As the rain drenched Liam completely, making his hair stick to his body and clothes, his thoughts became muddled. Trying to understand everything that was unfolding was a fool's errand. How could he possibly try to understand what was happening with so little information? He snapped out of it, took a few deep breaths, and calmed down. It did not matter. Right now, the why or how did not matter. Once again, only survival mattered. They need to somehow get through this. Liam waited and watched as everything around him worsened. The event that was going to happen next was not exactly new to him. In the first wave, there were portals from which weaker beasts charged out to their world, but now there were going to be literal rips in the air around them as hundreds and thousands of stronger beasts were going to emerge. Stronger for others but not so much for him. So he wasn't particularly anxious about it. After the last fight, this would pretty much be hands-off. One could say even a good way to blow some steam. "I really need to farm experience points with this wave." Liam started thinking about what to do as he was past the initial shock of the event occurring too early. Soon, everything turned more and more volatile, with the sky seeming as if it was going to break apart and shatter completely. The pouring rain worsened, and all the blood from the battleground was slowly washed away, absorbed back into the earth. And Liam, as well, was waiting and keeping an eye out for things. However, before he could spot any beasts rampaging out of mid-air, he saw something else. Something that he did not expect. Even in the dastardly pouring rain, there was something shining brightly. It was small, almost insignificant, but clearly, it stood out as if it did not belong in the current world. "Is that blood?" Liam walked closer. While all the other blood seemed to have washed away, there was a single drop of blood mysteriously floating in the air as if it was above everything else. "This…" Liam's eyes widened in shock. "Could this be related to that powerful vampire?" After the blood effigy went down, things had devolved so quickly that perhaps something indeed got left behind? He quickly grabbed it, or at least tried to. The drop of blood stung his hands, so he had to use mana first to wrap it, and then he pulled it onto his palm. He was just about to examine it further when something rumbled loudly near him. The second wave was going to start any second now. "Hmmm. Now is not the time to be playing around with this." Liam quickly placed the drop of blood into the spatial artifact and turned toward the source of the disturbance. He also dismissed his soul minions who were wandering out and summoned them once again, bringing them all near him, ready for an all-out battle. The next second… RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE Something started shaking loudly in the vicinity, and a shattering sound echoed. "There!" Liam patted Luna, pointing in the distance where there was a sign of disturbance, a tremor on the ground with the trees in the area falling down like bowling pins. Luna growled and immediately dashed toward that spot. However, when they arrived, Liam did not see the rip in the air that he expected. Instead, the ground underneath was quaking violently. Little cracks appeared, and the next second, the ground itself was splitting apart. "What?" Liam patted the fox, signaling her to move as this was clearly not supposed to be happening. He had personally witnessed the second wave, and this was not how it began. Luna immediately backed away and hovered in the air as the two of them observed the ground in front of them from a safe distance. Meanwhile, the earth continued to break. The cracks only became longer and wider, and then, right in front of their eyes, something even more unbelievable happened. A small protrusion jutted out of the ground from nowhere and started bursting out. At first, it was like a small pyramid, like a sand castle on a beach, but it continued rising up and up without showing any signs of stopping. Soon, it became a small hill and then a huge hill??? "What is this?" Liam's eyes widened in shock. He realized that the obvious answer was staring at him right in his face. Not only had the timing of the second wave of apocalypse changed, but what was going to come out had also changed. "No, that's not possible." However, that was exactly what was happening. Right in front of his eyes, the huge hill shook a little, and from within started emerging a strange creature. The second wave of the apocalypse was here, and it was nothing like he had experienced before. *** *** *** Outside the Crimson Abyss guild territory… A group of people dressed in prim military attire arrived. Each and every one of them was armed with heavy weaponry. There was also a huge group of civilians along with them, armed as well. And it was not just them. Several armored trucks, fighter tanks, bigger supply trucks, cars, motorbikes, and so on lined up outside the guild territory. However, all of them were stationed right outside the guild territory, not a single unit taking another step forward or making a move. Only one man got down from one of the vehicles and walked forward. His gaze was cold and stern, and he looked at the peaceful lands ahead of them. There was not a single sign of disturbance. No mutant beasts, no mana zombies. If not for the complete absence of crowds and traffic choking the place, one might even assume that they were still living in the old world. "They really did manage to bring everything under control, huh…" Zhu Huang mumbled to himself. If Liam had been here, he would have immediately recognized this man. He was the same military General who had negotiated a deal with him peacefully and had talked at length about the honor in serving their glorious nation.