The trail carved into the wilderness wasn't paved or marked—just a faint path of trampled grass and claw-gouged bark where others had passed.
Ethan followed it, his senses sharp, every rustling leaf and distant growl setting his nerves on edge. Unlike dungeons, the wilderness had no system-generated spawn zones or predictable aggro patterns. The danger was real, wild, and often smarter than it had any right to be.
As he crept deeper into the overgrowth, a thick fog began to roll in. Ethan paused, narrowing his eyes. This wasn't in the mission details. Then came a howl. It was unmistakably from a mutated howler.
Ethan immediately erected a mana barrier and just in time as a beast launched itself out of the mist like a cannonball, jaws wide and eyes gleaming with savage intelligence. It slammed into the barrier with a crunch of impact, claws screeching against the magical shield, sending out a ripple of force that shook the leaves overhead.
