He dismissed his weapons and looked around at the carnage.

Sixty-one. He'd killed sixty-one of them.

That was... that was a lot. More than he'd expected. More than should have been in a single den.

But he wasn't complaining.

He got to work immediately, moving from corpse to corpse, extracting the shadow goblin cores. Each one glowed with that familiar energy—the bio-electrical power that could fuel the dust rider and potentially other technology.

He worked quickly but carefully, using his sword to cut away metal plating when necessary to access the cores embedded in their chests. Some cores were intact and glowing brightly. Others were damaged from his attacks but still functional. A few were completely shattered and useless.

In total, he recovered fifty-four usable cores.

Fifty-four shadow goblin cores.

That was an absolute fortune in power reserves. With each core powering the dust rider for approximately one hour, he now had fifty-four hours of travel capability stored in his inventory.

[Shadow Goblin Cores: 56 total]

[54 newly acquired + 2 remaining from previous inventory]

Tatehan couldn't help but grin inside his helmet. This had been worth it. Absolutely worth it.

He walked back to the dust rider, which was still humming quietly with the last few minutes of power remaining in its current core. He opened the power compartment, removed the nearly depleted core, and inserted a fresh one from his newly acquired stock.

The vehicle's systems immediately brightened, energy flowing through its mechanisms.

Tatehan mounted the dust rider and looked back one last time at the cave system and the battlefield surrounding it.

Sixty-one shadow goblins. In one fight.

He'd come a long way from the person who'd struggled against just a handful of brutenecks when he'd first woken up on Mars.

He activated the throttle and accelerated forward.

VROOOOOOM!

The engine roared, and the dust rider shot across the wasteland terrain, leaving the goblin den far behind.

As he rode at a more moderate speed now (fast but not recklessly so) Tatehan found himself reflecting on what had just happened.

Sixty-one shadow goblins. That was certainly a lot. Far more than he'd expected to encounter in a single location.

He didn't know there could be that many in one place. The information his system had provided hadn't mentioned typical den sizes. Were shadow goblins normally found in groups this large? Or had this been an unusually populated den?

And more concerning, if there were sixty-one in that one location, how many more were scattered across the wasteland? How many dens existed in shadow goblin territory?

The implications were somewhat unsettling. If each den contained even half that number, and there were multiple dens... the shadow goblin population in this region could be in the thousands.

That was a lot of potential threats. But also a lot of potential cores.

He was probably overthinking at this point, there was no way they'd be thousands of shadow goblins. Even brutenecks weren't up to that number.

But then, it was something to remember for future resource-gathering expeditions. If he and Riven decided to hunt together as she'd suggested, shadow goblin dens would be lucrative targets. Dangerous, yes, but with proper preparation and his enhanced weapons, clearly manageable.

Though he was certain they won't he hunting the shadow goblins except if they wanted their cores to power up a motorcycle.

The fight itself had been... educational. His upgraded weapons had performed even better than he'd hoped. The Shadow-Forged Blade's ability to shift weight had been particularly useful, allowing him to adjust his combat style on the fly between quick strikes and devastating heavy blows.

That alone was insane!

How? How was it possible?!

The Tri-Edge Shadow chakrams had been incredible. The auto-tracking feature especially—being able to throw them and trust they'd find targets even outside his direct line of sight was a game-changer for dealing with multiple opponents.

He'd used the Devastator Hand Cannon only once, but that single shot had been devastating. Twelve goblins eliminated in one blast. The weapon was clearly powerful, but also dangerous, he'd need to be very careful about when and where he used it. Collateral damage was a serious concern.

His gravity manipulation had been essential throughout the fight. Without it, he would have been overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The ability to control his own weight for enhanced mobility and to increase enemy weight to slow them down gave him a tactical flexibility that made the difference between victory and defeat.

And his armor's kinetic absorption had saved him multiple times from what would have been serious injuries. Though he'd noticed the Energy Siphon attempts, brief moments when goblins made contact and he felt a slight drain on his stored energy. He'd avoided prolonged grappling as the system had recommended, which had been the right call.

Overall, it had been a successful combat test of his enhanced capabilities.

But sixty-one enemies... that was still shocking. He'd killed more living creatures in that one fight than in all his previous encounters combined.

It didn't feel good, exactly. These weren't mindless monsters, the system information had made it clear they were intelligent, coordinated, capable of fear. But they'd also been trying to kill him, and he'd needed their cores to survive.

That was life on Mars. Kill or be killed. Survive or die.

Simple as that.

Tatehan pushed the thoughts aside and focused on the horizon ahead.

And then, after another hour of riding, he saw it.

In the distance, partially obscured by heat shimmer and atmospheric distortion, but unmistakable.

The Red Dragon Spaceship.

Home.

The vessel sat exactly where he'd left it.

He felt relieved . Despite his confidence, there had always been that small fear in the back of his mind, what if the ship had been discovered? What if raiders had found it? What if the Obscuron's forces had somehow stumbled across it?

But no. It was still there. Still safe. .

"Home sweet home," Tatehan murmured, a smile crossing his face inside his helmet.

He accelerated toward the spaceship, eager to get inside, to rest, to process everything that had happened over the past day.

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