God-Tier Awakening: The Dead Can Still Level Up

Chapter 26: Fleeing

The forest behind them erupted with roars as Xingluo ran without looking back, her boots crushing through snow, roots, and broken leaves.

Three hours had already passed since the wolf pack started chasing them, but the howls behind her still had not faded.

Instead, the sound kept changing directions, sometimes spreading to both sides, sometimes rushing straight behind her like the entire forest was being driven forward.

Xingluo’s breathing had already turned rough, and the blood on her armor had dried in uneven patches beneath the remaining smell of the beast-attracting solution.

"Three hours," Shen Wuxia shouted from beside her, his gaze sweeping across the trees ahead. "Are we even moving in the right direction?"

Xingluo clenched her teeth and forced more mana into her legs. "Most probably."

"Most probably?"

"The map Vice Leader Wang gave us is pointing this way," Xingluo said, her voice broken by heavy breaths. "If the mark is correct, we should be near the outer dungeon zone."

Shen Wuxia’s expression did not look relieved after hearing that.

A wolf suddenly burst from the bushes on their left, its mouth opening toward Xingluo’s arm before she could fully turn. "Low."

Xingluo dropped her shoulder at once, and the wolf’s jaws snapped above her cloak before her sword cut across its neck.

The blade did not kill it cleanly, but the wound was enough to make it crash into the snow behind her.

Before she could slow down, two more wolves rushed from the right side, their bodies low and their claws tearing through the ground.

The bear-shaped Soul Soldier moved behind her and slammed one paw into the first wolf, throwing it sideways into a tree.

The second wolf jumped over its companion and almost reached Xingluo’s back, but Wuxia forced the Soul Soldier to twist and block with its shoulder.

The wolf’s claws tore through the Soul Soldier’s dark body, making its outline flicker more violently than before.

Shen Wuxia’s soul body trembled faintly as the control burden rose again, but he still kept the connection stable.

"Do not fight them," he said sharply. "Cut anything blocking the path and keep running."

Xingluo nodded without wasting breath and forced herself forward again.

Her legs were already burning, and each step pulled at the injury in her side, but stopping meant being surrounded.

Behind them, the number of wolves continued increasing instead of decreasing.

Some were only around Level 60 or 70, but several larger ones carried bone growths over their shoulders and moved with the strength of higher-level beasts.

Even if Xingluo could kill one or two, she could not fight a pack this large in her current state.

The Soul Soldier kept falling behind, then catching up again whenever Wuxia forced more soul force into it, but its body was no longer stable.

The fight against the scavengers had already damaged it, and the constant blocking during the chase was tearing away what remained.

Another wave of wolves rushed from behind, and this time they came in a wide arc, clearly trying to cut off Xingluo’s path from both sides.

Shen Wuxia’s eyes turned colder as he understood the situation at once, the pack was not just chasing anymore.

It was herding her.

"Left side is closing," he said. "Cut through the middle before they lock the path."

Xingluo changed direction immediately, ducking beneath a hanging branch as two wolves lunged past where she had been a moment ago.

The Soul Soldier charged behind her, smashing into the side of the pack and forcing several wolves to scatter.

For a few breaths, the path opened again, then one of the larger wolves leapt from a rock ahead, aiming straight for Xingluo’s chest.

She raised her sword in time, but her arms were too exhausted to cut properly.

The wolf crashed into her blade and pushed her back several steps, and the surrounding wolves immediately rushed closer after seeing the delay.

Wuxia’s gaze moved between Xingluo, the Soul Soldier, and the tightening pack behind them.

His expression became quiet for a moment, then he gave the order. The bear-shaped Soul Soldier stopped running.

Xingluo noticed it from the corner of her eye, and her expression changed. "Wuxia?"

"Keep running."

The Soul Soldier turned back toward the incoming wolves, its dark body swelling as Shen Wuxia pushed soul force into it without holding back.

Several wolves crashed into it at once, biting into its limbs and shoulders, but the bear did not retreat this time.

It lowered its head, grabbed one wolf beneath its claws, and charged straight into the center of the pack.

