"Oh!" Alex stared blankly. "You mean they won't become sick or lose their minds anymore?"
"Yup." Liam assured her. "So basically everyone who didn't stay idle and sit at home cowering in fear would be safe."
"Levelling up is also not the only way. They just need to do something. Either kill the beasts or at least obtain beast meat in some other way like trading for other items."
"If enough beast meat is consumed, the chances of being affected by mana are greatly reduced." Liam explained.
"This is just natural selection. We cannot do anything about it. Those who can adapt will survive, and those who cannot will die. This is just how it is."
Alex nodded in understanding. Everyone else standing around also overheard the conversation. They couldn't help but be grateful to Liam.
He not only took care of the bare necessities but also went above and beyond to ensure the well-being of their families. He was protecting them from things that they did not even know existed.
Once everyone was aware of the danger involved, the group began distributing tasks with much more seriousness, as no one wanted to lose their loved ones.
Leaving these tasks to the guild members, Liam and the main group, who had just now gone hunting for portal elites, silently retired to the other part of the hotel.
The group was tired after the continuous grind. Liam, naturally, was unscathed, but the same couldn't be said for everyone else.
Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei and Shin Soo, all of them had sustained some amount of injuries while fighting against the elites.
Rey was relatively unharmed, but since the others were involved in direct combat, they were scratched, cut, and bruised in several places.
Thankfully, arrangements had already been made for this purpose. A group of four were attending to all the fighters who had returned from combat and to those injured in some other way.
A sort of makeshift health station had been established. The group received some basic first-aid treatment from them while Liam checked on his sister for a bit before heading right back outside along with Luna.
The main reason he had returned was to warn everyone about mana zombies and how unsuspecting people could turn dangerous, but now that the issue was dealt with, he swiftly returned back to the task at hand.
"Everything is going well, Luna. Better than I expected." He patted the fox and hopped on her. The duo then set off, making their first stop at the magic store.
"Woah. Mr. Liam. You are already back to turn in more quests." Tilia rushed out to greet him like always, flashing the same coquettish smile.
Liam waved at her. "Ha Ha. Is there anything else that I should be doing?" He did not expect it and had only said the words casually, but the fairy's expression slightly changed nonetheless. This did not escape Liam's observation.
"Ha Ha Ha. I meant that I would like to pay off my debts as soon as possible." He added with a wink, waiting for the other party to say something.
However, the fairy smoothly glossed over the conversation, continuing to talk about the store quests and simply throwing in several words of praise for Liam.
He, too, continued to smile, but he was certain of something. The fairy knew more about the current situation than he did, even though this was his second time around.
Also, there was probably something else that he should be doing at the moment.
What could this be?
The first wave of beasts has passed, and the crisis now involved mana zombies. These two events might be threatening to humanity and the planet as a whole, but Liam was definitely above their impact level.
So what was it that he should be doing?
Liam walked over to the quest board while continuing to mull over this issue. He submitted the few quests that required certain body parts of the elite beasts, like liver, gall bladder, and eyes.
In the end, he only managed to finish a few, and it was not enough to reach the next stage.
This was something he had already expected, so Liam did not care too much about it and exited the shop after bidding farewell to the overly zealous fairy.
"I need to come here more often, Luna. I should make her talk more." He made a mental note as he glanced at the shop one more time before the fox took off.
Without the other baggage on top of her, Luna's speed was faster than ever as she cruised through the wide-open skies and arrived at the next gate.
This time they started searching for the gates in the opposite direction, and not long after, they ran into the first one.
Since it was just Liam and Luna, Liam did not bother to reign in the fox, and the beast went all out. As if she was too tired from dealing with slow pokes all day long, she blurred in and out and raced from one gate to another.
Naturally, the fight with the elite after reaching the respective gate was also a piece of cake, as all she had to do was open her mouth and send out a fire burst.
The opponent was simply burned to a crisp without ever getting a chance to know why they were dead.
The first, unfortunately, elite directly turned to ashes, but then Liam quickly reminded her of the reason why they were doing this in the first place.
Kyuuu! Sorry master! The fox became embarrassed. She trod lightly around the next boss, trying to leave the body, or at least most of it, unharmed.
The grinding was still quite efficient, as the duo managed to grab another twenty kills within a few hours, and Liam also added another 20 elites to his army, along with their respective mana cores.
Everything was proceeding well, and as an added public service, he was also closing portals left and right, helping others in general.
The two were just about to continue doing their routine when suddenly Liam noticed something unusual. In the distance, there was a small red glow in the sky.
***
Mass Release Chapter 2~
Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this mass release!
