Florence Silvenia, a high-bronze mage from the Sapphire Guild. Unlike most heroes, he was never affiliated with any of the kingdoms. Thus, he never did any missions and only focused on research, studying, and training. His master, a mid-gold swordsman, Miguel Eugene, didn't oppose this either.

However, a few days ago, he was assigned a mission.

‘What’s so special about this forest?’

The mission came from his master himself, and that was to investigate the forest of Yuka. Of course, he couldn't deny his master's mission and prepared to the best of his abilities.

‘But…’

Looking behind him, Florence couldn't help but let out a sigh. His team of five was composed of high to mid-silver ranked heroes, but neither of them was the leader. Instead, his master entrusted the leadership to him, a novice

‘Well, it's just a forest.’

Shaking his head, Florence and his team moved silently, entering the forest of Yuka. The forest of Yuka was said to have been strange these past few weeks, but none of the kingdoms bothered to check it.

After all, the forest of Yuka was barren. It wasn't that it lacked life, rather, it lacked extraordinary life: monsters, magic beasts, and the like.

‘Maybe a magic beast found itself in this forest,’ that was his guess. Considering the team his master gave to him, he knew it wouldn't be a simple exploration.

‘Or maybe remnants of the demonkind are resting here.’

Either way, he'd just have to find out.

‘Anyway, my teammates suck. Are they mute?’

He knew he was just a high-bronze rank… but his capabilities were at least a low-silver level. In a way, he demanded respect too!

Thus, annoyed, he didn't talk to his teammates either. It may have been childish, but hey, he's just a youth, not even past his teenage years yet.

The outskirts of the forest wasn't anything special. Rather, there wasn't anything there, not even a bug.

“Strange,” one of the silver ranks muttered. Florence nodded in response. Unlike earlier, the atmosphere between them was tense, as if a volcano near eruption.

‘Something drove out all life out of here,’ Florence thought, digging on the soil with his foot. Even kicking rocks away didn't matter. Not a single worm wriggled out, not even a cockroach, or an ant.

‘Is it an overwhelmingly powerful beast?’

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Just like how a dragon will drive weaker beings to insanity, if a “higher life form” was nearby, then all the “lower life forms” would instinctively run away.

‘It’s definitely not a dragon,’ Florence dismissed the idea. What dragon? Have you seen one? Dragons lived in books, written on paper, and passed down as myth.

They existed, but according to history, the last sighting of a dragon was more than a thousand years ago.

‘No way humans, elves, dwarves, and vampires would be bored enough to get rid of insects. Demons, angels, and fairies are out of the question, the latter two don't exist anymore, and demons…’

Well, demons live off of other humanoids, not insects. As for magical beasts, the only magical beast he knew that fed off of insects was the Blood Spider. It was a giant spider that was twelve feet tall, with legs sharper than spears, and a red body tougher than steel.

‘But the Blood Spider lives deep in the dungeon of Arachnids.’

Shaking his head, he turned to the silver ranks. Two of them were a swordsman and a spearman, “brawn brains,” as he calls them. The other two were archers, but like the former two, they were only good for fighting.

‘Maybe that's why master made me the leader… Surprisingly, the guild is full of muscle heads.’

Disappointed, he turned around, only to see a black silhouette in the distance—a silhouette of an animal.

‘A wolf? No, it looks bigger,’ Florence frowned. The silhouette was definitely in the shape of a wolf, but before he could scrutinize, the silhouette vanished.

“Chase it!” He yelled, bolting off. The four silver ranks were startled, belatedly following after him. They spent no effort to catch up, Florence was a slow, weak bodied mage, after all.

“Chase after what?” The spearman asked. Florence couldn't really see what the man looked like. All of them were wearing full body metal armor, aside from Florence with his leather armor.

“A… a big wolf,” Florence said with a pause. “Did none of you see it?”

The spearman shrugged. The others remained silent.

‘Tsk, so much for being silver ranks. Master, are you sure these guys aren't doping?’

Though his impression of the four had reached further than rock-bottom, he suppressed a sigh. “It should give us clues. It's the first life… oh, there it is!”

Looking ahead, the other four finally saw the silhouette from earlier. This time, they could see its body clearly, not just its shadow.

‘It’s a gray wolf… a big one, did it mutate?’ Florence frowned, subconsciously circulating his mana around his body.

Mutated animals possess mana, and they can use it, making them a threat. Although his team would be able to deal with the wolf, playing around with a wild animal was ridiculous.

Naturally, the other four thought so as well. Before the wolf could learn of their presence, there were already two arrows flying toward its torso, with two more about to be shot.

‘Amazing,’ Florence glanced at the archers, just as they fired another two arrows. Barely three seconds had passed since they saw the wolf.

‘I shouldn't need to do anything,’ Florence thought. That didn't mean he lowered his guard—his mana was already gathering around his hands.

PUCHI—!

As the arrow finally struck the wolf, the beast, startled, bolted away. Two arrows sank deep into its body, while the other two struck the ground.

‘It’s still alive?’ Florence was bewildered. If the wolf has a flesh body and wasn't made out of water or something, those two arrows should've at least pierced its lungs, if not its heart.

‘I may need to use magic, after all.’

Stopping not far away, the wolf gazed at the intruders. Seeing the swordsman and the spearman rushing toward it, the wolf crouched, before circling around them. Just as it did, four arrows were buried on the ground, having missed its target.

Suddenly, Florence felt mana gathering beside him. The archers were now using mana.

‘Both mana feels hot, it should be fire affinity,’ Florence deduced.

‘My mana affinity is fire too,’ Florence suddenly felt strange, looking at the two frontliners. ‘Don’t tell me their mana affinity is fire too.’

Though feeling doubtful, as soon as the wolf circled around the two frontliners, he had already started his spell.

“[Fireball],” Florence chanted. He didn't need to, he already mastered the simple spell, but it was a habit.

As his spell was cast, a watermelon ball of fire formed in the air in front of him. Looking at the wolf, who had noticed the spell, he sent it toward the beast. The fireball was not slow, in fact being faster than the arrows of the archers.

In a moment, it had already reached the wolf who opened its mouth.

“?!”

Florence watched wide-eyed as the wolf swallowed the fireball. Its mouth was burned, and the fur around it was charted, but the wolf didn't flinch. Instead, it licked its mouth, looking at him hungrily.

‘Or is it lust?’

He shivered, not having enough time to think as the wolf charged at him.

“Che, [Fireball]!”

Another fireball formed mid air, shooting toward the wolf. The wolf didn't stop, merely opening its mouth.

“Are you stupid?” One of the archers yelled, before Florence felt a hand grab the back of his leather armor and yank him out of the way.

The next thing he knew, he was fluttering like a flag in the air as the archers retreated behind the swordsman and spearman.

“If one spell fails, do another, dumbass!”

Florence frowned.

‘It’s not like that… I just prepared two [Fireballs] in advance…’

He felt wronged, but didn't argue. It was his fault, in the end. Who could've expected a masochistic wolf who likes eating fireballs?!