Kai frowned as annoyance prickled his mind.

  Another abomination. His new Curse lived up to its name. The [Markless] Curse had been manageable, solvable with his gloves.

  But he couldn’t avoid having everything look at him like easy prey. His only counter, the bloody aura, had a huge downside - one he’d face with a hungry abomination approaching.

  Kai had a simple wish - to taste snake meat - but his wishes rarely came true.

  First, a devilish wolf interrupted him. And before he solved the cooking problem, another abomination wanted a dinner date.

  He rolled his eyes. Steel in hand, he studied the small, cute wolf beside him. An idea formed.

  If he couldn’t teleport away - why not see what the little wolf could do?

  Kai didn’t have high expectations for it. But if he let it follow him, it needed to pull its weight.

  Kai stooped and placed a hand on the wolf’s furry head. He tried to teleport - no dice. The teleportation worked, but the destination was random.

  Unpredictable teleporting was deadly when running for your life.

  He stretched his neck from side to side, then in circles. He stroked the silver ring through the glove on his right hand. Only one thing to do: let the wolf earn its keep.

  He tilted his head as he glanced at the small wolf.

  “You’re going to fight the thing coming for us.” He gestured toward the approaching threat. “Understand?”

  The wolf tilted its head. Then its body convulsed.

  Bone pierced through its flesh. Flesh crawled upon the fresh growth. Its shoulders expanded. Muscles rippled. Every part of the small, cute wolf increased in size.

  Sharp teeth lengthened. Sharper claws dug into the grass. Even its black fur grew a few inches.

  The previously cute wolf now stood taller than Kai. It must’ve held its strength back when it tried to eat him.

  Thought I was an easy mark, huh?

  His second Curse wasn’t all bad if it made monsters hold back their strength. But was the cost worth it? Everybody wanted a piece of him. He shivered at the thought of approaching a human settlement.

  What if everyone attacked him? What would he do - kill them all? That wouldn’t go down well.

  A problem for later.

  The drumming sound of footsteps grew louder. The thing approaching had a humanoid shape but was clearly an abomination. One he’d never seen - though his mental bestiary was admittedly lacking.

  Its face was a mask of wood. Countless vines knotted together, creating a facsimile of human limbs. Aged and withered tree bark made up its torso. Vines, leaves, and insects slithered over every inch.

  This Tree-Man wasn’t as strong as the Crawler Snake, but Kai couldn’t be sure. Anything was possible in this annoying, aggressive forest - a tree creature’s home turf.

  He’d have to be careful if he fought it - but that wasn’t the case. This was a job for his newly tamed wolf. If the wolf took critical damage, Kai could heal it and finish the Tree-Man himself. If the wolf defeated the Tree-Man, he’d only need to find fire to cook his snake meat.

  Being the boss fit well. Though his only soldier was a monstrous wolf, and he’d lost his two bodyguards. Still, it was a start.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Kai gestured toward the Tree-Man with his sword, and the wolf disappeared.

  His eyes widened. He couldn’t sense - wait…that wasn’t right. He could sense something, but it was strange. Like the wolf had flattened and lost a dimension.

  His gaze dropped to the ground where the wolf had been. The discovery caught him off guard, but his composure quickly returned. Where the wolf had stood lay a wolf-shaped shadow.

  Kai had never seen anything like it.

  The shadow slid across the ground towards the Tree-Man…and kept sliding.

  Kai’s mouth fell open.

  That sneaky bastard’s running away? It can disobey orders?

  His disappointment deepened as the tree abomination closed the distance. Its tangle of vines masquerading as an arm shot toward Kai. He slashed at the intruding plants with his dark sword, vines shrivelling and crumbling as they met the black blade. They dropped to the ground, severed from their roots.

  Colour drained from the Tree-Man’s body. It examined the severed vines, then stepped back.

  Kai smirked. “You thought this was gonna be easy?” He shrugged. “Sorry to disappoint.”

  The abomination gave no reply. Its torso bulged, its limb-like vines followed suit.

  So, you were holding back.

  He levelled his sword, ready to cut the thing down before it transformed into something worse.

