Several minutes had passed since the black bear had fallen. Without their leader, most of the bears had lost the will to fight. Even so, there was still resistance—some continued to attack, perhaps out of instinct or sheer desperation.

I was drenched in the black bear’s blood, which had poured like a river after the explosion. My muscles trembled from exertion, and my mind felt like an empty battlefield after the war—drained and scattered. Even using basic magic, despite being level zero, had pushed my mind to its limit.

Not to mention the toll exacted by the explosion and my reckless manipulation of elemental electricity.

My right arm was superficially burned, with minor wounds from direct contact with the uncontrolled energy. But my hand... that was in far worse shape. Burns covered my skin, and every attempt at movement sent a fresh wave of pain through the muscles.

"If it weren’t just basic magic..." I muttered, staring at my arm. The damage was manageable, but the pain was a constant reminder of the battle.

"Better not dwell on it." I shook my head, forcing myself to push away the thought of ‘what if.’

The white she-wolf approached slowly, her golden eyes locked onto mine, glowing with something between pride and concern.

"Cub, thank you. Because of you, we won this battle without heavy losses." Her voice echoed in my mind, filled with gratitude.

I looked up at her, exhausted but sincere as I smiled.

"I only returned the favor. After all, we’re all part of the same pack. And what’s family for, if not to help each other?"

Her ears twitched slightly, and for a moment, she seemed to hesitate.

"You..." she started, her voice carrying an emotion I couldn’t quite decipher. "You’re just like her."

Her words struck me like a whisper from the past. My smile slowly faded, replaced by a solemn expression. I wasn’t sure why her words hit so hard, but deep down, I realized it was Alexander’s influence.

Before I could respond, a low, menacing sound broke the silence.

The sound had come from the direction of the black bear’s body.

My eyes narrowed, locking onto the source of the noise.

Two kids emerged from the shadows, their steps hesitant but their golden eyes burning with determination. They looked about my age—maybe slightly older. Unlike me, they were clean, their clothes still mostly intact—a stark contrast to my own battered and bloodstained state. They had likely been undergoing their own trial before the anomaly occurred.

They stopped near the black bear’s body, scanning the scene before them. Their gazes met mine. For a brief moment, it seemed as though they were trying to make sense of what they had just witnessed.

"So there really was someone who..." one of them started, but his words were abruptly cut off.

The black bear’s body moved.

With a sudden, ferocious motion, it surged upward, its massive claw slicing through the air with a sound that seemed to tear through reality itself.

"WATCH OUT!" I shouted, my voice hoarse, desperate.

But it was already too late.

Or at least, that’s what I thought.

SWOOSH.

From the shadows, a figure darted across the battlefield with breathtaking speed. The silhouette leaped toward the bear’s attack, soaring over the two boys.

But he was just a second too slow in his act of bravery. He saved them—but not himself.

The bear’s claw struck Dr. Wolf with devastating force, the impact reverberating through the forest like a clap of thunder. His body was hurled through the air like a stray arrow, blood arcing through the sky in a tragic, crimson streak. When he finally crashed to the ground, his body skidded across the dirt, sliding several meters before coming to a stop near me—his paws still outstretched in a protective gesture, as if trying, even in his fall, to fulfill his duty.

My heart froze.

Everything around me seemed to fall silent, as if the entire world had held its breath.

"NO! NO, NO!" I screamed, my voice slicing through the air, thick with despair.

I ran toward him, the cub still clutched in my arms. Each step felt heavier than the last, as though my very body was resisting the cruel inevitability of what had just happened.

Dr. Wolf lay there, motionless. His once-majestic fur was now soaked in blood. A deep, jagged wound, like grotesque bars, ran from his chest to his head, spilling an endless crimson.

"Why? Why?!" My voice broke, dissolving into sobs. Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the blood that seemed to stain everything around me.

Sensing my anguish—or perhaps his own—the cub wriggled free from my arms. With his head lowered, he approached Dr. Wolf, gently licking his fur, as if trying to wake him. Each careful lick was a silent plea, a voiceless cry that tore at my heart even more.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

But he didn’t respond.

My gaze shifted to the two boys who had appeared earlier. They stood frozen, paralyzed like statues. Drops of Dr. Wolf’s blood had splattered onto them, staining their clothes, their skin. Their golden eyes—so much like mine—were wide, locked onto the horrific scene before them.

Behind them, the battle between the white she-wolf and the black bear raged on. But something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Despite missing an arm, the bear moved with unnatural speed and power. His gaping wound had been covered with dirt and debris, as if sealing itself. His once-dark eyes now burned with an eerie, demonic intensity, and every movement radiated raw, unchecked fury—an unstoppable force of nature.

The white she-wolf, in contrast, had lost all sense of reason. Her attacks were wild, almost desperate, as if sheer rage had taken over. She ignored her wounds entirely, each breath heavy, each strike filled with a fury I had never seen before.

The scene was chaos—brutal, unrelenting—and yet, everything around me felt like it had slowed to a crawl.

"It can’t end like this," I whispered, my voice barely audible.

My fingers trembled as I gently ran them through Dr. Wolf’s blood-matted fur, as if somehow, I could undo what had happened. But there was nothing I could do.

