Glancing at Aleron who stood silently by her side, she shouted loudly, "Have you seen all you need to? In that case, we need to be on our way!"
Aleron's eyes flickered with thought. He then turned his attention to Ashkar, who was still drooling uncontrollably while staring at the abomination with undisguised hunger.
After a brief pause and a heavy breath, he sighed and spoke silently in his mind, 'Ashkar, let's leave.'
Ashkar was stunned by the sudden instruction. However, unwilling to disobey Aleron's command, he reluctantly turned his ravenous gaze away from the grotesque creature before him.
Seeing the dragon retreat, Vela sighed in relief and extended her hand towards Aleron.
Although Aleron was momentarily stunned by the gesture, he didn't overthink it. He reached out and took her hand.
The moment their hands clasped together, firm and warm, she pulled him close to her body. At the same time, her thoughts were silently relayed to the owl, which was still engaging the abomination.
The owl let out a piercing hoot and flapped its wings with great strength, retreating with blinding speed.
As Aleron was pulled nearer, feeling her breath warm against his throat, the owl swooped down in perfect synchronization and caught them both.
Aleron felt a shift in his perception. The sensation of weightlessness overtook him as his feet left the ground. Before he could process the experience, Vela had already dragged him onto something soft.
He landed on a bed of plush feathers, the texture warm and dense beneath him. The creature's body was vast and enveloping, and he could feel the rhythmic movement of powerful muscles beneath the feathered surface.
Aleron didn't know what to think. His gaze turned from the creature's body to the city sprawling below. The wind swept against his skin, brisk and sharp, filled with the scent of smoke, iron, and distant rot.
'So this is how peaceful it feels to ride on one's summoned beast,' Aleron thought. A wave of comfort washed through him, momentarily easing the pressure in his chest.
From this height, he had a panoramic view of the city. Everything looked distant and insignificant from above. Not far off, he noticed several abominations moving across the land—beasts nearly as monstrous as the Tier 3 fusion creature they had just escaped.
Unlike the fused abomination, which seemed like a patchwork horror of multiple beasts, the ones in the distance resembled the prior Tier 2 and Tier 1 versions. They were slightly larger than the norm, their size rivaling the massive fused abomination, and they numbered close to ten.
Below, the abomination they had narrowly escaped watched them disappear into the horizon. Its expression shifted unnaturally, forming what could only be described as a human-like frown. Then it bellowed with rage and gave chase.
Its bulk and monstrous limbs granted it an unsettling speed. Though the owl had taken the initiative to flee and remained ahead by several meters, the abomination was closing the gap at an alarming rate.
Seeing this, Vela's expression darkened. Her brows furrowed with worry and she silently prayed for the other members of the Hunter's Association to arrive. Without their support, she feared they might not make it out alive.
The others in the group were also at the Origin Adept level like her, but they were stronger in both skill and summons. Their creatures were specialized in combat and could stand a better chance against such foes.
Her silent pleas were soon answered.
In the far distance, a faint silhouette raced through the sky towards them. Upon seeing this figure, a spark of hope lit up in her chest. Relief began to spread across her face, but that relief was short-lived.
Without warning, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over her.
She gasped. "What?"
Quickly turning her head, she scanned the area around them. Her eyes darted across the skyline and the space beneath them, searching desperately for the source of this sudden threat. But nothing stood out.
Just as she prepared to command her summoned owl to pause mid-air, thinking the danger lay ahead, her heart skipped a beat. A loud thud pulsed through her chest.
Electricity crackled out from her core, and in the blink of an eye, her body began to break apart. The sensation of disintegration was immediate and terrifying.
Vela's eyes widened with horror. "What the heck is happening?"
Those were her final thoughts as her body dissolved into a fine dust, swept away by the winds high above the city.
The owl, bound to her by contract, let out a painful cry. A wave of anguish rolled through its being. The severing of their bond triggered a mirror reaction in the owl's body.
Aleron felt the change. He heard the deep thud of the owl's heart echo through the beast's body. Due to its immense size, the sound was loud and unmistakable.
Before Aleron could respond, electricity surged from the owl's feathers. Crackles split the air.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Without delay, the massive owl fragmented just as Vela had, turning into glowing particles of dust.
Aleron, now without support beneath him, plummeted from the sky. The wind howled in his ears as he dropped from a height of more than fifty meters. His stomach churned and his mind raced.
Shaken, he snapped his gaze around, trying to understand what had just happened.
Could abominations possess such devastating powers? Was this a new ability he hadn't seen?
Before he could spiral further into panic, a system notification appeared before him in glowing letters.
[Detected the trigger of Karmic Backlash.]
Only six words, yet they sent a chill down his spine.
He hadn't experienced this during the deaths of the couple before, but now...
He had just seen Vela and her summon disintegrate without warning, without even a chance to resist.
His thoughts spiraled.
'What kind of curse is this?'
'Does this mean… no one can ever help me in life?'
Aleron's mind collapsed into a fog of despair. His eyes dimmed, the light fading from them. His expression turned hollow, filled with hopelessness and bitter realization.
From afar, a scream pierced the air.
A woman's voice, laced with horror, echoed across the battlefield.
She had witnessed the moment Aleron's glance met Vela's. Then, lightning surged across Vela and her summon's bodies. It looked to any outsider as though Aleron had struck them down in cold blood.
Her expression turned pale with disbelief.
Beside her, the young man's face contorted with fury.
"Pam! Destroy that young man! I do not want to see even a single trace of him left. Just as he turned Vela to ashes and robbed her of peace in death, wipe him from existence!"
His voice thundered with wrath. His eyes were bloodshot. His entire being radiated murderous intent.
Vela was not just a teammate. She was his sister.
As his shout faded, a thin crack opened in the air beside him. From within that crack, a large beast began to emerge.
Amira, still stunned by Vela's sudden death, gasped loudly.
"You… you've broken through to the Origin Expert realm!" she exclaimed. Her voice trembled. Everyone knew that when a summoner's spatial contract fractured into a visible crack, it was the telltale sign of stepping into the Origin Expert level.
But the man paid her no attention. He hadn't even realized his own breakthrough. In his fury, he had forced the evolution without meaning to.
The crack widened, and from within it, a massive ape emerged.
The creature was a towering three meters tall, rippling with muscle. Its body was marked by glowing red stripes that ran from its forehead down to its legs.
Its eyes, burning red like molten lava, locked onto Aleron with murderous intent.
The next moment, the ape vanished from its spot, launching forward at a speed that defied human limits.
Aleron, still reeling from the shock of Vela's death and falling through the sky, remained unaware of the danger rushing toward him.
But the ape wasn't the only threat.
The fused abomination, which had been chasing them from the beginning, had finally caught up as well.
Two terrifying forces closed in on Aleron from opposite directions, and he was completely exposed—falling, broken, and defenseless.