  Before he moved, finger-sized fangs bit into the Tree-Man’s neck. It made no sound, but its body jerked. Vines thrashed wildly; the bulging ceased.

  The black wolf’s jaw closed around the creature’s neck like a vice. Flames surged from its mouth and coated the flammable abomination. The Tree-Man turned to ash.

  Soon, everything was still except the wolf shaking its head with disdain. It padded towards Kai and sat on its back legs.

  Respect boiled in Kai’s heart. This wolf used him as bait to catch the enemy unaware. He would’ve done the same, but he resented being the decoy.

  A begrudging, proud smile creased his face.

  Kai locked eyes with the giant wolf, his hand reaching up to pat the furry bastard’s head.

  “Good job. Maybe don’t use me as bait next time, but you did well.”

  The wolf tried to attack Kai’s face with its tongue, but he dodged with effortless grace. Who knew where the wolf’s tongue had been? It had just bitten into a Tree-Man. Kai had no desire to catch a disease that’d turn him into a tree.

  Even if he could heal himself and was virtually immortal - could he survive becoming a Tree-Man? Could he reverse the process? Better off not taking the risk.

  The wolf whined. Kai shook his head - he’d heard enough whining to be numb to it.

  The wolf padded towards the pile of ashes. And started licking.

  Kai grimaced. He turned toward the snake’s corpse. Still waiting for him with its luscious meat. He glanced at his shadow pet, a smile creeping onto his face.

  Fire.

  He couldn’t reason how this shadowy wolf could breathe fire - wasn’t shadow the opposite of fire and light? But he wasn’t about to complain.

  Kai walked toward the flattened snake corpse. The patter of wolf footsteps followed behind. He stopped in front of the snake. The dark wolf sat on his right. It had slimmed down, looking less ferocious and Demonic.

  It coughed.

  Kai ignored it - eating ash was bound to make you cough. Foolish wolf, a few moments of patience and it could’ve enjoyed delicious snake meat. Nobody told the greedy bastard to eat ash.

  The wolf coughed again. Kai glanced at it. It huffed through its nose and coughed. Slobber-covered green vines ejected from its mouth.

  Kai took a defensive stance, his sword ready to cut down his Tree-diseased wolf.

  It coughed again.

  The wolf spat fire and set the vines alight. The bundle burned well - even with the spit covering it.

  This wolf was more capable and cunning than Kai had thought. The little guy was thoughtful enough to build them a campfire.

  The fire bloomed, shadows dispersed, and Kai skewered the sliced grey snake meat with his dark sword. He held it over the fire.

  It cooked, and the beautiful fragrance of meaty goodness caressed his nose.

  The wolf raised its chin and looked toward him.

  “Almost done. You’ll get your share.”

  As the grey meat turned golden brown, he nodded. He set the meat down on a nearby stone. Oil dripped down its crevice, seeping into the grass.

  Kai licked his lips. The black wolf glared at him, its eyes burning with hunger.

  Gripping his trusty black sword, Kai cut the long strip of meat into smaller slices. He grabbed a slice and placed it on his tongue.

  It was a taste he didn’t have words for, a sensual experience he couldn’t describe. His mouth watered as he chewed.

  After confirming the meat was delicious and safe, he picked up another slice, squatted, and offered it to the wolf.

  It licked its lips and tentatively bit into the snake meat. A moment later, the wolf threw its head back; the meat flew into its mouth. A satisfied murmur crawled into the back of Kai’s mind.

  They soon finished devouring the strip of snake meat. Kai cut several extra strips from the grey corpse and stored them in his black bag’s infinite space.

  He hoped the red skull embroidered on the bag didn’t need to eat.

  There’s no time in infinite space…the meat should be fine.

  Pocketing the black bag, Kai looked toward the sun. The thinning trees made it clear he was nearing the forest’s edge. It wouldn’t take long to reach the nearest human settlement using teleportation.

  He dismissed his malevolent blade; it dissolved into black smoke. Crouching down, his right hand grabbed the wolf’s dark fur, and they disappeared.

  Patreon.

  Also: please follow, favourite and review the story - it helps me reach more people.

  What do you think of Kai's new wolf buddy?