"Wait. Wait." Liam coughed up some blood and weakly mumbled. "I will accept… wait…" He tried to get up and sit straight.
"Oh?" The big guy stopped and did not lower his feet. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. The tower master had not expected Liam to accept his proposal this soon.
Maybe the threat of crippling him had worked? But it was not enough. He had angered him for so long. He needed to vent out more.
He watched Liam gulp healing potions and mana potions in amusement. He didn't have a problem with this because there was no fun in beating up a dead dog.
So he was waiting for Liam to recover, and then he would, of course, once again thrash him around to his heart's content.
How dare this lowly insect steal from him? He needed to be taught a good lesson!
But suddenly, his face changed. The tower master watched Liam take out some flask and drink from there. What was this? What was he drinking?
He wasn't able to decipher the liquid's properties from a single glance. There was a strong medicinal aroma coming from it and also astral energy? How could that be possible?
He narrowed his eyes and stared at it as if he was trying to remember something crucial.
However, before he could figure this out, Liam suddenly stopped moving. He looked up at the tower master with his bloodshot eyes.
For a second, Crawford felt his senses tingle. Something was not right.
Liam saw the beady little eyes of the old man's soul trying to figure things out, and he did not let that happen. He had only one chance, and he needed to act now.
He couldn't risk things and recover further. Even if he wasn't at the optimum stage, he had to make this move now.
As the tower master glared at him, he glared back at the guy, or rather his soul. He was still able to sense it very vividly. This was his chance.
In one fell swoop, Liam grasped his chance and the soul in front of him.
He was like a rabid dog that latched itself onto a juicy piece of meat. He clung to the tower master's soul with all of his mind, soul, and spirit.
"YOU… What are you…" Only now the old man realized that something was amiss. He felt slow and sluggish, and his senses were drowning. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
COUGH. COUGH. COUGH. It was now his turn to cough violently and gasp for air.
Liam could sense that his soul was suffering. However, he did not feel any pity.
A malicious smile appeared on his face as he ruthlessly pulled the struggling soul out, the dead last player now falling on the arena stage as a corpse, decomposing fast and disappearing for the respawn point.
Liam immediately doubled back on his efforts. He knew that he did not have much time.
The tower master was a lofty being. He might have other tricks up his sleeve. Even if he did not, he might have several other lackeys, all perhaps much more powerful than Liam.
He grabbed this soul and started condensing it.
BOOM!
With his newly formed mana core, he conjured a giant mana hammer and slammed it on the soul. He felt the old soul shiver and tremble. At first, it was in pain, but then it was in anger.
Liam, on the other hand, did not pay attention to it. He solely focussed on condensing the soul into a bead and started hammering it relentlessly.
He then sucked in another big breath of air and conjured another mana hammer. The more he used these giant, powerful hammers to strike the soul, the more he felt rejuvenated.
Liam did not notice, but a part of the soul energy was seeping into him as well. This cured whatever ache that remained that couldn't be cured even by the astral pond water he consumed.
The pure energy from the old man's soul healed him completely, even his soul that was chipped earlier because of the one time he died.
He was now complete and whole and a burst of energy spread through his body, invigorating him from his very roots. "Settle down." Liam shouted and banged the hammers on the soul even more forcefully.
Crawford's soul splashed under his grasp like a fish out of water. He twitched, tossed, and turned to no avail. Liam's grasp was strong. He just couldn't break free.
Moreover, he was completely caught by surprise. He had never expected Liam to hold such a mysterious power. Soul attacks were not common. That too, for sensing a strong soul like his, how was this guy doing it?
Crawford stopped. As Liam continued hammering away at him, suddenly Crawford stopped struggling.
So what if this little ant managed to take him by surprise and attacked him when he least expected it? His soul was strong!
No matter what he did, his soul will never be harmed by the likes of this guy. That's right. All he needed to do was wait for an opportunity and slip back into his old body.
