imma

Clang!

It was the Black Dragon Sword!

The ballooned-up rabbit in front of Liam actually spat out his Black Dragon Sword!

Liam was completely speechless. His heart began to beat uncontrollably as he walked over and picked up the sword.

He only had time to grab Luna and rush into the tower at the last second before the game crashed. He did not think about anything else. He was rushing out of a burning building, and he instinctively grabbed the person whom he wanted to save the most.

But unexpectedly, this rabbit in front of him had taken action on his behalf. She actually managed to run out and get the sword at the last minute!

Liam chuckled, shaking his head. What a peculiar creature! He really needed to appreciate her more!

But why the hell was she ginormous?

And then it happened again?

Staring innocently at Liam, the rabbit Violet opened her mouth, and once again, another item dropped.

Clang!

And this time, it was one of Shen Yue's legendary daggers!

"What the…" Liam was beyond shocked. His eyes were transfixed on the legendary treasure, which was more powerful than any weapon the first wave of beasts could drop and would likely be more powerful than any weapon dropped by subsequent waves as well.

The only reason he never bothered to focus on these items was that bringing them out of the game was almost impossible, and now this little rabbit had done just that.

His gaze then shifted from the solo dagger back to the rabbit as a thought entered his mind. Were these the only two items that she had brought with her?

As if answering his question, the rabbit opened her mouth again, and lo and behold, another item dropped. It was also a dagger, or, to be more precise, the second dagger of the legendary item set.

And then it started…

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Items started raining down one after the other without stopping.

Liam and Luna both stared at the rabbit in utter shock. Just what the heck was happening? Loot was piling up in front of them. The rabbit was spitting out item after item.

And her size was shrinking with each item that spilt from her mouth. Was this little thing a walking space ring? What was happening here? Like a chipmunk hoarding nuts, this rabbit had hoarded all the items into her mouth

How long was this little rabbit even out collecting all these treasures? How fast should her speed have been to gather everything?

Liam hadn't felt anything at all. He did not know when the rabbit summoned herself out or when she slipped into the space artifact along with him and Luna. Since he was completely focused on his mana core, he had missed the whole thing.

Now he watched the rabbit in awe as she slowly returned back to her former little self after emptying out everything that was within her mouth? Stomach? Where did she even keep all these?

He stared at the mysterious rabbit as she continued to put on the show for two to three minutes straight, puking out her guts.

And when the last item dropped… Liam's heart almost stopped.

Thud!

It was the stone tablet!

Unbelievable!

Liam squatted down in front of the pile of gold and the stone tablet that was on top of it. He then fell back, laughing his heart out.

Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha! This just blew up their odds of surviving the apocalypse!

He knew for certain that the divine priestess did not expect this to happen. How would her reaction be when she learned that he not only managed to escape unscathed, awakening his mana core, but also took everything along with him?

However, Liam's excitement was short-lived, and his gaze turned cold.

If she came to know that all of these were taken, then she was probably going to take out her anger on Mia or the old elf, or perhaps Asura or Lyana, or any of the people that were close to him.

The mere thought made him sober up from this unexpected lottery win. He let out a deep breath and stood up. "Thank you, Violet." He sincerely thanked the rabbit and picked her up. Even Luna leaned closer and gave the rabbit a pat with her small paw.

Chik. The rabbit bobbed her head and vanished in a puff of sparkling stardust that rushed into him. Unlike Luna, she was truly a low-maintenance pet.

Liam smiled, and he then, along with the fox, stepped out of the artifact. For now, he did not bother taking any of the items outside. For the first wave, this was completely unnecessary.

The beasts that emerged could be dealt with using common household weapons. Otherwise, the entire planet would have been wiped out with just this first wave.

He also wanted everyone to get their combat mojo back. If they got used to relying on weapons too much at this stage, then it was only going to hurt later on.

As Liam once again appeared in the outer world, Mei Mei was standing right there, along with one of the wyverns. "Brother, what happened? Are you alright? You suddenly disappeared?" The little girl's face was filled with worry.

But the next second, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the familiar little fox curled around Liam's neck.

"LUNA!" Mei Mei shrieked with delight. The little fox also didn't give her much attitude this time and allowed her to snuggle with her and pet her, at least for the first couple of seconds.

Liam sighed in relief, looking at the two little idiots in front of him. He did not know if he had achieved enough in this life, his second chance, but the sight in front of him was worth everything.

Whatever the future held in store for them, he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that this lasted.

"Alright. That's enough playing. How is everyone doing? What level are you?"

"I am at level 2 already!" Mei Mei smiled with glee and pride, only to be quickly reprimanded. "Don't fool around anymore. Level faster." Liam flicked her forehead.

"Ouch. Brother, you are so mean."

"Am I now? What level is Alex?"

The little girl immediately became quiet. "Sis Alex is at Level 3 already." She sulked and replied in a low voice.

"See how hard-working Alex is. You should be more like her."

Mei Mei didn't care for his stern voice and stuck her tongue out playfully. Liam helplessly gave her another forehead flick and smiled before walking back into the fray.

