The corpse hit the ground with a final, wet thud.
It was massive, an apex-class beast that looked like something evolution had personally grown angry at. Thick, layered muscle plated its frame like natural armor with jagged horns curling back from a skull built to ram and gore.
Its hide was still steaming where magic and steel had torn it open. Cracked earth spread beneath it in a rough circle, still humming with residual power.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
They just stood there, weapons lowered, breathing hard.
The girls' chests rose and fell in uneven rhythms, exhaustion finally catching up now that the danger was gone.
Sweat clung to delicate skin, darkening fabric, tracing slow paths down exposed curves and collarbones. Hair stuck to cheeks and necks, strands plastered by heat and effort, and none of them bothered to wipe it away. They were beyond that stage.
This was the quiet after violence, when the body reminded you just how hard it had been pushed.
