Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 676: Luna, Hunt

“Luna.”

The Storm Valkyrie raised her gaze to him, her violet eyes sparking with scarcely restrained rage. For the past hour, she had been trembling with it, bolts of lightning dancing in erratic circles between her fingertips.

“Go hunt some monsters for me. If you can’t beat them, just return.”

“Huh?”

Kaiden activated his overlay and tilted the holographic display so the women could view it.

Five hundred meters to the northeast lay a migrating group of Razorfang Slashers, ranging from level seventy-three to eighty-five. These swift, ferocious pack predators featured jagged forelimbs built to slice through tough armored skin. According to the Association’s records, they exhibited “high pursuit aggression, will chase fleeing prey until line of sight breaks or a larger threat is encountered.”

At least forty of the beasts were present.

They flowed like a stream of armored shells and razor-sharp appendages along a tight canyon, adhering to the same migration route that every monster in the deep zone had pursued for days. Their path led north. Toward the convergence.

Luna fixed her eyes on the overlay.

Next, she glanced at the basin where fourteen New Dawn warriors clashed fiercely with the colossus.

Finally, she turned her stare to Kaiden.

The anger vanished from her features so abruptly it bordered on humorous. In its place emerged raw, unfiltered joy of a gamer discovering the ultimate exploit and urged to rush through it.

“Oh my god,” she whispered. “Oh my GOD!”

Seizing Kaiden’s face in her hands, she planted a fierce kiss on him. It carried the flavor of thrill and triumph. Drawing away, her eyes blazed with energy, her smile stretching so broadly it seemed painful.

“I love you. I love you so much!”

In an instant, she vanished. “Got it, I’ll be back after I kill those monsters!”

A torrent of violet lightning burst from her legs, propelling Luna from the plateau like a personified thunderbolt. She struck the earth at full speed, and the terrain smeared into motion around her, the quickest of the group, excelling at her specialty.

Bastet released a content breath through her nostrils, cat-like approval evident. “Magnificent.”

Nyx’s mouth curved slightly.

Calypso’s smile reappeared as realization dawned in her mind. “Oh, I finally got it. Darling, this is simply amazing!”

“Kai...”

Aria spoke softly. She had approached nearer, her silver locks reflecting the dull light. Her look held no euphoria like Luna’s or contentment like Bastet’s. Instead, it showed worry.

“Are you sure this is okay?”

Kaiden held off on replying right away.

He peered down at the basin, where the New Dawn team battled desperately for survival.

He surveyed his own squad. Worn out from the confrontation with the Borer Queen. Still healing from mana exhaustion. Sustained by battlefield supplies and merely two hours of rest.

He examined the overlay, noting the cluster of red indicators advancing via the canyon to the northeast, and estimated Luna’s required time.

“Kai, we only awakened a few months ago! Just a couple of months...”

Yet Kaiden ignored her words.

The Paragon of Sin regarded his lovely moon and interrupted her. “Yes, that’s true, Aria. And in those few months, we’ve achieved more than most teams manage in years.” His tone remained composed and firm. All the girls paid close attention. “The successor of the Heavenly Demon. The man recognized by the Original Sin. That’s what I’m meant to be.”

He halted briefly.

“And yet, here I am. Trapped in a contest, on the beginner’s path, harassed by a man who couldn’t defeat me directly, so he dispatched his lackeys to hinder my progress.”

Aria’s mouth opened slightly.

“This isn’t about slow development, Aria. Everyone begins that way. That’s acceptable. I would have been content to advance gradually, battling every creature in this area, claiming our spot. That’s precisely what I was doing.”

His gaze intensified. A flash of Wrath’s red gleamed at the borders of his irises, appearing and fading, a surge of strength he made no effort to conceal.

“But this? Being pursued? Our prey taken from us? Our advancement intentionally stunted by a man meant to compete in a separate division altogether?”

He directed his look to each of his companions. Calypso. Nyx. Bastet. Aria. The shadowy aura over his head, where Alice observed quietly.

“I refuse.”

The statement struck like a blow from a mallet.

“I refuse to be held down. I refuse to let my father control what I can or cannot achieve. I refuse to see my team, the women I cherish, deprived of the advancement they’ve fought for because one man placed his pride above our destiny.”

Wrath throbbed in his eyes, constant and fierce.

“No more games. No more fleeing. No more allowing them to dictate the rules.”

He faced the basin once more.

“If they want to steal our kills...”

‘They better be prepared to die for it,’ Kaiden concluded in his thoughts. Maintaining plausible deniability mattered, naturally.

Down below, the conflict intensified. Chinedu’s spear slashed into the Colossus’s side as his team rotated positions with flawless efficiency. Ash’s group handled the edges, Brittany and Stacy exchanging strikes on the beast’s rear limbs while Trisha’s distant attacks divided its focus. The Colossus bellowed and trampled and hemorrhaged, yet it yielded territory inch by inch. Gradually, savagely, as such battles ought to unfold.

Then, one of Chinedu’s warriors froze during a spell.

Clutching his ear, where a tiny comm device blinked, the man’s complexion paled. He whirled to face the team and yelled at the top of his lungs.

“WAIT! STOP! DISENGAGE, RIGHT NOW!”

Chinedu withdrew from his lunge and eyed him. “What do you mean?”

“DISENGAGE! WE NEED TO-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Ash drove his sword into the Colossus’s knee, foul fluid splattering his gear. “We’re winning! What’s wrong with you?!”

The warrior seized Ash by the shoulder plate and yanked him away. “You idiot, he’s-”

The Colossus’s earth-shaking slam cut short his words. The basin’s ground exploded, flinging both men aside.

But the alert had propagated. Chinedu’s unit was retreating swiftly, their training surpassing the drive of a successful assault. They recognized the gravity of an urgent signal from within.

Chinedu’s sight darted up to the plateau.

Kaiden locked eyes with him.

The Wrath in Kaiden’s gaze had faded. Replacing it was something more ominous.

Contentment. Subtle, total contentment of someone ready to take any action. The look of an individual observing a lethal snare tightening around his quarry from a safe vantage.

Chinedu’s grin disappeared.

However, withdrawing from a Deepvein Colossus wasn’t a simple choice. It required the beast’s consent, and the Colossus refused to permit fourteen tormentors to escape unscathed. The monster charged ahead, sealing the southern path with its massive form, and its bellow reverberated through the basin, fracturing the rock faces.

Ash shouted furiously. Chinedu barked commands. The team rushed to reorganize, seeking a way out not obstructed by forty tons of enraged, armored hunter.

From his elevated spot, Kaiden observed the entire scene.

Their response was noteworthy, he conceded. The leader had assessed the crisis from one brief message and decided correctly in moments. Chinedu had followed without delay or vanity, forsaking a victorious stance. The support units merged centrally as ordered, creating a compact shield formation that reduced vulnerability as they hunted for an escape.

‘Excellent coordination. Rapid reflexes. Unwavering faith in hierarchy. In any other circumstance...’ Kaiden reflected, examining the frantic shapes below with the impartial curiosity of someone watching an insect hive notice a descending foot, ‘I’d truly admire it.’

They executed every step perfectly.

“Alas,” Kaiden murmured gently. “I’m afraid it doesn’t matter.”

From the northeast, the cries began.

They arrived in surges. A symphony of piercing, shell-like screeches that ricocheted from the canyon sides and amplified, overlapping until the noise fused into one endless tone of savage appetite. Forty Razorfang Slashers surged from the canyon entrance in a flood of edged appendages and toothed armor.

And weaving amid the clamor, vibrant and untamed and completely thrilled, Luna’s laughter rang out over the basin like a summoning chime.