Chapter 148

148 Find your pets, please! part Ryu raced across the forest without a care for the world, he passed right next to predators and prey alike, without paying them any heed.

He was like a professional athlete in ‘the zone’, his vision tunneled as he treaded lightly on the grassy ground thanks to his pathfinding skill.

Both Mochi and the amarok were really fast, even for a beast’s standards, but they were no match for Ryu in his current condition. It was only a matter of time until he caught up to them.

After running non stop for about an hour Ryu finally came into view distance, the amarok was a lot bigger than before and it moved gracefully across the dense vegetation, but despite being certain that Mochi was moving in the same direction he was nowhere to be seen.

When the amarok noticed Ryu was close, it stopped running and turned back to face him. Ryu, thinking his pet was glad to see him again, hurried up to them with a smile on his face.

Usually, whenever the amarok saw his master, he would jump on top of him wagging his tail furiously. Now, instead, the only furious thing about him was his expression.

The amarok bared its fangs against his master with a low growl that worked as a warning, it was as if he was saying ‘if you take one more step I’ll attack you’.

“Easy boy!”

Ryu said in an attempt to soothe the beast, but the amarok kept showing clear signs of agression. When Ryu was close enough, he noticed how much the amarok had grown in the little time they’ve been apart, but that wasn’t all, it also changed its appearance drastically.

.....

The amarok used to be a little bit big for a dog, but too small to be mistaken as a wolf. The creature standing in front of Ryu right now was bigger than any wolf he’d seen, even his fur was a different color, it was still brown but it had some white patches beneath giving it a weird looking appearance.

For a brief second Ryu thought maybe he encountered a different amarok, but then he caught a glimpse of something fluffy on top of the amarok’s loin.

It was Mochi, he looked pretty much the same as before, except his tail was a lot more fluffy now.

“Mochi! you’re there! haha! so that’s how you managed to run so fast, you just hitched a ride on the amarok and let him do all the work! ok now come here”

The cat’s ears tingled when he heard his master, but limited himself to yawn and remained curled up on top of the amarok.

“Just what got into you guys? I’ve been worried sick for you all this time and this is how you repay me?”

The amarok turned his head to the other side ignoring Ryu.

“This is ridiculous! stop your drama right now or you’ll leave me no choice but show you who’s boss”

The amarok turned to face Ryu again, growling louder and licking his fangs. He’d seen this before only once when he fought against him the first time. Only now his expression didn’t look funny in the slightest, he always had this sort of dumb face that people laughed at, but now he was even more fearsome than the wild alpha wolf he met at the hill near the mine.

“You really want to do this? fine, have it your way. I’ll kick your ass and then I’ll kick Mochi’s ass too!”

The cat spiked his fur and stiffened up after hearing him and quickly jumped off from the amarok and ran towards his master.

“Finally! you came to your senses so I’ll spare you”

The cat purred and rubbed himself against Ryu’s feet. His adorable attitude made it difficult for Ryu not to pick him up and pet his soft fur immediately, but it was too dangerous. The amarok was getting ready to attack.

Ryu could have unsheathed his sword, but decided against it. He didn’t want to harm his pet, even if it became a bit aggressive, it was his fault for not taking care of him properly after all.

When the amarok charged at Ryu he took a bit of impulse and kicked him right in the snout. It would have been enough to knock out cold a D rank adventurer, yet it didn’t even make the amarok flinch.

The amarok tackled Ryu with such force that he dragged him along for a few meters leaving a deep mark in the ground, but Ryu held on to the beast’s neck with all he had.

Feeling his master’s new strength, the amarok bit his shoulder viciously. Blood dripped on the ground, but instead of letting go or hitting back, Ryu started petting his fur.

“There there, I know you’re mad but fighting won’t solve anything with violence. You need to let me know why are you behaving like this and maybe I’ll find a solution or something”

The amarok felt guilty, he didn’t really want to hurt Ryu and the only reason he bit him was because he felt overwhelmed.

The growling stopped suddenly and the amarok curled his tail in between his rear legs, his fangs were still stuck deep into Ryu’s exposed shoulder when he started crying like he used to do when Ryu trapped him in madame Bianca’s dungeon and left him alone.

But he wasn’t scared now, instead he was feeling a deep sense of remorse most beasts never experienced in their whole life. Beasts were supposed to be just like animals, they had a wide range of emotions but guilt wasn’t that common. Why would an innocent animal feel remorse?

And still, this amarok knew full well that he hurt someone who actually loved him. The huge canine beast let go of him, his fangs were soaked in Ryu’s blood but he didn’t look fierce, just remorseful. He averted Ryu’s gaze by lowering his snout towards the ground.

“It’s ok, now tell me what’s wrong with you”

Ryu said trying to ignore the pain as he took some distance to be able to use his analyze skill on the amarok.

>Juvenile Amarok (healthy) (Loyal)

>Amaroks are magical beasts that are afflicted with insatiable hunger their entire life. Instead of simply eating to replenish satisfy their needs, they eat to become stronger.

“I got new information from the soulbound card, it says that you’re always hungry. Is that why you’re mad at me? is it because I didn’t feed you all this time?”

The amarok didn’t react, so Ryu kept reading the information displayed in front of him.

>Bonding with this creature will cause the master the same affliction.

This last part left him in a daze.

It was one thing to learn that this poor creature was always hungry, but something else scared him.

Ryu had been feeling hungry for a long time, it didn’t matter how much he ate, it was very difficult for him to satisfy his hunger. Could the amarok have something to do with this? if that was the case, then it was possible that bonding with Mochi and Mia had some effects on him too.

If it was Mochi, it was clear that it had something to do with lazyness. The damned cat would sleep in the middle of a battlefield without issues, not even an earthquake would get him to skip his sleeping schedule.

But what about Mia?

Cold sweat ran down his forehead as a single thought crossed his mind. He didn’t want to say it out loud because it sounded really bad but... ‘Mia must be afflicted with stupidity!’

Of all things he couldn’t think of anything worse than that, if he became like her not only his life would be in peril since Ryu had always relied on his wits to survive, but he would also be too stupid to even realize he’s in danger until too late.

The amarok rolled over on the ground exposing his belly towards Ryu and he unconsciously reached to pet him. His brown fur was somewhat stiff, but the white fur beneath it was soft to the touch. It seemed as if he was about to shed his entire fur and change into a different color.

“Fine, I’ll keep saying things and you let me know when I say the reason why you’re mad, ok?”

The amarok started wagging his tail in a cute manner and Ryu stroke his belly even faster.

“Is it because I paid more attention to Mochi? is it because I didn’t let you fight against the thugs back then?”

The mention of the thugs brought back bitter memories, but also reminded him of a certain promise he made. He facepalmed so hard his forehead became red.

“How could I forget!? Is it because I didn’t give you a name?”

The amarok quickly let out something similar to a bark.

“I’m sorry, I really am!”

Ryu apologized sincerely from the bottom of his heart. Thinking on a name out of the blue was something difficult, but on his rush he thought of something that sounded appropriate.

“From now on your name will be Famine”

Famine threw himself on top of Ryu’s chest and started licking his face. It would have been adorable if not for his incredible size and weight, but at least he was showering his master with affection like he always did before.