"You should kill him."

Pearl's incomprehension turned into outrage.

"Can't keep your hands free of blood?" she sneered. "You have been awake for what? An hour? Two? Your murderous character is already showing.

"In the rift, you may be used to killing anything you see, but you should rein in those instincts. The army has its rules, and you can't disregard them. Not even the commander will protect you if you do."

The more she talked, the angrier she became. Though he didn't show it, her reaction surprised Liam. There was something he was missing.

"I just don't understand what the commander is thinking. So many soldiers fought and bled under her command, but she decided to abandon them."

Her voice kept getting louder, and she ended up shouting. Soldiers in the vicinity were starting to notice. They pointed in their direction and whispered among themselves.

"You and your friends are murderers! Being stronger doesn't mean you are right."

By the end of her rant, she was standing in Liam's face.

She went for his shirt, grabbing it. "GOT NOTHING TO SAY?"

Liam finally had enough. His eyes flit to her hand, and he released a sliver of killing intent.

Even before her fist was fully formed, she let go of his shirt and jumped back.

"What is it?" Liam acted like he was surprised by her reaction.

"What did you do?" A soldier aggressively walked up to Liam, ready to pick a fight with him.

"Nothing," he said in an uncertain tone.

"You would want me to believe that, wouldn't you?" he mocked.

The other soldiers were also moving in.

Pearl interfered before the situation could escalate.

"Stop! He didn't do anything," she hastily said.

"Are you sure?"

The soldiers were disappointed by her answer. They were eagerly looking forward to teaching Liam a lesson.

Pearl stood by her decision, frustrating the soldiers and forcing them to disperse.

Their discontent was the least of Pearl's worries.

Her back was covered in cold sweat.

When Liam glanced at her hand, it made her blood run cold. It felt like she caught a glimpse of a shackled monstrosity, one about to rip her to shreds. The killing intent was strong enough to directly knock her out. She managed to stay on her feet as she was exposed to it for a fleeting instant.

Studying Liam, Pearl wondered if she was overthinking things. From the beginning, Liam was standing with a puzzled look on his face as if he didn't understand what was happening.

"What's wrong?" Liam moved towards her, but she automatically moved back.

He stopped, finding her reaction amusing.

Liam did not like people invading his personal space. It was a survival instinct.

When Pearl walked into his shoulder, he allowed it because she did not pose any threat.

This time it was different.

Getting his shirt grabbed in front of everyone didn't offend him. Pride wasn't his reason for taking action.

It was to send Pearl a message. You didn't grab my shirt because you wanted to, it was because I allowed you to.

If he took it, she would start getting more aggressive. After the warning, she would think twice before doing something.

If she foolishly persisted in her actions, she wouldn't live for long.

Her response did show she learned her lesson, so he switched to the previous topic.

"I didn't ask you to kill the refugee because I felt like it. Since you are not inclined to believing me, why don't we move back a bit?" Liam chose a nice spot a little ways away from the soldiers and sat down. "You will understand my reasons soon enough."

It took her a while to understand what he was talking about.

The villager Liam pointed to twitched fiercely. The soldier pulling him got annoyed by the lack of response and went towards him.

He put the villager on his feet and turned to leave. Before anyone could react, the villager broke the chains that bound him and twisted the soldier's head 180 degrees, breaking his neck and instantly killing him.

There was one second of stunned silence before pandemonium erupted. The refugees screamed and tried to get away, but the chains held them in place.

Unsheathing their weapons, the soldiers attacked the corrupted.

However, it was too quick for them. It jumped on a soldier who fumbled to draw his weapon.

He was a fresh recruit and had never been in a similar situation. Panicking, he reached out for his sword, but his trembling hands made it difficult to draw the weapon.

The corrupted vanished from the recruit's sight when all of a sudden, he felt a hot liquid gushing out of his neck. Blade-like nails covered in blood were the last thing he remembered before fading away.

The corrupted tossed the body of the recruit blocking the view of two soldiers and knocking them down. It jumped on top of them and repeatedly stabbed its nails into their heads. Their bodies convulsed for a few seconds before going still.

