"I hope I can forget all this drivel by noon tomorrow," Ivan Northes tilted his head toward the night sky, exhaling a plume of steaming breath. "You were speaking at the pace of a Dwarven Repeating Crossbow. I can't even remember your mistress's name."

  "Ruth Angwella. It's comforting to finally entrust something to someone," Kendrick McKenzie replied, his face bearing an expression of unmistakable relief. "May the Triad of Destiny be with you."

  Their paths diverged. Ivan Northes proceeded directly toward Borna Plain as planned, while Kendrick McKenzie veered southward, toward the valleys of Illuviλofer and Eluviαn Vale.

  The Alpha Wolf halted when it witnessed the two humans separate. It turned toward the She-Wolf, and they exchanged a silent, conspiratorial glance. After a brief moment of deliberation, they too decided to divide their forces.

  The Alpha Wolf pursued Ivan Northes, while the She-Wolf designated Kendrick McKenzie as her target. The symmetry seemed almost theatrical, as if following a script prepared in advance.

  Old McKenzie glanced back, watching Ivan's figure diminish in the distance while the She-Wolf drew inexorably closer.

  "Humans or beasts... which are the real monsters?"

  Aethelwing felt as though her talons had sunk into sponge. The Vassily Greatbat, which had been resisting just moments before, now hung lifelessly against the tree trunk, wings drooping as if in death. This sudden capitulation bewildered her.

  A jolt of heat surged through her talons, electrifying her body. She realized the Greatbat had revived—or more precisely, had regained consciousness. With explosive force, the Greatbat dug its wing-claws into the tree bark and braced its powerful hind legs against the trunk. Aethelwing released her grip, overwhelmed by the creature's formidable lower-body strength.

  The adversaries returned to aerial combat. Freed, the Vassily Greatbat glided beneath Aethelwing, darting toward another tree. There, it secured itself with its right claw and legs, allowing its left wing to hang limply. It resembled a winged gorilla more than a bat.

  The violet luminescence in its eyes had dimmed significantly.

  Without warning, the Greatbat launched itself from the tree. Aethelwing flapped her wings frantically, ascending two feet just in time to avoid its attack. The bat landed on another cedar and, using the recoil, immediately launched another assault. Aethelwing dodged downward and forward, feeling several feathers tear from her back.

  The Vassily Greatbat now hung upside down beneath a thick branch, its right limb drawn protectively before its torso, resembling a ninja shrouded in shadow. Aethelwing perched on another tree, observing it from above. A solitary white feather stood impaled upon the Greatbat's claw.

  Only now did she truly comprehend her opponent. The Greatbat was unnaturally powerful, its body proportions vastly exceeding any bat species she had ever encountered. Its wing membranes seemed almost diminutive compared to its muscular frame, yet this disproportion in no way hindered its aerial capabilities or agility. To her perception, it resembled less a bat and more some winged rat-man hybrid.

  The Vassily Greatbat resumed its attacks, abandoning its previous strategy of patient opportunism. Aethelwing countered with her formidable talons, and the two clashed in a series of rapid skirmishes. The narrow space between the cedar trees allowed the Greatbat to leap effortlessly between them. Aethelwing was forced to hover in mid-air, defending against attacks from alternating directions. After several exchanges, both combatants showed visible signs of fatigue.

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  The Greatbat paused its offensive, hooking its right claw onto a branch and hanging beneath it. Aethelwing likewise found a perch to rest, though her vigilance never wavered.

  The Greatbat's eyes no longer possessed their earlier soul-penetrating intensity. (Its recent attacks, though unusually aggressive, lacked thought—they were nothing more than simple, direct strikes,) she contemplated silently. (Perhaps it's lost the ability to read my mind?)

  The bat swayed gently beneath the branch.

  She decided to take a risk.

  Aethelwing launched herself from her perch, diving directly toward the Greatbat. The Vassily Greatbat swung its body pendulum-like, watching her approach intently, preparing to intercept her mid-air. Despite its menacing posture, she maintained her course. When barely half a foot separated them, Aethelwing suddenly changed direction, veering toward the bat's upper-left quadrant. The Greatbat, caught off guard, nearly jumped reflexively but instead clutched desperately at the branch to regain balance—it had failed to anticipate her maneuver.

  Seizing this moment of confusion, Aethelwing combined her momentum with her talons' incredible strength to snap the branch. The grip of a White Wyvern-Heigel could exert between eighty-eight and one hundred two kilograms of instantaneous force—sufficient to crush human bone with ease.

  The Greatbat, having just secured its position, now faced disaster. Its entire body, along with the fractured branch, plummeted earthward. In its earlier panic, its hooked wing-claws had embedded too deeply into the wood, preventing quick release. Accompanied by the branch and cascading leaves, the Vassily Greatbat crashed heavily to the forest floor, raising a cloud of dust and debris.

  This was her final opportunity. Aethelwing intended to end the contest with a lethal strike to the throat. Without waiting for the dust to settle, she dove at full speed. The Vassily Greatbat, sprawled on its back, gradually regained clarity in its gaze. Desperately, it raised the branch still attached to its wing-hand to shield its vulnerable throat. (I'll just crush that damn throat along with the branch,) she thought, driving both powerful talons into the wooden barrier and using her muscular lower body to force it downward.

  Initially, she held the advantage. The Greatbat wheezed, its breath rasping horribly. Gradually, its breathing weakened as the branch compressed its windpipe. But then Aethelwing realized something was wrong. The Greatbat's breathing had returned to normal, and the branch was moving incrementally away from its neck. When she saw crimson light flickering in its eyes, she recognized her imminent defeat.

  She released her grip, attempting escape. Before she could take flight, the branch struck her head with devastating force. After several feeble wing-beats, she collapsed to the ground. Through blurred vision, she watched the Greatbat crawl reptilian-like on all fours before rising to stand upright with disturbing human-like posture. Soon, crushing pressure constricted her throat—the Vassily Greatbat stood triumphantly upon her neck.

  (It's time...) she told herself.

  Then, she expelled a cylindrical object from her throat.

  Black Lily gasped, her chest a bellows. The warhorse was spent, unable to muster even a short burst of speed. (She's almost at her limit...) Ivan Northes stroked her back. No matter how vigorously he applied his spurs, the black mare remained unresponsive. (At least that accursed beast fares no better.)

  Behind the elite knight, the Alpha Wolf showed comparable exhaustion. Its movement pattern mirrored the horse's—running two steps, walking three, then running one more before walking four. Both half-dead creatures were merely persisting through sheer will, neither displaying any genuine desire to chase or flee.

  (Don't die, Black Lily,) Ivan pleaded silently. (If you die, we're finished. But you deserve to.) He extended his silent prayer to include the wolf. (If you've survived this long, there truly is no justice in this world.)