too

The six-winged lion roared as he stood in his new form, majestic, tall, proud, and as an undead.

The pitiful lion did not know if he wanted to be happy or sad to be a part of this new army, but when wyverns and dragons had submitted, how could he not submit to the new master?

It became happy after a moment of confusion and swiftly stood next to the wyverns and dragons as if he was also a draconian beast.

Watching this, all the other soul minions, at least the ones who were aware of what just happened, gaped in shock. This was the fastest Liam had forged! Luna also looked proudly at her master.

The only issue was that Liam did not look quite as pleased. His reddened eyes glared in anger as he punched the rock next to him.

This was not enough. This only barely made a dent in his soul.

"Move!" He shouted, and everyone immediately started the next hunt. After the six-winged lion, it was the Level 95 striped white tiger's turn.

This beast as well was mercilessly bombarded with all sorts of attacks, and its soul was forged the next minute. Roar? The tiger pitifully looked at the lion, who had once been its mortal enemy but now was a fellow soldier. What was happening?

More importantly, why was their new Master psychotic?

Liam was filled with rage as, once again, this formidable opponent only managed to make a dent in his soul. With these small dents, when was he going to increase his soul strength again?

He needed more. A bigger foe. A much stronger foe that required him to put his life on the line. Something that was as powerful or at least comparable to the dragon souls he had forged.

Liam's gaze then widened as he remembered the other dragon souls that were in his possession. He then threw his head back and started laughing maniacally. That was right. He had the answer right in his hand, and yet he was searching around everywhere.

Earlier, he was afraid he couldn't handle the opening of the seals, but now he had to give this a try. There was simply no other choice.

And he had enough materials to unlock just one other seal, the soul seal. He had already stored all the souls he needed in the black bead from the beast horde assault. Now all that was needed was for him to feed these souls to the sword.

He unsheathed the black dragon sword and stared at it, feeling the wrath of the countless dragon souls contained within it. He had somehow handled two dragon souls, but now would he be able to hold out against these countless dragon souls?

Liam took a deep breath and immediately ordered Luna to make a move. Right now, he was short on time. Once a decision was made, he had to stick to it. The faster that countdown approached, the more risks he had to take.

And right now, he was probably going to take the biggest risk of his life.

For that, he needed another dungeon. He was willing to take risks, but he was not an idiot. If he attempted this without a dungeon, he would definitely get screwed six ways from Sunday.

"Luna, go to the Rock Temple dungeon." He ordered the fox, and the rest of the posse followed him. The Rock Temple dungeon was only a little distance south of where they were currently and also the closest dungeon to them at the moment.

The only drawback was that this dungeon was only a Level 50 dungeon. However, it had to suffice.

He did not have knowledge about any other high-level dungeons in this area, and his knowledge about high-level dungeons was not all that much, to begin with. There was no point in wasting time right now searching for one.

Luna arrived at the Rock Temple dungeon in a jiffy, and the group cleared out the dungeon in less than a minute. The mobs and the bosses inside did not even know why they died when they dropped down onto the cold hard ground.

The soul minion army then cleared out and started farming experience points outside once again, this time the two dragons also joining them.

"Ok. Here goes nothing." Liam took out the stone tablet one more time, and the world around him changed. He was once again back in the barren land with the essence puddles. This time an earthen essence puddle started forming.

Liam, however, did not pay any attention to it as he walked forward and sat back down into the soul essence puddle, which still looked quite healthy. Either the souls did not deteriorate in this space, or they were degrading at an extremely slow pace.

Whatever it was, it was something for him to figure out in the future, if at all. For right now, he took out the sword without wasting any time.

He immediately took out the black bead he had prepared, the one full of the numerous beast souls and started feeding the souls to the sword.

Immediately, tremendous pressure fell on his body, gripping him from top to bottom. Both sides were attacking him, the ones he was using as cannon fodder and the ones on the receiving end.

Though the beast souls weren't as strong as the dragon souls, they still had an effect on him en masse. The black dragon souls present inside the sword were also no better. They were bound to the sword, and yet they were powerful enough to torment him.

A ripple of mind-numbing pain spread across his body, and Liam grinned. He welcomed this pain. "More! More! Give me more!" He laughed, challenging the monstrously strong souls. The sword trembled as it unleashed more pain and agony on him.

Liam shivered, but he bit down and held on to his sanity. He probably would fare better if he fed the souls one after the other and slowly and gradually progressed, but there was no time for it. This was the time for insanity.