Mei Mei returned to her position as well, but this time there was no playfulness on her face.

She looked pretty darn serious, and her movements and actions looked more mature. Only in front of her brother did she always play the cute sibling part so that she could lighten his mood a little bit.

Meanwhile, Liam walked over to Alex and pulled her aside. "I am heading out now for a few minutes. Can you guys manage by yourself?"

"Yes. You can leave it to me." Alex nodded. "Are you going to check on that old woman and her dojo?"

"No. Shen Yue should have already informed them about everything. If things go well, they should be joining us around nightfall on their own. They don't need my help."

"Oh." Alex agreed. She knew firsthand the combat abilities of those people, so she too had the same opinion. Those were the last group of people who would need any help.

"Then where are you going? I am only asking because we have no way of communicating with each other."

They had a system screen right now, just like the one in-game, but the two were completely different. This one felt more like a basic version than the one inside the game.

It didn't have many features like inventory slots, friend lists, communication channels, or party functions. It simply displayed their current level, status, and attributes.

Liam also knew this, which was why he was not planning to go too far. "I will be around this area. Closeby. I just need to track what is happening in our neighboring areas."

"Do you need someone with you?" Alex smiled bitterly as soon as the words came out of her mouth. Of course, he did not. He was probably the only Level 50 plus being on the entire planet!

My minions will be here with you guys. So keep farming." After talking to her, Liam prepared to leave when Alex called for him again. "How long will this beast wave last?" She hesitantly asked.

"The entire night."

Her eyes widened in shock, but she gripped the axe she was holding and nodded with determination.

"Let's go!" She shouted and continued fighting with vigour. Fighting was the thing that she was good at, and they needed to get stronger faster.

Even if this beast wave lasted until the next day, she was prepared to stand and fight them. After all, Mia was waiting for them.

Liam took another glance at the gathered group and then signalled Luna to prepare for takeoff. It was surreal that he now actually had a flying mount to use outside the game. The condition he was in last time around and the condition he was in now was just too insanely different.

With Luna here, his work had become so much easier. Her speed alone was enough to take several laps around their city in just a couple of minutes.

With a small smile, he hopped onto the fox, who undoubtedly attracted the attention of everyone in the vicinity.

The civilians wondered what the heck was going on, but the guild members, who had all already seen Luna in full form, gasped in shock. The fox was also here with them?

So their big boss not only managed to retain his power level and keep his undead minions, but he also managed to bring out the powerful fox?

This was simply too amazing! Their big boss was still the top player, even in reality! The world might be going to shit, but their start was impeccable!

Not only Crimson Abyss members but Liam's mount was also famous among other players. Since he was the mysterious top ranker and hidden boss of the S-Rank guild, all the available information about him was widely spread.

Naturally, there were also rumours mixed in with this, but everyone had seen this fox in the PVP tower match and on several other occasions. So information about Luna was low-key popular among the players.

And thanks to the massive popularity of the game, these players were everywhere. Seeing the giant white fox up in the air, the few players who were residing in the same city immediately knew that the top boss of 'Evolution Online' was actually a resident of their very city!

This was completely unbelievable! The elusive figure actually lived right next to them! If only they could share this news right now on the internet! There would be a huge uproar immediately.

However, the next second another burst of thunder loudly rumbled, reminding them of the painful, harsh reality. At the moment they did not have internet or electricity.

Everything had changed. Heck, they weren't even fully aware of what was happening outside.

While these people debated whether to go down and check things out or to continue staying holed up inside their houses and apartments, Liam and Luna lifted up in the air.

"Don't fly too high. Stay low and use your best speed." Liam patted her.

Kyuuu!

The fox bobbed her head and started sprinting around the city, painting the sky with her colours. The little fox was very excited about the new place she was currently in.

More importantly, she was very happy that Liam was right next to her. Unlike others, she did not have any other burdens, so she was happily grinning without a care in the world.

Liam sensed her mood and patted the fox with a smile. He then focussed on the task at hand.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the abundant mana in the air and rotated his mana core. This was the first time he had a chance to do this at his own leisure.

He was kicked out right after the awakening, so he was yet to test this new stage of his mana core.

What did awakening truly mean? Just how much stronger did he become? He still needed to understand all of these. This was important because only if he knew this could he prepare for the next step and the step after that.

One had to know oneself thoroughly first. Otherwise, they would never be able to defeat the enemy.

And before that, there was also something else that he needed to do.

Liam summoned his status screen to take a look at his level 80 stats. He did not even have a chance to check this one out yet!

his other two stats, it was rather low.

"Could this mean that the elixir was not effective enough?" Liam thought about this issue. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Due to the tremendous efforts, he put in, both his soul and his mind had undergone a qualitative leap, but what if his body was lagging behind? Was that why his mana core was still partially awakened?

Moreover, there was no issue of corruption. Grandmaster Acalan had warned him about it, and the draconian princess had given him a solution for it.

Unfortunately, Liam did not have the time to do anything about this at all. He only managed to awaken at the last minute, but that still did not solve the problem.

