A Difficult Assessment, an Adaptable Arcade Master

[Explorer Qualification Assessment, Second Stage]

"Damn it! They're coming this way!"

Amid the ruins of Tianhui City, the female passerby clutched the Star Energy Terrain Scanner in her hand, her face slightly pale.

On its screen, countless red dots were rapidly closing in on them.

Among those red dots, one enormous blood-red point was moving exceptionally fast.

Before she could react, a howl of "Awooo!" came from beyond the ruins.

It was the cry of the Shadow Wolf Pack. The alpha wolf in particular carried the unique oppressive presence of a Calamity-class Star Beast, making even the ground tingle faintly.

Hearing this, the male passerby swallowed, then said hoarsely, "What exactly is this assessment doing? Why would they let even Calamity-class Star Beasts in here? Aren't they afraid something will go wrong?"

The moment his words fell, a broken wall beside them suddenly collapsed with a BOOM.

Then, a pitch-black Shadow Wolf sprang out from behind the rubble. Its blood-red eyes fixed tightly on them, saliva dripping from its sharp fangs and corroding tiny pits into the ground.

Though this ordinary Shadow Wolf was unlikely to pose much of a threat to them—

—it meant the wolf pack had caught up.

"Run!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the female passerby immediately grabbed the male passerby and turned to flee.

Star energy gathered beneath their feet, increasing their speed by several degrees.

But faced with these two fleeing prey, the Shadow Wolf Pack pursued relentlessly.

Their sharp claws struck the asphalt, leaving one afterimage after another as they closed in on the pair, carving deep claw marks into the road.

Under such circumstances, the two not only had to evade the Star Beasts' attacks, but also stay alert for the Star Energy Detector that scanned every five seconds.

By then,