[A few hours ago...]

  What is this? I don't feel like myself. But I feel stronger than before. My body seemed bigger than before, and I never felt so alive. It makes me want to run around and hunt!

  Although, I would try to run if it wasn't for my paws. My front legs are too weird and I always fall if I try walking. I managed to do so after a few tries, but it's not like my old body. Or was it the other one?

  Well, I can't stay here and think about these strange changes all night. My stomach is grumbling, and I need something to eat. I smell something delicious nearby, and I can't hold in my excitement any longer!

  Just in time! I started running to where I smelled the boar. When I see it, I quickly stop and hide behind the tree and bushes. It doesn't seem like it saw me, so I should ambush it before it leaves.

  "RAAAARGGGHHHH!!!"

  I bare my fangs and claws as I jump out and pounce on the boar. This guy would try to tackle me if I let go, so I tightened my claws around his body before I gave it a big chomp.

  [SQUUUUEEEELLLLL!!!]

  Blegh... It works, but I have a bit of fur in my mouth. But it's not enough. The boar starts shaking its body around, squealing very loudly. I can hold it down with my claws, but its squealing is too much for my ears! I ended up letting go because of it and found myself flying to a tree.

  [SQUEEEELLLLL!!!]

  Man, it looks delicious, but it's too annoying to deal with its squeals. I should defeat it first before making it my dinner. As it starts charging towards me, I grit my fangs and prepare to catch its tackle in my arms or legs or whatever. When it rushes closer, I grab its tusks and try to yank them out. It seemed hard to do so at first, but because of the powerful strength in my new body, I easily did so without any problem.

  [SQUUUUEEEEELLLLL!!!]

  Will that pig stop squealing already?!

  I quickly punch it before it tries to tackle me again. After that, I charged in and started mauling it down with my claws. The more I dug into its tough skin, the more I enjoyed attacking it. Eventually, the boar stopped moving, and I couldn't hear it squealing anymore.

  Hehe... Bye-bye, noisy piggy! And hello, dinner! I couldn't hold in my excitement at the sight of the boar. On the other hand, I don't want to eat fur. It ruins my food. So rip it out and eat everything that is not fur and non-meat stuff.

  It's...not bad. But it's enough to fill my belly!

  ...Well, not enough. I need more, and to do that, I need more boars to hunt!

  And I just found enough to make me a happy wolf!

  [An hour later...]

  I smiled and licked my lips after eating another boar. I didn't know how many boars I hunted, but that's enough to make me happy for a long time.

  Now that I think about it, how long did it take for me to start to enjoy hunting? No, the better question is, how long did it take for me to start to enjoy fighting?

  I only woke up for an hour or so, but I feel like I haven't enjoyed fighting until now. Was it because I hadn't felt this power for so long, or was it because I was scared because I was weak?

  Just thinking about it made me angry. I never realized I was an idiot not to realize this power. Was I stupid to believe I was weak? And if so, why did I start thinking I was one?

  Dammit... Now I'm too angry to be happy. Not even hunting more boars is enough to make me happy.

  BOOM!!!

  ARGH!!! What the hell is that noise?!

  I hear booms and some stuff cackling. I'm already angry from thinking of being weak. I don't need some random noise to disturb me!

  [You sense a malicious intent nearby.]

  Huh? I suddenly smell something disgusting. I hate it, but I can't help but follow it. I had a feeling I was not supposed to leave here, but...

  You know what? I'd rather follow it than stay here being angry again. Maybe there is something that will make me happy again.

  As I get closer to the disgusting smell, the stronger the scent becomes. I would run away from it. But instead, it made me angrier than before. I want to get rid of it. I want to destroy it so I can stop being angry!

  But when I got closer, I heard voices. Voices that seem new to me.

  "OW!!! What the hell?!"

  "Are you trying to kill us over here?!"

  I hid behind a tree when the voices grew louder. When I looked closer, I saw humans. Humans fighting against a wolf who looks like me, except for the fur. I don't know what's going on here, but it looks like those humans are fighting against that wolf. And that box behind them seemed very important. However...

  "[Mana Burst]!"

  One human is fighting another human. He's using a strange weapon that fires weirdly shaped rocks and another using two blades. But for some reason, I can only smell that disgusting scent from one of them. Does that mean one of them is evil?

  "[Static Break]!"

  Whoa... That rock is creating some cackling magic to that human with blades. That human with that weird weapon looks so cool. But he also looks familiar, too. They start saying stuff I have no clue about. I don't smell anything bad about him. Maybe he's fighting the stinky human as a good guy? Whoever he is, the strange weapon guy is winning!

