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Chapter 159 - Who Let The Gnomes Out?
After spending a few hours repeating the same skill over and over again, Liam had somewhat managed to achieve the control that he wanted.
In fact, the rock that he had been practicing on now had huge holes in it. He had zapped the same spot enough times to directly drill a hole through.
However, that was not his aim.
His aim was to produce whispers of lightning, just a few sparks.
This initially proved more difficult than he had thought, but Liam found a way to practice. He first drained his mana completely and then tried the skill when he was simply running on fumes.
In this way, he forcefully, squeezed out only a few strands of mana, thus grasping the control of just using a little at a time.
He did this over and over until he had thoroughly comprehended the technique and he was finally able to replicate it even when he was stuffed full of mana.
"Hmm…" Liam frowned. He had solved this issue but now he was facing a huge problem.
He either had to try his new skill, directly aiming at the bigger group of gnomes or he had to wait for another seven hours for the smaller batch to rotate in.
The latter would be the saner and safer option, but it cost him time.
Thanks to everything being moved up the timeline, Liam no longer had the luxury to wait around idly for the perfect moment.
He was confident in his skill and he could feel that he had grasped another level of control. So he did not see any point in hesitating or seeking a more opportune moment.
"I can't just wait around."
Liam placed himself at a hidden spot and started neutralizing one gnome at a time.
Unlike before, his spell was not a strong showy bolt of lightning, rather a few invisible sparks flew forward, accurately tickling the red button on the mecha gnome.
Zing.
The gnome immediately started spinning around and entered a dazed state where its hard-wired system tried to reboot itself.
This time his attempt was a resounding success!
Liam however, did not dare to take it lightly.
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He had gotten the skill down but this was only the beginning.
The gnome's dazed state lasted only for about 15 minutes, at least from what he knew.
This means that he only had about 15 minutes of time to render all the gnomes in the vicinity in a dazed state and then toss a bomb to clear out the entire pack.
Even if he became a second late, then all the gnomes would become alert again and would also be automatically aggroed onto him.
It had almost cost him his life just getting away from five gnomes!
He did not even want to think about the scenario where dozens of these things chased after him!
"I need to be patient," Liam murmured to himself and tried not to think about the consequences.
Clearing his mind completely, he focussed on the task at hand and started rapidly neutralizing the gnomes one at a time.
Zing.
He aimed for one gnome, attacked it, and then moved on to the next one, smoothly decommissioning the gnomes in a methodological fashion.
Zing. Zing. Zing. Zing.
One after the other, all the gnomes were spinning around helplessly.
If any other player saw this right now, they would be completely dumbfounded.
It was impossible to attain this level of speed and accuracy even with the system's help and cast spells continuously one after the other, all aimed perfectly.
Liam had practiced and achieved this technique so soon only because he had been training his mana manipulation and control ever since he logged into the game.
This combined with this naturally high perceptivity because of his mental strength made it possible for him to learn something so finicky so quickly.
If someone else tried the same thing, they would perhaps need several days or even weeks to come close to his level of control.
Zing. Zing. Zing.
Fickle sparks from his fingertip flew forward and touched only that small red space.
It took his full focus and put quite a bit of strain on his mind, irrespectively he kept it going, enduring the effect.
"Only a few more minutes." Liam let out a long breath and continued.
A couple more minutes passed.
Everything was progressing well, but the next second, a new problem cropped up.
The more Liam cleared the gnomes, the more walked out of the two caves.
The gnomes had a rhythmic work pattern. They walked in and they walked out, only certain numbers remaining outside.
However, those that were attacked by Liam sneakily were no longer returning back to the caves. They altogether stopped moving.
This in turn made the valley messy.
A crowd of gnomes began to slowly pool outside the cave, so much so that gnomes were now smashing against each other.
Liam paused his actions, frowning.
He still had some more minutes left before the 15 minute deadline but it looked like he couldn't afford to gather more gnomes.
