Chapter 29 — Hunt Gone Wrong
The urgent horn call didn't stop. It came again and again, echoing through the Preserve like a warning bell.
Kael moved toward it at a steady pace, letting SIDE's minimap guide him through the rolling mist.
—Three heat signatures ahead, SIDE said. Two human, one… definitely not deer-shaped.
The first scream ripped through the fog a moment later.
Kael broke into a run. He cleared a rise and found the source: two young nobles backed against a fallen oak, their ornate hunting spears trembling in their grip. The thing facing them looked like a wolf — if wolves were the size of draft horses and covered in armored chitin. Its jaws dripped with black saliva, each breath carrying a hiss.
The nobles didn't notice Kael at first. They were too busy jabbing at the beast, which batted their weapons aside like twigs.
The wolf lunged.
Kael space-stepped mid-charge, reappearing between predator and prey. His sword came up in a rising arc, catching the wolf under its jaw and opening a deep gash across its face.
It reeled, shrieking in a pitch that rattled his teeth.
[SIDE SYSTEM ALERT]
Target: Corrupted Direwolf (Lv. 24)
The wolf recovered faster than expected, lunging low this time. Kael slid aside, blade flicking to sever one of its front tendons. It stumbled but didn't slow — jaws snapping inches from his arm before he pivoted, using its momentum to drive his sword deep into its side.
The shadow under his feet writhed, tendrils coiling up and around the wolf's hindquarters. It howled, trying to tear free, but Kael twisted the blade and wrenched it out in a spray of dark ichor.
The beast collapsed, legs giving out.
Black mist swirled again, heavier this time. Kael absorbed it before the nobles could see.
[SIDE SYSTEM ALERT]
XP Gained: 1,500
Level Up → Lv. 20
Stats: +2 Strength, +2 Endurance, +2 Willpower
Skill Upgrade: Shadow Snare → Rank 2 (5–7 seconds bind)
The nobles stared at him, pale and wide-eyed. One managed, "That— that wasn't part of the hunt."
"No," Kael agreed, wiping his blade. "It wasn't."
From deeper in the Preserve came more horns. And more screams.
SIDE's voice was grim. —This place is crawling with them now. We're not talking a handful. We're talking an outbreak.
Kael glanced at the nobles. "Stay here. If anything else shows up, climb the tree and hope it can't fly."
Then he was gone, melting into the mist.
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