Noa listened to the recording several times, trying to extract any useful information. All she got was what they already knew.

“Who is ‘Shadow’? Why have I never heard you mention that name before?”

Inside her consciousness, Noa posed the question. For once, even the Ancestor seemed at a loss.

“I don’t know. But this ‘Shadow,’ since they were able to grant Adam the Black Dragon Scale, must be connected to the concept of ‘Ultimate Fear.’”

Noa frowned, lost in thought for a moment, then said:
“My dad was away for a long time after his supposed death, not even coming home. Yet during my promotion trial, he suddenly showed up in the Moonlit Forest, teaming up with Konstantin to defeat Adam. I always thought that was just a coincidence. But now that I think about it, they must have gotten a lead on Adam and followed it there.”

“Your father’s intention must have been to use Adam’s trail to trace the ‘Shadow’ behind him. But then that hammer-wielding ‘clown’ injured you. After that, the nature of the situation changed for your father.”

The Ancestor couldn’t entirely grasp the concept of friendship but deeply understood familial bonds.