"Begin!"

The soldiers quickly stormed inside the Eastern Region with an energy that had never been seen before. It couldn't be helped. They had seen hell today from that ambush and finally could finish everything.

Kai, Ria, and Nathan used that energy to bring all the soldiers and cleared this entire Underground Nest from Magical Beasts.

Kai didn't fight that much in the last region. He had another job after this, so he mostly rested his strength for what would come after. Of course, no one actually disagreed with his decision. In fact, many soldiers from the Reserve Army spread the word of how gallant he actually fought in the front line, especially those from the fronts that had seen his actual strength.

Having Ria as his teacher also elevated his rumor. And finally, after the long day, they finished the battle and returned to the surface.

Kai went back with Michelle and met up with Ayaka, Tasha. On the other hand, Sanae was talking with Yuki while Evan was still required him to heal the injured soldiers.

"Kai… You should have predicted the outcome, right? Is this result one of the best outcomes?" Ayaka couldn't contain her curiosity. Michelle and Tasha also grew curious, but their intentions were more to the concern of his heart. They were afraid that he would break down after many lives under his command died.

Kai looked up and rested his mind with this orange sky first before answering them. "Without the ambush, I can say this is one of the worst-case scenarios. If we take the ambush into account, it will be one of the best scenarios in my mind."

The girls observed his face and expression. He looked so calm that they even doubted him, but the thought vanished when they heard his next words.

"I had many shortcomings, and I knew that I could make a better plan… If I used it from the beginning. Unfortunately, I was not at that level yet until I completed this mission. That's why I wish to shoulder this weight and use this experience to save more soldiers' lives in the future." Kai raised his hand up, grasping the air as if he was trying to grab the sky. Suddenly, he lowered his hand, turned around, and looked into the girls' eyes with a solemn expression. "That's why I rather think about my future instead of lamenting my past. I'm sorry for making all of you worry."

He had realized his mistakes after seeing how they could actually kill twenty thousand magical beasts within a day due to the separation. Just like how he preferred fighting one on one multiple times to fighting against few at the same time, this separation actually gave the soldiers a leeway.

For example, he could annihilate four thousand magical beasts twice faster than fight eight thousand at once with his puny two thousand soldiers. The result was very visible on the last operation where he wiped them out from the Western, Northern, and Eastern Region.

This was one of the aspects that he wished to improve while Ria's teaching about making a stronghold with natural terrain was the other one. He had seen the goal and the path. The only thing he needed was time and experience to execute them.

His expression assured them and couldn't help but make them smile.

"It seems that Michelle's sacrifice is not going to waste." Tasha nodded jokingly.

"You are picking a fight with me, Tasha?" Michelle glared at her.

"You were the one who said that you wished to stay inside out of your selfishness," Tasha smirked, teasing her.

"That was not the sole content, right? You should say it first. Besides, you also agreed to that!"

The two were fighting each other with words, livening the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Ayaka came to him and touched the holes in his uniform, specifically the one in his stomach. She looked a bit sad, but also worried. Even so, she still looked Kai with a gentle expression and said, "Kai… You have worked hard."

Kai smiled at her. "Thank you. Ayaka, Michelle, Sister, thank you for supporting me until now."

Ayaka smiled brightly. Michelle and Tasha stopped fighting and looked away, scratching their heads embarrassedly because they let Ayaka take the points this time.

"Anyway, I need to go first for the last meeting with the others. Tell Evan to not forget about his condition and have some rest." Kai nodded and turned around, marching toward the headquarters tent.

The girls could only exchange looks and smile, becoming friends again.

On the other hand, Kai walked silently in the middle of the base while closing his eyes. He could hear many voices around in two buildings…

"Uoh! My friend… Why did you need to die?"

"Why did you save my life?"

"Magical Beasts were bastards! Even though I had avenged you, I won't stop killing those magical beasts!"

Although he looked pretty calm, he knew that the hard time was this parting time. No matter how he flowered his words, many people had lost their lives in this mission. He might not be in front of them, but he could still hear the pain and anguish in their voices. It must be mortifying.

Nonetheless, he had decided to walk in this path and could only walk forward, especially when he finally arrived in front of their headquarters.

Kai took a deep breath before entering the tent, only to find he was the last person to arrive.

"Now, let us welcome the hero of this mission. I am sure the Government can't stay quiet after this, and Professor Ria can't suppress them again from rewarding you." Nathan still sat on his usual seat, saying out loud with an extremely cheerful tone as if he wasn't bothered with their casualty.

"What reward? Many people died because of me." Kai shook his head. "If there are real heroes, it would be them."

"Kai!" Ria suddenly shouted as she slammed the table until it broke into two. She glared at Kai while releasing his aura, startling everyone in the room.

Kai tensed up, not knowing what he said wrong. His heart began beating rapidly when he saw Ria stand up and start walking toward him.

"It seems you have been thinking like this from when you led the battle in Cuba. Is that right?"

Kai's body shook but didn't answer.

Even so, it was enough for Ria to know what he was thinking. "You are like me from ten years ago! That's why I will teach you right here and right now. Don't think about those who fell in the battle. Instead, think that you saved four thousand soldiers' lives. There are several more consequences that we need to pay if they successfully massacre our people inside. They might roam around and strike the soldiers that have been keeping the border safe or make their way toward the base. How many lives do you think will die before we can stop them? If you can't, I will train you once more for a year!"

Her threat aside, he closed his eyes and smiled, knowing that everything she said was right. It was only a matter of perspective. The first one would be the perspective of the media that would make even a small mistake blow up. The second one would be how he should strive so as to not repeat the same mistake. "I'm sorry, Teacher. I was wrong."

"Tsk!" Ria clicked his tongue.

"…" Kai was speechless, not knowing why she clicked her tongue as if she wanted to train him for a year. Yet, this action of her cheered him up a little bit.

*Cough—!* Nathan faked a cough before saying, "Anyway, we should proceed with the last meeting first, so we can rest after this. Kate!"

The last commander, Reserve Army's Commander Kate, stepped forward. "First of all, I'm very sorry that I can't fight this time due to several reasons. Hence, leave the restoration and any idle tasks to me. All of you can rest after this."

Kate paused for a moment and grabbed a paper in front of her. "I have gotten the statistics for our battle. There are 1,754 soldiers with light injuries, 954 soldiers with heavy injuries, and 1,954 deaths. Our original number was 6,272 people, including the teacher and other support staff. In other words, there are still 4,318 people alive.

"The soldiers who have light injuries will be treated by medical teams while the ones with heavy injuries are handled by Evan Young. However, there are 496 people need to have an early retirement due to the injuries. We can only recover one 1,024 dead bodies because magical beasts ate the rest. Even so, we will hold a Military Funeral for all of them."

"Granted. I will talk with the Government about it, so you can proceed with the preparation. I will make sure all of them get the compensation they deserve." Nathan nodded solemnly.

"I understand. Then I will continue my report, the two special corpses will be handled by the military under General Nathan's and General Ria's supervision. All of the soldiers will be carried to the base the day after tomorrow while I and the rest of one hundred soldiers will stay behind to watch over the Underground Nest until the reinforcements from the base arrive to take over. That's all the report."

Nathan thought for a moment and nodded. "I will handle a few paperwork after this. But let me tell you this, all of you have really worked hard, and I thank you as the general. Truly, thank you."

Ria Ross snorted, looking at his sincere face. Even so, she was still the first one to clap her hands. The rest also followed to clap their hands, knowing that this battle finally ended.

Yet, Ria Ross didn't forget to whisper something to Kai.

"Meet me after this."