The moment Renji turned his head, he saw it—muscles coiled, golden slitted eyes fixed on him, the mutant cat crouched low, its tail flicking like a whip. The air between them was razor-thin. It didn't matter how still he stood or how quiet he became.
It had chosen him.
And it wouldn't stop until he was in its jaws.
Renji's stomach tightened. His home flashed in his mind—Runa, his stepmother—no. He couldn't lead it back. That would be suicide for all of them.
An idea struck like lightning.
He didn't need to kill the beast himself. He had something else—an army, if he could gather it. A real hunt.
Without hesitation, Renji pivoted and sprinted down the cracked pavement, boots pounding against the asphalt. The cat exploded forward with a screeching roar, claws ripping gouges into the ground.
The street ahead was sparsely littered with the dead—three, maybe four zombies. Too few. He needed more.
As he closed in on the first zombie, his voice cut through the air, low but commanding."Attack the cat!"
The creature, dull-eyed and swaying, jerked its head toward the oncoming feline. It lunged clumsily, but the mutant cat was a blur, shredding it apart in a spray of blackened blood without losing speed.
Renji didn't slow.
Another zombie staggered from an alley—he gave the same command. It threw itself at the predator, buying Renji seconds. Precious seconds. Enough to keep running.
He could hear it.
The scrape of claws. The crunch of bone as the cat swatted the next zombie aside. The wet sound of flesh tearing. And behind all that, the rapid patter of paws as the beast broke free and charged after him again.
Renji's breath came sharp and controlled, his heartbeat drumming in sync with his footsteps. He didn't look back. He didn't need to. The sound told him everything—the mutant wasn't slowing, but neither was he.
Three more zombies appeared farther ahead. Perfect. His commands snapped out like a whip, one after the other. They stumbled forward into the cat's path, forcing it to leap, slash, and crush each one before pushing forward. Every kill made it angrier, more reckless—but it also kept it from closing the gap.
Renji could feel it now—the subtle hum of the undead nearby. More were coming. The streets were thickening with them as he got closer to the heart of the city.
Then he heard it—a faint, low moan carried by the wind. The sound deepened, multiplied. One voice became several, then dozens.
The main street.
He pushed harder, lungs burning as the gray expanse opened before him. And there they were—dozens, maybe hundreds—zombies stumbling, shambling, colliding with one another in a sluggish tide.
Renji's lips curled into a sharp, knowing grin.
This was where the hunt would truly begin.
Renji burst onto the main street, his boots hitting the cracked pavement just as the shadows began to stretch long across the cityscape. The sun was dipping lower, staining the sky with streaks of copper and blood-red. He hadn't realized how much time had passed. It was already past noon.
Too long outside. Too long away from home.
But there was no turning back. Not yet.
From every corner, every alley, they came—drawn by the echoes of his footsteps, the scent of living flesh. Zombies shambled into the open, forming a sea of gray, rotting bodies that seemed endless. Their guttural moans rose into the air like a hymn of the damned.
Perfect.
He pushed forward into the thick of them, slipping between bodies that swayed but did not reach for him. The hum of his ability thrummed in his veins, an invisible thread binding him to the dead.
The mutant cat skidded to a halt at the edge of the crowd, its golden eyes narrowing. For the first time, hesitation flickered in its gaze. It looked left, then right, then back to Renji—now swallowed by a tide of the undead.
Renji's voice cut through the street, low but carrying with unnatural weight."Kill it."
The words rippled outward like a shockwave.
The horde reacted instantly.
Dozens of heads snapped toward the predator. The first wave of zombies lunged, clawed hands grasping, teeth snapping. The cat lashed out with blinding speed, raking through them, tearing flesh and splitting skulls. Each kill bought it a second, but no more.
Tier 2 or not, the beast was bleeding time.
Renji stood deep within the mass, watching with cold focus as the fight unfolded. Every movement of the horde felt like it belonged to him—each corpse another blade in his arsenal. The mutant roared, muscles rippling, crushing two zombies beneath its weight, but three more clung to its back. Another clamped its rotting jaws on the beast's leg.
The cat howled.
The dead didn't let go.
One after another, more bodies piled on—some pulled down by gravity, others by the sheer weight of numbers. Claws slashed, teeth tore, but the tide didn't stop. The air filled with the stench of blood, the sound of tearing flesh, and the wet crunch of bones breaking under relentless jaws.
Minutes passed. The beast's movements slowed. Its roars turned into strained snarls. And then, with a final, ragged cry, it collapsed under the swarm.
Renji didn't move. He only watched as the horde devoured its kill, pulling it apart until the mutant cat's twitching ceased and its eyes glazed over.
Silence fell.
As if a switch had been thrown, the zombies froze where they stood. The street was littered with pieces of the slain predator, black blood pooling in the cracks.
Renji exhaled slowly; the sound almost lost in the dead air. The hunt was over.
The street was still, save for the soft crackle of drying blood and the faint shifting of corpses. Renji let his shoulders loosen, finally breathing deeply for the first time since the hunt began. It was done.
But then… something caught his eye.
The zombies clustered around the cat's ruined skull weren't simply tearing at flesh anymore. They were digging—clawing into the beast's braincase with unnatural focus.
A wet crack split the air. Bone fragments fell away, revealing something glinting within. Nestled in the gore was a jagged shard of crystal, its surface faintly pulsing with an otherworldly light.
The dead wrenched it free. And then, as one, they turned toward him.
They held it out like an offering.
Renji hesitated, glancing at the blood-slick gem, before reaching for it. The instant his fingers brushed its surface, a surge of cold clarity pierced his mind.
Words—not spoken, but known—formed in his thoughts.
[Mana Crystal]Condensed essence of mutated lifeforms. Usable for cultivation or enhancement.
The glow faded from the zombies' eyes as they stepped back, aimless once more.
Renji closed his fingers around the crystal.The hunt had ended… but something far greater had just begun.