Forsaken Hunter-Chapter 28: The Price of Resistance

Beno stirred.

A dull, throbbing pain bloomed in his skull as his eyes blinked open. Harsh fluorescent lights glared overhead, making him squint. The sterile scent of disinfectant hit his senses next, sharp and sour. Machines beeped steadily beside him.

> A hospital... When did I...

His mind was foggy, fractured. The last thing he remembered was the ambush—blades, blood, the roar of chaos—and then, darkness.

Slowly, he turned his head.

Luna sat beside him, unmoving. Her face was pale, her eyes hollow. She didn't run this time. She wasn't crying. But her silence was louder than any sob.

"Luna," Beno said, voice low and scratchy.

She didn't respond. Her lips trembled, but no words came. She stared down at her hands—clenched so tightly, her knuckles had gone white.

Across the room, Charles and Sam sat quietly. Their expressions were grim, their eyes bloodshot. Like they hadn't slept.

"Charles? Sam?" Beno asked, sitting up slowly. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"

The two exchanged a look.

Charles stood and walked over. He leaned in, voice hushed, as if afraid the walls might hear.

"Beno... you need to listen carefully," he whispered. "Something went wrong. Badly wrong."

He took a breath, then explained everything.

While Beno had been unconscious, the guild had immediately transported him to their emergency medical wing. News of his condition spread fast, and Luna—guilt-ridden over their last argument—had insisted on seeing him that night. Ella, ever supportive, came along.

But the timing couldn't have been worse.

"They were attacked on the way," Charles said. "Ambushed. An unknown group surrounded them—armed, skilled, and organized. Luna says they weren't ordinary thugs. They were hunters. High-ranking ones."

Beno's eyes narrowed. His heart thumped louder with each word.

"They took Ella," Charles continued, voice tight. "She fought them—bought Luna just enough time to escape. But she... she was captured."

Luna finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "It was the same van. The black one we reported weeks ago—the one linked to the missing women cases."

Beno's blood ran cold.

That van. The same one they'd seen while investigating the illegal experiments. It had vanished from the streets like a ghost, slipping through every net the guild had cast. They'd suspected something dark was brewing beneath Libeus's polished surface, but no one imagined it would strike so close. So soon.

"We tried to track them," Sam added, frustration lacing his voice. "But before we could move, we were hit by the Wolf crew—those rogue enforcers. Someone's trying to cover this up."

Beno's fists clenched beneath the thin hospital blanket.

Ella—gone.

Taken by the same organization they'd been hunting. The same one abducting women for unspeakable experiments. And now, one of their own had been dragged into that nightmare.

Rage boiled in his chest, hot and bitter.

But beneath it, something colder took root—*clarity*.

They weren't just dealing with criminals anymore. These people were smart. Organized. Protected by power and money. They had eyes inside the guild... and maybe higher.

This wasn't just another mission.

It was war.

And Beno wasn't going to sit in a hospital bed while Ella suffered.

Not again.

Scene Shift: The Underground Lab

Somewhere far beneath the surface, buried in the shadows of Libeus...

Cold metal doors hissed open as two masked guards dragged an unconscious Ella into a dim corridor. The sterile white of a hospital was gone—replaced by damp concrete, flickering red lights, and the hum of machines that didn't belong in any legal facility.

They tossed her into a narrow, reinforced prison cell with no windows—just thick walls and a barred door of alloy. Chains rattled around her limbs as they secured her wrists and ankles to the floor.

Clang.

The cell door shut.

Silence returned.

Minutes passed before Ella stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open weakly. Pain bloomed in her ribs and shoulders, but it was the stench—of sweat, blood, and something rotting—that truly woke her.

She blinked, disoriented, only to find herself surrounded by young women. Maybe five... maybe ten. She couldn't count them all. They were scattered across several cells, each one chained, beaten, trembling. A few lay completely still—too quiet.

Muffled sobs echoed down the corridor.

Ella's heart pounded as her breath caught in her throat.

This wasn't just a prison. It was a slaughterhouse.

Across from her, one woman huddled in a corner, cradling a pendant—a grandmother's keepsake—gripping it like a lifeline.

Ella struggled to sit up. "H-Hey... you—how long have you been here?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

The woman turned slowly. Her eyes were bloodshot. Haunted.

"I've been here... a week," she said, her voice cracking. "They took me from the outskirts. Said I was being transferred to a guild. But it was a lie..."

Her breath hitched.

"Every night... I hear screams. Girls crying. Begging. Then silence. And in the morning... they're gone. But I saw one—just once—when they threw the body out. Her stomach... it was cut open. Hollowed out. They're using us for something—illegal monster breeding or... or worse."

Ella felt her stomach churn. The bile rose in her throat.

She'd heard the rumors. The missing women, the untraceable vans, the whispers of something dark buried beneath Libeus. But this—this was beyond horror.

This was inhuman.

And now, she was inside it.

Scene: Escape Attempt

Ella's eyes adjusted slowly to the dim red hue of the underground cell. The iron stench, the cries, the bruised women—it all clawed at her sanity. She had fought monsters, seen death, but this? This was evil wearing a human face.

But she wasn't just some helpless girl.

She was a hunter.

Her breath slowed, body still as she studied her cuffs. They were forged from reinforced iron—not standard prison shackles—but rust... rust could weaken anything.

Quietly, discreetly, she summoned moisture from the air. Tiny droplets formed around her fingertips, condensing into a trembling bubble of water. She pressed it against the cuff's hinge, whispering to it with her mana. Her water, laced with pressure and oxygen, began to corrode the metal. Slowly. Silently.

Then, she shifted her palms to the wall, mixing pressure bursts with moisture. The concrete cracked just enough to anchor her grip.

Snap!

With one final surge of physical strength, enhanced by her hunter physique, Ella shattered the weakened cuff.

She winced as the metal tore skin, but she didn't pause. Moving quickly, she reached the adjacent cells, whispering to the girls, "Stay quiet—I'll get you out."

One by one, she cracked locks, shattered chains. Hope began to flicker in those broken eyes.

But hope came too loud.

Ella hadn't seen the camera mounted above her own cell—hidden in the shadowed corner. The red light blinked once.

Too late.

ALERT: Cell breach detected.

The metal door burst open.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Three guards stormed in, grinning beneath their masks.

"Well, look at the little hero," one snarled, brandishing a shock baton.

They lunged.

Ella ducked, spun, and drove her fist straight into the first guard's face—bone cracked beneath her knuckles. She seized him by the neck, threw him into the second, sending both crashing into the cell bars. The third rushed her—but she twisted and delivered a brutal kick to his solar plexus, knocking the air from his lungs.

She didn't wait.

Blood dripping, heart pounding, she ran.

Down the hall. Past doors marked with numbers, past screams behind steel. She didn't know where the exit was—but she had to find it. She had to—

Zzzap!

A cold, electric sting tore through her neck. Her legs gave out.

She crumpled mid-stride.

The world blurred. Distant laughter echoed around her as boots approached.

Someone knelt beside her, grabbed her hair, and forced her half-upright. She couldn't fight. She couldn't even scream.

"You've caused quite a mess," a smooth voice drawled. "But you're special, aren't you?"

As her vision swam in and out of black, Ella saw him—the man in the white coat, surrounded by equipment and surgical tools.

The Chief of the Illegal Experiment Division.

A name unknown to the surface.

But in this darkness, he was king..