The corrupted ignored the villagers who were standing in front of it. It considered the soldiers a threat and focused its attention on dealing with them.

The presence of villagers blocked the soldiers while the thrall used them to its advantage.

Two more soldiers died before the others got into formation and were ready to tackle it.

New soldiers arrived at the location and surrounded the thrall. The shields were focused on keeping it boxed in while the spears pushed it back when it got too close.

None of the soldiers used guns in fear of hitting fellow soldiers. They used arrows to slowly injure the corrupted.

The weakening thrall bolstered the soldier's confidence. They thought victory was in sight.

If it was a normal thrall, Liam would have believed the same.

Unless a few evolved appeared, a lot of soldiers were going to die.

The corrupted was getting frustrated by being thwarted at every turn. It roared in fury.

The purple veins in its body started glowing. The nails on its hands grew longer. They had strange metallic sheen which made them look like blades.

The purple veins formed a single set of runes on its body. Before the soldiers could react to the strange development, the runes on the thrall's body glowed.

It resumed its attack and the soldiers were hard-pressed to defend against it. It had grown much stronger and faster than before.

They did not panic as its attacks were still manageable.

When the runes were completely charged, Liam knew the situation was about to change.

Mist appeared in a wide area impairing vision. The unexpected development made the soldiers anxious, and they started shouting.

"Why isn't anyone interfering?"

"Dammit, did the evolved all drop dead or something? How can they not notice the commotion after so long."

"Did anyone inform the commander?"

Some of the more level-headed soldiers tried to bring the others under control but to no avail.

Screams rent the air as the thrall resumed its hunt. It added more chaos and fear to the spiraling situation.

To say Liam was shocked by the situation would be an understatement. Any sense of discipline was lost, and their performance was plain pathetic. He hoped the standards for other human armies hadn't fallen that low.

He stood beside a shellshocked Pearl and finally decided to interfere. Since the thrall mutated, it was sure to notice him. If he took the initiative to help, it would leave a good impression on the soldiers. There was no way he could fool the commander, but the common soldiers were a different matter.

"Stay here." The mist enveloped them, and Pearl was nervously glancing around. She had forgotten Liam's presence and nearly jumped out of her skin when he talked.

"If I were you, I would unsheath my weapon," Liam said before walking towards the screams.

He always kept track of his surroundings and did not have any trouble finding the weapon of a fallen soldier.

Some soldiers rallied together and chased the corrupted.

Mana vision made it easy for him to identify and track it.

If they stop shouting and focus on defending, it will be much easier to track the thrall. With all the noise they are making, they are painting themselves as targets, he thought.

Soldiers were running everywhere chaotically. Combined with the corrupted's erratic movements, Liam had difficulty getting close.

He changed his strategy and moved towards the rallied soldiers. Since they were clashing with the thrall, they should be closer to it.

True to his thoughts, he heard a scream followed by the sounds of blood splashing.

After clashing against the rallied soldiers, the thrall decided to choose isolated targets which were easier to attack and kill.

The soldiers managed to intercept the thrall a few times, but its speed along with the lack of visibility made it difficult for them to surround and kill it.

Their speed was further weighed down by their armors allowing the thrall to easily stay ahead of them.

Liam figured out the thralls path and patiently waited for it to come to him.

Soon enough, he was face to face with the corrupted.

It lunged at him, considering him to be the same weak prey it had been hunting.

What it found wasn't the throat of the prey but the steel tip of a sword aimed at its head. Unable to evade the attack midair, it used the hands in an attempt to deflect the sword.

It did not feel the palm connecting with the blade and felt thin air. Suddenly pain erupted from the arm.

Losing balance, it landed on the ground with a painful thud and howled in agony. The entire arm below the elbow had been cut off and was lying a foot away from it.

It looked up to see the smiling face of the prey. It changed its mind. The one standing in front of it wasn't hunting prey. Rather, it was fighting a predator. The sense of danger it got from him was overpowering.

Examining the corrupted and its severed arm strengthened Liam's opinion. It was ridiculously weak.

It lunged at him.

Liam did not perform any fancy maneuvers. He deflected the attack, and his next move separated its head from its body.