"Does it hurt much?" asked the Third, still running on adrenaline, glancing at Endel.
"A little," he replied calmly, looking at his broken right arm with a crooked smile.
It seemed like he found the sight pitiful… and funny at the same time.
But then Endel's gaze fell on the system messages. He couldn't hold back a light chuckle — surprise mixed with a strange joy.
Leyna and Carlos exchanged glances.
Just a few minutes ago they had been laughing together, shaking off the stress after the insane battle.
But now Endel's behavior seemed odd to them — he was laughing as if he'd just discovered a new side of the world they hadn't yet seen.
Endel ignored their looks and focused on the text before him.
[Unlock conditions met!]
[You have unlocked the skill: Healing, Rank E]
Unlock conditions: sustain an injury in a situation where loved ones face mortal danger, and witness the moment of their salvation.
[Healing, Rank E]
Description: minimal effectiveness, grows with experience. Effects: accelerated recovery, pain relief.
"Now this is actually very good!" exclaimed the Third joyfully — finally, a gift of fate for all their suffering.
Endel immediately activated the skill and directed it to his broken arm.
Of course, the bones didn't mend, but the pain subsided, and now the healing was faster.
Leyna narrowed her eyes in astonishment, watching the soft, warm light wrap around Endel's arm.
— "Endel… you have a skill too?" she asked, bewildered.
Carlos, who had just dispelled his Arcana, also blinked in surprise and stared at his friend.
Endel froze.
He suddenly realized.
His friends didn't know he had skills.
And then, a chaotic torrent of thoughts rushed through his head — how to lie so it looked natural.
"Say you don't know where it came from, it just appeared," the Third instantly advised, cutting in like an icy blade.
— "I don't know where it came from, it just appeared," Endel repeated, straightening and trying to look calm.
A second later he realized — he had repeated the Third's words word for word. His face twisted in embarrassment.
"Pathetic…" the Third muttered in irritation at the idiot.
Carlos scratched his head, tilting it oddly, his bright blue eyes meeting Endel's icy ones.
— "Endel… did you maybe hit your head when I launched you?" he asked carefully, doubt in his voice.
"Pff-hahaha!" The Third burst out laughing like a horse, barely restraining himself.
Endel felt a twinge of embarrassment but straightened up and tried to hold his composure, still channeling the skill into his arm.
The Third went on cackling, almost rolling on the imaginary floor with delight.
"Oh… this idiot…" he muttered between chuckles, "it's like the cockroaches in his head are having a carnival."
Carlos just kept watching.
— "Fine, whatever. Clearly you don't want to explain… then just tell us what kind of skill it is," said Leyna, pressing her hands to her temples to ease the pain from magic exhaustion.
Endel saw her state, immediately stepped closer, stood beside her, and calmly looked straight into her eyes.
His icy-blue eyes, dark hair, refined face… — Leyna's heart skipped a beat. She involuntarily stepped back, but he reached out his hand.
For some reason, she closed her eyes.
And suddenly felt warmth surround her — the pain faded, her wounds began to close.
When she opened her eyes, she saw her own surprised reflection — but Endel cut her off:
— "Better to try once than to see ten times," he said calmly, looking into her brown eyes, thinking he had chosen the right words.
She froze, staring at him.
No one knew what exactly went through her mind.
"Kya! Uwahahaha!" the Third howled, "That's how I look when I try to sound wise? Ahahaha!"
Leyna suddenly began trembling.
At first, Endel didn't understand, but then realized — she was suppressing laughter.
He himself couldn't see what was funny. To him, those were the right words.
Carlos walked over heavily, his face hard, gaze serious.
He saw Endel and Leyna locked in each other's eyes, his softly glowing hand still resting on her head.
They both turned to him.
And Carlos said in a grave voice:
— "Forgive me, my friend…"
"Oh, and Carlos too? Hah," the Third chuckled.
— "Enough fooling around!" Endel suddenly snapped, taking back control of the situation.
He didn't understand why they were acting so strangely.
"And you don't need to," concluded the Third, wiping a tear of laughter.
Logic returned to its place.
When he finished using [Healing] on Leyna, he turned to Carlos, about to use it on him as well, but Carlos refused:
— "No need, I have [Regeneration]," Carlos said calmly.
— "Save it for emergencies. I'm useless as a fighter anyway, but I can serve as a healer," Endel countered instantly.
