A few minutes later, the crowd cleared, and the swarm was also taken care of completely by the army of soul minions. The area that was only just now swirling with deadly creatures was suddenly silent and still as if it was a calm and serene picnic area.
This was if one ignored the numerous corpses that were littered around on the ground forming small hills, and the heavy pungent smell that hung in the air, showing no intentions of clearing up.
The green blood of the insects was not only poisonous and acidic, but it also had a rotting smell that was enough to suffocate anyone.
Luna's face contorted in weird angles as the little fox couldn't stand being in this stupid area for any moment longer.
Liam patted her with a smile as he checked an old notification on his system interface.
<Ding. You have leveled up>
He hadn't noticed it before as he had been jumping from one fire to another, but with all the vampires and this ison swarm, he had finally leveled up and was also decently progressing to the next level.
"Hmmm… Luna… How many of these hills do you think popped out?" Liam grinned.
If things go well, he just might be able to hit level 100 just farming these isons? At least from the ridiculous numbers of corpses, this seemed very much possible.
Moreover, these corpses were not in the least ordinary, and so was the hive hill. They could potentially harvest a lot of precious materials just from these corpses.
It looked like someone else also had the same opinion. Alex had already recovered and was starting to break apart these insects, patiently digging out mana cores from each one and examining the wings, limbs, and pincers.
Seeing her take the initiative, others as well prepared to help a bit, but Liam immediately interrupted all of them.
"Stop. that's not necessary. We still don't know what parts of these things are poisonous. Why don't you guys also rest some more? The second wave has already begun, so the next few days are going to get busy."
Alex instantly opened her mouth to retort something, but as she saw the numerous soul minions now scurrying around to process the corpses and remove the mana cores, she just stopped in her spot speechlessly.
The numerous soul minions worked like well-oiled machines, all tuned to perfection. First, they killed everything in sight, and now they began dutifully harvesting the bounty, leaving no part go to waste.
The wings, pincers, brain, limbs, tough exoskeleton, blood, stinger, and every single part was carefully harvested. Since they were soul minions, they also did not have to worry about the poisonous or acidic stuff splashing on them, so the entire process was very fast and efficient.
"Alright." Liam dusted his hands and looked at Luna. Now that this task was proceeding smoothly, it was time to pay a visit to this mysterious structure in front of them.
As he walked forward toward the huge hill, this time, Alex, Rey, Shen Yue, and a few others started accompanying him.
Liam once again wanted to ask them to stay back, but seeing the look of determination on their faces, he decided to allow it. They had to face these things by themselves sooner or later, so what was the point of babysitting them?
He walked closer to the hill and examined it in detail. Immediately he received a surprise.
"This…" Alex gasped. The others also revealed a similar shocked expression.
This was because the hill in front of them was actually made of metal? Everyone checked it properly, and it was unmistakably made of metal.
Though at first glance, it seemed to be made of mud and rocks, on closer look, it was just the outer coating. Once this outer layer was removed, the inside had a metallic gleam to it.
"Inspect," Liam mumbled as he ran his hands over the strange golden metal. He did not expect actually to receive an answer, but to his surprise, the system's answer dinged back immediately.
<Ding. Orichalcum: A versatile metal with numerous properties. It is mainly known for its mana conductivity and its strength. It is one of the widely used materials in manufacturing magic weapons>
Liam's eyes widened in shock as he read through the description again and again whilst also looking at the gigantic hill in front of him.
This entire thing was made of precious metal? This huge structure in front of him was full of usable raw material?
Both the master's and the fox's eyes glittered with dollar signs as they stared at the hive hill in awe. At this point, it might as well be a golden hill!
"We need to tear this apart into bits and pieces!" Liam announced with a grin.
Everyone nodded, and Alex, who was standing closest to him directly, went ahead to slash down the damn metallic hill near one of its hive openings.
And just as she did that… thud! She was flung aside on her butt!
Grrrr!!! The redhead angrily glared at the damned thing that almost killed them before and now had once again kicked her away. She wanted to tear it down if it was the last thing that she did.
Liam couldn't help himself and chuckled at her embarrassing display. After Alex, Lan Deming prepared to take the next shot.
"Wait. Wait. I think there should be some barrier of sorts covering this hill. I don't think we will be able to enter or even touch the hill." Liam stepped forward and lifted his hand up, making a tight fist.
Naturally, this was not going to be easy. This world was not that generous to give them a great leveling opportunity like this, plenty of mana cores and a huge chunk of precious metal on top of that.
However, he was something that shouldn't exist in the world right now, just like the hive hill, and his level was not something others could compete with.
Liam pulled his hand back and started churning his mana core. Threads of mana started wrapping around his fist, and in one swift motion, he sent a punch forward.