Not all changes were good, but Liam had high hopes for Jennie. He was pretty sure that his words cut deep into Jennie's soul and that she would get up soon.
If she could become strong enough to fend for herself, that would be even better. Of course, it depended on her willpower and desired whether she would crumble and die miserably or stand up and fight.
"Do you think you can do it, Hellen?" Liam asked the newest member of their group when he handed her a few items and recipes for specific traps. The recipes and materials cost him more than 200 Arcanium but that was nothing in comparison to the value he could get in return if everything worked according to his plan.
"I will have to study the traps a little and install them to test whether I understood them correctly or not. However, from the looks of it, they're pretty simple," Hellen answered confidently after she studied the recipes for a few minutes.
'Simple? Assassins need a few weeks to comprehend these traps. You just took a short glance…' Liam thought, but he didn't say it aloud. Hellen's Soultrait seemed stronger than he expected. This was certainly advantageous, yet it was better to keep that from her for the time being.
Liam didn't want Hellen to become arrogant. This would lead to unnecessary deaths, just like it happened with Ludwig.
"Give me one day and enough resources to experiment a little and I will be ready to install the traps wherever you want me to place them!" She added, which was enough for Liam. He retrieved more resources from the Storage Rune and handed everything to Hellen.
Everyone agreed to fight the Lava Salamander. This hadn't been debated but everyone desired to eliminate the Lava Salamander, whether it was to take revenge for the innocent lives that had been harvested, to earn more Arcanium, or to help Jennie get revenge.
Their plan was pretty simple with great focus on Hellen's traps and everyone's enhanced stats. Liam was confident in his combat prowess now that most of his stats were S-Rank. Tearing apart the Lava Salamander with his bare claws shouldn't be impossible, especially with a Soultrait such as his Devil's Eyes.
Nonetheless, it was better to be prepared for the worst. Some Lava Salamanders had nasty traits one had to pay attention to, even with stats and combat experience as crazy as Liam.
"Take your time. Jennie will probably need another day as well," Liam said before he returned his focus to Claire. She produced a few special armaments, which he wouldn't sell. The armaments were for everyone to use in the battle against the Lava Salamander, and the metals needed to produce them were not exactly cheap either.
However, the result was quite satisfying, so Liam didn't mind the price he had to pay.
A day passed in the blink of an eye, and everyone was ready to depart. Jennie stood next to Olivia and Felicia. She looked a little lost but seeing the faint glint of determination in her eyes was more than enough for him. He nodded his head, finished preparing everything, and went out of the wooden hut.
It was still early in the morning, but time passed quickly. They spent an hour traveling to the Lava Salamander's lair while Felicia used her Arcanium to keep watch of the Lava Salamander's positioning. The 1st Circle Monster was not in its lair, which was what their group made use of.
In the following hours, Liam and the others hunted a few monsters to make sure that nobody could distract Hellen as she installed a few traps at the entrance of the Salamander's lair.
The Lava Salamander's lair was a self-made caver. It was searing hot inside the cave, which was only given since the Lava Salamander's entire body was covered in lava-like scales.
Hellen didn't finish her job by merely installing one or two traps. She used all materials at her disposal to install seven traps in a matter of hours. Others would need a few hours to install one of those traps, but Hellen's Soultrait made the entire process much easier.
"I am done!" She shouted loudly and everyone gathered in response.
"Now we're waiting, or what?" Felicia asked, not really happy about this. She was not exactly the most patient person in the group.
Olivia felt similar but her issue was Jennie. Olivia was pretty sure that Jennie wouldn't be able to hold back upon seeing the Lava Salamander. Her anger would erupt, and she would attack the Lava Salamander, that was for sure.
However, Liam didn't seem to share Olivia's worry. The only thing he did after they hid in one of the isolated arrays Hellen installed not too far from the Lava Salamander's Lair was to pull Jennie aside.
He said something but their talk didn't even take up half a minute before they came back. Jennie's expression was grave, and she clenched the sapphire spear she had received from Claire tightly, but that was already it. She remained silent.
The others were interested in the content of their talk, but they couldn't ask. Felicia jumped up suddenly, her hand holding the hilt of the sheathed sapphire sword.
"Its coming!" She announced and everyone went to do their respective job.
Liam retrieved a huge sapphire-colored broadsword from the Storage Rune and swung it lightly in front of him. It was heavy but with his Strength stat reaching S-Rank it was nothing much. The huge broadsword was perfect to cut down on big and heavy opponents!
He channeled some Arcane Power through the sapphire-colored broadsword, which coated it in a highly compressed layer of water. A slim smile formed on his lips in response and he nodded his head.
'Looks like that girl is more useful than expected. Creating eight elemental-based weapons in a single day should be a big deal, but she made it,' Liam thought, glancing over to Claire Orion. The Were-Tiger had integrated herself well into the group. She began to smile, and her work improved drastically now that her work was a determining factor in everyone's well-being
At first, Liam didn't think that they would need new weapons to deal with the Lava Salamander, but Claire convinced him that it was better to be overprepared for the worst case than to have too few preparations made.
That was also why seven traps were installed instead of two – which was already more than enough in Liam's opinion.
Fortunately, he listened to Claire because his ignorance and focus on combat rather than strategy would have killed them.
After all, the Lava Salamander was on a completely different level than Liam expected.
That was something he realized the moment he saw the Lava Salamander the first time.
'Why is he so big?!'
