"Shit!"

Soren felt that the bow was about to snap, so he quickly reinforced it further with his Concept.

At the same time, he supplied the energy of one fire-affinity mana core into his skill, making sure the shot would be powerful enough.

*Swoosh!*

As soon as he did that, he felt one of the mana cores inside his body abruptly disappear, followed by a huge amount of dense energy rushing into his bow.

*Crack!*

Sure enough, the resulting power alone was not something the already broken bow could withstand, and it began to disintegrate right in his hand from the sheer force.

"Shoot!"

In the end, when the illusory bow condensed and Soren released the shot, what remained in his hand was only the manifestation of his Concept holding the bow’s structure together, putting massive strain on his mind.

*Swoosh!*

The moment the arrow left Soren’s bow, he found that it abruptly disappeared right in front of his eyes.

"What?"

For a moment, Soren thought that the skill had failed to activate properly, only to see the arrow traverse the distance between him and the wolf in an instant, appearing right in front of its massive chest.

In fact, it was so fast that it reached the Terrawolf in less than a second, catching it completely off guard.

*Voidrend!*

Soren had really thought it was just a name, but his arrow had truly traversed the void just now in such an inexplicable way that it made his heart tremble.

*Roar!*

Although it might have looked like it took a long time, from Soren activating his SS-rank skill to firing the arrow, not much time had actually passed.

The Abyssfang Terrawolf was still raging madly, dashing in his direction with such speed that everything in its path was brutally decimated, creating a large clearing with its huge body alone.

But being a behemoth also meant being a large target.

Despite using a broken bow and almost failing to activate his skill, Soren did not have a hard time aiming at its chest as he released the illusory arrow, which was completely devoid of the flashiness of the Helios Piercer.

And yet, despite its plain appearance, the arrow displayed a terrifying might the moment it touched the Abyssfang Terrawolf.

*Puchi!*

There was no loud collision.

No blazing explosion as expected.

Rather, the illusory arrow simply sank into the beast’s chest as if the thick layers of black fur, hardened flesh, and dense bones were nothing but paper.

Then, in the very next second...

*BOOOOM!*

A gruesome hole as large as a human body exploded right through the center of the Terrawolf’s massive chest, allowing Soren to see straight through it toward the stunned figures of Sylvia and Aria in the distance.

In an instant, blood, shattered ribs, chunks of flesh, and broken organs burst out from its back like a crimson fountain.

The enormous body of the behemoth violently staggered as its forward charge was interrupted for the second time.

"ROOOAAARRR!!!"

A pain-filled, maddened roar finally shook the entire forest as, for the first time, the wolf had been severely injured beyond the level its monstrous recovery could handle.

But even then, it did not fall at all, making Soren frown.

Really, its vitality was simply too monstrous.

Even with a gaping hole blown through its chest, the Abyssfang Terrawolf still dragged its mangled body forward with bloodshot eyes filled with endless hatred, as if it wanted to tear Soren apart even if it had to die doing so.

Its extreme agility was still the same, rapidly closing in like a shadow.

’Tch... Critical Hit didn’t activate. Is it because of the broken bow?’

But Soren merely showed a trace of annoyance, paying no heed to its desperate dying struggle.

Rather, he simply shrugged at failing to kill a beast in one shot for the first time and shouted aloud, seemingly to no one.

"Frost! Freeze it!"

Just because his bow was gone did not mean he was helpless now. He still had a pet with him, one that was even higher level than himself.

*Roar!*

Sure enough, by this time, Frost was already nearby, as it let out a loud roar the moment Soren gave the order, before abruptly appearing on the back of the behemoth.

Its tiny figure looked almost unremarkable and unimpressive.

But when such a tiny figure suddenly opened its mouth...

*Fwoooosh!*

...a terrifying torrent of icy mist mixed with countless razor-sharp frost particles burst out like a raging blizzard.

Simultaneously, the temperature of the entire area dropped violently.

The oppressive darkness that had blanketed the surroundings under the Abyssfang Terrawolf’s pitch-black presence was swallowed whole by a surging wave of snow white.

Frost spread like madness, literally.

Starting from the wolf’s back, thick layers of white ice crawled across the giant beast’s black fur at a speed visible to the naked eye, dyeing that abyss-like body into a frozen white nightmare.