Liam quietly thought about these things for a few minutes, but no matter how much he tried to understand, he just did not have the tools to analyze the situation.

"Fine. I will deal with things as I go. Besides, when that thing opens, maybe I can purchase more information." His gaze became steady as he cleared the different conflicting thoughts in his head and looked around.

Thanks to him and their guild members, their part of the city was still mostly the same except for a couple of buildings that had collapsed because of the earthquakes. However, a little distance away, that was no longer the case.

If one stood on top of the terrace of a high-rise building or, in Liam's case flying at a height, the true mayhem of the apocalypse was visible.

The other part of the same city was in complete chaos. Fire trucks, sirens, everything was blaring loudly, and people were running helter-skelter.

"Let's go there." Liam patted Luna, and the fox immediately bobbed her head as her figure blurred towards their next destination.

As the fox arrived near the next gate, Liam could see death and destruction everywhere. The road was littered with numerous casualties.

This gate had opened up right in the middle of a residential area, and that too was one of the posh residential areas, so it looked like even police forces had arrived on the scene. There were signs of struggle.

But how could ordinary cops stand up to the beast wave? Several officers lay dead near the gate, their bodies only barely recognizable as they were being feasted on by a group of beasts.

On the side, several beasts were gathered outside a bungalow and threatening to break through the gates. Similar scenes could be seen throughout the street.

The entire place was riddled with beasts from top to bottom. Everyone outside on the streets was mauled and ripped apart by the beasts, leaving behind only those who were confined within the safety of their houses.

Even that seemed as if they were only barely holding on. As the number of beasts increased further, the pressure on these buildings continuously increased.

Though the beasts were rampaging everywhere, one or two kept adding to the existing group that was gathered outside the individual bungalows, threatening to break down the barriers.

As Liam and Luna drifted in the sky, observing everything that was happening below them, they finally noticed some gunshots being fired.

10 miles away, at the local police station, some of the policemen had gathered and were putting up a fight. But clearly, this small resistance was also only minutes away from crumbling. Maybe they would last for another hour if all the luck was on their side.

However, all of this wasn't surprising to Liam. He had seen this and so much more already. The first wave was miserably devastating, even though it consisted of only weak beasts.

This was because of the element of surprise. No one was prepared for this chaos. Everyone was still in the aftermath of the tutorial's shutdown and worried about their economic status.

Even otherwise, no one in their right mind would predict something like this to happen except for some paranoid nutcases, or rather, apocalypse enthusiasts.

These were the people who had bunkers built in their houses and safe rooms specially constructed, but right now, they were also the ones who were going to survive.

The incoming death and destruction would simply be too much for the common folk. Only specific people, like the military or the big families with bodyguards and personal armed forces, had a high chance of surviving.

Everyone else needed luck on their side. And in the end, the few others who somehow managed to survive by hook or crook would then be taken advantage of by these powerhouses in society.

In the name of maintaining a semblance of the previous world, the burden of manual labour fell on these stragglers. The ones at the top would also not bother to improve themselves, and in the end, with every subsequent beast wave, humanity would be wiped out little by little.

This was the cruel fate Liam had experienced in his last life, and now history was repeating itself.

Liam watched as the rich and affluent of society cried and begged for their lives from the confines of their houses. He frowned at this sight in deep contemplation. However, he did not feel any pity for them.These were the same people who had mercilessly continued to torture him. These were the same people who had grabbed his underage teenage sister by her hair right in front of him.

Though he had already taken care of the main family responsible for his personal misery, the Gu family was just one of the many aristocrats in the district. There were others, and they weren't that different.

That being the case, why should he help these people? This was because… he needed more manpower.

Heh. Liam grinned. That was right. He was indeed planning on helping them. After all, someone needed to do the hard labour.

In his last life, these bloated pigs continued to enjoy their sweet life even after the apocalypse without shedding a single drop of sweat, but this time, things were going to be a bit different.

He decided to worry about these things later. After all, he was just a single person. He did not plan on going around and rescuing the entire world.

Instead, what he planned to do was just establish a circle around their central territory. To be more precise, he wanted to test the limits of his soul minions.

At this distance, he was still able to feel them clearly and sense everything that was happening back where his sister, Shen Yue, and others were fighting.

So all the gates within this radius where he was able to feel his soul minions would be his. Liam decided to start with this strategy and go from there.

Everything had happened too fast. He was still planning the quests and items he needed from the tutorial game, so he hadn't clearly mapped out this part of his future just yet. He had to plan and execute on the spot.

"Let's go down, Luna."

Liam pointed to one of the houses, the tenth bungalow on the street. Inside this building, two small children were standing on the terrace and crying, hugging each other. They were terrified of the roars they could hear outside.

Luna immediately stiffened up. She also agreed with Liam's decision. Moreover, she was touched that her master was so kind-hearted. She landed right in front of the bungalow with a proud smile, still praising her master in her head.