Withstanding the pain from the backlashes he suffered left and right, Liam pulled the soul essence around him to heal himself. His mana core churned faster than ever, and the mana within the stone tablet also violently roiled.

And just like that, yet another dungeon was getting drained faster than ever.

Liam could feel it. His soul strength was steadily increasing. Meanwhile, he only had less than half an hour left. Would he make it in time? Fuck. He needed to hurry.

As he shoved the numerous beast souls into the black dragon sword, the backlash became bigger and bigger, and his soul was also becoming stronger.

The only issue was that the pain was also explosively increasing every single second. This time the black dragon sword did not hold back and showed its true colours.

It was as if the sword realized what Liam was trying to do and challenged him back. Did you want damage to your soul? Let me see if you can handle this.

After a couple of minutes, the thousand souls were almost in, and Liam could only barely hold on. However, the main show was yet to start, the main feast yet to be served.

At this time, the sword in Liam's hand suddenly trembled and disappeared. Instead of the cold hard weapon, now all that was left was a white mist.

Liam couldn't help but become shocked. This was completely unexpected.

Right in front of him, this unfathomably powerful mist rose up and devoured the rest of the thousand souls from the black bead all on their own.

They were sucked in a fraction of a second and completely devoured. This was not good. Liam immediately prepared himself for what was about to come next.

ROAR!!! The white mist enveloped him, and then it started, the beginning of his personal hell. His body trembled, and his soul shuddered, unable to withstand the intense whiplash from the dragon souls that surrounded him.

Liam felt as if his body and everything were going to blast apart into smithereens. He did not want to die. He did not want to lose to this, but at this moment, it felt as if his death would be a kindness.

If he could just die, then he would escape from all of this pain and torture. The suffering was too much for him to bear that he even forgot why he was doing this in the first place.

But before he could completely vanish into this nothingness and lose himself, thankfully, his instincts or his muscle memory or, rather, his soul memory kicked in.

Out of habit, his heavily injured soul, which was getting more and more injured by the second from being thrashed around by the dragon souls, started absorbing the soul essence from the puddle he was sitting on.

However, because of the speed at which he was being injured, very quickly, this puddle also started to dry out. In a matter of seconds, his soul consumed the numerous souls that were previously swirling around in the essence puddle.

It didn't last long at all as this puddle completely disappeared without any trace and the assault of the black dragon souls was far from over. At least this gave him temporary mental clarity, which made him feel the pain all the better. Liam shouted in agony.

He did not intend to underestimate this weapon, and yet somehow, he had done just that. This was why he had delayed dealing with the next seal until now. But he was not in a position to delay any longer, and he had rushed things.

There were consequences for this, and he had to face them now. Not everything was going to go his way, no matter how desperately he wanted them to. Now he could see it clearly. It was a fool's errand all along.

Reborn again? Change his fate? It didn't matter how many chances he got. Perhaps someone like him was destined to fail every single time. Tears streamed down Liam's face. More than the pain, the hopelessness was pushing him to despair.

Can someone like him stand up against a god like that woman? Memories of the dreaded past flashed across his mind. He wanted to simply let go and die, but if he did that, then history would once again repeat itself.

"No. No. No. I cannot lose here." Liam banged on the ground with both his fists. He shouted until his throat became hoarse and got a grip on himself. With one single movement, he then took out another black bead and broke it.

He did not stop there. He broke another and then another one. Suddenly, the puddle that was drained just now was once again flush with soul essence.

Since the black dragon sword was not holding back, Liam went all out as well. He also did not bother saving anything for the future. He used everything in his possession.

The lizardmen's souls, the beast horde's souls and the villagers' souls. He broke every single black bead without any concern. If he was going to go down, at least he was going to do down swinging.

Liam started inhaling all the soul essence around him without any reserve. The black dragon sword continued to do a number on him, and he, in turn, drained the souls faster than the stone tablet stabilized them to hold his ground.

He was only hanging by a thread, but he was still there, bearing it all. Slowly the second round of souls was also being inhaled at an insane pace.

Meanwhile, all of these shenanigans were also sucking the mana dry. The more Liam struggled against the black dragon sword, the more mana was sucked dry.

Soon, the Rock Temple dungeon was completely destroyed and consumed by the stone tablet.

The world around him also collapsed, and he lost even the small support that he received from the stone tablet.

Now only a cluster of souls remained around him, which were dissipating at lightning speed, and the black dragon sword was still raging!

"No! I will not lose here!" Liam shouted again as he started madly pulling all the souls towards himself. With or without the stone tablet, he was going to subdue this sword right here and now.

