Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Please open the door. Please open the door." The woman wailed in fear, pounding on everyone's doors. However, it was completely useless. No one paid any attention to her situation and turned deaf ears to her cries for help.
But at the same time, it was not so simple to escape the grasp of the mana-infused human being. Like a rabid animal, he crashed here and there, in the process even breaking down some of the cheaply built doors and wall structures.
Wooden splitters and sand dust flew everywhere as huge holes started appearing. Now the inhabitants no longer had the safety of their homes, and it was no longer just the single woman who was screaming and running for her life.
Several panicked people started running out of the building, all of them shouting in fear. The person who had lost his mind because of mana chased them out instinctively and even managed to get a couple of them.
His hands bashed their heads against the wall with a force that made human skulls crack open like egg shells. Brain matter splattered everywhere, and pools of blood formed on the floor. The single mana zombie was enough to unlead utter terror on the group of normal people.
When compared to the Level 0 humans, the mana zombie's strength and movement were like that of a Level 15 beast.
No one stood a chance against the single rabid guy and could only run away from him in fear. The man's limbs and face were also currently swollen up with veins popping out, making him look all the more terrifying.
Luckily, they were able to outrun the monster barely. If someone stumbled on their path, then that was the end. Only death awaited them.
Seeing this, all the inhabitants of the small neighbourhood started running away randomly, fleeing in different directions for their lives. In just a few minutes, the entire place fell into complete chaos.
This was the terror of a mana zombie! One was enough to cause numerous casualties.
Unlike in the fictional books and movies, people who got scratched by the creature did not get infected or contract some form of the disease, falling into the risk of turning into one themselves.
But on the minus side, no one really lived to tell this tale. The mana zombie never simply scratched. The hits were always strong and deadly. It one shot all its victims to a meat pulp.
That's why this was one of the main reasons the world's population plummeted. First, the beast wave and then the appearance of zombies. Humanity was dealt a crushing blow right from the get-go.
Standing on the side, Liam and Luna watched this scene indifferently. The fox couldn't care less about the plight of the human beings who were not related to her master, while Liam knew better than to intervene at the moment.
He gave it one more minute, and only when most of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood were outside and praying for a miracle he finally made a move.
The mana zombie might be strong for normal humans, but for a level 80 human being, it did not pose any threat. Liam only needed one casual hit to finish the guy.
Seeing him publicly decimate the abomination, everyone loudly cheered and rejoiced. The people who were fleeing as well stopped running away and turned to look at the scene.
Liam had purposefully made a spectacle out of the whole situation exactly for this purpose. He dragged the corpse out for everyone to see, putting it in the middle of the ground where the neighbourhood had gathered.
He then looked at the anxious and terrified crowd and addressed them calmly.
"I have solved the issue for now, but be careful in the future. Everyone who hasn't consumed mutated beast meat or properly adapted to this new world has a risk of turning into a monster just like this person."
"If you want to know more, visit that beacon of light." Liam pointed to the magic shop in the distance.
He did not want to give away the location of the guild base directly. Instead, he gave directions to the shop, where at all times, one or the other member of the guild always hung around and could guide these newcomers.
This was important because humans seldom had the tendency to appreciate things that happened easily and came to them for free.
This way, they would have to work a little to get to the base and then go through the selection process, which would result in them appreciating and valuing the facility more. pan(da-n0vel.c)om
After speaking these few words, Liam then nodded at Luna. The fox immediately ballooned up and swaggered over to Liam. The duo then took off without caring about anything else.
However, the moment after they left, everyone immediately started murmuring and whispering to each other. It did not look like Liam had done much, but the effect he had was phenomenal, specifically what he said.
They had to consume beast meat? Was there a chance that they could also turn like this?
Everyone gulped in fear and shock. They looked at their family members, worried that the same thing might happen to them as well.
Most of the people were simply waiting for this phase to pass and for the government to take over once again so that things would be back to normal but today's incident only showed that they were merely daydreaming.
Perhaps things were only going to get worse. When faced with this harsh reality, everyone began to discuss their options hurriedly and about the person who had just now rescued them.
Most of the crowd was grateful for Liam's intervention, and some of them even considered him to be their saviour. The woman whose husband had turned into the zombie in the first place was still bowing to the spot where Liam had stood and addressed everyone.
If not for him, there would have definitely been a massacre in this neighbourhood. They admired his strength and applauded that he had gone out of the way to help them for nothing in return.
