Back within the territory of the Nagas...

Snap! 

Snap! 

Snap! 

A series of crisp, breaking noises rang out in the room as Arnold broke a bunch of fingers of the lizardman the nagas had just caught, on his orders obviously, and with it was a blood-curdling screech that echoed throughout the dense forest. 

From his fingers to even the lizardman's soul, an intense current of pain swept across his entire body. The lizardman struggled violently, but in vain as Arnold clutched his neck tightly, lifting him like he weighed nothing. The tremendous power made his face purple and he almost fainted. 

"Master." Talos' electronic voice echoed in Arnold's ears and he immediately let go of the lizardman. 

This lizardman was special. He could speak in human tongue also the lizardman was albino and had white skin. They needed to extract more information from him, thus Arnold has called out Talos to assist him. But Arnold didn't summoned Talos to help him interrogate the captive, no. He could've done it by himself.

But he had called him out to keep an eye on him, his master instead as Arnold had a tendency of getting carried away and often ended up killing the captive. He had already killed more than a dozen lizardmen like it and couldn't afford to do it again. Especially if the lizardman could actually talk and not screech. In other words, the lizardman was too precious to kill. 

Why did call for Talos and not someone else? 

The answer was pretty simple actually. Arnold was continuously releasing his deadly aura to pressurize the lizardman. And not everyone could handle to take his intense unadulterated aura head-on. Thus, he chose Talos as he could simply turn off his ability to detect aura and be immune to the effects of Arnold's deadly aura. Also, Arnold held Talos in high regards. He was Arnold's second in command for a reason. Among everyone he knew, including his summons, Arnold trusted him the most as Arnold knew Talos would never butter him up and would speak whatever comes in his mind, whether Arnold like it or not and without a tinge of fear. Something he doubted anyone else would even dare to do. 

He gave a look to Talos but didn't say a word. Talos was only doing what Arnold had asked him to do earlier. His instructions were simple- Intervene whenever he thought Arnold was overstepping the boundaries or was about to kill the captive, otherwise, he had to remain silent and observe from afar. 

Arnold let out a sigh and let the lizardman fall back to the ground. Arnold was slowly becoming a sadist for all intent and purposes. He had never enjoyed torturing anyone or anything before all this happened, but now it was a source of entertainment for him. Even Nina and Nicole were getting concerned for him. But Arnold didn't agree with them... Until he ended up killing dozens of monsters while 'Interrogating' them for information and had fun while doing so. 

Right now, Arnold wanted information about their bases, their strengths, their weaknesses, the whole nine yards. His plan was simple. Once he managed to get any information from them, Arnold would make a task force comprising mostly of the nagas and send them on suicidal missions. This way, he took care of both the lizardmen as well as the nagas while minimising the human loss of life. A win-win situation for him. 

"If you continue to struggle, I'll break hundreds of bones then heal you and repeat the putting you through pain worse than you can imagine!" Arnold's icy and stern voice resounded in the lizardman's ears, who had almost given up on any hope for his survival.

If the lizardman spoke up, he'd end up being the reason destruction of his kin. That was the only reason why he hadn't opened his mouth till now. But his resolve to do so was slowly fading away under Arnold's continuous torture. The lizard suppressed the terror and pain with the sheer force of will and stopped struggling. But this enraged Arnold even more. Because Arnold knew, that the lizardman was on the verge of breaking. 

'Just one more push...' Arnold thought as the lizardman slowly got back to its knees only to be kicked by Arnold once again. 

Why was he doing this when he could just kill them and resurrect the dead later with Talos' help? Again the answer was pretty simple- where was the fun in that? Arnold wasn't only interrogating them to get information but to please the sadist hiding inside him. In reality, he didn't give a flying fuck about the lizardmen at all. He already knew where Devon was hiding and he was planning to take care of him on his own. But he needed to distract the rest of the syndicate or else he wouldn't be able to exact revenge on Devon as he pleased. The Syndicate would definitely try to stop him from killing Devon at all costs which in turn would cause unnecessary drama for him. 

Thus, he was gathering enough information to throw the syndicate off his back and deal with Devon as he seemed fit. So, in layman terms, Arnold was just having fun while torturing the monsters to get information about his enemies so that he could deal with Devon on his terms. After all, Devon had caused him a lot of pain and trouble. Doesn't matter whether it was intentional or not. 

The lizardman once again raised his head. Arnold once again went for a kick but before he could do it, the lizardman pushed his head in front of Arnold's foot. 

A sadistic smile broke out on Arnold's face. He finally cracked the lizardman's hard shell. Now he could get enough information from the lizard while also kicking his ass all over again. 

The first words the lizardman spoke after receiving the harsh beating were, "Wh... What kind of... Monster... Are you?"

The lizardman's voice trembled a little. The man's skill was completely beyond his realm of comprehension or comparison. Even their king wasn't as strong as the man who was standing in front of him. No, comparing him to any earthly being was a disrespect to the man... He was as strong as a god, but he was also a cruel, evil god. Even Satan wouldn't hold a torch against the antics of this human.

He didn't even blink when he broke his fingers. That was enough for him to tell what a ruthless and vicious heart the man interrogating him possessed. It was better to give the man what he wanted rather than to warrant his rage. 

But it looked like the lizardman's question had already pissed the man off. Because the next moment, the beating continued without any mercy or hesitation.