[Liem looks up from the body long enough to aim a small, polite smile at Akua when she offers her compliments. This is one other nice thing about working with a partner on such a mission; he rarely had the pleasure of having his work appreciated so by a colleague when he worked solo.]

You flatter me. Your own assistance was invaluable. I wouldn't have liked to contend with more of its assaults.

[One such attack had been disorienting enough, and he doubts he'd have been able to kill it by himself without weathering more, even if he'd been lucky. Liem glances back down at the remains of the creature, turning its head with the butt of his dagger to view its uninjured eye.]

I intend to bring back as much of it as is practical. The soldiers will appreciate a view of the corpse, I think, and some of the parts might end up being useful — or at the very least, valuable.

[Someone in Kowloon is always willing to buy body parts from the weird creatures to come out of Alenroux.]

But I will wait as long as you need before taking a blade to it.