Naturally, many were envious of the power he possessed and wished that they could become someone like that. Talks about the Crimson Abyss guild also surfaced.
They might not have recognized Liam but Luna was a very famous celebrity. She gave away Liam's identity, and the gamers in the group informed others about who had helped them out. Immediately many decided to join the guild.
Since Liam had given them clear instructions about what to do, some people even packed their bags and started biking and driving their cars over to the beacon of light in the distance using the last bit of fuel they had saved.
It was clear that they needed to help themselves. The government was not moving fast enough.
Rather than believing in something that might or might not happen, they decided to check out the address given by the person who had actually saved them.
However, this fraction of the crowd was rather less. Many still headed back to their houses and stayed inside, hoping for a rescue team to drop at their doorstep and make all these nightmares disappear.
Meanwhile… from a distance, Liam received the news from one of his soul minions that were patrolling the area he had only just left. He wanted to keep an eye on what was happening, so he paid attention.
"So about ten families listened to my words, huh… not bad for a start." He indifferently said. This was just the beginning.
When more people begin to turn into mindless monsters, eventually, they would all have no other choice but to come running to him.
Liam particularly did not care about this outcome. These were weaklings and probably would require a lot of training and effort to contribute anything at all to the guild.
At the same time, he wanted to give everyone at least a fighting chance. After all, he knew very well what it was to be weak and helpless and have nowhere to turn to. Once upon a time, he was also like this.
Heck, against certain individuals, he was still not strong enough. In a way, they were all in the same boat, struggling to survive their own battles. So he did not look down upon anyone's weakness.
However, despite being offered a chance, if they still did not take any action to survive, then that was no longer his concern. He wanted to pull others up, but that did not mean that he was a bleeding heart.
"Let's go, Luna. Everything will fall into place eventually."
Patting the luxuriously soft white fur, Liam asked the fox to go to a nearby isolated area. It was time for the main course. He wanted to address the main reason why he had taken the time to do all of this.
He wanted to test his new mana zombie soul undead.
Liam stood in the middle of the big football-sized ground that was covered with wildly grown trees and plants.
This place was once a neatly mowed lawn with various structures for the children to play, such as swings and see-saw, but now it resembled a mini forest with the trees and plants completely taking over.
Amidst this wilderness, Liam calmly summoned his newly forged soul minion. He had not forgotten to grab the dead soul even though he had put on a show for everyone to see. This was the main reason why he had gone there in the first place.
Luna snarled as the new undead immediately materialized in front of the duo. Liam also watched the minion with rapt attention, trying to get a sense of its soul.
The duo silently stood and stared at the newly forged undead for several minutes. Not knowing what to do, the newly forged undead as well stared at the duo back, whilst scratching its head with its finger.
A few more minutes passed by like this when eventually, Liam let out a sigh and dismissed the minion. His hunch had been correct but that was all he knew so far.
He could tell that it was quite different from the normal soul minions he had forged so far but he couldn't understand exactly why. It was more like the minion was too weak for it to reveal any secrets to him.
The only thing that he could figure out was that even though when alive the mana 'zombie' had lost its mental faculties, when forged into a soul minion, it still obeyed his commands and did not run wild just like it did before dying.
So technically it regained some of ite mental faculties or perhaps its soul was not fully degraded like its physical body that as soon as it gained a soul body, it was able to think a little?
"Tsk. Tsk. What I thought was 100% correct. These could definitely become more powerful than normal human minions but I am not able to figure out how and why this soul is different. Hmmm. Maybe I just need more samples." Liam silently pondered.
Mana zombies were different from normal humans in the sense that every part of their body had been infused with pure mana, completely overwriting the basic biological wiring of the body.
This was why Liam had thought that the soul minions forged from mana zombies were perhaps more powerful when compared to normal soul minions.
However, he could only compare this between one human soul minion to another. There wasn't any beast mana zombie at least until the extent that he knew of.
"Well, I will come back to this when I make more of the same." Instead of wasting any more time, Liam hopped back on Luna and headed back to the base.
Even before they landed, they could see that the base was as lively as ever, with more and more people beginning to queue up outside the building. Recruitment was in full swing.
The news about the mana zombies was also starting to circulate, along with some rumours. People were more eager than ever to join the guild in order to obtain some beast meat for their families.
And since there were strict rules about dungeon raiding teams and membership hierarchy, people were willing to do almost anything at this point to become a part of their guild.
They had already missed a chance to join the Crimson Abyss guild back in the tutorial game, and they did not want to commit the same blunder again.
