Chapter Twenty-Six
(Correlated with the manhua's chapter 26)
The many stalactites, in their shower of spiky death, caused violent gusts as they fell atop and pierced the demonic wolf, before shattering in a deafening explosion of dust and debris.
Mo Fan, who had wisely covered his face with his arms, hacked and coughed as the rock particles overwhelmed him, clouding his view. The boy was so distracted that he almost missed the glowing blue light that shot at him from where the wolf was crushed. Almost.
*WHOA!* He thought, trying to summon the few dregs of magic power left within himself to cast a spell. Yet, the light was too fast, and…passed right through him.
*No, wait…that was…!*
Mo Fan inhaled sharply at the realization—and subsequently coughed more—before struggling to force himself to rise. After a few moments, he managed to stand on his feeble, wobbly legs, and take a few tentative steps forward.
The student covered his mouth and nose with his shirt, using it to filter the dust as he breathed, and approached where he thought the magical beast would be lying.
*It was as I thought: the light was the soul essence.*
Mo Fan turned away from the corpse-less pile of stalactite remains to look at the pendant hanging around his neck.
*And the treasure Old Man Ying gave me automatically absorbed it before the body disappeared.*
He looked up at the pile of rocks again.
"And that confirms my hypothesis that the wolf was a summon. It's just such a shame that summoned creatures' bodies return to the realms they were pulled from."
The boy sighed, thinking of all the money he could earn by selling magical beast parts and soul essences if he later gained the summoning element. Then again, every summoner would be able to do the same thing and the market would quickly become saturated.
"You're damn right, son!"
Mo Fan jumped, surprised by the deep voice booming from behind him. Then, he fell, exhausted.
"S-sir, please don't surprise me like that." He whined, looking up at Zhankong, who also seemed out of breath as his chest heaved.
"Surprise YOU? Boy, I—" The buff man swept his long hair off his face as he took a moment to breathe. "I came to assist you as quickly as I could, but the beast is nowhere to be seen. You killed it?"
Too tired to speak, Mo Fan simply pointed at the giant pile of rubble, which Zhankong approached. He stopped at the base of the rocks, inspecting the area. Then, he looked up at the ceiling of the cave with a smile, looked back at Mo Fan, and nodded.
"The bloodstains everywhere, the jagged bases of missing stalactites above us—splendid job. I'm glad the world didn't lose such a talented mage as you, and that you managed to best the level two beast so soon after reaching its level. But, more importantly…"
The man walked toward Mo Fan, stopped with two meters between them, and bowed from the waist.
"I must deeply apologize for this incident. One of my men summoned the beast for your test, as you already figured out, but the connection between the two was cut. We don't know how it occurred, but a full investigation will commence and the perpetrators of the incident will be heavily punished."
Mo Fan's expression didn't change upon receiving the news.
"I thought as much. I doubted there was a reason for you to kill us and make so many enemies."
*But there are reasons for enemies of the state, like the Dark Vatican to kill off some aspiring mages while painting the event like an accident.*
"Raise your head, sir. It wasn't your fault, thus I hold no grudge."
Zhankong obliged, and sighed.
"I am grateful you see it that way, Mo Fan. Now, it's time we h—"
Xiao Hou chose that moment to enter the cave with a flash of green light, appearing by Mo Fan's side with an expression somehow conveying both relief and anger.
"Brother Fan! How could you?! You could have died! If it weren't for Zhankong—"
Mo Fan straightened his fingers to form a blade hand and sent it chopping down on his best friend's head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
The adorable wind mage clutched his skull with a confused pout.
"Zhankong didn't do anything here; I—" he stretched out the word, "killed the beast! Trust my judgement a little more, will ya?!"
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I'm cutting off the chapter here. Read the next post to see why.