"Where are you going? The meeting isn't over yet."

While Lucien was busy distributing one weapon after another with gusto, Balthor suddenly asked Kurma, who was slowly walking back.

Now that he got what he wanted, Kurma felt no need to stay in this place.

From the beginning, Lucien's behaviour was quite odd, and even when he showed such incredible wealth, nobody stopped him.

It was as if he got permission from his family to squander as much wealth as he wanted.

As much as Kurma wanted to say Lucien was just young and stupid, believing them with just a promise, he had to agree there was something wrong here.

With his acute senses, he already noticed a few odd figures in the crowd not taking part in this fiasco but watching as if waiting for something to happen.

So, rather than waiting and getting involved in an unknown plot, he felt it was better to leave this place sneakily.

Only, the tall figure of Balthor didn't let him do that.

"What are you doing? Do I need your permission to leave? Let me go, you stupid Giant."

Seeing that Balthor was completely blocking him with his wide figure, grinning at him like an idiot, Kurma snarled angrily.

After all, this giant almost caused him to lose that Scyth.

"Hehe…Kurma, I knew you were a coward. After promising Sir Lucien and taking advantage of him, you want to run away sneakily? Where in the world will such good things happen?"

Surprisingly, Balthor didn't get angry at him, calling him a stupid Giant.

Rather, he suddenly grinned at Kurma ferociously, while simultaneously picking up the Axe he just got and swinging it forcefully at the empty side of the stadium.

"Boom!"

Although he didn't use much force, the mere swing of his Rare Rank Axe was enough to induce a small tornado, destroying everything in its path.

Not to mention the fiery aura of Balthor that suddenly swept every part of the chamber except Lucien's location.

The situation was so sudden and fierce that even Kurma was caught off guard by Balthor's sudden show of strength.

"Balthor, have you fucking gone crazy?"

Kurma was totally confused by this Giant's move. But he was angrier at him for gathering attention, making it significantly harder for him to leave quietly.

Of course, he was angry.

But the Giant didn't seem to care at all as he still stood impressively tall right at his position, blocking Kurma's escape route, his arm holding the large Axe shimmering with heat.

Surprisingly, his eyes weren't on Kurma this time, but on the few black figures struggling to stand in the corner where he had just swung his axe at what seemed to be empty space.

It seemed just like Kurma; those guys also wanted to leave this place sneakily.

Unfortunately, Balthor directly attacked them with his new Axe, injuring them badly, although they were still alive for whatever reason.

"Listen up, you bastards. Although Sir Lucien believes in you with just a promise, I know what kind of rats you all are."

When Balthor saw everyone's attention on him, he finally broke into a huge smile as if savoring the show and shouted loudly,

"Don't you all just want to leave sneakily after getting what you want? Heh…I know what you all are thinking."

He smirked and scanned everyone with cold eyes before giving a warning, surprising everyone,

"But let me say one thing loud and clear…Unless the meeting is over and Sir Lucien allows you to leave, not one of you can leave this place. Otherwise…"

Balthor's aura suddenly flared with absolute monstrosity as he even awakened the trace of his Giant's bloodline, causing his presence to grow unbearably heavier, pressing down on everyone in the chamber like a mountain.

"Your situation will be just like theirs or even worse…who knows? I don't have total control over my impressive strength, you see."

He said with a huge smirk as he made his threat loud and clear. And with him activating his bloodline, which he didn't do even when clashing with Kurma, everyone knew he was dead serious.

All the mercenaries and assassins could clearly feel the increasing bloodlust in his eyes as if ready to fight.

But….

"What are you doing?"

Like Kurma, everyone was totally confused by his behaviour. After all, wasn't he the one who accepted that Axe ahead of everyone?

Did he really take that mission of killing Viscount Aldren seriously?

Who were you kidding? Although Balthor was strong, everyone knew that he couldn't kill the viscount even if he tried his best.

So, wasn't everyone trying to play tricks and sneak out after getting the benefits?

They weren't even fighting with each other, and in a sense, they were actually together in this fiasco.

But with Balthor stopping them like this, the situation had gone out of control.

Especially the confusion about the sudden twist in Lucien's motive gnawed at every figure present in this meeting.

After all, most of them already thought that Balthor was in cahoots with Lucien.

"Balthor, stop this joke and step aside from my path. I already took the bounty mission. Why do I need to attend it to the end?"

Kurma also thought there was something fishy going on with this stupid Giant.

But, to be honest, he really couldn't believe Balthor was Lucien's man.

After all, this guy was the one who got shot like a toy for being too stuck up at the start of the meeting.

And even if that was the ploy, with the nature of this Giant, this guy would never bow down to anyone, let alone some Apprentice realm kid.

Kurma knew this as he was his opponent for a long time.

"Hehe…Kurma, I already said nobody can leave before the meeting is over. What makes you think you are a special case?"

However, today he was destined to be surprised as Balthor didn't budge an inch and even grinned at him with a murderous gaze.

It was as if with just one more step, his head would be severed by a single swing of the axe, no questions asked. The sheer contempt in his gaze was so strong it even made Kurma uneasy.

He felt as if Balthor changed all of a sudden.

"Do you think you can stop me?"

Of course, feeling uneasy was one thing, but pride was another. After all, Kurma stood in the same realm as the giant, and he was an assassin with remarkable speed and mastery of concealment.

If he really wanted to leave, could he stop him?

Unless Velmara came himself, nobody could stop him from leaving this place, not even Balthor.

And from the corner of his eyes, Kurma could see that the owl was lazily minding his own business while Lucien was just watching everything with interest, with no intention to meddle.

If that was the case, he felt that he should leave while he could. As he feared, there was really something going on, and he didn't want to be part of whatever that was.

"Balthor, don't act cocky here. We are all the same here, taking missions in exchange for weapons."

"Who said I am running? Ain't I just leaving now to make plans for the upcoming task? Why do you need to act like a hero here?"

Kurma said with a cold voice as if he was offended.

"Don't forget how I almost killed you at that time. Do you want to embarrass yourself here?"

He asked, while simultaneously activating the new Scyth in his hand in full force, countering the fierce aura of Balthor in an instant.

"Swish!"

As soon as Kurma activated his weapon, the fiery heat from the Giant was directly pushed aside by the absolute darkness that sprang out of Scyth with Kurma at its center.

And in a moment, Kurma's figure began to distort in that darkness, flickering as if he was about to disappear the next second.

"Veil of Shadow!"

It was a peak C-rank skill Kurma got in the dungeon after his class awakening.

This skill allowed Kurma to change his body into the form of Shadow, allowing him to hide. And since shadow was incorporeal, most of the attacks of his opponents in this form could be negated.

It was a very overpowered skill that let Kurma stand where he is today.

Still, this skill wasn't the one that defined Kurma's ability.

After all, from the beginning, despite being an assassin, he used a scythe, and he always seemed to prefer to fight openly rather than hiding.

Just by how he didn't flinch at Balthor coming near said one thing, as he absolutely didn't dislike close fighting as an assassin should.

"Celestial Weight!"

And the reason was all because of his weird physique, Sun Body. This was also the reason why Kurma had one and only B-rank skill in his arsenal, Celestial Weight.

And this was also the reason why he was called 'someone who carried the weight of the sun.'

"Boom!"

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