The bald man was the first to scream. His world had suddenly become dark and filled with pain, freezing him in that instinctive cry.
Instead, the short-haired man needed another second to realize what had happened. His smile twisted into a terrified expression, producing a cry that surprised Liam.
"Cu-!" The short-haired man said, his cry interrupted by a gasp. "Cultivator!"
Liam frowned in confusion, but the short-haired man tried to retreat in the meantime, forcing him to act. Before the man could turn, Liam grabbed his arm, forcefully pulling him to the ground.
Still, something snapped during the pull. The man hit the ground heavily, only to scream while holding his left shoulder. Somehow, it seemed Liam's simple gesture had dislocated it.
Liam's frown only deepened at that discovery. He checked his hand, confused about that whole development. He had naturally used all his strength. After all, he had to move a grown man, but that result looked overkill.
'Am I too strong or is he too weak?' Liam wondered. 'Is it both?'
Liam withdrew his other hand at that point. The bald man screamed once more as he lay down, covering his bleeding eyes with both hands.
'Now that I think about it,' Liam realized, 'I've only really fought against the jailer.'
Liam looked at the short-haired man, who shook in fear under his black eyes. Liam's frown hinted at displeasure, so the man forsook his shoulder and got to his knees, bowing down until his head touched the ground.
"Forgive us, mighty cultivator!" The short-haired man shouted. "We are but ignorant mortals too blind to recognize your greatness."
Liam's frown vanished, only for him to blink in utter perplexity.
"Yes, forgive these ignorant fools, Exalted Senior!" The bald man shouted, too, despite being mostly overwhelmed by pain.
"Why do you think I am a cultivator?" Liam couldn't help but ask. He felt he hadn't done anything special. He had simply charged ahead. Sadly, the two men were already beyond reason.
"Because grass grows where you step," The short-haired man announced, still bowing, "And the clouds part to illuminate your greatness, Exalted Senior!"
Liam became even more confused than before. He peeked past his shoulder, checking his steps in the snow, only to find no grass growing from it. He even looked at the sky, which was clear, but he felt he had nothing to do with that.
'Was I so fast that they mistook me for a cultivator?' Liam wondered. 'Am I a cultivator already?'
"Uncles, what do you know about cultivators?" Liam asked.
"I wouldn't dare to claim to know anything, Exalted Senior," The bowing man exclaimed. "Mortals are just ignorant fools."
"So, you don't know where the nearest village is?" Liam questioned, not realizing that the man was only humiliating himself.
"We know, Exalted Senior!" The bald man cried, still lying on the ground with his hands covering his bleeding eyes. "Mudshear village is two days of travel North-West, while Slygrove is three days South-West."
Liam didn't recognize either name, so he followed with another question. "Is Slygrove a town?"
"Yes, Exalted Senior!" The bowing man confirmed. "But even the greatest city in the Kingdom pales before your greatness."
'Again with this greatness,' Liam thought, deciding to classify that talk as nonsense, opting instead to ask for something more important. "Since you know cultivators, do you know where I might find a Sect?"
"How would lowly mortals like us know where the mighty cultivators unravel the Heavens' mysteries?" The bowing man claimed.
'Is that what cultivators do?' Liam wondered, unconvinced, only knowing that he had seized the information he needed.
Liam wiped his fingers on the ground before gathering the food the men had dropped and putting it back in the pouch. The latter returned to his back, too, only leaving those two to take care of.
Still, the silence was too much for both men, and the now-blind one ended up voicing a plea. "Please, Exalted, Merciful Senior! We were terribly wrong! Spare us, and we'll chant about your greatness all our lives."
"Please, Exalter Senior!" The bowing man followed suit. "Show mercy on these fools. Our lives aren't even worthy of staining your blade."
There was a time when Liam would have considered showing mercy, but not anymore. The option never crossed his mind, especially after what he had said.
"I'm kind of on the run," Liam admitted. "I can't leave loose ends, and you did try to rob me."
The bowing man tried to straighten his back, only for a knife to stab it deeply. He barely had the time to grunt before life started abandoning his body.
The bald man couldn't figure out what was happening without his eyes, so he just reiterated his plea. "Please, Ex-."
The man couldn't finish his line since a knife stabbed his chest, piercing his heart.
Liam retrieved the knife and wiped it on the bald man's coat before storing it back in his belt. He threw a look at his new victims, only to feel nothing at all.
'A wolf wouldn't have worried,' Liam thought, 'Let alone a snake.'
Liam almost felt sad to have fallen prey to such a mindset. Yet, it sounded undeniable, especially when he had managed to kill two grown men so easily. Life was truly brittle, forever a victim of the whims of the strong.
A hiss rose in Liam's ears, seemingly wanting to alter and deepen that mindset, but he responded in tone.
"Shut up," Liam scoffed. "I'm not doing it for you. This is about my family. If the Dragon King really is behind their deaths, I'll kill him and avenge them."
The hiss subsided after the statement, seemingly pleased, but new problems quickly distracted Liam's mind.
'Talking about loose ends,' Liam thought. 'Carl, Glen, and Caleb are dead. No one should know that I'm from Krosstoen village, but the white mask and the other one saw my face.'
The Divine Cult was a variable Liam couldn't have predicted. He didn't even know anything about it, so he wasn't sure of how much of a threat it was, especially when it came to keeping his identity and origin a secret.
'Wait,' Liam suddenly recalled something. 'Didn't the white mask say something about shattering the foundation of the Kingdom?'
That realization was late, but the delay was understandable. Too much had happened for Liam to have absorbed the entirety of that cruel experience. He didn't even know how his new strength fared against ordinary men, either, and only time could fix that.
'Am I supposed to be on the same side as the Divine Cult?' Liam wondered. 'Wait, wouldn't it be my side since the Ancestral Snake is older? Is it older?'
Questions kept piling up, giving birth to even more doubts. Truth be told, Liam wasn't even sure Carl's death had saved him from his predicament.
After all, Liam had seen a scroll talk, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume that Carl had somehow managed to warn the Guild about him during the trip through the forest. At least, Liam felt unable to exclude it now.
'I have to hide that I'm from Krosstoen village anyway,' Liam eventually concluded, pushing aside his other questions. He couldn't answer them anyway, so he decided to stick to what he knew.
Liam threw the two corpses into the fire, being careful not to extinguish it. He would have taken a coat, but the blood on it risked exposing him, and he didn't feel cold anyway.
After confirming that the men's clothes had caught fire, Liam glanced at the sky, finding the south-west and proceeding in that direction, feeling strangely lighter than ever.
Liam's goal hadn't changed. If anything, it had expanded, but he had shed his hesitation. What he wanted to do wasn't good, but it was good for him, which was the only thing that mattered, and appeasing that internal conflict removed the mental burden holding him back.