As the Crimson Sandstalkers surged closer, Adrian Vale didn't feel fear.
He felt something else.
A craving—raw, instinctive, and suddenly unbearable.
It hit him so hard his pulse quickened.
Excitement.
Confusion.
And an ugly familiarity.
Back in the real world, he'd felt this same hunger when faced with human flesh.
But compared to that—
This was different.
When Adrian Vale looked at these unknown Divine Domain creatures, the desire inside him didn't just return.
It expanded—violent and sudden—like it had been waiting for this exact moment.
His ghoul instincts screamed a single truth:
These things were far more delicious than humans.
"Heh…"
The sound slipped out before he could stop it.
And with that small laugh, something he'd been repressing for years—
a savage, blood-drenched aura—
leaked out.
The viewers behind their screens couldn't feel it.
All they saw was his expression.
And it rattled them.
"What the—he's smiling?!"
"That smile is… wrong. It's creepy."
"Is he not scared at all?!"
"They said IQ 170… this looks less like genius and more like psycho."
But Raven Shaw, standing just behind him, could feel it.
The air around Adrian Vale shifted—not physically, but in that primal way that makes your nerves tighten and your body brace for danger before your mind catches up.
She tilted her head slightly, eyes cold, studying his back.
And before she could speak—
everything changed.
The sandstorm froze.
The Crimson Sandstalkers, which had been charging in like a disaster wave, suddenly jerked to a halt.
The wind died.
The sand settled.
On the livestream, it was like someone had slammed a pause button on the world.
The chat went blank with confusion for half a second… then flooded.
"???"
"What just happened? Why did it suddenly stop?"
"They're… not moving anymore?"
"Why?!"
Because they could feel it.
Not with logic.
Not with reasoning.
Through the same ancient fear that makes prey animals go rigid when a predator steps close.
Adrian Vale's aura wasn't just "dangerous."
To them, it felt like an apex predator walking into the open—
a nightmare presence.
And the result was immediate.
One by one, the Crimson Sandstalkers dove underground and fled.
Not cautiously.
Not strategically.
They ran like their lives depended on it.
Because to them, Adrian Vale was no longer "food."
That pressure rolling off him—
it was the kind of thing you didn't fight.
It was the kind of thing you escaped… or you died.
If they could think like humans, they might have asked themselves:
We're only F-… so what is he? E-rank? D-rank? C-rank? Higher?
They couldn't even imagine the gap.
They only understood one thing:
If they rushed him, they wouldn't be eating anything.
They'd be the ones getting eaten.
So they didn't hesitate.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
The sand churned as they retreated, vanishing into the desert like blood pulled back into a wound.
On the livestream, most viewers still couldn't tell what had happened.
All they saw was a swarm that came roaring in…
and then ran away without looking back.
So the chat tried to make sense of it the only way it knew how.
"Huh?! They ran?!"
"They didn't even hesitate—just turned tail!"
"Why?!?"
"Maybe they remembered they left the gas on at home."
"…"
Even the overseas viewers—who had rushed into Dragon Nation's channel hoping to watch a quick humiliation—were stunned.
"This is ridiculous. That worked?"
"Why didn't they just crush them?"
"So Divine Domain creatures are just… dumb?"
They were angry because reality hadn't delivered the spectacle they wanted.
Pineapple TV's studio looked like someone had dumped ice water over the panel.
Sienna Blake blinked hard, still processing.
"This… wasn't what I expected."
Captain Cole let out a long breath, half disbelief and half relief.
"Looks like our competitors… got lucky."
Then Derek Vaughn, as usual, said something that made the air go stale.
"Lucky? So what? They'll die sooner or later anyway. Honestly, it'd be better if they died now—maybe then we could pick stronger competitors. Captain Cole would be perfect. If he went in, he'd dominate."
The studio didn't respond.
But Dragon Nation's viewers finally snapped.
"Is this guy brain-dead? I genuinely want to know how his brain works."
"He's targeting our competitors, isn't he?"
"What kind of idiot casting is this? This is the real low IQ on screen."
People could doubt Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw's ability.
But insulting them nonstop while they were fighting for Dragon Nation—
that crossed a line.
Adrian Vale, of course, had no idea any of this was happening.
He watched the Crimson Sandstalkers disappear and felt… disappointed.
He could chase.
But he didn't feel like inhaling a mouthful of sand before he got a bite.
And besides—
The Will of Blue Star had labeled them F-.
If F- creatures already made him feel like this…
then what about higher grades?
E-rank.
D-rank.
B-rank.
A-rank…
How good would those taste?
The thought made something in him quietly burn with anticipation.
So this was the Forbidden Zone.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
And just as that thought settled—
another scent drifted into his nose.
Different from the sandstalkers.
Sharper. Richer. Almost… intoxicating.
His eyes flicked toward the distance before he even realized he'd moved.
Raven Shaw noticed.
She'd been watching the entire time.
She'd seen the sandstalkers stop.
She'd seen them flee.
And she'd felt that aura—so violent it made even her heart twitch once.
Now she looked at Adrian Vale like she was seeing him for the first time.
After a long silence, she finally spoke—
her first words since entering the Forbidden Zone.
"What… are you?"
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