Chapter 252 The Mastermind...

Earlier…

"State your identity and your purpose." As Tryndall and the other three slowly made their way to the entrance of Lucas' manor, the two henchmen Lucas had stationed at the entrance barred them from entering, wanting to know the purpose of the four for appearing at the manor. "If you four are just here to loiter around, then you better get lost."

"Our identities? You have no need to know that." Taking the initiative to respond, Valyr took a step forward before opening his mouth with a slightly arrogant grin, causing frowns to appear on the faces of the two henchmen. Though, the frown on their faces was swiftly replaced with a look of rage after they heard the next statement that came out of his mouth. "As for our purpose…"

"I guess beating your leader's ass would be more than enough of an answer."

"How dare you!" Unsurprisingly, the two henchmen charged at the four in response to Valyr's words, intending to make the four regret ever saying those words. "You dare tarnish the reputation of our leader?"

"But of course." In response, a devilish grin appeared on Valyr's face.

"How could I not after he tried to tarnish mine?"

Bang! Bang!

Swiftly retrieving the spear behind his back, Valyr went ahead and deflected the attack the two henchmen had sent his way before turning his spear around. With the dull end of the spear now at the front, he then utilized the disparity in strength between him and the two henchmen, knocking them out cold by hitting them at the back of their head at the same time.

Thud. Thud.

"Let's hurry. It won't be long until their reinforcements arrive." After checking that both of the henchmen were truly unconscious, the four went ahead and let themselves into the manor, swiftly noticing a few people making their way towards the entrance they just came from.

Knowing that these people made their way to where they were after hearing the commotion, the four looked at each other for a bit before nodding, prompting Douglas to disappear from the sights of the three as he was tasked to give the three of them support from the shadows.

With Douglas gone, Tryndall, Valyr, and Braum looked at each other for a bit before shifting their gazes towards the people heading their way. Then, without hesitation, the three charged forward.

As for what happened next…

​ It could only be described as a one-sided beating.

Once the three came face to face with the group of people, the three took the initiative to land attacks on the latter before they could even react, rendering all of them incapable of fighting before proceeding to head deeper into the manor. Of course, similar to the two henchmen at the entrance, they made sure to not go overboard in their attacks, considering that their main target in this whole operation was Lucas.

At first, both Tryndall and Valyr would take care of those that arrived to stand in their way, considering that most of the ones stopping them were around the late stages of Rank 1. Once the strength of the people that came to stop them rose to reach the peak of Rank 1, Braum started to aid the two of them in fighting, with Valyr and Braum doing most of the fighting once the strength of the ones stopping them had reached Rank 2.

By the time the opponents had the strength of someone at the middle of Rank 2, Braum was doing most of the attacking, with Valyr and Tryndall sending out support attacks from time to time to help ease the pressure Braum was feeling. Though, by then, they had already arrived deep into the manor.

And it did not take long for the man they were looking for to appear before them.

…

"Argh…" As faint groans resounded throughout the space he had entered, Lucas stared at the scene before him with widened eyes, left at a loss for words at how swift everything had been settled before he could retaliate.

Before his very eyes, a great portion of the people in the manor that worked under him were on the floor, their bodies littered with bruises and injuries of varying severity. Some of them could be found near the space's walls, leaving little to Lucas' imagination once he noticed the human-shaped craters above their bodies, while some of them were already unconscious, prompting Lucas to think that the pain they felt had overwhelmed their senses.

In contrast to the surroundings, three men stood at the center of the entire space, with their bodies having no injuries whatsoever. With that, Lucas' attention was swiftly fixated onto them as he felt the rage he had suppressed earlier become unshackled once more, erupting with far greater fury.

"AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!" Letting out a rage-filled scream, Lucas released the entirety of his aura, instantly making two of the three people that stood there shrink back, while the man that had accompanied him already fled away for his life.

In response to this aura, the person that wasn't affected by his aura blocked it with his own aura, allowing the other two to return to normal.

Naturally, this scene among the three did not go unnoticed under Lucas' eyes, finding their actions a greater provocation in addition to what they've already done to his men.

To his manor.

Taking in a deep breath, he let out yet another scream to vent out his rage as mana started to wrap around his fists, prompting him to clench both of them once the mana around them partly condensed.

"Utterly useless…" Muttering out words that only he could hear, Lucas summoned all of the strength he could muster towards his legs, taking in a deep breath once more as he made sure to not let rage consume him. "You already have the advantage in numbers, but you're telling me all of you were defeated by just three people? Did all of you even put up a fight against them?"

"How utterly useless."

Whoosh!

"Then again…" Dashing towards the three before him, the mana surrounding Lucas' fists gradually intensified with every passing second, slowly taking on a shade of red as a strong aura of bloodlust and killing intent started to radiate out of his body.

"I guess I'm the only one who can put up a fight against them."

Bang!