Chapter 48: Cassian

Cassian Di Grandel had entered Grauwald with four other applicants.

By midday, there were nine. He hadn’t invited any of them.

The first two had simply followed after their deployment group separated. One was a broad-shouldered boy named Erwin who fought with a spear, while the other, Marta, possessed a Martial Soul that sharpened her senses considerably beyond those of an ordinary Awakened.

They had remained nearby after watching Cassian kill his first Ferocious Beast, and when he moved deeper into the forest, both followed without asking whether he wanted company. Three more applicants joined after crossing paths with them near a stream.

The final two appeared shortly before noon after hearing fighting in the distance and finding Cassian standing beside the bodies of several Ferocious Beasts.

Nobody formally declared Cassian their leader.

When they reached a fork between two valleys, however, everyone looked at him.

Cassian studied both routes briefly before pointing toward the narrower eastern path. "That one. The ground is softer, so anything large moving through there should leave tracks."

They continued east.Grauwald had changed considerably since morning. The distant sounds of fighting had become increasingly common as applicants spread from their deployment zones.

Every so often, a roar echoed somewhere beyond the trees, followed by the crash of vegetation or a burst of Vis. Once, Cassian spotted an emergency flare rising beyond a neighboring ridge.

A Helheim instructor crossed the sky less than a minute later before disappearing beneath the canopy.

One fewer applicant.

Cassian didn’t spare it another thought.

Twenty points was hardly a demanding target. The real examination was ranking, and if he intended to compete for the Crown, spending the first day wandering without purpose would accomplish nothing.

Marta suddenly raised one hand.

Everyone stopped.

She crouched near the edge of the trail and pointed toward several impressions in the damp soil. "Tracks. A lot of them."

Cassian stepped over.

Three-toed prints covered the ground, some pressed directly over others. Broken shrubs formed an obvious path through the forest, and several tree trunks bore fresh scratches almost as high as Cassian’s shoulders.

Erwin crouched beside one print and counted the overlapping impressions. "Six?"

"More," Marta answered as her eyes followed the trail. "Probably eight or nine."

Cassian looked once at the tracks before starting forward.

The others immediately followed.

Ferocious Beasts were dangerous to ordinary people, but every child standing here had already entered the Awakened Rank. A sufficiently powerful Ferocious Beast could still pose a problem to a careless young Awakened, but a pack leaving tracks this obvious wasn’t something Cassian intended to avoid.

If they carried examination markers, they were points.

The trail climbed for nearly ten minutes before descending into a broad basin surrounded by rocky slopes. Cassian heard the beasts before he saw them. Low growls rolled through the trees, accompanied by the wet tearing of flesh.

He pushed through the final line of vegetation. Nine creatures surrounded the remains of a massive horned animal.

They resembled wolves only from a distance. Each stood nearly two meters at the shoulder, with thick brown fur covering heavily muscled bodies and black bony plates growing along their forelegs and skulls. Blood coated their muzzles as they ripped apart the carcass.

Six carried black Helheim markers.

Erwin saw them and grinned. "Six points."

The nearest beast raised its head. Its nostrils flared, then it roared.

All nine turned toward the applicants.

Cassian drew his sword. "Take whichever ones you can."

That was all he said.

The pack charged.

Cassian moved directly toward them. The first beast lunged with enough force to tear apart an ordinary man. Cassian shifted one step to the right and cut horizontally.

SHNK!

His sword passed through the side of its neck. The beast crashed behind him while Cassian continued forward without looking back.

A second came from his left. Cassian lowered his shoulder beneath its claws, stepped into its reach and drove his blade through its chest. The sword pierced between two ribs and entered the heart. Cassian pulled it free before the creature finished collapsing.

Neither carried a marker.Which was kind of annoying.

A third beast rushed him from the front while another circled behind. Cassian saw the movement at the edge of his vision and increased the Vis flowing through his legs.

The first snapped at his face.

Cassian ducked. Its jaws closed over empty air, he drove upward with his sword beneath its jaw.

The point burst through the top of its skull. Cassian released the hilt for half a heartbeat, turned and caught the wrist-thick foreleg of the beast attacking from behind. Its claws stopped inches from his shoulder.

