''Why??? Huh??'' Carl chuckled, stepping closer to Wilbur. Then he suddenly kicked Wilbur right in the mouth.
In the blink of an eye, some teeth broke and fell onto the floor along with splashes of blood.
Carl cleared his throat.
''Well, I guess those were your last teeth.''
''B-Bastard!'' Wilbur shouted furiously, opening his mouth — almost no teeth left inside. He was no longer as handsome as before. It really made Carl feel content for a while when the most handsome in this dungeon was the only one left.
But, it was an ugly sight to Carl. Hearing Wilbur's babbling nonsense was annoying, especially looking at that bruised and deformed face up close.
So, he decided to end this boredom right now!
[Plasma Breath activated]
Immediately, Carl shot a plasma blast at Wilbur's right arm, turning it into black ash in an instant.
Then, Only a horrific howl echoed through the cave.
Surprised, Carl realized just how much damage he had done to Wilbur's arm. He didn't expect his wife's skill to be this strong… it was totally different from his Stoker-class flames. This plasma breath dealt huge damage in seconds, while his fire skills usually burned over time.
''Don't yell anymore.'' Carl frowned, feeling annoyed as Wilbur kept screaming and clutching the bloody stump where his arm used to be, like a maniac.
''Tsk!'' Carl clicked his tongue, then in a flash grabbed Wilbur by the face with his dragon claw and smashed him into the floor to shut him up.
He did it again and again, over and over, until the deafening screams of pain fell completely silent, and cracks and streams of blood spread a few meters wide.
''Don't die on me yet! I still need you, lizard.'' Carl grimaced, seeing Wilbur nearly pass out, but he wouldn't allow that. He quickly grabbed a healing potion and dripped some into Wilbur's mouth, just enough to keep him conscious.
But as soon as Wilbur regained consciousness, he spat out in rage:
''Fuck you!''
Carl didn't even look mad. He just smirked and mocked him again.
''I'll smash that pride of yours…'' He looked over Wilbur's body and then noticed something.
He smirked wider.
"Guess you'll never be a father. Your tribe is a disgrace to this world. I should wipe out your bloodline for good."
Right when Carl said that, Wilbur still didn't understand clearly… but when he noticed Carl's gaze shift down to his lower body, a tinge of panic and fear appeared on his face for the first time and only grew stronger. He shivered and begged in despair.
"P-Please… don't do that. I'll do anything for you… anything… even the filthiest thing in the world… Please have mercy on my pen."
Carl froze for a moment. He didn't expect Wilbur to break down like that. Then he nodded, motioning for Wilbur to go on.
"I have some information…"
Carl stroked his chin and said,
"I'm listening."
"There's a bloody pool hidden in this cave. It can make you stronger. According to what I read in my scroll, it boosts your strength and renews your body. You'll be twice as strong, even if you're still just F-Rank… In short, it'll raise your potential."
Carl nodded with a faint smile, but quickly frowned as a system notice appeared.
[System Notice]: Kill him.
Every hair on Carl's body stood on end when he saw that. He'd never felt something like this from his wife — even just through a line of text.
"As you wish, my wife."
Carl exhaled deeply and looked at Wilbur with pity. But before finishing him off, Carl was still curious why his wife was so furious.
"Haizz… one last question. What's the source of that bloody pool?"
Wilbur froze for a moment at Carl's strange tone, but quickly spoke when he realized Carl's worry.
"Sir, don't worry. You won't be cursed by the pool. Even though it was extracted from this dragon and should've carried the curse, my tribe sacrificed themselves to remove it. For about five generations, it won't affect anything if I bathe in it — and for someone like you, it won't matter at all."
Carl's face darkened.
"Good. Then you'd better be ready to face your sins."
Carl stepped closer and pressed his foot on Wilbur's most sensitive spot.
"Last words?"
Wilbur's eyes went almost hollow, his voice barely a thread.
"P-Plea—"
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
The scream only grew louder as Carl pressed down harder on Wilbur's groin.
Two minutes later, only sobbing remained.
Carl wiped his foot on Wilbur's clothes,trying to get rid of the fresh he just crushed into smush. Then spat. Without hesitation, he drew his sword and drove it through Wilbur's abdomen, pinning him to the floor with no chance to struggle.
[Flame Breath activated!]
[Soul-Devouring Breath activated!]
Carl unleashed two torrents of flame at once — one crimson, one blue. They wrapped around Wilbur, drowning out his deafening scream.
Two minutes later—
[System]: Target offered no resistance.
[System]: Soul Devoured: 20%
[System]: Soul Devoured: 50%
…
[System]: Soul Devoured: 70%
…
[System]: Soul Devoured: 100%
[Soul Rank]: ★ Dragon (Progress: 81%-->100%)
[System notice]: Congratulations, My love.''
"Thank you, my wife." Carl tasted both bitterness and sweetness on his tongue as memories of his horrific childhood — full of pity and disdain — came flooding back.
"It's… nostalgic."
He wiped out some tears on his eyes and summoned his status.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Name]: Carl Ryan
[Age]: 18
[Class]: Stoker
[Rank]: F [870/5000] (Requires Monster Card)
[Soul Rank]: ★★ Dragon (Progress: 00,00%)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
System Restriction: Absolute
Talking to or touching any girl other than your wife is strictly forbidden. Penalty: Tortured by Thorned Shadow Vines for 24 hours.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Attributes] (★★)
Strength : 17×2
Agility : 14×2
Vitality : 3×2
Intelligence : 3×2
Wisdom : 5×2
Available stat points: 0
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Finally! I've evolved." Carl grinned happily and activated his [Dragonic Physique] to feel the difference in his new power.
Scales began forming across his skin. At first, they didn't look much different from before, but after a few seconds, a subtle change appeared.
All of his old red scales shed like a snake's dead skin, revealing a layer of crimson-red scales underneath — tougher, harder.
Still, Carl didn't feel satisfied.
It was hard to accept, but he had only just broken free from the title of an weakest individual in the world.
"It's fine."
He cracked his knuckles and picked up his sword, glancing at Wilbur — now nothing but a pile of ash.
"Goodbye, lizard."
Then he turned his attention to the ancient dragon's corpse, staring behind into its ribs.
"Now… if I destroy its mana core, can I finally leave this place?"
[System Notice]: You should bathe in the bloody pool before leaving.