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Wyvern No.2"
Liam named and tossed the newly forged one right into the battle.
Naturally, his soul was once again slightly injured from the forging though much less than what had happened the first time around but this was exactly what Liam wanted. Only when injured he could heal it.
And only when he healed it, he could feel the connection to his own soul the strongest.
Inhaling all the souls around him, Liam commanded what he needed and felt the intangible entity that was inside him, his own soul. It was like a miasma that eluded him and yet it spread across him, covering every inch of him.
Liam did not try to push it. He simply grabbed onto this faint feeling and absorbed the soul essence from the other souls and made this miasma stronger.
This was easier said than done. Last time he had done it intuitively because he was very heavily injured. One could even call it a fluke. And now he was trying to do it on purpose. So it was far more difficult and he did not know exactly how to.
But he had an idea. This was not his first day with the soulmancer class and he was not completely clueless. With the noose tightening around their necks, he was working all the harder to get to where he wanted to be.
Liam gripped hard the miasma he was holding onto, and he forcefully imagined it with the colour white, like a waning moon. He then imagined the other soul wisps to come and join this incomplete circle so that his soul became a full circle.
Or rather he held onto both of these parts and then rammed them together forcefully until they became whole. It was difficult to concretely imagine and execute it but he tried his best and on the twelfth try, he managed to do it a little. His injured soul became a little stronger.
There was no notification or anything to confirm this and all he had was a feeling but he kept on going. Without taking any break, he grabbed the next wyvern soul and once again began to forge it.
The other newly forged beast, Wyvern 2, was already slaughtering and contributing to experience points by now.
Notably, this one had the highest level so far, Level 51. It snorted arrogantly and dominated the fight, only to be matched by the three-headed wyvern. Even Luna, Crawford and Wyvern 1 couldn't come close to it.
Watching this scene, all the players currently handling the elite beasts gaped in shock. They had already seen the wyverns but what shocked them this time was entirely something else.
It was the speed with which Liam had forged this draconian soul. It was barely ten minutes! This person had actually made a wyvern undead out of thin air in ten mins?!!
And he did not look like he was stopping anytime soon.
After 'wyvern 2' there was 'wyvern 3' and soon Liam was already in the third wyvern soul. One after the other, he carefully siphoned out the souls from the black bead and forged them to perfection.
With every wyvern soul he forged, he was getting better at his real goal which was to concretely sense his soul, make it stronger and tap into its power.
But the real test still awaited. Would he be able to make his soul strong enough to forge the dragons?
In this way, almost an entire hour passed and all the remaining wyvern souls were successfully forged. Other than the three-headed wyvern which now took it upon himself to act as the commander of the group, there were wyverns 1 through 9.
The group majestically stood amidst the beast horde as they formed a separate unit that slaughtered their way through the charging beasts.
Roar! Their collective aura even made the elites tremble and shake. The ten wyverns were a force to reckon with. Their attacks killed dozens of beasts at the same time and the mana in the air was sucked dry.
They single-handedly rained terror on the beast horde. They circled in the air and torched everything below them. All the guild members standing beside them gulped in fear. Just how strong was their big boss?
Even the players further away, those in the three main cities could spot these terror-inducing creatures from the distance, especially the ones standing on the border walls.
Everyone trembled in fear as they wondered if a wave of dragons was next going to assault the cities as a part of the beast horde.
Already the death tally was sky-high and if a wave of dragons assaulted, everyone would be utterly decimated. Little did they know that these beasts actually belonged to a player.
And as for that concerned player, Liam was racking passive experience points by thousands every second. The number of kills pulled in by the wyvern unit combined with the exp boosting potion he had consumed, his level was shooting up through the roof.
He already touched Level 70 and now he was close to reaching Level 75!
On top of this, Luna did not want to be outdone and tried her best to cause an equivalent amount of damage. A single fox tried to match an entire unit of wyverns and she wasn't lagging too far behind.
Her first tail which was only occasionally glowing bright red was now continuously glowing brightly as if she had completely assimilated one of the three flame fragments she had swallowed. If she assimilated all three flames just how much more powerful would she become?
Liam panted as he observed everything around him. That's right. They were all growing stronger together. It was only a matter of time. He sucked in a big breath of air, once again used the souls swirling around him to strengthen himself and attempted to break the shackles again.
RATTLE! RATTLE!
His mana core surged and the shackles trembled. Every single time he increased his soul strength, he also tried breaking these and he could feel it. He was close.
More importantly, the key to achieving everything that he wanted was right in his grasp.
All he needed to do now was build his soul strength and he would become strong enough to awaken his mana core and face the enemy. He could grow step by step and become an existence that can change everything.
