“You better take the blame! Cal told me to visit every day, and I missed yesterday because of you!”

Nibbles kept her eyes closed and enjoyed the relaxing ride. The god’s underling was noisy, but she had her uses. Specifically, the top of her head was a comfortable place to nap.

“Are you listening to me, Nibbles?!”

Nibbles ignored the underling’s yapping and let her exhaust herself. She wished she hadn’t left the god’s land a few days ago, but she was forced to go out of fear that the god was still angry.

She made the mistake of trying to touch the area near the god’s heart when trying to wake him. The way he glared at her insolence made her mentally pledge to rethink her actions twenty times before approaching the god.

Nibbles knew she could blame the underling for telling her to wake the god, but that was just bullying the unfortunate. The underling was stupid. She ran around and entertained the god with her constant noise. Nibbles had to hold herself to a higher standard.

“I still don’t understand why you insisted on staying at the port for so long!”

Nibbles opened one eye for a moment before returning to her nap. This ‘port’ concerned her. There was something there that was strong—stronger than anything she sensed besides the god himself.

She had searched high and low in hopes of finding the thing that set off alarm bells in her mind, but unfortunately, she had no success. Whatever it was, it had left the port well after it became dark.

“Then you insisted on visiting again today! I won’t take you back next time. Not unless you promise Cal that you’ll listen to me.”

Tsk. Too disrespectful.

Nibbles didn’t care for the threat. It wasn’t like she wanted to accompany the underling. She was only doing it as a favor for the god. She could tell that—for some reason—the god would like it if she and the underling got along.

It was a tough ask. Nibbles was already unhappy that the underling was so casual with the god. She knew the god’s name was Cal, but it felt wrong for someone so weak to say it without care.

If the god permitted her to think of him as Cal, that would also be fine. She would accept it graciously and respectfully, unlike this underling who treated it like nothing.

Nibbles felt the underling grumble some more before finally quieting down. It finally made the trip back home peaceful.

She had a lot of work to do, and this multiple-day trip didn’t help.

The tunnel network is almost done, but it will likely take me a day or so to connect all of it to the prime hole. I wonder if I’ll get a reward. This time I’ll ask for three boxes of—

Nibbles stiffened and stood upright on the underling’s head. Her ears twitched as she strained them to catch the sound she heard again, her antenna swaying slightly to sense for change in the surroundings. Specifically if there was a beast with significant mana nearby.

“Nibbles! Sit down—”

Nibbles jumped off the underling’s head and stopped her from following with a small push. She ignored the startled cry when the underling fell and rushed into the woods.

I sense a beast hovering at the edge of my senses.

She zipped around the trees as she swiftly approached the beast. The most surprising thing was that it wasn’t moving. If she could sense the beast, the beast could sense her.

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Nibbles felt her fur rising at the possibility of a fight awaiting her. It wasn’t enough to slow her advance. If anything, she ran even faster.

Thanks to her antenna, she had a clear image of the beast in her mind. Her opponent was a four-legged beast, and it had the gall to lay down when it knew she was on her way.

Nibbles released a ferocious snarl as she jumped into the small clearing that the beast occupied.

Take this!

She knew she sounded like the most dangerous of apex beasts, so she was shocked when the beast didn’t react like she thought it would.

The beast—a wolf—moved just enough to avoid her super, extremely fatal swipe of her paw. Then, it had the gall to laugh at her.

‘What’s so funny?!’ Nibbles snarled at the wolf, but it only laughed harder. And it was an ugly laugh that sounded like stuttered growls.

‘Was that loud squeak supposed to scare me?’ The wolf looked her over lazily and seemed to find her wanting.

That infuriated Nibbles. ‘If I wanted you dead. You wouldn’t even have a chance to talk to me. This is the thanks I get for taking it easy on you?’

The wolf eyed the spot where her attack landed. A large scar on the ground extended several feet until it hit a tree. Even the tree wasn’t enough to negate the force of the attack. The base of its trunk was shredded a quarter-way in. Any deeper, and the tree would have toppled over.

‘I knew you could dodge it!’ Nibbles denied the obvious without shame.

‘Then why don’t you try that again?’ The wolf dared her with his teeth bared. When Nibbles did nothing, he said,‘That’s what I thought. I might be injured, but I don’t allow whelps to disrespect me twice. Leave me be.’

Nibbles faltered as she hesitated on what to do. She didn’t think the beast she would find was severely injured. And even with that disadvantage, he had enough strength to only be slightly weaker than her. With his superior experience, she might win the fight, but it would most likely be a pyrrhic victory.

She backed away slightly and wondered how he had gotten injured—an internal injury, at that, since there was nothing showing outwardly. ‘I can’t leave before you tell me some information.’

‘Information?’ The wolf growled. ‘You’re testing my patience, whelp. I am not so attached to my life that I hesitate—’

‘I serve the god that’s repairing the dead land!’ Nibbles interrupted him before any drastic actions were taken. This should make the wolf treat her with more levity.

The wolf let out his ugly laugh again. ‘You mean the human with mana? That’s no god. Is that what you were told?’

Nibbles rolled her eyes. Once she went to the town with the underling, she understood what humans were. The god might be a human, but he was still a god.

‘I live with him on his land. You don’t see what he’s doing. I do. Trust me when I say he’s not just a human.’

The wolf stared silently before huffing in frustration. ‘Fine. If this gets you to leave me in peace. I’ll answer your questions.’

‘Are you part of that pack that tried to steal from the god’s land?’ This was her biggest concern. If a wolf like this was part of the pack, then it could spell trouble for the god.

‘Do you see any other wolves around me?’ The wolf was shifty as it answered the question with a question. When Nibbles didn’t break her stare, he gave in. ‘I don’t want to see those weaklings unless I have to. I’m sure they’re still running around trying to scavenge for food.’

‘So you’re going to rejoin the pack when you get desperate?’ Nibbles asked sharply with a glare. The glare got even stronger when the wolf did its ugly laugh.

‘Don’t try to act tough, whelp. You don’t have the look for it. And no, I won’t join. In fact, stop referring to it as a pack. That word is disgusting to my species.’

‘Oh.’ Nibbles was now certain this was a crazy wolf. Then again, this might be why the wolf wasn’t part of the pack in the previous attempts at stealing from the god.

‘Anything else? Or can I go back to my rest?’

Nibbles stared at him and thought it over. She didn’t think she could get much useful information from a crazy wolf. Other than one thing. ‘How did you get injured?’

The wolf’s instant reaction was to snarl with rage. Nibbles wasn’t impressed. Yes, it was true that she wouldn’t be able to beat him easily, but that didn’t mean she was in danger as long as her goal was to escape.

It took well over a minute for the wolf to calm itself and reply, ‘Humans.’

Nibbles blinked in surprise before slowly nodding. It made a lot of sense. There shouldn’t be many beasts that could injure the wolf, but she could believe there were plenty of humans that could.

The god’s mate was one of them.

‘You’re not going to bother the god, right?’

The wolf huffed again before lying down. ‘No. Now go away.’

Nibbles thought it over before deciding that was the best choice. There was nothing she could do here without hurting herself. It would be better to be safe and report to the god.

She nodded at the wolf before leaving. She took a last glance at the wolf before he was out of her sight. He shuddered in relief before closing his eyes.

Nibbles smirked in satisfaction and rushed back to the underling. I knew he was scared!