The next instant, its body burst apart as a dark explosion spread through the forest like a compressed mana bomb, tearing through snow, trees, and the wolves closest to it.

Several beasts were thrown into the air, their bodies breaking apart before they hit the ground.

The front of the pack collapsed for a moment, and the howls behind them turned chaotic.

Shen Wuxia’s soul body flickered violently, and a sharp pain ran through him as the connection snapped.

For one brief moment, his gaze moved toward the corpses scattered behind them.

So many beast bodies and so much wasted Soul Power. Then his expression darkened even more as even the Soul Soldier was gone.

Before he could think further, a dark streak of light shot out from the explosion and flew toward Xingluo.

It struck the faint mark near her forehead and vanished before she could react.

At the same time, a system chime rang inside Shen Wuxia’s mind.

[Soul Soldier destroyed.]

[Cooldown started.]

[Soul Soldier Capacity: 1/100]

Shen Wuxia’s gaze froze on the last line.

The Black Stone Armored Bear had been destroyed, but the capacity still showed one out of one hundred.

That meant the Soul Soldier was not completely gone, it was closer to a summoned spirit beast than a normal corpse servant, except the cost came from his soul power instead of mana.

Even among Spirit Summoners, most could only maintain a few contracted spirits at once.

Only peak existences could go far beyond that.

The famous Hundred Spirit Lord, one of the Five War Gods, was known across the Human Alliance because he could command one hundred spirit beasts.

And now, Shen Wuxia’s panel was showing the same number as a capacity limit already at the start.

His thoughts moved quickly, but he had no time to study it as the wolves behind them had only been thrown into chaos, not stopped completely.

After a short gap, the remaining pack surged forward again, stepping over the dead beasts without hesitation.

The larger wolves at the back let out angry howls, and the chase resumed even faster than before.

"Damn it," Wuxia said. "They are still coming."

Xingluo’s face had already lost most of its color, but she still forced herself to move.

She pulled out the last smoke bombs from the scavengers’ supplies and threw them behind her without looking.

Several black clouds burst open between the trees, hiding part of their path and slowing the wolves for a short time.

But the pack did not rely only on sight, the smell on her armor and the blood across the forest were enough to keep them chasing.

Just then, both of them felt a sudden change in the air.

The mana density ahead twisted strangely, rising and falling in uneven pulses that made Xingluo’s skin tighten.

Shen Wuxia’s eyes sharpened. "Mana fluctuation."

Xingluo looked ahead while still running. "Dungeon?"

"Most likely," Wuxia said. "And right now, that is better than being eaten here."

Xingluo forced out the last of her strength and increased her speed.

The trees ahead became thinner, and a faint blue-black light began leaking through the gaps between the trunks.

Behind her, the wolves also sensed the mana fluctuation and grew even more violent.

Several rushed through the smoke, their bodies covered in wounds but their speed barely dropping.

Xingluo heard claws tearing into the ground right behind her, she did not turn back.

The forest suddenly opened into a small clearing, and in the center of it stood a massive rotating dungeon entrance.

The portal was unstable, its surface twisting like dark water while strange mana pressure spread through the clearing.

Xingluo did not have time to check the grade, level range, or warning signs.

The lead wolf lunged from behind her, its jaws snapping toward her legs as she reached the edge of the portal.

Wuxia shouted, "Jump!"

Xingluo threw herself forward with everything she had left.

The wolf’s teeth snapped shut only a few centimeters behind her boot, missing her by almost nothing as her body crossed into the dungeon entrance.

The next moment, her figure vanished from the clearing, the lead wolf crashed into the edge of the portal and was thrown back by the unstable mana barrier.

The rest of the pack arrived almost immediately, surrounding the dungeon entrance while letting out furious roars.

Several wolves clawed at the ground around the portal, but none of them entered.

Inside the dungeon, Xingluo fell hard onto cold stone and rolled several times before finally stopping.

Shen Wuxia appeared beside her a breath later, his expression dark as he looked at the unfamiliar surroundings.

They had escaped the wolf pack, but now they had entered a dungeon with no proper information, no preparation and barely any strength left.