Elara moved across the southern approaches, scanning the broken terrain as she went.
The plan was simple on the surface. Draw predators. Lead them toward the sunken basin. Do not get trapped. She kept her route wide and her movements efficient, using the ridges and cuts for cover while searching for suitable targets.
It did not take long to find them.
A pack moved through a shallow ravine below her position — low, powerful bodies built for speed. Each one ran on six legs, the middle pair longer and more muscular than the others, giving them explosive acceleration over short distances. Their hides were a mottled ash-gray, blending well with the stone. Four eyes sat in a wide arc across their broad heads, two facing forward and two angled for peripheral vision. Long, rigid spines ran along their backs. There were more than two dozen of them, spread in a loose hunting formation as they worked the ravine floor.
Elara watched their movement pattern for a short time. They were fast. Coordinated. Aggressive once provoked. Perfect for the plan.
She dropped from the ridge without warning and struck the trailing edge of the pack.
Her first cut took one of the creatures across the hindquarters, dropping it with a snarl. The rest of the pack reacted instantly. The nearest ones turned and launched themselves toward her with startling speed, six legs tearing across the stone. Elara did not stand her ground. She killed a second one with a clean thrust through the neck, then broke contact and ran along the ravine wall, deliberately staying visible.
The pack followed.
They were faster than her on open ground. Several times she was forced to cut sharply between rock spires or use short bursts of flight to keep them from closing. One leapt from a side ledge and nearly caught her shoulder; she twisted, let its momentum carry it past, and kept moving. The pack’s four-eyed heads tracked her without difficulty, and their low, harsh calls began to echo across the southern slopes as more of them joined the chase from nearby cuts.
Elara led them in a long, curving route that slowly bent north toward the basin. Whenever the pack began to lose interest or scatter, she turned back just long enough to wound another one or kill a straggler, feeding their aggression and keeping the group together. The noise of the running hunt carried. Other creatures in the area began to notice. A few opportunistic scavengers fell in behind the main pack at a distance, drawn by the blood and the movement.
She repeated the process with a second, smaller group further west — eight more of the six-legged hunters — and forced them onto a converging path with the first pack. By the time she reached a higher ridge overlooking the outer approaches to the sunken basin, well over thirty of the creatures were moving in rough coordination toward the tomb’s direction, still focused on her as the primary target.
Elara finally broke cleanly away, using a steep drop and a burst of speed through a narrow fissure to lose them. The pack continued forward for a time on momentum and blood-scent before beginning to spread across the outer basin slopes, agitated and searching.
From her new position she could see signs of movement on the eastern and northern approaches as well. The others were doing their part.
Elara checked her blade, scanned the routes leading down toward the tomb, and began her final approach toward the planned rendezvous ridge.
Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)
Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.
Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.
Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.
Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.
Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc
Power Scale Reminder
Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.
Elara Voss: Core Condensation Peak
Keep it as reminders
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