After that, the dirtier work began.

Human casualties were pulled to the southern yard. Orc corpses began to be dragged to the northern ruins with hooks and ropes. Some soldiers vomited when they had to touch monster bodies that were still warm. Some citizens helped without saying a word, their eyes empty. Healers cut clothes, bound wounds, pressed down on blood, and chose who was still worthy of receiving the last potion.

Choices like that made humans grow old quickly.

When the first Orc corpse was dragged past a pool of blood, I moved closer. The soldier holding the hook immediately stepped back half a pace.

I did not care.

The corpse was not worth turning into a Vassal. Its neck was nearly severed, and the back of its head had been crushed by a stone impact. But as food, it was still useful.

My claw touched its skin.

'Absorb.'

Warm and coarse essence flowed up through my claw, patching a little of the pain that still remained beneath my ribs.

I did not stop there.

Several other Orc carcasses had already been dragged near the northern ruins. All of them were damaged. Too damaged to turn into Vassals, but not empty enough to discard.

I moved from one body to the next.

[Orc Essence (Warrior) x4 Assimilated]

Coarse heat flowed up from my claws, entered my bones, then spread through my entire body.

[Level 14 Reached]
[Maximum Mana Capacity Increased: 170 -> 180]
[Statistic Increased (Random): Stamina +1]
[Available: 1 Free Stat Point]
[Vassal Slot Capacity Increased: 16 -> 17]

My body became lighter in a single breath. The pain that had only been patched by the Orc essence disappeared completely.

The remaining Vassal connections felt more stable beneath my grip.

I turned toward the Warlord’s corpse.

The huge body lay among black blood and broken stone. Its chest was open. The black layer on its body had flaked away like burned crust. Its black eyes no longer swallowed light. Only dead eyes, empty.

The corpse was tempting.

Too tempting.

If even Bloodhorn could change the battlefield after rising, then this dead Warlord should have become an even better hammer in my hand.

I stepped closer. Several soldiers held their breath as I passed them, but none were foolish enough to raise a weapon again.

My claw touched the black skin that had begun to cool.

'Rise.'

Black-purple mana flowed out.

Then stopped.

Not held back by the corpse’s strength.

Rejected.

[Warning: Deep Corruption Detected]
[Binding Process Failed]
[Vessel Incompatible]
[Target Essence Contaminated]
[Binding and Assimilation Rejected]
[Risk of Mental Connection Contamination Detected]

I was silent for one second, then bared my fangs.

Damn it.

Even after death, this monster was still too filthy for me to use.

A carcass this large, and all that remained was a problem.

The Warlord’s corpse was not a trophy.

It was only an empty skin that still reeked of chains belonging to something else.

I sent a voice through Alden’s relay.

'Tell Rusk. That carcass is useless to me. If they want to know what nearly destroyed their gate, store it and examine it themselves. If not, let them remain fools.'

Alden stiffened for a moment.

He did not repeat everything word for word.

“Captain,” he said hoarsely. “He says the Warlord’s carcass is useless to him. If this city wants to know what nearly destroyed its gate, that carcass should be stored for examination.”

Rusk looked at Alden, then at the Warlord’s corpse.

“Interesting,” Karez said quietly. “He even chose to hand that problem over to this city.”

I looked at him.

That sly human was quick enough to catch the important part.

Rusk did not laugh.

He stared at the Warlord’s opened chest, at the trace of red light that had already gone out behind its ribcage, then gave an order.

“That one is not to be mixed with the other Orc carcasses. Separate it. Store it in the northern stone warehouse.”

Several soldiers looked displeased to hear it, but none argued.

Rusk continued, “I want to know what nearly destroyed my gate.”

The dark red stone from inside the Warlord’s chest was still held in my clawed fingers.

The thing Warden had pulled out.

A creature like that would not throw something to me without a reason.

I pressed the stone with a claw. Its warmth was not normal. Its pulse was too slow for a living thing, but too filthy to be called dead.

The system rang.

[Analysis Complete]
[Object: Tainted Evolution Core]
[Rank: Elite]
[Status: Unstable]
[Potential Effect: Triggers Forced Evolution in 1 Elite Vassal]
[Warning: Purification Required]
[Warning: Direct Use May Damage Mental Connection]

Evolution Core.

I stared at the dark red stone beneath my claw.

If this thing truly could force evolution in one Elite Vassal, its value was too great to use carelessly. A core that was still tainted was not something I would give to any Vassal without purification.