Its charging body visibly shuddered.

Then its four giant limbs were sealed under heavy layers of ice.

Of course, it was only a temporary stillness, as Soren could already hear faint cracking sounds spreading across the thick layers of ice covering the beast’s body.

After all, Frost was only level 60, while this monster was level 72.

Even severely injured, such a behemoth could not be restrained for long.

But that brief moment was enough.

*Swoosh!*

By the time the first cracks had even appeared, Soren had already rushed right up the frozen forelimb of the Terrawolf like a shadow, using the layers of ice as footholds.

In his hand, DrakeFang shone with a chilling black light.

Within two breaths, he had reached the height of its lowered head as those murderous scarlet eyes were right in front of him.

But Soren looked straight into them with no fear while he twisted his waist in midair and poured every last bit of strength into his arm before slashing upward with all his might.

"Die!"

*SHING!*

A strange yet pleasant cry of the blade echoed through the surroundings before DrakeFang tore directly into the underside of the Terrawolf’s jaw.

The abnormally sharp blade sliced through frozen flesh, cracked bone, and ripped violently upward across its entire head amidst an eruption of blood and shattered skull fragments.

The force of the slash did not stop there.

Using his rising momentum, Soren dragged the blade even harder.

*RIIIPPPP!*

In the end, the half-frozen neck, already made brittle by Frost’s ice, was split apart in one savage motion.

Muscles tore, bones snapped, and frozen flesh exploded.

*BOOOOM!*

The Abyssfang Terrawolf’s massive head was severed completely and sent flying high into the sky together with shattered ice and a rain of blood, looking particularly striking against the snow-white field as the crimson drops dyed it red.

The behemoth-like wolf’s body finally lost all signs of life.

Its gigantic frozen frame stood there for a brief second as if refusing to accept death.

Then...

*Thud!*

Like a collapsing mountain, the headless corpse heavily crashed onto the ground, sending snow, dust, and blood scattering everywhere.

*Roar!*

Soren still stood in the sky using his Crimson Wing, looking like a god of slaughter with DrakeFang dripping blood in his hand.

His murderous gaze remained fixed on the headless corpse of the wolf below as if looking down on worthless prey in disdain.

The sheer sight of that figure, suspended amidst falling snow and drifting blood, was so overwhelming that Frost could not help but let out an excited roar, its entire being filled with endless reverence toward this human who was its master.

His Ghost Instinct was right, wasn’t it?

Soren was definitely a hidden opportunity that he could not let go of.

Only by following this master could he become stronger.

Strong enough to evolve...

...evolve from a mere lizard into a true dragon and one day stand side by side with Soren, his master.

Strong enough that... he could finally take his revenge.

For a brief moment, an unknown heat blazed within his seemingly innocent eyes, carrying a hatred buried deep within his bloodline, something that even Frost himself did not fully understand.

But a fire had already been ignited in his heart, and it could not be extinguished so easily.

In an instant, his gaze landed on the wolf’s corpse below, more precisely, on the mana core hidden within it.

*Swish!*

Before Soren could even react, Frost shot downward like lightning, dug the mana core out with absolute precision, and directly gulped it down his throat.

"Hey... wait..."

From the moment Soren beheaded the wolf to Frost swallowing its mana core, the entire sequence happened so quickly that Soren was left staring blankly.

Only when he began hearing prompts from his system did he finally come out of his trance...

---

Ding!

[You have successfully killed an Abyssfang Terrawolf.] 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

[Congratulations! Your level has risen to 49.]

[Your understanding of ’Concept’ has increased to a significant degree.]

[The duration of the Scarlet Dominion has ended.]

---

It was a normal prompt that did not do much to Soren besides making him let out a sigh of relief that he was still below level 50.

But the next prompt he received from the system truly shocked him.

---

Ding!

[Your Beast Companion, Frost, has forcefully ingested a Level 72 Dark Affinity Mana Core.]

[He has leveled up.]

[He has leveled up.]

[Compatibility between Ice Element and Dark Element detected.]

[Mutation condition partially fulfilled.]

[Beast Companion Frost’s elemental affinity has mutated successfully.]

[Ice Affinity → Darkfrost Affinity]

[Congratulations! Frost has gained a new skill: Darkfrost Breath (B-Rank).]

---

’What?’