Interstellar Beast World: All My Husbands Are Powerful and Rich!-Chapter 45: So this is what it feels like

The situation had unraveled with brutal speed.

The worst news came first: the moment the Rank 11 Chitinid crossed into Veridan City, it seized a Rank 4 female and vanished into the forest depths. There had been no time—none at all—to send a distress signal or call for reinforcements. The creature moved too quickly, its presence crushing the air itself.

To save her, Kather—who had been standing at the peak of Rank 10—was left with no alternative. He forced Yuel to push his power beyond its natural limits, wrenching Kather’s strength upward into Rank 11 by sheer brute force.

It worked.

The Chitinid was destroyed.

The female was pulled back from the brink of death.

But the cost came immediately after.

Yuel had already been injured during the forced amplification, and when Kather’s newly gained Rank 11 power destabilized, everything went catastrophically wrong. His control shattered completely. The backlash erupted outward like a supernova, sending every therian within range flying through the air.

In that final heartbeat before consciousness slipped away, Kather managed only one thing—he wrapped the female closest to the blast’s center in a sphere of raw energy, shielding her as best he could.

Even so, she was gravely wounded.

Kather himself was worse off. His energy reserves were drained to absolute zero, and the violent recoil stripped him of the ability to maintain his true form. Instead of a mighty therian, he was reduced to something pitiful and small—a common bird, black as soot, no larger than a clenched fist.

But the worst fate belonged to Yuel.

With far lower strength and no protection from the backlash, he suffered injuries far beyond Kather’s. His body could no longer sustain even a partial transformation. What remained of him shrank and collapsed into a tiny, black twig—no longer than a pinky finger. The kind of broken stick no one would spare a glance for if it lay on the forest floor.

Chirp. Chirp.

Kather perched beside the unconscious female, pecking gently at her forehead with frantic urgency.

Female... please wake up, he pleaded silently. This place isn’t safe. If another beast comes, you won’t survive...

A groggy thought surfaced through the fog in Rory’s mind.

Who... who’s pecking me...?

She forced her eyes open, only to be assaulted by a sharp, splitting pain that made her wince. Her head throbbed as if it were being torn apart from the inside. The first thing she saw was a plump, pitch-black bird staring down at her, its feathers puffed out like a ball of burnt cotton candy.

For a moment, she was genuinely confused.

Did I stay up all night again? she wondered hazily. This doesn’t feel like a normal way to wake up...

With that fleeting thought, Rory closed her eyes again.

Kather froze.

Panic surged through his tiny bird body. He chirped wildly, hopping from foot to foot.

No—wake up! You can’t sleep again! You’ll die!

He could sense it now—faint ripples of hostile energy approaching. A low-tier beast was drawing closer.

Rory, drifting on the edge of unconsciousness, heard the frantic chirping. Something about it cut through the haze.

Fragments of memory slammed back into place.

The explosion.

The heat.

The forest tearing itself apart.

Her eyes flew open, and she bolted upright.

Agony ripped through her body.

She sucked in a sharp breath, hissing as pain flared across her ribs and spine.

So this is what it feels like to get run over by a truck... she thought grimly.

Every inch of her felt shattered, as if she’d been blown apart and barely stitched back together.

Her gaze snapped around the valley, alert despite the pain, and then locked onto her storage band.

Thank God... it’s still here.

Without hesitation, Rory pulled out a healing potion and drank it in one gulp. Warmth flooded through her veins. The worst of the pain receded almost instantly, replaced by the unmistakable sensation of wounds knitting themselves closed.

She staggered to her feet just as a beast burst into view—a grotesque, chicken-like creature charging toward her with a shrill screech. It was nearly the size of a newborn calf, its feathers bristling with hostile energy.

Rory didn’t hesitate.

An electric blade formed in her hand and flew.

A heartbeat later, the beast’s head struck the ground.

Kather, dragging Yuel’s twig-like form with his tiny claws, stared at her in stunned silence.

This female is terrifying...

Rory calmly approached the corpse, dug out the beast core with practiced efficiency, and slipped it into her storage band. She didn’t bother with the rest of the carcass. The meat was meager and not worth the time.

She straightened, worry tightening her chest.

Jasper... Dax... Gina... the others... Are they safe?

She didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious.

I have to find them.

Without delay, she drew out two Rank 5 beast cores and absorbed their energy one after the other.

Kather’s eyes nearly popped out of his feathery head.

She was only Rank 4—yet she absorbed two higher-rank cores as if it were nothing.

As her strength returned, the lingering weakness finally ebbed away. Rory turned, ready to leave at once.

Kather snapped out of his shock just in time.

He chirped loudly, hopping toward her and pecking urgently at her ankle.

Wait! You can’t leave us here! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Without his abilities, he and Yuel were weaker than ordinary wildlife. Alone in a forest filled with beasts, they wouldn’t survive an hour.

The sharp tap against her ankle made Rory pause. She looked down to see the chubby black bird flapping furiously at her feet.

She bent down and scooped him up, examining him closely.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of ability fluctuation.

Just... a bird.

"You want to come with me?" she asked.

The bird immediately bobbed his head.

Rory blinked.

She hadn’t expected that.

"...You understand me?" she murmured, then narrowed her eyes slightly. "Are you a therian?"

Kather nearly choked.

Damn it!

In his desperation to survive—and to keep Yuel alive—he had almost exposed himself. Until he uncovered the one who had set him up, he absolutely could not reveal his true identity.

He froze in Rory’s palm, praying she wouldn’t press the question further.