Chương 36: The Wolf-Woman's Promise

"Do you want to come with me?" Inside the tree hollow, the wolf-woman's voice echoed directly in Rowan's mind, carrying a rare trace of seriousness. Looking at the feral, exotic beauty before him and hearing this incredibly tempting invitation to party up, a fleeting urge to agree flashed through Rowan's heart. But his rational brain, marinated in the gutter-water of the Seventh Abyssal Hive, immediately dumped a bucket of absolute-zero ice water over that impulse. Go with her? Are you fucking kidding me?

Rowan's mind was as clear as a mirror. Following behind this Tier 2—possibly Tier 3—wolf-woman were two rabid dogs in the form of high-tier Church knights capable of dropping a "Wind-Fire Sword Net" at a moment's notice! If he actually followed her like an obedient puppy, he'd highly likely be crushed into meat paste by the collateral damage of gods clashing. She might look like she had those two knights running in circles, but she was ultimately the one being hunted.

If a real fight broke out, there was no way in hell she could protect him. Or worse, he'd just be reduced to her personal, full-time BBQ grill on her escape route, which would severely squander his own cultivation time. Although he had screamed 'No!' ten thousand times in his head, Rowan absolutely could not reveal the slightest hint of disgust or resistance on his face. Standing before him was, after all, one of the most powerful high-tier mages he had ever encountered in his life. He took a deep breath.

An incredibly complex mixture of emotions—flattered awe, conflicted hesitation, and deep worry—instantly surfaced in his eyes.

"My Lord, it is my absolute honor to have the opportunity to follow you," Rowan responded sincerely through the mental link, his voice carrying a trace of resolve.

"But... I cannot simply leave." The wolf-woman furrowed her brow slightly, a flash of displeasure crossing her pale gold slit-pupils.

"What? You think I can't protect you?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Rowan hurriedly explained, doubling down on the lie he had fabricated earlier.

"It's my mentor... I still don't know where he is. When we fled, we split up. Although he is a Grand Forgemaster, he isn't skilled in combat magic. I absolutely cannot leave him alone in this dangerous forest. I have to find him!" At this point, Rowan raised his head, his eyes brimming with desperate hope.

"My Lord, with your immense strength, could you... could you help me find him? As long as we find my mentor, the two of us will gladly serve you!" This was an exceptionally brilliant move of "advancing to retreat." Rowan knew perfectly well that a fugitive currently being hunted by mortal enemies absolutely did not have the leisure to drag dead weight around a peril-filled forest playing a game of blind-man's-bluff to find someone.

Sure enough, upon hearing Rowan's request, the wolf ears atop her head twitched in severe irritation. Although she felt this guy might not be telling the complete truth, his expression was utterly sincere. Furthermore, the information from earlier proved he wasn't a local—especially that data crystal disc, which was absolutely not an ordinary item.

"Help you find a lost old man in a forest this massive? Do you think I'm out here on a picnic?" The wolf-woman ruthlessly shattered Rowan's "fantasies." She was currently being hounded by the Church's bloodhounds; she barely had time to look after herself, let alone act as a search-and-rescue dog. However, Rowan's words had successfully diverted her attention. Capable of crafting such intricate arrays... the wolf-woman calculated inwardly. That old man is definitely a rare Forgemaster.

If there's a chance to recruit him to the Clan, it would be a massive asset. As for this kid who knows how to cook, he can just be a bonus. Thinking of this, her gaze softened a fraction when looking at Rowan. He was weak dead-weight, but his culinary skills were indeed superb.

"I am currently entangled in some disgusting trouble. I don't have time to help you find anyone." The wolf-woman reached up and fumbled with the beast-bone necklace around her neck. She tore off a wolf-tooth pendant radiating a wild, wind-element mana fluctuation and tossed it casually to Rowan.

"Consider this payment for the roasted meat," she transmitted through the mental link.

"If you manage to find your mentor and survive this forest, you can come find me at the 'Thunder-Vortex Valley' of the 'Pale Gold Clan Alliance.' Show them this token, and no one will stop you." Rowan scrambled to catch the smooth, warm wolf tooth, his heart blooming with joy. Outwardly, however, he maintained a look of profound regret at missing the chance to cling to her coattails. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Thank you for your grace, My Lord!"

"Alright, cut the chatter." She waved her hand dismissively. Without a shred of politeness, she swept her hand over the stone slab. The remaining half of the deer carcass, along with Rowan's metal tin of "Complex Synthetic BBQ Spice," were hoovered entirely into her spatial artifact. At the very edge of the slab, she exceptionally generously (read: stingily) left Rowan a single, palm-sized chunk of deer hind leg.

Watching his "technological marvels"—which had cost him a whopping two Terra Credits—get casually looted, Rowan's eye twitched. But he immediately seized this final opportunity.

"My Lord, regarding the [Wellspring Step] manual you gave me..." Rowan picked up the ancient spellbook, spreading his hands helplessly.

"My Gardian isn't very fluent. Could you bestow upon me a translation dictionary?"

"A language book?" The wolf-woman stared blankly for a second before curling her lip in disgust.

