Chapter 109 – Worry on his mind

The giant trees were naked. The ground beneath was filled with fallen leaves. Zola found herself walking under the trees while her little pup named Titus follows behind. She has been walking through the forest for a while now. Playing with Titus and training him.

“Titus!” shouted Zola. Titus sped through the leaves while hanging his tongue out. Titus jumped up and flipped in front of Zola.

She clapped her hands. “Nice! Good work! Hmm, how about you get that fruit for me?”

Titus barked. He sped up the tree and bit the fruit. If anyone saw this their jaws would have dropped down. A little dog that was barely tall was running along the trees like nothing. The strangest thing about all of this was the child-like Zola who was clapping her hands as she cheers for Titus.

“Good dog!” Zola clapped harder as she saw Zola tumble around and land gracefully. The leaves around him spread as if the little dog did it intentionally.

Titus barked happily, wagging his tail. He backflipped which made Zola smile widely. It was a smile of a child. The child who had her innocence lost. Normally she would be out there hunting monsters. But this time she was playing with Titus, a banewolf whose potential could allow it to become the king of the jungle. Of course, it didn’t really bother Zola. She had seen pups like Titus back in Ganymede. Modified dog/wolf hybrids that were sold. They were good hunting dogs that usually could tear through metal plates like nothing.

She always wanted one ever since she saw an advertisement once. Titus was not the same breed as those pups from Ganymede. But he kinda looked the same so she had no qualms. Besides, Titus was a pure hybrid. Titus was far better than those genetically modified knockoffs. So Zola was quite proud of having Titus. Hence she had forgotten about hunting down the dire monsters.

Occasionally she would roam around the town. She would find some monsters that she would unconditionally slaughter. She thought that feeding Titus normal cattle meat was lame. So to maximize Titus’s upbringing she started feeding Titus dire monster meat. Of course, she wouldn’t know that doing had made Titus’s constitution stronger at the cost of Titus’s growth. A banewolf relies on its sheer size to intimidate and hunt its prey. But what she has been doing stunted that growth and the constant release of her own augmentation influenced Titus’s growth.

Normally, Titus wouldn’t even be able to do what it does. But a few time spent with Zola made the growing banewolf into a Psion banewolf. It would not grow bigger than a normal dog or a wolf. But it had grown stronger than its entire lines of ancestors. The last heir of the banewolf was the smallest yet fiercest.

Titus, the little pup was engraved with the seething hatred of its kind. Yet oddly the little pup had its nature changed. This was Zola’s fault. She had influenced the pulp into a loyal puppy that looked up to its owners. The little pup had been treated nicely by Zola. It was fed properly and it was not alone anymore.

Zola patted Titus’s head. She sprinted up one of the trees, shaking the leaves as she lands on the branch. Titus followed his master and stood near her. Zola looked around the area and found a humanoid with a giant eye. Zola thought to herself that it looked like an ogre. She silently weaved through the branches and watched the one-eyed ogre. The ogre was feasting upon a deer. And although Zola was quiet, Titus was not. The ogre noticed their presence and quickly used the sling that it had to attack Zola.

But that was the ogre’s mistake. Zola caught the stone easily. Her eyes turned red. Her skin turned blue as she pitches the stone right at the eye of the Ogre. The ogre’s head splintered into many pieces. Its entrails painted the grassy ground and the ogre laid dead.

“Bastard,” Zola murmured as she freefalls down. She looked at the ogre with disdain as she then whistled for Titus. The little pup shivered at the sight of his master’s ferocious nature. Behind the beautiful face and the child-like innocence lies a soldier that had fought wars on many planets.

Her aura when she activates her augmentations makes the little pup’s instincts shiver. Zola noticed that her little pup was scared so she turned back to her usual form and patted Titus’s head. “I am sorry okay?” she said sweetly. Titus the little pup whined and nodded his cute little head. This made Zola smile.

She turned her eyes back to the ogre. She examined the ogre. It was only wearing a loincloth and a necklace made of river shells. It smelled of fish and blood. There was really nothing great about the ogre and seeing that it carried a human skull. Zola kicked the ogre away.

“You won’t be eating that vermin,” she said coldly. Titus looked at his master and nodded and barked. Zola leaped back into the trees and the little pup had no choice but to follow.

The two roamed around the forest for a while before returning home. Once they entered the home they found Joshua armed to teeth, he wore bandoliers across his body, his waist had bombs and he was holding a modified rifle that Zola helped him create. He looked like he was seething with fury. His eyes were that of a broken desperate man faced with a hated enemy.

Seeing the looked on Joshua’s face, she coughed. This jolted Joshua awake from his state and he looked at Zola and then to the little pup. Slowly, his maddened eyes returned back to normal. He lowered his rifle and turned to Zola in a tired voice.

“Welcome home.”

“What happened?” She asked.

“Nothing, I just got paranoid. Alva people arrived on a ship. I thought they would come for me and all.”

“Then you should have hide,” Zola folded her arms. “It would be best if you don’t start anything unless I am here. I can help you kick their ass.”

“That’s true...” Joshua said with tiredness. “Still, it’s not like you can protect me every time right?”

“Gee,” She rubbed the back of her head. “Just calm down...I’ll help you and make sure that my fellow earthling won’t get killed. So relax okay?”

“I guess so.”

Joshua fell on the floor cross-legged. He flatted his back on the floor and covered his eyes with his arms. Zola ambled to the couch and watched him worriedly.

Titus the little pup didn’t really know what was happening. But it trotted towards Joshua and licked his cheek. This action made Joshua look at the little pup and smile. “I’ll get you two something nice okay?”

“Yeah, you do that,” Zola said. Then Joshua stood up and distracted himself by preparing something for Zola and the little pup.