When Liam and Luna arrived at the base, they were greeted by an unexpectedly large crowd, not the ones from outside but rather the ones from inside.
"Liam, we are no longer able to access the dungeon." Alex folded her arms in front of her chest as she walked forward and mouthed the issue.
The two teams had attempted, as usual, to do the daily dungeon runs, but when they tried to step inside the portal, nothing was happening. Instead, they had obtained a system notification that the dungeon was currently being updated.
Hmmm…" Liam nodded. He had somewhat anticipated that this would occur. Though he had hoped that the update was only specific to him, it looked like it had indeed ended up affecting the whole dungeon structure.
"That would be my bad." He smiled and explained what had happened and how he had triggered that update. Everyone stared in awe.
They were only now struggling to clear the first level of the dungeon, but Liam had not only cleared all five levels, he also triggered an update that was probably going to make the dungeon harder.
Looking at everyone's blank faces, Liam quickly added. "Since these two are not available, we just have to discover new ones. I am sure that there are more dungeon portals."
"Right." Alex nodded with a bitter smile. The problem was not that. The problem was the glaring difference in strength between Liam and the other members of the guild.
She did not know about the others, but she clenched her fists tightly, wanting to close this distance between the two of them. pan(da-n0vel.c)om
Perhaps she was always fated to remain weaker than this person and could never match up to him. Still, she wanted to change this destiny of hers and become as strong as him.
"You heard the man. What are we all waiting for? Let's go then. Come on. Come on. Chop. Chop. Pack some supplies."
"Since we temporarily don't have dungeons to train, lets look for stray beasts nearby and hunt them down." Alex loudly commanded, and the group immediately started making preparations.
She then turned towards Liam and asked him, "I am assuming you want to take care of the dungeon finding business?"
Liam nodded in agreement. While they could also search for new dungeons, it would be a waste of manpower and efforts, not to mention very time consuming.
For finding the remaining dungeons, one would have to comb through the entirety of the country even, and would need to cover a lot of distance.
It was better that he took care of this personally because it would be far more efficient.
With the help of Luna and his soul minions, he would have to at most spend a few days to find new dungeons.
In fact, even without his soul minions, he would still be faster than others in this aspect. This was the advantage of having a flying mount.
For others it could take several months and there was a chance they might still return empty-handed. So this was a no brainer.
Liam discussed a few more details with Alex, Rey and Shin Soo. He also warned the group about the ferocity of the stray beasts.
When they first emerged out of the portals, they were mostly lower-leveled but now after these past couple of days it was possible that some of them underwent mutations and evolutions to become stronger.
It was a very real possibility that powerful elites and field boss level monsters might have evolved. So he warned them about these irregulars before sending them off.
Liam then checked the time and noticed that he still had a few hours left before the 24 hour deadline was up so he decided to take a good rest for the remainder of the day.
After all, his next opponents wouldn't be normal monsters. If the dungeon were successfully updated, then he would have to start facing higher level beasts soon, and perhaps those that possess mana cores.
So he wanted to be 100% prepared for this encounter and face the dungeon while he was at his best.
Liam silently walked up the stairs in deep contemplation and then flopped onto the bed to get a good rest. It was still bright outside, so it was an odd time of the day to actually sleep, but he had enough residual tiredness that he immediately fell asleep.
However, just after a few minutes, he drifted off into the same recurring nightmare that was his previous life. When Liam woke up again, he was sweating all over.
Haaa! He let out a deep breath and pulled the lazy fox lying next to him all bundled up.
Luna was still here, and this was a different life, not the one that he dreaded. He smiled a little as he reminded himself of this fact.
He looked out the window to observe the city around him, and everything seemed so calm and quiet. Unlike his previous life, where everyone was hiding and fleeing right about now, the current atmosphere was almost as if nothing had happened.
It was easy to become complacent and over-confident under such conditions, but Liam knew better than that.
With the future that awaited them, even if he grew slightly arrogant, there would only be death waiting. He needed to work harder and prepare more.
"Let's go, Luna. Time to start grinding."
He tossed the fox who was enjoying his warm and cozy hug onto the ground and got out of bed with an aim. It was time to do some work and old-fashioned fighting.
After leaving the base, Luna arrived at the entrance of the first dungeon in a jiffy. Right off the bat, Liam could see that the dungeon was different now.
Earlier the portal was a pale green color, but now it was a bright emerald color. Even looking from the outside, it gave off a vibe that it was richer and denser in mana.
