No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say the beast ‘allowed itself to be tamed.’ Rubbing his fluffy muzzle against her palm, demanding that she tighten the leash on him more firmly.

Given the intimidating presence and size, it would seem more plausible that the small and insignificant Haniel belonged to Regan, but ironically, the reality was the opposite.

After briefly enjoying Haniel’s touch and controlling his heat, Regan finally bent down as if unable to hold back any longer and licked her upper lip.

Lick. Smooch.

“…Haah.”

Only then did he regain some reason and speak.

“It’s the power I gained by staying by your side.”

“…You gained power by being at my side?”

“Yes.”

Regan lowered his eyes.

The man’s gaze turned toward his arm that had transformed into part of his true form.

“Staying by your side and in this territory was an excessively generous luxury for me, Regan Fenril, who was merely Sol’s hunting dog.”

“What? Regan, why would you think…”

“By drinking and eating what you provided, and by being close to your existence, I gained strength of a level I couldn’t have imagined before.”

Haniel, not knowing Regan Fenril’s previous form, couldn’t understand, but Rel, who had been well acquainted with him, had indeed noticed Regan’s change.

The man who had been Soleil’s general was already one of the few strong enough not to lose to anyone, but the current Regan seemed like a being that had shed a layer of his former self and metamorphosed.

A being hatched from an egg. A being who had thrown off his old constraints and broken through his limits. A powerful figure who could match an entire army with his existence alone.

And that growth hadn’t stopped—it was continuing even at this moment. As long as he stayed by Haniel’s side and protected her.

Like everything that lives and thrives in her territory, Regan, too, was growing.

Becoming more cruel, more ferocious, more enormous… now he could probably swallow the sun in one bite.

Of course, during this process, he was concerned that his kind-hearted ‘master’ might be terrified by his grotesque and savage aspects…

When Regan smiled, cruel teeth were revealed between his well-shaped lips.

“I never expected even myself that I would be able to wield such a ferocious power,”

He pulled Haniel with his beast-shaped arm and embraced her, enveloping her with his body.

“But you, being generous, would embrace your hunting dog without hesitation, even if he has become violent.”

“Huh? Uh… yes…”

“You’re a responsible person, aren’t you?”

As Regan kissed the top of her head with his blood-scented smile, Haniel could only blink and move her lips.

Suddenly, she wondered if she had gotten involved in something… wrong?

‘It’s true I should take responsibility until the end since I took him in…’

But why did it feel like she was the one wearing the leash?

Feeling infinitely small under his intimidating presence and as if her throat was being constricted, Haniel leaned her upper body back and let out an anxious laugh.

“Haha… that’s right. Responsibility… a person should be responsible.”

“A valid statement. Abandoning what you’ve picked up would make you less than human.”

“Huh? Uh… well, that’s right. Abandoning would make you n-not human.”

Haniel laughed awkwardly. Regan too smiled with his still handsome face, though covered in blood.

You laugh, I laugh. Like a beautiful scene from a peaceful drama… except one human was excessively stiff, and they were surrounded by butchered corpses and a smelly cave, but nonetheless, they were both smiling, so wasn’t it a joyful moment?

‘D*mn it.’

Haniel couldn’t help but wipe away the cold sweat that had formed.

He was a dog that followed his master well enough. But she was sweating nervously as he kept eyeing her neck like a dog watching for treats hidden in its owner’s pocket.

It felt like her neck was being stuffed into his threatening maw with its sparse teeth, being chewed like a dog treat.

But, Regan’s growth? She had felt before that he seemed to be becoming increasingly massive and threateningly larger, like a dinosaur toy that grows when placed in water, and it seemed that wasn’t just a simple illusion.

Haniel took out a handkerchief from her inventory and wiped some of the blood clots off Regan.

“Hey, let’s clean this up first.”

The remnants of the Wanderers’ bodies piled like firewood, plus Rel’s corpse.

Since there was a possibility that other Wanderers or different groups might come, Regan and Haniel hurriedly cleaned up the traces of sl*ughter as much as possible.

“Ugh…”

Seeing the fragmented faces of the Wanderers, she couldn’t help but groan.

The once prettily shaped faces now looked like broken porcelain dolls or cracked eggs.

An outer shell that seemed like insect carapace with metal poured in and leather lining the inside. Haniel shuddered when she discovered the viscous fl*id oozing from the broken shell fragments.

She couldn’t understand why Regan had mutilated the Wanderers’ faces more brutally than other parts.

Unlike the outer body parts, which were bitten and crushed efficiently though cruelly, the facial areas were torn to shreds, almost unrecognizable.

Crouching down and moving shell fragments with her hand, Haniel suddenly opened her eyes wide.

Wait… look at this?

‘Could it be, this material is…?’

Haniel opened her mouth.

“This… can be tanned…?”

The ranch in one corner of the farm. When leather was needed, she would sl*ughter the creatures raised there, but that was often not enough.

She had to hunt wild animals, skin them, and tan them, so her tanning skill, like her other skills, had reached 999 long ago.

That’s why the moment she picked up this Wanderer’s face fragment, she immediately knew what could be done with it.

Haniel whispered as she took out a small pocket knife from her waist.

“Tanning!”

When the tanning process, aided by the system’s power, was instantly completed, a piece of amber-colored leather exactly the size of the broken shell fragment plopped into her hand.

Ding!

‘Armor. I can… make armor?’

And even weapons?

“…All…”

“Haniel?”

“…Take all of it! We need to take all of it! Regan!”

Aaaahhhh! Haniel skinned and tanned all the Wanderer leather around her at an insane speed and stuffed it into her inventory.

She had to tan everything and take all the leather here!