The next second, the fox opened her mouth, and a fire wave blasted every single beast in sight. Liam hopped down from the fox at the same time, but he wasn't rushing inside to comfort the children.

Instead, he coldly gazed at the dozen corpses that were burnt to a crisp, more specifically, trying to pay attention to the dozen souls that these beasts possessed.

A part of him was actually a bit nervous, wondering if he could sense the souls of these creatures as well as he could back inside the game.

Liam wondered if he could really sense the souls of these creatures outside the game. This would be his first time trying something like that, and a part of him was a bit nervous.

He took a deep breath and first used his own soul as a reference. As soon as he got a feel for it, he could immediately grasp the familiar sensation of the energy.

"That's it. Right there."

He flashed his eyes open, and as if some switch within him had flipped, he was instantly able to see the faint dots of soul fragments.

With a grin, he then quickly reached for the beast souls in front of him. Without any effort, he was able to feel the soul energy within these slowly dissipating soul fragments.

They were weak and negligent when compared to the powerful souls he had recently dealt with, but they were unmistakably the same soul fragments he had been tinkering with all this time inside the game. Just like the mana in the air around him, this one also did not change one bit.

Liam took another breath and then calmly commanded the dozen souls all at the same time. Mana hammers appeared around these souls, again at the same time.

And as for the forging process… it required no more than a single glance from beginning to end. The dozen miscellaneous beasts immediately appeared as soul minions right next to their corpses.

"Go. Hunt down every beast in sight." Liam indifferently commanded. He then hopped back on Luna and proceeded to move on to the next bungalow.

The same scene repeated there as well. Once again, another dozen miscellaneous soul minions were created.

Liam did not hold back and continued to do so for the next few minutes. After only fifteen minutes, a second small army of fifty soul minions was formed. The only difference was that these minions were extremely weak.

However, he did not care about that right now. He had a few minions of quality. Now he was focusing a bit on quantity. After all, this beast wave was perfect for achieving something like that.

There were plenty of beasts available for taking, and he wanted to see just how much he could handle at the moment. He wanted to push himself.

He might be powerful now, but that was temporary. He knew just how powerful his enemy was. What's worse was that there might be even more powerful beings that he didn't know about.

To get to their level, he had to push himself constantly. There was no other way. He had to be proactive even when the situation did not call for it. Only then would he be able to prepare for the future. He always needed to think ten or fifty steps ahead.

Besides, these cannon fodder could always be used as soul-healing medicine when he needed it.

Liam made himself busy, and soon the fifty turned into a hundred. His soul minions started running wild through the city, actively hunting down the beasts that came their way.

This instantly reduced the pressure on the city, and the beasts coming out of the gate no longer reached more than a few yards before they were taken out.

"Heh. Whether in-game or not, the beast horde is extremely valuable for leveling up!" Liam observed the new chaos with satisfaction. His work here was done for now.

He could still sense his soul minions back at their base, so he decided to travel some more distance. Luna ballooned up again, and the duo set off for their next destination.

However, they couldn't stretch this limit beyond a certain point. Before they hit the next gate, Liam had already lost the connection with his soul minions.

"So 50 km is still my current limit, huh... not bad." The duo paused at this boundary and stared back at the vast distance they had covered.

This is going to be our first territory, Luna." Liam indifferently muttered. "Go up."

Kyu! Fast as an arrow, Luna ascended, and the two of them swiveled around to survey the landscape below. Six enormous gates glittered under the dark, stormy skies.

Liam grinned at this sight. He was like an emperor looking down on the peasants. The gates that once terrified him were nothing more than a plaything for him right now.

"Come on. There is work to be done. Let's pay each of these gates a visit to begin with."

Marking the entire circumference as their territory, the duo shot forward to the rest of the gates as well. They stopped at each one, and Liam created another four armies of a hundred minions each, bringing his total to almost a whopping 700.

The amount of work put forth, however, was ridiculous. The entire thing only took him about an hour. With Luna blurring in and out of the sky and Liam forging the souls at the snap of his finger, they barely had to do anything to achieve this feat.

However, what was nothing to him was everything to others. As Liam created more and more soul minions on his whim, the entire city and the surrounding areas immediately became less chaotic.

The number of casualties dramatically dropped. People who were going insane calmed down a little. Beasts were not knocking at their doors anymore, and people were not getting mauled left and right on the street.

But they did experience something else. Everyone saw strange, translucent bluish-white creatures running around rampant.

These looked just like the other beasts, but they were surprisingly fighting with the beasts coming out of the weird purple circle that had popped out of nowhere.

Even though they looked just as scary as the others, no one was brave enough to face these new minions. They simply left one enemy to fight with the other enemy and started running here and there for their safety.

The only issue was that nothing seemed safe anymore!Floating high up in the sky, Liam and Luna gazed at the chaotic land that was sprawled beneath them. "Did we overdo it a bit?" Liam smiled.

He never expected that he would be able to forge so many soul minions and maintain them at the same time. He also hadn't hit his limit just yet.

However, these were simply souls forged from weak common beasts. So it made sense that his current capacity has not been filled.

