*Roar!*

Seeing that Soren had jumped away, a massive dark wolf suddenly emerged from the dense trees, its murderous intent spilling outward as if it had been born from the shadows themselves.

But it wasn’t alone. Its arrival marked the beginning of the pack. Soren watched as two, then three, then more dark wolves slowly stepped out from the shadows of the surrounding trees, circling him from every direction.

In an instant, a heavy, suffocating aura filled the entire area, swallowing the sunlight and plunging the surroundings into an oppressive gloom, as if daylight itself had been devoured.

---

[Monster: Nightfang Terrawolf]

[Race: Beast]

[Level: 72]

[Rank: C]

[HP: 21,400 / 21,400]

[Special Traits:

> Shadow Spike Eruption – A darkness-type offensive ability that generates jagged shadow spikes from beneath the ground to impale targets.

> Dark Subsoil Meld – A darkness ability that allows the user to burrow into the ground and move unseen beneath the surface for a short time.

---

’Level 72 huh...?’

Soren looked at the large number of wolves surrounding him carefully, only to find that each one was above level 70.

Considering the depth he was in, such a strong pack should not be here.

But they seemed to have come here specially for this little guy, as even now, most of their eyes were focused on the Lizard in his hand, their eyes murderous.

’Just... what the heck did it do to them?’

Soren was puzzled and looked at his hand, only to see that the little guy had gone unconscious.

While he was not affected by the darkness around in any way, the same could not be said for the lizard.

Not to mention, it was already heavily injured before.

’Sigh... okay, let me help you this time then, little guy.’

In the end, Soren sighed heavily before deciding to leave.

Fortunately, he was careful enough not to go outside the range of his anchor, saving him from a life-and-death struggle.

Still, he decided to quickly retrieve the bow he had asked Isolde to make for him before.

’Teleport!’

The moment Soren made his decision, he activated Dimensional Anchor and vanished from his position in an instant.

From start to finish, he didn’t even spare a glance at the wolves surrounding him, nor the hidden shadow spikes already closing in on his location.

All the wolves could register was a sudden flash of light before their target simply disappeared right in front of them.

*Roaaar!*

In the end, they could only unleash furious roars into the empty space, their attacks tearing through nothing but air as the forest fell back into a tense, suffocating silence.

***

"Soren? Yeah, I know him, Professor, but...why are you asking about him?"

Sylvia asked while looking at Professor Lysandra, sitting casually with crossed legs on a chair, reading a book covered by a thick dark cover.

To be honest, she was very excited that she got invited by the professor, as her main motive in joining this club was to receive her teaching.

But she never thought that the first thing she would ask her about was Soren.

"Why? I don’t know. He seemed to be a cool guy. Why don’t you invite him to our club?"

But Professor Lysandra seemed unaware of her surprise as she casually spoke while paying attention to the book, her face frowning in distress.

It seemed she had reached an unpleasant turn in the story.

"Invite him to our club? B-But...he is an Archer, not a healer."

Sylvia really didn’t know how the professor’s mind worked.

What the heck did she mean by a ’cool guy’?

For a moment, Sylvia’s face went a bit dark when suddenly Lysandra closed the book a bit loudly.

Clearly, her mood was ruined by the story, as she had no interest in reading further.

Rather, she looked at Sylvia, continuing from where she left off,

"Yeah...you might be right. He isn’t a healer after all. He might not agree to join."

She agreed with a nod, placed her well-manicured finger on her chin as if thinking.

Then, suddenly, as if remembering something, she looked at Sylvia and asked,

"Hey, why don’t you ask him to join? Tell him that you are being harassed by that senior of yours recently. What was his name?"

Lysandra thought hard to remember Kairon’s name but gave up after a while.

Instead, she looked at Sylvia, who was giving her an odd look, and spoke unconcerned,

"Whatever, his name doesn’t matter. Just say you are being harassed by someone in the club, and I bet he will agree to join us. Boys like him love to show off. Besides, I bet he won’t pass up the chance to impress a beautiful girl like you."

Professor Lysandra praised Sylvia somehow before standing up,

"Okay, that’s all. You can go now. I have something to do."

She said before intending to leave directly, when Sylvia quickly stopped her,

"Wait...wait...what do you mean I can go? Did you invite me just to tell me this?"

Sylvia asked, exasperated at the professor’s nonchalant behavior. Wasn’t she going to teach her, or at least give her some guidance?

"Yes? Why else will I invite you then?"

But it seemed she thought wrong as she saw Lysandra looking at her oddly all of a sudden, as if confused.

"..."

For a moment, Sylvia felt speechless as she didn’t know what to say when she saw Lysandra giggling all of a sudden.

"Pfftt...all right, I was just joking. I know what you want. But...complete the quest I gave you first, okay? I will then teach you everything you want, don’t worry."

She reassured her and patted Sylvia’s head lightly before swiftly leaving the tent for somewhere unknown, her robe fluttering.

In an instant, only Sylvia remained alone in the professor’s tent, filled with doubts and confusion.

She still didn’t understand why Soren had to join her club just for the professor to teach her.

Wasn’t this a form of manipulation?