Chapter 232: First Round Over The stormtroopers mainly gained their reputation and power and rose as a strong guild because of twelve key players. And these twelve players were also the ones currently doing maximum damage to the demon army. So before they could render the demons and the golems heavily injured, Liam rushed forward to deal with these key players. They were not easy to identify as they were hidden amidst the chaotic mess of average players but Liam could easily spot these guys like gemstones in the trash. He pushed his stats by using mana and appeared behind the guys one after the other. Of course, he started with the guild leader first. Sterling wasn't just a leader for namesake. He did have actual talents and he played as a ranged marksman who commanded beasts. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 His beasts were also extraordinary and together their dps was one of the highest. Liam did not bother dealing with the individual beasts and aimed straight for their master. He dashed through the mess of different attacks flying around and arrived next to the long-range players where Sterling was located. [Wind Blast] [Fire Storm] [Ice Burst] He immediately unleashed three of his strongest AOE attacks disrupting the rhythm of the long-range players and forcing them to move. "What the heck? What is this now?!" Sterling shouted in anger and frustration. He was one of the players aiming to take down the golems and he was startled when someone landed smackdab in the middle of their newly formed back offense line. He quickly retreated back several steps evading all the attacks, but not before he took some amount of damage. However, the other ranged players were not as skilled and ended up taking a lot more damage than he did. Gritting his teeth, he swung around to attack this new enemy instead of the golems. He aimed for the opponent and in a hurry sent out several arrows activating the skill [Arrow Barrage] and only then took a proper look at who it was. And the next instant, he stiffened up. He had assumed that a demon had randomly jumped into their fray but it was not any ordinary demon. Rather it was the black-masked person. Before Sterling could recover from this shock, he noticed another thing, something far more unexpected and startling. In his hand, the 'black-masked oni' held a dark purple sword. It was a plain and simple sword, looking exceedingly ordinary. However, the sight of that weapon struck fear in his heart. "What is that weapon?" He muttered in a daze. Just recently, he had heard a lot and searched a lot about this kind of dark purple weapon, but now one such thing was right in front of him. And what was even more shocking was that this weapon was in the hands of the person nick-named 'oni'. The player had only recently started to become famous as he appeared in several spots in the different kingdoms randomly and assaulted the players along with a small demon army. No one knew who this person was and what their background was. Everything about him was mysterious. Some people did not even believe that this person was a player. There was a theory that he was a special NPC related to a special event. But now that Sterling stood right in front of him, he knew for a fact that he was a player and if he was not wrong, he was also in possession of a terrifying weapon. The sword in his hands, dark and purple was very similar to the chest guard Derek had used a few days ago in the PVP arena. They almost looked like they could belong to a set. Of course, this could merely be a coincidence and the sword might not be anything that special. Sterling needed more information before he made any sort of conclusion. And this could be obtained if he sparred with this mysterious opponent. Perhaps then he might be able to glean about the weapon in his hands and also figure out a few details about this player. As a guild leader with such a special player standing in front of him, he couldn't help but want to recruit him. Even in the midst of such a chaotic atmosphere, he couldn't resist thinking about this. He commanded two of his five beasts to come to his aide to overpower him. Not only that, but he also shouted, ordering other players near him to stop targeting the golem and attack the black-masked player. With these two beasts, the other players, and his full efforts, he firmly believed that he could push back the single opponent that he was facing. Unfortunately… that did not seem to be the case… Sterling only barely had the time to give out orders and send his next attack when the purple sword flashed next to him and his health instantly halved. "No." He took out a health potion to recover and quickly dunked it in. But the next second, the health that was just now replenished once again plummeted down without a reprieve. Sterling was utterly dumbfounded. "Hercules! Charge and stun!" He shouted at the three-headed lion that he had tamed. However, it was all too late. Liam already arrived behind him, once again striking at him, aiming for his vital points. SLASH. SLASH. SLASH. Sterling's health dropped like a deflated balloon until it completely beeped and flatlined. He could only stare at the indifferent emotionless black mask before dropping down dead. Liam took this chance to also finish off a couple of other players who were standing around at the spot and bombarding their attacks on him. "One done. Who is next?" Liam quickly spotted the other talented players in the group and aimed for them one after the other. With him taking down the heavy hitters, the golems inducing mass havoc, and the demons dealing melee damage, the guild group couldn't take it for much longer and before long, they collapsed completely. A huge group of 50 elite players was just like that wiped out. Suddenly, the entire crater was filled with ominous silence, only interrupted by the panting and snarling sounds of the demons. Liam also looked around, taking this sight in slowly. He had fought with his small squad before but fighting with a platoon was definitely different. It almost felt as if he had just commanded a whole army. Their group also suffered some casualties. A few demons were heavily injured and a couple of demons were killed. However, Liam's personal team did not suffer even a single injury. The ten demons still were alert and vicious, on the lookout for the presence of new enemies. And this was to be expected. Since he had mass recruited a lot of new demon beasts, some of them would be weak and some of them would be terrible, completely not suited for battle. It was better to weed out such candidates. Considering everything, the crop of demons he had now, were actually very strong because they were able to stand their ground and fight. Satisfied with everything he saw, Liam let out a long breath and dismissed the golems. He then turned to look at the demons and loudly commanded. "Alright. Quickly use the items I distributed and recover your health and stamina. This fight is not yet over." "Hiriyu, collect all the loot and bring it to me. You know the drill." Liam gave out clear and concise instructions to all the different groups. He then went deeper into the crater where the ground was very shaky and unsteady. There were constantly fissures appearing and disappearing, dense fumes of fire bursting out. He knew that the fight with the stormtroopers guild was far from over. They were probably going to return to the crater along with their backup with their numbers doubled or more. Liam could easily deal with this by camping on the closest graveyard or attacking them right away as they were respawning. But he did not do this as he wanted more numbers to come in first. Liam had a feeling that these guys came here prepared beforehand. Their encounter just now did not look coincidental. Previously, every time they used the invasion portal, they always had the upper hand and the element of surprise, but this time, they were not the ones who had attacked first. Rather it was the opponent who had attacked first. Now that Liam thought about it, he wondered if there were any specific missions related to these invasion portals. This world was not unbalanced so when he got the chance to participate in these missions, he knew that there could potentially be missions from the other side to tackle these invasions. In fact, he was quite lucky to have come across this bunch of people first. If he had run across other strong players and been ambushed by them, things might not have gone so smoothly. He might have suffered severe consequences and could have even lost all the reputation and his personal army that he had painstakingly built so far. Thinking about this Liam sighed in relief. It looked like these platoon missions were not that simple. He needed to make more preparations next time. "Hmmm… I wonder if that item will work. Better to think about that later." Liam was not completely helpless and he had a few ideas about how to deal with this situation. However, he was still in the middle of the current invasion, so he couldn't afford to think about the next one now. He silently walked over to the depths of the crater and then took out the egg in his inventory, holding it carefully in his hands.