63 Max(3)

As Anissa walked toward the Path where she had asked Aaron to wait so that she could meet him before he left, strange shouts started to reach her ears which made her run forward, wondering whether someone was in trouble.

They had been incoherent first, but as she neared the spot they were coming from, they became clearer and clearer, and their contents made her pace, which had been fast initially as she had thought that it was an urgent situation, slow down until it finally became a puzzled walk.

"NO! NOT THERE! GET OFF ME! THIS ISN'T ALLOWED!"

"YOU'RE A MONSTER! THAT SHIRT WAS GIVEN TO ME BY A CUTE GIRL IN GALAHEP HAMLET! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU DAMN DOG!"

"ALRIGHT, SORRY, DON'T GET SO OFFENDED! STOP IT! THERE ISN'T MUCH LEFT!"

A blush started to appear on Anissa's cheeks as she heard them, and as a final one started to be heard, she couldn't take it any longer.

"THAT'S MY LAST PAIR OF UNDERPANTS! YOU-"

"AARON!"

As her shout echoed in the woods, she came upon a very strange scene that had been hidden behind a thick line of bushes until now.

A grimy man wearing tattered clothes was being chased around by a husky, while Aaron watched with his hands folded.

Indeed, only the underpants of the grimy man were left untouched, and most of the rest of his body was visible as both his shirt and pant had been bitten and torn off until there was very little left.

He wasn't hurt, at all, though, except for a little redness here and there, which was a testament to the amazing accuracy of the Tera's canines which were surely responsible for all this.

As he turned around to see the newcomer who arrived, Max yelped and ran to hide behind a tree. He couldn't show this kind of image to a lady, right?!

"Woof, continue."

As if he wasn't perturbed, at all, by the woman's shout which Max had hoped would save him, the guy gave this order, and the nightmarish Tera started to approach him again.

Enough was enough.

From behind the tree, Max screamed, "All right, fine! I'll battle you! But give me some clothes, first!"

As Anissa heard this, confusion appeared on her face.

All this was because he had refused to battle?

But why had he even done that? Hadn't her grandfather said that he was a fanatic who loved to battle everyone he saw?

After the first loss in her life, Anissa had been in no state to say anything. After recovering, though, she had had a deep session with herself where she had slowly realized that there were a lot of changes inside her.

After that, she had decided that she wanted to talk to Aaron, so she had asked her grandfather to send the message to the captain of the guards, who was supposed to be with Aaron to hand over the prisoner he would be escorting.

The message had been passed on, and her grandfather had given her a brief rundown of the prisoner, which was how she knew of his fascination with battles.

She also knew his crime, though, which actually wasn't a crime, per se.

He had killed over 20 people and 50 Teras by poisoning their water supply, and he had been about to be put to the death, but evidence was found that the family he had targeted was actually a secret outpost of a very vile enemy of the World Government.

Even though he had actually done the World Government a service, the law stated that he should be kept in house arrest with a Settlement leader so that he could be analyzed, so he was being escorted for this purpose.

By the time Anissa reached them, Aaron was scratching his head, as he hadn't thought up to this point.

The clothes had been torn…but what should he give him, now?

Thankfully, he found an answer in Anissa, so he asked, "Do you have anything to give him?"

This led to Anissa looking at Aaron as if he was joking, but after understanding that he was serious and then realizing that he wouldn't know that asking a girl to give clothes, randomly, was weird, she sighed and used her A.A to contact someone from the Town.

"It'll be here, soon. Give it a minute. Aaron, I-"

Aaron nodded as he heard this, but he stopped her and said, "We can speak after the battle."

Anissa nodded, and silence descended over the area.

The reason Aaron had said this was that he didn't want the prisoner to listen in on whatever she wanted to say.

He knew the value of information, and no matter what Anissa had to say to him, he didn't want it to be heard by a possible foe whose power he didn't even know.

Hence, they chose to wait.

While they did so, Woof arrived to stand beside Aaron, and Aaron bent to scratch its neck, making the Tera close its eyes and let its tongue drool as it enjoyed the feeling.

After sleeping, Woof would always have an itch there, and he used to use trees until he had found Aaron.

While Aaron continued to keep an eye on Max while he did this, he started to notice certain…changes in Woof that he hadn't noticed before, when the Tera had exited the Core, as it had instantly leaped after its target.

It's fur was sturdier, and the individual tufts of hair seemed, somehow…stronger.

Even its skin felt different, and as Aaron watched its teeth and canines, he noticed that they also seemed sharper.

Unable to understand, he asked the A.A directly, "What changes have occurred in Woof?"

The answer shocked him.

"Scanning. Comparing with previous status. Tera has advanced in level. Unable to gather more information about Tera, but this can be concluded based on the visible signs of the metamorphosis that has taken place."

Woof had directly…advanced a level?

The official had said that there would be changes when the Bond was first formed, but was it possible for a Tera to advance an entire level?

Of course, Aaron didn't even know exactly what level his friend was at, but this was definitely surprising.

"Sucker!"

Suddenly, Aaron looked up and heard a loud sound.

Due to that shock, his gaze on the prisoner had been interrupted by the fraction of a second, but the man was not where he had been.

Instead, he was currently lunging at Aaron, and he was on top of a huge Tera.

It looked like a wild boar, and it had leaped into the air, exposing its underside. Yet, the leap had been perfectly planned to not allow time for Aaron to react. By the time he did anything, the Tera and Max would be on top of him, and he would be defeated.

However, Aaron didn't panic at all.

And the reason behind that…was Woof.

This scene had caused the Tera to unhesitatingly lunge forward, too, and it's open mouth and sharp canines were targeting the weak point of its opponent that was closest to it.

The only reason behind Max screaming during his attack had been that he had found that it often increased the shock felt by the one he was launching a surprise attack on.

Yet…the action of the Tera shocked him to his core, and he couldn't help but scream, "OK, FINE, I WAS KIDDING! STOP THAT THING! MY TERA HAS DREAMS TO START A FAMILY, YOU KNOW! DON'T BE HEARTLESS, DAMMIT! OR IT'LL TURN AROUND AND BITE MINE OFF, TOO!"