Chapter 275: Bird King beast.

When Hunter woke up that morning, Zyra was gone. Her side of the bed was cold, the sheets smoothed over as if she had slipped away hours ago. From the way their night had ended, Hunter could not help but suspect the worst. Perhaps she regretted what had happened between them last night and decided to leave the shelter. After all, with Beauty, she could rebuild in any other part of the world in a heartbeat. Perhaps she did not even want to look at him.

He cursed himself for being too impulsive and giving in to his desires. Hunter got out of bed, freshened up, and went to look for her. Finding anyone in the valley was easy in the early morning as the entire encampment was already alive with the sounds of sparring, shooting and clashing steel.

He bumped into Achilles in the corridor leading to the entrance. Achilles stopped dead in his tracks, looking at Hunter like he had just seen a ghost.

"You slept past six in the morning?" Achilles asked, mouth slightly open. "That’s unusual. Are you sick?"

Hunter combed a hand through his messy hair, letting out a heavy sigh. "I sleep fine. I always sleep well as long as I have Zyra close to me."

Achilles grinned, punching Hunter’s chest hard enough to rattle his ribs. "Look at you! Maybe she’s your human sleeping pill. Or_" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "_my stone hearted cousin is actually in love? Is that what this is?"

Hunter did not deny it, but he didn’t agree to it either. He just cleared his throat, feeling a sudden heat on his neck. "Have you seen her? I am trying to find her."

"She did her morning spear training at dawn, then headed straight to the security room," Achilles said. Then he frowned. "Why didn’t you just call her link band?"

Hunter pinched his lips together, looking away. He couldn’t say that he was worried she would answer his calls.

Achilles’ eyes widened. He threw his hands up in total frustration. "No. Don’t tell me you had a fight last night? Did you do something stupid to make her angry already? Cousin, it is way too early in the relationship you to start messing things up. I may be a player, but I understand women."

"It is not like that." Hunter blinked, thoroughly confused by why Achilles was reacting like his own life was on the line.

"Listen to me," Achilles said, stepping closer and dropping his voice into a dramatic, wise whisper. "A woman as special as sister-in-law needs delicate care because she can get any man that she wants. She is a Soul maiden with high tech, beast trucks and this shelter. Men will be shooting each other for a chance to be one of her husbands. You can’t just treat her like one of the boys, and you can’t give other men a chance. You have to be gentle. You have to listen to her feelings. You have to_"

Hunter raised a hand, stepping back with a look of pure disgust. "I would rather die a thousand painful deaths than take relationship advice from a guy who got dumped by a bar girl last week."

"Hey! That was a mutual understanding! She was starting to catch feelings, so I kissed her friend, giving her reason to walk away." Achilles shouted after him as Hunter turned on his heel. "And if it wasn’t for my expert guidance, you wouldn’t have even known where to buy that rare sun gold bracelet for sister-in-law!"

Hunter waved a hand lazily over his shoulder to shut him up and kept walking. He reached the heavy metal door of the security room and pressed his thumb against the scanner. It flashed blue, acknowledging his thumb signature, and the door hissed open.

Zyra was inside, leaning back against the central control console with a steaming mug in her hand. Hearing the door, she turned around and offered him a bright, soft smile.

"You’re up, finally," she said. Her voice was unusually sweet, lacking its usual crisp, commanding edge. She was clearly in a fantastic mood.

Hunter let out a quiet breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He walked over, trying to play it cool. "Good morning. Why did you get up so early?"

"I had to prepare the map routes and supplies for the teams," Zyra replied, turning back to the glowing arrays. "The journeys ahead are going to take us through different territories. We can’t teleport everywhere; it is an opportunity to hunt for resources as well. They have rent to pay. We need to stock up on meat before the plague worsens."

Hunter frowned slightly, leaning against the console next to her. "You should have woken me up. We’re a team, remember? We’re supposed to do this together."

Zyra glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, a playful smirk touching her lips. "I was going to. But you looked so cute sleeping there, like a lazy mountain bear. I hated to ruin it."

A sudden blush crept up Hunter’s cheeks. He coughed into his fist and smiled shyly, quickly shifting his gaze to the giant monitor in front of them to hide his face. His eyes locked onto the live feed, and his smile instantly vanished.

Displayed on the screen was a majestic King Bird beast. Its feathers were a brilliant, shimmering crimson, but what caught his breath were the energy stones embedded directly into its flesh. It had small wings for its body. At the center of its chest rested a fiery red resonance stone radiating heat. It was a creature that had absorbed a lot of energy.

Hunter’s jaw dropped. "My world_ is that what I think it is?"

Zyra nodded, her sweet demeanor shifting into the sharp, focused edge of a seasoned strategist. "It’s a King Beast that is not related to the sea. As humans, we should begin panicking."

Hunter’s brows drew together into a deep furrow as he leaned closer to the monitor, his eyes tracking the glowing thunder-cores on the monster’s wings. "Do you know what its capabilities are?"

"Beauty brought it to my attention first thing this morning," Zyra said, her fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard. Light flickered across the keys as she pulled up a tactical recording. "Look at this."

On the central screen, a video feed began to play. The giant red bird hovered above a row of newly built factories. It tilted its majestic head, opened its beak wide, and unleashed a roaring torrent of liquid flame that engulfed the lower structures in a blinding inferno.