Chapter 115: Cha.114 The Test (3)

In the middle of a crimson forest filled with small, spiky towers instead of trees, Qasim was trying to distract a monster while also avoiding the nearby spikes.

"C’mon, you stupid thing."

Qasim was starting to get bored with the repeated behavior of the monsters so far.

Except for the first monster, the next few hadn’t done anything. They simply stayed still.

Qasim sighed and called over to Yasmin.

"This one is harmless. Kill it."

Yasmin jumped at the monster and killed it.

Qasim coughed as he tried to wave the colorful dust away.

"This is the eighth one... Two more to go."

Yasmin nodded and threw the core toward Qasim.

He looked at the colorful ball, then tilted his head toward Yasmin before asking,

"How long do you think it would take me to learn Irada?"

Yasmin took a step closer to the boy and looked him in the eyes for a few seconds.

"If you actually try hard to learn it, unlike the last time we tried, then you might learn it in a few weeks."

Qasim took a step back and frowned.

"Can’t we speed up the few weeks to few days?"

Yasmin remained silent and stepped even closer.

Then, suddenly, she pushed Qasim aside just as a small black mass flew toward him.

Another monster?

Qasim looked at the black jelly, about the size of a dog, as it stared at him with red eyes.

Red eyes?

Qasim dodged another attack from the monster before noticing that this was the first one with red eyes.

He had been wondering when they would face another type of those things.

This monster was more aggressive and faster than the others. It moved between the spikes, attacking him repeatedly from different blind spots.

Yasmin watched the little monster for a moment before striking it in midair with her new dagger.

The monster exploded into colorful dust.

Its core dropped to the ground, and Qasim picked it up.

"Well, we just need one more to go."

Qasim commented with a smile on his face.

But then something changed.

He felt the ground beneath him shaking.

He looked over at Yasmin and saw her staring to the side with wide eyes.

Qasim nervously swallowed as he turned back.

A gigantic black jelly mass was rushing toward them.

It had six limbs, three on each side, and one long body completely covered with red eyes.

Both of them managed to jump out of its way, but the monster twisted its entire body at an unnatural angle and launched itself at them again.

Luckily, its target was Yasmin.

She managed to use her ability to hide herself in the black cloud and dodge the attack, but the monster kept going.

This time, Qasim was its target.

Qasim’s eyes widened as he gathered all the strength in his legs and jumped aside.

But to his surprise, the monster had already adapted to his movement and jumped to the side, following Qasim.

Fuck!

Qasim cursed as he began running with all his strength.

He looked over at Yasmin and found her unable to even get close to the monster.

This thing is so huge. I don’t think she can damage it that much...

Even if she manages to kill it, this will take so much time...

Suddenly, an idea lit up in his mind.

He immediately started sprinting in the direction they had come from.

...

"Do you think they will be back in time?"

Cici asked her captain, who was still sitting with his arms crossed, watching the candle closely.

She adjusted her glasses and asked again, this time with a much more worried voice as she looked down at her notebook.

"Captain... Even trained warriors would find it hard to complete such a task with so few weapons. Maybe you should—"

The captain interrupted her in a steady voice without turning his head.

"If they can’t do this much, our leaders won’t see them as valuable."

He then turned to face the girl.

"Remember, Cici, our goal is not to make average warriors. It’s to find uniquely talented geniuses who can push humanity further."

He saw Cici’s eyes widen, so he lowered his voice and began to explain his point again.

"I know that this might be—"

"Captain!"

Cici interrupted him as she pointed toward the forest.

"Behind you..."

The captain raised an eyebrow and turned around.

His mouth immediately dropped open.

A snow-white-haired boy with blue eyes was sprinting toward them, with a gigantic monster right behind him.

"This idiot from the barbarian world!"

The captain shouted as he stood up with his spear in hand.

He raised his weapon and spread his legs, tightening his grip around the spear.

He aimed the tip at the monster and fired an electric beam straight at it, paralyzing the creature.

Yasmin saw the monster struggling to move, so she used her black cloud to cover both herself and the monster.

She unleashed a massive number of incredibly fast strikes.

The monster’s horrendous voice echoed throughout the area, but in the end, it was reduced to nothing but colorful dust as Yasmin finished it.

"You are going back to that cell right now!"

The captain ran toward Qasim, but the boy simply raised his hand, asking him to stop.

The captain looked at him with confused eyes.

Qasim coughed from the dust before putting a sinister look on his face and pointing behind the captain.

"The candle is still on fire..."

He then took off his dark overcoat and carefully showed what was inside it to the captain.

The captain narrowed his eyes when he saw ten colorful spheres resting on the coat.

Then he heard the boy’s voice again.

"Here you go. Ten monster cores, just like you asked."

Qasim noticed the anger building on the captain’s face, so he quickly hid the coat behind his back and, with an innocent, childish expression, asked,

"You didn’t say how to get them..."

The captain took a step back at those words and paused for a moment, thinking.

Then he turned toward the girl and shouted,

"Get these two their armor and weapons, then make sure that..."

He looked back at Qasim with cold eyes before continuing.

"Make sure to send this one here to get a lantern from the princess."