A few days passed by without anything particularly interesting happening.

Reed trained in the mornings together with Anna, and then they went hunting.

In the afternoon, Anna went to read magic books and Reed either read in the library any book he found or played around with the wolves.

At night, they ate, talked and then slept.

The days went by just like that, until one day…

One of the wolves disappeared.

Reed was reading alone one morning when suddenly one presence disappeared, just like that.

Reed, confused, started to go up the stairs when he suddenly bumped into Anna.

* …What’s wrong?

* Something happened to one of the wolves. I am going to check it.

* …Really? Let me go together with you then.

Both going out of the tower, Reed and Anna got outside and called out for the wolves.

Reed saw the multitude of wolves coming out of the forest and flooding the city, and once again got surprised at their numbers. If he is not mistaken, there should be a hundred wolves here.

Together with Anna, they counted the wolves and came to a conclusion:

There were only 99 wolves here. One of the wolves went missing.

Reed immediately ordered the wolves to search through the forest for any signs of the one wolf that had gone missing.

Something strange was going on. These wolves were not so weak that they would die just like that. They used to be driven by honor, but after meeting Reed they learned the importance of survival above all else.

After considering that, Reed gave the order. He thought probably a strong demonic beast had appeared in the forest.

A while of waiting later, one of the wolves came back. The wolf led Reed and Anna towards a clearing in a certain part of the forest.

What Reed saw there shocked him.

The wolf, entrails spilling, organs taken out methodically, with his paws extended out in a x position.

Reed, seeing that, was sure that was not the work of a demonic beast. It was a human.

And the only other human here beside him was…

Reed tried to rapidly turn around and face “her”, but before he could, he heard heard a static sound and something hit him in the back.

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* Got you… Hehehe.

A numbing sensation spread through Reed, and his body got immobilized.

Before him, stood a smiling Anna.

* This sealing magic is really powerful, to put even someone like you in place.

* Urgh…

* Then let’s see what that body of yours is made of, shall we? Little h-e-r-o.

Her sinister smile plastered her whole face, and holding her hands up, she started coming close.

With a small glance, he saw the corpse of the wolf that came together with him, neck bent in a weird direction

As Anna approached, magic circles appeared above her hands.

Once she got close enough, she put both her hands against his chest, and then…

She started to, slowly, very slowly, push her fingers through his skin.

* A little tough, are we?

Reed was trying frantically to communicate with his wolves, but to no avail. His telepathy seemed to not work due to her seal.

Anna started to open his chest, little by little.

Reed tried to send mana through his body, to whatever part he could. But nothing seemed to work.

Reed had been resisting the pain until now, but it was slowly wearing away at his consciousness.

Anna continued to open his chest, taking her time, seemingly enjoying the situation.

* Aw, are you trying to use mana? Too bad, I already figured how your mana control works, and prepared a countermeasure against it.

* Kuh!...

Reed needed to do something and fast.

His best shot would be using the weird energy that he used on the dragon and Serion fight, but he hadn’t mastered it yet, and he couldn’t do it without enhancing his brain to begin with.

But there was no choice. If he wanted to survive, he needed to try it.

As Reed as thinking, Anna finished opening his chest up, and peered at his organs.

* Kyahahahah! So this is the human body!? I always dreamed of seeing It myself, but I never could do it!

Anna laughed like mad as her hands stretched out to one of his organs.

Reed tried to concentrate, and some feeling started to spread through him. An energy he was used to.

Pain, pleasure and hate, all at once.

However…

Before he could finish his preparations, Anna touched his heart.

* Kyahahaha! I read about this in one of the medical records in the tower! So this is the infamous heart!?

The pain made Reed flinch, and for a second he lost consciousness, making him stop the energy before it could flow through his body. All the pleasure and hate turned into pure pain.

* Hey, is there something wrong?! Why aren’t you talking!?

* …Bitch…

Reed was in a flickering state between consciousness and drowsiness, and he couldn’t afford to focus on much of anything.

He frantically tried to come up with a plan, even as Anna explored his innards.

For some reason, Anna seemed keen on not killing him. That was his saving grace.

One thought popped into his head, and he instantly put It into action.

Taking all he had, Reed gathered air in his lungs, and…

* Oh?

Screamed. With all he had.

* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The screaming startled Anna and made her jump back. Imps and birds could be seen flying out from the scare they received.

But more importantly, another sound could be heard.

The sound of multiple footsteps coming at once.

It was the wolves.

Hearing their leader scream they came to his rescue.

* …Tsk!

Anna clicked her tongue, and tried to run away.

But she got held at the knees. By Reed, crawling with his innards out.

* Resilient bastard! How can you take so much pain!?

* …Experience.

With his last forces, Reed tried to hold onto Anna for dear life, while she shook him around, trying to get him off.

Once she did though, it was already too late.

The wolves had arrived.