TEB Ch 94

Although its body was still small, its feet were not much smaller than those of a large dog. Liev unconsciously toyed with the tough but springy pads on the bottom of its paw, which were not unlike those of a wolf. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Ah.” 

Liev was distracted by the large soles without realizing it, but finally snapped out of it and closely examined the identification tag on the dog tag. As expected, it only had a set of numbers and no information about the facility. Since the same characters were used throughout the continent, it was impossible to guess where it came from based on the code alone. 

At least he could tell that it wasn’t a specimen from a public facility. 

Who brought this creature all the way here? Liev ruffled its fur. The dense fur that stuck out between his fingers felt like a double coat, which meant that even a gentle tug resulted in a handful of fur coming off. 

“Hmmm” 

The fact that this amount of fur is falling out even though it is not the molting season means that there is a high probability that it is a species that sheds fur all year round and grows new fur. This means that there is a high probability that it has the habit of growing in habitats where there are many rivers and lakes and where it must jump into them and move around. This was an area where the snow melted briefly in the summer, but the ice caps did not melt throughout the long winter. This meant that the creature was not a winter animal. From this, Liev could deduce that it had arrived here within two months after the winter ended. 

As Liev pondered these thoughts, he absentmindedly stroked its fur. Renard spoke up again in a frustrated tone. 

“You’ve been touching it too much since earlier. Even though it looks like a puppy, it’s still a monster.” 

“Uh…” 

Liev replied dryly and then put the creature back on the ground, pressing its neck to the ground so it couldn’t run away. 

“Can you cut this off of its foot? Oh, I don’t mean its leg, I’m talking about cutting off the piece of metal, so don’t misunderstand.” 

When Liev quickly clarified, he worried that his request might be taken the wrong way. Renard reluctantly nodded with a slightly dissatisfied expression. Renard then compressed the flames into a small size and used it like a laser to scrape off the metal piece. As a result, the anklet that was attached to the baby wolf’s ankle fell off. 

“Kang! Kkeung,ki-ing!” 

At first, the little guy was shaking his legs as if he didn’t know what to do, but when the pain he felt in his ankles disappeared, his eyes widened in surprise. Soon after that, the little guy jumped up and down in place with joy. as Liev carefully helped him stand on the ground. 

‘What should I do now?’ 

No matter how much of a monster he was, it was hard to watch him suffer like this, so he helped him for now. But as he watched where he was heading, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off. 

If this guy is the same kind of monster that attacked the village, we need to know who and why they brought him here.

While Liev was thinking, Renard was growling and playing staring games with the puppy. 

“Hey, stop it.” 

He seemed to have gotten more polite lately, but maybe it was all just a misunderstanding. Liev pulled Renard away from the puppy and let out a short sigh. 

“Okay, you can go wherever you want now.” 

He couldn’t keep dragging him around forever. It was also uncertain whether he would keep following him like a domesticated monster. As long as Renard was near him, he would wag his tail like a puppy, but you never know when he will turn into a ferocious beast. So go for now. Let him roam freely to see how he turns out. As soon as Liev gave him some space, the little guy wouldn’t leave his side and just circled around him. 

“I said go.” 

Being anxious, I took a step back from him, but he just followed me with his fluffy tail wagging. 

“Ugh.” 

I tried walking backwards to see if he would stay, but he clumsily followed me with his furry legs. 

“Come on.” 

If this were the case, it would be difficult to find the spot where the group had decided to set up their lodging. Liev looked back at Renard and said, 

“It seems like he’s going to keep following us.” 

Then he took a few steps back again, and the little guy followed, but this time he quickly glanced at Renard before coming back to his feet. He had no choice but to manage it well so that it didn’t pose a threat to the other colleagues. Just as he was hesitating. 

“Aaaaah!” 

He could hear someone screaming from a distance. 

“……!” 

As the puppy and both Liev and Renard turned their heads in the direction where the sound was coming from, a familiar voice followed. 

“Help me! Save meeee!” 

Hmm, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. The owner of the screaming, who was throwing a tantrum as if he were about to pass out, was Albert. 

Did he see some strange hallucinations? Both Liev and Renard sighed at the same time and headed in the direction where the sound was coming from. They must have encountered something and were running away, they must have discovered the monster’s stronghold, so it worked out as intended. Even if not, they couldn’t just leave them like that. Shrugging their shoulders, they ran in that direction, but suddenly, they became concerned if that guy was following them. 

“Wait a minute, Renard…” 

When Liev stopped Renard and looked back, the baby wolf had disappeared without a trace. Did he plan to stay there? Or not? … Anyway, their colleague’s crisis was more urgent, so he turned his gaze back to where they were heading. 

“Yeah?” 

Liev stopped in place, feeling a strange sense of unease, as if the surrounding scenery had changed. Was that tree really this close before? It felt like the direction with dense bushes was on the opposite side. As they kept wandering around in the forest, Liev looked around, feeling a bit confused, and to his surprise, Renard was nowhere to be seen either. 

“Renard?” 

Shit. Was that scream from Albert a trap? In an instant, the sky became pitch black like night, and the cackling laughter that had been heard a while ago continued. With Renard by his side, he couldn’t play around like he thought, but the fairies seemed even more fearless than he had imagined. 

‘What should I do now?’ 

Liev stopped walking and stood upright in place. Wandering around aimlessly would only drain his stamina and lead him to a trap. It would be best to sit and wait for Renard to come and wake himself up from the hallucination and rescue him. But as the surroundings became so dark that he could only identify things with a light, a long-forgotten memory suddenly flashed through his mind. 

A dark and humid space, a putrid smell that seemed to be from something rotting, and a dull weapon that struck his head and made his body fall helplessly—the sensation suddenly flooded his mind like a flashback. 

“Ugh…!” 

The memories that came to him made him stop in his tracks without him realizing it.

That’s already in the past. There’s no chance of it happening again, and it shouldn’t matter to him anymore. He tried to push away his fears, but it wasn’t as easy as he thought. What if Renard doesn’t find him? Even though it’s unlikely, he couldn’t think straight because of the loud laughter ringing in my ears. 

And then, at that moment, he heard rustling from behind the bushes. Was it a colleague? Or the wolf cub that I had seen earlier? Even though he knew it could be a trap, his legs moved on their own, as if possessed. He just wanted to make sure I could see without getting too close, so he wouldn’t fall into any traps. Without realizing it, he pushed my way through the bushes with wide eyes. 

“…—!” 

What I saw through the bushes were the bodies of soldiers being brutally torn apart by something that looked like a beast. One strange thing he noticed was that their uniforms were different from the ones he had seen in the palace. Even though he has a strong stomach, he couldn’t help but feel queasy at the gruesome sight. The soldiers in the palace wore completely different uniforms. 

This can’t be real. Even though he knew it in my head, his vision blurred for a moment. He needed to get out of here. Without thinking, he instinctively took a few steps back before regaining his senses. He can’t let himself fall into a panic. This is what they want—to see me running around frantically until I fall off a cliff. I can’t let that happen. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart and thought of the safest way out that I knew. 

Don’t get distracted by what you see. Wherever I am, Renard will come to rescue me. I closed my eyes tightly, blocking out my surroundings, and took a deep breath before shouting at the top of my lungs. 

“Renard! I’m here!” 

All I could do was hope for a response to my desperate call.