Thump!

The stone wall opened noisily.

Seo Jun-Ho slowly walked inside and ahead of the werewolves he took hostage.

...

As expected, there was pure chaos beyond the stone wall. The werewolves were showing their hostility toward Seo Jun-Ho, who had taken their family and friends hostage.

But the only threat here is

Seo Jun-Hos eyes turned toward the werewolf standing on the highest rock.

Arnold made eye contact with Seo Jun-Ho and spoke, I cant believe you just walked into our territory while holding our kind hostage. Should I say your courageous, or should I say youre impudent?

I dont know.

Seo Jun-Ho thought that it was neither. At this point, what Seo Jun-Ho felt about his skills was beyond pride.

Orca was still being restrained by chains of darkness as he cried out. Chief Arnold!

Hang in there, Orca. Ill save you soon.

No, thats not it! This human isnt an enemy.

...? Arnold frowned and shifted his gaze to Orcas wrists.

All of them are being held hostage, but hes saying that the man who took them hostage isnt an enemy?

Orca seemed ashamed to remain under Arnolds gaze any longer, so he quickly explained, Hes Rahmadat Khalis friend.

...Hm?

Arnolds eyes softened upon hearing Orcas explanation.

He must be the one.

Arnold nodded. He recalled Rahmadat mentioning that he had a friend he had always been chasing after. Rahmadat also said that he wanted to stand next to his friend.

Rahmadat, that punk. Hes going to have a hard time.

It would still take Rahmadat a long time before he could properly handle the power that emancipation would grant him if he managed to succeed in the trial.

Swoosh.

The gray fur covering Arnold vanished.

Is your name Seo Jun-Ho by chance?

...How do you know my name?

Rahmadat often told me about his friends.

Arnold gestured, and the werewolves killing intent vanished. They reverted to their human forms one by one.

In response, Seo Jun-Ho slowly put down the chain he was holding. As far as Seo Jun-Ho knew, Rahmadat wasnt the kind of guy who would tell the enemies about his friends even if they threatened to kill him.

...

Swish.

When the chain of darkness disappeared, Arnold turned around and said, Follow me. Ill bring you to your friend.

***

Rahmadat was lying flat on a stone bed.

...Why is he unconscious? asked Seo Jun-Ho in a low voice.

Arnold raised both of his hands. First of all, lets all calm down. Ill explain everything to you step by step from a to z.

Arnold really did explain everything, including Rahmadat saving Mone, Mone bringing him to the Twilight Claw Tribe, Arnold teaching Rahmadat himself, and Rahmadat taking on the Arch Warrior Trial.

Once Arnold was done speaking, Seo Jun-Ho said, ...I heard that this punk drank too much alcohol.

I cant deny that, Arnold nodded. And that wasnt our fault.

Its this idiots fault for downing it before I could say that he just needs to take a sip.

Seo Jun-Ho massaged his aching temples. Do you guys also call him an idiot?

Well, some of us even call him a dumbass.

He does deserve to be called a dumbass.

The air around Seo Jun-Ho and Arnold lightened. Seo Jun-Ho noticed that and quickly apologized. I apologize for attacking your family out of nowhere. I thought that they abducted my friend.

No, its all right. Its only natural for you to misunderstand without misunderstood hearing the full story. I understand.

With that, the misunderstanding was resolved.

Seo Jun-Ho looked at Rahmadat and asked, When do you think this guy will wake up?

I also want to know that

Becoming enlightened on emancipation was purely up to ones capabilities...

However, Ill have to consider the test a failure and wake him up forcefully if he doesnt wake up on his own within the next four days.

I heard that there is a backlash.

There is a backlash, but thats not the main problem. If he wanders for more than a week in the prison of his own mind, then he will emerge from it as a ruined man. He will become nothing more than a shell of his previous self.

...

The backlash was usually not that severe, but they figured that the backlash would be much greater for Rahmadat because he downed the special alcohol rather than taking a small sip.

