**Chapter 125 – Elowen's Limit**
The first wolf advanced.
Before anyone could truly react, Joker raised his voice:
— Wait.
The group stopped at the same instant.
The wolf was already in the air, leaping toward Astrid, when Joker took a step forward and landed a sharp punch to the side of the creature's head. The impact echoed through the forest. The wolf's body was thrown sideways, rolled among the leaves and stayed on the ground, still alive, but clearly stunned enough not to get up immediately.
The other wolves advanced in the same second.
Joker raised his left hand.
A circular barrier expanded around the group in an instant — thin, almost transparent, but firm enough to make the wolves slam against it and retreat with irritated growls. Several creatures tried to cross. None succeeded. The barrier trembled slightly with the impacts, but held.
Only then did Joker turn to the group.
— Before we start for real… one thing.
Everyone looked at him. Outside the barrier, the wolves circled, scratched and tried to find an opening, without success.
— Elowen — he called her, without beating around the bush.
She raised her gaze, surprised at being called so directly.
— You still don't have the mark.
The silence that followed was short, but heavy.
— The mark? — Elowen asked.
— The one I placed on them — Joker explained, pointing with his head toward the rest of the group. — It awakens the true potential. You still don't have it. So we still don't know your real limit.
Harley beside him smiled sideways.
— And you're curious.
— I am — Joker admitted. — So it'll be like this: everyone stays back. Let her deal with the pack first.
Astrid frowned, looking at the wolves outside the barrier.
— Alone? Seriously?
— Alone — he confirmed. — As far as she can handle. I want to see how far it goes.
Rina crossed her arms.
— And if she can't handle it?
— Then we step in — Joker answered. — Until then, don't interfere.
Elowen stayed silent for a moment, observing the creatures that were still trying to force the barrier. Then she simply nodded once, short.
— …Understood.
Joker looked at the rest of the group.
— You're coming with me.
Before anyone could ask, he raised his hand again. A discreet light enveloped everyone — except Elowen. In the next instant, the entire group disappeared from the center of the clearing and reappeared a few meters above, on a higher stretch of the forest, still with a clear view of everything happening below.
They could see Elowen, the barrier and the pack of wolves circling.
— From here we watch — Joker said. — Without interfering.
Marina looked down, uneasy.
— I don't like this.
— Neither do I — Sylvara murmured. — But… it makes sense.
— She needs to show what she can do alone — Kuroe completed, quiet.
Then the barrier below dissolved.
The wolves advanced immediately.
Elowen took a step forward, alone in the middle of the clearing.
A silver glow ran through her body. In the air around her hand, extremely fine threads of light wove themselves and formed a long and elegant lance. At the same time, a translucent veil opened around her — the **Veil of the Silent Goddess**.
The first wolf attacked from the left, leaping low and fast.
Elowen barely seemed to move. The veil distorted slightly, and in the next instant she was already beside the creature. The lance cut in silence. A silver thread remained marked on the wolf's neck, and a second later the body collapsed as if the strength had been cut from within.
— Fast — Astrid commented.
— Too clean — Rina completed.
The second wolf came next, trying to attack from behind.
Elowen didn't turn her body immediately. The veil closed for a fraction of a second, and she crossed through her own light, reappearing exactly behind the creature. The thrust was precise. Another silver thread attached itself. The wolf fell without managing to complete the leap.
— She's using the veil to change position — Lirien murmured. — Almost like a short step through her own light.
— And the cuts aren't just cuts — Kuroe added. — Each one leaves something behind.
The other wolves began advancing all together.
The entire pack attacked.
Elowen didn't run. The veil around her undulated with every movement, making her position hard to predict. Sometimes she disappeared for an instant inside her own light and reappeared at another angle. The silver threads that the lance left in the air began to connect, forming a thin and deadly web between the trees. Every time a wolf crossed one of those threads, its speed visibly dropped and its posture failed.
One wolf tried to jump over the web. Elowen spun the lance and cut the air in its direction. Three silver threads attached themselves to the creature's body at the same time. In the next instant, the wolf lost its balance in the middle of the leap and fell sideways, powerless.