After all, even thousands of these minions cannot be equal to the two dragon souls he had forged, both of which he had to sacrifice to heal his soul.

"I wonder how many more of these I can make." Liam quietly pondered. Though these were weak and seemingly did not possess that many benefits, there was a reason why he was investing time in them.

Like gold coins, dollar bills, or mana, soul power was also a currency. In times of dire need, he would be able to use these minions and their soul fragments.

At the same time, numbers were something Crimson Abyss always lacked.

Sure, the guild overall had a healthy member count, but if one looked at the number of members who had actually signed the contract, it was barely fifty thousand.

This was not nearly enough. To tackle this first wave and the ones after that, it was inevitable that they needed more numbers.

Also, in this new world, the beast wave was not the only thing he had to take into account. There were also the humans, the original occupants of this planet. He needed manpower to supervise them as well.

Taking these things into account, Liam decided to invest some time into this first. However, he did not know that all he needed was an hour. This was way too simple.

With a chuckle, he closed his eyes and tried to sense his soul minions that were spread across the land underneath him.

He still had a connection to each and every single one of them. He could vividly feel what they were doing, which enemy they were fighting against, and what was happening around them. It was as if they were an extension of himself.

Liam had only barely begun to get a feel for the first dozen minions when a sharp pain snapped him out of it. He even lost his balance and almost fell off Luna.

Kyuuu! The fox immediately panicked and supported him with one of her tails.

"It's fine. It's fine. I am alright." Liam steadied himself back up again.

It looked like even though he could theoretically sense all of his minions, his current ability to track them and their surroundings completely was a bit lacking.

He remembered his poor physical defense, and putting together what just happened, and he could only come to one conclusion. His body was terribly imbalanced.

"My soul strength should be stronger than what my body and mind can handle. The same goes for my mana core." He thought to himself. "Then there is also the issue of corruption."

Liam sighed and flopped onto the soft fur of the beast. He had no idea how he was going to accomplish any of this. He silently pondered for a few minutes, but then he decided to leave this aside for now.

There was no point in trying to think of solutions to problems he had no idea about. It was better to focus on what was at hand.

"Alright. Since these guys are good to go on their own, perhaps we should focus on the next thing on our to-do list."

Liam was about to give orders to Luna when he decided to sense a soul minion near the main group just to make sure that everything was proceeding smoothly.

However, as soon as he did, a frown appeared on his face. The vultures were here!

Standing around Alex and the rest of the group was a branch of the local police task force. Liam could also see some prominent people present along with them.

These were faces he had seen often on the local news channel. There were a few rich tycoons, some industrialists, and last but not least, there was also the mayor of the city.

The funny part was that these people had come over here instead of attending to the other areas of the city, which had been subjected to far more distress.

One could say that Liam's sector was the safest place at the moment, as he got a grip on things right from the beginning, not allowing even a single beast to pass him by.

So technically, there were zero casualties in this area, but lo and behold, every top authority person was assembled here. Not just them, but ambulances, heavy-weight guns, and weapons were all here.

Everyone was in top form and ready to launch into action with a clear chain of command in place. The only issue was that they were not needed here.

"Heh. This is happening sooner than I expected." Liam coldly sneered, but it was not time to intervene just yet.

And from the looks of it, there was no need to hurry either.

These newly arrived helpers only stood at a safe distance, with no intentions of taking charge any time soon. They looked quite content to stand back and simply watch the show.

"Let's go, Luna. Head back to the base."

The fox immediately started moving at top speed, and in no time, the duo arrived at the scene of action.

After stepping down from the fox, Liam paid no attention to the uninvited guests standing at the back. He ignored their shocked expressions and continued walking forward.

There was no need to strike up any conversation with these people just yet. Rather, he came here to see the beast corpses that were scattered around.

Treating the priceless spatial artifact as a simple storage ring, he casually started placing all of the beast corpses into the storage space one after the other.

Mr. Mayor, that is the person I told you about." A man in the back whispered to another who was wearing a luxurious-looking formal suit even in the midst of an apocalypse.

On his hand was a phone that displayed several images of Liam's takeoff and landing from the spot as he was riding on top of a certain white fox.

"Mmm. Ok, I got it." The mayor acted like he didn't care, but when he looked at the photos again, a strange light flashed in his eyes.

His attention was particularly riveted by the white fox with three tails that could unmistakably soar through the air.

"Let's continue observing for now." He calmly said.

Not just him but every single bit shot assembled at the site currently had their eyes locked onto the newly arrived individual.

Particularly, the way that he seemed to make the beasts' corpses magically disappear caught their eyes.

The person was also clearly not afraid to step anywhere near the strange phenomenon from which dangerous wild beasts were charging out.

They had only dared to come here when the situation was completely under control, and that too after taking several precautions and making sure that there was nothing here that could endanger their lives.

After all these, they were still observing things from the back, not daring to go to the frontlines, but this person was just casually walking back and forth, even if a beast was right next to him.

"Get me all the information available on him."

"Bring me details about all the foreigners here and how they came to be here."

