Chapter 33

Isabella's POV.
But anyone who knows Liam a little bit will know that his chances only make people fall back into the abyss.
"That's very nice of you to say, not bad for my breeder." He smiled and narrowed his eyes.
He couldn't continue to have a fit because of the elders behind him. He just stared at me with a deadly stare and then returned to the end of the line.
He was not even qualified to stand with those elders.
I clenched my fist. I understood that if I couldn't win this thing, then I would end up dying a horrible death. Even the entire Green Creek Pack would disappear from this piece of the map.
But at the very least, you can't reduce your momentum now.
The elders were still standing in a straight line, and each of them was holding a stone with various strange symbols painted on it. They chanted an incantation I couldn't understand, and then looked up at us both in unison.
I just feel the cold hairs are shrugging up because of this action of theirs. Even the surrounding temperature dropped a few degrees as a result.
Elijah took my hand in his. Feeling his warmth, my mood stabilized.
"It's great to see you two come this far. So let me announce the rules for the next test. The specific test is random, with a certain probability of various situations, but what is certain is that this one does not require the two of you to fight a real-life warrior." The elder looked at us indifferently.
"Then, please get ready for the two of you. Please remember that you will only be considered successful if you both get the key together and run out of the secret room."
Perhaps in his eyes, we are no more than dead people. I thought helplessly. But Elijah and I both still stood in the required position.
One of the elders lit a bonfire, and the whole magic formation was illuminated. But then a white mist filled Elijah and me. I subconsciously closed my eyes.
I did all kinds of homework before this. First of all, I knew that this test was mainly testing whether we had the qualities to become a qualified Pack leader, and secondly, we were required to pass the test.
I was expecting a giant python or some man-eating plant, but to my surprise nothing happened.
I didn't hear any sound, and I didn't see anything when I opened my eyes. Elijah, who was beside me, was also gone.
"Elijah?" I subconsciously called his name among the companion links, but still got no response. I could only walk forward.
I don't know how long I walked, but a light suddenly came on beside me. Immediately after that, a T-shaped object appeared in front of me. The machine kept turning, and the T-shaped object rose higher and higher.
What is it? Curious, I walked toward it.
When the mechanism completely stopped turning I realized that it was a huge scale. And Elijah was standing on the step to my left. The two of us were separated by a very deep gully.
Before not knowing the situation, I knew it would be better not to run over.
"Isabella?" he waved his hand at me. I made a gesture to stop his attempt to jump to my side.
"Are you okay? The companion link isn't working for some reason and I'm worried about you."
He lost me once, after all, and I know how that feels.
"It's not bad, don't worry about me. Is that the key we're looking for up there?" I looked upward with my head.
Slowly, the light illuminated the top of that bizarre arrangement in a state that almost defied common sense.
I then realized that on the left side of the scale sat a very small boy. He happened to maintain the balance of the scale together with the key made of stone on the right.
"It's too dangerous." I stared up at him dumbfounded.
"Wow, wow ......" he danced with excitement, followed by the tray he was on shaking with his movements. The child cried out in pain as if he was terrified, but it was because of this that he sat firmly back down.
The stone fell from his feet, which caused the scales to produce more violent shaking.
"Oh my God, this kid ......" Elijah clearly received no less of a shock than I did.
"How dare they, quizzing us with children this old ......?"
I lowered my head in the direction of the fallen stone. The white fog had lifted and I could just make out what was down here. Below the gully was a clear pool, and in the pool lay huge crocodiles. They were even so hungry that they were gnawing on the tails of their own kind.
Seeing me they are even more madly trying to climb up. But because the stone wall is smooth enough, they also have no way to climb up.
"We need to get it out." I looked at the scale.
"But there is nothing here that will allow us to replace that child. If we take it away, I'm afraid this child will fall, too." Elijah looked at that same scale.
If it was one of the two of us to hold the scales down, it obviously wouldn't meet the rule of letting two people pass together.
"I have another idea ......" I looked to the towering base of the scales.