Carlos didn't think long before agreeing.
But those words stung Endel's pitiful pride — a blunt acknowledgment of his uselessness in battle. Still, he said nothing. Now wasn't the time for ego.
They decided to move quickly — they had made so much noise, who knew what might come.
Leyna walked beside Endel, glancing at his arm, crudely bound with cloth torn from her shirt and a few branches — a makeshift splint.
— "You can't heal it?" she asked cautiously.
— "No… the skill is only Rank E, and my magic is F…" Endel said darkly, already feeling his mana nearly drained, though he had only used the skill a few times.
Even here, as a healer, he felt weak.
"Don't worry, we've still got a long way to go," the Third encouraged him.
Leyna simply nodded at his words.
— "So what now? Any ideas?" Carlos turned to ask the friends walking behind him.
— "First, we find a safe place to rest properly and think everything through," said Endel.
They agreed and kept moving.
A few hours later, they were sitting in a cave, hidden among the mountains.
On the way, they had found a safe shelter — and hunger. Strange berries had appeared along the path, but they hadn't dared to eat them.
And fortune smiled when a lone Artlap strayed from its pack — whether by accident or not didn't matter.
It attacked them… and met its fate.
Carlos easily caught it, activating his Arcana, but didn't kill it immediately, so the flesh wouldn't rot too soon.
— "Here's our dinner," he said with a predatory smile.
Inside the cave.
— "So how do you expect us to kill 1,500 Artlaps a day?" Leyna asked, chewing on the creature's leg.
— "Easy. We'll look for big packs, like earlier, and repeat the strategy," Carlos declared, presenting his "genius" idea. He knew it was nonsense, but something had to be said. Maybe they'd find an answer.
— "Brilliant…" Leyna muttered sarcastically.
— "And how do we even find those packs in the first place? Did you think about that?" she pressed, sitting by the fire they had lit.
— "We could walk around shouting?" Carlos suggested, biting into the meat, realizing more and more how senseless his words were.
— "Oh, and they'll just come the moment they hear us?" she shot back.
— "But that pack came the moment we appeared," he argued.
— "Maybe it was a coincidence?" she mused.
— "Maybe… or maybe because you yelled at me so loudly and for so long," he added — and regretted it immediately.
Suddenly, Leyna remembered the question that had been bothering her all along, but she kept forgetting amidst the chaos.
— "Right! Carlos, why did you enter the portal so suddenly?" she asked, eyes fixed on him.
Endel, quietly listening all this time, cast a sidelong glance at his friend.
Carlos grew nervous.
He himself didn't know what to say.
And he didn't understand why he had stepped into that portal so impulsively.
— "I… I don't know. I just went…" he admitted, realizing how insane it sounded.
Leyna sighed at his confusion, while Endel kept eating quietly, staring into the fire.
The flames flickered in uneven tongues, licking at damp branches. Each time a coal fell, there was a short crunch — like someone whispering in the dark.
The red sparks blinked like the eyes of beasts hiding in the ash.
And suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, a thought struck him — and with it, an idea.
"Oh…" was all the Third could say, realizing the madness in what this lunatic was planning.
— "As you know, we don't have the strength, the time, or even the weapons to finish the mission," Endel began, breaking the silence.
They looked at him — and froze.
That devilish smile stretched across his face again.
A chill ran down their spines. He was plotting something again.
Leyna and Carlos had no idea what… and they didn't like it.
— "We can't even find them, and even if we could, how would we discover them at all? Just like Leyna said," he went on.
They exchanged nervous looks.
— "Simple. We don't need to find them. They'll come to us," Endel said calmly.
Carlos and Leyna didn't know how to respond to such certainty. They could only ask why he believed that.
Still smiling devilishly, Endel replied:
— "One wrong step — and their wrath and madness will turn into the greatest horror."
Their eyes widened as they began to understand what he meant.
— "Yes. As you guessed, we already created that chance when we killed so many of them," he added, glancing at the mission progress:
[500/10,000]
— "But even if they come, what can we possibly do?" Leyna's voice trembled, knowing repeating their earlier feat was almost impossible.
Carlos nodded in agreement.
— "It won't be much fun if I explain it all now. Just do what I say," Endel said mysteriously, his smile unbroken.
The Third was speechless.