'So much for being a help.'

Lucien twitched the corner of his mouth as he noticed Clara sneakily destroying every Crimson Ant that came close to Sera.

As for him, she didn't spare even a glance.

'Forget it. I can't rely on others, can I? Let's end this farce now.'

Since Lucien was somewhat sure that there were no surprises, he finally decided to end this so-called meeting for today.

Although Hugo and the demon's appearance disrupted the meeting somehow, it also managed to help him a bit.

After all, now that the situation had turned to this, even if he killed everyone here, no one should blame him, right?

Not to mention, the thing he was going to use to commit the crime…

"Boom!"

Lucien's thoughts shattered suddenly as a violent explosion rippled through the chamber, shaking the stone beneath his feet.

He could already feel the intense clash of battle from the depths of the darkness.

"SHRAANG… VWOOM… WHRRSH… SKREEE…"

Suddenly, a chaotic symphony of steel and feathers echoed throughout the entire chamber, drowning even the shrieks and howls of ghosts and skeletons summoned by Hugo's spell.

Heck, Lucien could even see those runes and arrays engraved on the mountain walls flashing as if trying to contain the clash raging inside the chamber.

One could feel how intense the battle had become from the start.

But no matter how loud the fight was, Lucien could only catch fleeting shadows, the outline of a towering skeleton in armor locked against the vast, winged figure of Velmara.

From the outline, he could feel the Death Knight's massive blade carving through the gloom with murderous weight, colliding again and again against Velmara's sweeping wings and razor talons.

Each strike echoed like thunder, the air thick with dust and broken light.

Feathers scattered in rapid bursts as the two figures tore into each other without pause, the rhythm of their battle unrelenting and fierce.

Fortunately, Lucien was out of range and unharmed, as Velmara forcefully shoved the Death Knight and Hugo aside, sparing him from the chaos.

"So strong!"

Still, Lucien was quite surprised to see the Death Knight going head-on with Velmara without a pause.

Although both of them were at the Peak Weaver rank, it was clear that Velmara was at a disadvantage.

After all, he could get tired, but this Death Knight was already a dead object and couldn't get tired, no matter how fierce he fought.

It was an unequal battle from the start.

"Yeah, quite strong. Sigh… I didn't know the help was actually tied to a demon. I… seem to be tricked. This is troublesome."

As Lucien focused on the clash between Velmara and the Death Knight, seemingly oblivious to everything else, a male voice suddenly sounded from the front, startling him.

"Who?"

He couldn't help but put his guard back up slightly while focusing on the two strange figures that appeared in front out of nowhere.

"To be honest, Lord, who knows we are on this?"

"All we have to do is kill this guy and get the hell out of here immediately. I believe that person won't make this deal public. You might even get the reward you want."

Lucien wasn't answered, though, as another figure lightly consoled the first one, while talking about killing Lucien.

They didn't seem to take him seriously at all.

"Sigh… you are right. I can only do that no—."

"Bang!"

Viscount Aldren sighed at Brock and was about to reply when suddenly a loud explosion shook their surroundings, followed by a charred corpse of a Crimson Ant right at their feet.

Everything happened so instantly that both of them were shocked and couldn't help but look at Lucien, who was also staring at them with a smirk.

"Heh… is this your method of assassination? Tch… I have to say, this method is quite clumsy."

Lucien said with a light laugh, with almost a teasing look.

Unlike before, he didn't seem to be concerned by their appearance, or rather seemed to be waiting.

It was as if he were waiting for them to show up.

"You are indeed quite different."

Viscount Aldren couldn't help but look at him with a little bit of seriousness. That Crimson Ant was the best of the best bunch trained through countless trials and errors.

Its concealing ability was so good that it never failed any mission he gave it.

But now it was dead, and that too from the hand of someone who was only at the Apprentice realm.

That ant alone was at the Peak Invoker realm. Of course, Aldren was surprised.

'It seems I need to take this seriously and complete this mission fast.'

Aldren wasn't someone who liked playing around.

Since Lucien was quite strange and was a variable in his plan, he decided to kill him with utmost power from the start.

"Gather!"

As soon as Aldren gave this order, the entire area around them became pitch silent all of a sudden.

Even the sound of the clash of Velmara and the Death Knight at the far corner became inaudible.

Moreover, all of a sudden, Lucien felt the entire area light up, the visibility turning clear.

Only, instead of Velmara and the others, he saw that the space ahead was utterly devoid of humans.

In their place swarmed countless Crimson Ants, crawling over the ground and walls, enclosing him from every direction.

Their crimson eyes gleamed with raw bloodlust as the dense pack slowly tightened around him, the sharp scrape of their countless legs against stone echoing like a sinister chorus.

