Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Two lightning element C-Rank arrays were detonated at that time!

A sudden wave of blue light washed over the trio's faces. Followed by a tingling sensation on their skin. Two lightning element C-Rank arrays had been detonated after all. It was going to interfere with one's senses even when the array's effect was categorized as non-destructive to its surroundings.

There was a sudden surge of C-Rank mana in the surrounding area. A surge that made the witnesses' mana circuit go haywire for a short time.

The arrays Eren had employed were specially made for trapping the mana beasts while preserving their bodies. The lightning storm that must have taken place inside the array was contained by the spectral shield generated by the array themselves.

Soon everything calmed down. The spectral shields vanished and the array lines on the ground started going dim. Only then did Eren and his two new hush-hush slaves find the courage to approach ground zero again.

Eren saw two almost intact mana beasts bodies of the C-Rank lying around. He didn't think it to be the case, but just in case the beasts were alive, he sent the dual berserkers to check up on the bodies.

The butcher had used his slaves right from the start to make them accustomed to their treatment. His life was more precious than his slaves' lives after all. He only approached the site for real when his slaves confirmed it to be safe.

The mana beasts bodies were still radiating the aura of how dangerous the beasts were when they were alive.

"Ron, use your ID Stone space to keep these bodies. Mine's full."

Eren asked Ron while looking at the bodies that were going to soon turn into a couple of treasure chests for him.

"But my storage space is full…"

"Well, take everything that you have out in the open then. You too Dino. I'll see what I can keep so that you guys have enough space to store a mana beast's body each."

Ron understood that this was Eren's way of demanding their resources from them. The guy was just being nice with his words. Contrary to the berserker's belief, Eren was a pragmatist slave owner. He sighed before nodding at Dino, who by the way, was taking long breaths to control his anger.

Eren saw the resources the dual berserkers had and considered them to be overwhelmingly poor in front of him. But the scrooge in him decided to pilfer some of their relatively good resources as well.

The bodies were soon retrieved by the dual berserkers in their storage spaces. Eren was going to contact them later on for further procession of the bodies. He was going to hand the bodies to Jack.

Eren was tempted to harvest some body parts of the C-Rank beasts to himself so that he can store them in potion banks' storage. Then he could take them out when he was confident in processing ingredients on those levels.

But Eren knew that could take years on end. And immediate profits were more important to him than long-term gains at this point. So he decided to give up on salvaging some organs. Plus, an intact mana beast's body, that too of the C-Rank, had more value when it was intact than if he decided to dissect it.

"The way you had planned this thing, Eren, I'm sure now. You have a specific reason behind your actions. What are you aiming for now? And why do you need us?"

Ron had retrospected the whole events leading to his slavery and asked his current owner. Probably, Eren incited them in their ranking war knowing they would react this way. Maybe Eren was counting on their retaliation all along.

That meant Eren wanted them to have them as his slaves. The slave contracts that he retrieved so readily right after he mentioned them further confirmed his suspicion.

Ron didn't like his status. But he was glad that he was alive. And he wanted to remain that way too.

But knowing this wretched person, Ron feared that he would use him and Dino for high-risk tasks that wouldn't be short of suicide missions. Ron had come to sense Eren's nature by now. And he was half sure about his well-educated hunch.

"You want a purpose for being a slave? Hahaha! Don't think too much about why I do things and the way I do them. And don't worry for now. I know what you are thinking. Things won't turn overwhelmingly risky if you follow my orders to a T.

Even if I use you in certain situations, I want you to return from them alive. After all, slaves are more useful when they are alive. Dead slaves can only be used as fertilizers.

You have your personal lives to take care of. And your growth as rankers is entirely dependent on you. I'll take no part in cultivating or sabotaging them. What I want from you is simple obedience. Do that and I'll assure you we can have a working relationship."

Said Eren and looked at Ron and Dino. he was waiting for them to process what he had said to them just now. Dino wasn't much of a thinker. And he was still salty about being a slave, which was normal for any guy in his shoes.

But Ron was unusually cooperative about his new status. Eren didn't expect this much level-headedness from the berserker. And he considered Ron's intelligence to be a risk for him too. He had a wild thought to kill the pawn he had just created.

But Eren knew he was just being a cynic because his plans were executed the way he wanted them to.

Whenever things went his way, Eren would find them suspicious, thinking that a storm was heading his way.

Ron pondered for a while after listening to Eren's explanations. He couldn't help asking another question to his owner:

"*Sigh. I don't know if anybody has ever told you this, Eren, but your way of explaining things gives rise to more questions in one's head than answering the intended queries.

Anyway, is it about killing someone in LA? Or kidnapping anyone? Let me be clear about a few things. If that's the case. We are not ideal rankers for your operations with the way our power and spells work. We are sure to leave traces behind. And that will eventually get tracked back to you."

Ron tried to discourage Eren from putting them in dangerous situations by giving him a grim possibility. And he considered the worst in his owner and came up with shallow deterrence.

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AN: Thanks TheForgottenLegend, Mitja_Leskover, and emme_z for your gifts. Also, thanks to all the Golden Tickets donors who have placed their GTs on VEH.