I Have the Sacred Sword?

The summon frowned, trying to understand what Eleonora was asking of her.

In the end, with no other options, she squeezed her eyes shut tighter, focusing on those small points of light dancing in her mind.

Each one was a spark of energy, moving with a certain coherence, but some seemed brighter than others.

It was as if the energy inside certain beings pulsed, fluctuating in a strange way.

‘Mana,’ she thought, recalling what Eleonora had mentioned.

She knew mana was something important, something powerful beings could wield. She didn’t fully understand how it worked, but the more she focused on those points of light, the more she began to notice subtle differences.

At first, all the energy points seemed the same. But little by little, her perception sharpened.

Some were small and steady, while others fluctuated erratically, changing size.

Her closed eyes tightened further as she tried to untangle the information she was receiving.

The smaller points seemed to move in simple patterns, like the wolves she had been killing. But there were others... others that not only moved unpredictably but were also surrounded by a halo of energy. They grew larger and smaller intermittently, and that change caught her attention.

‘Those points... they’re different,’ she thought.

“Eleonora!” she suddenly exclaimed. “There’s a group of six points, but three of them change size, and there’s something else around them.”

Eleonora paused before responding, her voice more serious this time.

[That’s mana. They’re using mana.]

The summon began to understand. Those fluctuating points of light were different from the rest. They were beings that manipulated energy in a more complex way.

‘Those must be the humans,’ she deduced. Although she didn’t fully understand what a human was, Eleonora’s words were starting to make sense.

The beings that could do ‘something more’ were those who controlled that power.

Her breathing quickened as she felt a mixture of excitement and determination.

If those points represented a threat or a target, then her next move was clear.

“I’m going after them,” the summon said, changing direction without hesitation.

Her body moved swiftly through the trees, stomping on the snow with force, while the black sword in her hand seemed to vibrate.

Eleonora, noticing the change, interrupted her.

[You’ve figured it out?]

The summon smiled, a smile that was far from sweet but filled with growing satisfaction.

“Yes.”

Without saying more, she sped up, running with all her might toward those points of energy.

She knew these beings were different, and it didn’t matter what they were or why they were there.

The only thing she was sure of was that she was going to find them.

◇◆◇

“They’re getting closer!” Marta shouted, her voice strained from the effort as she hurled another fireball at the wolves approaching their position.

The explosion briefly lit up the area, but it wasn’t enough to stop the avalanche of creatures quickly climbing through the trees.

Aiden gritted his teeth as he watched the wolves begin to adapt.

The beasts, with their ferocity and agility, were managing to perform impressive acrobatics, using their claws to scale the trunks and leap from branch to branch, clearly intent on knocking them down and devouring them on the ground far below.

Darius and Thorne, each with a sword in hand, stayed at the front, cutting down any wolf that got too close.

Their movements were precise, but the sheer number of wolves made maintaining balance on the thin branches a constant challenge.

“Damn pests!” Thorne exclaimed as a wolf, using its momentum, almost succeeded in knocking him off the branch.

With a quick movement, Thorne cut off one of its legs before the creature could complete its attack, but the wolf fell to the ground only to be replaced by two more coming from behind.

“I can’t kill them all!” Marta screamed, frustrated as she saw that for every wolf she incinerated with her spells, more took their place, mimicking their comrades' movements, jumping and clawing at the trunks with their sharp talons.

Aiden quickly assessed the situation.

If they kept fighting at the same level in the branches, they would eventually be overwhelmed by the wolves. There were too many, and the fact that the beasts were learning to move so easily through the treetops put them at a dangerous disadvantage.

“We need to go higher!” Aiden ordered, pointing toward the thicker, safer branches where he had seen Alexia’s group head. “Marta, go with the healers! Quickly, climb before the wolves catch up!”

Marta nodded quickly and looked at the two younger girls, the group’s healers, who were already trembling with fear.

“Come on, hurry!”

She pushed them toward the upper branches while preparing another fire spell to cover their retreat.

Darius, without taking his eyes off the wolves, stepped back and positioned himself beside Aiden.

“We’ll cover their retreat,” he said, panting as he slashed at another wolf lunging toward him.

“Don’t let them surround us!” Thorne yelled, kicking one of the wolves trying to leap at them.

But the wolves were relentless, and more than one began to follow Marta and the healers' path.

Aiden didn’t waste any time. He kept giving orders as he climbed higher into the branches, always making sure Darius and Thorne, who were covering their rear, didn’t fall too far behind.

“Darius, Thorne! Keep up, but don’t get too far away!”

“We’ve got it covered!” Darius responded, spinning around to slash at another wolf that had launched itself directly at his back.

The higher branches were thicker and provided more stability, but the wolves, imitating their companions who had successfully climbed up, continued jumping nimbly, clawing at the trunks to keep their balance.

One of the larger wolves, with a scar over its eye, got close enough to strike near Thorne’s foot.

“Watch out!” Aiden shouted, but it was too late.

Thorne lost his balance for a moment and had to leap to a nearby branch to avoid falling.

The wolf, seeing him in a vulnerable position, tried to jump on him, but Darius intervened, slicing the wolf in half before it could complete its attack.

Aiden glanced down for a brief moment, and horror gripped him.

The creatures that fell didn’t die. They kept getting up, again and again, wounded but unstoppable, as if the fall and the damage didn’t matter.

The ground was full of wolves, some with severe injuries, but all still moving, waiting for the chance to catch them.

“They’re not going to stop!” Aiden muttered, realizing the gravity of the situation. “We have to keep moving!”

With one last look downward, where the wolves kept climbing relentlessly, Aiden gathered all his energy and pointed higher.

“Let’s go, climb higher! We can’t stop here!”

Marta and the healers were already much further up, though the concern was still evident on their faces.

Darius and Thorne held their ground, defending as the group regrouped in a safer position.

But soon that wouldn’t be enough, so they had to delve deeper into the forest to find a more secure place.