The sight was so hair-raising and suffocating that Lucien's heartbeat thundered uncontrollably in his chest.

He felt as if he was slowly being trapped in a death trap with no escape in sight.

After all, the sheer number of huge Crimson Ants and their murderous intent surrounding him were just too much.

If someone with a fear of insects stood in his place, they might have dropped dead from sheer shock.

The scene was simply too overwhelming, enough to crush the heart with terror alone.

'Fortunately, I collected that debt from this bastard early on. Otherwise, even with my A-rank Physique, I might not have survived today.'

Lucien, of course, knew he was under the hallucination effect of the Crimson BroodQueen, an early Weaver rank beast companion of Viscount Aldren.

To be honest, when he extracted the debt from him before, he was quite surprised to get the loyalty points, and that too directly from Crimson BroodQueen herself.

Could you believe it?

—

[Name: Crimson BroodQueen]

[Race: Monster]

[Species: Crimson Ant — Lineage of Sovereign Broodmother]

[Level: C-rank]

[Realm: Weaver — Peak]

[HP: 4,500 / 4,500]

[MP: 3,200 / 3,500]

[Affinity: Poison, Psychic, Earth]

[Attributes:]

Strength: 180

Agility: 185

Endurance: 190

Intelligence: 250

Perception: 145

Willpower: 90

[Skills (C-rank)]:

> Brood Command (Passive): Exerts absolute control over her offspring, boosting their coordination and ferocity.

> Venomous Sovereignty (Passive): Every ant spawned carries her venom, a toxin that corrodes body and mind alike.

> Hallucination Miasma (Active): Releases a psychic-tinged poison that twists perception, plunging enemies into illusions of terror.

> Swarm Convergence (Active): Commands offspring to merge their energy, creating devastating combined assaults.

> Earth Hive (Active): Reshapes terrain into tunnels, walls, and nests to entrap enemies.

> Queen's Mandate (Ultimate Active): Sacrifices part of her swarm to unleash a poisonous shockwave that corrodes flesh and mind in a wide radius.

—

And when Lucien actually saw her status, he was really shocked.

This was the most luxurious stats he had ever seen on anyone after coming to this world.

Putting aside the attribute points, just the skills of BroodQueen alone were too awesome. Compared to her, his companion, Little Guy, was really nothing.

Not to mention, gaining the BroodQueen's loyalty actually allowed him to activate two classes simultaneously: Beast Master and BroodKing.

He really didn't know how he could gain such a powerful pet just for partial debt collection.

'Release the hallucination effect.'

Although he was doubtful, Lucien still used his command and ordered the BroodQueen to release him from the hallucination effect immediately.

He didn't want to get caught off guard at this time.

"Swish!"

"Bang!"

"Fuck!"

As soon as Lucien snapped out of the hallucination, he saw Brock lunging at him, longsword aimed straight for his neck, eyes burning with murderous intent.

Without hesitation, Lucien unleashed a fierce kick, slamming Brock back violently.

The force sent him crashing into the ground, groaning in pain, leaving him reeling and stunned just inches from him.

Although everything seemed to feel long, from Aldren using hallucination to Brock using the sword to kill him, only a few seconds passed.

Truly, if Lucien had been a little late, he might have been killed or at least badly injured.

"How is this possible?"

However, seeing the situation, the most surprised one here must be Viscount Aldren.

He never thought that Lucien could actually come out of the hallucination effect, and that too this fast.

He was this close to killing him, and everything returned to square one all of a sudden.

"No, I can't make more mistakes. BroodQueen, attack him with everything you got and kill him immediately."

Now that his most impressive skill was countered, Viscount Aldren finally sensed something was terribly wrong with this boy.

Moreover, the same bad premonition that haunted him before surged back, leaving him with an uneasy, almost suffocating sense of dread.

So he finally directly summoned his beast companion right in front of him from his Beast Space, intending to go full assault.

He didn't believe Lucien could possibly survive against two Weaver rank opponents at once.

"Screechhh~!"

As soon as he gave the order, in an instant, a massive insect suddenly appeared in front of Lucien.

It was the bona fide Crimson BroodQueen that was in the shadows all this time.

As soon as she appeared, her huge body blocked Lucien's view as he could see her wings folded like a twisted crown, and her limbs covered in venomous spines.

Countless crimson eyes glimmered with bloodlust and unnatural intelligence, each one fixing on Lucien as the air itself seemed to tighten with her menace.

Just her appearance alone made the swarm of ants around her shift instantly, converging as if drawn by her will, surrounding Lucien tightly.

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