Liam watched the proceedings silently. It took a moment for him to snap back to reality from the horror he had just witnessed. But somehow he was back here on solid ground again.
He did not know what exactly happened or what he even saw. Strangely, for some reason, his memory was becoming vaguer and vaguer. It was as if he was in a stupor. A moment later, he couldn't even recollect what happened.
Liam froze. He only remembered the final island back in the trials but he couldn't recollect what happened after that. He knew that it was something crucial. He also knew that it was something that had left a lasting impact on him but for some reason, he just couldn't remember.
Liam shook it off. He did not have the time right now to think about that. Perhaps when he was more rested he would remember it automatically. There was no need to stress about it at the moment.
He coldly gazed at his surroundings with his heart starting to beat faster. He couldn't believe he was actually standing right next to the world tree. He knew that the trials were leading him somewhere but he did not expect to simply be uprooted, shoved through a bunch of hoops, and put back right on the finish line.
Liam looked around, unsure of what his next move should be. He had no idea how powerful these elves surrounding him were. One wrong move could cost him everything.
However, it looked was his lucky day. Just as he was wondering what he should do at the moment and who his enemies were, they themselves decided to demonstrate it for him.
The armies stepped back and nine elves who stood out started fighting amongst themselves. Liam only needed two seconds to understand the strength of his competition. The next second he decided he was going to go home with the guardian's blessing. While these elves were strong, they were not quite close to the monsters that he was wary of.
Liam prepared to use all of his cards to win here at any cost. He did not want to be overconfident in case the elves were hiding something, perhaps trump cards of their own.
He activated the two barrier shields he had forged into his wrist bracers and looked for the weakest link in front of him.
While the elves were busy fighting against each other, he attacked the one who looked to be imbalanced and unfocused from the mental attack. He imbued ice elemental dao in his attack and swung his sword towards the staggering elf. His blade, wreathed in a chilling aura, cut through the air with a sound like the whispering wind, aiming for a lethal blow.
He was going to clear the path for the guardian's blessing with everything he had. He had come too close and he was not planning to make this a fair fight.
As his sword descended, the icy aura intensified, tendrils of frost spiraling off the blade. The elf, despite his weakened state, sensed the incoming danger. With a herculean effort, he managed to raise a barrier at the last moment, deflecting Liam's attack. The collision of ice against crystal-like leaves that surrounded the elf resulted in a resounding clash, sending shards of frost scattering in all directions.
The crystal leaves have protected the elf several times before, proving to be a formidable defense skill in which he had a lot of proficiency. But now in a single attack, it was all gone. He felt as if he was facing a monster.
Liam didn't hesitate; he immediately followed up with a series of swift, precise strikes, each augmented by his mastery over the ice elemental dao. The elf couldn't react at all and by the sixth attack, he was completely done for.
Having exhausted all of his potions and artifacts just to get through the trials of the guardian, he had nothing left to help him. The elf fell down lifelessly as Liam swung his sword again, attacking the same weak spot.
The first one was dead. Liam took a deep breath as he observed the situation around him.
It was good that he had killed off one of his competitors but now all the attention was on him. He did not care about it because this was going to happen sooner or later. What he did not want was for the more powerful elves to appear in the battleground. So he wanted to finish this fight as soon as possible.
Liam noticed a Stormshroud Empire elf running at him to take revenge. It was time to go berserk.
"Come out." He summoned his soul blood beast army that could stand toe to toe with these elves, especially with their numbers, but he suddenly stopped.
This was because before he could go berserk, it looked like someone else decided to do the same. One of the elves, who was wearing blood red robes attacked the elf from the Stormshroud Empire and killed him off before Liam could even lift a finger.
He then smirked at Liam casually as he started targeting the other elves as well.
Liam stopped, looking at the scene of the massacre indifferently. He simply watched as the elf killed one after the other, not even letting off the soldiers in the eight armies who didn't involve themselves in the fight between the chosen ones.
While the blood elf himself was powerful, he was also augmented by the small group of blood elves who seemed to be casting some sort of supporting spell on him.
Liam tried to observe what was going on.
A few minutes later, the blood elf cleanly finished off every single competition in sight. He then turned towards the one other person who was still standing.
"You haven't run yet?" Rindos narrowed his eyes as he stared at Liam viciously, his eyes completely bloodshot. Blood dripped from his eyes and mouth in a vulgar fashion as if he were a mindless frenzied beast devouring everything around him.