— That's beautiful — Harley admitted, smiling. — And dangerous.
— She's controlling the entire field — Sylvara said.
Five wolves were already on the ground. Then seven. Then nine.
Elowen's breathing started to get heavier. The veil around her oscillated, growing thinner with every use. Sweat ran down her face. The movements were still precise, but the cost was showing.
That was when the leader moved.
Unlike the others, it hadn't advanced right at the beginning. It stayed farther back, observing. Only now, with a good part of the pack on the ground, it took the first step.
The leader wolf was visibly larger. The body was longer and more muscular, with dark fur almost black, stained by purple veins that pulsed as if they had a life of their own. The eyes weren't just opaque — they glowed with a sickly tone, without a clear pupil. The mouth, when it opened, revealed teeth that were too long, irregular, and a dark saliva that dripped onto the ground and made the grass wither where it fell.
The corruption in it wasn't just visual.
It distorted the instinct. Made the creature more intelligent, more patient and more cruel. Instead of attacking out of hunger or territory, the leader seemed to evaluate. Each of its steps was calculated. The presence it exhaled made the air heavier, and even the remaining wolves retreated a little, as if recognizing something above them.
— This corruption… isn't common — Lirien murmured.
— No — Joker agreed, observing carefully. — It doesn't just strengthen. It changes the way the creature thinks.
The leader lowered its head.
In the next second, it disappeared from its place.
Elowen barely had time to react. The enormous body appeared in front of her with an absurd speed for its size. She used the veil to cross through the first attack, reappearing to the side, but the leader's claws still managed to cut the air so close that the wind from the strike messed up her hair.
The lance cut the creature's shoulder, leaving a silver thread. The leader didn't even seem to care. Instead of retreating, it spun its body violently and tried to bite her torso. Elowen blocked with the shaft of the lance, but the impact threw her several meters back. Her feet dragged on the ground. The veil trembled hard.
— He's heavy — Astrid said, tense.
— More than he looks — Rina completed.
The leader gave no interval.
It advanced again, faster, heavier, using its own body as a weapon. Each rush came accompanied by that sickly purple glow. When the dark saliva splashed near Elowen, the ground darkened and released a metallic smell.
She could still respond. She crossed the veil once more, drove the lance into the side of its body and moved away. But the leader only growled — a low, hoarse and wrong sound — and continued advancing as if the pain were irrelevant.
Two more smaller wolves took advantage of the opening and attacked together.
Elowen still tried to deal with the three. She managed to pin one with the silver threads and take it down. She dodged the other by a little. But the leader was already on top of her again, and this time the veil didn't hold.
The glow around her body shattered.
Her knee gave way. Her breathing failed. The lance lost consistency. The leader opened its mouth, ready to bite, the dark saliva dripping between its teeth.
— That's enough — Joker said.
In the same instant, the group reappeared in the clearing.
Astrid was the first to enter, holding the leader with a direct impact on the flank. Rina cut the path of the smaller wolves. Marina and Sylvara closed the sides. Lirien interfered with the pack's rhythm. Kuroe appeared beside Elowen, pulling her back firmly. Harley and Joker entered last, clean and without hurry, finishing what remained.
In a few seconds, the rest of the pack was on the ground.
The leader still tried to get up one last time, the purple veins pulsing harder, the sickly eyes locked on Joker. He walked up to the creature without hurry and, with a single precise strike, ended the fight.
Silence.
Elowen was kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily, her arm scratched and her body trembling from the effort. The lance and the veil had already completely dissolved. Kuroe stayed beside her, saying nothing at first. Just waiting.
After a few seconds, Elowen spoke, voice hoarse:
— …I reached the limit.
— You did — Joker confirmed, approaching. — And now we know where it is.
Harley crouched in front of her, smiling sideways.
— That was good. For someone without the mark… that was really good.
Elowen raised her gaze, still out of breath.
— And now?
Joker looked at her for a moment.
— Now we finish the mission. After that… we talk about the mark.
Elowen stayed silent. Then she simply nodded.
Around them, the forest gradually returned to silence. The smell of corruption was still in the air, but the pack no longer moved.
**End of Chapter 125**