So I guess its all up to this idiot.

Its all up to this idiot indeed.

Hmm. Seo Jun-Ho sighed and got up. Lets get out of here. I dont think there is much I can do for him here.

...Youre more cold-hearted than I thought, Arnold said with a surprised expression.

Seo Jun-Ho seemed a little different from what Arnold had heard from Rahmadat.

Its not that Im cold-hearted Seo Jun-Ho shook his head. Its actually the other way around.

There was a reason why he didnt show any concern about Rahmadat despite his current condition.

Its because I believe in him. I believe in this idiot.

...

Arnold looked slightly moved by Seo Jun-Hos words which were full of trust.

I knew it, your heart burns hot as well.

My heart burns hot? Yes, I mean, the average temperature of the heart is forty degrees, you know?

... Arnold didnt know what to say. In his eyes, he seemed to have judged Seo Jun-Ho as a bit humorless aside from his overflowing trust and loyalty in his friends.

***

Arnold sat on a huge rock and took a sip of steaming hot tea.

Did you say you want to know about this world? Arnold asked.

Yes. I cant just wait here and do nothing.

Seo Jun-Ho wanted to know a lot about this world, and he also had many questions, such as the identity of the Floor Master and the reason behind the red fogs appearance.

Hmm. The history of this world where should I begin? Arnold stared at the distant city covered in red fog. ...We used to be humanitys gods nine hundred years ago.

Gods?

To be exact, humans used to serve us. Have you ever heard of Totemism?

Yes, I have.

Totemism was a culture of worshiping animals or plants while considering them sacred. Seo Jun-Ho recalled learning about it in Korean history class when he was still in middle school.

So humans here used to serve the wolves.

Yes. Our ancestors were wolves. At that time, the king of humans married our ancestors and Arnold briefly explained a story about the birth of a werewolf. Then, human society developed rapidly over the years.

Humans who couldnt even cross over to the next village started crossing not only continents and the sea, but they even conquered the sky. It was all thanks to the so-called Industrial Revolution.

Humans no longer believe in us.

This was an expected and natural outcome since the idea of werewolves in the midst of remarkable advancements in technology and science was a story that would only appear in old fairy tales.

The werewolves naturally disappeared from the minds of humans over the years.

But we continued on protecting the humans from the shadows

Protecting the humans you mean from the vampires?

Yes. Those bats are from another continent. They drink human blood and could turn other people into their servants, which resulted in their massive population boom.

This wasnt a huge problem in the beginning because even those True Vampires couldnt match the werewolves.

Wait. Did you say that the True Vampires are weaker than the werewolves?

That was how it used to be back then, Arnold said proudly as he strengthened his back. You know the Twilight Claw Tribe isnt the only werewolf tribe, right?

So there were reinforcements...

The Fierce Nail Tribe, the Blue Mane Tribe, and the Sharp Tooth Tribe. There are four tribes in total, and it was all thanks to the chiefs representing each tribe that we managed to stop the True Vampires. Yes It was all thanks to the Four Legendary Wolves.

Pffft!

The Frost Queen sitting next to Seo Jun-Ho suddenly spat the tea that she was drinking. She closed her mouth tightly with both hands as if what she had done surprised her as well, but her eyes betrayed her.

The Frost Queens eyes were tearing up as she desperately held her laughter back.

Haha hahaha The Frost Queens shoulders quivered. She tried her best to stay quiet, but her laughter still leaked out of her mouth.

Ive been wanting to ask you this, but who the heck is this girl?

She is the Frost Queen, and shes the queen of a nation covered in snow.

A queen? A little girl like her is the queen of a nation?

Hahahaha! The Frost Queen couldnt hold her laughter back enough. She directly burst into a boisterous peal of laughter as she bent over and held her stomach, which was already starting to hurt.

I have to admit that its kind of funny because the name is a bit childish, but its rude to laugh in front of the one who just told you about them.

Seo Jun-Ho scolded the Frost Queen. Hey, thats rude.

