Three days later, in the Thorny Forest.

Boom!

A searing wave of fire dispelled a green corrosive energy attack. With a roar of pain, a pale shimmering thread flashed several dozen meters away and then retreated hastily.

"It’s useless! You can't escape!" Nidhogg shouted amid the firestorm. "Your unique scent is like a beacon in the night, making it impossible for you to ambush me successfully. You have no chance! I will hunt you to your death!"

Nidhogg's voice carried a deep hatred.

Meanwhile, Nidhogg nonchalantly picked up a severed finger from the ground and pressed it against the wound on his palm. As numerous tiny tendrils emerged from the wound to connect to the finger, Nidhogg coldly flexed his newly restored hand. Holding a bone dagger, he resumed his pursuit.

Over the past three days, Nidhogg and Harry Red had clashed multiple times. Each encounter ended with Harry Red, unable to best Nidhogg, using a peculiar wind element escape sorcery to flee, preventing Nidhogg from getting a final kill.

Besides this escape sorcery, what troubled Nidhogg most were the abilities inherent to Harry Red's three-headed dog bloodline sorcery, which were quite troublesome.

The three heads could cast corrosive, fire, and poison attribute spells. While fire and poison had little effect on Nidhogg, and the corrosion couldn't penetrate his pale mask's defense shield, the sharp claws from the bloodline sorcery could bypass the mask's barrier and injure Nidhogg's body! However, the opponent suffered from Nidhogg's indestructible flame armor as a result.

Fortunately, for Nidhogg, with his Grand Transformation Art, such wounds were inconsequential...

With a cold snort, Nidhogg used his hunter's nose to track the scent, continuing his relentless pursuit of Harry Red.

Nidhogg was resolute. Even if it meant abandoning his current mission, he was determined to chase this detestable wizard apprentice to his death. After all, Nidhogg's primary goal was travel and training, to elevate his stamina, strength, and vitality to match his physical potential of 36. It didn't matter where the training occurred.

The continuous battles of the past three days had already started to unlock some of Nidhogg's physical potential, slightly enhancing his stamina, strength, and vitality.

After several hourglass turns, Nidhogg rushed toward Harry Red, who was resting and tending to his wounds. With a loud shout, he unleashed a Firebat Sorcery. A roaring explosion of flame forced Harry Red, fearing for his life, to flee from the range of the flaming attacks.

From earlier encounters, Harry Red knew the terror of this flame, untouchable! Not only was its attack power high, but its indestructible nature left any apprentice it touched in despair!

"Nidhogg, don't push it!" Harry Red's left head shouted angrily, breathing heavily.

"Nidhogg, we were wrong earlier, we shouldn’t have..." Meanwhile, the right head pleaded timidly, eyes reddened with tears.

"Shut up, you coward, I forbid you from saying that!" The left head interrupted angrily.

"Why should I shut up? It’s all your greed at that time..." The right head roared defiantly.

As the left and right heads bickered noisily, the middle head glared at Nidhogg with hatred tinged with fear, face pale, seemingly from excessive blood loss. He had already chopped off his own right arm to rid himself of the indestructible flame after a failed ambush on Nidhogg.

Watching the discord among Harry Red’s three heads, Nidhogg noted that while bloodline sorcery granted immense power quickly, it also brought many drawbacks. If Nidhogg had three heads with differing thoughts, he could forget about any meaningful research.

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"What do you want?" Harry Red's middle head finally asked.

"What do I want? Hmph... I want you dead!" Beneath his pale mask, Nidhogg gave no room for negotiation, fully intent on hunting his opponent to death. With that, he dashed forward towards the unsteady Harry Red, a ball of indestructible flame igniting in his hand.

Moments later.

Once again, Harry Red transformed into a shimmering thread, shooting dozens of meters away, then fled, shouting, "Nidhogg, you won't kill me so easily!"

"Then I’ll chase you until the day I kill you!" Nidhogg shouted, resuming his pursuit with renewed vigor.

One day later.

In a field of purple flowers, Nidhogg chuckled under his mask. "Trying to use the flowers' irritating scent to nullify my scent-tracking advantage? Too naive!" Unbeknownst to Harry Red, Nidhogg had already located his hiding spot in a shadowy corner, licking his wounds like a stray dog, using the ultrasonic sorcery of his pale mask.

