Chapter 15: Lucian the Unpaid

"Looter, watch what I do…

…or I will also not pay you!"

Lucian did not really think twice as soon as he heard that. But he still checked on the maid's condition one last time before doing what Craig wanted him to do—after all, he is still his client. And as far as he knows, one should always follow the client's wishes as long as it is within reasonable bounds.

This still seems reasonable, at least for Lucian.

"Okay," Lucian calmly said as he turned his eyes to the platform, "Please, Young Master — kill the monster as fast as you can so I can do my job."

"You…" Young Master Craig's eyes started twitching as soon as he heard Lucian's words. Lucian did not mean anything bad with that, none at all. But sadly for Lucian, his complete lack of social awareness did not allow him to calculate that his words, monotonous voice, and overall stoic nature were actually offending to someone,

"You're just at the Spirit Infant level and you dare act all high and mighty at me!?" Craigh once again raised his voice and pointed his sword at Lucian.

"I apologize if I might seem that way to you, Young Master," Lucian, on the other hand, answered without even looking at Craig as he gestured to the maid to just remain seated on the floor.

"...Tch. David! The mantis!" Craig could no longer take Lucian's complete lack of interest as his words turned into screams.

"Y… Yes, Young Master," Butler David could really only close his eyes as Craig pointed the sword at him. His steps, filled with hesitation as he approached some sort of podium with a small screen on it. He tapped the screen for a few seconds before pressing the button in front of it — and as soon as he did so, a part of the platform lit up, and a mantis the size of an average man emerged from the platform.

"Looter… I'll regret you looking down on me!"

"I am not looking down on you, Young Master — you are literally standing on a platform."

"Stop making fun of me!" Craig let out another roar before finally focusing on the giant mantis in front of him. But as soon as he turned his eyes, a pair of blades were already swinging toward him.

"Young Master!" Butler David covered his eyes but still opened up enough gap for him to see Craig be sliced to pieces. Unfortunately—no. Fortunately, it did not happen at all as Craig was able to block the attack with his sword.

"Kh…" Craig was blown away by several steps but still managed to stay on his feet. His hands and arms, however, were already trembling uncontrollably from blocking the mantis' attack head-on.

"His right ulna is fractured, and both his wrists are sprained," Lucian blinked a couple of times as he whispered to himself, "It is impressive how he is still able to hold his sword."

"W…what!?" Butler David was able to hear Lucian's words and quickly focused on Craig, "Young Master, please run! I will activate the bomb attached—"

"Don't you fucking dare, old man! If you press that button, I will make sure to attach a bomb to your neck next time!" Craig let out another roar, "This… this is nothing! T–"

And before Craig could even say another word, that mantis once again attacked him. After all, a monster doesn't care whether you are still talking or having a monologue — it will attack you on sight as soon as it feels threatened.

Fortunately, Craig was focused this time and was able to dodge instead of blocking the mantis' attack. Unfortunately for him, the mantis has two blades for arms and was able to swing again when he dodged by ducking.

"H… he—!!!" Craig practically placed his sword on his head to block the swing, causing his entire body to just slam to the ground; his sword, however, was no longer able to take the stress and just split in two. He was once again fortunate that the mantis retracted its blades, but not fortunate enough as his own sword stabbed through his shoulder when it split, "Gah! H… help, please help me!"

"Young Master!" Everyone screamed as the mantis quickly stood on top of Craig; stepping on his thigh with its sharp leg and piercing it. They all, however, just stood there and did nothing — after all, they were just human. Stepping in to help their young master would be useless suicide.

"Gnh…!!!" Craig once again let out a muffled scream as he started to cry when the mantis lifted him up by the neck; its arm slightly stabbing through his shoulder as it did so, "Please… please help! I… I don't want to get eaten, please… help!"

"Do I still get paid if I am the one who euthanizes the insect, Young Master?"

And while Craig was begging for his life and asking for help, Lucian just casually and slowly went up the platform. And although he did it with ease, it almost looked like he slightly struggled to get on the platform as he wasn't actually used to using his muscles.

"I… I don't care! Please!" Craig screamed as he felt the mantis' mandibles already touching the back of his head, "Just… just distract it!"

Craig did not really think Lucian was going to be of any help, and the others thought the same. After all, Lucian was of an even lower level than Craig; Craig was at Spirit Mortal level, one rank above Spirit Infant. The best Lucian could do was serve as a distraction.

"Distract it," Lucian glanced at the mantis, and it was actually already distracted by him as soon as he got on the platform. It did not, however, let go of Craig at all and seemingly just stared at Lucian. And so, Lucian could really only let out a small breath before approaching them.

The mantis did not see Lucian as a threat at all, as it barely felt any lith in him; for the mantis, Lucian is the insect. This gave Lucian the leeway to just grab the other half of Craig's sword that was beside one of the mantis' legs, and just quickly swing it through its joint…

…slicing through it like it was tofu.

Lucian still doesn't know his own strength, however, as he accidentally let go of the blade and caused it to… just fly across the coliseum and ultimately dig through and disappear into the walls completely.

"Hm…" Lucian looked at his hand for a few seconds, not even caring about the mantis that started to go amok as it finally let go of Craig when it lost one of its legs. The mantis then quickly turned toward Lucian, swinging its arm toward him in panic. Lucian, however, was able to dodge this attack just by taking a step back and slightly leaning away.

His reflexes were not something he had gained from injecting himself with the T1A—no. It was something he already had ever since he was born, and perhaps it wasn't right to call it a reflex at all…

…it was more like pattern recognition and trajectory calculation, all happening in a millisecond. 

If it was to be an overstatement… then Lucian, in a way, could glance into the future.

"I will take off all of its legs, Young Master…

…You can euthanize it yourself."