Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 718: Revenge

Miles upon miles lay the valley underneath, an immense basin filled with rock, brush, and dispersed monster domains where rookie-track guilds mainly conducted their operations. From their high vantage point, the landscape appeared like an open map, showing clusters of hunter teams in action, vacant areas separating territories, and the innate paths monsters followed between their feeding spots.

Those passages brimmed over.

A deluge of monsters surged through them, scores of beasts with no reason to travel as one, deadly foes that usually slaughtered each other instantly now dashing together in a frenzied, terrified herd escaping an even greater horror. They slammed into the hunting areas like ocean waves shattering on cliffs, while the minuscule silhouettes of novice combatants fled in chaos before the onslaught.

Not all escaped in time.

Brittany snatched her artifact and made the call.

...

"Kaiden!" Her tone was tense, rapid, and reduced to pure urgency. "Move now! Immediately! Get your team away from there!"

Kaiden and his girls lingered scattered across the kill site from their recent hunt, catching their breath.

Deep within the mountains they were, well above the basin hosting most rookie-track guilds. Lower levels buzzed with groups farming lesser beasts, safely accumulating experience in secure areas. Over a week back, Kaiden’s squad had surged beyond that, ascending into zones with monsters level seventy-plus, distant from any ally by miles.

This strategy fueled their victories. Yet it explained why Brittany’s alarm didn’t align with his visible surroundings.

"Calm down," he instructed. "What’s going on?"

"The leaderboard’s bleeding points. Numerous guilds dropping tens of thousands in moments. Silver Talon down forty thousand. Iron Halo thirty. Seven fighters dead, Kaiden. Gone in seconds."

Luna bolted upright.

"I’m perched on a ridge overlooking the main basin," Brittany pressed on. "Monsters are overwhelming the newbie areas, cascading from higher ground in a massive stampede. Hunters fleeing with hunted. All bolting downward."

Right then, he sensed it.

A subtle tremor rippled through the stone underfoot, slight enough to ignore as an earthquake—had Brittany’s words not primed him.

"It’s heading our way too."

"Run then!"

Kaiden wasted no time.

"Head south," he commanded. "Quick. Stick close."

They bolted.

His artifact vibrated.

"Kaiden." Tessa’s voice, void of the teasing lilt from the woman who jostled Talia’s shoulders. "Staff alerted me. Major trouble’s unfolding, and I suspect the cause."

Kaiden clenched his fist. "Me too."

"I’ll arrive in two minutes. Give the order, and we step in."

"No."

"Kaiden-"

"Allied intervention in a contest means disqualification for me."

"Preferable to death."

"Intervene only as absolute last resort." His tone stayed even and firm, though Luna shot him a side-eye, detecting the rage simmering below. "Hold off, Tessa. Unless the Association halts the event officially."

Silence hung for a moment on the line.

"Understood," Tessa acknowledged.

Brittany chimed in afterward. "We’re heading your way already. We’ll get there in-"

"No."

"Independent mercs here. No guild ties. Rules won’t-"

"Rules mean nothing if Magnus’s attorneys claim you’re effective allies. Sheltered under my flag, funded via my funds, defended legally by Runewoven. Everyone saw the ’Used and Abused’ clip. Any review panel would deem you connected." He dodged beneath a rocky ledge, sprinting onward.

"Got it..." Brittany sounded strained.

The connection cut out.

The noise hit them prior to the monsters.

A deep growl began it, vibrating in chests before ears caught on. It swelled, building layers—the roar of countless forms thundering through rocky tunnels and tight trails, the wails of displaced beasts charging wildly in fury and terror.

The earth quaked under them as they pressed on.

Luna led the pack, as Luna always did.

Behind, the roar intensified. Forward, the mountain’s usual noises twisted similarly, animals racing south across the land, propelled by identical dread.

Southward they drove.

"Cut’s coming up!" Luna shouted over her shoulder, pace unbroken. "Narrow, fits humans. Too cramped for big stuff to chase fast. Leads to a downslope beyond."

No one replied. They accelerated.

As they curved around the turn, the fissure appeared—a split in the cliff, scarcely broad enough for two side-by-side, walls jagged and uneven. Luna nailed it. A bottleneck to clog the herd while they squeezed past.

Luna arrived first.

The overlook above disintegrated.

Rocks broke free from the cliff and crashed into the fissure’s entrance, enormous stone blocks striking with explosive impact, hurling rubble everywhere. Luna leaped back; Kaiden snagged her, arm snaking her waist to yank her against him as the biggest chunk gouged the spot she’d occupied.

The blast wave toppled Aria. Calypso yanked her upright mid-stride.

The passage lay entombed. Mountains of rubble sealing their exit.

Luna trembled in his hold. "What the fuck?!" she spat.

Kaiden gazed upward to the ridge.

Vacant, briefly.

Next, three silhouettes strolled into sight, relaxed and leisurely, like casual walkers spotting a curiosity below. Two matched perfectly—height, frame, slouched stance. The other, a dark-haired woman whose locks danced in the breeze.

Cassian. Calix. Selena.

Kaiden eyed the sealed path. Then the approaching stampede roar. Then his siblings above, gazing down with arrogant, triumphant smirks.

Irony struck hard.

Luna had pulled this stunt. His crew invented it—driving beasts at New Dawn’s group, striking amid turmoil disguised as crisis aid.

This mirrored it, amplified a hundredfold, targeting the entire basin.

’They can slaughter us lawfully under our own pretext... Assault framed as incidental damage.’

Selena grinned. "You should probably start running again."