'Store.'

The inventory space opened like a dark fold behind my thoughts. The red stone vanished from beneath my claw, but its filthy pulse remained at the tip of my claw for a moment.

[Object Stored: Tainted Evolution Core]
[Warning: Purification Required Before Use]

Dozens of soldiers saw the thing disappear.

Then looked at me.

I could smell their conclusion before their mouths had the chance to form words.

The monster that controlled corpses could also store the Warlord’s trophy in a place they did not understand.

That would become a problem.

Later.

I moved through the damaged yard, following the scent of Orc that was still warm.

Near the western side of the yard, one dead Orc lay half-buried beneath the ruins of a small building. Stone pressed down on its chest. One arm was missing. Its head was still intact, but its neck was broken in the wrong direction.

I approached.

Then stopped.

There was another scent there, hidden beneath Orc blood and burned wood. Sharp, cold, and too clean to come from a dead body. The mixture reminded me of burned herbs, wet metal, strong alcohol, and something that made the skin around my claws feel uncomfortable even before I touched it.

I turned toward the collapsed building.

Broken wooden shelves were scattered inside. Shattered glass bottles covered the floor. Pale blue liquid flowed between the stones, while yellow powder was scattered near the leg of a broken table. This building was clearly not a citizen’s house. It was more like the den of someone who stored things that could heal or kill, depending on the hand that held them.

A potion shop.

Or an alchemy workshop.

Interesting.

I stepped over the blue puddle without touching it. The smell of the liquid was enough to make the instinct of my new body reject it. I also avoided the yellow powder near the table. Its scent was dry, sharp, and unstable.

Beneath the cracked stone table, there was another smell.

Something that resembled flesh and skin, but too clean. There was a trace of mana inside it.

I pushed the table plank with my claw. The broken wood shifted, revealing a cracked glass tube pinned beneath it. Clear liquid seeped out from one side. Inside the tube, there was a small piece of pale tissue wrapped in dull silver fibers.

Not a human organ.

Not an ordinary monster part.

The system rang.

[Passive Analysis Activated]
[Object: Inactive Homunculus Fragment]
[Material: Synthetic Tissue / Dormant Alchemical Core]

I was silent.

Homunculus.

The word came from the system, not from my guess.

What is this for?

Experimental material? Or a piece of artificial tissue from something unfinished?

I did not know.

But my body reacted before my mind finished rejecting that possibility.

My new chest felt tighter for one breath.

Not the same hunger as when I saw Orc essence. Not the urge to raise a corpse. Not the instinct to drain what remained of the battlefield.

This was sharper.

More personal.

I saw a possibility.

And that possibility made a thought return from the place where I had deliberately buried it.

I did not want to remain a dog forever.

Even an evolved dog.

I stared at the cracked tube for a little longer.

Then touched it with the tip of my claw.

'Store.'

The inventory space opened like a dark fold behind my thoughts. The cracked tube and the pale tissue inside vanished without a sound.

[Object Stored: Inactive Homunculus Fragment]

No one noticed.

Too much blood. Too many screams. Too many people still trying to decide whether they were alive or had simply not fallen yet.

I withdrew from the ruined workshop.

A few moments later, someone entered the place I had just left.

They carried a small wooden box filled with bottles that had survived the wreckage. Their movements looked like someone trying to salvage what remained of their goods.

But their hands were not looking for bottles.

They lifted broken planks. Moved aside shards of glass. Checked beneath the cracked stone table.

The place where the tube had been.

I stopped.

That person was looking for something.

Something that was no longer there.

Their hand paused over the empty floor for one second.

Then they continued moving as if nothing had happened.

Too late.

That item was important.

And now it was mine.

Outside the ruins, Rusk was still giving orders with a voice that had grown increasingly hoarse. Karez coughed again and cursed quietly. Neira forced Alden to sit before the old man fell. Bloodhorn stood near the collapsed building, his axe planted in the ground beside him. His huge body was still full of cracks and wounds, but the essence I had just absorbed was enough to keep him standing.

They saw me as a monster.

Rusk saw a danger too useful to kill.

Karez saw a secret too expensive to ignore.

And the person in the ruined workshop had just lost something I should never have found.

I remembered the Tainted Evolution Core now stored tightly in my inventory.

One thing could change a Vassal.

The other might give me a way out of this body.

Tonight’s war was over.

But in the ruins of Stonewatch, I found something more dangerous than Orcs.

A possibility.