And it all started with the dragon souls.
Liam had two dragon souls in his possession. Yes, these two dragons could potentially become powerful allies for his soul army but more than that, these two would be the true test of his soul.
He had to strengthen his soul and become strong enough to withstand the dragon souls and forge them. In the process even if he was hurt, he would only become stronger from that, which was his true goal.
Liam steadied his mind and adjusted his body's condition to the best that he could. This beast horde was the perfect place for this. He couldn't have asked for a better location.
With every beast soul that was being slaughtered aiding him to become stronger, he took a black bead and started pulling out the first dragon soul.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Almost instantly, a tyrannic pressure assaulted him. The soul he had grabbed onto this time felt infinite.
He did not feel this much strain when he had shoved the soul into the black bead but now that he was trying to get a sense of the whole thing, the situation was completely different.
He gritted his teeth as the pressure was almost too intense for him to handle. His mouth, nose, ears and eyes started bleeding and his head felt as if it was going to blast apart.
But just as he was going to completely crumble, Liam sucked in the souls from around him. He shouted in agony but he tried to bear the pain. He almost had it. He can do this.
Liam shivered and tried to hold on. Two more minutes of intense agony washed over him, the pain assaulting him in waves. He continued holding on and withstanding everything.
At a certain point, his health started dropping rapidly.
Seeing this, Alex who had been observing him closely for a while now immediately cast a healing spell.
At first, she was hesitant because it could potentially disturb him but when his health dropped to an all-time low, she decided to make the decision even though she hadn't talked about it with Liam beforehand. Her guts asked her to intervene and she decided to do it.
And luckily for them, the plan did not backfire. Thanks to her, Liam's health quickly recovered but it was only for a second. It then once again started going down.
"Fuck it. One of the priests go up there and keep healing him." Alex shouted.
Without the priest, it was going to be extremely difficult to handle the elites but everyone could see that their big boss was up to something very important at the moment so they bit down and took the pressure.
They could always call the soul minions for help but they did not want the experience points farming to slow down. Everyone right now could see Liam's levels soaring in the ranking board. So no one wanted to disturb that process.
If things continued this way, he could even reach Level 100!
This would be huge for their guild! When every other player in the world would be Level 50 or 60, their guild alone would have a freaking Level 100 player! With this, they could become the unrivalled overlords of this entire game!
So under no circumstance, they wanted to disturb the soul minions who were farming experience points at top speed. They continued dealing with the elites with everything they had and their lives on the line!
Meanwhile, inside the circle of death, Liam was still continuing to struggle. The priest player healed him continuously but his health did not stabilise at all.
This continued on for almost fifteen minutes straight when finally, Liam looked as if he was slightly out of critical condition. His health also stabilized.
Everyone gulped and looked at him eagerly. He did not suffer so much while forging the wyverns, just was he forging now that could send him into a pain spiral like this?
They swallowed and looked forward to the resulting minion that would pop out.
And Liam as well gritted his teeth and finally managed to grab hold of the complete dragon soul. He was panting and heaving but he finally had it in his possession, the entirety of the dragon's soul.
Thankfully, he had saved one dragon soul per black bead so the issue of two-headed joined souls did not happen this time. Otherwise, he would have simply died.
Although, he was not fully out of the woods just yet. Liam weakly smiled as he stared at the football-sized soul energy swirling in front of him. This was the biggest soul he had ever handled and managed to condense.
And this was just a small percentage of the whole forging process. He still needed to go through the rest of the steps. Would he really be able to do it?
As it was, he barely had any juice in his body, but Liam knew that he had to. There was simply no other way. He closed his eyes to suck in a few more souls around him to recover a little and then start the forging process.
He steadied his mind and took a deep breath, feeling the multitude of souls hovering around him as his soul minions slaughtered everything in sight. Perfect! This was just what he needed to recover.
In a single motion, he inhaled the air as he pulled all the souls he needed towards him. The soul fragments obeyed his command and zoomed forward as if he was a magnet.
And just as they were about to reach him and replenish him, suddenly Liam flashed his eyes open.Confusion, panic and anxiety appeared on his face as he felt an immense force come down on him without any warning. His souls had also gone missing.
The soul fragments that were just about to recuperate him had completely disappeared, with nothing left behind. What was happening?
Liam's instincts told him that something was off. He needed to act quickly. It was only a fraction of a second when everything started changing but because of his gut feeling, he pushed the dragon's soul back into the black bead instantly.
And just as he did, the next second, an even greater pressure crushed him down without any warning and the air around him pulsed with a strange energy. No, it wasn't just any energy. It was divine energy, an intense wave of it burned through his skin like a corrosive acid.
