Chapter 132: Next Rank

Terrence stood without a care in the world, looking as if he hadn’t just massacred half of the frontline guards who rushed to aid the moment notifications of the perimeter breach reached them.

Standing directly across from him was Sara Lee, Irad’s grieving and vengeful wife, who had just received the sudden news of her husband’s death.

Terrence didn’t care in the slightest about what Sara felt toward him. Instead, he was quietly worrying about the glowing system notification floating right in front of his vision.

[You have used Skill Share for an extended period of time. Please take a rest before using Skill Share again. Straining yourself might result in irreversible consequences.]

’Tsk. I know that already,’ Terrence thought to himself, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Why did you have to do that..." Sara said, her voice weak and trembling with raw hatred. Standing right behind her were at least five B-Rank Beast Tamers, serving as her elite personal guards.

Terrence stood there looking confused and entirely clueless. There was a considerable distance separating them, so not being capable of hearing her properly was completely normal.

"What did you say?" Terrence asked, genuinely trying to hear her. But because Sara recognized his response as mocking sarcasm, veins popped furiously on her forehead.

"You have to pay for what you did, Terrence!" she screamed, her face contorting in rage.

Terrence let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head in a gesture of surrender as deep physical exhaustion slowly began eating away at his body.

"I am telling you, I can’t hear you properly. How I wish I actually knew what you were talking about right now."

A brief, heavy silence settled over the bloody courtyard. Sara slowly stretched her hand forward, her finger pointing straight at his chest.

"Kill him!" she ordered in a shrill, hysterical command.

Terrence narrowed his eyes slightly. "You act just like your husband. He did this exact same thing before I fought him."

Without stepping forward himself, Terrence raised his hand and summoned his contracted beasts directly onto the battlefield. Rather than engaging in direct melee combat or relying on Skill Share—which was currently risking severe backlash on his body—Terrence relied entirely on his beasts to handle the incoming threat.

ROAR!

Noir lunged forward into the fray, acting as the ultimate front-line vanguard. Moving like a dark phantom, the shadow hound beast tore through the heavily armored guards using sheer, overwhelming physical force and his impenetrable iron defenses.

Swords and elemental strikes bounced uselessly off Noir’s hide as he shattered guard formations with a single sweep of his heavy paws.

Up above, Avery dominated the open skies with complete air superiority. Wings spread wide, she rained down precise elemental suppressions from high altitude, knocking back any guard who attempted to flank Noir or cast long-range Skills.

Before they could even summon their beasts, the elite B-Rank guards were systematically defeated in a matter of moments, their defenses completely crumbling around them as they collapsed onto the bloody pavement.

Sara was left standing entirely helpless, her eyes wide with terror as her personal guard unit was wiped out before she could even blink.

"No! No! I can’t accept this! Just how are you able to be this powerful?!"

She bit her lip as things didn’t make sense at all. Terrence from the intelligence report wasn’t this strong, and even when Noli was observing him earlier, he didn’t say that his beasts were capable of doing anything like this.

With just sharp and unwasted movements, they could easily fight at least ten more B-Rank Tamers without breaking a sweat. But then, there was even the terrifying possibility that they couldn’t properly measure Terrence’s real power limit.

’He’s confident enough that he doesn’t even have to directly order his beasts... Oh no... the family is facing an absolute monster!’

...

Two days ago...

Just before all of these violent events unfolded, Terrence had received a sudden new mission prompt from his system interface.

[Mission Triggered!]

[Evolve your named Mutated Iron Shadow Hound to the next evolution rank!]

[Reward: Three S-Rank Merchandise Beasts.]

[Note: You cannot contract them, but you are still able to command them as your listed beasts. You are also unable to use Skill Share with them due to your primary contracts’ effects.]

Terrence had sighed deeply at the combination of bad and good news. If it wasn’t for the absurdly high reward of three S-Rank creatures, he would have gladly ignored the prompt entirely. But the strict deadline attached to it was just too short to pass up.

"Hmm..." He had stared intently at the glowing golden text. "How on earth is this even possible? I only have two days to complete a full evolution mission?"

It was then that Terrence noticed a flyer posted on a public bulletin board as he was passing by on his way back to his shop.

It was an official announcement detailing the rare listed items scheduled to be auctioned off at the Kinetic Alloy Beast Armory auction house, and that sight instantly gave him a clear idea.

If he could get his hands on the beast core—which possessed a legendary peak A-Rank quality—he could use his stockpiled Evolution Booster to forcibly push Noir to the next evolution rank. That way, he could easily complete the system mission on time, earn three S-Rank beasts to command, and make Noir vastly more powerful all at once.

...

After Irad’s death...

Terrence escaped the auction hall with the Peak A-Rank Beast Core resting safely inside his Inventory system. The moment he reached a quiet alleyway, he pulled it out, unable to ignore the radiating quality of condensed mana swirling inside the massive crystal.

"Fuck yeah. Jackpot, just as expected."

He could already visualize the terrifying evolution Noir might undergo. But, as he didn’t want to be hasty or reckless, he carefully inspected the Beast Core for any traps or impurities.

Seeing no problem with the artifact, Noir scooched close to his side, already wearing the special Evolution Booster necklace around his dark neck.

Noir stared at the glowing beast core with intense focus as well. Seeing his beast’s readiness, Terrence carefully set the core right beside the Evolution Booster on Noir’s neck. In an instant, a radiating white flash of light materialized, completely blinding Terrence for a few intense seconds.

Upon absorbing the stolen Peak A-Rank Beast Core right after escaping the display stage, Terrence had instantly fulfilled the strict hidden requirements for the system directive.

[Your Mutated Iron Shadow Hound evolved!]

[Congratulations! Named Noir reached SS-Rank as Mutated Iron Shadow Hound.]

Noir’s body surged with terrifying energy as the evolution took hold, transforming him into a far more devastating, higher-tier nightmare with vastly amplified stat multipliers and lethal new traits.

Looking at him, Terrence couldn’t help but feel a sense of sheer awe. Noir’s physical appearance hadn’t changed dramatically, yet Terrence could feel that he was far stronger than before—the clear result of breaking through to a higher rank. On top of that, through their soul bond, he knew exactly what his beast was now capable of.

But just when Terrence thought everything was going smoothly according to his calculations, things were about to take a sudden, unpredictable turn against his luck today.