The golden knight watched as the elf drew the full aggro of the basilisk. Standing around him were all of Liam's soul minions, including the wyverns and the dragons.
The creature was clearly stronger than all of them put together, but it seemed as if they would be able to hold on for a while, at least for a few minutes, and definitely, until the game shut down, thereby buying the time that Liam desperately needed.
And this was exactly what he did not want to see happen.
"Do you know what you are doing?" He rushed forward, his voice bellowing and instantly interrupted the elf. He expected the old guy to start sweating and freeze in his tracks, but the other party unexpectedly continued as if he did not hear any of it.
"Sure. I am fighting this ugly snake here." The old elf casually replied and then further added, "What about you? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be an obedient lap dog and simply stay back within the divine temple? Why did you come running here?"
"Shut up! Elf! I order you to leave this place this instant. Else there will be dire consequences, and I will personally intervene."
"Oh! That's actually perfect. You see… I am not the only one here who doesn't belong here. Could you personally intervene and send this ugly snake back where it belongs?" The elf sneered mockingly.
His words made the vein on the golden knight's forehead twitch.
None of his threats was working, and it infuriated him. More importantly, the problem was he did not have the time. He needed to deal with this right now!
These insects were stirring up trouble at the last damn minute!
This was it. He was going to intervene. He would deal with everything else later.
And just as he was about to raise his hand and send the elf back to where he came from, suddenly, there was movement behind him.
The elf, Luna, Mia and the golden knight immediately turned to look at the person who was responsible for it. It was none other than Liam. He was out of his trance, and he stood up, letting out a groan.
The golden knight's eyes widened in shock. His prying gaze immediately scanned him from top to bottom, and the old elf also did the same thing.
But the next instant, the old elf bitterly smiled while the other guy sneered in happiness.
"BA HA HA HA HA! After everything, you still failed! What a waste!" The golden knight started laughing. He checked the timer, and now there were only 60 seconds left!
This was it! Game over! He was completely overjoyed! Now there was really nothing anyone could do.
"You want to fight? Go. Go ahead and fight. BA HA HA HA!" The golden knight maniacally laughed. He was usually a calm and composed person, but this was truly nerve-wreaking and had made him a mess, giving him several heart attacks.
But finally, it was over! All over!
He sighed in relief, and the next second, a system notification also chimed in.
<Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>
<Ding. You have 60 seconds left to log out>
Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Rey, and everyone were in terrible shock as they stared at this notification in utter dread. They all respawned in the nearest graveyard, and now it was too late for them to get back. Was Liam okay? What was happening back there?
Players all over the world also felt something in their gut. For some reason, this final notification was sending chills down their spine. Many people already started logging out, while others decided to stick it out to the end.
In the Southern empire, Kouske stood alongside a tall and lean man with gold-rimmed glasses. "I will log out now, brother." The other party nodded. He also then logged out the next second, but before he did, he looked toward the north.
"Why is my future showing signs of change?"
Meanwhile… in the far north…
Liam flashed his eyes open. He saw both familiar and unfamiliar faces in front of him, but he did not pay attention to anything that was happening around him. There was one thing and only one thing on his mind.
He needed to heal!
Contrary to what the golden knight was shouting at the top of his lungs, he wasn't actually done. He had run out of souls. So while he successfully subdued the sword and injured himself, the second half of his training, where he healed himself back, still remained.
However, he was still out of souls. That didn't change, and now there was no more time to hunt more beasts and absorb their souls.
Liam's gaze fell on the only thing that he could actually use at the moment. Immediately one of the barbarian souls rushed towards him as if he was a magnet. The soul then completely disappeared within him.
That was right! He was going to consume his own minions to heal himself back! That was the only path in front of him at the moment.
But the thing was… just one barbarian's soul was not nearly enough.
Liam had a feeling that it was going to come down to this. When he had first run out of souls, he was already prepared to do this.
And now, he unhesitantly did it.
He looked at the two dragon soul minions and lifted his hand, pulling them both towards himself. If that draconian princess could heal herself with these souls, then so could he!
<Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>
<Ding. You have 40 seconds left to log out>
Liam then took a deep breath and absorbed both the souls back into himself and, at the same time, reached for his mana core.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
His body shook.