If they by mistake get triggered and in turn aggroed all of his hard work so far would go waste and it would cost him his life, along with it his pure complete soul.
On the other hand, if he tossed over the bomb right now and ran, then he would have to face the elite gnomes along with some of these small mechas.
This would definitely make that already difficult task even worse.
"Fuck." Liam cursed the idiots who had boasted about clearing this area the last time around.
They would have surely party wiped many times before succeeding and yet they dared to call this easy and a loophole!
His entire body was sweating from top to bottom as he wondered what could be the ideal approach now.
He did not have a lot of time to make this decision and he had to think fast on his feet while continuing to take care of the remaining gnomes.
As Liam raised his hand to neutralize another gnome that was dangerously close to him… suddenly…
BANG!
"What the heck?" Liam froze.
He did not have the time to see where that sound came from or what that explosion was, he instantly activated his [Stealth] skill and started running away.
Thanks to the frightening situation he was in last time, his body acted on instinct and made the decision for him.
He was already running before he even began to think about what just happened.
Even if he could obtain a single second headstart with those tireless bots, it could mean the difference between his life and death.
"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." Liam cursed inwardly and pushed out his all of mana to his lower limbs and started running.
Behind him, he could hear the clear crisp ringing of a series of explosions, one after the other, all the mecha gnomes that he had painstakingly disarmed were exploding serially.
This was an outcome that Liam wanted.
However, along with this, there was also another blaring noise that rang loudly despite the explosion sounds.
In fact, this sound was even more audible than the explosion sounds.
"BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"
"BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"
…
…
…
The whole place went up in smoke and sirens blasted in the area!
If there was any other beast in the vicinity then it would have surely been attracted to this noise but even though this was a high-leveled zone no such thing happened.
This in itself was a testament to the might of these mecha gnomes.
Though they were small and insignificant, they had cleared this entire zone and they were the only beings in the area.
Liam was aware of this fact and hence was running wildly, as fast as he could, throwing all caution to the wind.
Not long after, a group of gnomes started chasing him, tooting their sirens as loud as they could.
Liam's heart sank. So many had exploded and he had even activated [Stealth] and yet he was caught!
Humanoid monsters and beasts might err but mechas never made a mistake!
However, he was also not ready to fold and die quietly. Though this situation meant a sure shot death, he was going to put as much fight as he could.
"My only chance of escape…" Liam panted and looked ahead at the distant mountains.
Strange and powerful creatures resided there, those that could kill him in the snap of a finger. But at this moment, they were the only ones who could rescue him.
If he wanted to have even the smallest chance of escaping, he needed to run into one of those terrifying beings.
And not just that, he also had to skillfully place the aggro of the mecha gnomes onto that terrifying beast and run once again.
Though theoretically, this seemed feasible… how could something like that practically work?
Liam wryly chuckled. "I am fucking going to die."
The sound of the sirens was slowly increasing and that meant that the gnomes were gaining speed on him.
He could not even know how many were running behind him at the moment.
If he took the second to turn around and check, that would already mean his death.
For now, he just needed to run as fast as he could without worrying about any other details.
Even if he knew those details and the exact number of gnomes behind him, what good could it possibly do?
Everything was already over.
Liam let out a long sigh. "It's fine. One death shouldn't matter a lot. Next time I will make sure that this doesn't happen."
However, right at this moment… a bird swooped down.
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.
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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?
Chapter 161 - The Worst Kind Of Trash Player
"Damn, I never thought that following this little scammer would bring such a stroke of amazing luck."
Two men were standing at the back of the group and overseeing the painful fight that was currently taking place in the mecha goblin valley.
This was the guild leader and the guild vice-leader of the Assasin guild.
Despite their unexpected windfall, there was still a frown on their faces as the little gnomes turned out to be extremely problematic.
When their health dropped low, the few gnomes clustered together and self-destructed, blasting into oblivion and taking a couple of their guild members along with them.
"Tsk. Tsk. If things continue like this… we are not going to last long. How are the preparations coming along? Is the support party ready?" Abraki sighed.
