I Built a Beast Empire After Reincarnation-Chapter 44: Phantom Hunt – Guerilla War Begins

The air hung heavy with the scent of ozone, blood, and scorched steel.

A flash of blue lightning cut through the smoke as Zephyra circled above the battlefield, her scales catching the rising dawn light. The wind carried the cries of wounded men and the steady clang of steel on steel, but something had shifted. Something had changed.

Darion Bragg was dead.

And the battlefield knew it.

[System Alert: General Darion Bragg Defeated]

[Party Level Up! Lucas Carter – Level 33]

[Kaela Stormfang – Level 33]

[Elira Windshade – Level 33]

[Umbra – Level 33 | Zephyra – Level 33 | Thunderfang – Level 33 | Luna – Level 33]

Lucas stood in the aftermath of the battle, bloodied but unbowed, his Twin Phantom Blades flickering with residual energy. Darion’s body lay crumpled at his feet. Around him, the militia stood silent, absorbing the victory.

But the war was far from over.

"Angel," Lucas whispered, opening his system interface.

{Party Sync Complete. Your stats and bond skills have grown.}

"Then it’s time to finish this," he said, eyes burning with renewed fire.

Beside him, Kaela rolled her shoulders, her axes now crackling with heightened energy from her bond’s evolution. "I say we carve a path straight through their gut."

Elira landed next to them with Luna, her expression grim. "We’ve lost too many. Nera’s been hunting our archers like game. She needs to be stopped."

Lucas looked out over the war map laid across the inner wall parapet. Enemy formation lines had shifted slightly with Darion’s fall, but the remaining generals—Nera and Corven—were still wreaking havoc.

"Agram hasn’t moved," he said aloud. "He’s watching, waiting to strike when we’re broken."

{He’s cautious,} Angel replied. {But if you want to weaken him, break his wings first.}

Lucas nodded, tapping the two glowing enemy markers on the map.

"New plan. We split. Elira—you handle Nera. She’s moving through the eastern woods, picking off our archers and militia squads. She’s fast, but she’s an archer first."

Elira tightened her grip on her bow. "Then I’ll clip her shadow and end the chase."

"Kaela, with me. Corven and Gorefang are smashing our beast lines near the southern trench. We isolate him with guerrilla tactics—ambush, strike, retreat. Same as Phase Two, but sharper."

Kaela grinned, eyes flashing. "I’ll bring the pain."

Lucas turned to Malrick, who had remained at the glyph-board. "Malrick, activate the illusion field near the central ridge. I want Agram locked down in a maze of false targets."

Malrick gave a wicked smile. "You’ll have your ghost army. Let’s see the Warhound chase shadows."

With orders given, the team dispersed.

...

Elira darted through the underbrush like a ghost. Her eyes scanned every branch, every shadow. Luna padded silently beside her, her fur blending into the mists like smoke.

A whistle cut through the silence.

Elira rolled behind a tree just as a silver arrow embedded itself into the bark inches from her neck.

"Nera," she whispered.

A shimmer moved through the trees. The Silver Fang of Stonewatch emerged, her ghost wolf Moonstalker phasing into view beside her, eyes like liquid starlight.

"Well done, elf," Nera said. "You’re the only one who’s ever tracked me this far."

"I’m not tracking," Elira replied. "I’m hunting."

They moved at the same time.

Arrows blurred. Shadows danced. Elira’s feet barely touched the ground as she vaulted between trees, her Phase Arrows spiraling in arcs of light. Nera countered with near-invisible shots, her camouflage rendering her form a flicker of motion.

Moonstalker lunged—Luna intercepted with a flash of claws.

The forest became a war zone of silence and death.

Elira jumped from tree to tree, using wind magic to glide between trunks. She narrowed her eyes, predicting Nera’s rhythm. She fired an arrow into the ground, then another into the sky.

The second shot ricocheted off a rune Elira had etched earlier.

The deflection pierced Nera’s shoulder.

Blood hit the leaves.

"You’re not the only ghost in the trees," Elira murmured.

Nera hissed, vanishing into shadow.

...

Thunder rolled as Lucas and Kaela arrived at the broken southern trenches. Smoke thickened the air, mingling with the stench of burnt fur and steel. Amid the wreckage stood Corven, Beastmaster of the West, mounted atop the massive, armor-plated Gorefang.

"So," Corven barked, slamming a war axe against his shield. "The boy king comes to die."

Lucas raised his Twin Phantom Blades, energy crackling across their edges. "Funny. I was about to say the same."

Kaela dropped from Thunderfang’s back, her axes humming with electric anticipation. "Let’s see if you’re all bark and no bite."

Corven’s grin split his face as Gorefang charged.

