack but wasn't this a little too much?
Were they supposed to grind this thing by chopping off 10 health every attack? Wouldn't they all be dead by then?
He didn't know what the damage output of the giant was but just judging from its size, he could tell that it was definitely well above 500 or even more.
A single attack was probably going to take a huge percentage of their health.
As Liam quietly pondered what to do, the demons ran back to him to regroup and waited for his orders anxiously.
But he took his time to first observe the boss. This was a boss that he wasn't familiar with. So he didn't know its attack patterns beforehand or even have some sort of general idea.
And as for the health that was already missing from the boss, it was probably from their 'practice session' tossing fireballs at the still rocks.
While Liam continued thinking about what could be the best approach for dealing with this, suddenly more rumbling sounds started to appear.
Hmmm? A bad premonition popped up in his mind and the very next second it was confirmed. The few rocks that were scattered here and there… they all started to move!
Liam chuckled wryly as he watched this terrifying sight. Now, not just one but about a dozen rock giants all rose up to stand like tall moving mountains in front of him.
GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!? GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
"Who is making all this noise?"
"Who dares to step into our territory?"
"What is the ruckus about?"
In a matter of a second, rocks sprouted out of the previously calm grassy ground one after the other and 13 rock giants in total now stood in front of him!
13 elite bosses!
All of them with high defense and terrifying strength! Even the ground caved in not able to withstand the weight of their footsteps.
The newbie demon soldiers had never seen anything like this before.
They trembled in the presence of such strong monsters and they anxiously looked at their leader, hoping that at least he had some sort of solution to this sudden development.
However, as soon as they saw Liam, their faces paled even further.
"An absolute fucking disaster. Ha Ha Ha!" Liam was laughing loudly as if he was in his own world.
other possibilities simply disappeared, leaving behind only one option!
All they had to do was… RUN!!!
When surrounded by a dozen elite bosses, really that was the only option anyone had!
And thus… began the long game of running and seeking.
Liam's figure blurred as he continuously moved, taunted the giants by shooting fireballs at them, and then moved again.
He was running around in circles, back and forth, so much so that the ground where they were playing had considerably gone down, changing the landscape itself.
They had created a barren valley where there was previously lush green flatland!
Chapter 103 - Our Leader Is Too Kind?
-10
-10
-10
Liam shook his head helplessly as he watched the poor damage numbers float up the rock giants.
His only consolation was that he wasn't planning on actually dealing with these sturdy figures. He didn't have to kill them. He was only running out the clock until the portal closed.
Then they would naturally be pulled out of this insane place as well, returning back to the city.
It was indeed a pity to miss out on so many elite bosses. But at their current level, this was all that they could do.
"Look over here! Is your head filled with sand? I am your enemy, you mud brain fat ass!" Liam shouted, casting another fireball.
The rock giant grumbled something in return but he was not paying attention to it.
He watched his attack keenly as it smashed against the rock giant's sturdy body and disappeared into nothingness.
Perhaps if he could increase the intensity more…
Time ticked by and once again the situation became a training ground for Liam as he casually started evading the giants while focusing on his own attacks.
The demons anxiously stood on the side and they watched Liam with awe. They had a newfound respect for their leader.
They thought that they had been scammed for 15 silvers and that they were going to die, but now they could see their leader's prowess. Liam's every move was simply too perfect.
He had taken all the risk onto himself protecting everyone else. The demons had only heard about leaders using their soldiers as meat shields.
This was the first time they saw one risking his life for mere soldiers.
This chivalrous action of Liam had touched them greatly. One demon even had tears running down his face. They all watched him, forgetting to even blink.
This continued on for a while and before long, the portal shook and once again activated, pulling Liam and the rest of his squad into it.
Everyone promptly returned back to the central square in the city.
"Huzzzah! We are alive!"
"Leader, you are amazing!"
All the demons had wide happy faces as they sang praises of their fearless leader.
They didn't do anything during the mission and the team leader even took it upon himself to protect all of them and prevent their imminent death.
They had come out completely unscathed from an impossible situation!
It took them a couple of seconds to even remember the compensation Liam had promised them. And as they did, their faces slightly changed.
It was a big loss, but they didn't expect Liam to pay them. They didn't contribute anything and they also hadn't managed to gather any resources.
For every invasion mission undertaken, some amount of resources needed to be handed over to the Garrison's head.
Since they hadn't obtained anything this time, the next time whichever squad the leader commanded, they would need to work extra hard.
So would they still be offered compensation? Impossible!
All the demons looked at Liam anxiously with similar thoughts running in their heads when 15 silvers magically appeared on each of their hands.
"Good job." Liam calmly muttered, even wearing a smile on his face.
Ah… The demons were once again speechless.
This leader was just too good! He was completely different from all the horror stories they had heard about slave driving leaders!
Everyone opened and closed their mouths speechless. Before they could take in what just happened, Liam once again spoke.
"Ready? You guys are not tired, right? Same deal 15 silvers for the run. Hmmm. How about it?" He smiled warmly.
Of course, he was nice to them as he had a lot of plans for them...
All the five demon soldiers readily agreed and nodded their heads, as if they were worried that Liam would change his mind.
The five demons were simply minded commoners so now that Liam had given them a second chance, they wanted to fight hard and prove their worth.
Liam as well was pleased with their behavior and quickly activated the second portal.
In reality, he would have been more upset about losing the dozen elite bosses, not being able to reap even a single award from such a good opportunity.
But just as they were being kicked out of the invasion mission and pulled back into the portal, he had received the notifications that he had been anticipating for a while.
[Ding. You have learned Basic Fire Manipulation Skill]
[Ding. Your Fire Manipulation Skill is upgraded to intermediate]
[Ding. Your fire element attacks are boosted by 5%]
[Ding. You have learned Provoke Skill]
In front of these notifications, not being able to get the drops from a few elites was not a big loss to Liam.
He had been training this skill for a while now, day and night in the game, and finally, he managed to achieve it!
Combined with the previous boost that came from absorbing some fire elemental essence, Liam now had a 10% magic attack boost which was a lot of fire power.
In fact, when they were just getting kicked out, his last attack had managed to get a -30 damage, which was more than simply a 10% added boost.
His attack power on the whole had increased.
Liam had a feeling that if he had just a few more minutes, he could have done considerably more damage, perhaps even taking down one of the elite rock giants.
So he was itching to start another invasion mission and solidify the feeling he had and the concept he had managed to grasp.
Liam used another scroll and the blood circle immediately activated again, getting the attention of a few demons standing nearby.
"That squad is doing back to back missions?"
"Hmm? Newbies these days are very courageous!"
A few surprised looks came their way but everyone quickly went back to their own affair as other squads also moved out, all the demons working hard to curry favor with their leaders.
Meanwhile, Liam and his group once again landed on a vast open grassland.