"Who brings a useless dictionary when they're running for their lives?" Seeing Rowan holding the illegible, supreme magic manual with a bitter expression, the wolf-woman scratched her ear in annoyance. Taking a step forward, she pressed her finger against Rowan's forehead without leaving room for argument.

"Endure it. You might feel a little dizzy." Before Rowan could react, a massive, nearly tangible torrent of mental data surged brutally through her finger and slammed into his sea of consciousness.

"Urgh!" Rowan let out a muffled groan, his legs giving out as he nearly dropped to his knees. It felt as if a complex mental hologram had been forcefully shoved into his brain. It was a fully three-dimensional spell model constructed entirely of aqua-blue water-element source runes!

"I've directly branded the core spell architecture of [Wellspring Step] into your mental sea. You can slowly reverse-engineer the construction process by comparing it to the book later." Having done all this, the wolf-woman withdrew her finger. Glancing at the sky, she clearly didn't want to linger any longer. Swishing her silver-grey wolf tail, she turned and walked toward the exit of the tree hollow. Rowan massaged his throbbing temples, watching her graceful yet lethally dangerous back.

As a true "rat" of the Seventh Abyssal Hive, Rowan's information-gathering compulsion flared up again. Any visual data of a high-tier powerhouse was crucial material for analyzing the combat strength of this alternate world in the future. Just as the wolf-woman was about to step out of the tree hollow... Rowan controlled his breathing and covertly interfaced with the micro-magitech implant in his right eye socket—the source of his AR vision.

Terra's technological creations could generally function in this world, and the built-in "Recording Module" could still barely operate. Following Rowan's command, an imperceptible glint flashed deep within his right pupil. However. The exact instant that microscopic fluctuation of mana leaked from Rowan's eye socket... The wolf-woman, already at the edge of the hollow, abruptly halted her steps. The air inside the tree hollow seemed to freeze solid in that instant. The wolf-woman didn't turn her head.

She didn't even turn her body. She merely turned her face slightly, using her peripheral vision to cast a cold, apathetic glance at Rowan with that pale gold slit-pupil. Bzzzt—POP! There was no light effect of a spell, nor was there any physical contact. It was purely the high-tier mental pressure contained within that single glance! It traveled backward along Rowan's microscopic probing fluctuation and viciously rebounded into him! Rowan felt a sudden, searing, needle-like agony pierce his right eyeball.

The AR interface operating on his retina instantly collapsed, exploding into a chaotic mess of static snow. Immediately after, the magitech chip implanted next to his optic nerve emitted a microscopic popping sound that only he could hear. The recording module had been completely fried!

"Playing cute little tricks... For the sake of the... roasted meat... I won't kill you this time." An icy voice exploded directly by Rowan's ear. Because of the distance and the sheer density of the mental pressure, even without physical contact on his forehead this time, Rowan felt a distinct concussion in his mind. Following that, a gust of wind swept past, and the wolf-woman's silhouette completely vanished into the boundless, dark forest.

"Hah... Hah..." Only then did Rowan realize that tears were streaming uncontrollably from his right eye—tears mixed with a trace of blood, caused by a portion of the chip's spell module burning out.

"... Terrifying..." Rowan steadied his slightly ragged breathing. He counted his blessings that she had merely treated it as a harmless voyeuristic spell from a low-tier mage. If the wolf-woman had taken it seriously, it wouldn't have just been the chip that exploded; it would have been his entire eyeball. He rested for less than half a minute, checking the time. The countdown for the Möbius ring had less than ten minutes remaining! Rowan sprang up from the ground.

Ignoring the bloody tears in his right eye, he kicked the stone slab away, stomped the embers of the fire pit out, and rapidly buried them with damp soil, executing a crude attempt to mask the smell of roasted meat.

"Put that meat in your spatial pocket!" Rowan commanded the pangolin, which had begun to casually stretch its body in the corner after the wolf-woman left. The pangolin waddled over slowly—as if to salvage some dignity after curling into a terrified ball earlier—and shook its body. The familiar vortex appeared, swallowing the last remaining chunk of deer meat. Then, it expertly burrowed through Rowan's tattered robes and into his jacket. Everything was packed.

Rowan stood at the entrance of the hollow, recalling the direction the wolf-woman had departed in.

"If she could find me by following the smell of BBQ... then those two Church knights who have been tracking her will highly likely follow her lingering scent, or be drawn by the commotion over here!" In Rowan's eyes, this tree hollow—which he had previously viewed as a safehouse—had now transformed into a massive bullseye marked with a giant red flare. He couldn't stay here waiting for the teleportation!

If those two rabid-dog knights arrived a second before his traversal and casually swung their swords, he would genuinely, permanently die here.

"Tactical relocation!" Without a shred of hesitation, Rowan drew his high-frequency straight sword and decisively charged out of the tree hollow. Plunging into the peril-filled night forest, he began his first nocturnal sprint, moving perpendicularly to the wolf-woman's escape route! Even though there were likely many mana-beasts prowling outside, he absolutely had to find a brand-new hiding spot!