Dungeon King: The Hidden Ruler-Chapter 123: [The Cipherblade Controversy 3] Blood of The Pack
His body was no longer fully human.
His frame was lean and wiry, half-crouched like a prowling wolf.
Horns jutted jagged from his skull, split where they had forced through bone. Beast-hide and crude bone armor clung to him, stitched together with sinew, while medals from his days as a soldier and fangs taken as trophies from his prey clinked together across his chest, mixed into one twisted history of his past. S
eralyth’s eyes flicked to those medals, recognition flashing before she quickly averted her gaze, though the tension in her jaw betrayed what she saw.
A crude crossbow of bone and sinew hung across his back, its bolts tipped with jagged fangs, as if the forest itself had grown into a weapon for him. He growl and smirk to see a group of new prey come towards him.
Raven move swiftly, daggers gleaming in the fungal light. His voice cracked through the chamber like a whip.
"U formation!"
His warband obeyed without hesitation. AX-K9 veered left, claws gouging trenches into the root-floor as furnace heat shimmered from its frame. The hound’s growl built like a rolling drum, eyes burning red as it anchored the flank.
Draxos thundered right, vents shrieking as runes flared bright across brass plating. Each grinding step set the ground trembling, steam bursting in angry clouds.
Velitha glided behind Raven, her bandaged hands spreading fog that first crawled low like smoke before spiraling upward in coils. The mist curled around their legs, then thickened into a curtain that followed their advance.
Together they formed a crescent, a living spearpoint around their Sovereign. Raven stood at the center, chain coiled at his side, posture low and ready. He looked less like a mercenary and more like a commander, orchestrating soldiers who answered not with words but with obedience.
From behind, Seralyth wrinkled her nose, muttering under her breath. To her eyes they were monsters, abominations stitched from brass and curse. Yet they moved with unity she could never command.
Vahrak’s beastlings answered at once, surging forward with snarls and claw-scrapes. Three shadows cut across the mist, fangs bared for the throat of their prey.
The chamber shook with the weight of predator against predator, pack against pack, as Sovereign and Fang-Herald collided. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
Raven felt the rush of impact drive through his arms, the beastlings clawing and snapping around him. He ducked low, chain whipping in a tight arc to catch a beastling’s leg. The yank dragged it screaming across the floor and into Draxos’ waiting blast, fire detonating in a straight line that scorched the mist.
Another beast barreled toward his throat, but Velitha’s bandaged hand carved a glowing Earth Glyph beneath its paws. Roots lashed upward, locking it in place. AX-K9 lunged, jaws crunching through its neck with a metallic snap.
A third leapt from the flank. Velitha whispered again, an Ice Glyph flaring blue at its feet. Frost seized its legs, slowing it long enough for Raven’s dagger to punch through its ribs.
For a heartbeat the team moved like one body—glyphs, fire, chain, and fang working in brutal rhythm. Yet even as they cut the beasts down, the circling line did not break. The Packmaster’s control kept the pressure tight, forcing them back toward the center.
From his days as a beta tester he remembered well—Primordial Abyss adjusted every dungeon to the strength of those who entered. No matter how high or low a level, the Warrens would bend and twist until the challenge stayed sharp, until the fight entertained.
It meant that Vahrak was already reading them, already shifting his beasts to match their rhythm. There would be no easy victory here, not against a Packmaster bred to adapt.
Raven’s jaw set. He could not treat this like a grind run; he had to fight as if every strike could end him.
Vahrak growled, his voice broken but commanding. "Circle them! Drive the prey to the center!"
The beastlings shifted instantly, darting through the mist until Raven’s warband was forced inward. Raven’s eyes narrowed. It looked like chaos—no, wait. He wants us packed together. He’s herding us.
Roots writhed beneath the haze. One snapped around Raven’s boot; he tore free at the last second. Another lashed for Velitha’s ankles; she staggered, the fog flickering.
Vahrak ripped the crossbow from his back, bone creaking as he drew the sinew taut. "Prey in the fog! I’ll slice you thin—feed for the brood!" he snarled.
Bolts hissed through the haze, shredding Velitha’s illusions one by one. The mist thinned, her breath quickening.
"Sovereign—the fog—it’s breaking—" Her calm cracked.
Raven cut down a beastling lunging for her. "Stay with me. Focus. Trust me." His tone was clipped, steady.
She steadied, forcing the fog to surge again.
Raven read Vahrak’s rhythm, the timing of beast and volley. His lips curled in a smirk. "Prey? You think it’s us? What makes you so sure it isn’t you?"
