Chapter 410: The Hunt Had Begun (2)

The three assassins’ minds were reeling. This was impossible. They were all Golden Core realm experts. They are experienced killers who’d survived countless dangerous situations through skill and power. The three of them working together should have been more than capable of handling any single opponent below Nascent Soul realm.

And yet here they were, completely suppressed by a teenager. Not just suppressed—dominated so thoroughly they could barely breathe, let alone fight.

The one caught in that invisible grip was slowly strangling, and his companions couldn’t do anything to help him. They couldn’t even lift their heads to look Liam in the eye, their necks bowing under the weight of his presence as if facing an emperor rather than an enemy.

Liam waited several seconds for an answer that didn’t come. His patience, already thin after seeing what they’d done to Master Han, ran out completely.

He tightened his telekinetic grip around the captured assassin’s throat.

The effect was immediate and horrifying. The assassin’s already desperate struggles transformed into full panic. He thrashed in the air like a fish pulled from water, his hands clawing uselessly at his neck, his mouth opening and closing in silent screams that couldn’t form without air. His eyes bulged, blood vessels bursting in the whites as pressure built in his head.

One of the grounded assassins managed to force out a sound—not words, but a desperate squeal that might have been meant as a plea for his companion’s life.

The attempt to speak while suppressed by Liam’s aura cost him dearly; he immediately doubled over, gasping for air he couldn’t properly draw into his compressed lungs.

Liam turned his gaze to the one who’d made the sound, and his lips curved into a smile that held no warmth whatsoever. "What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

The assassin’s face went deathly pale, all the color draining from his features as true fear took root. This wasn’t going according to any scenario they’d expected.

This wasn’t how fights at their level were supposed to go. The Mad Demon God wasn’t just stronger than them—he was toying with them, playing with their lives like a child pulling wings off flies.

Liam’s smile widened slightly as he tightened his grip further on the thrashing assassin. The man’s struggles grew more violent, more desperate, his body burning through its remaining oxygen in a futile attempt to break free.

"I see," Liam said after watching them suffer for a few more seconds. His tone was almost disappointed. "If you’re not going to answer my questions, then you all are not useful to me. And I have no use for useless things."

The words cut through the two free assassins’ shock like a blade through silk. They understood with sudden, crystal clarity that this was the end. The Mad Demon God wasn’t going to kill them in some dramatic final confrontation. He wasn’t going to give them a chance to die with honor or to take him down with them. He was simply going to erase them, as casually as someone might swat a mosquito.

Survival instinct overwhelmed everything else and everything else became meaningless in the face of imminent death. The two assassins activated their movement techniques simultaneously, burning spiritual energy recklessly as they fled in opposite directions.

They didn’t care about formation anymore. Didn’t care about their trapped companion. Didn’t care about anything except putting as much distance between themselves and this monster as possible.

Liam watched them flee with an expression of mild amusement. "Run, little rats," he murmured to himself. "Let’s see where you scurry to. Perhaps you’ll lead me straight to your nest, save me the trouble of hunting down your headquarters later."

He turned his attention back to the assassin still caught in his grip. The man’s struggles had weakened significantly. His eyes had gone glassy, his movements reduced to faint twitches.

"It seems your companions have abandoned you," Liam observed conversationally. "Left you here to die alone while they save themselves. That’s the nature of your profession, I suppose. No loyalty beyond convenience."

The assassin’s eyes focused on Liam’s face with what might have been a pleading expression. His mouth moved, trying to form words that would never come, perhaps begging for mercy, perhaps trying to bargain for his life.

Liam didn’t register the plea. His expression remained completely neutral as he tightened his telekinetic grip one final time.

The sound of the assassin’s neck breaking was sharp and clean. It was like a crack that echoed across the sky like a branch snapping in a storm. The man’s body went instantly limp, all resistance and struggle ceasing in a heartbeat.

But Liam wasn’t finished. Even as the light faded from the assassin’s eyes, Liam drew back his left fist and drove it forward into the corpse’s lower abdomen.

His fist impacted the assassin’s dantian with devastating precision. The Golden Core that had taken decades of cultivation to form, shattered like glass under a hammer. Fragments of concentrated spiritual energy exploded outward, dissipating into the atmosphere as the foundation of the assassin’s power was obliterated.

Even if some miracle could have brought the body back to life, even if the shattered neck could somehow be healed, destroying the Golden Core ensured that this man would never threaten anyone again. He was dead in every sense that mattered.

Liam released his telekinetic grip. The corpse plummeted from the sky, tumbling limply through the air before crashing into the street below with a wet thud that made nearby civilians scream and scatter.

Liam turned his attention to the direction the two surviving assassins had fled and his spiritual sense tracked them easily. They were burning spiritual energy to boost their speed, but they wouldn’t be able to maintain that pace for long.

And more importantly, they were heading in the same direction. Toward the same destination. Perhaps toward the headquarters he’d hoped they would lead him to.

A smile spread across Liam’s face, genuine amusement mixing with anticipation. "Let’s play some hide and seek, shall we?" he said softly, his words carried away by the wind. "I do hope you make it more interesting than your friend did."

Without any visible effort, Liam shot forward through the sky, his flight speed far exceeding what the fleeing assassins could manage.

The hunt had begun.