Kael stared at the notification screen for several seconds.
"Fuck."
He rubbed his forehead.
"Damn my luck."
Another protection trial.
Of all the possible objectives the Tower could have given him, why did it have to be this one again? Kael hated protection missions.
Unfortunately, complaining wasn’t going to change anything.
Kael immediately spread his senses across the surrounding forest, carefully examining everything within his perception.
Only after confirming that there were no enemies nearby did Kael relax.
A little.
He still wasn’t foolish enough to lower his guard completely.
His gaze shifted toward the caravan behind him. Kael began counting the featureless humanoid figures, his brows gradually rising as the number continued climbing.
There were quite a lot of them.
More than thirty.
Kael stared at the group for a moment before a strange sensation suddenly appeared within his mind.
A map.
His consciousness immediately focused on it.
A clear route was displayed within his mind, beginning from their current location and ending at another point deeper within the forest.
"Oh."
Kael studied the map carefully.
"So I’m supposed to lead them from here to that location to complete the trial?"
His brows furrowed as he looked back toward the featureless humanoid figures.
"But how am I supposed to make them move? Do I have to actually interact with them or something?"
Kael walked toward the caravan, his eyes scanning the strange NPCs as they moved around the parked carriages and horses. They appeared to be waiting for something, although none of them seemed capable of expressing anything through their completely featureless faces.
Kael scratched his cheek.
"Uhmm."
He looked toward the forest.
Then toward the caravan.
"Let’s get it going."
The moment the words left his mouth, something unexpected happened.
The featureless humanoid figures immediately began moving.
Several of them climbed into the carriages while others organized the horses and equipment. Within moments, the entire caravan had begun preparing itself for departure as though Kael had just given them a perfectly ordinary command.
Kael froze.
His eyes widened slightly.
A small spark of hope ignited within his heart.
Perhaps...
Just perhaps...
This wasn’t going to be as terrible as he initially thought.
If these NPCs actually listened to his instructions, then maybe the Tower had finally decided to show him some mercy.
Maybe this protection trial wouldn’t be so bad after all.
----
Two hours later.
"Fuck."
Kael cursed for what felt like the hundredth time.
"No, seriously. Fuck."
It was bad.
No.
It was extremely bad.
The NPCs did follow his instructions, but only when everything was calm.
The moment something went wrong, every single one of them seemed to lose every functioning brain cell they possessed.
Kael’s fist shot forward.
BOOM!
His punch struck a wolf-like creature directly in the head, the impact completely obliterating its skull and sending its body backward in an explosion of blood and flesh.
"Monster!"
"AHHHHHHH!"
"AHHHHHHH!"
"AHHHHHHH!"
The high-pitched screams came from behind him almost immediately.
Kael’s expression twitched.
He turned around just in time to watch the featureless humanoid figures descend into complete chaos. Several of them abandoned the carriages and scattered in different directions, their movements completely irrational as panic overtook them.
Kael’s eyelid twitched.
"Not again."
This.
This was the shit he had been dealing with for the past two hours.
The journey itself had actually been going surprisingly well. Kael had carefully followed the route displayed on the map while guiding the caravan through the forest, and despite the environment being filled with monsters and even the occasional group of bandits, none of them had posed any real threat.
Most of the monsters were low level.
The bandits were even weaker.
Kael could detect them long before they reached the caravan and eliminate them before they became a genuine problem.
That part was easy.
The caravan was the problem.
Every single time a threat appeared, one of the NPCs would immediately scream.
"Monster!"
"Bandits!"
"We’re under attack!"
And every single time, the reaction was exactly the same.
Chaos.
The moment they realized something dangerous was nearby, the featureless humanoid figures would abandon whatever they were doing and scatter in every possible direction.
Some ran into the forest.
Some hid beneath the carriages.
Some simply sprinted away without any particular destination.
It would have been funny if Kael wasn’t responsible for keeping every single one of them alive.
The problem was that there were actual dangers throughout the forest.
If one of the NPCs ran directly into a monster, Kael had to save them.
If another ran in the opposite direction, he had to save that one too.
