Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 258: Frozen Pursuit I
"Don’t slow down!"
Wanette shouted as she activated a rune from her grimoire. The glowing rune appeared in the air, spreading energy to everyone in the group.
"Rune of Acceleration—move faster!"
A sudden surge of energy coursed through their legs, pushing them beyond their limits. Seeing this, Davina held her right hand out and conjured a magic circle.
Mid-stride, she slammed her palm to the ground and a jolt of lightning shot out in arcs, tethering itself to the group and boosting their speed even further.
But it still wasn’t enough.
The wolves, faster on four legs than any human or vampire on two, closed the gap faster than they could widen it.
Sensing the wolves getting closer, Davina clicked her tongue and summoned Fulgora. She spun and swung the blade, releasing an arcing slash that tore through the trunks of several massive trees.
"David!"
Her twin already anticipated her actions and jumped to the side, grabbing two of the falling trees mid-run and igniting the bark with his flames.
He spun to generate momentum and then hurled the trees behind him like missiles.
**BOOOM!!!
The makeshift projectile exploded in a fiery burst as it hit the nearest wolf, the force of the blast knocking it back into two others.
"Got them!"
One of the adventurers yelled, but their celebration was premature. From the smoke of the explosion, the wolves emerged, wounded but enraged.
"That only pissed them off."
David spoke as he ripped out another tree from the earth with his bare hands and yeeted it in their direction, causing another explosion.
This time, the legs of one of the wolves were scorched by his blood flames, and it tumbled to the ground, howling in pain.
However, this only made the rest of the pack even more annoyed as they charged forward with renewed aggression.
Wanette glanced over her shoulder and scanned the area around her while drawing runes on blank pages in her thick grimoire.
She then ripped them out and dropped them on the ground as she ran, shouting to the others to keep moving.
The wolves charged through the snow, their paws thundering like drumbeats. But as they stepped on Wanette’s runes, chaos erupted.
**FWOOSH!
One wolf’s leg ignited in flames, causing it to tumble and slam into the one behind it.
In the same breath, another rune triggered a sinkhole beneath two wolves, swallowing them whole before collapsing the ground above them.
The resulting pileup caused a cascade of confusion as the wolves tripped over each other, buying the group precious seconds.
"Blood Lightning!"
Davina yelled and crimson lightning snaked down her blade. She stabbed it into the ground, and arcs of electrified blood snaked toward the wolves, striking two of them squarely and sending them sprawling with pained howls.
The other adventurers joined in, launching spells and arrows. Explosions of fire, ice, and wind erupted behind the group as they pushed toward the looming mountain in the distance.
Even still, the wolves didn’t back down. More joined the fray and seeing the additions, Wanette glanced at the mountain ahead and cursed internally.
"We need to slow them down more!"
The pack was relentless. Even as wolves fell, the remaining ones charged on, their glowing eyes locked onto their prey.
As they neared the base of the mountain, Wanette suddenly stopped and turned to face them. Her hair seemed to float with a life of its own and magic power swirled around her as she chanted some words under her breath.
A glowing rune manifested in the air before her and she used her other palm to slam it down onto the ground.
**RUMBLE!
The air thrummed and the earth rumbled, a second before it spilt open, giving way to a massive wall of ice that erupted high into the sky.
It towered over even the mountain in the distance, and seeing it, the wolves screeched to a halt, their claws skidding against the snowy earth as they collided with the barrier.
"Finally, we can—"
"Keep running!"
Wanette’s voice cut off the relieved words of the adventurer who was speaking. She grabbed him and pulled his body forward, mere seconds before a loud noise rang out from behind.
**BOOOM!!!!
Behind them, the mountain-high wall of ice shattered like glass as two enormous wolves emerged from the mist.
These were twice the size of the others, their bodies radiating an aura of frost so intense that the ground beneath them froze solid and the trees around them turned to ice sculptures.
"The alphas..."
Wanette spoke grimly and as if affirming her words, the towering alpha wolves let out simultaneous howls, their cries shaking the forest and rallying the rest of the pack.
The hunt resumed, faster and fiercer than before.
The group continued to run, getting closer to the mountain ahead. But this mountain wasn’t salvation—it was a dilemma.
There was the option of them entering the caves in the mountain which were far too small for the wolves to pass through.
But that wouldn’t really matter since these wolves were all at least Level 550, strong enough to tear through the mountain with ease.
"Let’s go around it!"
Davina yelled, her voice laced with desperation as she sliced another tree for David to use as a missile to buy more time.
Wanette continued to scatter pages of her grimoire across the ground, more traps that caused the wolves’ formation to break apart.
Just after cutting off another tree, Davina spun and unleashed a wave of blood lightning from her sword, striking two wolves just as David’s makeshift missiles hit them.
The resultant explosion of flames and lightning forced the pack to slow momentarily, giving the group time to divert their course to go around the mountain.
Seeing how two of the wolves dropped out from that combination explosion, David took a deep breath to gather magic power before using his left fingernails to slash his right palm.
The scent of blood caught the noses of the other two vampires and they turned to him with confused gazes, only to see him summon his spear in his right bloodied hand.
"Infernal Bloodfire."
David’s crimson eyes glowed and bright flames of blood burst from his arm, surrounding the spear as he kicked off the ground, boosting further. He took a leap, spun around and launched the spear at the lead alpha, sending it flying at supersonic speed.
The weapon connected in seconds, striking true and embedding itself in the wolf’s glowing eye with a sickening crunch. The beast let out an ear-splitting howl of agony, thrashing wildly as the flames surged through its skull.
Smirking at his perfect aim, David clenched his fist and commanded his blood on the spear.
"Detonate."
***BOOOOMM!!!
The spear erupted in a fiery explosion, blasting its eyes to bits and shattering part of the alpha’s skull.
But David wasn’t finished. He pulled back his arm and the spear tore itself free, ripping chunks of flesh and bone with it as it flew back to his hand.
The alpha staggered, blinded in one eye, its fur scorched and matted with blood. Yet even as it growled in pain and fury, its enormous form steadied, refusing to fall.
"These things don’t die easy!"
David shouted as he turned to run again, while the other alpha, untouched by now enraged, howled with fury.
How dare mere prey attack us?—it seemed to be saying.
Its body glowed with an icy aura and frost spread out from its claws as it slammed them onto the ground.
The frost solidified into four massive spikes of ice that shot forward like missiles, targeting the fleeing group.
"Incoming!"
One of the adventurers yelled, her voice edged with panic and another raised their hands, conjuring a shimmering barrier of magic power to block the attack.
The ice missiles crashed against it, causing the shield to crack and splinter under the force and the mage quickly reached their limit.
"I can’t hold it!"
The mage cried out mere seconds before the barrier shattered like glass and more spikes broke through.
Still, they’d bought Wanette enough time to cast a spell. Her grimoire flipped open and stopped on a certain page, with the rune inscribed there glowing brightly.
"Wormhole Rune!"
A shimmering portal appeared before the group, swallowing the incoming ice spikes. A second portal opened behind the wolves, redirecting the projectiles which speared through the hind legs of the smaller wolves, sending them tumbling with yelps of pain.
Clearly, Wanette had taken lessons from Jamie.
