After communicating with the Assassin's Alliance and the Crimson Abyss 2 guilds, Liam first started with the hive hills in territory 6 and took down two more hive hills in Russia, for which the coordinates were shared.
He then quickly used the teleportation portal from the nearest magic shop and arrived at the Crimson Abyss 2 guild base, which was currently located in New York. Immediately, a few friendly faces rushed forward to greet him.
"Guild leader!" A tall African American man was the first to reach him, and the guy hugged Liam directly with his muscular hands. "Guild leader, we are still alive!" The guy actually started sobbing.
It was extremely awkward to see a grown man crying, but Liam understood the feeling very well. He was also happy to see everyone doing well, and judging from their levels, they seemed to be thriving, in fact.
All of them were at least Level 25 which was very impressive considering that they did not have the advantages that the main group had.
"It's ok, Mark. You did well. You did more than well. You have held down the fort for so long." Liam patted him.
A couple of others also walked over to Liam and exchanged hugs. These few people were part of the guild's core team back inside the game, so they had been with Liam and the guild for a really long time.
That was why they behaved quite freely with Liam and did not even care for their appearances, as many of them openly shed tears and rejoiced in this joyous moment.
The other members might not understand, but the core guild members knew very well that this was a major turning point in their lives. Liam was here. Now, they could actually dare to hope!
"Ahem. Ahem." After the short emotional exchange, Mark quickly cleared his throat and began filling Liam in on the details.
In the Crimson Abyss 2 branch guild, Mark, Anthony, and Chris were the three main guild members, managing the branch and giving out orders for everyone.
These three originally belonged to Alex and Mia's group and had stayed the longest with the guild. Other than them, there were about fifteen core members of the guild, and with their efforts combined together, they had managed to survive this ordeal so far.
Liam greeted everyone he knew, but he quickly cut short the friendly meeting. After all, there was a lot of work to be done. This reunion had to wait until the isons were dealt with.
"Yes, guild leader. We are prepared to leave at any time." Mark also nodded in agreement.
Liam looked around and saw that everyone was indeed prepared to go to war. However, what they did not expect was…
"I will actually be moving out on my own. I will explain the situation later, but I need to deal with the hive hill personally." Liam said.
Mark was immediately shocked. Did that mean Liam had been taking care of all of these hive hills all throughout the world, all on his own?
He had seen the messages in the guild channel about how some of the hive hills had mysteriously disappeared after they had shared the coordinates with the group! How could he possibly make the connection between that and Liam?
And now that he knew the truth, he looked completely dumbfounded.
Everyone else who heard the news was also equally shocked, but all they could do was watch as Liam and Luna took off from the guild base right in front of their eyes.
"Mark, what is happening?" Chris walked over, his mouth wide open.
"I also don't know, but it is better that we still have everyone geared up and ready to go. Have them assemble in the big auditorium."
Soon the whole guild began to hustle, and every able fighter assembled in the big auditorium. Everyone had heard a lot about Liam, so naturally, they were curious as to what was going to happen now.
But unexpectedly, Mark opened his mouth and announced something completely unheard of. "The guild leader will be taking care of the hive hill alone. In the meantime, we will be ready just in case."
He only spoke two lines, but the effect of this was massive, sending the whole group into an uproar. Everyone here had faced the isons, and some people have even lost a few friends to the insects, so this news was very shocking to them.
Especially the new members who had joined the guild after the apocalypse were very skeptical. Some of them began to grumble openly.
"What is this, Mark? From the way you described the guild leader, we thought that he would be someone whom we could lean on, but this person just wants to do everything alone. Does he want to show off in these dangerous times? It just feels very irresponsible and fake."
"Are you even sure that he is the one who did all the guild upgrades? Maybe it was the government after all?"
"What the hell is this? This just feels like some scam. What does he even want from us?"
Seeing this, all the main members of the guild immediately had an unsightly look on their faces. They were Crimson Abyss members for a long time and were very loyal to the guild, so they couldn't obviously stand simply while watching these new members bad mouth Liam.
They tried their best to calm down the crowd and asked them to trust Liam, but their words were not getting anywhere. The newer civilians became extremely chaotic to handle. Several people began to complain loudly. Some even began to threaten to leave the guild.
Among the three main branch guild leaders, Chris was a bit hot-headed, so he was the first one to gnash his teeth in anger and open his mouth to give a piece of his mind to these ungrateful people.
However, Mark immediately stopped him.
He calmly crossed his hands in front of his chest and asked the crowd. "Who here thinks that our guild leader is wrong and that the government is the one responsible for all of these changes?"
He did not ask about the hive hill or the other issues and only addressed this particular matter. His voice also seemed very calm and casual, as if he was just asking a question.
So, lulled into a false sense of security, a bunch of people raised their hands. This included the few from earlier who had bad-mouthed Liam.
Mark observed them and then silently nodded. He gave the crowd another minute to make up their mind, and a few more as well raised their hands.
At this point, it looked like he was simply taking a poll, so people were freely expressing their opinions.
However, the next instant, Mark opened his mouth again and spoke sternly. "If you think so lowly of our guild and our guild leader, perhaps it is time for you to move out of the guild."
He still appeared very calm and casual, so it took a moment for his words to really sink into the crowd.
"Chris, Anthony, did you guys note down all the names?"
"Of course." Chris grinned.
"Yes. Yes." Anthony sighed.
"Now kick them all out of the guild's main roster." Mark decisively announced.