If three scattered at once, Kael had to move between them at ridiculous speeds while simultaneously keeping track of everything else around the caravan.
After rescuing them, he then had to calm them down and reorganize everyone before continuing the journey.
Then another threat would appear.
Then someone would scream.
Then everyone would scatter again.
Then Kael would have to save them.
Again.
And again.
And again.
At this point, Kael wasn’t sure whether the Tower was testing his combat ability or his patience.
He was beginning to suspect the latter.
Kael sighed deeply.
Fortunately, they were already getting close to their destination.
According to the map, they didn’t have much farther to go.
He only needed to survive a little longer.
That was when he sensed movement.
Kael’s eyes sharpened.
His senses spread outward.
Several presences.
Fast.
Very fast.
He immediately turned toward the source.
Then he heard it.
"Arhhh!"
A scream of pure terror erupted from somewhere nearby.
Kael’s head snapped toward the sound.
One of the featureless humanoid figures had wandered too far from the caravan and was now directly in the path of one of the wolf-like monsters.
The creature lunged.
Its jaws opened wide, rows of sharp teeth snapping toward the NPC’s head.
Kael disappeared.
His body blurred across the forest.
The wolf barely had time to react before Kael appeared directly in front of it. One hand shot upward and caught the creature’s lower jaw while his other hand seized its upper jaw.
The wolf’s momentum carried it forward, but Kael didn’t move an inch.
Its claws scraped against the ground as it struggled.
Kael’s expression remained completely flat.
"Not this shit again."
He pulled.
CRACK!
The wolf’s jaws were violently torn apart.
Blood sprayed across the forest floor as Kael released the corpse, allowing it to collapse lifelessly beside him.
Then another scream came from somewhere in the distance.
"AHHH!"
Kael’s head snapped toward it.
Then another.
"Help!"
Another scream followed.
"Monster!"
Kael’s expression darkened.
There wasn’t just one wolf.
There was a pack.
And judging from the sounds coming from different directions, the wolves had already begun surrounding the caravan.
Kael vanished.
His figure shot through the forest like a streak of lightning.
He arrived beside one of the fleeing NPCs just as another wolf leapt toward it. Kael’s hand swept sideways.
SHING!
His palm sliced through the wolf’s body, splitting it cleanly in two.
Before the corpse had even touched the ground, Kael was already gone.
Another wolf lunged.
Kael appeared beneath it.
His leg rose.
BOOM!
The kick struck the creature’s abdomen with enough force to turn its entire body into a bloody mist.
Another NPC screamed.
Kael disappeared again.
A wolf attempted to pounce from behind.
Kael caught it by the throat and slammed it into the ground.
BOOM!
The earth cracked beneath the impact.
Another wolf charged from the side.
Kael turned and punched.
The creature exploded.
Another.
Dead.
Another.
Dead.
The forest became a battlefield.
Kael moved through it at terrifying speed, every movement precise and efficient. He didn’t need elaborate techniques against these creatures. His raw physical strength was already enough to crush them.
A casual strike shattered bone.
A simple kick turned flesh into blood mist.
A sweep of his hand tore through claws, teeth, and muscle alike.
Yet every time an NPC was threatened, Kael was there.
One moment he was beside the caravan.
The next he was hundreds of meters away.
Then he was back again.
Then somewhere else.
He moved through the forest like a predator hunting an entire pack by himself.
The screams gradually became fewer.
The wolves became fewer.
Until finally, the last creature emerged from between the trees.
It snarled as it charged toward the nearest NPC.
Kael was already waiting.
His fist descended.
BOOM!
The wolf’s body slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a shallow crater.
Silence returned to the forest.
Kael stood among the remains of the wolf pack, his breathing perfectly steady as he looked around.
Nothing moved.
Every wolf was dead.
Every NPC was alive.
The trial could continue.
Behind him, the featureless humanoid figures suddenly erupted into cheers.
"Thank heavens! We’re saved!"
"We survived!"
Kael’s eye twitched.
He slowly turned his head toward them.
"Thank heavens?"
"I’m the one busting my ass here to save you low-IQ fuckers!"