Chapter 6: I Took the Packlord’s Dominion—and Twelve Blackfang Bowed
[First Blood Trial]
[00:09:11]
Cassian could smell them.
Not one beast. A pack.
With Bloodsense active, the forest had become a different kind of map. Rotting leaves, damp earth, animals, blood—every scent had its own place in it.
The strongest trail came from directly ahead, surrounded by twelve weaker ones.
He had reached the pack.
Cassian slowed as the ground dipped into a dark hollow.
At its center, a giant wolf nearly two meters tall lay across a stone platform. Black fur clung to its body like wet iron, while a gray-white ridge of bone ran from its forehead down its spine.
Twelve smaller Blackfang rested around it.
[Blackfang Packlord]
[Level: 7]
[Core Trait: Pack Dominion]
[Secondary Trait: Iron Fang]
[Pack Dominion: Suppresses the will of its own kind, forcing those of a lower life tier into obedience.]
Cassian’s eyes settled on the first trait.
That was the one.
Then twelve pairs of eyes opened at once.
The Packlord raised its head and drew in a slow breath through its nose.
The Packlord had caught his scent.
Awooo—!
The howl tore through the hollow.
All twelve Blackfang rose together. There was no confusion and no scramble to attack first. Four moved left, four right, and four behind him, spreading into position almost instantly.
Interest sharpened Cassian’s gaze.
Pack Dominion was worth even more than he had expected.
The Packlord stood on the stone platform but made no move to attack. It simply watched him.
Then the four Blackfang on the right charged first.
Cassian gave ground. The first leaped for him.
Predator Step.
Bang!
He burst sideways. Claws skimmed his coat, and his shortsword opened the shoulder of the second Blackfang as it passed.
Blood sprayed, and Bloodsense locked onto it immediately.
A third beast came from behind. Cassian never turned his head; its scent had already given away its position.
He shifted, lowered his body, and drove the blade backward beneath his arm.
The point punched into the Blackfang’s abdomen.
Cassian pulled the sword free and kept retreating instead of staying to finish it.
He hadn’t come here to kill twelve smaller beasts.
The Packlord still hadn’t moved.
It was watching him. Cassian was waiting for it to commit.
A second wave came—four Blackfang. The third came the same way: four more.
The Packlord never came closer. The tactic was smart; it was using the pack to wear him down. If Cassian fought this the ordinary way, he would have to kill all twelve Blackfang before reaching the Level 7 boss.
He didn’t have time for that.
[First Blood Trial]
[00:07:42]
Cassian stopped retreating.
The Packlord’s eyes shifted.
Six Blackfang lunged at once.
Cassian didn’t dodge.
At least, that was what it looked like until the lead beast’s claws were already touching his shoulder.
Predator Step erupted at full force.
Not backward.
Forward.
Bang!
Cassian drove straight through the gap between two Blackfang. Claws tore open his left shoulder and sent blood into the air, but he had already broken into the middle of the pack.
The Packlord finally rose to its full height.
Cassian didn’t charge it.
He veered left instead, as though he meant to break out of the encirclement.
The Packlord growled.
Two Blackfang blocking the front immediately shifted to intercept him.
Now.
Cassian planted his foot and triggered Predator Step a second time.
His real target was the Packlord.
The distance vanished.
The Packlord launched itself from the stone platform.
Too fast.
The gap between Level 7 and Level 1 became brutally clear. Cassian never even saw the paw clearly before pain exploded across his chest.
Bang!
He flew backward and slammed into a tree. The metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth.
The Packlord gave him no time to recover. It lunged again.
Night Sight. Bloodsense. Predator Step.
All three abilities were pushed to their limits at once.
Cassian still couldn’t follow every movement with his eyes, but he could smell where the beast was moving.
From the right, blood and animal musk swept across his senses.
He dropped low.
A claw passed close enough to scrape his scalp.
Cassian thrust upward.
Clang!
The shortsword struck something that felt like steel.
Teeth. Iron Fang?
No. Even the Packlord’s jawbone had been strengthened.
Its jaws clamped around the shortsword.
Crack!
The blade began to bend.
Cassian didn’t try to pull it free.
He let go.
For the briefest instant, the Packlord hesitated.
Cassian was already against its flank.
The twenty Free Attribute points from the Golden Newcomer Chest had remained untouched until now.
[Agility +10]
[Strength +10]
Power surged through his body.
The Packlord turned its head.
Cassian’s fist slammed into its left eye.
Bang!
Its head snapped aside.
For the first time, the Packlord gave ground.
Cassian snatched a jagged piece of black stone from the ground and went after it.
The Packlord roared. All twelve Blackfang charged toward him at once.
Too late.
Predator Step.
Cassian crashed inside the Packlord’s reach and drove the black stone straight into its injured left eye.
Pshk!
The Packlord thrashed its head violently.
Cassian locked both hands around the stone and forced it deeper.
Once wasn’t enough.
He drove down again.
Crack!
The jagged point disappeared into the skull.
The giant wolf went rigid.
All twelve Blackfang stopped at the same time.
One second.
Two.