"Contact the international security department and find out how these many foreigners suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

All the big shots started handing out orders one after another to their underlings while continuing to watch the show with awe. Meanwhile, a few civilians also slowly started to come out of their shells and watch the show.

The normal people were still too scared to step outside their houses, but those who were familiar with the game 'Evolution Online' slowly started gathering some courage.

They daringly walked towards the crowd gathered and watched the dazzling show that was displayed in front of them.

Many people even immediately spotted Alex and Shen Yue, two of the three great beauties of Crimson Abyss. Liam's face might not be particularly famous, but the identities of other Crimson Abyss top players like Alex, Shen Yue, and Mia were not exactly a secret.

So the news that Crimson Abyss had taken charge and was protecting their city spread quickly. Many people were grateful. Some were indignant and envious, while others were too shocked by the endless wave of beasts to care about these things.

Especially because they had only just now faced a beast wave inside the game and died several times because of it, even watching the horrific scene from safety was still traumatizing.

However, the other big shots couldn't afford to be this unaffected by this key piece of information. Most of these people had invested heavily in 'Evolution Online' before everything turned to shit.

And now they wanted their return on these investments!

How could this guild alone come out on top? How did they have all these preparations worked out beforehand? How were they alone so strong even after the game was shut down? mon as time passed, and the guild group continued to stand firm against the beast tide and fight on.

But even the longest and most tiring day had to come to an end sometime. As the night went on, the stormy skies eventually settled down, and the climate and the overall weather tremendously improved.

There were no more flash rains, heart attack-inducing thunder, or lightning. Everything calmed down, and as the first rays of the morning sunlight peeped through, finally, the relentless beast wave stopped!

The gate was still glowing brightly, but no more beasts were charging out of it. It looked like this ordeal was finally over once and for all.

Everyone sighed in relief and tiredly collapsed in the middle of the road itself, either sitting down or lying down. The entire group was panting heavily as if they had just sprinted through a full marathon.

Though these were low-level beasts continuously fighting all night long, it definitely took a toll on their bodies. They were once again starting from scratch, after all.

While this group of people were completely worn out, the other, more energetic group finally made their move!

As everything calmed down and the dust settled, a loud and authoritative voice boomed amidst the silence. "That's enough. If you do not want to suffer any further consequences, step aside peacefully."

Immediately, the police task force, who had been standing at the back all this time, marched forward with arrogance and authority.

At the centre of this group was the mayor of the city. He as well stepped forward, his hands tied at the back and his head looking around loftily as if he was above the masses.

"Everyone stay calm and do not panic. The city has the situation under control. We will not let anything happen to innocent civilians. But first…"

He cleared his throat and continued, "Let's first all settle down. Unnecessary panic and unauthorized vigilantes would only worsen the situation." His gaze shifted towards the group of people sitting on the road tiredly as he mentioned this particular statement.

With a stern gaze, the mayor then once again cleared his throat. "So I suggest all of you to first disperse and go back to your respective houses in an orderly manner. I repeat. Everyone should disperse and go back to your residence in a calm and orderly manner."

"The government is on top of this mysterious occurrence, and we will handle things from here on out. No one needs to worry or panic. Go back and wait for more instructions. Soon the internet and phone lines will be restored, and everything will be sorted out."

Hearing the mayor's strong and confident words, the entire crowd relaxed and finally felt some relief. As there were numerous police task members standing around, everyone quickly obeyed them and started walking back to their residence.

Only a few people stared back at the mayor as if he had spoken something that was even more ridiculous than the apocalypse descending on the world.

However, these people also did not want any trouble and silently retreated back. After all, they neither belonged to the guild nor belonged to the government forces.

They were simply spectators and bystanders in this event, so they went back and decided to watch what happens from the safety of their homes.

But looking at the way in which things were proceeding, they wouldn't be surprised if an all-out war occurred between Crimson Abyss and the government!

The next second this thought entered their mind, they could only bitterly smile at how ridiculous such a notion was!

An in-game guild was actually fighting in the real world with skills and attacks from the same damned game!

Just what in hell was happening around them? Why was reality and game world merging? What sort of future awaited them?

Amidst this confusion swirling in everyone's hearts and minds about the uncertain future, the crowd silently dispersed.

Meanwhile, back at the portal, the big swirling mess of energy from which countless beasts had been spawning one after another just now, a few people still remained on the spot. They did not show any intention of returning to their houses.

Heck, they couldn't care less about what the fat lady sang about. Unlike others, they weren't oblivious to what was happening. They knew exactly what was happening, and they knew who was the real one in charge here and whose orders they had to obey.

While the police task force cleared everyone, these guys acted as if it had nothing to do with them. They were also too tired to move at the moment. They simply looked at Liam, who was rather calmly standing with a polite smile. manded. "Everyone return to your homes. The foreigners need to stay back for questioning. Also." He paused and then turned to look at Liam. "You need to stay back."

Coincidentally, the police chief did not stop there. He continued to look at Liam and commanded sternly. "You are in possession of an illegal animal. You need to hand over the animal to Sir Mayor, and you are hereby placed under arrest."

