Arthur turned back to them.

He noticed it right away.

The hesitation.

The distance.

He blinked once.

Then sighed.

"...Oi."

But no response.

He scratched the back of his head, a small smile forming.

"What’s with those faces?"

Still nothing.

Arthur frowned slightly. "Don’t tell me you guys are scared now."

Torren let out a short laugh, but it came out awkward. "Can you blame us?"

Arthur shrugged. "Yeah. I can."

That caught them off guard.

He grinned a bit wider now.

"I mean... I just did my job, right?"

Nox stared at him. "...You call that just doing your job?"

Arthur tilted his head. "What? You wanted me to struggle more?"

That broke it.

Torren laughed first.

Then Nox.

Even Ryn let out a small breath through his nose.

As the tension cracked just like that.

Arthur smiled, satisfied.

"...So?"

He spread his arms slightly.

"How did I do?"

Nox rolled her eyes. "Shameless."

Torren pointed at him. "You’re paying for drinks when we get back."

Arthur didn’t miss a beat. "Not happening."

Ryn stepped forward, shaking his head lightly.

"...Enough."

His tone settled things quickly, but there was no tension in it anymore.

Just focus.

"We’re done here."

He glanced at the guardian’s remains, then at the scorched battlefield.

"...Not how we planned it."

No one disagreed.

This mission had gone off track the moment they saw the scene of the ritual guardian.

Ryn continued, calm as always.

"But we still achieved the objective."

His eyes shifted toward the center of the area.

"The mutation source is gone."

Arthur followed his gaze.

He understood what she meant.

The guardian had absorbed it.

All that tainted mana meant to spread through the dungeon...

It had taken it into itself.

Turned into that.

Torren crossed his arms. "...So instead of dealing with a spreading mutation, we got one big problem instead."

"Yeah," Ryn nodded. "And Arthur handled it."

Nox looked down at the cub in her arms.

"...But we didn’t get anything out of it."

Ryn’s expression dimmed slightly.

"...We couldn’t question it."

They all knew why.

By the time they reached it...

It had already lost itself.

Whatever intelligence it might have had...

Was gone.

Replaced by instinct.

By corruption.

Torren frowned. "Still doesn’t sit right with me."

Ryn nodded slowly. "...Same."

As he glanced at the others.

"This is the first time we’ve seen something like that."

"A boss resisting tainted mana like that," Torren added.

Nox hugged the cub a bit closer. "...Was it thinking? Or just reacting?"

No one had an answer.

And honestly.. It didn’t change much.

Ryn exhaled. "We’ll report it."

That was the best they could do.

Let the Commander handle it.

Then his gaze shifted to the cub, and all of them followed.

The small wolf blinked up at them, calm... almost too calm.

For something that had been around that monster.

"...What do we do about it?" Torren asked.

Nox hesitated. "...We can’t just leave it."

"It’s still a monster," Ryn said.

"...And it’s been exposed to tainted mana."

Silence settled again.

Not as heavy as before.

But still serious.

They were soldiers.

They knew what that meant.

Nox looked down at it again, her grip tightening slightly.

"...It hasn’t done anything."

Torren scratched his head. "Yeah, but that doesn’t mean..."

"Give it here."

Arthur’s voice cut in.

Simple.

Clear.

They turned to him.

He stepped forward and gently took the cub from Nox before she could even argue.

The little wolf didn’t resist.

It just shifted in his arms, settling in.

Ryn frowned slightly. "Arthur..."

"I’ll take care of it."

He said it like it was already decided.

No hesitation.

No doubt.

Torren blinked. "...You’re serious?"

Arthur nodded once. "Yeah."

Ryn studied him for a moment.

"You know what that means."

"I do."

"It’s still a risk."

"I know."

There was no back and forth.

Arthur met her gaze calmly.

"I’ll talk to the Commander myself."

And that ended it.

Ryn held his eyes for a second longer, then sighed.

"...Fine."

She turned away slightly.

"We’ll include it in the report."

Nox looked relieved.

Torren just shook his head. "You’re really something else."

Arthur smirked a little. "I know that."

Ryn clapped his hands once.

"Focus."

Everyone straightened slightly.

"We sweep the area. Check for anything unusual. Then gather what we can and move out."

They nodded.

Work mode.. just like that.

The team split up, moving through the battlefield.

Careful.

Alert.

Even though the main threat was gone.

Arthur stayed where he was for a moment, the cub still in his arms.

It looked up at him.

Quiet.

Observing.

Arthur stared back.

"...You’re trouble, aren’t you?"

The cub blinked.

Then rested its head against his arm.

Arthur huffed a small laugh.

"...Yeah. Thought so."

But his grip didn’t loosen.

Instead, he adjusted it slightly.

More secure.

Then...

He moved.

Not with the others.

Toward the center.

The ritual formation.

Even burned and broken, the marks were still there. Faint lines carved into the ground. The remains of something that had once been active.

Arthur stepped into it slowly.

His eyes scanned the area.

Focused.

"...It should be here."

This wasn’t his first time seeing something like this.

And each time...

There was always something left behind.

Something important.

He moved a few steps, then stopped.

There.

Half buried under ash and cracked earth.

A dark core.

Same as before.

Arthur crouched and picked it up.

It felt cold, dense. And wrong.

Just holding it, he could feel it.

"...You again."

He turned it slightly in his hand, studying it.

He didn’t fully understand it yet.

But he was sure of one thing.

It mattered.

That was why he had been sending them to Elena and the research team.

Let them figure it out.

And...

Arthur smirked slightly.

"...Not bad for extra pay either."

He stood up and slipped it away safely.

Then turned back toward the others.

They were already finishing up.

Gathering what they could from the battlefield.

Materials.

Remains.

Anything useful.

Arthur walked back to them, calm as ever.