Alvian glanced at her. That indifferent, dismissive look was back in his eyes. But now it carried a thousand times more weight. The "slacker" she'd looked down upon had just single-handedly saved her entire elite party. Without breaking a sweat. Her meticulously constructed understanding of the world, power gained through hard work, logical progression...hadn't just been challenged. It had been utterly shattered. Irrevocably.
"You were in my way." Alvian's voice flat.
Then, without another word, he turned. Vanished back into the forest. Left them standing amidst the bodies of beasts that had almost killed them.
The scent of blood clung to the air, sharp and metallic, as Alvian emerged from the Alpha's den. He paused just outside, letting the cooler breeze wash the cave's suffocating heat off his skin.
In one hand, the [Alpha Dire Wolf's Fang] throbbed with a quiet pulse. In the other, a set of dark leather gauntlets and boots rested heavy...gear that seemed to swallow whatever light touched it.
"Equip."
The worn, default gear on his hands and feet dissolved into motes of light, replaced instantly by the new blue-rarity armor. He felt a subtle but immediate difference. The [Prowler's Boots] made his steps feel even lighter, quieter, while the [Wolf Tamer's Gauntlets] gave his grip a new, formidable strength. Each piece provided a small but significant boost to his Speed and Strength stats. It wasn't a dramatic leap, but in the calculus of survival, every single point was a victory.
He turned his gaze back towards the direction of the Crystalvein Mines. Professor Solaka was waiting. The curse was a ticking clock, and while the NPC's life was of little consequence to him, the rewards for completing the quest were not. The question mark in the rewards section of an A-Tier quest often concealed something far more valuable than points or reputation. It could be a unique skill, a piece of powerful equipment, or a key to an even greater secret. He would not leave such a variable to chance.
He entered the treeline and thinned into the scenery, the new boots muting his steps so thoroughly it felt less like movement and more like he was being carried. His mind held a single thread...tight, sharp, stretching straight toward his destination.
The clearing behind him didn't stay still for long. Valeria's team pushed through the brush not even ten minutes later, drawn by the earlier crash of violence and the strange, unnatural quiet that followed. They stopped as one the moment they saw what waited inside the hollow.
The scene was one of clinical, brutal carnage. Ten dire wolves, their bodies positioned exactly where they had fallen, littered the ground. Jax, the burly tank, let out a low whistle. "By the Founders… he really did it. He killed them all."
Valeria's sharp eyes scanned the scene, her tactical mind deconstructing the fight she had never witnessed. There were no scorch marks from spells, no chaotic patterns of a prolonged melee. Each wolf had a single, fatal wound. A crushed windpipe. A shattered leg joint followed by a stab to the heart. A precise puncture behind the ear. It was the work of a predator, not a brawler. Efficient. Clean. Terrifying.
"He didn't just kill them," Valeria said, her voice a low, intense murmur. "He executed them."
Kael crouched beside one of the bodies, fingers tracing the torn fur with the care of a craftsman inspecting someone else's masterpiece. His mouth twisted...half envy, half admiration. "See this? Hit from the flank, used the wolf's rush to snap its own spine. Clean. Too clean. Whoever did it… they's danced with these things more times than I can count."
The air tightened around the words. First day of the exam, no prior runs, no veterans allowed. Yet someone out here moved like they'd lived in these woods for years. It scraped at Valeria's understanding of how the world should work.
"He's after the Alpha," she said, the decision dropping out of her like a stone. Her gaze slid up toward the cliff line with a new, unsettling sharpness. "That's the only thing worth this kind of effort. We're trailing him.
What she chased now was a riddle wrapped in footprints...too light, too deliberate, almost invisible. Her team caught the fever in her eyes and fell silent. They kept moving.
Twenty minutes later, the cliff base emerged through the trees. The scene waiting for them was stranger than the battlefield they'd passed. Two of the Alpha's Guards...towering Level 12 brutes – sat like statues before the cave. No snarling. No charge. Just a low, aching whine that didn't match creatures built for tearing men apart.
A vigil, not a defense.
Valeria felt her heartbeat thud against her armor. She stepped forward while the giant wolves watched her, their eyes hollow, exhausted, grieving. They didn't lift a claw.
She edged into the cave.
The smell of iron hit first. The sight followed. The Dire Wolf Alpha...massive, mythic, practically an exam legend...lay sprawled in a widening pool of its own blood. Wounds everywhere, each one placed with a surgeon's cruelty. The fatal strike was almost obscene: a single puncture where its eye had been, straight into the brain.
Jax muttered a string of curses so tangled even he seemed confused by them. Lia's breath hitched, hands flying to her mouth as if trying to hold her shock inside.
Valeria felt a cold dread mix with a surge of adrenaline. He had done it. He had soloed a Level 15 Field Boss. The impossible numbers on the leaderboard suddenly made perfect, terrifying sense. This one kill was worth more than her entire party's combined efforts over the last several hours.
She was so engrossed in processing this new, world-shattering piece of data that came with a sound. A sound that every single player in the Battle Grid heard at the exact same moment.
A thunderous, system-wide announcement, its text blazing across their vision in crimson, world-event lettering.
[SERVER-WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT: BATTLE GRID]
[The Apex Predator of the Northern Forest, the [Dire Wolf Alpha], has been slain!]
[The resulting power vacuum has awakened a dormant guardian. The forest's ancient protector has been roused from its slumber to restore balance!]
[WARNING! FINAL EXAMINATION BOSS, [PRIMAL BEHEMOTH], has been summoned ahead of schedule!]
[All examinees are advised to converge on the Central Clearing. This is a Raid-level threat! Form parties and prepare for the ultimate test!]
The message repeated, a blaring siren heralding the arrival of a true monster. Valeria's party stared at the announcement, then back at the dead Alpha, then at each other.
"He… he triggered the final boss," Jax breathed. "By killing the Alpha alone, he broke the exam's schedule."
Valeria's mind was a whirlwind. The other examinees would see this as a challenge, a glorious opportunity for points and fame. They would gather, form alliances, and throw themselves at the monster in a wave of heroic, foolish bravery. They didn't understand. They hadn't seen what she had seen.
This wasn't a challenge for them. It was a stage. A stage that had been set by the actions of one man.
A cold, certain realization dawned on her. Alvian wasn't done. The Alpha was just a stepping stone. This new, Raid-level boss, a creature meant to be fought by a hundred students working in perfect concert… to him, it was just the next objective on his list.
"We're moving," Valeria commanded, her voice cutting through her party's stunned silence. "Now. To the Central Clearing."
"To fight the boss?" Kael asked, a nervous tremor in his voice.