The events that happened next was simple.
The Grey Pact had no other choice than to fight the ice puppet.
Even if they wanted to escape through teleportation, they would not be able to because the ice puppet had locked onto them.
They could feel its killing intent, and they knew that the moment they let down their guard, it would strike them.
So they had to fight.
Vexa and her teammates were all Half-Step Greater Demons, but when compared to the ice puppet, they were weaker.
But did they lose?
Absolutely not.
Their desire to live was very strong, and the fact that Simon had Lucien as a hostage was putting the ice puppet in a tight spot.
The ice puppet had to make sure that a portion of his attention was on Simon and Lucien.
There were times when the ice puppet wanted to release a wide scale attack that would wipe out the entire Grey Pact, but Simon would intervene.
He would shout and threaten the ice puppet by drawing more blood from Lucien’s neck.
The ice puppet would have no choice than to stop.
When Vexa and the rest noticed, they asked Simon to keep on threatening the ice puppet because it distracted it and made their fight easier.
But he refused.
He didn’t interfere with their fight, but he barely helped them.
He wanted them to exhaust themselves so that whatever they had in store for him would not work out.
If not for the rules of the clan and the unfairness of the clan toward him, he would have made sure that the ice puppet killed one or two members of the Grey Pact.
Unfortunately, if that happened, whoever that’s alive would definitely blame him because he forced them to fight against the ice puppet.
Simon could also not let the ice puppet kill every single one of them since it would be extremely strange and suspicious if he was the only one that came back alive from their mission.
He who was the weakest and least experienced came back alive?
His story would have to be extremely believable, and an investigation would also be done.
Although he couldn’t use the ice puppet to kill them, he used it to exhaust them and to also watch them fight as a team.
The ice puppet was literally the best thing he could use to gauge their abilities because they would not be able to hide many of their abilities against it.
Sure, they might choose to hide some of their abilities, but what they’ll hide would be very few.
After fighting for nearly four minutes, the Grey Pact finally destroyed the ice puppet.
But not a single one of them was happy.
They were exhausted... Extremely exhausted.
They were panting loudly, their ruined clothes were soaked in sweat, and even the floor beneath them was wet with either their blood or their sweat.
The beauty of the auction hall could no longer be seen.
Everything around them was completely destroyed.
The floor, walls, and even some parts of the ceiling was destroyed.
Some parts of the destroyed auction hall was covered in ice, while some parts were covered with cuts of various sizes, and some places had other elemental forces acting upon them.
"Son of a bitch." Silith could not help but curse as she sat on the floor exhausted.
The others felt the same way, and they looked at Simon who went to pick up Lucien’s ring.
The moment they saw this, their eyes widened in shock and the anger they felt increased.
"What do you think you’re doing?!"
Vexa who was usually the calm one could not help but explode in anger.
She angrily walked toward Simon, and for a moment, killing intent flashed in her eyes.
Simon was calm despite her approach, then he tilted his head and responded.
"I’m taking my reward for this mission."
Vexa’s eyes widened in disbelief at Simon’s words, and the others too could barely control their anger.
"Your reward? Your reward? Your fucking reward?"
Simon raised a brow.
"Do I have to repeat myself?"
Vexa froze, then she laughed.
Her laughter was one of anger, disbelief, and madness.
Simon indifferently blinked, then he shrugged and put Lucien’s spatial ring inside his clothes.
However, what he actually did was to put Lucien’s spatial ring inside his own spatial ring.
It was very difficult for a spatial ring to contain another spatial ring.
It was like trying to make a folded space contain another folded space that could be filled with objects.
For a spatial ring to contain another spatial ring, the spatial runes, stability of the space in the ring, the metal used to craft the ring itself, and some other factors had to be a lot higher than the corresponding attributes of the spatial ring that was to be stored.
If Vexa or any other member of the Grey Pact saw that his spatial ring could contain Lucien’s spatial ring, they would eventually become suspicious.
They might not think much of it now because of how angry they were, but in the future, they would realize how odd that was and might even tell Caesar who would immediately put two and two together.
This would lead to more annoying problems for Simon... problems he was not ready and does not want to deal with.
Meanwhile, the moment Vexa saw Simon keep Lucien’s spatial ring, she nearly attacked Simon out of anger.
But Simon stretched out his hand.
"I know that you’re angry and that you want to kill me, but don’t we have more pressing matters?"
Vexa frowned.
Then Simon pointed up.
Vexa and the rest looked up, and their faces paled when they saw the scene above them.
Their battle with the ice puppet had destroyed the ceiling and roof of the auction hall, which meant that anybody inside could see what was happening outside through the holes.
They all saw the transparent barrier, and outside the barrier were dozens of demons.
But that wasn’t what terrified them.
No.
What terrified them was the massive aura they could feel flying toward them at a speed that was beyond comprehension.
A Demon Lord was approaching them.
And this Demon Lord was furious.