"We might be in for a ride." Liam clenched his fist in excitement. He couldn't wait to start fighting as he cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.
Luna followed suit and repeated the same movements, but it only looked cute and adorable when the fox did the same. As her three tails swayed in the wind, the two of them disappeared into the dungeon.
Almost instantly, a thick waft of mana assaulted Liam. He could lick the energy in the air. He looked around observing the surroundings of the dungeon.
It was quite similar to the previous one. Another cavern network with rocky sand walls on all sides. However, the passageways seemed to be wider and taller.
There was also something else in the air, a palpable tension. Though he was standing in a similar place as before, this time it felt completely different. Liam's gaze hardened as he traced his fingers on the wall, feeling the toughness.
Just what changes did the dungeon undergo?
Before he could finish the thought, loud guttural growls echoed in the passageway, and something big and heavy thudded in the distance.
The footsteps grew closer and louder as big figures started to emerge from the shadows. A dozen giant orcs stood in front of Liam, grunting and snorting.
And these were not just ordinary orcs. Liam could tell that much from just looking at them.
"Inspect."
[Orc Elite; Level 61]
The orcs growled and rushed forward, not waiting for Liam to examine them in peace. Every single step they took rumbled across the cavern and right now they were stampeding toward him with huge maces in their hands.
The weapon looked very heavy and sturdy just like its wielder. The spikes on the mace seemed to be made from some sort of special material. They had a reddish glow to them.
Apart from the mace, their huge bodies were also covered in other armor which also had the same spikes lined on them.
Just judging from the looks these had to be at least Magical grade or even Unique grade and they definitely boosted the strength of these brutes giving them an intimidating aura.
Liam couldn't see beyond this point with his current [Inspect] skill. However, it was very clear to him that these orcs were completely different from the orcs he had fought back against in the first version of the same dungeon.
Even their skin tone was different as the other orcs were light brown in color while these were dark brown in color. They were also taller and a lot more muscular with dense blood veins winding like snakes around these thick muscles.
"Wyverns!" Liam directly summoned his strongest unit for clashing with these orcs. He wanted to gauge the strength of these creatures before unleashing the smaller guys.
His soul minions were strong but the only drawback they had was their ability to regenerate. It was not infinite so it was best to avoid uncertain situations and his gut feeling told him that this was one.
The wyverns swiftly materialized as soon as Liam commanded and the draconian beasts stood tall against the huge elite orcs. They not only matched the 12 feet height of the orc elites but they were also equally threatening as they stared down upon the inferior creatures.
However, unlike the previous opponents, these orcs surprisingly did not shake and trembled on seeing the wyverns. Instead, they clashed with even more gusto.
Their growls dripped with bloodthirstiness as they swung their maces against the soul minions without any fear in their big reddened eyes.
The wyverns naturally did not back down and blocked and parried with them using their claws and tails.
There were fourteen orcs in total and only ten wyvern soul minions but the three-headed wyvern was able to handle more than three by itself. There were also two more wyverns that handled two orc elites each.
SMASH! RUMBLE!
SMASH! RUMBLE!
The fight raged on and to Liam's surprise, the two sides almost clashed evenly.
But this was only for a few seconds after which the three-headed wyvern opened his mouth and flooded the whole cavern with mana-rich attacks.
The other wyverns followed the example of the leader as one by one all of them started casting their magic attacks.
Fire, ice, lightning, earthen spikes, and razor-sharp winds assaulted the now crowded passageway sending the orc elites into a frenzy.
The protective armor they were wearing seemed to repel the attacks to some extent but after a couple of seconds they quickly gave out. They couldn't handle the intensity of the draconian attacks.
Though the orcs were able to match the physical strength of the soul minions, their magic resistance was still inferior. Perhaps they might be able to withstand the magic attacks from other people but the intensity of draconian magic was slightly stronger.
The attacks started piling up and they started losing chunks of their health. Soon the fight became one-sided and the orc elites started getting pushed back.
Liam watched this scene with his eyes narrowed. The battle was progressing smoothly for now with the advantage firmly rested on their side but what concerned him was that they had only barely started.
This was the first floor of the new and upgraded dungeon and the wyverns were already pushed to such an extent that they had to rely on their innate attacks?
Just how strong were these orcs and what did the other floors of the updated dungeon hold for him?
Liam grinned as he licked his lips in anticipation. He had a feeling that he would have to personally step in and fight today. He looked forward to it.