  "[Knife Toss]!"

  Suddenly, I saw the smelly human throw another blade at the guy's right arm. He then fell to his knees, and I saw his face twisted as if he was in pain. That human was already winning, and the smelly one used something in that blade to fight dirty! Not only that, but other humans were surrounding the wolf, who was helping the guy with a strange weapon. I can't believe those humans aren't playing fair! That's not what I want in a fight! They make me so...so...SO...!

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  GRAAAARGGGGHHH!!!

  I growl in full frustration after everything I saw. Those smelly humans... They don't deserve to live!

  "Huh?! What was that?!"

  I'm sick of hiding and watching already. They had already made me angrier than before! It's not only because those two are in danger, but I want to hunt those bastards before they can get away!

  I jumped out from the tree where I was hiding and walked up to everyone near the strange box. Looking around, there seem to be a lot of them compared to the strange human and wolf and some of them are trying to ambush the former. I have to take care of the ones with the latter first before dealing with the smelliest human last.

  With my eyes on the ambushing humans, I ran toward them and swiped them down with my claws. For some reason, they weren't knocked down when I scratched them. It took me a few hits to take down a boar, but they only have a few scratches and are still standing after a few swipes. It took me a few more swipes and a kick to push them away from the big wolf. They seemed different from those boars, and unlike them, they had many kinds of weapons, enough to kill me. I would be scared when I saw them. But is there no reason for me to be a coward after seeing a few twigs and blades? I'm not. Hell, it's quite the opposite for me.

  I revel in danger. There's no reason for me to go all out if they only fight without them. For me, they are nothing more than dummies for me to fight!

  "You crazy b*st*rd!"

  I feel my ears twitching upon hearing that voice coming from behind. When I turned around, the human seemed to move slowly when he lunged at me with his dagger. I grab his wrist and throw him to the other humans. When they were down, I charged at them and gave them a few more swipes with my claws. However, one of them managed to sneak up behind me and stab my shoulder with one of their little blades.

  "Ha! I got it by the neck!"

  Is he stupid or something? I would have used my fangs to get rid of him. But for some reason, I have this nagging feeling I'm not supposed to bite him. I don't know why, but I decided not to go through with it. Instead, I grabbed the human and threw him to the other smelly ones. I removed the annoying blade from my neck, and to my surprise, the pain was gone in a few seconds.

  "H-Hey! The monster's [HP] is slowly going up!"

  "Seriously?! But I dealt about 60 damage on it!"

  Huh? What are they talking about? Well, it doesn't matter. I quickly scratched the two humans nearby, including the one who had tried to ambush me on the neck. He tried attacking me with a small blade, but I only reacted by stabbing him in the chest.

  "W-What the h-hell...?!"

  I toss the human away and turn my eyes on the smelliest. He seems angry when he looks at me and the friendly human looks confused. I still have no idea why are they fighting and why that friendly human got hurt. But I can't leave that evil human alone with him and that big wolf!

  "B-B*st*rd..." The smelly, evil human spoke up. "I'm supposed to bring [Viper Fangs] back from the brink of death in the name of Savior! Do you think you're gonna get away after the mess you have made here?!"

  Suddenly, the friendly human with the strange weapon laughed and said, "Mess? Ha! I think all I see here is protecting us and the shrine! If you ask me, that's what I call a huge karma."

  A shrine? Is that what the box does? Now that he mentioned it, I can't help but smile that I did something good for them.

  "I don't need your opinion about it, Lyco!" The evil human turned around and pointed his dagger at me. "This is all your fault! You, that big werewolf, and that weird silver werewolf who massacred all of my party members and made the newbies escape!"

  "If you ask me, I think the newbies made the right decision to bail after everything that happened," the friendly human grinned. "Either way, it's checkmate, Sien."

  [The young adventurer's right, intruder.] The big wolf stands up and points his claws at the evil human. [Leave the forest and tell your like-minded companions to never return!]

  Both the friendly human and the big wolf glared at the evil human. With only one evil human in here, there's no way for him to fight back. I'm frustrated that I can't fight him anymore, but I feel like this might be the best way to stop him.

  "Leave?! Why do I have to listen to a loser and a brainless NPC like you two?!"

  ...What did he say?! How dare he call the big wolf "brainless" and the friendly human a "loser"?!