Everything went dark for a split second as a powerful ray of light shone down from the sky. No one could see anything or even open their eyes.
And when they were finally able to open their eyes again, an ethereal being stood in front of them. A golden angelic ethereal being with blonde hair. Her face was not visible; only a halo around her head could be seen, and her entire figure glowed from top to bottom.
Despite the fact that nothing about her was concretely visible, one still had the impression that she was a peerless beauty who had descended from the heavens themselves.
No one, including Liam, was able to take their eyes off of her. It was as if they were transfixed and spellbound to look at her and worship her.
Liam was the first person to recover, as he dazedly shifted his gaze from this ethereal being and noticed the two other people standing on either side of her. It was none other than the golden knight and Mia.
As soon as he saw Mia, his pulse immediately quickened, and he had a bad feeling. Who were these people, and what were they doing here?
He had only just figured something out, but before he could take a step forward, they were already here? Did they come here for him? Damn it. Why were they here at this crucial moment?!
Before he could get any answers, Alex as well snapped out of her trance as she trembled at the sight of the familiar face. "Mia!" She shouted and dashed forward.
Liam only had the chance to turn and barely look at her when her charging figure was recklessly flung aside without any warning. "Silence insect." It was Mia who had done it. She watched indifferently as Alex's body hit a rock and slid down unconscious.
This made everyone else as well snap out of their trance. What was happening? They all could see Mia, but they couldn't understand why she was acting in this manner?
But before anyone else could make a move, another wave of intense pressure hit them, making them kneel on the ground without being able to breathe properly, let alone move a muscle.
This time the angelic figure in the centre had taken action and not even Liam could resist it. She only had to lift a finger and snap it, and that forced his body into submission.
Luna was the only one who growled loudly, but a golden cage fell on her the next second, silently sealing her in place. All the undead summons also dissipated on their own and the beast horde completely disappeared as if they had never existed in the first place.
"Now, it's better." A melodious voice rang out as the dazzling angelic figure floated closer to the group of kneeling players. She floated gently and gracefully all the way to where Liam was kneeling.
"A first-order player? Unbelievable!" Her voice sounded again. It was as if she were impressed, but there was also a tone of mockery in those words.
"Oh, now I understand." She continued circling around Liam. "You have an SSS- Nether affinity. Hmmm? How did a human like you come to possess something like this?"
Liam's back stiffened up as a chill ran down his spine. He felt something scanning him. He was suddenly naked. It was as if there was nothing he could hide from this person.
And the goddess was not done yet.
"Hmm... Interesting. Very interesting. You also managed to obtain one of the top legacies in my world. Clap Clap Clap. Well done. Bravo."
"Not to mention… a divine beast, a superior mana core, above average body constitution, insight beyond what should be capable of, a weapon that commands true power and even draconian souls."How wonderful. Marvellous. Marvellous. For a mere human being from your realm, you have outdone yourself. Ha Ha Ha. Bravo. Bravo." She lifted her hands and clapped.
However, with every word she said, Liam's expression only became that much worse. Seeing this, the goddess chuckled lightly.
"Don't misunderstand me. I am not here to punish anyone. Rather, I am here to reward you. Courage and bravery should be rewarded, not punished. And your efforts, young hero, definitely did not go unnoticed."
Hmmm? Liam was confused.
"Mmmm. Let me first introduce myself. I am one of the divine temple's high priestesses. I am here because you have contributed a great deal by protecting our people and the Gresh Kingdom from this beast horde."
Liam felt the pressure on him lessen, and it even pulled him up to stand again. Then, without any warning, the high priestess threw another bomb at him.
"As a reward for your meritorious achievements, how would you like to become the fifth emperor of this world?" Her voice rang loudly and clearly.
Liam was dazed. Fifth emperor? What the hell was she talking about?
"Hmmm? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you not believe me?" She retrieved a golden orb from her ring and held it in her palm. "You just have to accept and you will gain not just that title but also immense power that can bring you to the top of this world."
"Becoming an emperor would let you become the ruler of all the players. You would be able to earn riches and power beyond your imagination. Everyone else would serve you. You will only be second to me."
As she continued talking, throwing out one sugar-coated word after another, the golden knight next to her frowned, which didn't go unnoticed.
Liam's gaze was observing everything that was happening around them as he mentally prepared for the worst and did not let his guard down.
Mia, on the other hand, did not have any reaction. She just stood there, cold and indifferent.
Silence filled the space, as no one else made any sound as well. No one even understood what was happening. The hit Alex took left a bad aftertaste, but this offer didn't seem to be bad.