The earth exploded under the beast’s hooves. Kaela met the charge in a burst of motion—her axes collided with Gorefang’s horn, sending out a deafening shockwave. Sparks danced where metal met hide. Thunderfang lunged at another beast in Corven’s warband, fangs glowing with lightning, while Umbra emerged like a specter from the fog, his roar slicing through the chaos.

"Phantom Cyclone!" Lucas shouted, spinning mid-air as his blades unleashed a vortex of ethereal strikes. Corven deflected one with his shield, but two slashed across his ribs, and a third grazed Gorefang’s eye.

Corven roared, lifting his war axe in a wide arc. "Earthquake Slam!"

The ground convulsed. Shards of stone erupted in all directions, catching Kaela in the shoulder and flinging her back. She hit the trench wall with a grunt, bleeding but grinning.

"Still standing," she spat, and then—"Battle Rage!"

Her body surged with red energy as her muscles swelled, and lightning coiled around her arms like serpents. She launched forward, spinning mid-air, and cleaved through Gorefang’s plated thigh, drawing a bellow of pain.

Lucas leapt onto Gorefang’s back. "Overdrive—Engaged!"

The twin blades in his hands ignited with spectral fire. He carved a crimson X across Corven’s chest in a blur of motion. Blood sprayed like rain.

Corven swung wildly, desperate.

Kaela hurled both axes, charged with Thundercrash.

CRACK!

One embedded in Gorefang’s eye. The other struck Corven square in the chest, crackling with volts.

Lucas plunged his blades into Gorefang’s spine and flipped backward as the rhino-beast collapsed. Corven staggered. Lucas landed and sliced upward in one clean motion.

Steel met flesh.

Corven’s body hit the trench floor, unmoving.

[System Alert: General Corven Defeated]

The battlefield went still, smoke swirling around the fallen beastmaster.

Lucas turned to Kaela. "One more."

She rolled her neck, retrieving her axes. "Let’s get to Elira."

...

Elira weaved through the dense forest, her every movement guided by instinct and wind. Luna, her Wind Lynx, prowled beside her, silent as breath. The mist thickened, turning the forest into a hall of phantoms.

A silver arrow cut the air—Elira twisted mid-run, barely dodging as it embedded into a nearby tree.

"Nera," she whispered.

From the gloom stepped the Silver Fang of Stonewatch, bow in hand, her cloak dissolving into the mist. Moonstalker, her ghost wolf, materialized with eyes glowing like starlight.

"Well done, elf," Nera said. "But the hunt ends here."

Elira narrowed her eyes. "I’m not being hunted."

Her bow twanged—two Phase Arrows spiraled forward in dazzling arcs of silver-blue light.

Nera countered with twin arrows that split the air mid-flight.

The forest erupted into chaos. Arrows flashed like lightning, shadows collided, and beasts clashed—Luna and Moonstalker, a flurry of wind and ghostfire.

Elira vanished with Veilstep, reappearing atop a branch and firing downward. Nera rolled and returned fire, sending a tri-shot of ghost-tipped arrows that exploded in icy mist. Elira somersaulted through the branches, bouncing from trunk to trunk, her movements seamless and liquid.

She etched a wind rune mid-combat into a tree trunk with an enchanted arrow.

Nera lunged into the kill zone.

Elira fired a decoy arrow into the dirt, then a second into the sky.

The second ricocheted off the rune.

WHUMP—CRACK!

The arrow pierced Nera’s shoulder from above. She gasped, stumbling backward.

"You’re not the only ghost in the trees," Elira said coldly, her form reappearing with a gust of wind.

Moonstalker pounced—but Luna intercepted mid-leap, fangs locking with her foe’s throat. A spiral of wind exploded around them. The ghost wolf let out a final, fading cry as she dissolved into mist.

Elira didn’t hesitate.

She drew one last arrow—shimmering, whispering with magic.

Nera spoke from the shadows. "You’ve done well."

"I’m not done yet," Elira said, blood dripping from her arm.

They fired simultaneously.

CRACK.

Both arrows struck.

Elira hit one knee, blood leaking from her ribs—but Nera’s shot deflected just barely.

Nera stumbled, staring down at the arrow in her chest.

Then she fell.

[System Alert: General Nera Valen Defeated]

Lucas appeared moments later, blades drawn—but the battle was over.

He knelt. "You alright?"

Elira grinned through pain. "She was good..."

She stood, shoulders squared.

"...but I was better."

Across the field, the illusions around Agram were fading.

The Warhound growled, realizing he’d been isolated.

Lucas turned toward the now-lone commander of Stonewatch.

"Lord Agram of Stonewatch," he said. "It’s your turn."