The Multiverse Hunter

Deep within the Beast Forest, beneath the towering ancient trees, dozens of Kobolds crept low, sniffing the underbrush. Their clawed feet were nearly silent against the mossy floor, but their snouts twitched rapidly, drawing in every scent molecule like living bloodhounds.

They were tracking prey.

A massive beast—wounded. Bleeding.

The coppery tang of its blood led them forward.

AW. AWA. WA!

They let out their strange call—high-pitched and rhythmic—as they surged through the brush in loose packs, brandishing crude weapons made from rusted metal or blades stolen from fallen human scouts.

Hack. Slash. Step.

They tore through the undergrowth until—

They froze.

Before them, in a clearing smeared with blood, a massive dragon's head hunched over the corpse of a monstrous, twenty-meter-long forest rabbit. The rabbit's brown fur was drenched in red, bones cracked and organs exposed.

The dragon—Shadow—was chewing.

AW!! AWA!! WAWAWAWA!!

The Kobolds screamed their retreat call, raw panic exploding through their ranks. They turned and bolted, limbs pumping with primal desperation.

Shadow raised his head, swallowed the carcass whole, and began dragging his enormous body forward, slow and deliberate—letting the earth quake beneath him with every shift of muscle. The sound of trees toppling followed behind him like an approaching storm.

Within a minute, a hundred terrified Kobolds burst through the tree-line and sprinted toward the cave—their cave—hidden between four ancient trees, its mouth gaping open in the rock.

They didn't know it was a trap.

At the two other cave entrances, huge stone barricades had been raised earlier in the day. Both were sealed tight. There was only one way in—and now, only one way out.

And that way was about to vanish.

ROOOOOAAAAAAR.

Shadow didn't just roar—he declared. His bellow rolled across the forest, shaking the canopy, warning every beast within miles that death had arrived.

Then he stopped.

Watched.

Listened.

As the last of the Kobolds dove into the cave, howling in terror, he faded into the shadows of the cave.

Moments later, the sky tore open.

Two dragons dove from the clouds—massive shapes dropping like meteorites.

Abeloth led the charge, his wings tucked, his chest glowing with rising heat.

He opened his jaws—

WHOOOOOOOM.

A torrent of deep crimson flame erupted, pouring out like a dam unleashed. The inferno engulfed the cave entrance and the surrounding trees instantly. The trunks didn't just burn—they collapsed, charred and broken from the sheer force.

The stone face around the entrance began to melt, the heat so intense it turned rock into bubbling slag. The ground blackened, and the air shimmered with rising waves of heat.

Abeloth circled back, rising above the smoke.

The wind howled—

Then screamed.

SLICE.

The air split as Eldora came plummeting down from above, her wings tucked so tight she looked like a green missile. She was spinning, channeling the wind around her to accelerate even further.

Ali clung to her back, pressed against her scales, his arms flexed like steel. His body was vibrating from the g-force, his eyes barely open against the oncoming blast.

Closer. Closer.

If Eldora didn't pull up, they'd slam into the earth like a meteor. The speed alone would be enough to level a chunk of the forest.

VOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Eldora's wings snapped open.

The force of her sudden stop unleashed a shockwave. Wind tore through the scorched clearing, crashing into Abeloth's aftermath.

The four burning trees were obliterated, collapsing into the entrance.

Smoke poured into the cave.

Molten stone, splintered trunks, and flaming debris were sucked inside by the vacuum created from the sudden blast.

The smoke thickened. The fire fed itself.

And just as fast as she'd descended, Eldora soared, rising above the carnage, wings wide and majestic.

Ali stood on her back, his coat whipping behind him.

He looked down at the scene: one entrance, now choked by smoke and fire and closed with debris trapping the smoke inside. The other two entrances completely sealed.

It was working.

"The smoke will kill them all," Abeloth growled, his thoughts echoing in Ali's mind like thunder in a canyon.

Ali watched the plumes rise.

"It depends on the tunnels. If the cave systems are deep, that smoke might just stall," he said aloud.

"That's why I'm going in. Half an hour from now."

He patted Eldora's scales.

"Abeloth, stay here. Watch the entrances. Burn anything that tries to crawl out."

The red dragon let out a low snarl of approval.

Ali gave the signal.

Eldora turned and soared into the open skies, slicing through the clouds again with Ali still standing tall on her back, eyes locked ahead.

With Eldora's speed tearing through the canopy like a blade through silk, it didn't take long for Ali to reach the next destination deep in the Beast Forest. Wind tore past his face as he stood upright on her back, eyes fixed ahead while relaying precise coordinates to Miles.

"This is it," Ali muttered. "A wolf pack lives here."

