CHAPTER 17: SYSTEM SUGGESTION: ACHIEVE MAXIMUM EMOTIONAL IMPACT BY NOT BEING A CREEP (FOR NOW)

I dropped instantly, throwing myself flat against the cavern floor. The moment I heard Natalia’s warning, my body reacted before my brain could catch up. I rolled hard to the right, feeling the ground scrape against my shoulders and back.

Above me, something massive roared through the space where I’d stood. The air pressure alone hit me like a truck, compressing my lungs and rattling my teeth in their sockets. My ears popped painfully as Natalia’s attack—a compressed sphere of rock, crystal, and God knows what else—screamed over my head.

The sound of impact came a split second later.

CRUNCH.

The Nest Mother’s charge halted mid-stride, her massive body shuddering as the telekinetic cannonball tore through her armored thorax. Chunks of broken chitin flew in all directions. The monster’s legs spasmed wildly, trying to support a body that was now missing most of its center mass.

A wet, gurgling shriek echoed off the chamber walls. The sound vibrated through the stone beneath me, a death rattle that seemed to go on forever. Then, slowly, the bus-sized creature’s legs buckled. The Nest Mother crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact that sent tremors through the entire cavern.

"Holy shit," I whispered, pushing myself up onto my elbows.

Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling. Small stalactites broke free and smashed into the chamber floor. One landed less than a meter from my head, shattering into a thousand crystalline fragments. I scrambled to my feet, heart hammering in my chest.

"Fox! That was fucking incredible!" I turned toward Natalia, a genuine grin splitting my face beneath the oni mask. "You just—"

The words died in my throat.

Natalia hung suspended about two meters off the ground, her body rigid as a board. The purple aura surrounding her hands had expanded to engulf her entire form, but it wasn’t the steady, controlled glow I’d seen before. This was violent, erratic—flashing and sputtering like a neon sign on the verge of shorting out.

"Fox?" I called, taking a step toward her.

No response. Her head slumped forward, the fox mask tilting down. Through the eyeholes, I caught a glimpse of her eyes rolling back, showing only whites.

"Natalia!" I dropped the callsign, alarm overriding protocol.

Her body went completely limp. The purple aura vanished like someone had flipped a switch. And then she was falling.

My mind snapped into a familiar coldness. The clumsy hesitation of the boy’s body vanished. I saw her trajectory, the falling weight, the point of impact on the stone floor.

Three long strides closed the distance between us. I extended my arms, bracing my feet apart to absorb the impact. Natalia fell into my waiting arms with dead weight, her limp form colliding with my chest hard enough to force a grunt from my lips. The momentum drove me back a step, but I kept my footing, adjusting my grip to cradle her more securely.

I looked down at her slack face. The fox mask had shifted during her fall, now covering only half her features. Her exposed eye remained closed, her skin pale beneath a sheen of sweat. Her breathing was shallow but steady.

[Aspect Overload detected in target. Condition: Severe. Estimated recovery time: 6-8 hours minimum. Consciousness return: 1-4 hours.]

The System’s clinical assessment appeared in my field of vision. I glanced from Natalia’s unconscious form to the steaming, twitching corpse of the D-Rank boss. The mission was technically a success. We’d killed the Nest Mother. All that remained was extraction.

And my "partner" was completely at my mercy.

[Seduction Progress: 49%. Opportunity detected: "Knight in Shining Armor" scenario available. Would you like suggestions for maximum emotional impact?

]

"Not now," I muttered, carrying Natalia to a relatively clean section of wall and gently propping her against it. I removed her mask completely, setting it aside. Her head lolled to one shoulder, purple hair falling across her face.

I scanned the chamber, assessing our situation. The Nest Mother’s corpse dominated the center of the room, surrounded by the ruins of the egg mound. Many of the eggs had been crushed during her final charge, their contents spilling across the stone floor in viscous puddles. The air stank of alien chemicals and burnt flesh.

"Alright," I said to myself, rolling my shoulders. "First things first."

Securing the site was priority one. I needed to make sure we wouldn’t have any nasty surprises while Natalia was out cold. I circled the chamber, checking the tunnel entrances and using Ember to incinerate any intact egg clusters I found. The flames were cleansing, reducing the alien offspring to ash and smoke.

Once I was satisfied that we weren’t in immediate danger, I returned to the Nest Mother’s corpse. This was the payday—the whole reason we’d come.

"Okay, big girl, let’s see what you’ve got for me."

The massive creature’s body was already starting to decompose, breaking down at an unnatural rate. That was normal for Abyssal creatures, according to what I’d read. Something about unstable matter from the other side. Whatever the science, it meant I had limited time to harvest what we needed.

I approached the gaping hole in the monster’s thorax, grimacing at the stench. Inside, amid the pulverized organs and shattered exoskeleton, a soft glow caught my eye. There, nestled against what might have been a spine, was a sphere about the size of a baseball. It pulsed with internal light, shifting between copper and gold.

"Hello, beautiful," I murmured, reaching carefully into the cavity. My fingers closed around the sphere. It was warm to the touch and seemed to vibrate slightly against my palm. This was the Core—the crystallized essence of an Abyssal creature and the most valuable part of any hunt.

I pulled it free, wiping away the alien ichor on my pants. The Core continued to pulse in my hand, as if still alive in some way. This would be worth at least 200,000 credits on its own.

I slipped the Core into a secure pouch on my belt. There were other valuable parts to harvest—segments of the exoskeleton, specialized glands, even the mandibles would fetch a decent price. I set to work with my combat knife, cutting away the parts I recognized from the Hunter Net guides I’d studied.

After thirty minutes of messy butchery, I had a respectable collection of trophies. I checked on Natalia periodically, but she remained unconscious, her breathing shallow but stable. I used the time to document our kill, taking photos with my comm unit to verify completion of the contract.

[Suggestion: Consider removing her from immediate danger before she regains consciousness. The psychological impact of "waking up in safety" is significantly greater than "waking up beside a monster corpse."]

For once, the System’s advice wasn’t terrible. I finished my harvesting, storing the parts in the various pouches and compartments of my gear. Then I returned to Natalia, kneeling beside her still form.

"Time to go home, Fox," I said softly.