"What… what happened here?"
Mia saw the decay and destruction around them and she couldn't fathom what could have possibly happened here.
"I took care of the last dark elf. Your sister should be fine now." Liam stood up, still holding the small fox in his hands.
Mia was too frazzled to pay attention to the fox, but the few others who came with her noticed the new creature.
They stole a few peeks and glanced at the mysterious looking beast. From its appearance, they could see that the fox was not so simple.
But no one had the guts to ask Liam about it. They silently stood there as Mia checked Alex for signs of injuries and wounds.
Meanwhile, Liam did not linger there any longer and walked away from the group. There was still a lot to be done.
Shin Soo was the only one he recognized amidst the bunch standing there, so he waved at him, signaling him to follow.
"What is the progress there?"
"Boss, only the NPCs, and the demons are fighting now. There are no more dark elves and the NPC numbers are also almost down."
Liam nodded. "That's good."
Shin Shoo then scratched his head and hesitantly added. "Boss, I think the NPCs might fight demons after the battle is over." I
"t might be better if the demons retreat now."
"I agree." Liam patted him with a smile. Even without Shin Soo reminding him, he knew the nature of the human kingdom NPCs.
The demons and the humans absolutely did not get along.
"Alright then, I will go back to the battlefield and take care of things. You stay here and come back with Mia."
Liam did not want to hurry the group, especially Mia unnecessarily. He did not want to break up the happy reunion.
It was best to give everyone that time to catch a breather.
Leaving Shin Soo behind, he started to walk back to the battleground when suddenly he felt something warm and stopped abruptly.
"Hmmm?" Liam looked at the hands hugging him from behind.
He raised his eyebrows in shock, wondering if Alex had regained consciousness already, but the few honey blond strands of hair flying in the wind gave away the identity.
"Thank you, Liam. Thank you so much." Mia sobbed silently.
Her hands locked tighter around Liam, and he could even feel her rapid troubled breathing and muffled sobbing.
"It's fine. It was nothing much." He was genuinely shocked to see the ice goddess in such an emotional state.
"No, you risked your life to save Alex. It means something."
"I don't care about the contract or whatever we signed earlier, but please know this. I am swearing my loyalty to you now."
"I am forever indebted to you. I will never betray you and I will never leave you." She continued mumbling the few words in a soft voice.
He could feel her face resting on his back as she spoke, her arms still wrapped around his waist.
She also sounded as if she was sobbing. She was clearly very emotional and vulnerable at the moment.
Liam scratched his head, not knowing what to do, and turned around to look at the woman and hug her back.
He held her slender body that was trembling and stroked her hair gently.
The golden strands were soft to touch, and so was the woman hugging him tightly.
But the next second, Mia snapped out of her thoughts and became very conscious.
She did not realize that she ended up hugging this person.
She cleared her throat and took a step back, becoming very conscious and embarrassed.
Liam also did not know what else to do and how to comfort her. He saw the tears in her eyes and raised his hand to wipe her eyes.
However, as soon as his hand brushed against her cheeks, instantly, there was a spark of electricity.
"Hmmm?" Liam was amused but he continued wiping her tears and then wiped the other cheek as well.
Mia was utterly speechless. She did not expect this sort of intimate response from the person in front of her.
It made her blush even more, and she fidgeted with her fingers awkwardly.
"Ummm…" Liam ruffled his hair.
What either of them did not notice was that the small fox in Liam's hand was wide awake, with her eyes locked onto Mia with a strange expression.
In the midst of this awkward silent meeting between the two humans and one fox, a swirl of black mass suddenly formed behind Liam.
It was the portal to the nether realm.
Because he came here along with the other demons, and it had been a while since they arrived, it was time for them to be summoned back.
In fact, this was Liam's last backup. He had never really risked everything when fighting against the dark elf.
In the worst case scenario, he would have used this chance to escape back to the nether realm.
This was also why he felt awkward because the woman in front of him was praising him a bit too much.
He was never really going to risk his life for someone else whom he had only just met.
There were a lot of other people dependent on him after all. How could he place importance on this redhead above them all?
But he did not bother breaking Mia's bubble.
If she wants to remain loyal and faithful to him and if this makes everything between them smoother, then there was nothing wrong with letting her think what she wants.
He did not plan on correcting her. It was mutually beneficial for them this way and the best possible scenario.
"Alright then, I have a few things to take care of. I will meet everyone back at the royal city?"
Liam coughed awkwardly and stroked her head.
However, there wasn't much time and he was pulled back into the portal, along with the fox.
Mia watched the man disappear speechlessly. "Did he just run away from me?"
She covered her face with her palm and looked around. Luckily there was no one else to see this embarrassment.
She had actually made someone run away… this…
She shook her head, not wanting to think about this anymore, and ran back to Alex.
She cast a few more healing spells on her, helping her regain consciousness. She then helped her quickly log out.
The battle was still not over. So they couldn't afford to be sitting around and talking now.
After packing up Alex, everyone else returned and started helping the NPCs clear out the other kingdom's NPCs.
Meanwhile, the other demons on the battlefield were also summoned back, everyone returning back to the nether realm.
The rest of the fight only lasted for a few more minutes and all the NPCs shouted loudly after obtaining victory.
Some of them even lifted up Derek, cheering the person's strong leadership and command.
Derek, however, was more concerned about other things and did not enjoy the attention.
He quickly bowed and thanked everyone, after that urging them to return back to the royal city as that was Liam's next command.
They had done the job, and now it was time to collect the rewards!
Back at the nether realm…
Everyone was in even higher spirits compared to the human NPCs. This was because, in this battle, the humans only gained a lot of experience points.
But the demon participants had gained a lot more.
Everyone got a lot of experience points and along with it, they also got a lot of high-quality loot.
The dark elves were unlike orcs or goblins. They were a rich race with sufficient resources and means.
So their drops were very lucrative.
All the demons had gained a lot and thanks to Liam's strategic placements, there were very few casualties.
The whole city was in a celebratory mood. Liam was also looking forward to the haul.
He too relaxed a little, letting the celebratory mood wash over. Moreover, his two fans currently seemed to be missing in action.
When he returned to the garrison, one of the demons informed him that they exhausted themselves in the process of getting almost the entire garrison summoned to the same spot.
"Should I wake them up, leader?" The demon asked.
And Liam hurriedly raised his hands to stop the guy. "No. No. Not needed at all."
He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and gave out a few instructions, mainly in terms of collecting and sorting the loot.
After that, he was also about to return to the royal city to go back and talk to the King when suddenly another demon rushed over to him from a distance.
"Leader, leader. Big news!"
"Hmmm?" Liam stopped abruptly. He turned to see a big demon coming at him with panic and anxiety written all over his face.
"Leader!" The demon huffed and panted.
"What is it? Say patiently." Liam narrowed his eyes and looked at the guy.
