Chapter 29: End of A Long Day

The bullet streaked past Andeen’s shoulder, missing her by a few inches, and slammed into the ground right behind her, kicking up the dust.

Cashel quickly leapt down from the edge of the hole and landed lightly a few metres away. He reached up, unsealed the mask and tilted his head.

Andeen’s head snapped up towards him. Her brows furrowed in confusion, yet she did not hesitate to grab her staff as she rose up.

"Don’t. Relax," Cashel said quietly, glancing around to ensure no one was close.

"Ca...shel?" Andeen mumbled. She lowered her staff and placed it firmly on the ground to support herself. Then he made his way over to her, gently took the staff away and scooped her into his arms.

Once he was sure she had a firm grip on him, Cashel bent his knees and leapt back onto the roof of the ruined building.

However, not far from where Andeen had been, there was a silhouette moving slowly in the dust cloud and fog around the area.

Cashel raised a brow when he caught a glimpse of it. It was a really big animal, and it moved on all fours. There was no way for him to identify the animal but he was certain it was probably a cat or dog type beast.

He then turned back to Andeen and smiled. "You look... okay."

Andeen’s brows curved into a frown. "I look okay? You threw a flashbang? What was that for?"

Cashel laughed nervously with his hand behind his head. "You see, I couldn’t help it, and sorry about your ears."

Andeen said nothing. She just stared at him with a hint of disbelief and annoyance in her expression. Then she let out a deep breath and snatched her staff from him.

"Stay here. I’ll deal with..."

"No," Cashel cut her off almost immediately, making her frown even deeper. "It’s my job to do that and I don’t want the beast killed." He placed a hand on her cheek and patted her soft skin. "Join the others. We still need to clear the dungeon."

"It’s already almost cleared, and this is one of the last beasts here."

"Yes, and I want to handle it, so go." His voice left no room for argument. "I’ll meet you there."

Andeen hesitated. Deep down she knew Cashel was capable of handling something like that himself, but she couldn’t help but feel like something might go wrong if she let her eyes off him.

Cashel didn’t look back at her after he said that. He just smiled, lowered his mask and dropped back down.

However, the Kinetic Reinforcement timer screen appeared once again.

[Kinetic Reinforcement — 0:30 remaining]

He let out a sigh as He summoned an assault rifle from his inventory. It had supposedly been designed for dealing with creatures like this.

Supposedly.

With only thirty seconds of Kinetic Reinforcement remaining, Cashel decided to burn through the last of its duration, he fired into the air above the beast, clearing out most of the dogs surrounding it.

As planned, the massive C-ranked creature roared and charged straight out of the fog and skidded to a stop a few metres away from Cashel.

’A... wolf? Ah, it’s not...?’ he thought with uncertainty as he stared at the beast. It resembled a wolf, sure, but it had vertical irises and patches of red across its skin.

On top of its head was a rather strange-looking jar, and it seemed to be hanging off something.

Probably a horn.

After the brief analysis, Cashel provoked the beast further by firing another gunshot at its face. The beast dodged, but the bullet grazed its skin.

Annoyed, it charged at Cashel like a blind bull, while Cashel just ran around, keeping up with the beast’s speed and dodging most of the reckless attacks.

However, when he thought of reaching into his bag to take out grenades he suddenly clicked his tongue out of annoyance. He wasn’t supposed to kill it.

He shook his head, climbed up a smaller building while the beast huffed and crept around the building waiting for him.

He quickly took out a smoke bomb and two flashbangs, but then looking up he saw Andeen still on the top of the ruined building, reluctant to leave.

’She’s so stubborn,’ he thought with a rather amused tone and yelled, "Close your ears!"

It took one glimpse of the round objects in his hands for her to realise what he was planning. She stepped back, held out her hands and created a barrier around herself, and yet covered her ears too.

Cashel jumped down from the building, pulled the pins and threw all three devices straight at the beast’s face. The explosion of smoke and light completely destroyed the beast’s sensitive senses, causing an agonising roar to leave the beast’s maw.

Cashel quickly recalled the gun, called out an arm-length dagger and put the Swordsman skill to good use. He closed the distance and severed the beast’s tendons and nerve clusters in its front limbs.

The beast wailed and thrashed around to protect itself.

Then the system screen flashed in the corner of Cashel’s view.

[Warning: Multiple temporary skills approaching expiration]

[Shadow Step — 0:48 remaining]

[Mana Thread Sensing — 2:11 remaining]

[Swordsman skill: Indefinite]

Cashel used the last of the Shadow Step skill to gather ropes and cut the rest of the beast’s tendons, then knocked it unconscious to stop it from thrashing around so much.

By the time the rest of the teams regrouped, with Andeen reluctantly leaving after ensuring there were no more threats and to get checked to ensure her healing was effective, the dungeon’s core energy had already begun to collapse. Commander Theo stood with Rain and Andeen near the centre of the city.

The remaining hunters looked battered but alive and extremely excited.

The gate reappeared right there, its blue light bathing the ruined city.

Meanwhile, Cashel was sitting on a boulder, going through his inventory.

Amia dropped from heaven knows where in front of him, still suspiciously spotless with her signature dagger in her hands. She let her gaze linger on the case beside him before chuckling.

"Clean work," she said. "Especially the last part, and the case did well too, I suppose?"

Cashel glanced over his shoulder at the weapon case still secured against his back and smiled faintly. "Partly. Lost quite a bit of blood."

Amia laughed softly. "I had a feeling," she said amusedly and tilted her head. "And it seems during the fight the case didn’t get in your way."

Cashel scoffed. "I forgot it was there. At least I’m glad it won’t get in my way." He said it sincerely, grateful that everything they had given him was effective, especially the weapons. He was especially happy about the weapons and the unlimited choices to choose from.

"Congratulations and welcome to the BMM."

He acknowledged her point with a small tilt of his head and then the system confirmed the rest.

[[Trial Contract — Complete]

[BMM Membership Trial — Passed]

[Relic recovered]

[C-ranked beast captured alive]

[Marked target eliminated]

[Rewards pending transfer]

Amia opened her inventory and transferred the beast first, then came the relic. The moment the jar entered her inventory, Cashel caught a glimpse of its interior.

It was white and there was even a tiny door built into its side.

Cashel stared for a second before deciding he didn’t want to know, as it was nothing to concern himself with until he was prepared for that or got involved with something similar.

He got up from where he sat, dusted himself and gestured towards the gate. Amia smiled behind her mask. She handed him a stick of cigarette that was unfortunately tucked away.

"You don’t smoke?"

Cashel shook his head. "I do, just not that brand," he replied gently and continued ahead.

However, as he got closer to the gate he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, making him frown. He paused and turned to look back.

He narrowed his eyes.

Nothing.

Just the ruined city, the black-lightning-filled sky and the drifting fog.

Then....

Two pairs of red eyes stared back at him from the darkness.