---

Ding!

[Congratulations! Partial Extraction on Balthor has been successful!]

[Due to his high debt value (100), the probability of gain has increased.]

[Congratulations! You gained: +10 Agility, +10 Endurance, +30 Strength, +100 Loyalty]

[Congratulations! Due to the maximum value of loyalty, you gained the rare 'Vow of Giant' from Balthor. Although he has the thinnest bloodline of ancients, his loyalty is unwavering even in death.]

—

Ding!

[Congratulations! Partial Extraction on Viscount Aldren has been successful!]

[Due to his high debt value (100), the probability of gain has increased.]

[Congratulations! You gained: Beast Companion: Crimson BroodQueen.]

[Congratulations! You have successfully awakened two of your potential classes: Beast Master and Brood King. The host is advised to enter the World of Origin to properly utilize their power.]

—

Ding!

[Congratulations! Partial Extraction on Assassine Kurma has been successful!]

[Due to his high debt value (100), the probability of gain has increased.]

[Congratulations! You gained: +20 Agility, +13 Endurance, Intelligence: +20 Skill: Celestial Weight (D-rank) → Evolvable, ]

—

[Celestial Weight (B Rank) – Active Skill: Condense a dark sun of shadow that generates crushing weight, making movement within its influence impossible.

The longer it persists, the heavier it becomes, scaling far beyond its rank if the user can withstand its burden.

> Effect: Immobilizes enemies in its range; weight intensity increases by +10% each second.

Prolonged use can evolve into [Sun of Desolation], allowing the dark sun to be hurled and detonated, deteriorating both the body and soul of your enemy.

> Cooldown: 2 Hours

> Cost: Continuous strain on body and spirit; scales with duration. Excessive use risks self-immobilization and injuries.]

---

These were the notifications Lucien received when he extracted debts from Balthor, Kurma, and Viscount Aldren.

This was also the reason why he was able to smoothly kill Kurma with the help of Balthor and massacre these Assassins and Mercenaries while putting the blame on Viscount Aldren.

To be honest, listening to the continuous prompt from his system in his mind, Lucien was almost intoxicated and had to try hard to control himself.

After all, everything was just too easy.

So easy that Lucien felt like a protagonist.

It was just ridiculous, to be honest.

'Never let your guard down.'

Lucien didn't know why, but he suddenly calmed down all of a sudden.

Good fortune often carries hidden misfortune.

He knew this best.

Although he didn't know how correct such idioms were in this world, he still decided to be a mortal.

So, in the next seconds, although he heard the continuous prompt from his system and his strength increased exponentially, he remained calm throughout.

—

Ding!

[Extraction successful!]

[Congratulations! You gained: +26 Agility, +14 Perception, +9 Endurance, Skills: Shadow Veil (Active): D-rank, Poison Affinity (Passive): E-rank, Quickstep (Active): E-rank]

—

Ding!

[Extraction successful!]

[Congratulations! You gained: +28 Strength, +18 Endurance, +12 Willpower, Skills: Cleave Strike (Active): D-rank, Iron Skin (Passive): D-rank, Battle Instinct (Passive): E-rank]

—

Ding!

[Extraction successful!]

[Congratulations! You gained: +24 Strength, +20 Endurance, +11 Constitution, Skills: Savage Blow (Active): D-rank, Bloodlust (Passive): E-rank, Guard Stance (Active): E-rank]

---

Ding!

[Extraction successful!]

[Congratulations! You gained: +22 Agility, +15 Perception, +13 Dexterity, Skills: Venom Edge (Passive): D-rank, Ghost Step (Active): E-rank, Shadow Grip (Active): F-rank]

—

"Ugk…No…how could this happen…"

Just when Lucien was silently powering up while controlling the crimson ants to kill those from whom he extracted the debt, Viscount Aldren shouted in extreme shock.

"H-how can it disappear? W-What happened?"

"T-This doesn't make sense."

How couldn't he?

After all, even when he crushed the soul link inside him, nothing happened to the Crimson BroodQueen before him.

Her menacing bloodlust and that looming death scythe still hovered at his neck, ready to sever his head once and for all.

The only thing he managed by shattering that soul link was wounding himself; nothing more.

But that was far too absurd.

"H-How… W-When?"

Never in his dreams did he think that a soul link could just disappear like this.

He was the head of a Beast Taming family after all, and knew everything about Soul Link.

