Is this really a Game?!

The forest was still, the air thick with darkness as an oppressive force bore down on everything present in a radius of a mile, clinging to everything, suffocating even the rocks. The monstrous wolf stood motionless as its crimson eyes continued gleaming with fury and confusion. For the first time in its existence, it had come across opponents that were powerful enough to go up against it and even win against it, forcing it to speed up its plans, to swallow the body of its deceased cub and the origin of power of the forest in order to reach a higher realm of existence, improving its bloodline greatly, causing it to be on par with raid bosses of the same tier.

Still, the wolf was angry, had everything went according to plan, the cub would have an even higher talent than it had, it would have been able to grow quickly and reach a realm of power higher than it could reach itself, and with its help, the wolf might have evolved further as well.

The plan it had carefully followed for years was ruined because of Reign and the others, and now, the wolf had to leave the forest it had lived in for so long and search for other places that had origins of power that were similar.

The only reason it had stayed in this forest for so long was that nobody had known an origin of power was present here, that such a treasure was free for the taking, thus it had lived in this backwater place, ruling over it and never fearing for its life.

The inhabitants of the surrounding regions, the villages, cities, kingdoms, and even one empire that was somewhat close were not powerful enough to do anything to it.

The wolf was real, it was not a simulation of the system, in fact, the system had somehow placed the forest in a pocket dimension and sent Reign and the others forth to fight against it. The trials they had gone through before were all simulations, thus death was not true, but the hell trials were a different story.

Everything was real, the enemies they faced were real, summoned by the system to fight against them.

The wolf truly existed, and one could think of this as a trial for the wolf as well. If it managed to survive, it would grow more powerful, and it had done so. In fact, even the system didn’t anticipate that the wolf would devour its cub and the source of power as it had to meet multiple conditions to do so, and yet, that happened.

Reign had believed that they would never meet the wolf again, thus he would never have the chance to kill it, but none of them knew that such a possibility did exist. Not only did it exist, but the universal law of attraction could very likely have the two meet in the future, perhaps as enemies once again, or maybe even as allies.

The wolf, however, was confused as it never thought Reign and the others would be able to leave this place alive.

It had unleashed its full power, enough to obliterate any who stood against it. And yet, its prey had slipped through its grasp, vanishing like smoke in the wind. The system’s intervention was an anomaly it could neither foresee nor comprehend, leaving it snarling in frustrated rage.

The forest around it was silent now, as though the trees themselves dared not breathe in its presence. The ground beneath its feet continued to wither, the soil turning to ash as the shadows seeped deeper into the earth, corrupting everything in their wake. The wolf growled, low and menacing, a sound that reverberated through the darkened forest.

"They escaped..." it hissed, its voice a guttural snarl. "But I shall find them. They have not seen the last of me."

Continue your adventure at empire

"Only the Empire could possess combatants of such a realm, but even that place only has 2 or perhaps 3 people who could put up a fight against me, so where did they come from?" The wolf asked itself before shaking its head.

"They came from the west, the kingdoms of Bolad, Broken Rock, as well as Umbrasted are there, the people there will know who they are."

The wolf then moved, its body turning into darkness itself as it sped through the forest before quickly reaching the border. Inside the forest, thanks to the fact it had taken the source of power, the wolf was even more powerful than usual, even a raid boss of the same tier wouldn’t dare fight it as it had turned into its domain.

And yet, only stagnation would follow if the wolf stayed here. It had to leave, explore, find more places, find suitable enemies to devour, and evolve more.

It had taken the body of its cub, it had put its soul into it and then it was reshaped by its soul and the origin of power from the forest. Thanks to that, the wolf now had the same talent its cub had, in fact, the current body it resided in, as well as its soul, were even better than it was before thanks to the source of power.

The ruined plan might actually have worked in its favor, giving it perhaps even more benefits than its plan would have given it. Only time would tell, however, and now, it was time for the wolf to leave and explore, attempt to find from where Reign and the others had come, and where they had escaped to.

Its body started glowing before it started twisting, shortening at some parts, elongating at other parts until a human figure stood at the exit of the forest.

"Just you wait, humans, I shall find you, I have your scent and presence, no matter where in the world you hide, I will find you."

Meanwhile, inside a bright white room.

Reign, Laura, Shadow, and the others reappeared in a flash of light, stumbling onto the cold, hard ground of the room. They had returned, taken away from the hellish trial that had nearly cost them their lives. For a moment, none of them spoke. The sudden shift from the oppressive darkness to the familiar surroundings of the white room left them disoriented, their minds struggling to catch up.

Mia collapsed, her legs giving way as she sank to her knees, gasping for air. Shadow’s dark aura flickered weakly before disappearing completely, and Aelrinder simply dropped his spear, falling to the ground with exhaustion. Only Reign remained standing, though just barely, his swords clattering to the ground as he looked around, trying to process what had just happened.

"We... survived?" Shadow croaked, his voice raw and hoarse.

"The system intervened," Reign replied, his voice steady but hollow. "It pulled us out because it deemed the trial unwinnable. That wolf... whatever it became, it wasn’t something we could defeat."

A heavy silence followed. They had been prepared to die back there, to give everything they had in one final stand. To be pulled out like this, without resolution, left a bitter taste in their mouths. But there was no denying that they were alive, and for now, that had to be enough.

Their exhaustion was quickly lessening thanks to the healing provided by the room, their injuries quickly healing, bones mending and setting back into place while mana gushed inside their body, rejuvenating them.

"We could have died today, very easily as well," Shadow said, his eyes staring down at the white floor.

"Yes, but only because what happened even surprised the system," Tank added from the side, showing a look of contemplation.

"That doesn’t matter, this is the second time since our evolution challenge started that we have come across a being in the same tier as us that is more powerful than we are." Wolf stated as Laura glanced at him.

"But it was a boss-ranked monster, you know they get a boost in stats."

"I don’t think so, there was no notice that it was a boss-ranked monster, nothing in fact showed that it was, I think the wolf was a regular being, just like us, only that it had managed to stumble in the forest, realized the source of power can bring it immense benefits, and had stayed there for a long period of time, thus gaining so much power." Reign said from the side as he sighed.

"Even then, we could have won, we did win, none of us expected it to actually revive itself right after dying, somehow managing to fuse itself with the body of the dead cub and the source of power."

"Still, wasn’t this just a simulation, how the hell did something that even the system didn’t anticipate happen, shouldn’t that be impossible?" Beast asked as Wolf and the others nodded, fully agreeing with him.

"That’s the thing that bothers me too." Reign said as he sat down on the white floor.

"A simulation shouldn’t have such things, it shouldn’t be possible."

"Which only means one thing." Reign said as he glanced over at his teammates.

"The Hell Trials might not be a simulation at all, the enemies we have faced, they were most likely all real."