Vicious Darling

[61]

“The door! Quickly, the door!”

Chris uncharacteristically snapped.

“Position it a bit further away!”

Before Peter, who was hurriedly drawing the door, could ask why, Chris dropped to all fours and transformed into a wolf. His clothes tore away haphazardly as white fur grew across his body.

“Damn! This is the first time it’s been this urgent!”

Still, it had to be done.

“We might drop from the air rather than landing on the ground!”

Peter’s shout echoed behind Chris as he leaped through the door.

Though not completely transformed, Chris stared into the darkness beyond.

As if announcing he was no longer human, his vision gradually changed.

Just as Peter had warned, he fell from midair to the ground. But Chris effortlessly maintained his balance.

‘Now!’

The moment he landed, a wolf—no longer human—stood in that spot.

The night forest that entered the wolf’s vision was as bright as day. Chris began crossing the pitch-black forest without hesitation.

The previously quiet vegetation stirred, as if recognizing an intruder’s presence for the first time.

It was like an invisible wind sweeping over them.

This was a signal that an Esper who controlled plants had begun to move their minions.

Trees and vines grew to block Chris’s path, becoming whips that lashed at him.

But Chris was already one step ahead of their movements.

‘I can’t be too surprised by moving plants.’

Only Mihir appeared on screen, but given the circumstances, Dahlia must be moving as well.

Having experienced Anong, Chris knew how to handle Dahlia’s abilities too.

Both were plant-based ability users who could command armies in lush greenery.

Vines and trees capable of inflicting effective damage made large movements, so they could be avoided if one sensed their presence in time.

When distracted by such things, one needed to pay more attention to the flowers or weeds that might grab at ankles.

‘Just like this!’

A snare, instantly created according to the Esper’s will, targeted the wolf’s ankle.

Chris pretended to claw at it while actually tearing the stem with invisible telekinetic force.

If examined closely, the cut surface would look suspicious, but Chris had no intention of giving them that opportunity.

The wolf, as if riding the wind, finally emerged from the forest.

The two Espers were waiting in the open space at the factory entrance, holding the child.

“Well. You arrived faster than expected.”

Mihir clicked his tongue.

The man, with an expression suggesting annoyance, scratched his curly hair.

Face to face like this, he looked so languid that there was no sense of tension.

His impression was somewhat kind-looking.

Judging by appearance alone, it was hard to believe he was holding a child hostage.

“Not detecting you even though you were hiding nearby… Looks like Dahlia and I will both be writing reports.”

He had a tight grip on Dain’s shoulder. The child was trembling.

Even in spring, nights were chilly, and the child wore only a thin garment.

“Since I’ve already made a mistake… perhaps skinning you and offering your hide might make up for it. What do you think?”

Mihir asked, pushing the child’s back.

“Interested?”

Chris growled lowly.

Being a wolf, what answer could he give?

He could only bite.

While he paused, vines that had crept up stealthily struck at Chris. But his front paws were already firmly planted. Another vine tried to strangle the wolf’s neck.

He bit the vine wrapping around his body and pulled it roughly.

The vine that had been targeting Chris’s neck went limp like a hunted bird before it could be uprooted.

Leaping as if countering the attack, Chris was suddenly within arm’s reach of Mihir and Dain.

The wolf opened its mouth wide.

But Mihir grabbed the child’s wrist and yanked her roughly.

The man dodged backward and pulled Dain in front of his chest.

“You have quite the skill.”

Mihir muttered, looking at his colleague, ignoring the threat.

To be honest, with the child in their hands, that beast couldn’t move recklessly.

“Tch.”

Dahlia, who had been hiding among large leaves, clicked her tongue and revealed herself.

“Unnecessarily quick bastard.”

“Dahlia, Dahlia.”

Mihir called her in a sweet voice.

“To think that you, who has worked flawlessly until now, would let a rat—no, a dog slip through.”

The woman opened her eyes sharply.

“I’m already irritated from being dragged out of bed… Are you saying this is my fault?”

Mihir smiled gently at her irritable tone.

“Someone has to take responsibility for things getting to this point, don’t you think?”

“I know that. But as you say, since things have come to this, there’s also a chance to make an achievement!”

With that shout, the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Tree roots that shot up from below moved to impale the wolf. They were like spears.