Hearing his words, the man standing next to him, Elias, immediately responded back. "I already sent a word and confirmed it twice."
"We are bringing along 30 more players this time. In total, all 60 of our Assasin guild's elite members will be assembled here in the next hour."
"Hmph. After that, we will see how these gnomes are still putting up a fight!"
"No matter what this place has, we can raid it from start to finish and amass all the treasures within."
"Yes, we will." Abraki nodded in agreement.
As the guild leader, he had absolute faith in his guild. He knew that no matter what the obstacle was, they would shatter it and come out on top!
"Our guild has consistently been one of the top guilds in the server for the past decade."
"Every year there is a new video game released and it topples the old one, but our guild has still continued to persist."
"Evolution Online… This game as well we will be the ones coming out on the top."
Elias smiled. "We have managed to already overcome the biggest hurdle. These things are nothing, Abraki."
The guild's vice-leader chuckled as he thought back to their plight at the beginning of the game.
Unlike the other games, 'Evolution Online' had a 100% image and character sync with real life. Of course, this aspect of the new and mysterious game affected a lot of things.
But being a NEET and pro-gamers only guild, their team took a big blow.
Almost 75% of their heavy hitters were also heavy in the real life.
So their Assasin guild which typically had sleek and slender ninja like characters in every other game, suddenly ended up being filled with fat potatoes in this game.
How could they still continue playing as assassins?
Some of the newer members were more flexible and readily converted their playing style to another class.
But the oldest members of their guild all had their own pride. They did not want to give up and change their identity so quickly.
So every single one of them trained their bodies from day to dusk.
In just a month, they became lean and muscular in the real world, thereby forcefully retaining their former character structure in this game also.
This was precisely why their top-tier guild had been keeping a low profile for so long.
While others grinded in the game non-stop, their guild members were busy exercising and running laps around playgrounds.
And with this update to the game, everyone was able to enter again, instantly rising their guild's power and strength exponentially.
Moreover, some of their guild members who logged in for the first time after the update also received unexpected gift boxes which had contained several surprises.
All in all, they were bulldozing forward with huge momentum, and this mecha gnome area was going to be their next stepping stone!
Abraki stared ahead at his team of elite players struggling with the gnomes.
The more difficult a task was, the more the reward would be!
He pensively stared at the marvelous engineering that went into making each of these gnomes and mumbled.
"Do you think that there are manufacturing designs of the gnomes inside?"
"Something like that would be insane…" Elias licked his lips in anticipation.
These sort of bots were undoubtedly invaluable when raiding tricky dungeons or even tackling elite bosses and overlord bosses.
Especially when they had that last bit of health in them and decide to go berserk, these tiny things could be commanded to rush forward and finish the fight with some bombing.
They can be used as guild base guards or scouts or to fight in rough unfriendly terrain. Their applications were endless.
"Heh. Then, we should really thank that informant." Abraki chuckled.
"Guild leader, that woman was from the 'Heavenly Retribution' guild. That guild is getting a lot of attention these days and its members are also boasted to be extraordinary."
"Even this informant's skills should be exceptional considering how they managed to find out such key information."
"Should I try to rope her in?" Elias seriously asked. He did not know why he didn't think of this idea sooner.
This person clearly works for money or is in desperate need of money. So it will be very easy to pull." He added.
But Abraki simply chuckled and shook his head. "Forget about it. No matter how talented this player is, we don't need her."
"She could have sold this same information to her own guild but instead she betrayed them and sold it to us for more money."
"Doesn't this show that person's character?"
"These kinds of people are nothing but worms. They will slowly chew and damage our guild from the inside out."
"It is even okay for us to accept dull duds but not this sort of backstabbers."
"Ah. I didn't think about that. You are absolutely right." Elias did not argue further and quickly agreed.
The two of them cringed as they silently continued watching the carnage in front of them and a minute later, the last couple of their guild members as well folded, falling down lifeless.