Besides, the technique this fool had was probably not that good. He just needed to be patient, and then he could decimate him once and for all.
Crawford sneered as he arrogantly scoffed at the hammer strikes. 'Pfft. This only tickles.' He stayed calm.
Liam, on the other hand, was giving it everything he had. He had done this before with Gorak's soul.
Though these two souls could not be compared, there were similarities between both and in the process. So this time, he had more experience and knowledge.
He just needed to persist… for a few more seconds…
Liam gritted his teeth and continued forging. Every time he brought down the hammer on the soul, he gave it his all.
'Foolish brat. It still tickles.' Crawford rolled his eyes. In front of an existence like him, this ant dared to stand up. Hmph!
This continued for a few seconds when Crawford's face finally changed. He couldn't afford to remain arrogant any longer.
There were now a hundred mana hammers beating down on his soul, and he could no longer ignore. More importantly, he was starting to feel a little weak, a little woozy.
He looked at the guy in front of him and he did not look like an ant anymore. 'What technique is this?' His soul shuddered. He finally started sweating.
Unfortunately for him, in the next few seconds his troubles only worsened. The hundred hammers now became a thousand.
Liam was progressing at an incredible pace and it was no longer just tickling.
'Damn it. I need to do something.' Crawford's soul twitched. He hadn't expected it to happen, but here he was, pushed into a corner.
And he also had a feeling that something worse was waiting for him… just what technique was this damned guy using?
Crawford couldn't think straight. The pain was unbearable. 'No. I cannot let this go on.' He hurriedly racked his brain for the few soul techniques he had gathered throughout his life.
He did not wish to use them because using a soul technique was different from using other normal skills and spells. There was always a price to pay when one used a soul technique.
But now, he was in his soul form and the situation also called for it. 'Brat, I won't go down that easily. You have a soul technique. I also have a soul technique.'
Crawford hurriedly tried to do something and sent out a burst of energy in a rush. 'Die. Die. Die.' He cursed Liam as he used this technique without caring about anything else. 'DIE!'
As the hammers struck him down, Crawford waited and watched.
He became even weaker because of the skill he used but he didn't care about that. All he wanted was Liam to die a horrible death!
And…
Just like he expected…
Liam froze. He suddenly stopped, and the hammers stopped as well. However, it was not because he was attacked. Instead, it was because… he felt refreshed?
The tower master's soul was very tough. It was beyond Liam's ability, and he was desperately trying to hold onto it, but now somehow, he received a huge wave of energy.
Someone was helping him? Who could it be?
It didn't matter. This was the final push. Liam sucked in all the energy that came his way and increased the number of hammers to ten thousand.
Each of the mana hammers landed on the shivering soul, dealing a mind-numbing, soul-crushing punch.
Ahhhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhhh! Crawford screamed in agony.
What the heck happened to his attack? Why did it strengthen this bastard? Everything that he did was going wrong! Just who was this hateful guy?
Crawford was going crazy. The hammers were killing him.
Ahhhhhh! Ahhhh! He now started panicking. He had two more techniques that he could try, but he no longer had any energy to execute them.
His entire world was coming down. He hadn't felt pain like this in a long time. He was the tower master! Why was this happening to him?
AHHHHHHH! Completely losing his cool, the old man blindly made a last-ditch effort. Just as Liam was using everything he had, he also used everything he had and made a run for it.
As the next round of hammers came down, the soul shuddered and started violently shaking. It was difficult for Liam even to move the hammers.
However, he gritted his teeth and held strong. Something told him that he needed to get through this else, all would be for naught.
He had come so far, condensed it so much, he was not going to lose now!
If he lost now, then this guy would return back to his original body and then erase him out of existence. He would probably do that to everyone he loved. No. He couldn't lose here no matter what.
His resolve was unbreakable as he shouted and used everything he had to bring down the hammers."STAY DOWN!"
At the same time, the soul also violently shook. The two of them clashed with everything they had. The entire tower trembled.