Below, at the base of a jagged mountain riddled with knife-like peaks, he saw them—giant wolves, grey-furred with arched, muscular frames. Their size ten times the size of a grizzly bear. Long, crystal-blue horns curled out from the tops of their heads, crackling faintly with electricity. Sparks snapped from their paws as they bounded in and out of a massive stone den.

Each movement was sharp, predatory, perfectly coordinated. They weren't just beasts—they were hunters.

"They're lightning-aligned," Eldora rumbled. "I've seen wolves like them. The lightning dragons use them as toys. Practice targets to master elemental manipulation."

Ali didn't answer right away. His eyes drifted southeast, toward a shadowy grove cloaked in fog and silence.

"That's where the demi-humans are…" he said, voice low. "These wolves are close to their border."

Before Eldora could reply, the sky cracked open—

KZZZRAAAK.

A bolt of pure lightning split the air behind them, ripping through the open sky with no clouds in sight. The beam struck the airspace they'd just flown through—a second too late.

"Hold on tight!" Eldora roared.

She twisted violently, wings tucking as she spiralled hard right, diving beneath the path of the lightning just as another arc shattered the sky above them.

Ali caught a glimpse below—

A towering figure emerged from the Den.

A forty-meter-tall white wolf, fur like snow laced with streaks of silver-blue, stood tall on a cliffside rock. Its twin horns glowed with arcs of seething blue-white lightning that flickered like a living storm. The ground beneath its feet scorched with every step.

It looked up at them, its glowing azure eyes filled with disdain.

Territorial.

Powerful.

Sentient.

KZZZZZZRRAAAAK—

The sky exploded.

Not just lightning.

Beams.

Dozens of tightly condensed columns of blue electric energy shot from the air around the wolf, as if space itself had fractured to obey its will. They didn't streak—they appeared, slicing downward like divine judgment.

The beams pounded the forest floor, carving molten craters into the land. Trees disintegrated. Entire clearings vanished under the force of the strikes.

AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

The White Wolf lifted its head and howled, its horns glowing to a blinding white. The sky trembled with the pulse.

A sound so powerful, it cracked the tips of trees.

"We're leaving. Now.", Ali shouted

Eldora's wings snapped again and she shot sideways, narrowly dodging a beam that incinerated the air just meters away. Ali's coat sleeve ignited from a glancing arc—a single flicker of static—and he ripped it off, tossing the burning fabric into the wind.

Another bolt struck just behind them, and Eldora rolled, spinning with precision between two more columns of light. Each twist of her body shaped the air itself, guiding wind currents around them like a funnel.

Ali looked back once more and locked eyes with the White Wolf—those bright, ancient eyes watched him with a predatory look.

[Personal Mission: Hunt Down the Twin-Horned Mutated Lightning Wolf]

[Reward: +1.5 Spirit Attribute | Spell: Twin-Horned Mutated Lightning Wolf Spectre]

His interface glowed faintly with the new mission, but he barely glanced at it.

Eldora flew hard. Harder than ever.

Trees below burst into flames from residual strikes, and distant beasts howled in fear. Lightning still flickered across the mountains even as they left the wolf's domain.

Back at the kobold caves, Abeloth hovered above the charred clearing. When Eldora landed beside him, Ali stood up, his face grim, his sleeve burned away.

"Neither of you are allowed to fly near that territory again," he barked, jumping off Eldora's back.

"What happened?" Abeloth growled.

"A beast…" Eldora replied, her voice tinged with respect—and caution. "One with the power of a lesser lightning dragon maybe even reaching broodscale with it's control over lightning."

Ali exhaled slowly, absorbing the weight of that truth.

'So that's the level…' he thought.

Dragons had ranks. He remembered them now—Offspring, like Abeloth and Eldora. Then Lesser Dragon, Broodscale, DragonHeart, Elder Dragon, Primordial, EndDragon, and finally the mythical Ancient Dragon Lords.

That wolf—was no offspring.

Ali opened his interface again and reviewed the mission data. His hand moved swiftly as he composed a message to Miles:

[Send drones to the coordinates I marked. Keep eyes on the white wolf. I want it alive until I'm strong enough to kill it.]

He sent the message, then turned back toward the smouldering cave site. The wind was shifting. Smoke coiled into the air. And something…

Something was wrong.

Ali's Force-sense tingled—deep in his wrist, a burning sensation flared.

"Something's moving," he said aloud.

From between the three cave entrances, in the dense heart of the forest, his senses picked up an Origin.

Shadow's eye opened silently from the bark of a nearby tree—watching. Waiting.

Ali began to move toward the centre.

His wrist still burned.

'Not much Origin.'

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