"Ok. It looks like this is a wrap. Let's silently revive the players who are on the edges and then wait for the backup team."
Elias nodded and took out a scroll from his inventory.
As he chanted the words in the scroll, it lit up and bright dots of light dispersed from the scroll to some of the fallen players, those that were close to them, instantly reviving them.
And more importantly, their figures materialized next to the guild leader and the guild vice-leader who were standing farther away, thereby avoiding the detection of the gnomes and triggering another disastrous chain reaction.
The group then silently hid in the exterior of the valley, behind the rocks, not daring to enter the war zone again.
"Leader, what the hell is this place?"
Everyone who had fought just now looked utterly dazed even after dying once and reviving.
"Hmmm." Abraki sighed. "It looks like this is some sort of a secret place. Don't worry about the party wipe. We can deal with this easily when the backup team arrives."
"We are bringing in more people?" The person who had asked previously gulped.
"Yes." Abraki replied.
However, this did not make the person feel relieved at all. Instead, it made him all the more nervous. Coming here or rather teleporting here was not cheap.
They had used a huge chunk of their guild's wealth to get here and now they are using some more?
This meant that they would literally be betting their guild's development in this game in this single zone. Would it really be worth it?
Moreover, they had also irrevocably cut ties with their main target by attacking him sneakily!
Thinking about that person, the player quickly asked, "Boss, would he have revived by now?"
"Who knows?" Abraki wryly chuckled. Their main intention was to use negotiations and if not brute force to make this person join their guild.
But after coming here, they obviously went for the better reward.
Elias looked around as if he was checking the landscape for Liam and then muttered. "It is better if he revives."
"He did something to those gnomes that made them docile. We need his trick."
"Then maybe we can even recruit him and also include him in this group. If he has any misgivings about our earlier interference, we can always compensate him."
"Ah. Yes. I am sure if he knows who we are, he would be more than happy to join us." Some of the others agreed.
Most of them had first been at odds with each other in one way or the other before joining the guild. So they could relate.
But there were a few players who did not think the same
"Ha... If we didn't intervene, that person would have died anyway. No need to recruit random people just to get our hands on one potion."
"He couldn't even sense the presence of an entire guild nearby. Just how good could his skills be? He absolutely has no sense of perception whatsoever."
"That person is probably the worst kind of trash player who stepped on one pile of luck after another."
"Kek. The look on his face when shit started exploding was simply priceless!"
"What did he think? He could solo all of this? Idiot!"
The bunch of players began to laugh and even the usually composed Abraki let out a chuckle. "Very naive indeed. Sometimes people do stupid things out of greed."
Once again another round of laughter echoed.
However… unfortunately… none of them noticed a person standing just a few feet away, listening to every single word of their conversations from start to finish.
Chapter 162 - The List Is Growing Bigger?
Liam patiently waited and watched the big guild group as they planned their attack strategy. He looked like he was not in a hurry to intervene any time soon.
"Hmm… These guys are really strong."
During the time they waited for their backup, the Assasin guild members did not remain idle. They attempted to deal with the gnomes, again and again, sending a few players at a time.
After just a couple of tries, they already noticed the special attack pattern of the gnomes.
"No matter what… a big guild's base player strength and coordination are completely different from a smaller team's haphazard structure." Liam clicked his tongue in admiration.
Since he started playing the game this was the second time he was up against an entire guild. Funnily enough, both times, it was not him who had taken the initiative but the other party.
However, he was not a fool.
While he casually dealt with the former guild, crippling a dozen of its members, he did not act rashly when it came to the Assasin guild.
This was considering the fact that they had even gone as far as ruining his carefully planned and executed gnome deactivation, almost costing him his life.
Despite this Liam did not make a move yet.
Not that he was planning to let his opponent leave without paying the appropriate price, but because a top-tier guild had to be treated differently than a no-name random group of players.
The Assasin guild themselves might not be aware but Liam knew that in the future, they would inevitably become one of the strongest powers with a stable foothold on the new earth.
