"Please, Evelyn, just help me this once. I'm begging you!"

  At that moment, Ryan suddenly seemed to think of something. He smiled and asked,"Evelyn, you still haven't mastered cooking, have you?"

  Based on what he remembered from his past lives, Ryan knew better than anyone that this magic-obsessed woman could burn even the simplest roast meat into charcoal.

  In her eyes, the flesh of magical beasts—rich in elemental essence—was something to be ground into magical reagents, not served on a plate.

  What's more, now that they were deep in the Misty Forest without potions, Evelyn's magic depletion would leave her weakened. Hunger was inevitable.

  Evelyn froze for a moment, clearly understanding what Ryan was implying, but she still kept her cold, imperious tone."What are you trying to say?"

  "You don't plan to eat that Ram-headed Charger raw, do you?" Ryan said."The magical residue in raw meat will irritate your stomach—and that stench, can you really stand it?"

  He could see she was starting to waver, so he pressed on."You came into the Misty Forest to hunt magical beasts anyway. The trapped hunting party might have run into a high-tier monster. Think about it—if you take down that beast, I'll cook you some roasted meat, we can save the hunting party, and you'll still complete your hunt. Isn't that three wins at once?"

  In his heart, Ryan was already calculating. With Evelyn as a free bodyguard, he could avoid danger easily and use her strength to find more food. There was no way he was letting this opportunity slip away.

  After a brief silence, Evelyn finally spoke, her tone cold as ever."Follow me."

  Ryan's heart leapt—he knew she had agreed.

  He understood Evelyn's temperament all too well: outwardly detached, but inwardly still longing for the roasted meat she'd tasted last time.

  For someone used to bitter, sterile potions, the smoky, fire-scorched flavor of roasted meat—especially one that also restored a bit of mana—was an unimaginable delicacy.

  Ryan hurried to keep up. He didn't even bother searching for the hunting party's tracking marks. Evelyn had already mentioned the day before that she sensed a group trapped somewhere in the forest.

  Even if that group wasn't the hunting party, it didn't matter. If they were friendly, he'd save them; if hostile, Evelyn could wipe them out in an instant.

  They made their way through the dense forest until they stopped before a cave entrance covered in hanging vines. It was clearly a naturally formed cavern.

  Ryan crouched down, examining the soil at the entrance carefully."Evelyn, is this the place?" he asked uncertainly.

  "Yes." Evelyn's figure moved like a feather as she leapt lightly into the hole.

  Ryan followed right after her.

  Neither of them noticed that, not far away, a camouflaged tree leopard—its fur blending perfectly with the bark of an ancient oak—was lying silently on a thick branch.

  Its slit pupils were fixed on the cave's entrance. It licked one of its barbed claws, then brushed its tail along its back, finally resting its head between its front paws.

  It appeared to be dozing, but its pointed ears never stopped twitching—always facing the direction of that cave.

  Evelyn landed first, her feet barely touching the ground before she looked up to see Ryan plummeting straight down toward her from the hole above. She shifted lightly to the side, effortlessly avoiding the falling Ryan.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Evelyn! Pull me up!"

  Ryan flailed his arms wildly in midair, trying in vain to grab onto something. But the expected helping hand never came. The next second, a dull thud echoed through the cave.

  Dust billowed up as Ryan stood, grimacing and clutching his sore backside. His disheveled and pitiful look made the corner of Evelyn's lips twitch almost imperceptibly.

  Yet the faint trace of softness vanished in an instant. Her expression soon returned to its usual cold indifference, leaving it impossible to tell whether she had been on the verge of laughing or merely surprised.

  Ryan drew in a sharp breath, rubbing his aching hip—only to inhale a lungful of dust. He immediately doubled over coughing, eyes watering as he clutched his throat with one hand and his rear with the other, frozen in a ridiculous dilemma about which pain to attend to first.