Luna looked worried. The elf's face changed as a look of shock and awe washed over him. And naturally, the golden knight's face became twisted and contorted. He finally realized that perhaps it wasn't over after all.
No! That cannot happen! He immediately rushed towards Liam, but a thick mana barrier appeared between himself and his target.
"If you want to get to him, you need to go through me!" The old elf stood firmly. Even if it was just a second, he was going to buy it for Liam!
"Why are you risking everything for a random human being!!!!" The golden knight bellowed in rage. He glared at Mia, commanding her to move, but she was standing frozen, rooted to the spot. Her mind was somewhere else.
And in the midst of this…
ARGHHHHH! Liam let out a loud agonizing yell.
The mana in the air thrummed alive as every single wisp was drawn to Liam at the moment. He became a huge human vortex that just madly pulled everything to himself.
And another notification showed up.
<Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>
<Ding. You have 20 seconds left to log out>
Clash! The golden knight felt his heart pound loudly as he used an absolute skill. The mana barrier was instantly dispelled, and the old elf was also crushed.
"DIE!" He shouted and approached Liam when suddenly he was thrown back.
"DAMN IT ALL!" He had completely forgotten about the protective barrier.
Since there were only a few more seconds to go, every player had the protection barrier that helped them log out even if they were in combat at the moment. Unfortunately, even he was not capable of tampering with this.
But despite this…
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The golden knight continued to bang against the barrier, unable to accept what was happening. His whole face was twisted in rage and regret.
However, that didn't help at all. Right in front of his eyes, he watched the mana vortex become bigger as a huge mana storm formed.
<Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>
<Ding. You have 10 seconds left to log out>
Then, once again, Liam flashed his eyes open. His cold gaze fell on the golden knight as he ignored the several other notifications that were crazily popping out left and right.
Not caring about anything, he took out the PVP tower crystal from his inventory.
<Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>
<Ding. You have 8 seconds left to log out>
<Ding. Do you wish to bind with space crystal?>
"Yes," Liam muttered. Immediately, a space appeared in front of him with several options, along with dozens of notifications. His mind spun rapidly, and he selected several random options.
<Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>
<Ding. You have 2 seconds left to log out>
As the eyes around him watched him in shock, his figure blurred and in one single movement, he grabbed the thing that was the most important to him and rushed into the roughly formed space with all the speed he could muster.
<Ding. The tutorial is now permanently shut down>
<Ding. Good luck to all occupants of realm 145673>
…
…
…
On the other side, the game capsule cracked open as Liam stood up from within it. Surprisingly, the capsule completely disintegrated and disappeared as light dust the next second.
But Liam did not pay attention to that as he had already witnessed this once before. Instead, he looked outside the window as an earth-shattering thunder roared alive. A blinding massive lightning bolt descended from the heavens above.
Multiple tornadoes started appearing out of nowhere all over the world, and before anyone could even take a breath, chaos and commotion completely descended in their full form.
Everything that happened in his previous life once again repeated. The tutorial was truly over. Now it was the real deal. "Come out," Liam said as his soul minions started appearing one after the other.
Immediately, a red system screen also flashed in front of him. On that, two words blinked brightly, catching his attention above all.
Name: Liam
User Level: 80
…
…
…
Meanwhile, in a corner of the world, on some frigid northern ice land, a young boy stepped out of his house without a single piece of winter wear on his body. It was as if the biting cold could do no harm to him.
More shockingly, when he opened his mouth, a female voice sounded as a thick evil aura dripped out of him. "I am finally out." He turned around to walk towards the ice-cold wilderness that the currently raging snowstorm had created.
On his back, there was a big dragon tattoo.
Coincidentally, around the same time, a weak, sickly old man also walked out of a house in Egypt. "What world am I in?" The old man grimaced. "It doesn't matter. I, Crawford, am free. I am no longer restricted by anything."
The old man then revealed a big grin as he inhaled a big breath of fresh air. "I am coming for you, you bastard. I am going to take back everything that belongs to me, and this time, there is nothing stopping me."
***** END OF VOLUME 5****
