Night fell.

A group of five students walked through the scary forest, with the occasional roars of beasts as their background.

"I still don't see why he is in our group!" a student grumbled.

"Quiet! It's Rosaline's decision."

Upon being reminded it was Rosaline who allowed that coward to join, the boy could only grumble inwardly even if he was unwilling.

Leading the group was a dark-haired with several white streaks young girl of about 12 years.

Rosaline led the group of five, and while she could still hear their whispers, she decided to ignore them.

*ROOOOAR!*

A deep and terrifying animalistic roar suddenly echoed in the dark forest.

The majority of the students in the group shivered in fear as the roar continued to resound for a while, only Rosaline's face turned pale as she felt her bloodline tremble in the presence of the mere roar.

In almost a minute, the roar faded slowly.

Three of the students fell on their rear causing Rosaline to turn around and check the group.

But upon noticing that the last student among their group not only did not fall down but even had an uncertain look on his face, Rosaline was briefly stunned.

She had already judged this dark-haired boy with white snake-like pupils as a coward.

Yet the coward didn't seem to be afraid.

This student was exactly Joe.

He had stumbled upon Rosaline's group. He thought the group would get back at him after what he did to them during the ranking war, so he had panicked and planned to run at the first sight of opportunity.

But who would have thought that Rosaline would propose to him to join their group against the will of the three other students?

Since Rosaline assured his safety, and he was also a bit scared to act alone, he decided to join the group.

He didn't care about failing the class.

In fact, he had only been able to hunt three rabbits. As for the other beasts, he didn't know why he didn't encounter many, but the few he met, he made sure to move around them and slip away.

What Joe didn't know is that the majority of the beasts didn't pay much attention to him as he also gave the aura of a beast.

He was a magical beast after all.

Rosaline collected herself upon noticing that she couldn't hear the roars of other beasts after that particular roar that caused her bloodline to tremble.

The forest was tranquil at this moment.

Looking around, she adjusted her specs and sent her divine sense to cover a region of about 15m around them.

She could extend her divine sense further but refrained against it so as not to alert any beast of their presence.

After making sure they were safe for the moment, she spoke to the group.

"Let's rest for a short while before we continue!"

"Thank goodness!" the other students were visibly happy upon hearing her words. They had been hunting for beasts since morning and hadn't had any rest.

The last beast they hunted before meeting Joe was comparable to a mid-level advanced mage, and if it wasn't for Rosaline's help, the trio would have teleported at the first sight of the beast. In fact, without Rosaline, they wouldn't have dared venture this deep into the forest. The same went for the majority of the students and only those who were confident in their strength would dare.

Now they could rest their strained nerve.

Rosaline rested on the trunk of a tree and fixed her eyes on Joe.

Joe who was still thinking about the last roar he heard noticed her gaze, and smiled gently at her, gaining Rosaline's irritated glare.

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Joe quickly shifted his eyes away so as not to provoke a hornet's nest.

The group rested for almost an hour, and when Rosaline was just about to inform them to continue, Joe suddenly sprang up and ran further into the forest.

"What the hell is he doing?" one of the students asked in surprise.

"He must be tired of living!" Another snickered.

Rosaline hesitated for a moment, but soon later, she chased after Joe.

The fact that Joe was a weakling and a coward was cemented in her bright mind, so for Joe to act so recklessly, something important must have happened.

The other students hesitated upon seeing Rosaline chase after Joe.

One of the students couldn't help but voice out, "Why don't we use the bracelet? I don't think I can last any longer."

The other two hesitated but soon after one of them gritted his teeth and spoke:

"Let's go!"

He ran in Rosaline's direction.

The other two had no choice but to follow.

.....

Joe ran through the forest as he threw caution into the air.

He didn't know why, but his bloodline suddenly boiled as if reacting to something.

It was almost as if something was tugging at him.

He ran for almost three minutes before he finally stopped.

His gaze became fixed on a pitch-black snake of about 2m long coiled around itself as it rested on the soil, with fallen leaves strewn about it.

The snake was covered in blood while a pool had formed below it.

He couldn't feel any sign of life from the snake but for some reason, something within him told him otherwise.