Liam held onto anything and everything that he could and continued struggling against the sword.

He knew that even though he was suffering here, his time was also constantly running out. He needed to get through this faster. That hadn't changed.

But something else had changed.

Unfortunately, he was no longer hidden from the outside world. The moment the dungeon collapsed, two pairs of eyes fell on him as they gaped at him in amazement and astonishment.

"What is he doing?" Mia gasped, for the first time showing some sort of emotion on her face. Her reaction surprised the golden knight, and he quickly dashed toward the mirror to take a look.

Though he wanted to leave this insect alone if something unexpected happens, he couldn't face the high priestess, so he ended up staying back and observing him after all.

He had handed over a few of his tasks to his underlings and was back in the hall where the viewing mirror was located.

And now, he was thanking his lucky stars that he made this decision. Because the scene in front of him was frightening, to say the least.

"What is he doing?" Mia repeated the same words as if she was mesmerized.

"He is… he is increasing his soul strength." The golden knight stammered. He assumed that the person would simply be creating as many soul minions as possible, but he did not expect this.

This human being had actually unlocked another seal of the soul weapon, knowing full well that he couldn't handle it. There could only be one reason for it.

The golden knight was so sure of it because he could feel it.

The first-order human being was slowly becoming closer and closer to a second-order human being. His soul strength was steadily skyrocketing!

All of this only pointed to one thing. The human being in front of him was breaking himself down and healing himself back up again! Repeatedly!

This was something that he could not even fathom. It might be a simple concept, but the pain involved was extraordinary. A person could lose their mind in this process. It required true resolve and determination to commit to something like this.

As the golden knight explained what was happening, Mia placed her hand on her chest. There was something stirring within her, a small memory.

Was he insane to choose a training method like this? She felt her heart pounding as if she already knew that this man would go to any lengths to achieve what he wanted.

Not only she but the golden knight also had a look of reverence on his face. Even though this was his enemy, he couldn't help but want to respect him at this moment. He even found himself rooting for him to succeed.

However, it was only for a second.

He quickly shook his head and snapped out of it. What was going on here? Would this person really succeed? If he becomes a second-order human being, then…

"Damn it." The golden knight gritted his teeth in annoyance. All that was left was ten minutes! Just ten minutes! Why couldn't he just stay put?

There were only ten more minutes left, and this damned insect was still hell-bent on causing him a headache.

No. He couldn't let this happen. Under no circumstance could he be allowed to succeed.

For her eminence, the priestess, he needed to stop this at all costs.

Knowing full well that there would be consequences for this, the golden knight summoned a system interface in front of him and stared at it. It displayed the map of the Gresh Kingdom. He knew what he had to do.

But now was not the time.

By now, he had a good understanding of the person in front of him. If he intervened now, then somehow, he might still survive and come out on top.

The human being in front of him was a resilient little pest. He should not underestimate him. So now was not the time.

He needed to wait for the opportune moment, and when he finally struck and made his move, that human being should not be able to get up again.

The golden knight rubbed his chin as he patiently continued watching Liam twitch and wither in pain. His gaze observed every little detail to ensure that he would not miss it.

The countdown timer was also running non-stop. The ten minutes were now five minutes. There were only barely five minutes left for the game to shut down.

"Maybe I don't even need to interfere?" He mused to himself, but as if his words had jinxed it, the human being in front of him suddenly started showing signs of a breakthrough.

The sword mist that was completely overpowering up until now was now becoming less and less violent. If he was correct, then Liam should be on the cusp of subduing the weapon.

The moment he was waiting for was here!

"Die!" The golden knight immediately swiped his interface and then clicked on something. His gaze then shifted back to the viewing mirror as he watched the scene with renewed interest and a confident grin.

Meanwhile… near the Rock Temple dungeon, or at least the place where the dungeon previously used to be… something stirred.

A strange creature reared its head up in the Gresh Kingdom's northern mountain range.

This creature was sleeping at the depth of the mountain range, dust and cobwebs surrounding it as if it was unperturbed for decades.

However, at this moment, its slit-like eyes sprang open without any warning.

The next instant, it moved, and its humungous body blurred. In a second, it broke the layers and layers of hard earth above it and drilled its way to the surface, raising its gigantic head.

This creature was now standing right in front of Liam, and its slit-like eyes were locked onto him.

[Platinum Elite; Basilisk; Level ???]

Growl! Luna was the first one to react. The fox who was standing guard next to Liam all this time immediately became alarmed and dove right in between him and the giant serpentine monster.

