“Idiots,” Rudra clenched his fist as he looked at approaching old monsters, “That was the best chance to kill him.”
Some rolled their eyes, some snorted, and some just ignored his words as if they already knew his temperament.
“You think there won’t be another chance like that?” Hiroshi said as he sheathed his katana.
“There will be,” Rudra’s eyes coldly glinted. “If not me, then someone else.”
“Then that’s all that matters,” Arjun smiled.
Rudra sighed and changed the topic, “Anyway, how’s the status?”
“We got two rats, but the others seemed to have vanished the moment they saw us entering.”
“The people are also fine. We’ll let them out of the Painting of Serene Spring soon now that the threats are gone.”
“We should get back to the auction now. The rats have gone into hiding, so the only chance to find them is through the two we captured.”
“Leave it to the specialists among us,” James nodded as he glanced at Shiro-sen, Bianca, and Zauna. “I’m sure you three can dig out everything from them.”
“We’ll do our best.”
Rudra nodded, “Let’s go. I want information fast so I can relay it to Astra and tighten the security. If they appear in any city next time with their signature strange teleportation, I want Astra to detect them as soon as possible.”
…
Meanwhile, the rats were already in their dark hall. Some had escaped from that city as soon as they heard the explosion, while some instantly scurried away, sensing auras of old monsters.
“We lost three rats- err, I mean three idiots. Given those old fools, they’ll crack open their heads and find everything they can from their brains.”
“We have to notify Captain Lerke.”
“But damn, he really fought with Rudra…”
“I wonder what happened…”
“Yeah, I’m dying to know as well.”
But suddenly, everyone felt a suffocating pressure as another aura appeared in the dark hall, which soon lit up with molten glowing embers.
Everyone turned in the same direction and saw Lerkeion in his true form as they felt shocked and dreaded.
Despite not looking hideous, this true form of Captain Lerke produced a newfound dread in them. Their hearts wildly began beating as fear enveloped them.
“Good job escaping in time,” Lerke nodded as he glanced at the rats. “Unfortunately, one died, and the other two idiots with stupid curiosity chose death, it seems.”
“C-Captain Lerke, what happened back there?”
“Did you achieve your goal?”
Lerke conjured a sleek molten bronze throne with black patterns and sat down, resting his chin on his right hand after resting his elbow on the armrest. His eyes became serene and calculative, his pupils like a spiky-bordered bronze sun.
Nobody spoke anymore as the intent oozing out from Lerke told them he wanted them to be silent.
“That one warrior called Rudra is strong enough to be my entertainment, but he, with that other bunch, might become my death if I’m not careful. The bunch has a versatile means.”
Lerke knew that if he waited there longer or made a slight mistake, he would’ve died with the joint assault from those old monsters.
“Each of them has a strong foundation and has created their path towards their potential,” Lerke narrowed his eyes. “They are also close-knit. None of them was willing to take the risk knowing my arrow was pointed at Rudra.”
“It seems they have high trust in Rudra and his capabilities,” Lerke grinned. “Losing him might trigger a bad chain reaction.”
“You are absolutely right, Captain Lerke.”
“Indeed, Rudra’s death would please many hiding in the dark, and his presence also acts as a balance between all top forces.”
“Yeah, they stay tamed because of him.”
Lerk straightened up on his throne, causing everyone to tremble as they shut up.
“You lot are very useless insects. But now that I have gleaned into the psyche of your world’s leaders, we can start our training in a real sense.”
“Rejoice,” Lerke smiled, albeit it felt sinister to every single rat. “Rejoice because I will evolve you from insects to demons. And for that, you all need to train earnestly so that the next time you see those powerhouses, you won’t need to run.”
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“You can bite them and even tear their flesh before running.”
‘But we still gonna run, in the end, huh?’
‘I’m running faster either way unless I can really become stronger.’
‘True, there’s no way I am fighting old monsters.’
“Let’s go,” Lerke got up. “We are going to find a new hideout, away from any kind of human population.”
…
The auction began smoothly after a delay of an hour, and one item was canceled since Lerke destroyed it.
It lasted for three hours, including a thirty-minute break.
The Legendary items, especially the sets, were not many that every top force could get them. It was about who could spend more money.
In the end,
The seven Epic-rank sets, with four of them being high-tier, were sold first as top guilds and families snatched them.
Two individual Legendary weapons—Tundral Bloodvine Axe (Mid-tier) and Wyrmfury Skyburn Staff (Low-tier), were sold to old monster Viktor, who wanted a legendary axe and 8th rank Crimson Aegis Guild’s leader who wanted the staff.
The only individual Legendary Armor was destroyed by Lerke, so it was canceled, which left the auction with 10 Legendary sets.
Five low-tier sets, three Mid-tier sets, and two High-tier sets.
Although everyone wanted the sets, they also had to be wise when buying them.
Each set had its specialty and attributes, so the old monsters and guild leaders who felt that they could use a certain set with matching attributes to bring out more power didn’t hold back in buying them.
The Epic-rank items’ general price could reach up to a billion gold coins when they had just started to appear, and these days, they roughly sold for a hundred million to multiple hundreds of millions depending on the items.
As for the Legendary sets…even the low-tier sets were sold for around ten billion.
The most expensive set was the High-tier Legendary-rank Draconic Ghostwalker Warden gear set—sold for 32 billion gold coins, and the one who brought it was none other than GAA.
All in all, Almond earned a whooping 132 billion gold coins after cutting off a percentage of it as an overall tax for the preparation of the auction and other things.
And everyone who bought the items wasted no time in testing them out as they arranged to enter the S-rank dungeons in their territories and thoroughly test out their new might.