Chapter 261: The Packblade
NineLivesLeft pushed himself upright, one shaking leg at a time.
Alpha Rend had ripped his anti-beast armor open from shoulder to hip. The silver claw patterns across his chest were gone, replaced by torn leather and a deep wound that refused to stop bleeding. Even the spectral fur surrounding his body kept blinking in and out, unable to hold Moonless Hunt together.
He still had one hook.
Alexandra had seen enough of him to know that one was plenty.
His slit pupils slid past her and settled on Kumoe.
There it was. He had stopped testing them and abandoned the smug commentary about mechanics. Escaping no longer mattered to him, nor did whatever equipment he might lose after death. He believed Kumoe’s kill only had to register before the Beastslayer Zone collapsed, even if Alexandra killed him a second later.
Nyxshade had become a set of inherited abilities in his eyes. Now he wanted to reduce Kumoe to another addition to his build.
Alexandra raised both swords. "So this is what you do with your last sliver of HP? Throw it away for one more loot roll?"
"The kill only has to register." His breath caught between the words, but the hunger in his eyes remained. "Once Kumoe dies, whatever happens to me afterward is cleanup."
"Kumoe isn’t yours to sacrifice."
"She’s still prey."
NineLivesLeft lunged.
His injuries had slowed Moonless Hunt, but Bloodscent Lock continued pulling him toward Kumoe’s open wounds. He ignored Alexandra’s swords and pushed through the cut she landed across his shoulder, lifting his remaining hook toward the curious head’s throat.
The right head barked, and Kumoe lowered all three heads together.
Earlier, Alexandra would have rushed in front of her and ruined the movement before she understood it. This time, she followed the space Kumoe gave her, stepping close and crossing both swords above the wolf’s lowered necks.
NineLivesLeft’s hook struck between her blades and stopped inches from white fur.
He tried to wrench it free, but Alexandra turned her wrists in opposite directions and trapped the curve between her swords. Metal screamed under the pressure as his wrist bent. His fingers loosened, and Kumoe’s curious head slammed into his ribs.
The blow knocked him off-line.
Green light continued pouring from the middle head and wrapped around Kumoe’s damaged shoulder and rear leg. The right head barely looked at NineLivesLeft’s injuries. Her attention stayed on the last route he could still use to escape.
Alexandra gave no command, and Kumoe did not wait for one.
NineLivesLeft drove his boot into Alexandra’s stomach. She turned with the impact and let its force carry her aside, keeping her footing instead of trying to absorb the whole blow.
Kumoe filled the gap and snapped at his injured hand.
He jerked it away before her teeth closed.
Alexandra came back from his other side and cut across his thigh. NineLivesLeft caught her next strike with his hook, shoved her out of reach, and rushed Kumoe again before she could reset.
The curious head lowered as his weapon rose.
Green light surged through Kumoe’s injured muscles. The right head barked to strengthen the restoration, and Kumoe launched herself forward rather than retreating.
Her shoulder struck NineLivesLeft at the hips and broke his stance. Alexandra stepped into the opening and dragged both swords across his back, dropping his HP to a line so thin she could barely see it.
NineLivesLeft fell onto one knee in the mud.
The crimson stakes remained fixed around them. Their red boundary showed no sign of releasing its prey while the Beastslayer still lived.
His gaze shifted toward the nearest stake.
Then he smiled.
Alexandra knew that expression by now. He had found one last rule to twist in his favor.
"You’ve got one trick left," she said. "Go on, then. Show me."
NineLivesLeft laughed under his breath. "You really think you’ve solved everything?"
"I think you’re out of forest."
He no longer needed a tree. The summoned stake gave him one final solid surface.
NineLivesLeft kicked off the road and hurled himself toward it. His boot struck the crimson structure, and Prowler’s Rebound activated at once.
Alexandra could not damage the stakes, but NineLivesLeft could still use his own as a foothold. The rebound launched him across the road with a burst of speed his ruined body should no longer have possessed.
He went straight for Kumoe.
The right head barked before his foot had fully left the stake.
Alexandra moved.
She neither covered Kumoe nor circled behind her. She took the path Kumoe had left open.
The curious head snapped high, baiting NineLivesLeft into angling his hook toward her jaws. At the same time, the middle lowered with Kumoe’s body and cleared the space above all three necks, while the right kept her eyes on Alexandra.
Kumoe ducked, and Alexandra swept over her shoulder.
Their timing came together perfectly.
Her first sword cut through NineLivesLeft’s wrist and sent his hooked weapon spinning away with the severed hand still attached. Her second blade passed through his chest.
He landed, stumbled once, and dragged himself another step before the momentum of Prowler’s Rebound finally released him.
His eyes dropped to the empty HP bar beneath his name, then jumped toward Kumoe, who remained standing behind Alexandra.