I-I know! B-but the Four Legendary Wolves are justhaha!

Stop laughing. If you keep laughing, I might Seo Jun-Hos lips were twitching as he chided the Frost Queen.

Arnold looked a bit uncomfortable as he said, I dont mind a child laughing about it, but your laughter is a bit different.

Whats different about it? Seo Jun-Ho asked.

Rahmadat said that you and he are famous as the 5 Heroes. You arent that different from us, so your laughter is a bit painful to hear, said Arnold.

Hahahaha! The Frost Queen rolled around the rock they were sitting on while laughing.

Hmm... Arnold sighed. He truly looked uncomfortable as he said, Well, it cant be helped. I mean, I also think that the name is a bit strange.

Ahem. Please forgive our rudeness. Anyway, lets go back to what we were talking about.

Arnold and Seo Jun-Ho left the laughing Frost Queen and continued their conversation.

Where was I? Ah, yes. One day, the bats suddenly became strong.

Were there no omens?

Well Arnold pondered for a moment. He seemed to have recalled something as he said, A few days before they became strong, I felt a strange energy like the one I felt today.

What do you mean?

You know. I felt a strange energy before you climbed up the mountain. It almost felt like something was watching us and

... Seo Jun-Hos expression became serious.

Arnold might be talking about his Dignity of an Emperor.

In that case, Arnold may have felt the energy of a transcendent back then.

A demon at the Star Destruction Stage, at the very least, must have intervened. It fits perfectly, according to what Miss Reiji had said.

There was a huge chance that the matter involved one of Underworlds counts.

Those bats became ridiculously strong since that day. I can understand the strength of the other True Vampires, but Tepes is just Arnold trailed off and shook his head. I encountered him only once at a distance of a few kilometers, but even though were far away, I could still feel that I wasnt his match.

I think I finally understand whats going on here.

Seo Jun-Ho deduced that the vampires had to have been converted into stronger beings, similar to how the demons turned humans into fiends.

So thats how you were driven out of the city by the vampires.

Well, it is true that the vampires eventually managed to drive us out, but its mostly because of the fog.

Fog? You mean that red fog over there, which is covering the entire city?

Arnold nodded. We can only harness our full strength beneath the moonlight, but that red fog does not allow even a single ray of moonlight to descend upon the city.

You mean

Yes. It means that all we can do is fill up our Lunar Force reservoir outside the red fog like what we are doing right now.

In short, not only was it questionable if the werewolves could still defeat the vampires even if they were at full strength, but the werewolves could only exert less than half of their true power, thanks to the red fog.

Even worse, the enemies would only become stronger over time, while the allies would only become weaker as the red fog expanded even more.

Then, well have to find a way to get rid of that fog before anything else.

Youve got a great insight. Arnolds eyes sparkled as he retrieved a map from his clothes.

Woosh!

The map laid out on the rock was extremely detailed to the extent that it felt like every nook and cranny of Trium was recorded on the map.

This is the map of Trium. Not even the Queen of Trium has a map that is as detailed as this.

The city is huge.

At first glance, Trium was a circular city that looked slightly bigger than Seoul.

What are these circles on the map? Seo Jun-Ho asked.

Those places are called factories, Arnold said in a grim voice.

They must belong to the vampires, I suppose?

Yes. Those circles are what the bats built to satisfy their greed, and they were made at the expense of our warriors lives.

...What are they producing from those factories?

Arnold stared at Seo Jun-Ho without saying anything.

He stared at the latter for quite a while before muttering, Blood.

Arnolds anguished eyes remained on Seo Jun-Ho. The humans they kidnap are sent over to those factories to be treated as livestock they could draw blood from for the vampires to drink.

...

Were also assuming that the red fog is being produced in one of those factories, Arnold added.

The disturbing revelation almost shook Seo Jun-Hos imperturbable mind, and in a cold voice filled with fury, he told Arnold, If there are any missions related to the factories, let me join them.