'This one is going to be tricky, but that's what makes it fun...'

'Who knows, I might get inspired to think of an entirely new theory to counter this...' Bruce smiled, eyes locked firmly in the shifting darkness

With that, he activated Neural Amplification.

The world sharpened instantly.

Sound stretched outward, every rustle of leaves and shift of air separating into clean layers. His vision deepened, edges crisp, depth enhanced, but more importantly, his mana perception exploded outward, expanding far beyond its previous limits. Neural Amplification didn't merely enhance his physical senses. It amplified his natural mana sense itself, refining it into something far closer to instinct than calculation.

The forest became a web of currents.

Mana flowed through roots, through soil, through shadow. Every living thing breathed it. Every movement disturbed it.

The Dark Variant was skilled, exceptionally so. It could completely suppress its presence while traveling through shadows, erasing sound, scent, and even killing intent. A perfect predator.

But Bruce didn't believe in perfection.

No matter how refined the technique, transporting through shadows required mana. And mana, no matter how subtly manipulated, always left traces. Fluctuations. Ripples. Distortions.

Bruce narrowed his eyes, focusing.

"As long as you move," he thought calmly, "you exist, you can be senses."

Ash shifted beside him.

SWOOSH!

At the dragon's will, five large orbs of normal dragon fire materialized in the air, hovering in a slow orbit. A heartbeat later, three additional spheres appeared, smaller, denser, utterly different.

Soul Flame.

They didn't glow. They didn't radiate heat. They simply existed, heavy, oppressive, wrong.

Bruce sighed softly as he watched the flames form. 'If only shadows were so easily dealt with by illumination…'

The forest remained silent.

Too silent.

The Dark Variant didn't reappear.

Bruce frowned slightly. At first, he assumed the reason was simple, the beast was wary of Ash's Soul Flame. But the more he thought about it, the less that explanation satisfied him.

'That doesn't make sense.'

Ash's attacks, powerful as they were, were still slower than a teleporting S-Rank beast. The wolf should have been able to dodge them easily.

Then Bruce's expression tightened.

'More importantly… how can it even see or sense Soul Flame in the first place?'

Soul Flame wasn't visible. It didn't emit conventional mana signatures. Unless,

His thoughts stalled.

'Is there something I'm missing?'

Sadly he knew nothing about the beast itself. However, before he could dig deeper, Ash growled softly and shifted its stance. Without waiting for instruction, the dragon sent the fireballs moving, circling its body in a wide, rotating ring. Normal flame and Soul Flame moved together, interweaving, creating a slow, burning perimeter.

The effect was immediate.

Shadows recoiled.

Dark patches on the forest floor twisted unnaturally, stretching away from the rotating flames as if repelled. The deeper darkness thinned, losing cohesion, no longer able to cling comfortably to the ground.

Bruce froze. 'It's like rotating two candles around a tree it makes the trees shadow shift constantly, that would in turn make it harder for the beast to move through the shadows and arrive at precise destination.'

Then his eyes lit up.

"Ash…" he said quietly, then smiled. "You're a genius."

He reached up and rubbed Ash's scales, rewarding the dragon with a firm, approving pat. Ash puffed up proudly, flames circling tighter as it basked in the praise.

With the shadows disrupted, they moved forward together, pressing deeper into the forested half of the dungeon.

Strangely, the Dark Variant never appeared again.

Bruce frowned as minutes passed without another ambush. Neural Amplification remained active, yet the wolf stayed hidden, suppressing itself completely.

He exhaled slowly.

'This hide-and-seek isn't good for me,' Bruce thought. 'A beast with that kind of ability, if it truly wants to stay hidden, is difficult to force out.'

His gaze drifted toward Ash.

"…I guess it's time for plan B."

He retrieved several chunks of meat from storage and set them out calmly. Ash understood instantly and lowered its head, releasing a steady stream of controlled dragon fire.

Soon, the sound of sizzling filled the forest.

Bruce wasn't cooking casually this time.

This roast had a purpose.

The scent of roasting meat began to spread, rich, fatty, mana-dense. The same trick that had drawn out the snow variants earlier. Back then, if Bruce hadn't flared his aura, the beasts of that half, mostly A-Rank, would have charged blindly, driven mad by hunger.

Predators couldn't ignore food.

And wolves, especially Abyssal Direwolves, were slaves to instinct.

As long as Bruce kept his aura suppressed, as long as he didn't announce dominance,

The smell alone should be enough.

Ash and Bruce began roasting, flames controlled, scent deliberately released into the forest.

This wasn't a meal.

This was bait.

And somewhere in the shadows, something hungry was definitely watching.

They continued roasting as if nothing in the world could threaten them.

Bruce looked relaxed, almost careless, turning the spit with one hand while tearing off a piece of meat with the other. To any outsider, it would have seemed like he had completely forgotten where he was, deep inside a hostile dungeon, surrounded by predators that could kill most awakened elites in seconds.

But that illusion was deliberate.

His senses were fully active.

Neural Amplification remained engaged, spreading his perception across the forest like an invisible net. Mana currents flowed clearly in his mind, every root, every shadow, every subtle disturbance mapped in real time. He didn't need to look around. He already knew everything happening within his range.

As they roasted, Bruce spoke casually, voice low and unhurried.

"Ash," he said, as if discussing the flavor of the meat, "next time they show themselves, strike the shadows specifically with your soul flanes when I give the signal."

Ash nodded while chewing, gulping down a massive bite of roasted direwolf meat before swallowing loudly. Its tail thumped once against the ground in understanding.

Bruce's eyes remained calm.

He wanted to test something.

If these Dark Variants truly relied on shadow transit, then the moment they shifted, no matter how perfectly they hid themselves, there would be movement. And movement meant mana fluctuation.

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