Victor stared at the wolf for a few moments, sensing no longer any hostility towards him. It gave him peace of mind.
The creature had easily killed the Komodo Drak, so without a doubt, he was practically a free meal if they fought.
'Since this system thing said it's a companion, it won't attack me.'
Phew!!
Anyway, whether he was attacked or not, he had nothing to live for. His entire family and lineage were wiped out, and they all were somehow related to the Draks' arrival.
Death really wasn't frightening anymore. He would have liked to die, but it would just be a waste of the opportunity given to him at a new life, twice.
What would the said celestial that gave him the system think about him?
His weakness would definitely disgust the celestial.
Yeah, trusting the system to just freely guide him to power was actually far-fetched, especially in this deceitful world.
Yet, what did he have to lose other than to go with the flow and see what happens?
'The world has changed from what I initially knew, but the difference from my time isn't vast.'
The memories of the former owner repeatedly played in his head — a slideshow he hadn't asked for, but couldn't look away from either.
Six decades. That's how long it had been since he'd bled out on that field. Six decades of shelters and rationed ground while both sides tried to finish what the war had started.
'Damn bastards, they could have just easily exterminated these pests,' he thought angrily. Instead the higher-ups had let it drag — every extra year of stalemate meant more Draks growing strong enough that "stronger" started meaning something new. Humanity kept pace, barely, the way a man keeps pace with a landslide.
He despised the ones who'd put him there in the first place. Five hundred soldiers sent to ambush what they were told was a manageable pocket of Draks — and it had turned out to be ten thousand one-blades waiting for them.
There were scores he needed to settle, so he became grateful for his second chance at life.
Victor sighed. The greatest challenge he had at the moment was getting up.
He tried using his hands and legs to stand. However, the small pressure he applied made his bones quiver.
His constricting muscles were weak, making him unable to push himself up. He gave up quickly.
He became out of breath as he gasped for air. It was almost funny, in a bitter way — a man who'd once carried wounded soldiers twice his weight across a battlefield now couldn't manage his own arms. He flexed his fingers just to confirm they still answered to him at all.
The wolf just kept staring at the human before it. The amount of weakness he showed was disgusting. Its ears flattened, and a low huff escaped its nose — the kind of sound a soldier might make watching a recruit fumble a rifle for the first time.
It started to regret being assigned to this insubstantial human. Its face alone revealed how repulsive he had become to the beast.
"Oh..., you damn bastard, don't look at me like that!"
Growl...
Bark!
"Fuck you! Stupid dog!"
[I see you have issues with your partner regarding how weak you are...]
[Don't worry, fragile host. A quest will be given to test your will, trust, and determination to get what you seek...]
Ding!
[Quest]
[Your assigned familiar has helped its new master defeat the enemy that intended for you to take your last breath.]
[Devour the flesh of the Komodo Drak before you as the pawn of the Darkgod.]
[Reward: Darkgod blessing]
---
'What?! I should eat a Drak? Preposterous! That's inhuman!'
'What's wrong with this thing? Who's this Darkgod that wants me to do this?'
[Be quiet, host! You want power, don't you?]
Victor fell silent.
Yes, he wanted power. The word landed heavier now than it used to.
No one would sacrifice themselves for a stranger in this world anymore — he'd learned that the hard way, at the cost of five hundred men who'd trusted the wrong orders. If the world didn't reward decency, there was no reason to keep pretending decency had ever protected him.
'If this is the only way to take revenge and never be treated as a tool again, then....'
Victor grasped the sand and crawled forward with his bare hands toward the corpse.
The wolf simply moved out of the way and sat on its butt, intrigued by a useless waste struggling to feed on flesh.
It was expressionless and only glared with dead eyes at the trash in front of it.
A wolf that could match up against a six-blade Drak was stuck with this human, a request from the Darkgod it did not agree with but was forced to accept anyway.
The moment Victor's grubby hands touched the scaly, leathery skin, he could not help but run his fingers across it.
His stomach grumbled, saliva dripping like a waterfall. His eyes were completely lost in the imagination of what it would be like to sink his teeth into the flesh.
He had no idea where this sudden urge came from, stimulating him with great hunger as if he'd been starving for weeks.
His vision and mind were clouded with thoughts of the corpse as a spectacular delicacy.
He couldn't hold back anymore, sinking his teeth into its flesh. It was tough. It felt like he had just chomped down on concrete.
Somehow, his teeth still went through the reinforced skin, as the sap of blood flooded his mouth.
His jaw slowly tightened, digging deeper into the flesh. With just enough force, he pulled back, ripping off a chunk of flesh and immediately swallowing it whole.
After tasting it, he viciously tore more, ravaging the corpse in an inhuman manner.
It was to be known that he was no longer in his senses. His thoughts were blank, infested with never-ending hunger. Somewhere underneath the hunger, a small part of him — the part that used to eat with a knife and fork, that used to teach his son table manners — screamed that this wasn't him. That part went unanswered.
The biting and tearing did not stop until a notification appeared before his gaze.
[Quest: Eat or be eaten, Completed]
[You have now received Darkgod's blessings]
[...]
'What a stupid human,' thought the shadow wolf.