The others turned toward the sound. The magic apprentice had already lost his life—there wasn’t even a scream. Death had arrived in utter silence, sending chills through everyone’s hearts. No one even knew who the killer was.

Owen Clark was dumbfounded. It had to be Uncle Shadow. From appearance to disappearance, it took less than a second to instantly assassinate someone, and Owen Clark hadn’t noticed a thing the entire time.

As he was pondering, the crowd suddenly surrounded Owen Clark, shouting, “It must be your doing—grab him!”

Suppressing his discomfort at seeing a corpse, Owen Clark snapped, “What does this have to do with me?”

Morgan also voiced his suspicion: “Everything was fine before, but as soon as you showed up, we started having casualties. It’s definitely related to you. Everyone, seize him!”

Owen Clark cursed inwardly. Uncle Shadow’s perfectly timed assassination had ruined the trust he’d just earned. As expected, Uncle Shadow wouldn’t let him pass the training so easily.

While the sorcery apprentice was chanting and the Hurricane Warhammer was smashing and chiseling, Owen Clark forced the others back, broke through the encirclement, and dashed into the pitch-black forest. At that moment, the sorcery apprentice finished casting, once again using Roroan’s Grasp. He said confidently, “Breaking out is useless. He’s under my spell—he can’t move. Hurry and catch up to him.”

Everyone rushed after him, but Owen Clark’s trail had vanished. The sorcery apprentice was incredulous: “How did he break free from my spell? Even an Awakened-level would be held back for a while!”

Morgan gritted his teeth. “Forget it, don’t chase. Who knows what dangers lie ahead—”

……

The moment he was hit by the spell, Owen Clark immediately transformed into a Ural white bear. With overwhelming strength, he easily shattered the Shadowbind Hand and quickly escaped the scene.

Once he was far enough away, Owen Clark reverted to his normal form, changed clothes, and frowned in thought: “Since I can’t blend into the team, I’ll have to use other methods. Tch, being hunted and still having to think about how to protect them—where’s the trust we talked about?”

===Chapter 8: Dirty Bloodline, Formidable Future===

Morgan was terrified.

After inexplicably fainting, he woke up to find himself in this dangerous mountain range.

He’d once adventured in the perilous Landry Wetlands, but compared to these frigid mountains, the Landry Wetlands felt like a small garden. Over the past two days, people in the team had been getting their throats slit one after another, and they didn’t even know what the enemy was. Only the sorcery apprentice and the hunter were left alive. Out of a team of fourteen, only three remained. Their spirits were on the verge of collapse, wandering numbly, disoriented, and their bodies frozen stiff.

Even more terrifying than the bitter cold were the fierce beasts. Some companions had died in the jaws of wolves, others had their heads torn off by swooping giant eagles. But the most terrifying of all was that shadowy figure like the Grim Reaper—whenever it appeared, it meant someone’s fate was sealed.

Owen Clark was hiding under a cold pine ahead of the three, gripping his warhammer. Suddenly, he charged out. The three’s senses had dulled so much that they didn’t react in time. Owen Clark ambushed and knocked out the most threatening sorcery apprentice.

“So it really is you!” Morgan roared, swinging his greatsword down with both hands. But his weakened body made his movements clumsy. Owen Clark dodged and quickly counterattacked, knocking Morgan out with a single blow. Morgan was an elite warrior—normally, Owen Clark wouldn’t have taken him down so easily. But Morgan’s mind was on the brink of collapse, unable to use his skilled combat techniques, which allowed Owen Clark to defeat him in one move.

The last person suddenly let out a roar, iron-gray fur sprouting wildly all over his body as he grew taller and bulkier. His muscles bulged with savage power, and his hands turned into wolf claws, each claw like a dagger, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. His eyes shone crystal yellow.

The Aksu werewolves were a renowned night race, one of the ten werewolf branches with relatively pure bloodlines. Their crystal yellow wolf eyes were their trademark.

The werewolf pressed both claws onto the Hurricane Warhammer, his talons striking sparks from the silver-iron hammerhead with a tooth-grinding screech. His mouth, now a wolf’s maw, lunged at Owen Clark’s head, fangs like a jungle of blades, reeking with foul breath.

The werewolf’s transformation was also a bloodline inheritance. This werewolf hunter was only at the level of a formal warrior, but with his bloodline abilities just beginning to develop, the new-moon-level Aksu werewolf’s transformation boost made him about half as strong as an Awakened-level warrior.

However, with the Ural white bear’s power fused into him, Owen Clark’s physical abilities far surpassed ordinary people. The werewolf’s advantage was more than halved, not to mention he was already in a weakened state.

Owen Clark shifted his body, causing the Aksu werewolf’s shark-like bite to miss. With a flick of his warhammer, a shockwave forced the werewolf back several steps. Owen Clark then stepped lightly, channeling force from the ground through his arms, and delivered a full-powered blow to the werewolf’s abdomen. The attack was smooth as flowing water. The werewolf couldn’t defend in time and was smashed to the ground, his abdomen caving in as he howled in pain.

Taking advantage of his inability to fight back, Owen Clark struck him several more times, finally knocking the werewolf out.

“To escape Uncle Shadow’s assassination, this is probably the safest way.”

Owen Clark transformed into a Ural white bear, picked up the three, and dashed through the mountains and forests, soon arriving at a burrow he’d found over the past two days.

He placed the three inside, then used the Ural white bear’s strength to move a huge boulder to block the entrance, covering the traces with snow. Finally, Owen Clark squeezed into the burrow through a pre-made gap, sealed it up, and waited quietly.

In this enclosed space, if Uncle Shadow wanted to kill these three, Owen Clark would definitely notice.

“This should be foolproof now.”