The battle hadn't ended with the fall of the giant mole beast.
Before Ethan could even draw another breath, a voice echoed across the clearing, sharp and commanding.
"Starfall Barrage."
The air shifted. Dots, tiny, glowing green markers, blossomed in the sky above, dozens upon dozens, locking onto every surviving monster. The beasts froze, trembling under an invisible weight of dread. Then came the sound; twang, the unmistakable release of a bowstring.
In the next heartbeat, the sky rained death. Energy-forged arrows tore downward, each one finding its mark with brutal precision. Screeches rose, cut short as arrowheads pierced hide and bone. In seconds, the clearing went silent, littered with the corpses of beasts too terrified to run.
Ethan and his squad stood rooted to the ground. Even Caleb, who never flinched, betrayed something close to shock, though on his expressionless face, it was little more than a twitch of the eye.
