Chapter 62: Reveal
Rohan’s face tightened. This was the worst case scenario. Facing off against a human was far trickier than any beast at his level.
"Elane," he whispered.
She followed his line of sight and instantly stiffened.
The figure paused, having heard Rohan’s voice as well. Then, very slowly, turned around.
The starlight filtering from above illuminated the man’s face.
"Liam!??"
For a split second, Rohan’s mind rejected what his eyes were telling him.
That was THE Liam? The one who’d been travelling with Norm’s group, who Elane had saved after taking out the first intelligent Spike Beast they’d encountered? Who’d worked beside them in the tunnels for hours on end in search of a way inside the lair?
None of this made any sense...
But it was him. Unmistakably so.
Only now he looked completely different. Almost reborn. Gone was the strain, the weakness, the look of a low rank ordinary Awakened just trying to survive with his group.
Instead, his face looked cold and calm.
And in his hand...
Rohan retched. Held up so casually, a still beating heart lay within Liam’s grasp.
Freshly torn from the chest of the Awakened at his feet.
"Surprise...!"
Liam spoke first. His response came out light.
Playful even, which somehow made it worse.
Rohan’s stomach twisted as he stared at the still beating heart in Liam’s hand. Blood ran down his fingers and stained his clothes, but Liam didn’t seem to care.
Elane’s bow was already raised, trained at Liam’s head.
But neither of them dared to move beyond that.
The man in front of them was not the Liam they’d travelled with. That injured, frail looking young man who looked as if he could barely hold his own.
He was unrecognisable in this state.
His expression held not an ounce of guilt, nor any of the tension of a man who had just been discovered murdering someone.
Only a cold, ugly calm. And beneath that, satisfaction.
’This is bad... this is so much worse than I thought.’
Liam glanced down at the heart once, then casually tossed it into a sack like it was no more important than a used napkin. The wet organ fell inside with a dull slap, alerting the duo that it wasn’t the only one in there...
Rohan locked his gaze onto Liam.
"What the fuck happened to you while we were gone?"
Liam simply laughed.
"Happened to me?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"Nothing happened to me. This..."
He spread his bloodstained hands a little, indicating the chamber, the unconscious bodies, the lair, everything. "This is simply the first time you’re seeing me as I really am."
Elane’s hands trembled almost imperceptibly on her bowstring.
Liam noticed, and his smile deepened.
"Oh, don’t look at me like that." He sounded almost amused. "I’m still the same Liam you met before. I just dropped the act."
The act.
Of course it had been an act — the injury, the weakness. The almost pathetic dependence on others.
Who would possibly suspect such a person to be the mastermind behind everything?
Rohan’s blood ran colder the more he heard.
That meant Liam had inserted himself into Norm’s group before they’d even entered the gate.
"You were behind everything from the start." Elane stated, her voice tight with disgust.
Liam gave her a small, approving nod, pleased she had finally caught up.
"Mostly."
The casualness in his answers made Rohan’s skin crawl.
"Mostly?" he repeated.
Liam shrugged.
"I didn’t make the gate. I didn’t create the Spike Beasts. I didn’t place the membrane over the lair’s entrance — though that was a rather ingenious idea from the government. They have my silent thanks for that."
His eyes flicked toward the raised platform in the centre.
A thin, invisible veil started to unfold around the platform, revealing the body of a battered and bruised beast that wasn’t there before.
’The Elite!!’
Rohan’s eyes turned into slits.
The Elite Spike Beast lorded over this entire gate — no larger than an ordinary Spike Beast but packing far more of a punch. Yet it was already incapacitated, lying unconscious on the platform in the centre — much like the many Awakened around it.
"Why do this? What do you stand to gain out of this?"
Rohan just had to know why Liam went through all this trouble. What could possibly be so worth throwing dozens of human lives away?
A smirk found its way out of Liam’s cold playfulness.
"Shhhh! Don’t ask too many questions. You’ll soon see why. There’s no need for me to explain it to you."
Liam didn’t even bother trying to make a move for either of them. Why should he? They were surrounded anyway. Their only escape route was currently blocked by hundreds of Spike Beasts advancing toward this chamber, and so they were stuck in there with him.
For some reason, he seemed confident that they wouldn’t be able to do much to him either.
Rohan couldn’t quite put a pin on why, but the current Liam did give him a strange feeling.
However, as Liam approached another sleeping Awakened to harvest another heart, Elane couldn’t just stand back and watch him kill another person right under their nose.
A spike formed in her bow instantly, and just as she was about to launch it...
"Oh come on! Why do you have to spoil the fun?"
Liam’s voice, still as playful as ever, echoed over.
Rock-like vines suddenly sprouted from the ground and tightly wrapped around Elane faster than she could react. Rohan was helpless to prevent it in time.
But Liam only stopped at apprehending her. He refrained from crushing her any further to cut off her air supply.
"You two get front row seats. I’ll make sure both of you are the last ones to deal with. Things were starting to get rather boring with just myself to talk to..."
Liam continued leisurely over to the next Awakened like the previous assassination attempt from Elane hadn’t even occurred.
Rohan was stuck at a mental impasse.
He didn’t like letting Liam kill another Awakened as much as Elane, but after seeing what just happened, he wasn’t so sure he could prevent it even if he tried.
’Those stone vines are an Elite Genetic Armament...’
He was sure Elane understood that as well, seeing as she was encased in them.
’At best my Firestone Skin would block him from being able to crush me or suffocate me to death, but I’d still be restrained.’
In the end, Rohan forced himself to look away while Liam plunged his hand into the chest of another Awakened. He couldn’t bear to make himself watch.
He wouldn’t care so much if this were the Origin Realm, but this place...
A person with hopes, dreams and aspirations for their own future. That was who Liam had just killed. And they wouldn’t come back this time.
Rohan felt sick to his stomach just thinking about it, especially the fact he just let it happen without even trying to interfere like Elane had.
Emotions aside, he knew this was their best chance at figuring a way out. More time meant he could come up with a better plan of action.
’If I can just get to the Elite in the centre and finish it off before Liam can get to me, this gate will collapse.’
Getting there was the real challenge. Even though he looked preoccupied, Liam was constantly watching.