About Malcolm

"Malcolm used to be a very warm-hearted person. In this small town, almost everyone had received his help. Whether it was facing Mages or ordinary residents, he always responded to everyone's requests with a smile and full of enthusiasm, as if helping others was the greatest joy in his life, and he never refused anyone who needed help.

Not only that, but Malcolm was also an extremely diligent and hardworking person. In his own words: 'I don't have much talent, so if I want to become strong, I can only rely on unremitting effort and countless sweat!' And the facts proved that his persistence and dedication did pay off. Three years ago, through his tenacious willpower and relentless training day and night, he successfully broke through himself and was promoted to an A-Class Mage! At that moment, the entire town was buzzing, and people congratulated Malcolm one after another, because everyone could see his hard work.

However, just a year ago, when Malcolm returned from a mission, everything changed. The once sunny, cheerful, and helpful him seemed to be suddenly shrouded in a thick layer of haze, completely becoming another person. For a whole year, he hadn't spoken a word to anyone! Even in the Guild, he always huddled alone in a corner, his eyes vacant and lifeless. No one could guess what he was thinking. Whenever someone approached to ask, he would react with nothing, even not lifting his head, and would just get up and leave on his own.

At first, everyone was very confused and worried about Malcolm's sudden change. But no matter how they tried to communicate with him, they could never find out what happened during that mission. It wasn't until later that we finally understood what had happened."

Harry paused slightly here, and after organizing his thoughts, continued, "That mission was an A-Class escort mission, its importance was self-evident. At that time, Malcolm was on this mission with three other A-Class Mages from our Guild. However, no one expected that during the mission, a Dark Guild suddenly appeared and launched an attack on them! Although Malcolm and the other three fought with all their might to resist, they were ultimately unable to cope with the strong and aggressive enemies. After this battle, we lost two A-Class Mages, and Malcolm and another Mage were seriously injured and on the verge of death.

"When we received the news and rushed to the scene, it was already too late. Looking at the mess on the ground and the horrific injuries of our companions, everyone's hearts sank to the bottom. Fortunately, due to our timely rescue efforts, Malcolm woke up shortly after returning. What was puzzling was that no matter how urgently we asked him what happened during the mission, he remained silent, not even revealing a single clue. This abnormal reaction filled us with worry.

Meanwhile, the other seriously injured Mage remained in a deep coma and never woke up. It wasn't until later, when that Mage woke up, that we knew what had happened then."

"At that time, there were also four members of the Dark Guild who attacked them. Malcolm's opponent was actually just a boy no older than ten years old, but what was shocking was that the boy already possessed A-Class Magic Power.

In that battle, the boy kept taunting Malcolm, constantly provoking him with words. Although Malcolm fought with all his might, he was eventually defeated. What was even more excessive was that after the child successfully defeated Malcolm, not only did he show no mercy, but he intensified his humiliation.

The other companions wanted to help, but they were also fighting strong opponents and couldn't get away to assist. Thus, after this battle, our side paid an extremely heavy price, with two unfortunate deaths and two seriously injured. On the other hand, the other side didn't even suffer a minor injury, so there was no doubt that this mission ended in failure.

Afterward, we learned the name of this Dark Guild – Serpent's Lair! At that moment, anger filled everyone's hearts, and they all expressed their desire to find this Dark Guild and get revenge. Just then, Malcolm, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up and stopped us. This was the first sentence he had spoken to us since the end of that mission. He said with a solemn expression, 'Don't go looking for revenge, because the gap in our combat power with them is too great, we are not on the same level.' After he said that, he turned and left without looking back, and we never heard from him again until a few days ago when he suddenly returned to the Guild.

Of course, we didn't believe what Malcolm said. After all, none of us had fought those people. So, after that, we consecutively dispatched several powerful Mages, hoping they could find out definite information about Serpent's Lair. However, the subsequent situations were either that they couldn't find any news about Serpent's Lair, or they simply never returned.

Faced with such a grim situation, the Guild Master, after careful consideration, reluctantly issued an order to temporarily shelve the mission regarding Serpent's Lair. Thus, until Malcolm returned a few days ago, we thought he had reconsidered. But to everyone's surprise, when everyone was caught off guard, he suddenly erupted with an extremely powerful and unseen Magic Power fluctuation.

That Magic Power surged like a mighty torrent, instantly engulfing us. We didn't even have time to make any effective resistance, only feeling our vision go black, our consciousness as if being forcefully torn away by an invisible hand, and we fell into a coma.

When we opened our eyes again and woke up, we knew what had happened."

After hearing Harry's account of Malcolm's life experiences, Allen and the others felt a bit sad. However, Allen and Yahar caught a name from Harry's narration – Serpent's Lair. The two exchanged glances, nodded at each other, and confirmed that this was the target to track later.

Then Yahar looked at the Mages of the Foxes of the Forest and said, "You should now feel a Magic Power within you that does not belong to yourselves. That is Asmodeus's Magic Power. The problem now is that this Magic Power has already merged with your own Magic Power. Therefore, for safety reasons, all of you will need to be isolated for a period of time. You can return only after we confirm that you are completely safe."

The Mages of the Foxes of the Forest were momentarily unable to accept what Yahar said. But their Guild Master, Nick, stepped forward, "Alright! We'll go! But you can't use us for any experiments. Once you confirm we are truly safe, you must let us return immediately!"

Nick clearly knew some of the Council's dark side, so he wanted to get Yahar's commitment here. Allen had already warned Yahar about this matter, so Yahar naturally solemnly agreed to Nick's words.

Not long after, the Council's support troops arrived. After confirming with Yahar that he and Laxus did not need to stay here any longer, Allen bid farewell to Harry and the others, preparing to continue heading north.