Vahrak answered with a furious snarl, his pack growling in chorus.
The pressure closed in. The beastlings obeyed his command too well—no longer rushing blindly but circling, striking in bursts from different angles.
Raven turned, blades flashing, parrying claw and fang in quick succession. For every one he pushed back, another lunged through the haze.
AX-K9 was driven sideways, metallic claws scraping the wall as a Fangkin slammed it hard against the roots. Sparks rained as the hound snarled and tore back.
Draxos raised an arm, rune-fire erupting to scatter two beasts, but it left his flank open. Another lunged for Seralyth, forcing the golem to twist, shielding her instead of pressing forward.
Velitha’s fog shivered under the onslaught, thinning as bolts cut through more illusions. Her breath grew ragged, every swirl harder to maintain.
Raven found himself pressed against the bone-carpet, beastlings snapping inches from his throat. His daggers clashed again and again, each strike driving him back step by step.
They were adapting. He could feel it. Equal exchange would not hold forever.
Raven’s eyes narrowed. "Draxos—cut him down!"
The brass golem planted his feet, chest runes blazing. A straight inferno erupted in a line, carving through snarling beastlings and opening a burning corridor straight to Vahrak.
"Now, Velitha," Raven barked.
Her bandaged hands spread, fog surging back into the chamber. The haze cloaked Raven’s advance and blinded the beasts trying to reform. Vahrak roared, furious as his perfect circle shattered.
"AX-K9—lock him!"
The hound’s furnace eyes flared. Chains rattled as it dashed forward, a streak of metal and fury. It clamped its jaws on Vahrak’s arm, crunching through flesh with brutal force.
For a heartbeat, the lunge held. AX-K9’s chains rattled, furnace jaws locked tight on Vahrak’s arm. The Packmaster bellowed, his muscles straining against the hound’s weight.
Then the snarl deepened. With a savage jerk he wrenched the hound up by its collar-chain and slammed it into the stone. The ground cracked under the impact. AX-K9’s claws scraped furrows as it tried to rise, but Vahrak pinned it down with one knee.
The bone dagger flashed. Once. Twice. Again and again, each plunge screeching against metal plating, sparks bursting like fireflies. The hound’s furnace glow flickered, its growl warping into static. Circuits snapped, steam vented, and its eyes dimmed from blazing red to a fading gray.
Raven felt the Sovereign bond tear through his chest like a blade. He hissed between his teeth, every stab echoing inside his skull, powerless to stop it.
The loyal beast’s body shuddered, then went still, frame broken and leaking smoke before the bond finally snapped.
Raven felt the loss like a knife—but Vahrak’s focus had narrowed to his kill. His back lay open.
The fog rippled. Raven’s form blurred, then vanished.
[Skill Activated – Phantom Bind]
He reappeared behind the Packmaster, daggers igniting with Sovereign power. With a hiss he drove them into Vahrak’s back, the strike ripping through with critical force.
"You forgot who the hunter is."
Vahrak howled, then collapsed under the force of the strike. The Packmaster hit the ground hard, breath rattling once before silence claimed him. The beastlings scattered, their rhythm shattered with their leader slain.
AX-K9’s broken frame sparked where it lay, then dissolved slowly into motes of light. A system chime echoed in Raven’s vision.
[Unsummoned AX-K9 – Cannot be summoned again until the stage clear]
Velitha’s voice drifted through the fog, calm yet mournful. "He obeyed, Sovereign. Loyal to the end." Her eyes lingered on the fading sparks where AX-K9 had stood, and for the first time her serenity carried a hint of sorrow.
Seralyth scoffed, her tone cutting. "Pathetic. Even your beasts throw themselves away for nothing. Is that the kind of loyalty you inspire?"
Raven’s shoulders stiffened. Heat flared under his skin, his hand tightening on the chain at his side. He turned his head just enough to fix her with a glare over his shoulder. The fury in his eyes was sharp enough to cut.
His voice was low, edged with venom. "Dear client, I can handle the quest objective clearly. Thank you."
The air went heavy, silence pressing against the walls. For a heartbeat Seralyth faltered, her lips parting as if to retort but no sound came. The Sovereign’s anger boiled in his gaze, raw and unguarded, a side of him rarely seen.
Then, just as swiftly, it vanished. The fury drained behind a cold mask, calm and calculating once more. His grip loosened, his pace steady as he stepped forward into the Warrens.
"Let’s continue"
