Chapter 258 - Welcome Back Gift

With the half-cracked and half-blackened egg in one hand and herbs in the other hand, mana constantly circulating in his palm, Liam dashed towards the location where the underground tunnel was present.

Unlike before, he knew exactly where it was. 

He had searched this region grid by grid for hours. So he knew the direction to the underground tunnel from the graveyard like the back of his hand.

His speed this time was much faster and he reached the zone in under an hour.

However, when he arrived near the place, he came to a complete halt.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

A cacophony of different beast howls echoed throughout the forest.

He had not even stepped in the vicinity of the tunnel, and the entire area was already teeming with all sorts of high-level beasts and monsters.

Each and every single one of these guys was Level 50 at the least.

Liam's gaze darkened as he watched this scene. His already seething anger rose even further. "So you left me another present… Good. Good."

"But trying to kill me with just this much? DREAM ON!"

He took out two metal orbs from his inventory and tossed them onto the ground in front of him. 

He then continued walking forward without a single hesitation or fear right into the thicket of the chaos, heading to the area full of crazed dangerous beasts.

And behind him, two giant figures materialized standing erect and ready for action. He had summoned the two golems!

Liam no longer cared that he was going to attract the attention of barbarians. The four who probably set up this trap for him in case he returned, actually did him a favor.

Because of these many beasts, the barbarians were probably not going to set foot in this place any time soon.

And also… the thing about closely gathered beasts was that… the danger was exponentially high, but also the experience points gain was equally sweet.

[Ding. You have gained 500 experience points]

[Ding. You have gained 1000 experience points]

[Ding. You have gained 700 experience points]

…

…

…

Within a few minutes, he already gained back the level that he had lost because of his unexpected death!

Liam sneered. Even if he had asked someone else to gather monsters for grinding, they wouldn't have been this efficient.

Elites were indeed elites!

Walking leisurely under the protection of the defense golem, Liam did not even have to lift a finger. 

He could but he didn't want to. He didn't want to do anything that would risk Luna's recovery.

So he simply walked with one golem protecting him and the other golem clearing the wild beasts that were crazily rushing at him.

These beasts were typically very intelligent, unlike the lower-level beasts. However, right now they were coming at him with so much ferocity that their performance was very bad.

The attack golem was able to easily aim and smash its targets every time it swung its giant arms. Every move of the huge thing killed a beast.

"Hmmm… These guys seem to be more rabid than usual…" Liam calmly mumbled. He then sniffed the air, his lips curling upwards to reveal a cruel smile.

"This is incense potion's work." He was sure of it.

Incense potion was a liquid that had a unique scent. It was typically concocted using some special herbs, that had an addictive brain-altering effect.

When a beast smells this scent, it becomes hyper-energetic and enraged. Its aggro lasts longer and it lingers in the same area for a long time.

Not just that but its attributes also received a boost, equivalent to berserk strength. So using this potion to attract beasts in order to level up faster was a double-edged sword.

More often than not, it was used for sabotage instead.

As Liam moved closer and closer to the spot, the number of beasts in the vicinity also started increasing. 

Their attacks were more intense and even the golem did not look like it was going to hold out much longer.

But Liam still did not use his mana to attack them. He needed that for maintaining Luna's state. So he strictly did not make a move.

In fact, he did not do anything special at all.

After recalling the attack golem, he simply took out the grenades he had saved.

He tossed four grenades in four different directions like he was throwing rocks, while he himself stood in the barrier of the protection golem.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Instantly four loud explosions rang out. Beast blood, bones, flesh, and skin splattered on all sides and a huge area was cleared with this single move.

This also temporarily created a smokescreen for Liam who recalled the second golem as well and jumped into the tunnel's gaping hole. Not that he needed it.

After he jumped inside, he looked around, noticing that something was out of place.

At first, he had expected some beasts to be here as well. So he was alert and ready to act. However, surprisingly, there was none here. 

"Hmmm?" Liam was confused.

Strictly speaking, this was the place where the beasts could have harmed him the most as he wouldn't be able to use his golem or grenades.

This was also the place where the incense potion smell was the strongest. Yet there really were no beasts here?

Why did they just not jump into the hole?

Clearly, Kouske and the team had taken no efforts to hide the presence of the hole. 

So technically at least some should have jumped in, if not because of the effect of incense, at least because of sheer curiosity or even randomness.

Thinking about this, Liam frowned a bit but then he shrugged and continued to walk carefully inside. These beasts were just a mere distraction after all. The main show was yet to come.

Or maybe not.

As of right now, it looked like the people who he came here looking for, had already long gone, ran away from this spot. 

Well, either that or they had set up all this so that he would assume such a thing and come in unprepared for all the traps waiting for him inside the tunnel.

The chances of that happening were too less, but after last time, Liam did not ignore any possibility. Even if there was nothing and no one, it was best to be prepared at all times.

He pondered about it for a bit but did not linger on it and quickly started walking back into the long winding tunnel.

His revenge and hunting those four until they were erased from the face of this planet was indeed something that he wanted.

But for now… Luna's recovery had the first priority.

So keeping an eye on the surroundings, he started walking further.

However… just after taking a few steps… he suddenly came to a halt. He shuddered slightly and his eyes widened in surprise.

"This thing… this feeling…" He raised his hand dumbly, still clutching Luna's egg tightly.

And as soon as he did, black wisps of energy coiled around his hand.

***

Bonus Chapter~~

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