Chapter 186: You Run With Wolves

Elias grimly noted that these rune Beasts may have been drawn by his passage through the forest. He had been anything but silent as he moved through the trees, and they must have emerged from that passage that was beyond the forest and where he would be entering after he passed the forest.

Perhaps it was a good thing they were coming for him now, because he did not know how he was going to survive fighting what sounded like a large pack of beasts whose strengths were yet unknown.

Elias was not kept in suspense for long as the Rune Beasts entered the clearing, and he now fully understood why they were given these names.

The beasts were a pack of wolves, but they were no mere wolves, and their fur glowed with written characters, runes that shifted and changed as they moved. They were larger than normal wolves, smarter, and their eyes held an intelligence that Elias recognized as dangerous.

The runes surrounding their bodies were all originating from the largest beast in the pack, who should be the Alpha, and its runes burned like fire.

Elias could not recognize these runes, but his perception showed him faint, almost impossible trails of light that connected all of these runes together, and he knew he was looking at a manifestation of Lumina that was equal to or even exceeded the silver fog released by the Flesh Mauler.

He was reminded of the Wargs that drew the massive carriage that took him to the walls of the Royal Palace, but he could not compare how powerful they were to these Rune Beasts here, because as a mortal, he had no frame of reference to judge or even understand the power of those Wargs.

“Damnit, I should have studied more about Rune Beasts before this trial. Now I know nothing about their abilities other than they were usually more dangerous than a Siphon at the same stage. Still, how do they compare to an Ascendant Candidate?”

Even while he was thinking this, Elias was moving slowly towards the massive tree in the center of the clearing, and without considering if his actions could cause unknown changes, he reached towards the Heartwood, and surprisingly, the massive tree did nothing to stop him from taking it.

Again, that sensation as if he was being watched by the trees passed through Elias, and he wondered if it was the trees that drew the attention of these wolves and not his actions.

Elias looked at the Heartwood in his hand. It was warm and felt alive. He could feel something pulsing within it, something that resonated with his own Lumina, as if in his hand was a connection to growth and life.

This triggered a sort of connection that felt vaguely similar to his healing abilities.

Elias’s eyes flashed for a moment. He recalled that the Commander could not tell him secrets of his past, but she could place hints for him to figure out along the way.

From the Echo Stone that seemed to address the weakness inside his mind due to the presence of the Passenger, to this Heartwood that was subtly hinting at his perverse healing abilities even as a mortal, what was the Commander trying to tell him?

Elias tucked the wooden heart into his vest beside the Echo Stone. There would be time for investigations later; now, he needed to survive.

As if they had been waiting for him to put away the Heartwood, the Alpha howled and the pack charged.

Elias did not fight them; instead, he ran.

He did not have enough information about Rune Beasts, and he needed to observe them a bit before he made any moves.

Elias did not run towards the next passage where the Rune Beasts should have emerged from, but he ran back the way he came, to the edge of the clearing.

He had noted that the densest part of the forest was towards the still lake, and the roots there were almost feral, and that was where he headed; this would be the right place to either lose the pursuit or fight for his life.

The pack howled and pursued him, their runes flaring with each stride, and he grimly noted that they were faster than him due to them running on all fours. Given enough time, he might be able to continuously accelerate until he left them behind, but in terms of their immediate burst speed, they were indeed faster than he was.

Just because his Agility may be higher did not mean he could instantly accelerate from 0-100; he had to slowly reach that speed, and many factors were involved in his reaching this top speed.

Nevertheless, Elias was not too far from the treeline, and he leaped and caught a branch, pulling himself up, and kept moving into the canopy. A wolf had nearly caught his legs and howled in frustration for missing the opportunity to maim him.

Since he was now leaping through the branches, the wolves could not follow; they were ground hunters, and their large bodies were too heavy for the branches.

But they did not give up, and Elias did not expect them to; he knew when he was being taken as a target. They ran beneath him, howling, and tracking his movement through the forest.

What delighted Elias was that the trees, which had been trying to kill him, now seemed to help. Branches that had swung at him before now provided handholds. Roots that had reached for him now lay still. The forest recognized something in him, the Heartwood, perhaps, or it could be something else more sinister… these trees liked to watch, and they wanted a good game.

Elias moved through the canopy, the pack below matching his pace, waiting for him to fall. He would not fall, not when the forest seemed to be by his side. He could do this all day.

But he did not have all day. There was a subtle pressure in the air, a sense of space closing in. It was almost as if the entire space was slowly being suffocated.

He had been feeling it for a while, and it acted as a subtle timer telling him that if he did not hurry and complete the objective, this entire space would be crushed with him inside of it.

A quick glance at his Status screen showed his Stamina was steadily dropping, but he was still in a rather solid shape given the circumstances.

Stamina: 870 / 973

He needed to lose the pack; there was no time to fight, when there were two other unknown trials ahead, but he knew that his wish may not be what would happen.

Elias continued to lead them towards his target, the feral trees, and with the aid of the forest, he quickly reached them, and he glanced below as the pack poured into the grove after him, their runes blazing with killing light.

The suddenness with which the roots exploded from the ground nearly caught Elias by surprise, and he became aware that it was because he was a single target; the forest had not gone all out, now that there was a pack of massive beasts in their domain, and they emerged like a flood.

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