Chapter 257: The Packblade Path
"Find me instead."
Kumoe’s curious head stopped chasing the blood trails.
The right no longer searched every branch for movement, and the middle remained close enough to cover both Alexandra’s wounds and Kumoe’s injured leg.
All three centered their attention on Alexandra.
NineLivesLeft laughed from somewhere beyond the trees.
"That’s your solution? Ignore me?"
Alexandra raised both swords. "You’ll come to us."
"You sound confident."
"You’re too curious not to."
For several seconds, only rain moved through the forest.
Blood ran down dozens of trunks, dripped from branches, and collected in shallow puddles around exposed roots. NineLivesLeft had filled the entire road with false trails, but none of them mattered anymore.
Kumoe did not need to find him first.
She only needed to protect the space she shared with Alexandra.
A scrape came from the canopy.
Alexandra did not turn toward it.
Something moved through the brush behind Kumoe.
The curious head remained focused on Alexandra’s right side.
NineLivesLeft attacked from above.
His spectral claws dropped toward Alexandra’s shoulders, exactly where Kumoe’s right head had been watching.
She barked.
Alexandra crossed her swords and caught both hooks.
NineLivesLeft folded his legs against the locked weapons, kicked away, and redirected toward Kumoe’s injured rear leg.
Alexandra did not chase his body.
She turned around the space Kumoe occupied.
Her right sword met the first hook before it reached the wound.
The second slipped beneath her guard and carved across Kumoe’s leg.
[The duration of Torn Tendon has been refreshed.]
Kumoe buckled.
Green light flooded the injury as the middle head poured restoration into it. The right barked again, strengthening the effect before the damage could spread.
NineLivesLeft expected Alexandra to panic.
She held her position.
Kumoe did not turn sharply or retreat. Her curious head twisted around and sank her teeth into NineLivesLeft’s thigh.
Damage amplification spread through him.
His smile vanished.
Alexandra drove her left sword beneath his arm.
[Pride Mark: 1]
NineLivesLeft tried to kick Kumoe away, but her jaws kept one leg off the ground. Without a solid point of contact, he could not use Prowler’s Rebound to escape.
Alexandra cut across his chest.
[Pride Mark: 2]
They had finally pinned him between them.
NineLivesLeft slashed toward Alexandra’s face. Bloodscent Lock guided the hook through her movement, tracking the wound on her cheek before it even opened.
Alexandra tilted aside.
The tip still sliced her skin, but she did not retreat.
Warm blood ran down her face.
"You kept cutting Kumoe because you thought I would panic and throw away every opening to protect her."
Her first sword struck his hook aside and opened his wrist.
[Pride Mark: 3]
NineLivesLeft twisted toward Kumoe and drove his free weapon at the curious head’s eye.
The right barked a warning.
Kumoe released his leg and lowered all three heads before the blade reached her.
Alexandra stepped into the space she created.
"Then you cut me because you expected her to lose control."
Her second sword carved through the damaged armor along his side.
[Pride Mark: 4]
NineLivesLeft’s pupils tightened.
He drove his knee into Kumoe’s chest and finally forced her backward. The wolf slid through the mud, but the middle head kept restoration flowing while the right continued watching Alexandra.
Neither of them broke formation.
NineLivesLeft reached for the nearest tree.
Alexandra caught his shoulder before his boot touched the trunk.
[Pride Mark: 5]
[Wolf Pride has been activated.]
Warm strength spread through Alexandra’s limbs.
The rain no longer felt cold against her skin. Her wounded body steadied, and the interruption from NineLivesLeft’s last hit faded beneath the new resistance.
All five crimson symbols burned above him.
Alpha Rend had reached full power.
Alexandra smiled.
"You read both of us wrong."
NineLivesLeft planted one hand against the road and twisted beneath her swords. His boot finally found a tree root.
Prowler’s Rebound activated.
The right head barked before he moved.
Alexandra lunged toward the direction Kumoe indicated.
