#Chapter 179: The Hunter’s Path

Richard The farther we pushed into the north, the more the land resisted us. Eldric claimed it was the residual pulse of ancient blood magic. Vampire strongholds, built long before any council treaties. Regions carved out in defiance of law and untouched by time. These weren’t just forgotten territories. They were cursed ones. Roads shifted beneath our feet. Trees bent in unnatural spirals. Sometimes, we moved in a straight line for hours, only to find our own fresh bootprints circling back toward a moss-covered vertebra, massive and sunken into the earth like the remains of something that should not have existed. Nathan strode ahead, his posture locked and rigid. He kept shying away from shadows that didn’t move. None of us had slept properly since the illusions began, not even Eldric. But Nathan bore it the worst. His exhaustion showed in the stiffness of his jaw, the way his hand hovered just slightly too close to his blade. He was waiting for something to go wrong. He always