Chapter 76: The Shriek and the Five Hunters
Kaden exhaled, running a hand through his black, blood-matted hair. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind an emptiness that the system couldn't heal. His wounds were gone, but the exhaustion clung to his bones. No notification could erase that.
The sun was sinking, but Netheria Prime remained scorching. Heat rippled off the cracked earth, distorting the battlefield like a fever dream. The air stank of burnt flesh, blood, and the acrid bite of beast bile.
Kaden took a moment to scan the battlefield.
It had been chaos when the fight started— about 50 hunters versus more than 250 beasts. A war of numbers, instinct against skill. Now, more than 100 beasts lay scattered across the field, their twisted forms motionless, their black and crimson blood pooling into the dust.
But humans weren't unscathed.
Around fifteen hunters had fallen.
Fifteen lives lost.
