Heartless

"Halt!" Adam raised his hand, signaling his team to stop.

"Professor, what is it?!" Art couldn't help but ask in a low voice, anxiously scanning the shadows between the strange humanoid-shaped trees around him.

Adam didn't respond. He extended his Sphere of Resonance to the maximum output, sensing the commotion at the perimeter of the clearing deep in the woods.

Gradually, his eyebrows wrinkled together, his expression darkening.

Noticing this sudden change, Ragnar couldn't help but nervously ask, "M-My lord… what did you notice?"

Adam spoke in an extremely solemn tone, "The number of wolves seemed to have increased…"

"What?!" Everyone blurted out in shock.

One of the mercenaries subconciously asked, "Increased? How do you know that? Are you saying that you've been here before?"

Adam coldly looked at him, causing the man to shrink back in fear. He then looked at everyone else and continued, "Those beasts seem to be waiting for us."