Liam got out of the pilot seat, and when the man who was being held saw this, he opened his eyes. He had been silent, but just as he was about to scream, Liam threulse Bde right at his throat.

  Liam was fast and decisive.

  Blood poured out of the man's throat like a fountain had just been opened, and his helmet now had droplets of blood on it. This was his first official kill. He didn't evehe ce to speak to his first kill.

  [Is this your first kill?]

  "How do you know?"

  [Your heart rate is elevated, and your pupils are dited.]

  Liam was silent and didn't answer. He just looked at the man's life p away. After m for a minute, he steeled his heart. This was his first kill, but it wouldn't be his st, for sure. This world would force him to kill mahey human beings, aliens, or maybe even gods.

  "BT, stealthily keep the perimeter clear. I will go inside alone."

  [But Liam, there are many people inside.]

  "And that is the reason I should do it alone. Ohey realize that you have infiltrated, they will kill the men I want to free. Don't make people feel too desperate. Give them hope."

  [I uand. I will make sure no men e close.]

  BT moved bad soon vanished into the sand dunes and ridges, taking the corpse away too.

  Liam crouched low behind a jagged dune, his breathing slow and steady. His high-resolution HUD sed the perimeter of the heavily guarded circur mound in the distahe sandstorm provided natural cover, but the buards' elevated towers and roamiries posed a signifit challehe mound—he could reize some parts of it.

  He tapped his forearm panel, activating Cloak. His body shimmered, blending seamlessly with the sandstorm. He moved forward, light-footed. The first guard erched in a tower, casually sing the horizon with binocurs. Liam silently scaled the back of the tower using the suit's built-in Grapple. As he reached the top, the guard turoo te. With a flick of his wrist, Liam deployed his Pulse Bde. A precise strike to the back of the guard's neck sent him to the halls of death after gurgling a bit, and Liam gently lowered the body to avoid noise.

  He sed the camp again. Two guards stood by a small guard post he mairaheir rifles were slung zily over their shoulders, their versation lost in the wind. Liam crouched low, analyzing their patterns. He rushed toward the first guard, disarming him with a swift twist and nding a blow with the hilt of the Pulse Bde. The sed guard barely had time to react before Liam disabled him with a calcuted strike to the leg, followed by a sharp jab to the shoulder.

  This time, there was noise from the man's mouth. Seeing no other choice at the moment, Liam snatched the AK the man had strapped to him and shot at the others.

  "Ah, fuck!" Liam cursed. He wao take down the guards stealthily, but that was now out of the window. As soon as Liam killed the two men, he went into Phase Shift and ran in another dire. The men from ihe mound came p out toward the sound of the gunshots.

  Liam climbed the side of the mound away from the entrance. As he climbed over, he finally got to see what was happening ihere were multiple mae guns poi the entrance, and ihe mound—which also taihe entrao the cave—there were guns, ammunition, missile heads, indiaries, and all kinds of ons, courtesy of Stark Industries.

  The militants came to see what was going on, and soon many of them were shouting and yelling, fused about what had happened here. This small movement showed that even if they were better than the ones in Gulmira, they cked proper training to deal with such situations.

  Liam proceeded to kill the two sentries with mae guns using the Pulse Bde. The bde not only struck their necks but also ehey couldn't utter a noise as the blood rushed out.

  "Time for some fun," Liam said as he took out a small disk and threw it on the ground. The disk proceeded to open a semicircur light shield—the A-Wall. It deployed an invincible particle wall, destructible only at its small circur base, that blocked ining shots and amplified outgoing ones.

  As soon as the A-Wall came up, he started firing at the men. Liam was in ode, so it was already hard for them to spot him, even though they were o after Liam came out of Phase Shift. The small bunen who were o were instantly downed, and the other bunch retaliated when they noticed Liam.

  But the A-Wall made sure that none of the bullets could even e close to Liam. As Liam was killing these men, BT sent him a message.

  [The radar has picked up a small explosion ihe cave.]

  "What?"

  This made Liam, who had just killed these men, move in a bit of a hurry. A small explosion could mean anything inside. And thus, after dealing with them, he used ode again and made a run inside.

  There were men guarding the tunnels, and Liam had to use his gun or his Pulse Bde. The Pulse Bde came in very handy as it allowed him tet ehat couldn't be positiohrough his eyes. BT helped navigate by analyzing the terrain and ensuring he was on the right path to the location.

  As he came close, he suddenly heard munshots further ihe tuhis made him sweat, and he broke into a faster and more franti. Liam burst into the final chamber of the cave, heart pounding and blood r in his ears. His HUD painted a grim picture: six hostiles, all armed, their ons trained on a frail, bearded man—Yihe man was on his knees, with his borrowed gun pointing at them.

  He wasn't ready to give up just yet.