But her face was etched in worry. She only needed to glance once to know that this was not something she could handle. She couldn't even fathom how powerful this creature was.

She frantically opened her mouth to hurl out a fire blast with her tail shining red and then tried to reach out to Liam through their mental connection.

However, as she did, tears started dripping from her eyes.

Till now, she hadn't attempted this because she did not want to disturb Liam, but now that she did, she could feel just how much pain her master was in.

Wooo! The fox whined as she stared at her master and the giant creature in front of her. No matter what happened today, she was going to guard her master!

But before she could even finish that thought, the harsh reality dawned on her. Her attack did nothing to the beast at all.

On the other hand, the huge monster raised its head and hissed loudly. Its sheer movement tossed the fox away like dirt!

Luna's health quickly dropped. Before she could recover, another attack came for her as a giant tail lashed at her. The speed and agility of the attack were simply too much. There was no way for her to evade.

The fox lit up in flames, using the best flame barrier that she could erect, bracing herself for the attack. She knew that it was not enough. She was going to die, but at least she would buy a couple of seconds for her master.

Her clear blue eyes watched the tail that was about to smack her to death. She closed her eyes, preparing for the pain that was going to ensue but surprisingly, nothing happened.

Luna quickly opened her eyes to stare in shock. Standing in front of her was a red-haired paladin who took the brunt of the attack.

Alex was here! And instead of the fox, she received the attack and was tossed away.

Alex's follower, the little girl, frantically tried to heal her, but it was no use. It was a one-hit instant kill.

This wasn't an enemy against whom she could stand up. Even her best tanking skill did not work, as the Basilisk's attack went right through all of her defences.

Her only consolation was not she was not alone. Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Rey and about twenty core members of the guild stood firmly in between Liam and the monstrous creature.

And there were also Asura and Lyana.

Shen Yue was only bringing a few players with her to carry all the items as they did not fit into the inventory slots, and the followers whom Liam had asked her to round up, but when they arrived here, the situation was entirely unexpected.

Liam was in a deep trance which they did not dare disturb. They patiently waited and waited. At the same time, the clock was also ticking down. They were not sure what they were supposed to do when finally the last few minutes arrived and, along with it, a giant monstrosity.

Now they knew what they were supposed to do.

Alex was the first one to respond. Even though she was broken down and listless all the way here, the minute she laid eyes on the scene, she jumped into action to protect the fox.

Mei Mei started casting the buffs. Asura, Shen Yue and the others started attacking while the few healers madly tossed healing spells left and right.

All of them were well aware that this was a suicide mission, but they gave it their all.

Watching this desperate attempt at survival, the golden knight casually sneered, shaking his head. "It's useless. They are just throwing their lives away."

He was not worried in the least about these small fries. There was nothing they could do that would change the course of fate here.

Mia, on the other hand, had a completely different expression on her face. Her heart ached more and more as she watched this scene. She felt a gaping hole somewhere within her.

Everyone in front of her was dying.

Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Rey, everyone was killed or rather slaughtered and massacred by the single terrifying creature. Even Asura couldn't hold up against it.

But for some reason, she couldn't feel happy seeing this.

Instead, she felt sad. She did not know why.

The golden knight next to Mia continued to watch the show and laughed loudly. "It's all over now." He felt so relieved that things hadn't gone out of his hands and let out a big sigh.

3 more minutes or 2 more minutes? Everything was over.

But the next second, he blinked, and something strange happened. A person who was not supposed to be there was standing next to the small fries.

An elf stood in front of the Basilisk!

This elf was none other than the old elf, the former elven King, a significant being in this world!

"Grandpa!" Luna shouted at the top of her lungs.

The elf grinned. "That's right. Your Grandpa is here now. I will take care of this ugly thing. You go help that idiot. Stand near him and don't move. Don't let anything or anyone disturb him."

The old elf then immediately jumped in front of the Basilisk. An enormous storm of mana surrounded him, and his voice reverberated loudly. "Wind domain!"

For the first time, the Basilisk was not able to simply swing its tail and finish the enemy standing in front of it. Its slit-like eyes became bigger as it gazed at the new prey with interest.

Watching this scene unfold, the golden knight trembled from top to bottom in anger. Someone had thrown a wrench into his plan at the last damn moment.

"A clone? Did he use a clone? How dare this elf defy the rules?" His voice bellowed.

The golden knight immediately drew some runes that dazzled, and the next instant, he, along with Mia, teleported to appear right at the scene of the crime.