After he had finished eating, Liam made his way toward the very peak of the rocky outcrop and settled himself there in silence.

The sun had already begun its slow descent beneath the horizon, casting long orange and crimson streaks across the distant sky as Nalim gradually prepared itself for nightfall once again.

From where Liam sat, the entire stretch of forest beneath him seemed endless. Layers upon layers of dark green canopies spread outward like a living ocean, swaying gently beneath the evening wind. From this height, he could see the river cutting through the forest far below like a winding scar of silver reflecting the fading sunlight. Even farther in the distance, barely visible beyond the haze and overlapping trees, he could make out the towering canopies of the swamp region he had escaped the previous day.

Just seeing it from afar made him remember the endless Gravecoils, the unstable terrain, and the evolved monstrosity he had been forced to kill far earlier than he ever intended to reveal that level of power.

’At least today was less of a pain than yesterday,’ Liam thought calmly as he sat there near the edge of the rocky formation.

The cool evening wind brushed against his exposed arms and dark sleeveless shirt while Smoke remained a short distance behind him beneath the shadow of a taller rock, silently watching the surrounding forest.

Liam rested one forearm over his raised knee as his crimson eyes remained fixed on the horizon.

’Now I can focus on what I actually came here for,’ he thought. ’Though this wound is going to make things more annoying than they should be.’

His gaze lowered briefly toward the bandaged puncture wound on his thigh before returning to the forest again.

’Still... once I find what I’m looking for, I can stop worrying about holding back so much.’

Long before the assessment had ever been announced, Liam had stumbled upon a piece of information hidden within one of the deeper sections of the academy library.

The book itself had been strange; old and worn down with age.

And unlike most official academy texts, it lacked any recognizable academy seal or publishing mark. It had almost looked like a personal journal rewritten into a research text by someone obsessed with demon evolution.

Most students would’ve ignored it entirely, but Liam hadn’t.

The subject of the book had been Berserker demons.

And what he learned from it had remained in the back of his mind ever since.

According to the text, Berserkers were fundamentally different from the other nine Sync-class demon species. Unlike Blood Demons, Gaia Demons, or the others who were naturally born into their classifications, Berserkers supposedly were not true Sync-class demons by origin.

They began as Advanced Horror-class demons.

Then evolved... through cannibalism.

The book described them as creatures that consumed the cores of fallen demons repeatedly over long periods of time. Each consumed core merged imperfectly with their own, forcing their bodies and Myst circuits to adapt unnaturally. Most demons apparently died during the process, unable to withstand the corruption and instability of multiple cores trying to coexist inside one body.

But the few that survived... evolved.

And those survivors eventually became Berserkers.

What fascinated Liam most wasn’t simply the evolution itself.

It was the inconsistency.

Unlike the other Sync-class demons that possessed defining racial traits and affinities, Berserkers reportedly developed abilities depending on what kind of demons they consumed throughout their evolution.

Blood Demons manipulated blood and Gaia Demons manipulated earth and nature.

Those species followed clear rules.

However, Berserkers didn’t.

Some developed bone-like mutations.

Others gained hardened flesh.

Some reportedly developed regenerative abilities far beyond normal demons. Others gained explosive speed, heightened senses, electrical discharge, or monstrous physical strength.

No two Berserkers were entirely alike.

And that alone made them dangerous.

Liam still remembered the Berserker demon from the end-of-semester assessment during his first year. Back then, he lacked this new knowledge, but now, looking back at the creature, he could understand certain things better.

The bone-like protrusions, the abnormal body structure, and the irrational aggression paired with unnatural coordination.

At the time, the academy had only explained Berserkers as the most instinct-driven among the Sync-class species. But now Liam suspected there had been far more to it than that.

Which was exactly why he wanted to encounter one himself.

Not through books, lectures, or through secondhand information. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

He wanted to understand them directly.

