Chapter 53 - Hero

When he saw the blue husky stand up on shaky legs, Viktor let out a relieved sigh. The sense of relief in his heart also grew when he saw the wounds on its body had already closed as well.

"You recovered already, Djinn?! That's great!"

"Woof woof!"

<Yes, now you hurry up and get stronger! I can't do much to help with this shabby form!>

"Haha, I kinda like this form actually. Now, tell me, how strong are they?"

"Woof woof!"

As he heard the blue dog's barks, a notification appeared in Viktor's mind.

[Mutated snow wolf - level 38]

[Mutated creature - tier 2]

[Battle power 32]

This is great, just great.

After 10 earth realm troublemakers, now Viktor had to deal with half a dozen tier 2 animals that were itching for a fight. Not to mention, he was currently suffering from the drawback of his [All Might] skill.

Realizing the presence of trouble, Boris walked out of the hut while carrying a rifle. His expression showed that he was ready to back Viktor up with his trusty weapon.

But even with Boris' help, Viktor knew that it wouldn't make much difference to the current situation. He was still weak, and one dog along with one moderately wounded bodyguard won't be able to do much on the grand scale of things.

In panic, Viktor shouted at the blue dog, who was glaring at the direction of the wolves.

"Any great ideas now, Djinn?!"

"Woof woof!"

<Maybe, give me a moment>

Right now, Viktor would be willing to take any chances to save his life. Maybe he would even offer some of the prime beef stored in the ring to quench the wolves' hunger, or probably the Djinn could convince the pack to let them go, with some good patting as repayment.

However, none of those ended up happening. To his surprise, the blue husky stopped barking, and instead it started to howl. Its howl echoed in the desolate forest and the howl became louder and louder.

Upon hearing the howls, the wolves were startled, and they stopped in their tracks for a little while. Then, Viktor saw one of the wolves move out and stop a few feet away from its pack..

This wolf is a bit larger than the rest. A distinct black stripe adorning its forehead clearly separated its existence from the other wolves and showed its exalted status.

"What is going on, Djinn?"

<Kekeke, just watch, this is the power of the amazing Djinn at work!>

Jin approached the black striped wolf with his slightly wobbly legs, but not the slightest bit of hesitation could be detected from his demeanor. Eventually, they stood and faced each other.

The two creatures stared at each other, before both let out a loud roar and pounced, fighting each other in the snow. Looking at this sight, it didn't take a genius to realize that the Djinn were challenging their alpha to a duel.

Even though the Djinn's blue dog form was only half the size of its opponent, he wasn't in a disadvantaged position during the fight because its body was faster and more agile. He continued to dodge the swipes and bites of the alpha while attacking from left and right.

Viktor could clearly feel the tension of the two's situation as he watched the two creatures fight ferociously, displaying and barring their wild nature at each other.

The stalemate situation between the two creatures continued for a few minutes.

"Ooo my god, this is amazing!! This is so much better than watching cockfighting!" Viktor exclaimed.

It took around 10 minutes before the battle concluded, with the Djinn emerging victorious. The alpha wolf, on the other hand, limply walked through the snow towards its pack, blood dripping from its wounds. However, the wolf never returned to its pack as it suddenly fell down and didn't move after that.

Not long afterwards, 5 other wolves could be seen moving out of the pack and approaching the Djinn. Seeing this, Viktor expected the five to fight the Djinn on a 5-vs-1. However, that never happened, and all five started to howl in a synchronized manner.

The blue husky looked toward him and said.

<It appears I am their alpha now>

"Oooh my God Djinn that is so cool!, amazing!"

Viktor saw that after being heaped with praise, the blue husky stood proud, its head held higher than before while its tail wagging rapidly. The sight of such a powerful Djinn being unable to hide its emotion was an amusing one to his eyes.

In that form, the Djinn was clearly able to communicate with those animals, and from the looks of it, the blue husky was giving them some sort of briefing.

Knowing that the crisis had been resolved, Viktor decided to leave the Djinn alone with his new pack and walked towards the place of the previous battle between humans and creatures. He looked carefully at each mound of snow and bloodied corpses that scattered around.

When he saw the glimmer of shining stones among the lemming corpses, Viktor let out a wicked smile. But, that also reminded him about the hero of the day.

He started to dig through the snow, looking for the golden lemming.

"Yo lemming where are you!?"

Normally, it would be easy to spot a golden-furred creature amongst the white snow, but Viktor couldn't find any golden gleam. When Eva peeked out from the hut, she also decided to come out, anxiously looking for her pet.

A minute passed, then Viktor heard Eva's shrill scream.

"Guccii!!"

She held a little lemming on her hand, however it didn't have its usual golden appearance. It looked pale and sickly, just like any other of the dead lemming.

"No… Gucci.."

Eva looked devastated, and even with the different fur, he know its the golden rat.

Viktor came closer and checked the little rat, and found out it was still breathing.

"Don't worry, it is still alive. Its current appearance may be due to fatigue."

The Djinn came, barked, and helped to identify it, causing a notification to appear in Viktor's mind.

[Mutated Lemming]

[Mutated beast tier 3]

The notification confirmed that it was really the lemming they were looking for, as the others were all merely tier 1 mutated beasts. It seemed that the lemming had used too much of its power, and thanks to that it has become weaker.

Viktor's words were proven to be true as a moment later, the little rat opened its eyes. Seeing this, Eva was so happy that she kissed the lemming on its forehead again and again while patting it with her cheek.

He really could swear that he saw the rat smile cheekily at him, before pretending to be hurt yet again. Despite it all, Viktor knew that indeed, the lemming was today's hero. Therefore, he decided to pat the rat himself.

"Welcome to the family."

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Torri and Barry had stirred and woken up. It seems all of them have managed to get through this crisis safely. A sense of relief as well as amusement flashed in his eyes as he looked at the clueless look on the two's faces.

He turned his gaze towards the corpses and said to himself,

"Time to grab the loot!"