139 Taking down the Abyssal Wolf

Uncharacteristically, Janet kept her worries even after leaving Aldrin's room that night.

She felt refreshed when she woke up, true. However, the sequence of events inside the Dimension continued to nag at her. If she didn't do anything to motivate or change the mindset of those at the top, she felt like was going to see the same thing happening.

"Also, Augustus is right. I became stagnant. I spent the last 5 years just waiting without doing anything else."

She took up the front desk work at the association. Messed with the new Energy Refiners and saw them grow into a full-fledged Energy Refiner. On the other hand, she remained the same, neither growing nor taking a step forward.

At least, until his incomprehensible little brother arrived.

"Had my progress reached the late Stage 3, Carlos' chance of escaping successfully would turn to zero. But it's too late to regret it now…" Janet raised her head, refined energy focusing on her eyes to check what was happening below the cliff.

She's not in her Metadome, making her presence inconspicuous, allowing her to properly observe the exploration progress of the group assigned to her.

"What the hell is that idiot doing? Is he trying to get himself killed again?! You have a group!" Janet gnashed her teeth as she almost shouted that as soon as she saw Aldrin going down alone and facing off against an unidentified rift monster.

As an Instructor, she had the power to intervene if she judged that a casualty was bound to happen. But more often than not, most of them would only use it when the whole group was bound to be annihilated.

That's why Janet could only curse in her head as she watched her foolish little brother face off against the impossible.

"From the fluctuation of its Dimensional Energy, it's at least a middle Extraordinary Rank… What can a late Stage 1 Energy Refiner do to it?"

She questioned internally but the following seconds shocked her more than most.

"It's one thing to ambush the Giant Harbear but this… It's a head-on confrontation… How can he garner that much strength… This is ridiculous…" An exasperated sigh left her mouth as she inched closer when the other trainees from the group started dropping down the cliff to assist Aldrin.

"… What kind of secret does he possess? With every passing day, he's getting more and more mysterious."

Even the older brother in her memory wasn't as ridiculous as Aldrin. He's a genius, yes. But his progress wasn't that incomprehensible. Janet even believed that she could catch up to him if the incident didn't happen.

But what Janet saw from Aldrin was different… She had this nagging feeling that the little brother, who she took in on a whim because it reminded her of her missing brother, would eventually catch up to her…

"There's a possibility that I'm exaggerating again. However, that foolish guy… if he continued like this once this camp ends without any sufficient backing, it's not wrong to say that he'll be pulled into the machinations of those idling at the top brass of every huge organization…" Janet's eyes still focused on Aldrin, her mind churning with various possibilities. In the end, she settled on one possibility…

Continue their relationship and watch over his growth. She's not a saint who could protect everyone but she developed a soft spot for the guy. And she believed that in the event that the Dimensional Rift where his brother got trapped opened again, Aldrin could be a great asset that could help her.

She's thinking of starting a give and take relationship. At the moment, she's the one reigning at the top but if her prediction over his abnormality was proven correct, the gap between them would dwindle to the point of having equal standing in the near future.

"And I cannot remain stagnant anymore. With what's happening here and outside, I better take my shot to construct another Pavilion and reach late Stage 3!"

As Janet mulled over that, the death throes of the unidentified rift monster soon filled the surrounding.

Aldrin's group took it down marvelously that it simply outshone any other records.

The Exploration segment of the Training Camp might've been tweaked a little bit, making the size of a group larger than before and the duration shorter by a few days, no one could do the feat this group had just achieved.

-

-

"Leader, it's down!" The leader of Group B reported after smashing the head of the Abyssal Wolf.

Having decided that it was not the time for him to enact his plan, Aldrin carefully directed the battle to minimize the damage that they would receive.

Although surrounded and injured, the Abyssal Wolf was still a threat. Aldrin could hold his ground against it but it's not the same case for anyone else from their group.

That's why as soon as their ranged attacks finished, almost destroying the ground where the Abyssal Wolf stood, Aldrin took it upon himself to utilize the melee-oriented trainees.

The result? They knocked it down!

However, that's already the third time they did that. Every time the Abyssal Wolf would be put in a serious predicament, the black miasma circling it would bring it somewhere else to recuperate even for a few seconds.

"Go and scatter, it's going to use the miasma to retreat again! Keep the two-man formation. Watch each other's backs while also focusing your all to not let it get away before we surround it once more!"

Hailing his order down, Aldrin then controlled his Metadome to chase after the black miasma.

Behind him, Irina kept up with his pace, watching his back. Their numbers are even so he couldn't be the only one going solo.

That's why he picked the girl, the one he knew would follow his order to its end.

Clark couldn't even utter a revolt because it's a neat strategy and… he didn't have any right to do that.

"We'll finish it this time around… Have you prepared your new Concept?" Aldrin asked.

"No problem. I'll unleash it as soon as you give me the order." While flashing the same smile with a hint of infatuation, Irina started running past her.

In the distance where the black miasma stopped, the dark figure of the Abyssal Wolf started manifesting. Its claw instantly swiped its surroundings and the duo who were near it defended against it.

"There. Frederic and Caroline stopped it. Let's go. I'll be behind you!"

"Roger!"

Closing their communication temporarily to give the girl sufficient concentration, he watched as Irina's Metadome shone brightly. It's too bright, akin to a flashbang. But once it subsided, a circular disk started spinning behind her and moments later, Irina seemingly flashed past the Abyssal Wolf, leaving afterimages of her Metadome.

As soon as she stopped, the circular disk had already disappeared from behind her. It was transferred to the Abyssal Wolf that tried to dodge her.

The circular disk that manifested through her refined Energy and the Dimensional Energy everpresent in the area expanded and caught the black miasma, restraining it from rampaging.

That's her new concept. Something like a cage that could lock any Concept attack. The Lockdisc.

Obviously, it had its restrictions and limitations but seeing that it worked against the black miasma, Aldrin's guess about the different dimensional creatures' abilities was proven true. They're also capable of bringing out some kind of variation of Concepts.

"Great catch!" Aldrin praised as soon as Irina's face appeared on his screen again.

Without the black miasma that could let it retreat, Aldrin shouted his command to everyone near to charge and end the beast.

A minute later, the Abyssal Wolf's death throes echoed in their ears before it lifelessly collapsed.

[IDLE Points +600]

"Is it over…?" Someone cautiously asked.