When Liam stepped out of the portal on the other side, he was once again back in the Xion realm. He was teleported somewhere near the center of the Gresh Kingdom so he had to travel to the border of the Kingdom for a second time.
He checked Asura's position on the map and then patted the big bird, "Let's go Talon."
A few hours later, the group of three finally located the spot where the elves were hiding. There were small signs of disturbance here and there indicating that there had been some trouble but everyone seemed to be doing fine.
"Hello." Liam waved his hand at the bunch as the bird elegantly glided to the ground. He jumped off the bird and stood in front of the elves who were visibly shocked by his sudden appearance.
More than that, they were shocked by Liam's level. It was already 60?
Lyana gulped as she stared at the person in front of her. In just a couple of days, his strength had increased so much? This was unbelievable and yet somehow it was true.
Just what did he do to achieve something like this? Even with repeated dungeon diving, his progress shouldn't have been so fast.
Liam could see that the elf was very confused but he did not want to share his secrets. It was best to keep his role in the demon army to himself.
"Shall we leave then? It should be a long trip from here to the elven lands, so it's better we start as soon as we can." He smiled at the quest giver, the leader of the small group of elves.
"Ah. Y… Yes." Lyana stammered. She had no words coming out of her mouth as she wasn't even able to think clearly. She still couldn't process this person's sudden burst of strength.
She was sure that Liam must have done something unnatural. However, when one took shortcuts like this, the price they paid for it would also be equal. She wondered what price this man had paid.
On the side, Liam spoke with Asura a few words, transferred some items to him, emptied his inventory space, and then sent the guy away on Talon.
After that, the group finally embarked on their long and arduous journey. They trudged through the dense forest keeping a low profile and soon were back at the Kingdom border, the original spot where they had initially met Liam.
This was it. Beyond this point, they could encounter the barbarians at any given instant.
Liam took a deep breath and was about to head further inside their territory when suddenly Lyana opened her mouth.
She had been suspiciously silent all this time and the quest she gave as well was still incomplete, so Liam's interest was instantly piqued. What did the elf have to say now?
"Is something the matter?" Liam asked. He could see the panic in the elf's eyes, something that was not there before.
"Yes. Yes. We need to stop." The elf replied with haggard breaths. "We need to turn around. We cannot do this. You cannot do this. Your level might be higher now but you cannot take down the barbarians. You are still too weak."
Ok? Liam scrunched his face. Was this leading to another level-up quest? Was this damn chain quest simply a serial level-up quests one after the other?
"So how do I become stronger? Do I need to level up more?"
Surprisingly, the elf shook her head. "No. No. It's not that simple. I apologize. I was foolish. I mislead you into thinking that there was actually a chance for us." The strong woman then started sobbing right then and there.
Liam could only feebly hear her voice in between the sobs.
"The barbarians… they have a special kind of strength… no one can beat them… we can never go back… they are bloodthirsty powerful beasts… they will never let us go home."
"They are not that bad. I have already killed a few."
"No. No. You haven't met the true powerhouses. They are impossible to win against. They will make you kneel."
For the next few minutes, Liam tried to talk to Lyana and the other elves but it was useless. The elves were too traumatized to give out any details. They were fine up until here but once they arrived at the border, they became a complete mess.
All Liam got, in the end, was that the barbarians had a special kind of physical strength which made it impossible to harm them easily.
That was how the elves had also lost. Their elemental magic was rendered completely useless. Moreover, the barbarians also had numbers on their side. So the ending became tragic.
Narrowing his eyes, Liam looked at the path ahead of them. From the beginning, he knew that crossing the border wouldn't be as simple as raising his level, but it would have been better to get some clues to start with.
"Well, I guess I can start now and test the waters first."
Liam helped the group of elves hide in one of the nearby bushes, shoved the fox along with them, and then summoned his newly reforged army.
"Let's go for a hunt. I guess this time we need to find one of these so-called powerhouses."
He used the map to locate one of the settlements and quietly crept in. As he officially crossed the border between the two kingdoms, there wasn't any clear difference except for the notification which chimed in.
<Ding. You have now entered a new territory>
<Ding. You have received 1000 experience points>
Liam swiped them away and continued moving forward in stealth. Not long afterward he came across the first group of barbarians. These guys looked strong and sturdy, seemingly higher leveled than the ones he had faced before.
"Alright. Time to test just how strong their physical defense is." He unsheathed his sword and rushed forward into the fray head first.
