I Have the Sacred Sword?

As they moved from branch to branch, the sense of danger did not disappear.

The wolves continued below, pursuing them relentlessly, their breathing and growls mingling with the wind passing through the leaves.

Isuke, though trembling from the cold, managed to keep pace while sensing the pulse of the energy.

“There!” Isuke shouted, pointing with his arm. “That’s where the energy is going!”

Alexia nodded from her position at the front.

“Stay close,” she ordered firmly.

They couldn’t risk Isuke falling too far behind, knowing he was the most vulnerable in the group.

Despite the exhaustion that was beginning to show in all of them, they pressed on.

Each leap, every branch their feet touched felt like a small victory as the wolves below stalked them, brushing against the lower branches with sharp claws but failing to reach them.

At one point, Alexia began to slow her pace and finally stopped on a particularly thick and sturdy branch.

“Stop!” she commanded, and Leo immediately followed suit, stopping just behind her.

Isuke arrived a few seconds later, breathing heavily, clearly more affected by the physical effort than the rest.

His hands were trembling, and sweat dripped down his forehead.

Though he had managed to keep up, it was obvious he couldn’t maintain that pace for much longer.

“Rest a bit,” Alexia said as she turned to observe her companions. “I can see you’re tired.”

Leo barely showed signs of fatigue but nodded in appreciation.

Isuke, on the other hand, collapsed onto the branch, breathing heavily.

It wasn’t easy for him, being a mage, to keep up with two warriors used to this kind of physical exertion.

As they rested, Leo broke the silence.

“Alexia, why did you want to bring Thorne?”

Alexia glanced at him, a slight smile on her face.

“I needed to leave someone from our group with them and take one to explore. I didn’t want to raise suspicion.”

Leo frowned, interested in her reasoning.

“Did you know Thorne and Darius wouldn’t be able to keep up with us?”

“Exactly,” Alexia said, letting out a light laugh. “Aiden is their leader; he wouldn’t leave his group so easily, and Darius is too heavy for these jumps. Selena… well, I didn’t see her willing to leave them and come with us either. Marta is their firepower, so she could have caused trouble if I had asked for her. That’s why Thorne was the best choice.”

Leo looked at her, impressed by how well she had planned everything, even amidst the chaos.

“You’re scary.”

Alexia let out a brief laugh.

“I’ve been in worse situations with my grandfather. This is… manageable.”

Leo smiled slightly at her response.

“And tell me, what do you think of them?” Leo asked, referring to Aiden’s group.

Alexia looked at him for a second, pondering her answer.

“They’re greedy bastards,” she said with a half-smile. “But in a way, I understand them.”

Leo frowned, intrigued.

“What do you mean by that?”

Alexia shrugged, as if it were obvious.

“If I were in their shoes, I’d do the same.”

“Really?” Leo raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Alexia replied immediately.

“I see… but… if you were them now… would you stay there, waiting for us to return?” The doubt was evident in his tone, reflecting his distrust of the plan.

Alexia smirked slightly and then shook her head.

“Not exactly. If I had a group like theirs, I’d probably take down the wolves little by little. And if the ones who went to explore didn’t return… well, I’d just follow the path they took initially.”

Leo remained silent, processing her words, but his curiosity urged him to keep asking.

“Why would you do that?”

“Mostly because of the giant wolf we saw at the beginning,” Alexia said, her tone more serious this time. “Now I understand why it didn’t enter this forest by jumping or destroying the trees. Those trunks are as hard as steel. If it tried to get through here, it would be like impaling itself on thousands of spikes.”

Leo nodded slowly, understanding the logic behind her words.

“So, you think using the trees as protection is the best option?”

“Exactly. Ideally, we’d find another way out, which is why I’d wait if I were them. If we can’t find one, we should wear down the giant wolf, using the trees as a barrier. After that, I’d return to camp, save the coordinates of this place, and plan how to exploit this area in the future. This forest holds a lot of value.”

Though Alexia had tangled herself up in her explanation, Leo began to understand her point.

“You can tell you’re the granddaughter of a merchant.”

Alexia let out a brief laugh.

“When you’ve survived worse things, you learn to see all the possibilities.”

Just then, Isuke, who had been silent and focused on the energy he was tracking, spoke up, interrupting the conversation.

“The energy… has changed direction!”

Both turned to him, their faces reflecting surprise and alertness.

“Where’s it going?” Alexia asked quickly.

Isuke pointed in a direction close to where they had come from.

“It’s moving… back to where we were.”

Alexia frowned, considering their options.

Though it was strange, they couldn’t afford to ignore that change of direction.

“We can’t waste time,” Alexia said quietly, though her words were an order. “Let’s move. We have to intercept it before it reaches the camp.”

With a quick signal, Leo and Isuke stood up, ready to follow her.

Without wasting another second, the group began moving in the direction Isuke had indicated, jumping from branch to branch with the same tension hanging in the air.

Good news! As this novel is being supported on Patreon despite being the least read of my current novels, for this week, it will be updated 2 times per day and I will increase more chapters you can read in case you subscribe to the patreon.

4 chapters ahead on Patreon, for now.