The creature growled. Cassian looked at the black marker beneath its neck.

Finally.

He twisted. The beast’s foreleg broke with a sharp crack. Before it could recoil, Cassian recovered his sword from the falling corpse beside him and cut through its throat.

One point.

Fighting erupted throughout the basin.

Erwin’s spear punched through the chest of another beast while Marta avoided a sweeping claw and buried a short blade beneath its foreleg. The other applicants worked in pairs, preventing the pack from surrounding anyone while choosing their openings.

Cassian spotted two marked beasts breaking toward the rocky slope.

He accelerated. The first had barely made three strides when Cassian caught it. His sword flashed once across the back of its hind legs. The beast collapsed, and before it could turn, Cassian stepped beside its head and thrust downward through the skull.

Two points.

The final creature reached the rocks. Cassian planted one foot against a boulder and launched himself upward.

The Ferocious Beast tried climbing. Cassian landed on its back. Its body bucked violently beneath him, claws tearing chunks from the stone as it twisted to throw him off. Cassian drove his sword down between the bony plates protecting its neck.

Steel sank through spine.The beast dropped instantly.

Three points.

Cassian pulled his sword free and jumped down. Silence returned to the basin less than a minute after the fighting began.

Nine Ferocious Beasts lay scattered around the half-eaten carcass.

None of the applicants had suffered more than superficial scratches.

Erwin rested his spear against one shoulder and laughed as he looked around. "That was easier than finding them."

Marta wiped blood from her cheek with the back of one hand. "You can thank them for leaving a trail wide enough for a blind man to follow."

Cassian crouched beside his kills and removed the three examination markers. Across the basin, the others recovered the remaining three.

Nobody argued over ownership.

You killed it, you kept its marker.

Simple.

Cassian slipped his markers into the pouch at his waist. Added to those he’d collected earlier, he now possessed seven points.

Still nowhere near enough.

Not if he wanted first place.

Erwin apparently reached a similar conclusion. The boy counted the markers in his hand before looking toward Cassian. "At this rate, we’ll pass easily."

Cassian cleaned his blade on the fur of the nearest beast and answered, "Passing isn’t difficult."

Marta glanced toward him. "You’re going for the Crown."

Cassian sheathed his sword before looking at her. "Of course."

There was no boast in his voice.

He was a child of the Main Line.Five other Di Grandels had entered this examination alongside him. Tristan Eisenwald Var Grandel was somewhere in Grauwald. So was Astrid Drachenmark. Alaric Blutkron. The other Great Branch standouts. The heirs of the High Vassal Houses were scattered throughout the range as well.

Twenty points wouldn’t place anyone above that generation.

Twenty points merely proved they belonged inside Helheim.

Cassian wanted to know where he stood among the people who belonged there. He stepped over one of the dead beasts and examined the opposite end of the basin. Another trail continued into the trees, but these tracks were smaller and scattered.

Probably ordinary animals fleeing the pack.

Not useful.

Marta came beside him and looked toward the surrounding slopes. "Where next?"

Cassian pointed toward the northern ridge. "Higher ground. We can search for movement from there."

Erwin immediately started walking.

The others followed.

Cassian moved at the front again.

By the time they reached the ridge, afternoon sunlight had begun slanting between the mountains. Grauwald spread beneath them in a vast sea of green. Birds rose from distant sections of forest, and smoke from at least two applicant camps drifted above the canopy.

Cassian’s eyes moved across the landscape.

Then something caught his attention. Far northeast, an entire flock of birds suddenly exploded from the trees.

A moment later, a deep roar rolled across the mountains. The sound was nothing like the Ferocious Beasts they had just slaughtered.

The applicants around Cassian became quiet.

Erwin’s grin slowly returned. "Common Rank?"

"Probably," Marta answered, her sharpened senses focused northeast.

Cassian stared toward the distant forest.

A Common Rank Demonic Core was worth ten points.

More importantly, it was the first thing he’d encountered today that might actually require effort.

Cassian smiled. "Let’s go."

He started down the northern ridge.

Eight applicants followed him.