Of course, Liam had no qualms about this happening.
However, it would all depend on their actions today.
Friend or foe? The die was already cast and only the results were yet to be determined.
If they were willing to negotiate with him within reason, then he would cooperate with them.
If not… then even though it was a big headache, he would have no other choice but to add them to his 'to do' list.
But Liam was still not sure about one thing.
Who was it that went out of their way to add them to his list?
"Could it be her?" Liam pondered.
He had heard the guild name 'Heavenly Retribution' in their discussion and this was too much of a coincidence.
"Well. Maybe it is time to tie up a few loose ends." Liam nodded and continued observing the guild.
He could deal with the other issue at a later time, but for now, the people in front of him demanded his attention.
A couple of minutes later, another group of players arrived, making the previously deserted mountain range a very lively place.
Coincidentally, these people arrived at a spot that was extremely close to Liam who was in [Stealth] mode rather than their own guild group.
He instantly became alert and held his breath as he was only an inch away from the several players.
Thankfully, before anyone could detect him, the other guild members waved at them, pulling everyone's attention towards them.
"You guys sure took your sweet time. Do you know how much we are suffering here!" 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝒈
"What? You are kidding, right? We had to scrap for the last few gold coins just to afford the fucking scroll. It was so damn expensive!"
While the group of players started chatting and exchanging words of greetings, Abraki alone remained unusually silent.
Elias saw this and walked over to stand next to him. "What are you thinking about?"
Hearing him, everyone else suddenly quieted down, all intently listening to their guild leader.
All of them have been playing together for several years so they had immense respect for their team captain.
They were all well aware of his outstanding abilities, both physical and mental.
They also wanted to know what this place was and why they had all assembled here after spending so much.
But surprisingly, Abraki did not talk about the mecha gnomes, rather he asked about something else.
"Answer me. Who activated the scroll?"
Huh? You are asking about the special teleport scroll?" Elias immediately replied to clarify.
Hiding in the shadows, Liam as well heard this and he finally understood how this bunch of people had tracked him.
In the game, there were special inscription scrolls just like his cursed ring that could teleport someone or a group of people to their target.
These were officially called [Target Lock] scrolls and unofficially called 'Stalker' scrolls.
And the only requirement for using this inscription scroll was the name of the target and some sort of interaction.
The first condition was typically the most difficult one as the second condition could be easily fulfilled by sending him a friend request.
Even if he did not accept the friend request, the condition would irrespectively be fulfilled as this in itself was considered an interaction.
Liam quickly opened his friend's list and voila, just like he suspected, the latest friend requests he had received were all from the members of the Assasin Guild.
Just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly realized something big, something very critical.
The second time around, this batch of players had assembled right in front of him, the him who was in [Stealth] mode.
Liam's heart raced as he looked over at Abraki, wondering if he had realized the same thing.
He did not want to underestimate his enemy and take any chances so he quickly moved away from the spot he was previously standing.
And right when he acted, Abraki's hand moved and a shower of hailstones assaulted the spot where Liam had been standing just a second ago.
What a close save!
This would have completely given away his location!
"Heh. These people are going to be a pain to deal with." Liam's lips curled upwards.
Meanwhile, the other guild members did not understand what had just happened. Even Elias had no idea why Abraki had activated a spell scroll.
These scrolls were very useful as they could be instantly activated, did not require any mana and the area they covered was wide.
At the same time, they were also hard to come by and were very expensive.
One of their guild members had done a rare quest because of which they currently had a small supply of scrolls and also managed to obtain certain special scrolls like the [Target Lock] scrolls.
But to waste it like this?
Seeing all their confused faces, Abraki sighed. "No one has answered me yet. Did you guys lock on to me or to Liam? Which target did you select when activating the scroll?"
His voice thundered in the silence that prevailed among the 60 or so guild members who stared back at him blankly, the weight of his words slowly sinking in.
What the guild leader was actually asking was… is there any chance that the person was right now near them?
Is that why their teleportation scroll had landed them all close to him?