"Get down on the ground and put your hands up in the air!"

As the man's voice rang loud and clear in the crisp early morning, everyone present in the vicinity was utterly shocked. Someone actually dared to speak in this manner to their guild leader?

Was this person crazy? Did he not just witness what had happened?

So this is what an idiot looked like… everyone inwardly said their prayers for the poor bunch of disillusioned bureaucrats. It was going to be their funeral today.

And just like they suspected… they looked towards Liam and saw the smile on his face widen. But unexpectedly, Liam simply nodded.

He waved his hand at the guild group. "Everyone stand back." He as well then proceeded to walk to the back and then got on the ground.

Ideally, a criminal would have never been allowed to do this, and police would have shot at them even if he took a single step forward, but this was a special case.

No one dared to shoot at this person, and they were all happy that the person willingly surrendered. So they silently let him do as he pleased.

When Liam finally raised his hand, two of the policemen hurriedly handcuffed him. But once again, there was no reaction. Liam only smiled.

Seeing Liam behave in this fashion, the other guild members were also confused. They were shocked and surprised as they had expected fireworks, but this was anti-climactic.

What was going on? Were they really surrendering to the government?

But Liam had already spoken, so they knew their orders and what they had to do. They silently started walking back away from the portal towards the location of Liam's apartment, their main base.

Not just the guild members but the government forces, the big shots and the three main authority figures all looked extremely confused. None of them had expected this to go down so smoothly without a single hitch.

But this suspicion only lingered on for a second, after which they resumed their arrogant stance. They were the government, after all. It was only logical that they take charge.

The mayor as well resumed his lofty posture and gave out the next order. "Everyone stand guard around that strange thing." He pointed towards the portal. "I have already informed the higher-ups, and we will soon know what this is and how to shut it down."

Immediately all the policemen started moving out without any questions, following the guidelines of the Mayor to the T. No one challenged the authority, and everything was finally under control as it should be.

The Mayor cleared his throat loudly, giving a proud, confident smile. The unthinkable had happened, and yet everything was brought under control. "Good. Good." He muttered under his breath.

However, at this time, the person who was silently standing with his hands cuffed finally opened his mouth. "Are you sure? Do you not need our help?"

"Hmmm?" The mayor's face twitched as the sarcasm in the voice was way too obvious. The person did not bother to hide it.

"Stay down. Whatever it is, we can manage. We only did not intervene because unruly youngsters like you decided to take matters into your own hands. Otherwise, we would have finished this disturbance a lot faster with even fewer casualties."

"Do you even think before you act? How do you think you will take responsibility if something disastrous happened? Luckily for you, we were there to provide backup and take care of public safety. Hmph."

The mayor wasn't done yet as he continued to berate Liam as if he was hellbent on making it clear who was in charge here. However, just as he opened his mouth again before any words could come out, something behind him sizzled.

It was the portal. It sizzled and crackled as something else started coming out. It was big. It was huge.

Just its leg was the size of a human being! Its torso was thick like a car, and it was definitely a beast as it was covered with black fur from top to bottom.

Everyone's face paled. They watched the scene in terror as right in front of their eyes, a giant-sized gorilla stepped out of the gate in its entirety.

"Arghhhhh!" The policeman closest to the gorilla screamed in fear and shock. His blood-curdling cry attracted everyone's attention, but when they turned to look at him, the man was already missing. The thick tree trunk-like fur-covered leg was present in his place.

However, this leg had blood splotches at the bottom. As everyone's gaze shifted to these blood splotches, they could clearly see the man crushed into a meat pulp by the giant gorilla.

OOOO! OOOO! OOO!

The beast let out a terrifying roar, waking up the whole community, who had only just now relaxed a little and retreated back to their homes to get some sleep. Apparently, their hell was not yet over!

"Oh! My bad, I forgot to mention that the beast wave was not yet over." Liam sneered. He had indeed forgotten to mention a crucial piece of information. At the end of the wave, there was always a boss monster!

His mocking words, however, were drowned in the chaos and commotion that followed.

"SHOOT THAT THING!" Someone shouted.

The mayor was standing dumbfounded, not knowing what to do. He had just now given a long lecture about how everything was under their control, but all he could see at the moment was the giant beast. plete chaos.

Everyone saw that their guns were useless against this giant monstrosity, so they started to turn tail and run helter-skelter before death arrived, knocking at their doorstep.

The mayor, the police chief and the deputy chief was no better. They were also running away, along with all the big shots and their bodyguards.

In the midst of this mayhem, the mayor stumbled and fell down, coincidentally right in front of Liam. "Why are you standing still? Go and do something!" He shouted in anger and panic.

Seeing the utter dread on the mayor's face, Liam calmly smiled. A Level 15 field boss was nothing to him, but he was not planning to make a move anytime soon. "You said that you did not want our help, right?" He sneered at the desperate guy mercilessly.

At the same time, his hand was busy as he started converting all of the dead human souls into his minions, one after the other.

