An hour later, after the loot distribution from the dungeon was completed and everyone finished taking a break, Liam gathered the group, preparing to enter the spatial rift.
Luna had also returned, but before she arrived near the group, Liam quickly dismissed the soul undeads so that no one could see them.
Not that he was planning to keep them a secret forever and hide them from his own guild members.
These undeads were anyways too weak to participate in the current spatial rift battle. Also, he had a huge plan for them after the spatial rift quest was completed.
So he decided to do the big unveiling, and show off his army later when he was done with specific preliminary preparations.
And with this everything was in order and everyone was ready, so Liam took out the small spatial rift crystal from his inventory space.
It was a small translucent crystal that did not look different from any other random marble stone. However, that was only appearance.
Rift crystals are extremely powerful stones. They are stones that constitute the very fabric of the universe and the millions of realms present in the universe.
Liam also did not know too much about it. He only knew that rift crystals appear in a realm when its boundaries are being tested.
For the full force of the demon army to step on Xion, the barrier preventing portal magic of such huge proportions need to be destroyed first.
This, in turn, gave birth to these rift crystals that were themselves portals to spatial rifts.
If these spatial rifts were not destroyed in time, then the barrier would be destroyed, and the demon army would be able to teleport in and out of Xion freely.
So while one faction, the nether realm demons, attempted to tear open these rifts, the other faction, Xion's goal was to destroy and close them.
And they were on the side that wanted them closed.
Liam contemplated explaining this to the group but that would raise some unnecessary questions. So he simply stuck to the very basic instruction.
"Once we enter, we first need to clear the demons. Kill as many demons as possible. Don't touch anything else."
"Yes, Sir!" Everyone answered in chorus, nodding their heads. Though they couldn't help but be curious about what 'anything else' could mean.
What else other than demons could be present in these spatial rifts?
The next second, Liam crushed the rift crystal, and immediately the space around him started cracking. Not the ground, not the trees but the dimensions themselves.
Everyone's vision darkened and when things cleared up, they were no longer standing in Xion. They were standing on something that looked violet in color.
In fact, the entire world around them was a shade of light violet.
They seemed to be standing in some type of a desert. There was ground, there was a sky and there were rocks around, but everything looked violet.
It was a lot of information to process and understand and everyone gazed at the world around them in awe.
Liam smiled and helped them out a little. "Look up." After all, this was not the first time he was stepping inside this land so he knew a thing or two.
Immediately everyone looked up following Liam's words and saw a strange moon hanging in the sky. It was a dark violet in color.
Just looking at it made everyone feel weird. A mysterious sense of danger arouse in their hearts that sent chills down their spines.
They instinctively did not want to stare at it for too long. They also did not have the time to do so.
As soon as the group arrived, a few demons patrolling ahead of them in the desert caught sight of the intruders.
And this quickly escalated. They did not hesitate and immediately blew their horns relaying the information to all the other demons.
This was it. The fight was about to start. Everyone clenched their weapons tightly anticipating the demons to arrive when unexpectedly, Liam shouted.
"We are not going to face them together. Everyone quick, use your stealth potions, and disperse. Scatter in groups of two."
What? What was Liam talking about? The whole group heard his words and became utterly confused.
Even though no one had yet successfully closed a spatial rift, there were already many topics about it available online.
Many guilds discussed their experiences, and there were also strategies available.
When Liam mentioned that they were also going to attempt a spatial rift, everyone even Mei Mei had done a little bit of research on the topic.
They were all different strategies, mainly battle formations or tips.
Each of them had its advantages and disadvantages, and all of them were unique in their way. But the thing was… not a single strategy talked about splitting apart?
Was splitting apart really the strategy to use against a thundering horde of strong and bloodthirsty demons?
What would happen if someone by mistake got caught? Sure shot death!
Every death would make the team weaker and weaker until eventually, the whole team collapsed. Splitting apart was undoubtedly a very bad idea!
Everyone looked reluctant and their doubts were written on their faces, so Liam quickly explained it to them.
"The number of demons is simply too many. Sure, together we are stronger but they are even stronger."
"Our best chance is to split apart and hunt them down here and there as quickly as possible. Do you understand?"
"In this fight, we all need to act as assassins. This is why we prepared all the stealth potions in advance. Don't hesitate to use it."
"And also, don't forget to notify in the group chat when you kill a demon. This way we can keep track of the counts."
"When the number is high enough, we can once again assemble together and fight as a team. This second part is also important."
"We need to scatter and we need to regroup fast. SPEED is the key here. Remember that and do your best. Let's go."
"And don't forget. Only engage the demons. Nothing else."
Nothing else? Split apart and takedown demons as fast as you can?
Liam's cryptic words were not clear to everyone but it was clear enough for them to understand what needed to be done.
Those with the [Stealth] skill activated it, and everyone else used the potion to scatter and disperse at lightning speed.
They also used a buddy system no one was alone.
The whole group ran away from the spot where they were standing as fast as possible and as far away as possible, running in different directions in the endless desert.
They only managed to erase their presence just in time.
Almost immediately, the dull roars in the distance started becoming louder and the demon army galloped towards the spot where everyone had previously been.