Journey to Become the Zenith

A Hunt That Went Wrong

Three parties have been disbanded due to the death of members, and heavy injuries. These three parties were made of B rank adventurers and headed out together, but in the end they weren’t able to win, since they lacked preparation. Still they were the reason why the quest got upgraded from a B rank quest to an A rank quest.

The words hung heavy in the air, like smoke that refused to clear.

Victor stood near the guild’s strategy board, the parchment still in his hand, eyes scanning the details once more—not because he needed to read it again, but because he was piecing together something invisible between the lines.

Three parties.

Not one.

Not careless rookies either... but experienced B-rank adventurers.

And still—

They failed.

Lane stood close beside him, her fingers loosely hooked around his arm again. Not as tight as before, but still there—like an anchor she had no intention of letting go of. Her gaze lingered on the same lines, her brows slightly drawn together.

"They went together... and still lost," she murmured.

Clara clicked her tongue from the side, arms crossed, weight shifted onto one leg.

"That’s not just ’lack of preparation,’" she said bluntly. "That’s either bad information... or something they didn’t expect."

Victor didn’t answer.

But his silence... agreed.

In the first report made by the survivors from merchants guild it was stated that there was a pack of Ashgrey wolves. A pack of Ashgrey wolves was only a B level threat, but after the failed attempt of the three parties, the quest got updated. It was now an A rank quest, due to the presence of the Arcane Ashgrey wolf.

"A pack of Ashgrey wolves..." Victor repeated quietly, almost under his breath.

The name itself carried weight.

These weren’t ordinary beasts.

They were monsters—creatures shaped by mana, sharpened by instinct, and bound by something deeper than simple hunger.

Lane tilted her head slightly.

"You think the first report was wrong?" she asked.

Victor’s golden eyes flickered faintly.

"Not wrong," he said. "Incomplete."

That was worse.

Because incomplete information didn’t just mislead—

It killed.

The merchants guild that made the quest with limited information, needed to pay up for the lacking information regarding the quest. Due to that mistake in information three parties made up of B rank adventurers were now out of commission. Of course they payed for that mistake, but like all merchants they payed up using only the bare minimum. Still because of this mistake none of the adventurers in town would accept the quest, even though the reward money had doubled.

A quiet bitterness lingered beneath that truth.

Gold could cover losses.

But it couldn’t undo them.

Clara let out a dry laugh, though there was no humor in it.

"Bare minimum," she muttered. "Of course they did."

Lane’s fingers tightened just slightly around Victor’s arm.

"...They knew it was dangerous," she said softly.

Victor finally folded the parchment.

Slow. Precise.

"They always do."

And yet—

They sent people anyway.

Because numbers on paper mattered more than lives on the ground.

For a moment, the noise of the guild faded into the background. Conversations blurred into indistinct murmurs, like distant waves crashing against something unseen.

Victor’s mind moved differently.

Not on emotion.

Not on outrage.

But on calculation.

Three parties failed.

Pack behavior.

Arcane variant confirmed.

Something didn’t align.

Ashgrey wolves didn’t normally escalate like that—not without a reason.

Now that Victor, Lane, and Clara acquired the necessary information regarding the quest, they started to plan for the upcoming quest.

They moved toward a quieter corner of the guild.

A worn wooden table. A dim lantern flickering above it. The kind of place where serious conversations happened—and weren’t meant to be overheard.

Victor placed the parchment down.

Lane remained close.

Clara pulled out a chair and dropped into it, leaning forward slightly.

"So," she said, "what’s the plan?"

Victor didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he looked at both of them—really looked.

Lane, steady and devoted. Clara, sharp and restless.

Then he spoke.

"We assume the worst."

Clara raised an eyebrow.

"That’s not a plan."

"It is," Victor replied calmly. "We assume the Arcane Ashgrey wolf is controlling the pack. Not just leading—controlling."

Lane’s eyes sharpened.

"...Like coordination?"

"Yes."

Not instinct.

Strategy.

That changed everything.

Clara leaned back slightly, exhaling.

"Great. So we’re walking into a fight where the enemy actually thinks."

Victor didn’t deny it.

Which... said enough.

A brief silence followed.

Then—

"So what are Ashgrey wolves, and how are they different from regular wolves?" Victor who has zero intelligence regarding the monsters of this world, asked Clara, since Lane was equally clueless.

Clara blinked once.

Then stared at him.

"...You’re serious?"

Victor met her gaze without even a hint of embarrassment.

"Completely."

Lane let out a small breath beside him—half amused, half helpless.

"...We really should’ve covered this earlier," she muttered.

Clara rubbed her temple, then sighed.

"Fine. Listen carefully."

She straightened slightly, her tone shifting into something more structured—less emotional, more informative.

"Ashgrey wolves, are obviously different from regular wolves, since they are categorized as monsters, while regular wolves are animals. Regarding the difference between monsters and animals, I can’t give an answer to that since even I’m not sure about the difference. So if you want to learn more about that, you need to ask a scholar. So back to the difference between an Ashgrey wolf and a regular wolf. An Ashgrey wolf is three times the size of a regular wolf, by this size alone it could eat a human child whole. Aside from their size, all of their physical capabilities are of course higher than a regular wolf. What makes the Ashgrey wolf special from other monsters, is that each wolf is a B rank threat, and they are always in a pack of seven and above. Usually if a monster is this strong it wouldn’t be helping other monsters in a mutual manner."

Her explanation was steady—but there was something beneath it.

Respect.

Maybe even caution.

Lane listened closely, her expression growing more serious with every word.

"...Seven or more B-rank monsters moving together..." she whispered.

Victor didn’t react outwardly.

But internally—

He adjusted.

Numbers mattered.

Patterns mattered.

And packs like that?

They weren’t random.

"I see, so then what’s so special about the Arcane Ashgrey wolf?"