  "Do you know who I am? I promised to Save that I'll help him get [Viper Fangs] back to greatness and find that cowardly traitor for ruining our road to becoming one of the top-ranked guilds of [Isekai]! And I will stop at nothing to get what we want!" To my shock, the evil human suddenly took out another dagger from out of nowhere and charged toward the friendly human. "And I'm going to start by killing you, Lyco!"

  Lyco? Do I know that name? It sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it.

  But I have no time to figure that out! The evil human is about to kill the big wolf and the friendly human! However, he moves a bit slower in my eyes. I realized what this meant, and I quickly stabbed him in the gut before he could reach him. I don't want to kill enemies who aren't monsters in front of a friendly human, but he left me with no other choice.

  Anyway, looks like no more smelly humans are attacking us. I'm not hungry after fighting all of them, but I am a bit tired. I lay down right next to the friendly human with the strange weapon and snuggled his leg.

  "Huh?! What the heck?!" I heard the human shouting all of a sudden. "What are you doing?!"

  Lyco... Something about him made me smile and mad at the same time. Is it because I am supposed to know him from somewhere?

  Well... He's friendly regardless, and I have no complaints about it! I'm happy, he's happy, everyone's happy! Looks like the full moon is very good to me today!

  I wonder if my other self feels the same, too.

  [Player: Lyco]

  I am honestly lost here. First, a silver werewolf monster came out of nowhere and did a Deux Ex Machina on Sien and his cronies and it suddenly approached me and acted like an affectionate puppy. I looked at Fenrir who is still in his werewolf form and watched him scratching the back of his head before growling as if he was sighing in dismay.

  [This is indeed beyond my expectations,] he muttered. [Not only did he come out of his isolated enclosure to aid us in protecting the shrine, but he managed to recognize us as allies sooner than I expected.]

  I raise my eyebrow while trying to appease the monster by petting his head. "Do you know this wer- I mean, [Lycan], sir?"

  Fenrir nodded his head. [He's a young [Insignis] who recently had his first transformation this full moon to a fully-fledged [Lycanthrope],] he answered. [As I said, most of them tend to lose their humanity and succumb to their instincts during their first full moon. Though they can return to their normal selves once morning comes and a chance to retain their thoughts in subsequent nights.]

  "Does that mean this guy is special?" I asked.

  [Not exactly. But there's a chance he embraced his transformation and willingly succumbed to his inner wolf. It's only a theory made by our elders, but it sounds possible for this young man.]

  Seriously? Whoever this NPC is really has some guts to face his werewolf transformation. If this was a player, it would be a breeze due to the pain tolerance option.

  Now that I think about it, something about this monster seems a bit odd. I noticed the monster's crystal is colored green, rather than a non-aggressive orange or aggressive's red and since he's supposed to be Fenrir's friend or pupil of sorts, I thought he might have blue instead. I sighed as I stared at the monster and pondered his true identity.

  "Man, I wish I could tell Lowry about all of this. We would flip when he hears I met real werewolves in person."

  But just as I could stand up, the silver werewolf suddenly tackled me to the ground and happily panted like a big dog with his wide yellow eyes.

  "H-Hey! G-Get...off...me!" I shouted as I struggled to get out of his strong grip. "What gives, Fenrir?! Can't you tell this guy to back off?!"

  But when I turned to Fenrir, he seemed to be agitated as he scratched the back of his lupine head. [About that, young man, this "Lowry" you've spoken of? He's right in front of you.]

  ...Huh?! What does he mean this silver-furred werewolf is my friend and RL writing partner? There's no way this energetic monster is the near-stoic snarker!

  But I looked at his name tag a bit closer, and I gasped when I read who this monster was.

  No way... I can't believe what I read, but there is no way his name tag is real! But when I checked on my friend list to see his name and location, I gasped to see that according to the minimap that appeared a few seconds ago thanks to my [Scribe] ability, he was right next to me. This has to be a bug. I have to report this to the mods...

  [ARF! ARF! R-RYCO! RYCO! FRIEND! FRIEND!]

  ...You have got to be kidding me. I look at Fenrir again, only for me to see him grinning and then being shocked.

  [Huh? So he can speak [Common], too? I have to admit, that kid is something.]

  "Stop. Talking." I shake my head, unable to see an image of Lowry as a loveable werewolf. "Just please, let me wake from this dream!"

  Or log out to get back to reality for once!

  Christine Luu, you can read the last two chapters of the first arc! The first chapters of the second arc will come in a few weeks, so stay tuned and join my Patreon for advanced chapters and bonus content!