It was his bloodline.

*Ba-Dum!* *Ba-Dum!*

Joe could feel his heart beating faster.

He suddenly walked toward the snake with slow and quiet steps.

As if noticing something, the closed eyes of the snake slowly snapped open.

Its eyes which seemed to flicker with the light of stars became fixed on Joe.

Joe stopped for a moment upon making eye contact with the snake.

Something within him seemed to be riled up, and before he knew it his body moved on its own, as his right hand stretched out toward the snake.

The snake didn't make any movement and simply looked at Joe's outstretched palm that drew closer by the second with an impassive gaze.

*Whoosh!*

Suddenly a figure flashed behind Joe, a sweet voice resounding in the area:

"What the hell are you doing?" Rosaline questioned.

The snake was startled, and mustering whatever strength it could, it slowly raised its head and hissed toward Rosaline.

"Don't come closer!"

Joe turned around and shouted at her.

Rosaline frowned as a myriad of thoughts flashed within her mind for a second.

After thinking about it, she remained in place and simply watched him.

Seeing that Rosaline heeded his words, Joe sighed in relief and shifted his eyes back to the snake in front of him.

The snake ignored him and glared at Rosaline.

"It's okay, she doesn't mean any harm!" said Joe as his hand inched closer to the snake.

A moment later, his hand touched the head of the snake causing the snake to finally shift its gaze away from Rosaline to him.

Joe didn't dare to move and could only lock eyes with the snake as he held his breath.

"Rosaline, what is going on?"

The sound of footsteps drew closer at the same time Rosaline caught a fiery light streak from afar in a fraction of a second.

Her face paled, as she opened her mouth quickly to shout:

"Run!"

However, it was too late.

A fireball over 2 meters in diameter suddenly flashed beside them in an instant, and without colliding with anything, it exploded.

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

A violent explosion rocked the surrounding, rooting the tall and massive trees from the ground and flinging them far into the distance.

Following the explosion's shockwave, a blazing flame spread out in a mere instant, engulfing everything within 20m around it.

The three students didn't even get a chance to react before their bodies exploded into blood and gore from the mere shockwave.

Perching above one of the few standing trees within the vicinity was a massive firebird, that gazed at the three beings who were able to survive its previous surprise attack.

Joe now transformed into an eight-meter snake coiled his body around the smaller snake to protect it from the attack.

The majority of his scales had fallen, almost as if he had been skinned.

Surprisingly enough, the uniform was able to accommodate his massive increase in size; the only problem was that several parts of it had been burnt away from the previous attack.

Joe's body released the smell of burned meat.

Hissing in pain, Joe uncoiled his body a bit and confirmed the snake was unarmed from the previous attack.

He transformed back into his human form.

But that too couldn't hide his injured state.

Looking at the snake in his embrace, Joe spoke with a rare expression of resolve on his face:

"I will protect you!"

He could send his mana into the bracelet and quickly teleport from there, but the thought itself never crossed his mind as he would be leaving the snake beast behind.

He didn't know why he was behaving like this, but something within him wanted to protect the snake at all costs; even at the cost of his life.

The pitch-black snake looked at him with its sparkling star eyes.

"Uhnnn!"

The sound of painful groans resounded in the vicinity followed by light footsteps.

Rosaline walked back to Joe's side.

Thankfully her uniform was mostly unaffected by the flames as she was able to move away in time, and while she grunted in pain, Joe could see her wounds healing fast.

The same could be said for him too but his rate of healing was far slower.

Turning to her, Joe handed the snake to her as he spoke:

"Can you carry it for a second!"

But even before Rosaline could reply, the snake hissed towards her threateningly, and before Joe could react, it jumped out of his embrace. Landing on the ground, it rested on the floor almost as if it had used up all its energy.

"That works too!" Smiling, Joe said towards it before he turned around.

He failed to notice the strange mark that had appeared on his palm after touching the snake.

Looking at the firebird that was gazing down at him disdainfully, he spread out his hands beside him and spoke with resolve:

"I won't allow you to pass!"

The firebird was just about to give a disdainful cry in response when its expression changed.

"DIE, YOU BEAST!"

*****

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