  At her fingertips, Evelyn summoned the element of wind. A burst of crisp, cool air swept around Ryan, scattering the thick cloud of dust that filled the chamber.

  The coughing finally subsided, but Ryan shivered under the chill, quickly channeling his inner magic to warm himself.

  Only then did the two have a moment to take in their surroundings.

  Before them stretched countless tunnels—at least ten visible branches, each one pitch-dark and filled with the damp, earthy aura of elemental magic.

  Evelyn spoke first."This is the nest of a Cave Rodent. These creatures excel at digging complex tunnels and use their keen sense of smell to navigate them. They lure prey inside and hunt them underground. Those hunting teams were most likely trapped here by one of these beasts."

  Ryan nodded and added,"Judging by the number and scale of these tunnels, this Cave Rodent should be around the level of a Ninth-tier Magic Apprentice."

  At that moment, a sudden loud crash came from behind.

  The two of them turned around and saw that the passage they had entered was completely blocked by a huge boulder, clearly a trap set by the cave rodent.

  "Damn rodent!" Ryan cursed and stepped forward, gathering elemental magic in his palm.

  He swung his fist hard at the boulder, but the moment it struck, it left only a shallow scorch mark on the surface, and his hand went numb from the impact.

  It was obvious that the boulder was not only thick but had also been reinforced with the rodent's magic.

  "Stop wasting your magic. Keep moving inside." Evelyn's voice came from behind. She had already turned toward another passage."The more it tries to block us, the deeper the nest must be."

  Ryan had no choice but to retract his magic and hurried to follow. But after only a few steps, the sound of falling rocks came from above.

  Evelyn reacted instantly. An ice shard instantly formed and precisely split the falling boulder in half.

  Amid the flying debris, Ryan caught a glimpse of a gray-brown figure flickering past— the cave rodent's rear. Before he could get a clear look, it squeaked and darted back into a hidden hole at the top of the passage.

  "This sneaky bastard!" Ryan shouted in frustration. Seeing that Evelyn had already gone ahead, he quickly sped up to catch up.

  The rest of the path was like entering the rodent's prank-filled playground.

  At intervals, spikes coated in venom shot from the walls, or foul-smelling poisonous gas suddenly erupted;

  Sometimes the ground would collapse, revealing traps filled with bone shards, and sometimes foul-smelling debris would fall from above.

  The most ridiculous was a glob of black slime, covered in sticky mucus, flying straight at them. Fortunately, Evelyn used an ice shield just in time to block it.

  Ryan was thoroughly irritated. He stared at the steaming glob on the ground, crouched down, and tore a piece of cloth from his clothes.

  Carefully, he wrapped the slime in the cloth and held it in his hand.

  Evelyn froze in place, instinctively stepping back more than three meters, her eyes full of disbelief: Does this guy have some kind of strange habit?

  Ryan noticed her strange gaze:"I'm not going to eat this! I'm just…"

  "I know you're not going to eat it." Evelyn suddenly interrupted him, her tone unusually calm, but her eyes were filled with even more suspicion.

  She hadn't mentioned eating it, yet he felt compelled to explain—was there really something wrong?

  Ryan was momentarily speechless, mentally groaning: This is getting worse the more I explain!

  "Forget it. You'll see soon enough." He gave up arguing, carried the"special weapon," and quickened his pace to follow Evelyn.

  They passed through several more winding passages until they finally heard a rustling from the wall ahead— the cave rodent was digging!

  Ryan immediately stopped, held his breath, and quietly gathered magic in his palms. He could clearly feel the rodent digging a new hole at the top of the passage, preparing to throw stones at them again.

  "Now!"

  Ryan leapt up, pouring all the gathered magic into his fingertips, and struck the wall hard.

  The wall cracked open, and a furry rodent head immediately poked out. The cave rodent still had a stone in its mouth, obviously ready to hurl it at them.

  But as soon as it appeared, it met Ryan's gaze, and Ryan's movement was more than twice as fast.