After all, these were trained professionals who had spent at least two years in the police academy learning how to do their jobs well. He did not want to miss out on such valuable, skilled minions.

Seeing the smug smile on the other party's face, the mayor trembled uncontrollably. "You are being unreasonable! Everyone is dying! Can't you see?" He simply wanted to slap the shit out of him, but he couldn't risk staying here any longer.

He started scrambling to run away, but he suddenly found himself flying and landing right next to the giant beast. Liam had grabbed him and tossed him back to the front lines.

Ahhhhh! The mayor screamed.

"Not so fast." Liam smiled. "Stay and defend and protect everyone. You are not going anywhere today."

The man became further terrified and started shouting madly, "You! Traitor! Traitor! He is a traitor! Shoot him down!" The only problem was that all the cops next to him were already squashed like bugs by the boss.

Unable to think clearly, he lunged towards a gun that was lying nearby and started shooting Liam down himself. Seeing that he was not moving, the mayor's face twisted into a pathetic smile. He even got a couple of shots in.

However, only then did he realize that something was off. The bullets that landed on the guy definitely made holes in his shirt, but that was the extent of the damage they were able to cause. There was no blood, or even a scratch, for that matter.

"What…" The mayor stared at the sight dumbfoundedly.

"Just how big of an idiot are you?" Liam shook his head helplessly. "Alright. I think that this is enough." He summoned one of the wyverns, who immediately took control of the situation. It first squashed the mayor, who was talking a bit too much.

The giant gorilla immediately noticed this new entry. The beast, who had been rampaging around until now as if it were the King of this land, suddenly came to a halt on seeing the real King.

It dazedly eyed the wyvern in fear and shock, and the next second, a burst of flame assaulted the beast, completely roasting it from top to bottom.

Thud!

Just like that, the boss of the gate collapsed lifelessly. Everyone who witnessed this stood frozen on the spot, blankly staring at the scene.

Soon afterwards, the gate started crackling and sputtering once again. To all the people still scattered around the area, this felt like a death sentence. They immediately prepared to flee again, but surprisingly, something different happened this time.

Instead of another monster stepping out, the portal simply became duller and duller, finally vanishing into nothingness. Like it had never been there, the mysterious gate vanished from sight.

Huh? Huh? What happened to that massive thing?

Did it just disappear?

Did they win?

Was it over?

Everyone gulped as they looked around in pure horror. Was everything really over?

Only Liam casually walked forward and placed the gorilla corpse into his spatial artifact as if he couldn't care less about anything else.

He also put the corpses of some of the other beasts that had died nearby into the same artifact. Then he began looking carefully at the ground for something.

The next second, he picked up a small crystal from the ground. It was a mana core. "Got it. Our job here is done." He coolly whistled and started walking toward the guild group after dismissing all the recently created soul minions.

The guild members were all still staring at him.

Alex rolled her eyes at this drama. This guy always had to overdo it. "You couldn't have done this in any other way?" She shook her head.

"Heh." Liam chuckled. "This was not just for putting on a show. This was a lesson for everyone. Look around you. There are eyes everywhere. We can't go around dealing with everyone one at a time, can we? Who has the time for that?"

"Well, I guess I could have taken a more direct approach, but that would have been way more brutal, and there would have been even more casualties. Letting the boss teach them a thing or two instead was definitely the better option."

Alex was speechless. Why was it even necessary to have casualties in the first place? People were not in their right minds at the moment. So maybe showing them a little bit of patience was required.

Liam shook his head. He could clearly see what she was thinking. "See… I don't want to kill everyone mindlessly. I do think that they deserve a chance to change."

"But at the same time, they needed to know that I do not have any problems with allowing a few deaths." Liam smiled.

He was, in fact, extremely serious. Right now, manpower was something that was needed. The casualties in this city were very low because he had intervened, but that was not the case everywhere.

The world right now was facing severe death and destruction. So he wanted to avoid massacring everyone, even if they were idiots and even if they deserved it. But that didn't mean he was going to be endlessly patient with them no matter what they do.

There would be a bottom line, and just for today, this bottom line was a bit lenient. Everyone needed at least a day to come to terms with the new reality. Even after that, if some people didn't want to follow the new rules, then there would be a price to pay.

What Liam said did make sense, so everyone nodded in understanding, but at the same time, how exactly was he planning to bring everyone under his control?

There was just too much chaos and commotion at the moment, and there were far too many people to handle. When compared to this, their numbers in this city were very pitiful.

No one had previously realized how important Liam's earlier warnings would prove to be until now. If they had, then perhaps their entire guild could have been here, and they would have been unshakeable.

But now, with just this small fraction of people, everything was going to be difficult.

Liam, on the other hand, seemed to not care about this issue. He looked very confident as if he had already planned everything out, just like back in the game.

"Hey… Now what? You have something on your mind?" Alex asked, gripping the axe in her hand tightly, ready to fight.

Liam smiled. "Well, first things first. There are five other gates in the city, so there should be five more bosses. Let's deal with them first."