Chapter 25: The Monster’s Keeper

The portal writhed and convulsed, and then from its depths emerged five more gigantic wolf-like beasts, each stepping out exuding this sinister energy. Their movements were slow and deliberate, almost regal. However, it was the final creature that made the air itself seem to thicken with dread, this was no wolf.

The humanoid figure possessed a muscular, athletic build with obsidian-gray skin. From the waist up, it wore no coverings, displaying the intricate blue flame-like energy patterns that carved across its chest and arms like living tattoos. Black pants covered its lower half, while long, flowing dark hair billowed dramatically around prominent curved horns that protruded from its skull. In one hand, it gripped chains connected to collars around each wolf-beast’s neck.

“Is that what I think it is?” Sarah’s voice cracked with barely contained fear.

“…A Hound Keeper,” Elaine muttered, answering Sarah’s rhetorical question with grim certainty.

“This is a Legion breach…” Amir said, his eyes wide with shock.

From his distant vantage point, Liam watched as several system alerts materialized before him:

[Several Lycan creatures spotted]

[New Threat Alert!]

Following the recent system upgrade, the previously mandatory creature submission quest; which would have required Liam to force a beast into submission, had been deliberately omitted. It was entirely his choice now to pick what creatures to enter a contract with.

Director Grey’s voice crackled urgently through Team C’s comm devices. “Team C, evacuate immediately! There are no civilians within a two-mile radius. This new situation is no longer in your hands—pull back!”

The agents immediately began their retreat toward their vehicle. Elaine, who would normally take to the air, had expended too much energy with her last attack, and therefore couldn’t sustain flight. They all ran together, except for Liam, who dropped down from his building perch to ground level.

“There are too many of them, even for you,” Elaine’s voice transmitted through Liam’s comm device. “We have to go!”

Liam chuckled softly. “This… is good practice.” He turned his head slightly toward Elaine in the passenger seat and winked before facing the creature again.

“Oh my God, what is he doing?” Sarah called out from the backseat as Amir started the engine.

A Legion breach; an anomaly where more than one or multiple monsters emerged through a single portal, was entirely new to Detroit. It seemed Michigan delivered fresh surprises every damn day. While multiple monsters emerged from these rifts, the true danger stemmed from the wildly varying threat-levels amongst the creatures that pour through. This was the most peculiar and arguably worst aspect of a legion breach. The Hound Keeper itself was a mythical creature that controlled certain hound-like beasts. They were rare, but intelligence suggested each one could fight an S-tier Visor on equal footing.

While one of the Hound Keeper’s hands gripped the chains, the other held an empty collar. It released the chains, letting it fall to the ground and spoke in an incomprehensible language. Immediately, the wolf-like beasts froze in position. Quite similar to when one asks a dog to “stay.”

The Hound Keeper then approached the bisected wolf with the empty collar in hand. The giant creature Team C had just killed had obviously been one of its hounds. The keeper went on one knee, running its hand through the fur of the severed beast. Even from this distance, its grief was palpable. Then it spoke again in that alien tongue, but somehow Liam understood every word as clearly as English. This was a translation feature built into his system, that he didn’t realise it himself.

[“Were you my child’s killer?”] the Hound Keeper asked in a slow, eerie tone.

[“And what if I was?”] Liam replied, his lips curving into a smirk.

The creature’s expression darkened further. Azure magical energy began pouring from its form as rage consumed it.

Back at USOV headquarters, one analyst leaned forward. “Is it my eyes, or did they just have a conversation?”

Grey noticed this exchange but spoke directly into his comm device. “Agent, can I trust you to handle this?”

“I got this, sir!” Liam replied confidently, now grinning.

“We have to help him, there are too many monsters,” Elaine said, stepping out of the vehicle with her sword drawn. The others nodded and followed suit. Something inside them couldn’t bear to abandon him.

“Come to me,” Liam muttered. One by one, his summons materialized at his side, each flowing with this darkish red aura. Ragar emerged first—a massive white-furred bear with amber eyes blazing like coals. Jagged plates of dark armor were fused grotesquely into its flesh, metal and bone melding with its pristine coat. It announced itself with a roar that shattered nearby windows.

Pip appeared second, the fairy-like summon floating beside Liam, her insect wings beating continuously to keep her aloft.

Lazark, the dark elf, followed. He took his combat stance with two blades held in reverse grip.

The colossal serpent materialized next, its had this massive body and dark scales the size of shields covered its enormous form, while white, pupilless eyes burned with malice above a gaping maw lined with dagger-like fangs. Each coil sent thunderous crashes through the flooded ground. The creature’s head descended like a falling mountain, jaws unhinging to reveal a throat that plunged into seeming infinity.

Finally, the Goblin Emperor appeared, Liam’s first summon, with its staff raised and ready for battle.

Team C, that initially approached from behind Liam, stood in stunned silence. What they witnessed defied comprehension. Elaine was particularly bewildered, wasn’t that the same elf from their previous mission together?, she thought.

“Just to be clear,” Sarah said slowly, “I’m not the only one seeing this, right?.” Amir, too shocked to speak, could only nod in agreement.

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