Chapter 99 My Golden Goose!

Jennie shrieked out loud as blood splattered on her face.

She expected unbearable pain to follow soon after, but there was nothing.

A loud thud, and blood. That was all she had heard and seen.

Only a moment later, she saw tens of pieces of black steel splattering through the surroundings while Liam appeared in front of him.

The galaxies within his royal purple eyes had been unsealed as he looked to his right, gritting his teeth.

Liam had reacted quickly enough to the incoming danger and deflected the attack. He had seen something that had attracted his suspicion and worry and had instinctively moved closer to Jennie. After all, the young woman was the only one standing in a bad position.

Jennie was also weak and wouldn't be able to evade a crossbow bolt fired at her head.

Liam's black steel wrist protectors had turned into the Black Steel Shield the moment his hand shot past Jennie's head. Merely a moment later, the crossbow bolt impacted hard on his arm.

His Black Steel Shield shattered into tens of pieces and it continued to drill into his arm, though with a much weaker force than before.

Liam was not too sure if his right arm was broken or not, but that was the last thing on his mind.

"Who the hell allowed you fatass earthworms to attempt killing my golden goose!!" He roared out loudly while his head flicked to the right where a group of more or less 50 tiny, yet bulky humans, had appeared.

They were all standing there, next to the large stone cliff, aiming their crossbows at Liam and his group after they had encountered them the moment they reached the top of the valley.

"Tiny people?" Olivia asked quietly to herself. She had reacted too slowly to move and protect Jennie, but fortunately, that didn't result in Jennie's death. That gave Olivia the moment she needed to take a deep breath and analyze the newcomers.

"No they aren't tiny people…well they are, but they're not human," Liam pointed out, ignoring Jennie who he was holding with his left hand to move her aside.

His body covered her right side now, which felt safe and reassuring to Jennie. Despite that, her heart was pounding hard due to the near-death experience. She stared up to Liam, whose expression was slowly changing from being eerily calm to enraged.

She clearly heard Liam calling her his golden goose, which caused her to mumble to herself.

"I…do have a name though…"

Olivia's gaze flicked to Liam as he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Dwarves?"

"Bingo,"

The Dwarves looked just like the tiny men and women one would imagine them to be. They were short, stocky, and muscular with long beards and rough faces. They were dressed in heavy armor and equipped with several weapons, including broadswords, and battleaxes that hung over their shoulders.

They stared fiercely at Liam and the others. Interestingly enough, their focus was not on Liam, which gave him a lot o think about.

Their faces showed signs of being experienced hunters, true warriors, with deep lines and scars etched on their skin, a testimony to their time spent on the battlefield.

No matter what bad things Liam could reveal about Dwarves, they were physically strong, determined, and brave to an extent that it was borderline stupid.

However, their bravery and physical strength were not something Liam was worried about right now. He had often dealt with Runic Dwarves, and they were a little harder to tackle. That was not an issue.

The biggest difficulty while facing Dwarves was that they were usually extremely well-equipped. The Dwarven group of 50 members was all equipped with a full armor set, covering most of their vital areas.

'It has not even been a month since the Arcane Apocalypse commenced…and there is no First Circle Dwarf in the group,' Liam analyzed in his mind rapidly, concluding that the combat power of the Dwarves was strong, but not too strong. Their defenses were strong, but not impenetrable either.

The materials they had acquired were good but were not foolproof!

Liam figured that there was only one big issue.

There were a total of 50 dwarves with their weapons ready, facing Liam and the others, crossbows pointing straight at them, prepared to shoot at any moment.

Their first shot was more of a warning, a demonstration of their might. It was quite obvious to see that they were a little astonished about Liam's lightning-fast reflexes and the fact that he had stepped beside Jennie even before the crossbow bolt had been released, in the first place. However, that was already it.

The Dwarves quickly overcame their shock. Their minds were calm and they waited for any potential threatening movements from the group head.

'They all are breathing heavily…looks like you guys hiked a little with your heavy armors…' Liam mumbled in his mind, taking into consideration that the Dwarves were exhausted and potentially unable to react quickly to his actions.

The Dwarves were determined and a formidable force. The tension was palpable as the two groups faced off, none of them uttering a single word to each other.

Liam was still a little angered that the dwarves attacked his golden goose, but anger was not something he needed right now. In fact, it could turn into his worst enemy while facing more and better equipped opponents.

Though he was not too sure about the latter point, he had a few slow people around him. The moment he was to make a move, the girls would be torn and shredded by a bunch of crossbow bolts.

"Get to the ground and move inside the Underground Tower, the moment I make a move," Liam instructed calmly while willing a Lumina Needle to manifest in his right hand. The Storage Rune flickered once and the white needle materialized where it was supposed to.

"But we can hel–..." Olivia began, reluctant to leave the safety net provided by Liam.

However, she felt incapable of continuing to speak what was on her mind as Liam's ice-cold eyes flicked over to her.

"If you don't want to die, and drag me down with you, go to the fucking Underground Tower!" He repeated, his voice colder than ice.

"Right now!!"