The Oldest Dream of Eternal Night
Chapter 46: The jackals

Chapter 46: The jackals

He shook his head. Despite everything, it was nice talking to a girl. It was completely different from his conversations with his buddies.

Hannah doesn’t count, she’s one of the buddies!

Thinking about it, he looked around... and spotted the girl in question, pacing back and forth as if patrolling a small, specific area of the park.

Kaiser approached her. She was breathless, taking a sip of water when she saw him coming. She put down her bottle and prepared to leave, but he stepped into her path.

"I can feel your stare from across the map."

"Excuse me, young man..."

She tried to push past him, but Kaiser grabbed her arm.

"Let go of me, Kaiser!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Isn’t it obvious!?"

"Not to me. I know you. And you don’t jog, Hannah. Are you spying on me, by any chance?"

"Tss, you think the world revolves around you!? Let me go, bastard!"

Kaiser raised his hands in surrender, then turned around.

"You should mind your own business, Hannah. I’ve told you before, you should have some self-respect. Your little schemes are embarrassing."

"Go fuck yourself, Kaiser. You think I care about your little person?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure..."

Hannah’s face tightened, veins bulging on her forehead. She wasn’t just angry, but deeply embarrassed. And that bastard Kaiser wasn’t making it any easier, twisting the knife with malicious pleasure.

"If you must know, I came—"

"I don’t care."

"Actually, I’m waiting for my boyfriend, who’ll be here any minute!" she shouted, clenching her teeth.

"What!?"

Kaiser stopped dead in his tracks.

"You heard me. So you can keep your dates with Katrina, I don’t care!"

"Hmph..."

Without another word, Kaiser walked away, hands in his pockets, leaving Hannah boiling with rage behind him.

What’s she up to now?

But for now, he had other things on his mind. He should do some studying. Lately, he’d been neglecting his pathology courses.

The abandoned warehouse was a ruin of rusted sheet metal and cracked concrete, swallowed by the shadows of night. Weeds pierced the ground, and the acrid smell of damp metal saturated the air. Broken windows let in the pale moonlight, illuminating stacks of gutted crates and dangling chains. Yara, crouched behind a container, observed the interior, her green eyes narrowed.

Her poisoned daggers, sheathed at her belt, glinted faintly. Beside her, the young paladin adjusted her blessed armor, a steel harness engraved with runes that clinked with every movement. Beneath her helmet, her youthful voice proved her age, barely older than Yuki, or even younger.

"Are you sure we’re in the right place?" the paladin whispered, her hand gripping the hilt of a long sword. "It smells like death here."

Yara snorted, her tone sarcastic. "Welcome to my world, kid. It’s not a birthday party. Twenty jackals, Terror-level, hiding in there. You better not shake."

The paladin straightened her chin, her helmet gleaming. "I’m not shaking. I’ve already killed a Wunder. A goblin, last month."

Yara raised an eyebrow, impressed despite herself. "A goblin? Not bad for a novice. But jackals aren’t anomalies. They’re beasts, and they hunt in packs. Stay close to me and shut up."

The paladin nodded, but her breath was short. Yara slipped into the warehouse, her movements fluid. The paladin followed, less discreet, her armor creaking slightly. The interior was a labyrinth of debris—broken pallets, rusted barrels, and dangling chains that tinkled in the wind.

A guttural growl broke the silence, followed by another. The jackals, Wunder resembling humanoid hyenas, prowled. Their yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness, their claws scraping the concrete.

*’I don’t get why a royal family would send so many of these things for a relic. They’re Jagd. As if they’re protecting something?’*

Yara whispered, her tone icy. "They’ve scented us. Get ready."

Before the paladin could respond, two jackals leaped, their muscular bodies covered in bristly fur, their fangs glistening with saliva. Their yellow eyes shone with bestial hunger, their muzzles distorted by rasping growls.

The paladin reacted instantly, raising her blessed sword, the steel glowing with a silvery light. She parried the first claw strike, the force of the impact vibrating through her armored forearm. In a fluid motion, she countered, her blade slicing deeply into the jackal’s flank. The beast howled, a piercing cry that shattered in the air, but the second attacker gave her no respite. It lunged for her throat, fangs ready to tear through the flesh beneath her helmet.

The paladin dodged just in time, feeling the hot breath of the beast brush her neck.

Yara didn’t wait. Her poisoned daggers shot from their sheaths like darts, tracing deadly arcs in the air. She dove under the belly of a jackal, planting a blade in its guts before the beast could react. The poison, corrosive to Wunder blood, worked instantly. The flesh began to dissolve, acrid smoke rising from the gaping wound. The jackal collapsed, its limbs writhing in violent convulsions, before twisting one last time in a muffled death rattle.

Yara rolled to the side to avoid a bite, her body as flexible as a blade. Within seconds, five jackals lay at her feet, their bodies blackening under the venom’s effect.

She turned to the paladin, still fighting two opponents. The paladin blocked strikes with her shield, but her movements began to show fatigue.

"Move your ass, Paladin!" Yara shouted.

With a swift gesture, she threw a dagger that whistled through the air before embedding itself in a jackal’s eye. The beast collapsed, howling in pain.

The paladin seized the moment to slash the throat of the second, her blade glinting with black blood.

"I’m handling it!" she growled, but her voice trembled, betraying exhaustion.

Then the entire pack charged.

A dozen jackals surged from the shadows, their silhouettes twisted with rage. Their growls formed a menacing cacophony, their clawed paws tearing at the ground in their rush.

Yara cursed under her breath.

"Fuck."

She jumped on a wooden box to rise from the height, her eyes quickly sweeping the battlefield. Time seemed to slow down.