Or had they all simply teleported right next to their guild leader and their guild group?
While the latter was more logical and plausible, what if the former was true?
Everyone turned to look in the direction where the hailstones had rained…
Even though the place was eerily empty, they could all sense that something was off.
Gulping nervously, the player who had activated the scroll finally spoke. "Leader, I am actually not sure. I was messaging you so I might have selected you?"
"Are you sure?" Abraki asked again. The way this guy was speaking looked like he himself did not have any faith in his words.
"I am sorry, leader. I was in a hurry. I really did not pay much attention to it."
Abraki narrowed his eyes looking at the person sternly for a few seconds. He then sighed and shook his head in disappointment.
"These kinds of mistakes are rookie mistakes. Next time be more careful."
"Sorry leader."
"Alright, we have other matters to deal with. Now about this area…"
Abraki did not dwell on that topic anymore and started explaining about the mecha gnomes.
Not too far away from them, Liam smiled bitterly.
This enemy was truly formidable…
Whatever he planned, everything needed to go perfectly, otherwise, the consequences might be worrisome.
Chapter 163 - Crash. Bang. Kaboom.
After a few minutes…
With all the elite members of their guild present, the Assasin's guild discussed a few things for a while and then directly began taking action.
And Liam who was not too close and not too far from them quietly slipped away. While they were discussing strategy, he had also restructured his basic plan.
He also decided to keep a backup escape strategy just in case. It would be foolish of him not to plan one even after looking at the capability of the people in front of him.
Since he was quite confident that nothing was going to happen right from the get-go, he took the time and slipped away.
He dashed over, retracing his very first path, cutting between the twists, turns, and gaps of the rocks and finally reaching the place where Luna and Talon were obediently seated.
The two instantly cheered up at the sight of Liam as they hadn't seen him in a while.
"Sorry guys, it took so long. But we are still not done. Just a couple more hours and then we can leave this place." Liam smiled and patted the two.
He then replenished their stock of food and also took another item.
"Come here, Luna."
Kyuu?
The fox padded forward, hopping and skipping. Liam caught the soft furry creature in his hand and lifted her up.
He then raised her tail, making the fox instantly become very self-conscious.
Kyuuuuu! Luna whined uncomfortably but she soon stopped, as Liam let her go.
Huh? The fox blinked a couple of times. She could tell that her tail felt different.
She repeatedly spun her body around and twisted her head trying to see if there was something new on her tail.
Liam chuckled at her comical actions and patted her head. "It's just a ring. I gave you a present. Alright?"
Ah… Understanding his words, the fox immediately opened her mouth wide in surprise, which soon turned into a big smile and visible joy.
Master gave her a present!
"Ok. Time to get going. I will be back again, actually very soon. Luna, stay put and Talon, be ready to start flying as soon as I get back and climb onto you. Understand?"
"And in the meantime, keep your heads low and stay safe just like you have been doing."
The two pets obediently nodded, watching Liam's figure once again disappear into the mountainous terrain.
His movements were even faster than before as he was now more familiar with the place, running around back and forth multiple times.
Liam also used mana to boost himself and did not waste too much time. He only stopped when he neared the mecha gnome valley.
He stood behind a rock to see that the guild had not yet started getting serious. They were still testing the waters by sending one or two to tango with the gnomes.
Liam also saw several friend requests popping up in his interface.
It seemed like these people were determined to contact him. They were trying very hard to get the trick he had used to tame the gnomes.
With that shortcut, their life would be much easier and they were failing, again and again, to decipher it on their own.
Liam chuckled. Of course, how could something like that be so easy?
The last time around, to obtain the treasure inside, the guild had undergone a painstaking amount of trouble.
Only after sending dozens and dozens of their members and having several of them die, they somehow managed to clean out all the gnomes in the valley, obtaining what was inside.
So if this guild wanted to replicate that success, they would have to pay an equal if not bigger price as they hadn't done sufficient preparations for it.
