"We saw the recording clearly. It was you kissing Elise, and she looked uncomfortable... she even tried to push you away. Doesn’t that mean you forced it?"

As soon as she said that, the air around them seemed to tighten.

Even Aria’s gaze hardened as the question resurfaced.

From Soren’s story, Elise had grown attached to him after he saved her life.

So why did she push him away in the recording?

It didn’t add up.

To them, it felt like he was just covering up his own desires.

Maybe he had chased after Elise from the start... maybe he even used that "saving her" incident as an excuse to get close.

After all, from what they knew...

This shameless pervert was more than capable of it.

"..."

For a moment, the atmosphere around them became a bit weird as both Aria and Sylvia waited for Soren to answer.

Unfortunately, he had no answer.

’I can’t tell them that the girl in the recording isn’t Elise, but Elara, can I?’

That could complicate this even further.

Suddenly, Soren was in a dilemma. In the end, though, he decided to act stupid and said,

"Well, this incident was recorded when we had a small quarrel at that time. Someone is clearly trying to set me up here. Can’t you see?"

"Besides, it is my way of apologizing. You two know how I am, right?"

He turned the question back on them, flashing Sylvia and Aria a meaningful smile that made them instinctively avoid his gaze, a faint blush rising to their cheeks.

Now that they thought about it, whenever they got angry at him, Soren did kiss them forcefully to silence them.

It wasn’t new, and for them, it really worked, didn’t it?

"Cough... d-don’t ask us. Can’t you see we are the ones asking you?"

Sylvia didn’t like his smug look, though, as she gave him a glare before grabbing Aria’s hand once more.

Strangely enough, after knowing about his tryst with Elise, they both had become closer, with Sylvia taking the lead.

"Soren, you pervert. We know what kind of man you are. Don’t think we’ve forgiven you yet."

Sylvia warned,

"Since you like that twin girl so much, go and be with her. Don’t pester us anymore. And where the heck did you teleport us to? Which way is the camp?"

She asked at last, feeling frustrated.

She couldn’t even leave in anger because she didn’t know where she was yet. Was this Soren’s little trick?

Then again, when did he become capable of teleporting?

"Cough... it is that way. But don’t worry, I can teleport us directly to the camp."

Soren also knew that he was in the wrong, so he didn’t argue for now and pointed in the direction before offering, only to get rejected.

"No need. We can leave on our own. You go and teleport to that vixen or whatever. Don’t pester us anymore."

Sylvia snarled before turning around and dragging Aria, not giving her a chance to speak.

She felt that if she forgave him so easily, this guy might start kissing random girls on the street from now on. Who knew?

This pervert and his desires.

’Tch...’

Sylvia felt irritated as she hadn’t yet charged the robe given by him, after all. It seemed she would have to charge it solo for now.

For a moment, she hated Aria for coming too early as she squeezed her hand a bit too tightly, causing her to yelp in pain.

"S-Sylvia?"

Fortunately, Aria just thought she was angry at Soren.

"Hey... don’t say that. You guys know how I love both of you, right?"

Soren saw them leaving and quickly spoke as shamelessly as ever. All he got in return for saying that was a glare from both girls.

Soren showed a wry smile at their leaving figures before getting ready to tag behind.

He couldn’t just leave them be after all. And he also needed to know who gave that recording to Aria, although he had some guesses.

"Hm?"

However, just as he was about to follow them, he suddenly felt a symbol inside his mind stir violently, shaking his thoughts.

Simultaneously, an extremely bad premonition abruptly clenched his entire being out of nowhere.

In an instant, Soren realized the symbol belonged to one of the Passive Skills he had obtained from Elise, which he let operate all the time.

*Fatal Instinct (S-rank)!*

"Watch out!"

It happened so fast that Soren was caught off guard. And yet his body moved before his thoughts could catch up.

*Phantom Steps!*

*Swoosh!*

In an instant, Soren appeared right in front of Sylvia and Aria, bumping them both.

"What? Hey, Soren..."

Then, before they could react, he grabbed both their waists and then once again used the Phantom Steps to vanish from the spot, pushing himself to escape the area at maximum speed when...

*Boom!*

A massive dark shadow appeared out of nowhere, instantly blotting out the sky above them as it crashed down on the exact spot they had just left, obliterating everything on its arrival.

*ROAR!*

Then came a deafening, soul-rattling roar that shook the entire camp, as fear spread through it like a living tide.

Not only that, the sky itself darkened at a terrifying speed, clouds swallowing the clear heavens within moments, until daylight itself seemed to vanish.

The air turned heavy and suffocating, as if something vast had forced its way into the world and was pressing down on everything at once.

Light drained from the surroundings, swallowed by the rapidly thickening darkness, while the temperature dropped sharply.

The ground seemed to lose its stability as distant sounds warped and faded, replaced by an unnatural stillness that made even breathing feel difficult.

It didn’t even take a moment before Soren found that everything around him had completely changed.

And yet, he couldn’t think for long as a terrifying wolf, almost the size of a house, stood before him, its blood-red eyes locked directly onto him with a thick, murderous intent.