Liam shook his head helplessly as he watched the poor damage numbers float up the rock giants.
His only consolation was that he wasn't planning on actually dealing with these sturdy figures. He didn't have to kill them. He was only running out the clock until the portal closed.
Then they would naturally be pulled out of this insane place as well, returning back to the city.
It was indeed a pity to miss out on so many elite bosses. But at their current level, this was all that they could do.
"Look over here! Is your head filled with sand? I am your enemy, you mud brain fat ass!" Liam shouted, casting another fireball.
The rock giant grumbled something in return but he was not paying attention to it.
He watched his attack keenly as it smashed against the rock giant's sturdy body and disappeared into nothingness.
Perhaps if he could increase the intensity more…
Time ticked by and once again the situation became a training ground for Liam as he casually started evading the giants while focusing on his own attacks.
The demons anxiously stood on the side and they watched Liam with awe. They had a newfound respect for their leader.
They thought that they had been scammed for 15 silvers and that they were going to die, but now they could see their leader's prowess. Liam's every move was simply too perfect.
He had taken all the risk onto himself protecting everyone else. The demons had only heard about leaders using their soldiers as meat shields.
This was the first time they saw one risking his life for mere soldiers.
This chivalrous action of Liam had touched them greatly. One demon even had tears running down his face. They all watched him, forgetting to even blink.
This continued on for a while and before long, the portal shook and once again activated, pulling Liam and the rest of his squad into it.
Everyone promptly returned back to the central square in the city.
"Huzzzah! We are alive!"
"Leader, you are amazing!"
All the demons had wide happy faces as they sang praises of their fearless leader.
They didn't do anything during the mission and the team leader even took it upon himself to protect all of them and prevent their imminent death.
They had come out completely unscathed from an impossible situation!
It took them a couple of seconds to even remember the compensation Liam had promised them. And as they did, their faces slightly changed.
It was a big loss, but they didn't expect Liam to pay them. They didn't contribute anything and they also hadn't managed to gather any resources.
For every invasion mission undertaken, some amount of resources needed to be handed over to the Garrison's head.
Since they hadn't obtained anything this time, the next time whichever squad the leader commanded, they would need to work extra hard.
So would they still be offered compensation? Impossible!
All the demons looked at Liam anxiously with similar thoughts running in their heads when 15 silvers magically appeared on each of their hands.
"Good job." Liam calmly muttered, even wearing a smile on his face.
Ah… The demons were once again speechless.
This leader was just too good! He was completely different from all the horror stories they had heard about slave driving leaders!
Everyone opened and closed their mouths speechless. Before they could take in what just happened, Liam once again spoke.
"Ready? You guys are not tired, right? Same deal 15 silvers for the run. Hmmm. How about it?" He smiled warmly.
Of course, he was nice to them as he had a lot of plans for them...
All the five demon soldiers readily agreed and nodded their heads, as if they were worried that Liam would change his mind.
The five demons were simply minded commoners so now that Liam had given them a second chance, they wanted to fight hard and prove their worth.
Liam as well was pleased with their behavior and quickly activated the second portal.
In reality, he would have been more upset about losing the dozen elite bosses, not being able to reap even a single award from such a good opportunity.
But just as they were being kicked out of the invasion mission and pulled back into the portal, he had received the notifications that he had been anticipating for a while.
[Ding. You have learned Basic Fire Manipulation Skill]
[Ding. Your Fire Manipulation Skill is upgraded to intermediate]
[Ding. Your fire element attacks are boosted by 5%]
[Ding. You have learned Provoke Skill]
In front of these notifications, not being able to get the drops from a few elites was not a big loss to Liam.
He had been training this skill for a while now, day and night in the game, and finally, he managed to achieve it!
Combined with the previous boost that came from absorbing some fire elemental essence, Liam now had a 10% magic attack boost which was a lot of fire power.
In fact, when they were just getting kicked out, his last attack had managed to get a -30 damage, which was more than simply a 10% added boost.
His attack power on the whole had increased.
Liam had a feeling that if he had just a few more minutes, he could have done considerably more damage, perhaps even taking down one of the elite rock giants.
So he was itching to start another invasion mission and solidify the feeling he had and the concept he had managed to grasp.
Liam used another scroll and the blood circle immediately activated again, getting the attention of a few demons standing nearby.
"That squad is doing back to back missions?"
"Hmm? Newbies these days are very courageous!"
A few surprised looks came their way but everyone quickly went back to their own affair as other squads also moved out, all the demons working hard to curry favor with their leaders.
Meanwhile, Liam and his group once again landed on a vast open grassland.