After almost an hour since the 4 mystic warriors entered the cave, one of them finally came out. Rex, now back in his humanoid state was the only mystic warrior out of the 4 who came out of the cave alive.
On both his shoulders were 2 corpses, Goro and Pain while tied to his waist was a sack that held a round-shaped object from which blood dripped.
Rex came out of the cave with his 2 friend's corpses and the enemy's head.
After he finally succeeded in killing Pain, though his system already gave him a vague explanation about the system rewards that followed, Rex was still astonished by everything that he got after the kill.
He did not only get a bunch of skill points, free stat points, constitution points and others, what fascinated him most was the random ability draw chance.
Apart from the Dagger Battle Domain skill and the Lifestyle skill, the other 2 were related to Pain's shadow and poison parasite mystic ability.
Each one of them were skills that could improve Rex's proficiency at any given criteria and were therefore extremely valuable, but the last of the random draw chances that appeared was what really fascinated him.
As an Intermediate mystic warrior already, he now had the chance to learn and awaken another mystic ability.
He originally wanted to wait until he mastered his Blackfire mystic ability first, but Rex had no intentions of letting this opportunity slip by.
Skills could be stolen and learned from others, even created by mystic warriors once they are strong enough but the same could not be said for mystic abilities, they were far more valuable than any skill available.
Once Rex made his calculations, he immediately arrived at his decision on which to choose. Of course, he felt that it was a pity that he could not take them all but he could not be greedy, Rex decided to take shadow cultivation technique.
[You have acquired a Special Shadow Cultivation Technique: Shadow Mystic Ability!]
[Details: This is a meditation technique that gives you insights into the shadow realm. You have 20 cultivation chances, and these 20 chances are your best shot at awakening the shadow mystic ability.]
After acquiring this cultivation technique and all the other benefits that followed with killing Pain, Rex was ecstatic but he could not help but rewind back to the conversation between the 2 siblings before their death.
From the little that he heard, Rex was able to feel Pain's pain. Pain did not become evil because he took pleasure in it, circumstances forced him into it.
Though Pain's crimes were inexcusable no matter what caused it, Rex could not help but place himself in the criminal's position. What would he have done if he faced Pain's dilemma of losing his parent's love and trust?
After thinking hard, in the end, he discovered that he was unable to arrive at a decision that would have yielded a significantly different result from Pain's.
"Is this the reason why I became evil in the future life?" Rex shuddered as he made connections to the truths that Cassandra revealed to him.
"Even the best and kindest man can become evil when pushed by extreme circumstances". This was the lesson that Rex learned from this mission.
Rex reflected and cautioned himself to avoid getting into situations that would push him to the extreme as he left the cave with the 2 corpses.
His main regret was Goro dying in the feud between these 2 brothers.
By now, night already fully descended as it cast a veil of darkness over the badlands. Rex morphed into his Half-bat form again and flew into the skies.
He didn't get to fly far before his echolocation ability enabled him to locate the Monster Truck who was still looking for the 3 of them in the badlands.
Rex flew closer before boarding the Monster Truck again.
Thud! Thud!
Rex threw the 2 bodies on the Truck as he spoke. "Pain is dead but Cain and Goro accompanied him".
On seeing the 2 corpses on the Truck, Tim, Gilbert, and Aragorn kept quiet as they silently mourned their teammates' deaths.
They may have only cooperated for a few days but bonds were developed faster when warriors survive dangerous ordeals together. In these short few days, they already developed unbreakable bonds that would remain for life.
They felt sad, angry, and a little frustrated but as veterans, they were already used to scenes like this.
This was when Tim finally spoke. "The foundation of the Desert Cowboy Gang has already been destroyed, the next is to demolish the building itself".
"I say we engage on some more destruction as a farewell to our 2 friends".
"I concur!" Rex was quick to voice his support.
The other 2 did not hesitate as they also voiced their support. That night, even as the Desert Cowboy Gang kept on searching for their leader and as the Vengeance Army rested, the elite team went on further rampage.
With Pain and the main base of the criminal gang gone, the remaining parts to complete the mission of exterminating the Desert Cowboy Gang was slowly destroying the other bases of the gang that were spread across the badlands.
Once they all gave their support to the idea, Aragorn stepped on the gas.
By now, they already recovered a bit from the grave injuries that they sustained while battling Pain. Rex was also given a mystic pill to eliminate the poison of the 6 Poison Bug that was currently flowing through his veins.
By the time that they got to the next base of the Desert Cowboy Gang, their emotions were already riled up as they got set to avenge their teammates.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
With Aragorn and Monster Babe taking the lead, Rex rushed out with his sword into the unsuspecting criminal base as he started a massacre.
With no powerful expert around this time to hinder him, Tim lived up to his nickname as the Lord of Earthquakes as real earthquakes started.
As for Gilbert, he was always the reliable support from the back as he hid about a kilometer away from the base where he released constant lethal shots.
All it took was 20 minutes for this base to fall to this formidable team of Intermediate Mystic Warriors. From there, they went to another base and the massacre continued.
By the time that they finished exterminating the 3rd base of the Desert Cowboy Gang, it was already deep into the night and past 12:00am.
This was when they finally stopped to rest and bury their friends.
Goro and Cain were lone Intermediate mystic warriors, they had no family in Dragon Horn Village nor any of the other villages. This was why Tim and the others buried the both of them together deep in the badlands.
After paying their final respects to them, they finally turned to leave.
As the Monster Truck drove away, Rex fought the exhaustion in his body that threatened to swallow him as he focused on his system notifications.
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[Duration of Special System Event- Mystic Currency has come to an end!]
[During the duration of the Special System Event, you killed 179 Basic Mystic Warrior criminals and 2 Intermediate Mystic Warrior criminals!]
[You have gained 1080 mystic energy limits!]
[Remark: You are slowly getting experience, good! In no time, you will become a shameless veteran proficient at fishing in troubled waters!]
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