Chapter 296 - 297: Bigger Fish
Runar and Wukong moved through the void at a steady, controlled pace. Their spiritual senses swept outward in overlapping arcs, mapping the approaching signatures and the shifting clusters of monsters still gathering in the distance. The first wave had been erased. The real hunt was only beginning.
Wukong rested his staff across his shoulders and glanced sideways at Runar.
"So what’s the plan? We chase Universal-level monsters first? Or do we go straight for Multiversal ones and scare the void?"
Runar’s golden-white eyes remained fixed ahead. "We hunt what we can kill cleanly and fast. Universal cores give enough points to be useful. Multiversal cores are better, but they will attract attention. And the stronger the monster, the more likely other survivors will try to steal the kill."
Wukong grinned. "Steal from us? That sounds like a good way for them to die."
"Possibly. But unnecessary deaths waste time."
Wukong laughed. "You say that like you’re doing them a favor."
Runar did not answer immediately. His spiritual sense expanded another layer outward, sweeping across the distant regions of the trial ground.
His spiritual sense range was much farther than Wukongs own.
He checked for monster clusters, spatial distortions, and the residual movements of the other survivors. Most of them were scattering. Most of them were being smart.
Then Runar’s sense locked onto something far ahead.
A familiar aura.
Cold. Ancient. Completely unrestrained.
The Mysterious Woman.
She was moving at a speed that tore across the layer in a straight, determined line. No hesitation. No deviation. No pauses to hunt weaker monsters or avoid attention. Pure, focused velocity aimed at a single distant point.
Runar’s pace slowed by a fraction.
Wukong noticed immediately. "What?"
Runar did not answer right away. His mind worked through the implications in less than a microsecond.
He had already suspected her true nature. The way the time distortion in the first trial had slid off her. The way the barriers had weakened around her without visible effort. The quiet, finished quality of her presence. The fact that the Ancient Will’s viewing threads had avoided her after a certain point. The fact that her cultivation had never been readable, even when everyone else was struggling under the suppression.
Paragon.
Or a clone of one.
The evidence had been there from the beginning. He had simply lacked confirmation.
Now the confirmation arrived in the form of her trajectory.
There was only one target on this layer worth that kind of focused, maximum-speed movement.
The Pseudo-Paragon monster.
She had found it.
And she was going to kill it.
Runar’s eyes narrowed.
Wukong’s expression sharpened. He followed Runar’s gaze, though his spiritual sense could not reach as far. "What is it? Did you find a Multiversal monster? Dont try to steal my kill this time around."
Runar’s voice was calm, but his mind had already made its decision. "No. Something better."
And something more dangerous.
The inheritance of the Rune Sovereign was not something he would leave to anyone else. Especially not to a being who already stood at the peak of the Multiverse. If she claimed the Pseudo-Paragon core and whatever knowledge came with it, the opportunity would vanish. The path he needed would close.
The Will had said it clearly. A Pseudo-Paragon core guaranteed candidacy for the inheritance.
Guaranteed.
That single word changed everything.
Runar did not know exactly what the inheritance contained. But he knew one thing with absolute certainty: the Rune Sovereign’s legacy was the most important resource in this Reliquary. It was the key to understanding the deeper runic language. It was the key to countering the Ancient Will. It was the key to whatever lay beyond the Multiversal peak.
If a Paragon took it first, none of them would have a say.
He had to be first.
Or at least close enough to contest it.
Runar vanished.
There was no warning. No buildup of energy. No parting words. One moment he floated beside Wukong; the next the space where he had been was empty. Only a faint residual distortion marked his departure, already fading.
Wukong froze mid-motion.
His golden eyes widened. He spun in place, staff rising instinctively, scanning the void in every direction.
"Runar?"
Nothing answered.
The void was empty. The spiritual trail was thin and fading fast.
Wukong’s expression shifted from confusion to sharp realization. He launched himself after the residual trail at full speed, golden light flaring around him as he pushed his body to its current limit. The void blurred. Distance collapsed under his charge.
It was not enough.
Runar’s speed had already pulled far beyond anything Wukong could match. The trail grew thinner with every passing second. The gap widened past recovery.
Wukong was forced to stop.
He hung in the empty space, chest rising and falling harder than he liked to admit. For a long moment he simply stared in the direction Runar had gone.
Then he shouted, voice raw and carrying across the void.
"You are just going to leave me alone?!"
Silence answered him.
A heartbeat later, a calm thought-message brushed against his mind.
You are on your own from now on. I have bigger fish to fry.
The connection cut cleanly.
Wukong floated there, staff still in hand, expression caught between disbelief and reluctant understanding. He let out a short, sharp breath that was almost a laugh.
"Bigger fish," he muttered. "Of course."
He shook his head once, then looked back toward the distant clusters of monster signatures still moving through the void. The five-day hunt stretched ahead of him — alone now.
His grip on the staff tightened.
"Fine," he said to the empty space. "Go chase your bigger fish. I’ll handle the rest."
As if the void heard him and decided to test that claim immediately, three Universal-level signatures peeled away from a nearby cluster and turned toward him.
Wukong’s eyes shifted.
The first monster looked like a wolf made of compressed storm clouds. The second had six limbs and a mouth full of rotating spatial teeth. The third was little more than a floating mass of black scales and red eyes.
They had sensed his spiritual flare. They had sensed his anger. They had decided he looked edible.
Wukong slowly rolled his neck.
"You know," he said, "I was in a bad mood because my friend just abandoned me. But you three picked a very good time to make it worse."
The wolf monster lunged.
Wukong moved.
His staff swept out in a clean golden arc. The blow carried no massive principle, no overwhelming law. Just speed, precision, and the accumulated experience of a being who had once fought his way from mortality to the highest levels of existence.
The staff struck the wolf monster between its eyes. Its skull caved inward. Its body spasmed, then exploded into scattered storm energy. A small Universal-level core dropped out of the remains and floated in the void.
Wukong caught it without looking.
"1,000,000 points," he muttered. "Great. Runar is chasing a Pseudo-Paragon, and I am collecting pocket change."
The six-limbed monster attacked from the side. Wukong twisted, letting its spatial teeth pass within a hair of his shoulder. His staff shot backward and pierced its chest. Golden light burst through the wound, burning out the monster’s core in a single sharp pulse.
The black-scaled mass hesitated.
Wukong turned to it.
"Your turn."
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