Steel clashed against claw as roars and ragged breathing tore through the jungle. I rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding a vicious swipe. The shadow infused power coating the werewolf's claws carved through a thick tree trunk behind me, splitting it clean in two.
I steadied myself and tightened both hands around the hilt of my Holy Silver Longsword. Drawing on the mana within my body, I focused. White Holy Flame surged from my palms and spread across the blade in an instant, bathing it in radiant light just as the werewolf lunged again.
Elder Keyu had already drifted farther away, locked in combat with two werewolves. That left four of us against five.
The situation deteriorated quickly. After several exchanges, Togawa Inoue lost his right hand. Sheryl was slashed across the abdomen, blood soaking through her clothes. Only Renn and I remained on our feet, barely holding the line through refined combat technique and the constant support of his talisman cards.
I teleported behind one of the werewolves and brought my sword down toward its neck. It reacted swiftly, beginning to evade, but Renn flicked his wrist and released three lightning talisman cards. Electricity burst outward, locking its muscles in place for a fraction of a second.
That moment was enough.
My flame wreathed blade cut cleanly through its throat. Foul blood sprayed into the air.
Two more werewolves lunged at me. I teleported again, reappearing several meters away. Slipping my sword behind me, I seized my crossbow and fired repeatedly, forcing them back. Renn followed with several explosion talisman cards, the blasts hurling the beasts off balance.
"Nice work!" I shouted.
The words had barely left my mouth when a violent gust of wind swept in from behind.
I turned.
A werewolf was swinging a tree trunk as thick as a meter wide pillar straight at us.
"Damn!"
The impact was devastating. Renn and I were launched through the air, crashing to the ground more than ten meters away.
My ears rang. After a few seconds, I forced myself upright and pulled Renn to his feet. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he said, shaking his head.
Then he froze.
His voice cut off mid sentence.
A white wolf claw, dripping with blood, protruded from his chest.
My breath caught as I looked past him.
Standing there was an Ancient.
The Silver Moon Werewolf, Hamu.
Without a word, Hamu withdrew his claw. Renn collapsed forward.
"A Demon Hunter does not necessarily die when the heart is pierced," Hamu muttered, glancing down at Renn's body.
Then his gaze shifted to me.
"Let the two of you scout the path to the Gate of Return."
Before I could react, his hand clamped around my throat. An overwhelming force sealed my power instantly. My mana fell silent, as if crushed beneath a mountain.
So Sheryl and the others were already dead.
Pathfinders.
That was why he had spared us.
A bitter thought rose in my mind. Was bloodline truly everything? Because of the gap in lineage, I could not even withstand a single move from him.
Hamu carried me by the neck in one hand and lifted Renn's body in the other, moving through the jungle at terrifying speed. Branches lashed against my skin, leaving stinging trails of pain.
I tried to think, to form some kind of plan, but the gulf in strength and the crushing defeat shattered my confidence. I had always wanted to prove myself. Instead, I had proven the opposite.
The difference between us was not a gap. It was an abyss.
After an unknown stretch of time, Hamu stopped.
"We're here."
He tossed us onto the ground.
Through blurred vision, I saw it.
An orange yellow gate of light floated half a meter above the forest floor, roughly two meters tall and one meter wide. Its surface rippled like liquid fire.
Werewolves dragged us upright and hurled us toward it.
Weightlessness consumed me.
I glimpsed an endless star filled sky, twisted and unfamiliar scenes flashing past in fragments. Faintly, I heard a mechanical voice.
"Translation plugin loading..."
Darkness swallowed everything.