Chapter 936: How To Proceed

Celia came diving back through the canopy on Raven, the shadow beast folding her wings tight to slip between branches before spreading them again just above Liam and Asher.

Leaves whipped in her wake. Raven flew low, weaving between trees with predatory precision, staying close enough that Celia could speak without relying on the broken rhythm of the communication insignias. Liam and Asher kept moving beneath her, both running hard now, their earlier walking pace abandoned the instant the forest behind them had gone silent in the wrong way.

"Sheila said we are being closed in on by an Apex-level pack," Celia called down, gripping Raven’s ridged back with one hand. Her voice stayed controlled, but the urgency beneath it was unmistakable. "I do not know exactly how high Apex is on the threat scale, but based on what we felt, it is not something minor."

Asher cursed and vaulted over a fallen trunk without slowing. "Wonderful. The academy gave us a reward map and immediately used it to inform us we are about to get mauled."

Liam did not look up. "Did Sheila give a number?"

"No."

"Species?"

"No. She only saw a large blue reading closing on our position. A heat-wave pattern, not clear targets."

That answer told him enough to refine what he had already suspected.

The map was useful, but not omniscient. It did not lay out clean moving dots with names attached. It did not politely label creatures or give precise numbers like a training diagram. It read threat pressure through colored heat-wave patterns. Smaller concentrations created smaller readings. Larger or denser threats created broader ones. Students appeared in green. Threats appeared by category: yellow for Minor, orange for Major, red for Alpha, blue for Apex, purple for Calamity.

It was not a cheat code.

It was a warning system.

Liam’s eyes narrowed as he adjusted his path through the trees.

The map did exactly what its name implied. It detected and categorized danger. It did not solve the danger. That part remained their problem.

The forest rushed past them in broken streaks of bark, shadow, and undergrowth. Raven stayed above and slightly behind, close enough for Celia to keep watching both boys and the route ahead. The pressure behind them remained present, still distant enough not to crush the air fully, close enough that Liam’s instincts refused to let him slow.

He considered the options while his body moved.

Turning to fight was possible.

In raw combat terms, he and Asher were not helpless. They had been careful throughout the task, conserving Myst when possible and avoiding unnecessary waste. Liam’s own reserves were still strong, around eighty percent by his rough estimate. Asher had spent more through flame control and propulsion, but even he should still be above seventy. They were outside Veyrhold, away from buildings, repair work, wounded students, crowded halls, and fragile systems. If there was ever a place for controlled violence, open Eldervale was better than the settlement’s half-restored districts.

That did not make direct combat smart.

They did not know what was chasing them. Not the species. Not the number. Not the hunting method. Not the abilities. Not whether the pack used venom, sound, speed, illusions, burrowing, flight, Myst disruption, or something worse. Headmaster Thion and Assistant Headmistress Lucia had made one fact clear before the assessment: not everything in Eldervale would match the guide. These Apex-level signatures could be among the unrecorded threats.

If Liam and Asher turned blindly, they would not be fighting to win.

They would be fighting to discover what could kill them.

The next option was Veyrhold.

Retreat to the settlement. Let Sheila gather stronger students. Chris, Charlotte, Logan, Lucien, Kara, archers, perimeter teams, healers, command structure. Numbers. Walls. Defensive points. Ranged support. It was the obvious unit response.

It was also dangerous.

Dragging an unknown Apex-level pack toward Veyrhold could turn the settlement into the battlefield before anyone understood the enemy. The central-structure restoration could be disrupted. Noncombat students and specialists could be caught in the first impact. The weaker students might panic. The pack might test the walls, probe the Southern District, slip through drainage routes, or simply force a mass defense against a threat no one had seen clearly. Even if they survived, the cost could be high.

Trying to shake them off was worse.

Predators of this level did not lock onto prey and lose interest because the prey ran confidently enough. If they tracked scent, Myst, heat, sound, vibration, pressure, or something stranger, then fleeing blindly only burned energy while allowing them to choose the battlefield.

Liam was still shaping the answer when their insignias cracked.

Static cut through the channel, then Sheila’s voice pushed through in broken fragments. "Liam. Celia. Respond."

Liam lifted his wrist while running. "Here."

The signal scraped and stuttered. "Retreat to Veyrhold immediately. We will deal with the Apex pack as a unit."

"No."

Asher’s head snapped toward him. Celia went rigid above.

The connection hissed.

Sheila’s voice came back sharper. "No?"

"I do not like the casualty risk," Liam said. "We do not know what is coming. Bringing an unknown Apex-level pack to the settlement is too dangerous."

"These are Apex readings," Sheila said, every word firmer than the signal around it. "That is the second-highest category on the map. Calamity is the highest. That level is reserved for something like the Warden or close to it. Apex is one step beneath that, and the reading suggests a pack. You do not treat that casually."

The weight of the ranking settled over all three of them.

Asher’s expression shifted. Not fear. Something more focused and far less amused. Celia’s hand tightened on Raven’s back. Even Raven’s flight pattern changed, her wings beating lower and sharper as if the word Apex had reached whatever predatory judgment lived inside her.

Liam kept moving.

"I am not treating it casually," he said. "That is why I am not bringing it to Veyrhold."

"You and Asher cannot simply decide to handle an Apex pack alone."

"We can handle first contact."

"That is not what I ordered."

Her tone had changed.

Liam heard it clearly through the broken channel. Not Sheila speaking as someone worried about a friend, not even Sheila speaking as someone irritated by his choices. Commander. Firm. Direct. The kind of voice meant to hold a line when people wanted to run through it.

He respected that.

It did not change the problem.

"What do you want to do?" Liam asked.

A pause crackled through the channel.

He did not wait for her to answer. "Prepare defenders. Gather the strongest students. Use walls, numbers, scouting, ranged support, healers, and containment lines. Good plans under normal conditions."

Sheila did not interrupt.

"The downside," Liam continued, "is that you learn the threat’s abilities inside or near the settlement. You risk the central-structure restoration. You risk support students. You risk the pack testing Veyrhold’s defenses before anyone knows what it can do."

Static ate part of Sheila’s answer before her voice returned. "And your alternative?"

"Expose the threat away from Veyrhold."

Asher looked at him as they ran. "That better mean something smarter than it sounds."

Liam ignored him and kept speaking to Sheila. "I am not trying to wipe out the pack. I want first contact in open ground. Make it show itself. Even if we only force one or two to reveal their movement and behavior, that information helps the entire year if they appear again. Your plan also gets information, but it spreads casualty risk across far more students."

His eyes stayed forward.

"Fewer possible casualties is better."

The channel filled with rough static.