"No kill credit..." he muttered.
Alexandra lowered her swords.
"You never killed her."
NineLivesLeft broke apart into red particles.
His severed hand and final hook disappeared with him. Blood remained across the road for another moment before the rain pulled it into the mud.
Alexandra kept her guard raised until one crimson stake split down the middle.
The others followed.
Red light burst through the cracks, and the Beastslayer Zone came apart at once. Its boundary faded between the trees, taking the oppressive weight in the air with it.
System messages crowded Alexandra’s vision.
[The Beastslayer has been defeated.]
[Beastslayer Zone has collapsed.]
[San Kumoe’s personal sub-space access has been restored.]
[San Kumoe’s normal bonded-beast respawning has been restored.]
Bloodscent Lock vanished from both status windows.
The thin cut on Alexandra’s arm sealed beneath the middle head’s restoration. Kumoe’s wounds finally began closing as well, no longer splitting open whenever the tracking effect pulsed.
Alexandra drew in a deep breath and realized how badly she had needed it.
Another chime rang.
[The Pack Hunts Together: Completed.]
[Shared Openings created: 5/5.]
[Beastslayer defeated.]
[Your current class, Duelist, has evolved into Packblade.]
Warm light wrapped around Alexandra and Kumoe.
She had expected a violent rush of unfamiliar power. Instead, the change settled quietly into the rhythm they had already found together, reinforcing instincts and habits they had fought to build throughout the battle.
The system had finally caught up with them.
[Pack Rhythm]
[When you or your bonded beast creates an opening that the other successfully exploits, both gain increased Movement Speed and resistance to interruption for 5 seconds.]
[Repeated Shared Openings refresh the duration.]
Alexandra finished reading, and both swords slipped from her hands.
With the danger gone, the strength holding her upright disappeared too. Her knees struck the mud beside Kumoe, and she wrapped her arms around all three necks before the last traces of the class-change light had faded.
Wet fur pressed against her cheeks. It smelled of rain, dirt, and blood, but beneath all of that was Kumoe’s familiar warmth.
The warmth NineLivesLeft had nearly taken from her.
"I trusted you," Alexandra whispered. "And every time he moved, I still imagined another way I could lose you."
The curious head licked the side of her face.
Alexandra closed her eyes and held them tighter.
"Apparently, trusting someone doesn’t stop you from being terrified for them. That would’ve been useful to know before today."
She had learned something similar with Martin. Believing in the future they had discussed had not erased her jealousy, just as trusting Kumoe had not removed the fear of losing her.
One feeling did not have to cancel the other.
The middle head settled against Alexandra’s shoulder and fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted now that the danger had passed.
The right head stayed awake.
Her orange eyes remained fixed on Alexandra.
Alexandra sighed. "Don’t even start."
The right head did not blink.
"You nearly died, and you’re still thinking about your prize."
Her chin rose.
Alexandra stared at her for another second before surrendering. "Fine. You’re still Head of the Day, and yes, the first snack is yours."
The curious head barked in protest and shoved her muzzle against her sister’s cheek. The middle slept through the argument without moving.
Alexandra pressed her forehead between them and laughed, though the sound came out shakier than she intended.
"All right, all three of you win. Being hunted by a lunatic suspends the usual rules."
Kumoe’s tail swept happily through the mud.
Alexandra remained wrapped around her until her breathing stopped trembling.
A notification appeared in the corner of her vision.
[Pending emergency location ping transmitted.]
The Night Espresso officers’ channel immediately filled with delayed messages. Officers asked what had happened, whether she needed reinforcements, and whether the threat remained active.
Martin responded before the others could settle on what to do.
[Emperoar: Chaos? Your emergency ping just came through.]
A second message appeared almost immediately.
[Emperoar: Where are you? Is Kumoe with you? Are either of you still in danger?]
Of course his first questions were about Kumoe and whether the fight was truly over.
He had named her, cooked for her, and treated every new skill and level as something worth celebrating. Alexandra had drawn him into Kumoe’s life on purpose. Now she had to tell him how close they had come to losing all of it.
Her fingers shook above the window.
[Chaosgraphy: Kumoe nearly died.]
Martin began typing at once.
Alexandra looked at the three heads pressed against her and sent the next messages before he could flood the channel with questions.
[Chaosgraphy: She is safe. The Beastslayer is dead, and the zone is gone.]
[Chaosgraphy: We’re on the official road outside Endless Rain, near the water-gathering tower. We’re heading back.]
[Chaosgraphy: I need you to cook something completely unreasonable for her.]
The curious head turned toward the floating window with her ears raised.
The right head perked up too.
The middle continued sleeping against Alexandra’s shoulder.
Alexandra smiled and added one final message.
[Chaosgraphy: Three portions. Today, all three heads win.]