Then the Packlord collapsed.
[Higher-level kill: Blackfang Packlord.]
[Level Difference: 6]
[Territory Essence +94]
[DEVOUR available.]
Cassian barely looked at the Essence reward.
He had only one target in mind.
[Devourable Core Powers:]
[Pack Dominion]
[Iron Fang]
One or the other.
Cassian smiled.
Under other circumstances, Iron Fang would have been useful. Stronger teeth. A stronger bite.
But he didn’t kill people with his mouth.
"Pack Dominion."
[Confirm devour?]
"Devour."
Boom!
A force unlike anything DEVOUR had given him before surged into his mind.
It wasn’t a physical enhancement.
It was pressure.
Twelve invisible lines seemed to appear in his awareness at once.
The Blackfang, already growing restless after the death of their Packlord, all froze.
Twelve pairs of green eyes turned toward Cassian.
[Pack Dominion devoured successfully.]
[Acquired: Pack Dominion I]
[Effect: Suppresses the will of pack beasts that fall below your domination threshold.]
[Unclaimed Blackfang Pack detected.]
[Quantity: 12]
[Attempt takeover?]
Cassian looked at them.
"Take over."
Hum—!
Invisible pressure spread through the hollow.
The first Blackfang lowered its head.
Then the second.
Then the third.
One after another, until all twelve beasts that had been surrounding him lowered themselves to the ground, foreheads pressed against the earth.
[Pack takeover complete.]
[Blackfang ×12 have accepted your dominion.]
Cassian checked the countdown.
[00:03:26]
Still enough time.
He pulled the bent shortsword from the dead Packlord’s jaws and turned toward the shrine.
"Move."
All twelve Blackfang rose at once.
Not one hesitated.
——
At the Forgotten Shrine, Veyra stood at the edge of the Domain.
[First Blood Trial]
[00:01:17]
She had looked toward the distant forest several times, but she hadn’t moved and hadn’t gone after him.
Cassian had told her to watch.
So she would watch.
The regional channel had already started counting down.
"One minute left."
"Is Cassian still alive?"
"He hasn’t said anything this whole time."
"Probably setting up his Domain."
Lucan cut in.
"Setting up what?"
"It’s an F-grade ruin without troops."
Elara answered with two words.
"Shut up."
Rowan remained silent.
Then Veyra raised her head.
There was movement in the distance—not one set of footsteps, but many. Branches snapped one after another.
A figure emerged from the forest first.
His clothes were torn, blood stained one shoulder, and the shortsword in his hand was bent.
Cassian.
Veyra looked at him once, then past him.
The first Blackfang came out of the trees.
Then a second.
A third.
More followed until all twelve Level 3 and Level 4 beasts had emerged behind him.
No chains bound them. No ropes. There was no struggle, and not one of them tried to run.
Cassian stopped at the edge of the Domain.
All twelve Blackfang stopped with him.
He raised one hand.
"Down."
Thud.
Twelve beasts dropped to the ground at once.
For the first time, Veyra’s expression visibly changed.
"You..." Her gaze moved from Cassian to the Blackfang. "What did you do?"
Cassian opened his newly acquired ability.
[Pack Dominion I]
"Ate something from the Packlord."
Veyra stared at the line for several seconds.
"You didn’t take its strength."
"No."
"You didn’t take its speed."
"No."
"You took its authority over the entire pack?"
"This was worth more."
Veyra fell silent. Her gaze moved from Pack Dominion to the twelve Blackfang at Cassian’s feet.
He hadn’t gone out simply to find a defensive skill. At least, not only that.
Someone else could kill a Packlord and take the Essence, the materials, perhaps even a chest.
Cassian killed it and took the army it had already built.
[Covenant Stability: Greatly Increased]
Veyra looked at the Level 1 Lord standing in front of her, bloodied from the fight.
"So this is your answer?"
Cassian glanced at her. "To what?"
"To why I should stay in your Domain."
Cassian thought about it, then shook his head. "No."
Veyra raised a brow.
Cassian looked past her to the seven chains trailing behind her.
"At most, this gives you a little less reason to look down on me."
His eyes settled on the first Eclipse Chain.
"The real answer can wait until I break those things one by one."
For the first time, Veyra didn’t answer immediately.
A few seconds passed.
Then she smiled—not the mocking smile Cassian had seen before.
"Good."
"Cassian Vale."
"I’ll wait."
DONG—!
The bronze bell sounded across the sky again.
[First Blood Trial]
[00:00:03]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
The war mist around the Domain began to churn.
One pair of crimson eyes opened in the darkness.
Then ten.
Then dozens.
[Trial Started.]
[First monster wave entering the Forgotten Shrine.]
Veyra slowly raised her right hand, and a dark-gold spear formed in her grasp.
All twelve Blackfang rose together.
Cassian stood at the front and watched the first monsters emerge from the mist.
"Veyra."
"Mm?"
"Take the left."
"And the right?"
Cassian looked at the twelve Blackfang.
Pack Dominion activated.
All twelve beasts lowered their bodies at once.
"Mine."
The first wave burst out of the mist.