More and more of the guests found themselves growing irritated by the second.Luke’s words had poured fuel onto an already raging fire.Every one of them wanted to be the first to wipe that arrogant look off his face.Who did he think he was?Did he honestly believe he was qualified to look down on them?“Let me fight him first. Let’s see if that loudmouth actually has any skills.”“No, let me do it. I’ll make sure I smash that smug face of his. We’ll see how long that arrogance lasts.”“A nobody from the lower class dares to mock us? What a joke.”“He probably learned how to throw a punch yesterday and suddenly thinks he can brag about it. I could crush him with one finger.”“Maybe he’s just using what happened to Fenrir to scare us. He probably wants everyone to believe he actually beat him. Does he even believe his own lie?”None of them bothered hiding their contempt anymore.One insult followed another as they mocked Luke’s arrogance and laughed at what they saw as nothing more t

Everyone stared at Luke with dumbfounded expressions. They could hardly believe the sheer audacity he was displaying.“Luke, have you lost your mind?”Despite her shock, Jackielyn was the first to recover. She glared at him, unable to hide the frustration in her voice.No one could blame her. Almost everyone present was thinking the exact same thing.Luke merely shrugged before answering casually.“No. I’m perfectly sane,” he replied. “If I fight them one at a time, it’ll take forever. It’s better to get it over with all at once, don’t you think?”His confident answer snapped the stunned guests out of their daze.“Hah! That arrogant brat is really asking for his own funeral!”“Why not? Let’s all beat the clown together. That way, everyone gets a turn.”One of the young masters stepped forward while cracking his knuckles.The others soon followed, mocking Luke as they slowly closed the distance

Luke stood in front of a large dog cage where Richard had been held captive for the past few weeks. A steaming cup of coffee rested in one hand while he stared at the empty enclosure with sleepy eyes.There was no sign of Richard inside the cage, which was still securely locked.Malcov let go of the heavy padlock with an irritated flick of his hand. Frustration was written all over his face.“I still can’t figure out how he managed to escape. The patrols guarding this area didn’t notice anything unusual. It wasn’t until they came back at dawn that they realized the cage was empty. Even the padlock doesn’t show any signs of being forced open. Besides, if Richard had tried smashing it, the patrols should’ve heard something.”With furrowed brows, he gestured toward the cage itself.“And there’s no way he could’ve squeezed through these bars either.”Although everyone called it a dog cage, it had actually been built large enough to hold a person. There were several cages like it around th