NineLivesLeft kicked off the root and shot into the air, only to find Alexandra already rising into his path.
Their weapons collided above the road.
His hooked blades scraped across her crossed swords. The impact tried to tear her guard apart, but Wolf Pride kept her stance from breaking.
Kumoe leaped from below.
Her curious head snapped toward NineLivesLeft’s exposed side, while the right watched the branches he might use to escape. Green light from the middle followed Alexandra into the air, closing another shallow wound before Bloodscent Lock forced it open again.
NineLivesLeft twisted between them.
One hook caught Alexandra’s sword and dragged her sideways. His boot struck Kumoe’s shoulder, pushing the wolf away before her teeth reached him.
The three of them separated in midair.
Alexandra hit the road in a crouch and slid backward through the mud. Kumoe landed beside her, claws tearing through the soaked ground as she protected her wounded leg.
NineLivesLeft struck the ground several meters away. He rolled over one shoulder, rose into a low stance, and raised both hooks.
No one attacked immediately.
The brief pause was not peace. It was the single breath fighters took before throwing themselves at one another again.
Then a system chime rang inside Alexandra’s head.
[You have received a Class Upgrade Quest.]
[You have fought beside a bonded beast as an equal while a Beastslayer hunted both of you as prey.]
[Would you like to begin the quest to upgrade your current class, Duelist, into a Packblade?]
[Packblade: An upgraded class from Duelist that shares combat angles, openings, and momentum with a bonded beast until both hunters move as one pack.]
[Yes/No]
Alexandra’s breath caught.
Kumoe stayed beside her.
The curious head remained focused on NineLivesLeft. The middle continued restoring their wounds, while the right turned just enough to meet Alexandra’s eyes.
There was no confusion in that stare.
Only the same quiet judgment Alexandra had received when she finally stopped treating Kumoe like something fragile.
They had not won yet.
The quest would not grant Alexandra a new class in the middle of the battle, and accepting it would not erase Kumoe’s injuries or remove the Beastslayer Zone.
Even so, the prompt meant the system had recognized what Alexandra had only just learned.
Kumoe was not following behind her.
They were standing together.
NineLivesLeft watched Alexandra’s eyes shift across text he could not see.
His own expression slowly brightened.
"No fucking way."
Alexandra focused on him again.
"That pause," he said. His words came faster as excitement overtook his caution. "You received something."
She said nothing.
"A skill evolution? No. You would’ve moved already." His slit pupils widened. "A class prompt?"
Alexandra’s lips curved.
NineLivesLeft took one step forward. "During PvP, inside a Beastslayer Zone, with both of you being hunted. Those are the conditions, aren’t they?"
"You really can’t stop turning everything into a guide."
"That’s a hidden class path." He looked between Alexandra and Kumoe with undisguised hunger. "Tell me the name."
The Pride Marks above him began to dim.
Alexandra did not care.
NineLivesLeft raised one hook. "At least give me that much. I forced the trigger."
"You tried to kill her."
"And you wouldn’t have found the class without me."
"That doesn’t make it yours."
The crimson symbols vanished.
[Pride Marks have expired.]
[Wolf Pride has ended.]
NineLivesLeft smiled when he saw the effects disappear. "Whatever you found won’t help you in this fight unless you finish the quest."
"I know."
"You might not leave the zone alive long enough to complete it."
Alexandra looked at Kumoe.
The curious head bared her teeth. The middle’s green light grew brighter, and the right lifted her chin with the pride of a wolf who had already won the most important contest of the day.
Alexandra smiled.
They were injured, trapped, and still facing a Beastslayer built specifically to kill Kumoe.
Yet for the first time since the zone appeared, Alexandra no longer felt as though she was fighting to keep Kumoe alive by herself.
She selected Yes.
NineLivesLeft leaned forward. "What is it?"
Alexandra raised both swords.
"Something you can’t steal."
[You have received a new quest: The Pack Hunts Together.]