Because regardless of how varied Berserkers became through evolution, Liam refused to believe they lacked a common weakness entirely.

There had to be something.

A pattern.

A flaw.

A consistent point where they all could be killed.

And if he could understand that, then one day, if he ever faced a true Berserker Lord... he would already possess the foundation needed to kill it.

’Because no matter how different they evolve,’ Liam thought calmly, ’everything still dies the same way eventually.’

His eyes narrowed slightly.

’Except maybe the very first one.’

The original Advanced Horror that evolved far enough to become the first Berserker Lord would’ve been something entirely different from the rest. Something ancient. Something that had likely consumed countless cores over centuries.

That thought alone made the concept of Berserkers even more unsettling.

And that was why, the moment the academy announced Nalim as the location for the assessment, Liam immediately saw an opportunity.

A realm filled with evolved demons and dangerous enough for abnormal creatures to exist naturally.

If there was any place within academy-controlled territory where a Berserker could exist unnoticed, it would be somewhere inside Nalim.

Which was why Liam had approached the assessment the way he had from the very beginning; cautious, measured, and conservative with Myst expenditure.

Trying to avoid unnecessary battles until he located what he truly wanted.

Unfortunately, Headmaster Thion had apparently been far more eager than Liam originally anticipated.

That eagerness had cost him his supplies.

And his injury.

Still, neither was enough to make him abandon his objective.

’I wonder if those claw marks below belonged to an evolved Advanced Horror,’ Liam thought as he stared upward while the moon slowly began replacing the fading sunlight overhead.

’There’s a chance.’

Then again, there was also the possibility that the book itself was only partially true.

That uncertainty still lingered in Liam’s mind.

After all, the academy had never officially taught any of this. And despite how detailed the book had been, there was no guarantee the information came from credible sources.

But even then...

Liam found it difficult to believe someone could invent such a strangely specific evolutionary explanation out of pure imagination alone.

Not without seeing it firsthand or surviving it.

’Whatever the truth is,’ Liam thought calmly, ’I’ll figure it out before this assessment ends.’

He remained seated there for several more minutes, allowing the cold evening air to pass across his exposed skin while the forest gradually darkened beneath him.

Eventually, Liam let out a slow breath and rose to his feet.

"I should head down and clean this wound properly again," he muttered quietly to himself as he glanced down at the dirt and dried blood covering parts of his clothing and bandages.

The treatment would need replacing soon.

He turned to descend from the peak of the outcrop and head toward the river below.

But just as he moved, Smoke suddenly tensed.

The shadow wolf lowered itself slightly near the rocks, a low growl rumbling from deep within its chest as all four glowing eyes locked toward the opposite side of the forest they hadn’t explored yet.

Liam stopped immediately.

"What is it?" he asked calmly while turning toward the shadow beast.

Smoke grunted lowly and gestured his head toward the darker stretch of trees beyond the outcrop.

Without hesitation, Liam linked his senses with Smoke’s.

The next instant, he picked up a scent unlike anything he had encountered since entering Nalim.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

’That doesn’t feel like a demon,’ he thought immediately.

The scent lacked the twisted corruption and hostility demons naturally carried. Instead, it felt... wild, raw, and ancient almost.

Like a beast.

But not an ordinary beast either.

The more Liam focused on it, the stranger it became.

Because beneath that unfamiliar scent was something else.

Something oddly familiar.

Very familiar.

Liam remained still for a moment, quietly studying the dark section of forest ahead while trying to decide whether this was worth his time at all.

Then his gaze shifted briefly toward Smoke again.

The shadow wolf remained tense. More alert than before.

That alone made Liam reconsider dismissing it.

’I’ll need to explore that side eventually anyway,’ he thought calmly. ’Might as well deal with it now.’

Without another word, Liam climbed onto Smoke’s back.

The shadow wolf rose immediately beneath him.

Liam’s crimson eyes fixed themselves toward the dark forest ahead.

"Let’s go see what it is."