If this is the case, then why not just let the scales all go with it and destroy it? If there is no scale, then there will be no tilt.
And if he fell sideways like this, the child would at most fall to the step we are now on, and would certainly not be bitten by those crocodiles below. Even if Elijah and I moved fast enough, he didn't need to fall to the ground at all. We two can catch him directly.
"Whoa!" Just before I told Elijah about this plan of mine, the boy cried out loudly once more. And as he moved the scales shook violently once more.
He poked his head out and waved at us.
Oh no, he saw us! My eyes widened in horror. A child that small, with almost no way to restrain his instincts at all, he would have crawled towards us.
"Go kick that pillar of the scale! Before the boy falls off!" I shouted at Elijah.
"3, 2, 1!" Almost at the same time, we both kicked towards the pillar.
Elijah ran to the switch made of stone while I held the boy. I cushioned his head with my hand and I almost felt my arm being smashed off by him, but I didn't regret it.
Because I knew that I had saved one of his lives.
"Are you okay?" Elijah asked as he walked over to help me.
"I can stand up. You stick it in the wall so we can get out of here." I stopped him in a hurry. The more time we delayed, the more likely it was that something would go wrong.
Without any hesitation, he held the stone and inserted it directly into the keyhole in the wall.
"Rumble"
Elijah and I slowly opened our eyes.
The two of us maintained the same position as earlier, still staying in that magic formation. Only the difference was that I was holding a baby in my hand.
The baby cried even more miserably.
"This is such a small child, and you're putting him out here?" I couldn't believe my eyes.
"That is clearly a real child, how did you put him in this kind of test?"
"Such as if you want to become an elder of a wolf pack, you must be able to think about such things before you can, if you can't balance among the wolves, the children with what you have to do, and how can you lead a wolf pack down where it should go?" One of the elders stared at me with a deadly stare, and then laughed again.
"And it's an illusion, and we're not so cruel that we would actually capture a little kid and put him there ......"
"No, this is a real child." I interrupted, rubbing the child's cheeks.
As a half wizard, I still have that skill. I can tell exactly what he is.
"Take him to the infirmary, I can't be sure if I really didn't do him any harm just now."
"Normally, only warriors or illusions should appear in such an examination." Another elder stood in front of us seriously. He looked at me, and there was even some guilt in his eyes.
"That means there was a mistake in this quiz, and we'll give you a result after we investigate exactly what happened."
Werewolves still value newborns, and whoever did this was clearly trying to frame Elijah and me, trying to turn us into sinners for the entire race.
"Thank you very much." I still thank those elders for being able to take this matter seriously.
After all this drama was over, I went back to Joanna's side. The baby was lying in the bassinet, sleeping very soundly.
I told her a good account of everything I had experienced today.
"But anyway, you guys passed the second test, and the third shouldn't be a big deal." Joanna hugged my shoulders and comforted me.
I understand that, but I just can't accept them treating a child that way.
"The boy, how is he doing physically?" Elijah sent me a message in the companion link.
"He's healthy." I looked at the boy.
"But you're right, witchcraft isn't that cut and dry with werewolves. I'll make other preparations for that."
I have such ability, then I should prepare for dealing with those werewolves who can witchcraft.
"Don't let yourself get too tired." Elijah comforted me.
"I'm off to training, see you tonight."
He was still working so hard, I figured I shouldn't back off either. I quickly said goodbye to Joanna and ran downstairs towards the training ground.
But just down the road, I was stopped in my tracks by someone I didn't even want to see.
When I returned from my training run, I ran into Liam, who was leaning against a large rock, looking at me intently.
"What are you doing here?" I subconsciously touched the dagger at my waist.
He looked so smug, but this smugness deep down also hides a little bit of weakness, I think he is probably going to do something bad.
But anyway, we made it to the halfway point in this trial, which means there is a great possibility of success.
That's certainly something they don't want to see.
I'm worried he'll just go for it now.
"Don't be so defensive, at least I was once your alpha, right? But I do want to talk to you." He looked at me with a smile.