Zoe guided the group of sixteen females through the dark forest while trying to keep everyone calm.

The girls Shin had rescued were exhausted and broken after being looked down on for a few days. Still, for most of them, not much time had passed. With the exception of the few girls who had been captured even before the test began.

Zoe was one of those women. She was a resident of the Tower and had lived among the beastkin for years, something clearly indicated by the long, sleek cat ears perched atop her head, twitching occasionally at every distant snap of a branch.

That being said, the girls were clearly tired and hadn’t been treated well. Some of them struggled just to keep walking, their uniforms torn and stained with dirt and blood.

Still, they followed Zoe without questioning her. It had happened naturally. Among the frightened girls, she was the only one capable of keeping a clear head.

"Stay close together," Zoe ordered while scanning the forest carefully. "Don’t run unless I tell you to. If someone falls behind, say it immediately."

Even while speaking calmly, there was a natural pressure behind her voice that made people obey.

Her appearance only reinforced that feeling. Unlike the others, fear never fully appeared in her amber eyes, as she remained focused on leading the way.

"Stay close together," Zoe ordered while scanning the forest carefully. "Don’t run unless I tell you to. If someone falls behind, say it immediately."

Even while speaking calmly, there was a natural pressure behind her voice that made people obey. Her appearance only reinforced that feeling. Unlike the others, fear never fully appeared in her amber eyes as she remained focused on leading the way.

Zoe was tall and powerfully built, with sexy, long legs and a perfectly curvy body. Her smooth, dark skin glistened with a light sheen of sweat under the strong sun. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Her short black hair swayed with each step, framing her strikingly beautiful face, full lips curved in quiet determination.

The torn combat outfit she still wore was barely holding on after the chaos earlier, stretched obscenely tight across her massive, heaving breasts.

The black bikini-style top strained against her enormous chest, the soft, heavy globes threatening to spill free with every breath, jiggling hypnotically as she moved.

A lace choker hugged her elegant neck, while a wide black belt cinched her narrow waist, emphasizing the dramatic flare of her wide, child-bearing hips and thick, powerful thighs.

Her green shorts rode high on her ass, the frayed edges barely covering the lower swell of her plump bubble butt. A sheathed dagger rested against one shapely hip.

As they pressed on, Zoe’s cat ears flicked forward. She raised her hand. "We’re getting close. Stay alert."

They crossed the forest, reaching closer to a castle that they could already see on the horizon.

"Let’s go," she ordered as they walked towards the castle, then a loud roar suddenly echoed through the forest.

Several girls panicked instantly, as they saw a monster approaching from far away. The group almost lost composure, but Zoe immediately moved to the front of the group.

"Don’t panic, everyone, we need to be ready to fight."

The sound of heavy footsteps rapidly approached from between the trees. Then three massive wolf-like creatures burst from the darkness, their mouths dripping saliva while their claws tore through the frozen ground beneath them.

The girls screamed, but Zoe moved first.

BOOM!

The ground cracked beneath her feet as she lunged forward and drove her dagger into the neck of one of the wolves.

"Try assuming a defensive formation! Everyone looks for each other’s backs," Zoe shouted immediately after landing.

Despite the fear, the girls quickly obeyed her commands. Another monster charged straight toward the group.

Zoe intercepted it head-on, fighting as best as she could, but the truth was that she was not that strong. And the others could barely help her.

Most of the girls possessed powerful systems, generally related to beast transformations or other very useful abilities. After all, Gut had specifically chosen them based on their powers.

However, the problem was that they were still newcomers. They simply didn’t possess that much raw power yet. More importantly, none of them were used to actual combat.

"Fuck!" Zoe breathed heavily after being attacked by one of the wolves.

Before she could recover, another monster lunged at her from the side, catching her by surprise.

Its claws scraped violently against her forearm as she blocked the attack before driving her knee into the creature’s stomach hard enough to make it cough blood.

But then more shadows appeared between the trees. Five... no, ten monsters. And even more were approaching soon.

Zoe’s expression hardened immediately; the girls behind her were simply too weak to actually help her. And they were already exhausted from everything they had gone through earlier.

One girl released a fire spell with trembling hands, only for the attack to miss completely. Another froze in fear the moment a monster looked in her direction.

"We can’t hold them back!" someone cried desperately.

"Tch..."

Zoe clicked her tongue while forcing another beast away with a kick powerful enough to crack its ribs.

The castle walls were already visible in the distance. They were close... so close, but there was nothing they could do. Running away and giving their back to the monster was suicide.

"Keep defending!" All Zoe could say was scream that, hoping they could survive, but despair could be seen in her eyes.

"Good job!" Just before the girl’s heart could break, Shin’s voice sounded, and two wolves fell to the ground, their bodies cut in half.

Shin, carrying Arlo like a sack of potatoes, launched him toward Zoe, who grabbed him in surprise.

"Take him to the castle, and try to stay there. And follow Arlo’s orders to defend it once you arrive. Even in that state, he can still use a few ice spells to defend all of you."

"And you?"

"Isn’t it obvious?" Shin said, killing more monsters. "I will kill all of these shitheads, so don’t worry, I will buy all of you time."

"Okay," Zoe nodded, blushing a bit. "Thank you very much for saving my life once again."