In a sunken ravine among the weeds, as Nidhogg coldly moved in, Harry Red cried out in terror and desperation: "Impossible! You, a mere newcomer, not one of those legendary three, how can you be this strong? Impossible! Even if it were those three..."

Nidhogg wasted no words, launching another Firebat Sorcery.

With a boom, a wave of fire saw Harry Red erupting his corrosive, fire, and poison energies again, attempting to use his peculiar wind element sorcery to escape. However, his face turned ashen when he found a cursed vine coiled around his foot!

Breaking free almost instantly, he was then caught off guard as a tentacle emerged from the flames, its tailbone knife wrapped in indestructible flames cutting his right head.

Hiss...

A ball of indestructible flames engulfed Harry Red's right head, which screamed desperately: "No..."

His cries cut off as he again transformed into a crystalline thread, vanishing. Nidhogg strode out from the fire, looking at the head engulfed in unquenchable fire on the ground, smirking, "You're down a head this time; let's see how you escape next time!" Kicking the head aside, Nidhogg resumed his pursuit of the scent trail like a mad dog.

This chase lasted two days. Though the vast Thorny Forest posed significant obstacles for Nidhogg, he could see this was Harry Red's final struggle. Missing a head and an arm, Harry Red no longer had the means to counterattack. Nidhogg wasn't in a rush, choosing to let him despair as he slowly closed in, using the opportunity to further his own training.

Nidhogg halted, observing the two individuals before him.

One was Harry Red, in no condition to resist. One head was missing, another retracted into his robes. The remaining head was on the brink of breakdown, eyes sunken, skin a decaying gray.

The other was a female wizard apprentice he didn’t recognize, yet instinctively felt was stronger than Harry Red. She appeared entirely human, without any visible bloodline sorcery.

"This... um, Nidhogg, I am Roman. Perhaps you haven’t heard of me, but you should know my lover, Gade, right?" The apprentice spoke with a friendly demeanor, her short green hair, pale skin, lithe figure, and black-framed glasses giving her the appearance of a smiling crescent moon.

"Top three on the academy’s apprentice master list, leader of the Ivory Hunting Group, Thunder Axe Gade. Of course, I’ve heard of him," Nidhogg replied, his tone cold but his expression unchanged, though his face beneath the mask shifted slightly.

Roman seemed pleased by Nidhogg's acknowledgment, "To be frank, Harry Red is part of our Ivory Hunting Society. On behalf of my lover Gade, I wish to offer compensation for Harry Red’s behavior, compensation that will surely satisfy you!" Roman, all confidence and warmth, smiled like a spring flower, her voice as soft as a gentle breeze, pleading eyes evoking pity.

Upon hearing this, Harry Red exhaled in relief, though fear flickered deep in his eyes at Nidhogg.

This monster, this lunatic...

Nidhogg remained silent, staring at Roman with vacant eyes, as if lost in thought.

Seeing this, Roman believed Nidhogg was capitulating under her persuasion and coercion. She took out a high-level magic stone equivalent to ten thousand low-level ones.

"If Nidhogg would grant our Ivory Hunting Group some face, and Gade some face, and let Harry Red go, this high-level magic stone will be our compensation. How about it?" Roman’s voice was tender enough to melt hearts, her eyes imploring, inviting sympathy.

In a sudden jolt, Nidhogg was startled, realizing his thoughts had unconsciously been swayed, considering letting Harry Red go. Shocked by this manipulation, yet inwardly impressed, his expression beneath the mask turned cold, unseen by the two before him.

"No favors!" Nidhogg's flat voice emanated from the mask.

Roman's face shifted slightly, but she quickly resumed her gentle look, murmuring, "What did you say?" Her expression was so pitiful, as if Nidhogg’s words might break her heart.

"Hmph!" With a cold laugh, Nidhogg replied icily, "I said, Ivory Hunting Group, Gade, they're not people I need to curry favor with! This man, I’ll hunt to the death!" Looking at Roman with a glacial stare, devoid of emotion, he added, "If you obstruct me again, you’re an enemy."

With a roar, flames flared in Nidhogg's hand.

Harry Red’s face twisted in terror, instinctively activating his escape sorcery, becoming a thread that shot away, escaping like prey in despair. Ignoring Roman's dumbfounded gaze, Nidhogg rushed past her, continuing his relentless pursuit of Harry Red.

Roman’s face froze as she watched them disappear into the depths of the Thorny Forest. After a long hesitation, she gritted her teeth and turned back towards the Black Tower Wizard Academy, her expression grim.