However, today, even he was caught off guard by such an absurd thing. He didn't even know that dissolving the Soul Link silently without the knowledge of the owner was possible.

Wasn't this the next level of sorcery in this magical world?

"Screechhh!"

Just as Aldren was shocked and distracted, the fearsome attack from the Crimson BroodQueen came again.

"Bang!"

"Ugh…fuck…"

The sharp pincers, akin to an Advanced rank weapon, ripped across his shoulder, tearing through muscle and skin.

Extreme pain shot up his arm, hot and burning, making him once again wounded.

Fortunately, the Queen didn't have a strong attacking skill of her own, and Aldren was still fine.

But this thick Hallucination Miasma surrounding him and the continuous weakening of the venom in his blood made him weaker.

'Damn, I should have made an antidote for the venom.'

Aldren thought, feeling so damn irritated. Since he had the Queen, who could neutralize the venom's effect easily before, he never made an antidote.

After all, who would have thought that one day, he would be attacked by his own beast companion?

Well, he never thought for once.

Fortunately, he was strong enough to localize the venom's effect in time.

'Sigh…let's run away from here. The situation is out of control.'

Finally, Viscount Aldren admitted defeat and decided to run from this place. Although he was extremely unwilling and wanted to kill this beast anyhow, he knew he shouldn't waste too much time.

He was already injured, betrayed, and blamed. Poor him didn't want to lose his life here, either.

"Activate Queen's Mandate and Swarm Convergence and finish him off."

Just as Viscount Aldren decided to flee and drew an extremely rare teleportation bead from his mana ring, he suddenly heard Lucien's soft voice.

"Hmm?"

At first, he was confused by Lucien's words, having paid little attention to him while the Crimson BroodQueen posed a far greater danger.

But when he truly realized his words, his eyes went wide instantly.

"How could you-?"

Only then did he remember that the Queen's Mandate and Swarm Convergence were both the skills of Crimson BroodQueen.

And those skills should only be known to him. Even if the Queen was now out of control, there was no way Lucien should know about them.

Let alone order-

"Screechhh…"

Poor Aldren, today he was destined to be a useless character, only to get surprised at each event continuously, with no rest in between.

Before he could even understand why Lucien knew of them, he saw Crimson BroodQueen actually heeding his order and preparing her ultimate Active skill instantly.

Since he was the owner of her before, he, of course, knew what she was doing.

"So…it was all your doing? But…h-how?"

At last, Aldren finally realized why he was betrayed.

Although it sounded absurd and illogical, it seemed he was being toyed with by a kid at the Apprentice Realm. At least… on the surface.

"Yeah, did you like it?"

Unfortunately for Aldren, the answer came immediately after he asked, right beside his ear, followed by a streak of cold steel slicing through the air at blinding speed.

The blade was thin and almost whisper-like, glinting with a cruel black sheen, seemingly honed for one purpose: a single, silent, lethal strike.

Aldren didn't know when it happened; even while on guard, someone managed to slip behind him, moving like a shadow and whispering into his ear.

It was almost as if mocking him for his carelessness.

"Beast Resilience!"

"Swish!"

'Phantom Snap!'

Fortunately, after getting caught off guard too much, his perception was on high alert. Although he was still a little late, he still managed to activate his best skill, directly solidifying his neck with thick scales of a beast.

"Bang!"

Just as his neck was covered with scales of unknown origin, the silent blade slammed into his neck loudly, cutting through the air with deadly intent.

The force was so strong that even though his thick scales flared just in time, taking the brunt of the strike, some of the edge still carved shallow grooves across their surface, biting into him, drawing blood.

While the extreme impact of the strike slammed him backward directly as he flew through the air, helpless, and crashed into the ground with an embarrassingly loud thud.

Dirt, blood, and the taste of iron filled Aldren's mouth, indicating his dire situation.

B-but he was still alive, just barely.

"Cough…cough…"

"Ptuiii…"

Aldren violently coughed while clutching his neck, trying to stop the blood from flowing out.

His eyes focused on the figure of Lucien carrying a blade as thin as a wing of a cicada, looking at him silently in amusement.

He didn't seem to care that he was still alive.

"Haha….how absurd…"

But those looks managed to irk Aldren so much that he laughed instead. He didn't even care about the countless Crimson Ants swarming around him, preparing to unleash Swarm Convergence.

With how badly he was injured, and seeing the Crimson BroodQueen readying Queen's Mandate, he knew he was finished.

Especially now, after losing that teleportation bead.

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