Liam as well did not possess the ability to straightforwardly attack these gnomes and clear the place out. That was a suicide mission.
His plan was never based on achieving such an impossible feat.
However, he had other methods up his sleeve. The first phase of the triggered chain gnome explosion was a mere distraction.
But right now he did not need to go through all that trouble. Someone else was generously helping him, carrying out this distraction phase.
All he had to do was wait patiently…
Liam silently continued standing behind the rock and observing. A few more minutes passed and just as he expected, the group was no closer to mapping out a strategy.
"Any time now…" He grinned and readied himself.
And the very next minute, Abraki's loud voice thundered. "That's enough. Attack. Move forward with full force."
Immediately, the 60 or so players hiding behind the area of detection of the gnomes, jumped forward into the battle zone.
BANG. CRASH. KABOOM.
Fire balls, Frost bolts, Dark swirls, Steel arrows, a variety of attacks flew across, targeting the several gnomes.
The ranged players did the majority of the damage, with the close combat players temporarily holding back.
The healers were equally busy, ready to insta cast, bless or revive the health of the players unlucky enough to be struck by the self-destructing suicide attack of the gnomes.
But the gnomes were not pushed back so easily.
Against the might of the big guild, they held their own.
"BEEP! INTRUDERS ALERT"
"BEEP! INTRUDERS ALERT!"
"BEEP! INTRUDERS ALERT!"
Deafening and disorienting sirens rang loudly in the air as more and more mecha gnomes started pouring out.
They threw all caution to the wind and rotated their loaded barrels shooting out bullets, bombs, and bazookas.
When this did not work or if their health was about to bottom out, they threw themselves at the enemy randomly and exploded. Not just the front lines but anywhere in the formation.
Complete and utter chaos descended. It was an absolute trainwreck.
But none of the guild members looked hesitant or showed any signs of fear. They bravely continued pressing on, taking all of the hits and damages with wide open arms.
Abraki's leadership also shone through and his voice thundered amidst the disaster.
"Mages! Freeze the gnomes that are of low health!"
"Assasins! Try sneaking up and dismantling them into two halves!"
"Hunters! Get your pets to draw away the low health gnomes! Get them away to the far end! Let them explode onto themselves!"
Though they were clearly being overpowered, the top elite players of the guild were nothing to scoff at and were putting a decent fight against the unrelenting gnomes.
Just the sight of the bloody battle made Liam's blood boil. This was a small scale war! Such powerful techniques and such skillful teamwork! This was a first rate guild!
He did not yet have the power to deal with such a guild.
But Liam was not here just to watch the show.
He waited patiently and before long, along with the constant swarm of mech gnomes that were spilling out, several bigger humanoid bots also started crawling out.
The overseers!
The instant these came out, every single member of the Assasin guild became speechless.
They were already struggling to deal with the small level 35 gnomes, how were they going to deal with these big Level 50 bots?
"Fuck!" Several people simultaneously cursed loudly. This was definitely going to be a team wipe!
Seeing that his team's spirit was wavering, Abraki immediately commanded. "There are just 10 of them! We are 60 in number! We can take them down! DON'T STOP!"
At this critical moment, he finally jumped into action, no longer holding anything back. "Use the gnomes explosive burst to take down the bigger bots. Use their own attack against them."
"MOVE AND EVADE"
"MOVE AND EVADE"
"KEEP MOVING"
His voice thundered loudly. At this time, he was no longer wielding his daggers.
Instead, he took out a big shiny shield and jumped in the midst of the chaos, directly taking the hit that was aimed at one of their healers.
BANG!
Abraki was pushed back and a quarter of his health disappeared. However, the very next second another spell landed on him, topping up his health.
He nodded in approval, silently praising their healers. It was a good idea to diversify their guild and not just stick to one profession.
Just as he was about to jump into another messy node where a guild member looked like he was about to die, suddenly he saw a person appear and disappear in the corner of his eyes.
"Impossible!" Abraki's entire body shuddered in disbelief.