When the boys ate their meal and filled their bellies, the girls finally finished their job. It was kind of surprising that the black-haired woman didn't wake up after all that. The blood loss had been pretty intense…

"Now it is your turn to eat," Ryan said to the girls. "Be quick because we need to depart soon."

Now that Ryan saw her cleaned, he realized that the unconscious woman was fairly young. She was probably around his age, and she was a teacher, which would explain why the kids were too attached to her. In any case, even though Ryan gave them the order to stay alert in case something happens to the woman, the brats soon fell asleep when they entered the tent. Ryan was using magic to keep the temperature inside it warm enough, but he didn't think that it would make them relax that much.

"Hey, what is your name?" Ryan asked to the girl who protested earlier.

"Elle…" The blond little girl replied while looking at Ryan with concerned eyes.

"Is that woman your teacher or something?" Ryan asked. "How do you guys managed to survive for this long in that cold city?"

"Yes, she is," Elle replied. "When the monsters appeared… many peopled died, but since we were in a camp outside the city, miss Katelyn protected us. We stayed hidden for a long time, but then miss Katelyn decided to look for other survivors and our parents… we didn't find anyone, and then a dragon attacked us… miss Katelyn defeated the monster, but she lost her legs protecting us."

That was pretty impressive, Ryan couldn't feel a lot of mana in her body, but maybe it was due to her weakened state. It looked like she managed to hunt ice foxes for food even without her legs, but she didn't have enough power to face Ryan's dire wolf. Elle continued the story, and apparently, after confirming that the dragons had disappeared, they decided to leave their hideout. They didn't find any ice fox either, but then they suddenly saw the dire wolf running toward them, and Katelyn assumed it was an enemy. She attacked, the dire wolf fought back, and she lost.

"… What are you going to do with us?" Elle asked. "Miss Katelyn said that we shouldn't trust in strangers."

"… Someone I know asked me to bring you guys to a face place, and that is what I am doing," Ryan said. "Just forget about what happened and go rest. Everything is going to be fine."

After saying that, Ryan patted Elle's head, but in the end, he quickly stopped. Even he didn't know if things will work out in the end, so he couldn't promise that kind of thing, even to calm down some kids. Besides, he couldn't let himself get too close to them. His goal might save some humans' lives, but he needed to focus on getting stronger and not on getting attached to strangers and their problems. That was a cold way to act, but Ryan couldn't see the point of helping strangers if he didn't truly want to do that. If he changes his priorities, he will be only a hypocrite who is trying to ignore his fears by doing something else that apparently looked correct. Ryan couldn't ignore his true wishes… not after everything he experienced until now.

Soon after, with so many thoughts in his mind, Ryan decided to resume the trip. It was getting late, so he couldn't miss the chance to move as much as possible in the dark since the chances of dragons finding his trail would be small.

Although Ryan had to restore the dire wolf's stamina many times, the speed and the amount of noise they made along the way had been more than satisfactory. Thanks to that, they arrived on the earthworm's dungeon just before sunrise. However, Ryan noticed that the snow had grown thicker in that area.

"I don't like this," Ryan muttered. "Fenrir's master is probably behind this, but there is nothing I can do about it."

The population of earthworms had grown quite a bit since Alissa took her guys back to the base, but at least that showed Ryan that he could choose another class. However, as expected, the ruckus caused by the earthworms woke everyone up, even Katelyn. When she left the tent, she saw the creature that almost took her life smashing on earthworm with its paws and Ryan using Flame Arrow and exploding the creatures whenever they showed up. The scene shocked her, but the shock couldn't be compared to what she felt when she finally realized that she was standing on her two feet.

"What the…" Katelyn opened her eyes widely.

"Stand back and don't try anything funny," Ryan said without looking back. "You owe me quite a bit since you caused me a lot of trouble, don't do anything that might increase your debt."

Katelyn clenched her teeth and prepared to fight. Although she didn't mention it to the kids, she saw what humans had become in the last few months. Most of them decided to join the monsters to protect their own lives, and those who didn't become criminals who didn't hesitate in stealing from the weak.

Katelyn didn't know who that man was, but just knowing that he was fighting alongside monsters was enough to make her understand that he was her enemy. Katelyn pointed both of her hands toward Ryan and the dire wolf, but she was forced to stop when she felt a strong wind behind her. Ryan's Paralyzing Spear was ready to strike her back.

"I won't say it again," Ryan said. "You are not stupid since you don't trust me, but you shouldn't be too hasty in this situation. If you make a mistake now, your head will roll."

Katelyn clenched her teeth in exasperation… in that situation, she really couldn't do anything. Her life and the kids' lives were in Ryan's hands. For the good or the worse.