Beside me, the cub let out a low sound—a heartbreaking mix of a whimper and a howl. He pressed his small head against Dr. Wolf’s lifeless body, refusing to move away.

I swallowed hard, forcing my eyes back to the battlefield ahead.

There was no time to grieve. Not now.

The moons shone intensely above us, their silver and crimson glow turning the battlefield into a nightmarish spectacle. It was as if those distant celestial bodies were watching, silent witnesses to the horror unfolding below.

My fists were clenched, but the pain coursing through me wasn’t from my wounds. It was something deeper. I was frozen in place, my gaze locked onto Dr. Wolf’s lifeless body—my first friend in this world, perhaps the closest thing to a brother I could have imagined.

It was ironic. He was supposed to be just another mindless beast, yet this so-called beast had saved me countless times. He had carried me through endless days and nights, taught me, protected me—time and time again—at the cost of his own safety. And he had done all of this without ever speaking a single word. His presence, his actions… and now—now he was lying still before me.

"Why did you do that?" I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper. I knew he couldn’t answer, but the words slipped from my lips, heavy with a despair I couldn’t contain.

The white she-wolf continued her relentless battle against the reanimated black bear. The two clashed with raw brutality, their strength and fury colliding like waves in a raging storm. There was no strategy, no finesse—only the primal struggle of two predators desperate to survive.

But then, something shifted.

What had seemed like an endless fight suddenly took an unexpected turn.

----------------------------------------

Oswin and Glória stood frozen—not just in fear, but in sheer disbelief at how quickly everything had unraveled. Their clothes were stained with blood, the thick liquid trickling slowly down their faces, blurring their vision. Even so, they could still make out the lost expression of the golden-eyed boy standing in the center of that ruined battlefield, drenched in blood, motionless amid the carnage.

Glória took a hesitant step forward, raising a trembling hand toward him. She wanted to say something—anything—to shatter the suffocating silence. But her feet wouldn’t move. A deep, primal chill ran down her spine, rooting her in place.

Oswin felt the same creeping terror. His instincts screamed at him, forcing his gaze away from the blood-soaked scene ahead and back toward the forest behind them—the direction they had come from.

A muffled sound—the faintest whisper of leaves shifting—caught his attention.

His heartbeat quickened, each pulse thundering in his ears like a war drum.

Between the trees, he saw a shadow gliding effortlessly through the darkness. Its movements were so fluid, so eerily perfect, that it seemed to be a part of the forest itself.

"Shit." The thought shot through his mind as he struggled against the rising panic.

For a fleeting moment, two yellowish points of light pierced the darkness—like demonic eyes locked onto him. Their glow was unnervingly intense, as if they could see straight through to his soul.

"Is it... smiling?" he whispered, his voice unsteady.

That thing wasn’t just an animal. It was something that enjoyed the fear and chaos it created.

Glória remained silent, her body still rigid.

SWOOSH!

Like a razor-sharp gust of wind, the creature erupted from the shadows—swift, precise. Before anyone could react, it was already behind the black bear.

With a single, fluid motion, its powerful jaws and razor-sharp claws tore through the bear’s neck. The severed head hit the ground with a dull thud, rolling a few meters before being crushed beneath the creature’s massive paw.

For a moment, the entire battlefield froze.

The beast that had emerged was terrifying—not just in appearance, but in the aura it exuded. It was larger than the white she-wolf, its lean, muscular frame resembling that of a hyena, but on a monstrous scale. A long, thick mane ran down its back, swaying almost hypnotically with the wind.

Its yellow eyes gleamed with an unsettling intelligence, and its black-and-gray mottled fur seemed to swallow the surrounding light. But the most disturbing part was its face—locked in a twisted, eerie grin, as if savoring the fear and shock of its prey.

This was the most dominant predator of the mountain region.

And it was no ordinary beast.

It was a Crothyna—one of the infamous Twilight Jackals. A name earned through their cunning and malice. Crothynas were apex predators, perfectly adapted to rough terrain and relentless hunters. Their paw pads were as hard as stone, granting them unmatched stability on steep or unstable ground. Their razor-sharp claws and agile bodies made them masters of ambush and pursuit.

But the most terrifying thing about them was their power. A fully grown Crothyna was already equivalent to a level 4 magical beast, but under the right conditions, they could surpass that limit—reaching level 5.

The white she-wolf let out a low growl, her golden eyes locked onto this new threat. Her fur bristled, her body tense as she carefully assessed the opponent before her.

The Crothyna, however, seemed utterly unfazed. Slowly, its gaze swept across the clearing.

First, its piercing eyes locked onto Oswin and Glória. The eerie grin stretched even further, twisting into something even more sinister. Then, as if mocking them, it lifted the paw that had crushed the black bear’s head and made a slow, almost theatrical motion—like a wave.

The two stood frozen, their bodies paralyzed by sheer terror, unable to react.

Finally, its gaze shifted toward the helpless boy.

The Crothyna wasn’t concerned about being attacked. In fact, it knew no one would dare. It wasn’t just a predator—it was the apex predator of this land. A hunter that lived not just to kill, but to savor the despair of its prey.