Return home

Nearly two years have gone by since Arim landed on Baal. He gained vast amount of knowledge by his master as he would learn the history about the Evo-beast and the families conquering the two islands. Soon he knew about who Master Ram really was and the identity of senior Sister Noel, a daughter of the Demon Lord. He understood the geography of the land and knew well about the monsters and plants' rank level and their weaknesses. As Master Ram would feed Arim three cores per day, from the beginning until Arim could now swallow ten cores with immediate effect, Arim’s power level could be as strong as A rank monster and had surpass the suppression of the collar, allowing Arim to remain in his human feature but retain all of his Beast-Folks ten-fold strength.

Princess Noel had slowly gotten used to Arim and even sometimes showed some affection towards him. At the beginning she would give tasks that Arim would have a hard time accomplishing, but Arim refused to give up and end up battered and bruised upon his return to camp. Princess Noel was shocked but would not admit defeat so one time, she played a prank on Arim and he nearly lost his life. That was a turning point for her, and her attitude slowly changed.

On the other hand, Master Ram noticed the change and was delighted that Princess Noel was having some sort of fun. Arim was a great distraction for Noel, escaping the cruel reality of her family and even suppressing her tantrum. Especially how her prank nearly killed Arim, her attitude had turned back to her old self, a princess with a smile.

Arim looked around the dead corpses he once knew. Nothing but bones left on the ground and some rag of clothes left from his group that Madam Ava insisted on exploring Master Ram and princess Noel went back to scout for any survivor beside Arim after Arim woke up. But in the end, somebody else survived, and the only things they brought back were bags of cores from Holy-Land and the Rhino-cats cores.

By accident, Princess Noel was throwing monsters' cores belonging to the Holy-Land as Arim was dodging them right beside the inactive portal. When one of the cores hit the frame, it got absorbed and a symbol began to glow. Princess Noel and Arim were both amazed at the finding and reporting back to Master Ram.

After hearing about it, Master Ram suggested to Arim, “Arim, I believe it’s time. It’s time for you to go back to Holy-Land. You should be in time to enter the next tournament and this time, take the championship” Master Ram looked at Arim with a serious face.

 “But Master, we still need to find the core to save Sister Noraa. With my help, we are strong enough to enter Lord Redgor's territories and capture the monsters,” Arim insisted. He refused to leave but Noel pulled Arim by the arm and said, “Master is right. You should go back home, now that we know how to active the portal. You could easily come back once you win the tournament and see your family. I’m sure your parents would be worrying, not knowing if their son is alive or not. Just like how I feel about my father, so please take this opportunity to see your parents”

Master Ram walked up to Arim and said, “We will wait for you until you return. That other ring may give us more information about Prince Remmus whereabouts. Only you could infiltrate the Holy-Land without causing commotion, so we will wait for your success here in Baal. Meanwhile, we will gather information about Lord Redgor’s territories and find out where would he hide those rank-A cores”

Arim kept silent, but Master Ram was right, and he gave a nod, agreeing with the arrangement. After the next few days, Arim gathered things that could be useful, and Noel gave Arim her own robe some changes, that the inner robe would have some pockets for storage. Arim wore the robe for the first time and nicely covered his collar like a large fluffy scarf as he carried a large leather bag filled with many food and items.

They all walked to the active portal as Arim made its final farewell, "Master Ram, Sister Noel, thank you for all these months of training and lessons. I will come back with the other dragon ring and help fight Redgor’s Evo-beasts. Please wait for me”. Master Ram gave a slight nod as Noel walked up to Arim and gave him a hug. “Please come back to me”

“Of course, Sister Noel. I promise”, the last sentence Arim said before he walked into the portal. He gave a quick look at the ruin, recap how he first saw it. He closed his eyes and took his last scent of Baal before he passed through the waving liquid doorway. 

Once Arim stepped back to the jungle of the Holy-Land, the noises from the jungle that he once remembered were all gone. The whole jungle became very quiet, and no creatures of any sort were at sight. Arim looked around as he made a giant leap onto the nearest Jelly Flower close to him. When he landed, he saw a Black Worm curled up in a ball. Arim walked up and noticed some fabric stuck to the worm and easily recognised that the color fabric belonged to Sir-K. Without hesitation, Arim punches the worm’s body and immediately exploded with a high screeching noise before the jungle became quiet again. “Sir-K, may you rest in peace”, as Arim closed his eyes and gave prayer in silence.

When Arim opened his eyes, he was surrounded by a group of Black Worms crawling up to him. They immediately sprayed their black threads, and Arim’s whole body was covered up, leaving no space to breathe. He was completely covered from head to toe with the threads, as the worms continued to crawl closer to Arim. Then as they got closer, the eyeless head shifted, opening their circular mouth with many razor-sharp teeth. They all jumped and bite at the same time, punctured the threads and linked their teeth into Arim’s unmovable body.

However, they realized they could not bite through, and the threads suddenly ripped apart, Arim wearing the gloves with steel blades belonging to Ava's servant, Anaid. He easily sliced the worms apart, and not long; most of the Black Worms were cut into pieces while the rest fled the scene. Arim began to pick up the Black Worms' cores before he could finally leave the jungle.

With Arim’s current power, having his Beast-Folks ten-fold strength and the cores he consumed, Arim was able to leave the jungle without any difficulties. Within two hours, he was able to step out of the jungle and began to walk back home.

As he was getting close to Northern Gate, the guards looked at Arim and without any questions, he was let in. “Looking like a human does give me an advantage” Arim smiled to himself as his first destination was to see his parents.