My eyes keep going between the group of people and the doggo that proudly shouts (Food) while pointing at them with his tentacle.

While I try not to think about what it might mean, Isabella continues to pull my sleeve, reminding me that I promised her she could play with Biscuit 13 times even though I know for sure that I promised it 12 times and she added one, perhaps thinking that I wouldn't notice.

But enough of that, there's more important stuff going on! Did the little dog hoard a bunch of people to eat them? It certainly looks like it, but the longer I observe them, the more I notice that they are not scared of him at all. And damn it, you would be scared if there was some dog herding you like a sheep and using you as food!

Biscuit, you will give me a heart attack one day!

I grab him and lift him up, his hind legs dangling. He still looks like he's smiling as he stares at me while slowly blinking. I shake him slightly and he only woofs at me, seemingly enjoying it.

You silly creature. I sigh and put him on the ground, finally turning to the people.

"What's your relationship with him," I ask simply while pointing at Biscuit who stays by my side. How can a dog look so proud?

Finally, a woman steps in front of the others, seemingly a bit calmer now, "Are you also under the protection of the divine beast?"

Ehm. What?

Biscuit? What did you do?

So it goes like this. Biscuit, alone and desperate for more food, appeared on the third floor, separated from Lily whom he was protecting for me. So he started looking around, not finding anyone from us and not finding any food - this is the part she didn't tell me, but I think it was like this, but it continues.

One day he found them, surrounded by a bunch of monsters, after their hideout lost its ability to hide, probably damaged without them realizing.

Unsurprisingly, the best doggo of the third floor helped them. He heroically smashed them with dozens of mana tentacles.

The group at that point expected to die, being a prize for the great doggo after it destroyed them, but the doggo only said one thing.

(Food)

So they understood, they remembered the legends from their parents. The legends about divine beasts that helped people, always in exchange for something. Some beasts asked for mana, others asked for enchanted items, and some may be asked for sacrifice in the form of living beings.

Biscuit asked for food.

So they gave it to him, a pigeon they had hunted with the help of their ancient trap. The divine beast - Biscuit was very happy with that and since then they took him as their protector. The beast protecting them in exchange for food.

They said that he even defeated a weaker Alghoul on his own and I'm just listening to all of it, stupefied.

Are they making fun of me? Are they trolling me?

They don't seem to be, and even little Isabella confirms it, already kneeling and hugging Biscuit who licks her face once in a while, making the girl laugh out loudly from happiness.

The people are horrified, staring as their noble divine beast is reduced to this.

"You can't treat a divine beast like this," the young woman continues to say quietly towards Isabella while the girl continues to pull Biscuit's ears. Isabella also boops his snout and immediately after tells me I was right and it's amazing.

I told you so. So I boop his snout too. Biscuit doesn't seem to mind it that much but the native woman becomes even more horrified.

Her group consists of 8 people, all of them thin and adults, there are no kids in her group and they have only one trap, somehow able to survive on one sparrow every other day. So either their bodies adapted super well or sparrows are super calorie-dense.

Or maybe it's because of the field made by Saint that covers the entire city. They don't know.

So I do what I do best, I ignore their questions and continue to boop Biscuit's snout to the point where he woofs at me.

Don't woof at me! I boop his snout again.

(Asshole!) sounds.

Wow, this time it sounds like he really meant to use the word and didn't just shout it randomly because he likes the sound of it.

We can't have our cute doggo shout such words in the presence of a little girl, right? I ruffle the top of his head and even touch his whiskers, bullying a small creature makes me feel more relaxed.

When we rejoin Cipher, Icy guy, Goldie, and our 3 natives we caught before, I dump them all on Cipher, deciding to get some information from him later, instead of talking to so many people.

My social batteries are almost empty.

At first, the group that seems to think that Biscuit is some sort of divine beast complains, but he barks at them a few times and they quiet down.

Such a good boy, isn't he? He even brought us some food!

He also takes some of Isabella's attention off me. The kid now not leaving Biscuit at all and continuously petting him and hugging him and being the good boy he is Biscuit lets her while enduring it all patiently.

(Assh…) he pauses the moment I turn to him, (Food?) he continues.

Just how smart are you, you rascal? And yes, try to limit the usage of that word while around Isabella.

Yes, she went through… worse… to be bothered by some words but hey, it just doesn't feel right in the same way as being a kid inside Hell Difficulty.

I also reach out with my mana towards the corgi only to find out that he is stronger than before, which isn't such a surprise. His mana feels dense and dangerous, and the burrito-like corgi shows surprising mastery over it, overly motivated by his love of food.

Well, not like I mind it. If he becomes stronger, I can learn a thing or two from him.

But before that, “We should move, quickly,” I rejoin the group and tell it to Cipher who just looks at me.

“How quickly?” he asks.

“Very quickly,” mana is already flowing through my body when I turn to Isabella and Biscuit, “Be careful, this time a few stronger ones might pass by me.”

Not waiting for their answer, I jump on the roof of the house only to move towards the presence I felt.

Did they follow Biscuit's group? Are we now so much easier to detect and even without me noticing and because we are a bigger group now?

I allow a bigger flow of mana towards my Kinetic Mana Heart and the energy starts flowing through my body, strengthening its endurance as I prepare it for a fight and for bigger flows of kinetic energy.

The monster appears, alone.

[Templar Revenant - lvl ?]

I can feel it's a named monster as it moves towards me, ancient-looking armor covering its body and creaking with every step it takes, and under it, a deceased body and bones that move it. It's strong, I can feel that.

The armor on its body starts glowing and a sword made of mana appears in its hand to my surprise, the monster takes a battle stance, holding the sword in front of it, the tip pointing right towards me with wisps of greenish mana flowing around the blade.

Yeah, nope, thank you, that doesn't look nice, this time I'll be skipping close-quarter combat, my body is a mess you know.

Still, I create armor around my body and continue to track the monster with my [Perception] only.

I also create two small shields made out of my mana that float around me while I use my Mana Regulator to pump more mana into the Kinetic heart, now then, let's start with some ranged thermal attack.

The monster moves at the same time I start transferring kinetic energy into thermal and takes a single step towards me, sending a massive wave of mana into the surrounding. The mana reaches me in a split second, surrounding the roof where I am and my body.

At that moment my hold over mana stumbles and the transfer of kinetic energy into thermal stops, sending a wave of pain through my body from the shock, even the armor flickers.

Even before going through all of that, I immediately jump backwards and start running away, for a moment unable to use any skills and barely controlling my mana.

The roof behind me explodes and from the dust, Templar Revenant steps out, and after a few seconds sends another wave of mana at me, a wave of mana so similar to [Disruption] yet weirdly different.

The activation of my skill fails again and one of the shields hovering around me disappears as I lose hold over my [Armament] creation.

The monster's eyes are glowing as it stands there and lifts its sword made of green mana high into the air, the tip pointing towards the sky.

My mana activates at the same time as the monster's and I push against the skills only to get overwhelmed for a moment and mana that I keep using to strengthen my battered and wounded body disappears for a second and the pain goes through me, a sharp reminder of my previous battles.

As if feeling it the monster's head looks towards me, barely a skull and some flesh under the helmet that once could be considered beautiful and elegant.

A few more seconds pass and another attack containing weirdly disruptive mana reaches me, again targeting my mana and strengthening my body.

Is this targeting that on purpose?