"What took you so long?"
As soon as Eren came into Sofiya's view, she greeted him with a complaint. She was clearly annoyed.
Sofiya had been waiting outside the cave that led to the Hexers' Ground, expecting Eren to quickly handle his affairs. However, she was unaware of the spiritual attack from his Beast Companion that caused him to fall asleep and allowed Aleph's Soul Imprint to take control of his body.
Things became even more complicated when Eren decided to merge his ranking path with Tiamat using the Beast Companion Technique, a decision followed by Kino's shared information, which would greatly benefit him.
Despite the circumstances, Sofiya's frustration with Eren's prolonged absence was justified. Eren smiled wryly at her and playfully shifted the blame onto her for his lateness. "This is why I asked you to come along, Sofiya," he said, teasingly. "You could have easily cleared the first two rounds of the tests and gained some rewards in return."
