Chapter 54: When the Prey Takes Command [Part 2] (Magic Castle Bonus)

Chapter 54. When the Prey Takes Command [Part 2] (Magic Castle Bonus)

A direwolf leaped over its fallen companion.

I pivoted beneath its belly. My fingers brushed its hind leg. "Absolute Command."

The formation entered.

I was already moving before the beast landed.

"Evolve."

A crack sounded behind me.

I glanced back.

Its spine had developed a row of crooked protrusions.

[Evolution Failed]

I pointed toward another wolf. "Attack."

It obeyed.

The next monster charged straight at my chest.

I let it come.

Closer.

Closer.

At the last instant, I dropped onto one knee and slid beneath its jaws, my cloak snapping behind me.

My palm struck its chest.

"Absolute Command."

Its core shuddered.

I sprang away.

"Evolve."

The wolf’s armor swelled.

One horn erupted from its forehead.

Then snapped off.

[Evolution Failed]

Oh, come on.

That was just insulting.

Another beast lunged.

I stepped onto its lowered head, used it as a platform, and jumped toward the next.

A claw grazed my cloak.

Fabric tore.

I landed against a broad armored shoulder and pressed two fingers between the plates.

"Absolute Command."

I kicked away.

"Evolve."

[Evolution Failed]

One after another.

A touch.

A command.

A violent surge of mana.

A disappointing result.

The clearing filled with distorted direwolves, each bearing some grotesque alteration.

One had developed enormous forelimbs.

Another possessed a second row of armor along its spine.

A third had grown so many fangs that closing its mouth appeared to be a complicated personal problem.

But they obeyed.

Every last one.

And when I directed them toward the remaining horde, they attacked without hesitation.

The monsters tore into one another.

Claws scraped against armor.

Jaws crushed bone.

Blood splashed across the roots of the trees as the creatures I’d claimed drove their former packmates backward.

I moved through the violence, dodging stray attacks and searching for my next specimen.

Then...

A smaller direwolf charged from behind a fallen trunk.

I turned.

Its jaws opened.

I caught the side of its head with my palm. "Absolute Command."

The formation sank into its core.

I felt the familiar resistance. Prepared for another failure. "Evolve."

The direwolf convulsed.

Its armor shifted.

Its muscles swelled.

But this time, the mana didn’t scatter.

The core absorbed my Forbidden Energy.

Its structure reorganized.

The beast roared, and a pulse of power rolled through the clearing.

[A-tier evolution successful.]

[Evolution Progress: 40%]

I stared at the creature.

Its armor had become smooth and densely layered. Dark ridges curved backward from its shoulders, and its claws gleamed like polished obsidian.

No uneven limbs.

No unstable growths.

Its mana core pulsed with a steady rhythm.

Perfectly integrated.

I smiled so widely my cheeks hurt.

One success.

Out of a dozen attempts.

An appalling success rate.

A magnificent result.

The evolved direwolf lowered its head before me.

I stroked its armored forehead.

Then I looked past it.

At the remaining monsters.

At the four heroes watching from the edge of the clearing.

And finally, at Raven.

He’d brought a horde here to watch me lose control.

Instead, I’d taken control of the horde.

How wonderfully awkward for him.

The clearing had become a slaughterhouse.

One of my mutated direwolves sank its uneven fangs into another monster’s throat and shook its head. Blood sprayed across its armored muzzle. The wounded beast clawed at its attacker’s chest, tearing away a plate of armor before both crashed into the undergrowth.

To my right, two wolves slammed into each other hard enough to crack a tree trunk.

Then my A-tier servant entered the fight.

It moved differently from the others.

Faster.

Cleaner.

Its obsidian claws hooked beneath a direwolf’s armored jaw. With one brutal twist, it threw the creature against a boulder. Stone fractured. The wolf staggered upright, only for my servant to drive its shoulder into the beast and crush it against the rock again.

I stood in the middle of it all.

Watching.

Studying.

A researcher observing his specimens.

The failed mutations fought with reckless aggression, wasting strength on clumsy movements. My successful specimen conserved its energy, striking exposed joints and exploiting openings.

A wolf lunged past me.

I shifted half a step aside.

Its jaws snapped shut on empty air before my A-tier servant caught it by the neck.

A sharp crack followed.

The bracelet flashed, and the corpse vanished.

Behind me, Elia covered her mouth.

Garr gritted his teeth. Darius looked as though he wanted to draw his sword and drive it straight through my chest.

Raven remained strangely calm.

But the disgust in his eyes?

Oh, I saw that.

"You..." Darius’s voice shook with anger. "You really learned forbidden magic!"

I scoffed. "This?" I gestured toward the fighting monsters. "Forbidden magic is supposed to turn a person into an uncontrollable madman, isn’t it? Do I look out of control?"

Garr stared at the blood-soaked clearing. "You look insane."

My smile disappeared.

"This isn’t insanity, Garr." I looked at him coldly. "This is the anger of a man betrayed by his own comrades."

"Rey..." Elia took a hesitant step forward. "Please. We can talk about it."

I turned toward her. "What do you want to talk about, Elia?"

She stopped.

"You left me," I said. "I put my hope in you. And you left."

"I... I couldn’t heal you—"

"I know." My voice came out sharp. "I knew you couldn’t heal me. I just hoped you’d stay. Give me a chance to find another way."

Her eyes glistened.

"But no. You reached the same conclusion as the others. You decided I needed to die." I took a step toward her. "You watched me lose my sanity bit by bit, and when I needed you most, you abandoned me."

"Rey, I—"

"Cut the crap."

The words left my mouth before I could think.

Because I could feel it.

Rey’s helplessness.

The terror of being trapped in a dying body, unable to explain what was happening, while the people he trusted decided he was no longer worth saving.

And that feeling was horribly familiar.

Thirteen-year-old Evan Veyr had known what it was like to be left alone when he needed someone.

Different circumstances.

The same cold, sinking realization.

No one is coming.

Behind me, the monsters died one by one.

My failed servants fell first, their unstable bodies unable to withstand the damage they’d sustained. The bracelets transported them away as their hearts stopped.

Then my A-tier direwolf staggered.

Its armor was cracked. Blood ran down one foreleg, and its breathing had become ragged.

It killed one final opponent before collapsing onto its side.

I watched its chest rise.

Once.

Twice.

Then...

A faint whistle cut through the air.

A dagger.

Flying straight toward my neck.

Its blade gleamed with a thin coating of poison.

[Obsidian Earth Manipulation]

A black stone plate erupted beside my shoulder.

-Clang!

The dagger struck it and fell into the grass.

I slowly turned my head toward the source of the blade.

Raven.