Renny's Royal Eye caught everything, the rothound's recovery rate, the exact moment its strength would surge back. By the time it lunged for a quiet surprise, Renny was already moving. He turned, dagger flashing, and drove the blade through its throat mid-charge. The beast writhed, hanging on the steel as Renny lifted it with his arm, holding it aloft like a coat on a hanger.
"Nothing can hide from the eye of the KING," he growled, before letting the corpse drop.
One by one, the blue rothounds fell until silence claimed the area. Then, finally, Renny collapsed, his chest heaving. So this… this was Branch level? The eye had not only forced his regeneration into overdrive but sharpened his speed and strength beyond anything he'd known. He wondered, briefly, what overall such power would measure, and prayed it would show on his stats.
But as the glow dimmed and his vision returned to normal, the toll hit him. His limbs trembled; standing was impossible. Dragging himself across the bloodied ground, his gaze fixed on Oliver.
The rothound lay still.
"Hey, buddy… it's me," Renny rasped, voice breaking. He touched Oliver's fur, forcing a smile that wouldn't hold. "I did it. Told you I'd protect you, didn't I? …I did it."
He nudged the limp body. "Come on. Get up now. There's food everywhere. You can eat all you want."
But Oliver didn't move.
"No… please… no." Renny's head dropped against the cold ground. "I did this for you, Oliver. For you."
The silence gave him his answer. Oliver was gone. A single tear slipped free, and then another, as Renny's body shook with quiet sobs.
He remained there for a long while, silent beside Oliver's still form. When at last his strength returned, he pushed himself up on shaky arms and limped toward Oliver's brother, who also lay motionless. Confusion struck him cold. Both… gone?
His mind churned. How was he going to find the rest of Oliver's family now?
Summoning what little focus he had left, Renny activated his demon eye. Through its piercing sight, faint traces of Loss-energy shimmered northward, deep inside another cave. Without hesitation, he followed.
There, behind crude cages, he found them. The rest of Oliver's family: thin, battered, starved to the bone. His heart clenched. He broke the locks, lifted them one by one, and carried all four out to the open air.
Renny gathered Oliver's kin around him, then dragged together the mangled corpses of every blue rothound he had slain. With grim reverence, he fed the beasts to the survivors.
The transformation was immediate. As they fed, strength coursed back into their withered limbs. Eyes once dull lit with feral fire again.
Then, Oliver's brother broke away. He padded over to Oliver's body and dropped a chunk of meat before him.
Renny stepped forward, trying to soften the blow. "He's gone," he whispered, voice heavy. "Oliver won't... "
But the rothound ignored him, nudging the meat closer.
Renny shook his head, exhaling, sorrow weighing him down. "You'll only be disappointed."
Then... suddenly... Oliver's tongue flicked out. He licked the meat.
Renny froze. What?
Another lick. Then a bite. Then Oliver stirred, weak at first but alive. He chewed, swallowed, and whined for more.
"Oliver… you're… alive?" Renny's voice cracked between disbelief and joy as Oliver pushed himself upright, begging for another piece.
Renny smiled, relief spilling across his face. "You really are Oliver," he said, handing him more scraps of meat. Oliver devoured them greedily, his tail twitching with life.
Soon the rest of the pack had eaten their fill. Their eyes, once dim and defeated, now glowed with strength again. One by one, they lowered themselves around Renny, recognizing him as their savior.
Before he could savor the quiet, his phone buzzed.
A message flashed across the screen:
[System Notification: You have conquered the Creation of Hybrid Hounds.] Reward Unlocked → Dominion Spell: Signal Bind.
A new icon blinked into existence: a digital handbook. Renny opened it, skimming through the pages of dense notes. It detailed how to read cause-energy hidden in dominion signals, the foundation for channeling this new spell.
Now he had two manuals—the Ezraphor Spellbook and this Dominion Signal Codex.
Renny exhaled, almost laughing at the irony. As if battling through blood and fracture wasn't hard enough, now the true work began: learning. Still, it didn't bother him. Back on Earth, books had been his only constant, his way of escaping the limits of his broken body. All things do work together for good, he thought.
Another notification flickered before he could close the bar:
[Bonus Reward: You may now Create a hybrid from the Tree.]
Renny blinked. "Hybrid?" he muttered.
Then it hit him. Oh, right… the notification earlier said I had conquered the Hybrid Hounds' Creation. His gaze swept over Oliver and his family, their features still carrying faint distortions from the rothound lineage.
"So Oliver… and his family… were hybrids all along?" he whispered, almost to himself.
The thought unsettled him, but also made sense. That explained their differences and similarities as well.
And now, the Tree was offering him the chance to make another one.
Renny's chest tightened. To create a being was that truly in his hands now? The very idea pressed on his mind like a crown far too heavy.