Qasim gasped upon seeing the lifeless body of the fox on the ground. He froze for a moment, unable to believe that it had actually happened.
*We... We did it...*
His thoughts were cut short when he remembered something very important.
"Valen!"
He screamed and ran to check on his leader. He fell once, then twice, on the way, but when he saw his leader lying on the ground with a huge smile on his face, Qasim was finally able to breathe again.
But then he noticed the blood covering Valen’s chest, and his expression changed once more, filled with concern.
"Valen, you..."
Suddenly, the blond man quickly stood up and hugged the boy tightly.
"Haha! We did it, my boy! We did it!"
"Aah, Valen! Please, you’re crushing my bones!"
...
Back in the room, the others woke up and learned that they had managed to kill the enemy leader.
Qasim immediately apologized to Doran and Levia, but they told him it had never been his fault. They understood that the enemy could control people who feared him, and Qasim was just a boy. Of course he would be scared during his first large-scale mission.
Little did they know that Qasim had already died once at the hands of that fox.
And that was the reason he had been so afraid of him.
*I think it’s a good thing that the hell experience was worse than that fox’s personality...*
"Are you okay, Valen?" Doran asked his leader after noticing his bloody chest.
Valen reassured him.
"Beff, don’t worry. I used my power to change my body’s properties so I wouldn’t bleed anymore."
"You can do that? Then why did you wait until now?"
"Oh, it’s just—"
Valen was about to answer, but Qasim interrupted him with a worried voice.
"But I saw him hitting... hitting your heart, didn’t he?"
Valen gave the boy an awkward smile before answering.
"Oh, I... I also managed to fix my heart somehow. Anyway, I’m completely fine. As a matter of fact, I’m hungry and ready to eat a whole cow once we leave."
"Y-Yeah, me too."
Qasim accepted his explanation.
But suddenly, the team heard some noises coming from the door.
In the next moment, someone new entered the room.
The team relaxed a little when they saw that the newcomers were Yorness, with an official from the Black Seed following behind him.
"Valen, any information about the enemy leader?" Yorness asked with a cold expression.
Valen answered while mocking him.
"Sure. He’s dead in that pit behind us, probably being eaten by some weird, mindless humans. But tell me about you, Yorness. What is this new look you have, huh?"
Valen laughed at Yorness’s miserable appearance.
His clothes were pierced in several places and burned in others. He had wounds across his face, and he was now missing an entire ear.
Yorness didn’t take the joke lightly.
He ignored him with the same angry, cold expression and moved to check the fox’s body.
Right after that, one of the officials bowed respectfully to Valen and thanked him and his team for their hard work.
He also asked him to excuse Yorness’s behavior since he had lost four of his seven students while fighting a famous Beastkin mercenary.
"Unfortunately, that mercenary managed to escape with another member. So, from Sir Yorness’s perspective, he lost most of his team for nothing."
"When we entered the prison, we met Lady Aurora, who told us about your situation, so we rushed here."
"Unfortunately, we encountered some of the terrorists on the way, but we dealt with them quickly and easily thanks to Sir Yorness. Please, you and your team can rest and leave the rest to us."
"Valen, can I speak with you in private when we return home?" Yasmin asked.
"Mmm? Yeah, sur—"
Before Valen could finish his answer, the team was shocked to see Qasim drop to his knees and begin breathing heavily, his face twisted in pain.
"Kid, what is it?"
"Q-Qasim, are you okay?"
"Wait, let me see him."
Valen stepped closer and asked Qasim what was wrong.
"I d-don’t know. It’s like... It’s like my soul and body are..."
Valen narrowed his eyes and asked the boy to remove his gloves.
There, he saw that the Mahik tattoo on Qasim’s hand was shrinking.
"Boy, I need you to stay focused for a moment, okay? You’re moving to the Second Step. Just breathe and don’t panic. All the pain you’re feeling will go away on its own."
After a couple of minutes, Qasim’s eyes widened.
He felt as if he had been reborn.
A rush of happiness and satisfaction filled him, almost like a mixture of dopamine and adrenaline.
He looked at his hand, then looked up.
To his shock, he saw a faint trace of stars forming in a cracked pattern above him.
For a brief moment, he was about to scream, thinking he had returned to that hellish place.
But then he realized that wasn’t the case.
"Tell me, my boy. You see it, don’t you? A small picture of your egoistical layer, right?"
Qasim slowly nodded his head while continuing to stare upward.
"Valen... But why did he seem to be in so much pain?" Levia asked, still looking worried about her student.
"I remember you and Yasmin passed to the Second Step pretty smoothly."
"Well... it has to do with the quality of the step itself. I’ll explain later once we arrive home. For now, I want you to know..."
He turned to face Qasim.
With a warm smile, he spoke.
"I am proud of you, my boy."
...
After Team Four left the prison, Yorness and the officials stayed behind, each minding their own business.
Eventually, one of the officials called out to Yorness.
"Sir Yorness, look... We found these documents pretty well hidden inside a secret hole over there..."
He pointed toward the hole in the wall where they had found the documents before handing them to Yorness.
Upon reading their contents, Yorness’s expression changed.
"What the hell..."
On the first few pages was a clear message—the purpose of the document.
The Goblin World and the Beastkin Kingdom must move faster before the thing stops playing around.
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