Chapter 368: Heartworld Pulse
Chapter 368: Heartworld Pulse
The alcove smelled like ozone and old metal. Kyle leaned back against the pylon, letting the cold bite through the Aegis-V plating. Elara’s breathing was steady now, the suit’s internal readouts cycling from amber to a slow, stable green.[AEGIS-V SUIT ENERGY: 45%]
[EST. DURATION: 11H 42M]
[DARK ENERGY FILTER: ACTIVE]
"Half a day," Kyle muttered. "That’s not long."
[Not if the swarm finds us first,] Snow replied, her voice dropping from playful to tactical. [And they will. Those vibrations you felt? They’re not moving away. They’re circling.]
Kyle closed the status window. The blue text faded, but the numbers stayed burned into his head. Lv. 50. Abyssal Shadow Weaver. 10,000 XXX points sitting untouched. Not the time for upgrades. Not with blood puppets and something called a Nabakayak on the move.
He shifted Elara so her head rested against the curve of the metal. Her pulse was weak but present. The suit was doing its job, pulling the corroded air and dark energy out of her lungs one filtered breath at a time.
"You heard them," Kyle said quietly. "Slimes. But not slimes. Shaiyak. Farak. Gathering. Humans on Kraken."
[Piece it together,] Snow said. [Kraken isn’t just a dead world. Something lives here. Organizes. Those voices? That was military. A patrol. Young one wanted to hunt the Nabakayak, older one shut him down. "Come of age" means they have ranks. Rules. And if there’s news about humans, Vladimir isn’t the only one who knows we’re here.]
Kyle’s jaw tightened. Argos was dead, but the fallout was just starting. The swarm on their tail, the blood puppet quest with no coordinates, and now a structured force that called this place home.
He peered past the edge of the pylon. The red sand stretched out like a wound. The pale ash trees with their black leaves swayed without wind. The red fruit pulsed, slow and deliberate, like a heartbeat. The musky black stream cut through the center, and for a second Kyle swore the surface rippled in the shape of a sigil he’d seen in Lilith’s old grimoires.