"What? Graaaa…. Who are you?" The barbarian was quite sturdy but he was caught off guard by the mini army, overwhelmed by the sheer number of minions.
His large body as well worked against him as everyone targeted him quite easily. On one side, the two mutated chickens were drilling into him with their hurricane peck. On the other side, the rabbits were kicking him relentlessly.
Fireballs were flying in from the imps and lesser dryads. The bears were slamming him down. The wolves and the hounds were tearing him apart at the seams.
As if this was not enough, Crawford was doing an insane amount of damage with each of his attacks. The whole fight once again lasted only for a few seconds and the barbarian went down in a jiffy.
At the last moment, his eyes found out, and stared back at Liam indignantly as the body fell onto the ground disappearing soon after.
The elven women stared dazedly at this sight and at the weird entities present in front of them, not knowing what they were or what was happening?
And suddenly these entities started moving again. Each one of them started dragging or lifting the women hurriedly. The look on the elves' faces changed slightly as they wondered if they were going to the fire from the frying pan.
However, one woman alone laughed loudly. "You are still hiding? You must be pretty cowardly."
In the distance, Liam's eyes instantly widened. Was she talking about him? She could sense him? But he still stayed put.
He did not care less about the elf taunting him. What he cared about was the barbarians returning back with an even bigger backup.
Luckily, that didn't happen and all the women were safely brought to a distance from their original campsite to the spot where he had placed Luna in the small burrow.
Liam then continued to further move some distance away, almost back to the Gresh Kingdom border, and only then he stopped.
Just as he was wondering if this was far enough, the same elven woman taunted him again. "Ha Ha Ha. Are you feeling safe now?"
Liam frowned. Has this one gone nuts? However, when he looked at the talkative elf he paused for a moment. Those were not the eyes of someone who had given up or was checked out.
What he saw was a pair of bloodthirsty eyes. And as for the elf's level, he couldn't see it.
Earlier he had ignored this thinking that they were normal villager NPCs but now he couldn't make the same assumption. 'Hmmm… Who are these women?'
They did not seem to be mere damsels in distress. The situation was definitely more complicated than that.
He looked at the talkative one and patiently asked, "I am only trying to help. How much ever I can. What happened? Can you give me more information?"
The elf laughed again. "Why? It's pointless. Now you are also going to die with us." She sneered. "Oh, that's not true. You sound like a human being. You can save yourself. Tuck your tail, turn right here, and run back to your lands. You will be safe there… for now. Ha Ha Ha."
Liam's face twitched. "I cannot help you if you don't give me more details." He looked at the other women hoping one of the others would talk but they were all silent.
Only this one was opening her mouth even if it was just to laugh. He waited for a few more minutes and nothing changed. "Ok. It looks like you don't want my help. Then I will be on my way."
He picked up Luna and turned around as if he was really going to do that. At least now someone should panic and ask him for help?
However, all he still heard was the same self-deprecating laugh. Now it was starting to piss him off.
Liam clenched his fist in anger and started really walking away when the elven woman's voice feebly sounded.
"Don't act all high and mighty as if you genuinely want to help us. I saw you. Hiding in the bushes. You don't care about us. You just want to use us. Ha Ha Ha. How are you any different than those beasts?"
Liam frowned. Now that the cat was out of the bag, he also did not hide it. "Yes, I need your help too. I never said that I didn't. I have to meet someone in the elven kingdom and I have no idea how to reach there crossing the barbarians."
He stopped and looked back at the sneering elf, "So how about we help each other out? We can travel together and cross this place."
"Ha Ha Ha… Ha Ha Ha… How naive… Ha Ha Ha."
Liam sighed. "You are wasting my time and yours. If I am naive, then tell me why. Educate me, your highness."
"Bah! I am no princess. I am a cavalry unit leader." The woman scoffed, taking a lot of pride in her position.
Oh! Now Liam understood. This group of elves probably all belonged to the same unit. No wonder they remained unfazed even when they were about to be tortured.
"Then how are you here? In this state?" He slowly probed. Hearing him, for the first time, the elven woman did not laugh anymore and a serious look appeared on her face.
"The barbarians are making a move. Soon there will be a war between the elves and the barbarians. There is too much bad blood. Things are about to escalate."
"And I… I need to inform this…" The elf gritted her teeth in anger.
"Human, I am not laughing at you. I really wish that you were capable of helping us, but it's impossible. We cannot cross those lands."
"Maybe if we still had our strength but those animals deprived us of that first. We are now useless even more so than you. There is no hope. We are going to die here. If you want to help us, use your sword and give us all honorable deaths and be on your way."
Liam's gaze dragged onto the elven woman who claimed to be the cavalry unit leader. She did not seem to be lying or joking this time.
He remained silent for a few minutes before finally responding to her, "So I am not strong enough? That can be changed. How much stronger do I need to be? Hmm?"
For the first time, the elven woman looked shocked. She stared at the cocky human in front of her. How arrogant! How boastful!
But when she looked at him, she could tell that the person meant business. There was something about the guy which made her want to trust him. It was a gut feeling.
Ha Ha Ha Ha! She laughed loudly once again. "Brat, you have a death wish. Fine, I will humor you. How much stronger you ask? Strength two times your own is required. Can you do it? Ha Ha Ha Ha."
<Ding. New Quest Chain Available>
<Ding. Part1 - Gain ten levels>
<Ding. Reward: Trust of the elven soldier Lyana>
<Ding. Do you wish to accept the quest? Y/N>
Liam was shocked but he quickly accepted it. 'This quest definitely smells like a chain quest leading me to the elven lands.' He thought to himself.
He had heard about quests that enabled safe travel from one territory to the other but he did not think that he would stumble upon one.
Perhaps the first person to attempt to cross the borders would stumble upon this quest. Either way, the why did not matter so much, now that he had obtained this quest, he needed to see it through and get to the other side safely. Except that the quest seemed to have a level requirement.
Level 60 huh? Should be doable. Time for some power leveling!