Thanks to the tremor warning, it wasn’t impossible to avoid them. The problem was that the ground kept collapsing as multiple roots emerged simultaneously.

As the distance between him and Mihir, who was holding Dain, increased, Chris swallowed his regret.

‘That ability… not only wide-ranging but quite threatening.’

S-class Esper Anong came to mind briefly.

Rather than delicate, it was incredibly rough handling. But based on the ability, it was clearly at least an A-class Esper, contrary to what he had expected.

“You’d better surrender.”

Dahlia shouted in a fierce tone.

“Who knows? If you expose your belly and lie down now, we might keep you as a guard dog.”

Her face looked slightly pale, as if she was pushing herself.

Chris instinctively knew she wasn’t straining herself to kill him. Dahlia was trying to move the battlefield as far away as possible from the child’s sight.

‘From her perspective, I’m just an enemy rather than someone trying to rescue the child.’

A typical Esper wouldn’t particularly want Dain to be rescued.

Even if the child lived a semi-imprisoned life, wouldn’t they have exclusive access to an undiscovered Guide?

‘But.’

Chris looked at Mihir.

He had an interested expression, just like when he had greeted them through the screen.

“Now. If you confess who sent you, I might spare your life.”

“What do you mean spare? We have to kill anyone who discovered this place.”

“Dahlia, we need the credit, I’m telling you.”

Mihir clicked his tongue.

“Ah. Perhaps the wolf’s oral structure can’t pronounce human language? If you’re worried about being naked, I’ll lend you my clothes.”

He spoke kindly while taking off his outer garment, as if willing to throw it to him right away.

Chris slowly pawed the ground but didn’t approach him.

Mihir still hadn’t revealed what his ability was.

“This is troublesome.”

Mihir clicked his tongue.

“I don’t understand why you’re persisting. You can’t even make an effective attack because of the hostage here.”

Without warning, Mihir lifted Dain up.

“Eek!”

The child screamed in surprise.

“I’m giving you an airplane ride, Dain. I’ve given you piggyback rides before, haven’t I?”

“Put me down, please put me down.”

The child kicked her legs. Chris noticed Dahlia’s brow slightly narrowing.

“Let’s just kill him, I say.”

Dahlia growled. Though the beast was on Chris’s side, she seemed more ferocious.

When she waved her hand, vines danced as if they had been waiting.

Although he dodged quickly, thorns growing from trees kept grazing his body. If not for his thick fur coat, he would have been bleeding profusely.

“Just… stay… still!”

Chris lowered his body.

Finally, he leaped up, kicking off the ground. Dahlia pulled roots from the earth to block his approach.

The forest swayed, collapsed, and undulated as if struck by an earthquake.

Roots that grew like giant tentacles were targeting his body.

But this time, Chris didn’t avoid them. As if running on flat ground, he ran along the sides of those roots, heading straight forward.

As the distance closed, Dahlia’s triumphant expression gave way to bewilderment.

Using the last root as a stepping stone, the wolf’s massive body plunged toward Mihir’s head.

His large front paws pushed Mihir’s shoulders. Dain’s body rolled sideways like a ball. Flowers that quickly grew caught the child precariously.

But before he could observe this in detail, Chris opened his mouth.

The man, who had coughed in pain under the wolf’s weight, firmly grasped his front paws.

Mihir neither pulled Chris closer nor pushed him away.

A smile crept across his face.

And almost simultaneously…

Power began to overflow from within Chris’s body.

Chris, who had obsessively worked to maintain control over his own power, grabbed the reins this time too.

However, the reins he grabbed weren’t for his therianthrope form but for his telekinesis.

‘If I’m not careful, this entire abandoned factory area will be reduced to ruins!’

Chris leaned backward, swallowing his agony.

He had anticipated Mihir hiding something, but he hadn’t expected a special ability like Anastasia’s to emerge here.

Blood trickled down the corner of his mouth.

It meant that the therianthrope ability that restructured and maintained his body had begun to run wild.

“Haha!”

Mihir laughed brightly at the sight of the wolf writhing in pain.

The once-threatening predator was now struggling just to maintain its form, its entire body trembling. Fur-covered limbs twisted, grew massive again, then returned to normal repeatedly. Seeing them stretch out like human arms, he truly seemed to be at his limit.

“Amplification.”

Mihir, thoroughly enjoying himself, whispered into the wolf’s ear.

“That’s my ability.”