Through experimentation, Ethan discovered the many advantages of a mutated hen.
For example: her fluff was incredibly soft. The space beneath her wings was warm—no wonder newborn chicks loved curling under a mother hen's wings.
The only downside was that mutated Miss Chloe was heavy.
So heavy that lying on his chest, she made it hard for him to breathe.
"You can tell she really likes you," Ivy said blankly, making no move to help. The tuft of blond hair on her head laughed so hard it nearly folded in half.
Ivy wrote as she commented, "This matches my hypothesis. The collar likely causes the wearer to develop abnormal feelings toward the holder—possibly even obeying their commands."
"Miss Chloe," Ethan said through gritted teeth, "get off me."
He issued the command, and the "little" hen immediately clambered off his chest.
Then she stood at his feet in a proud, guard-dog posture, looking like she could protect the cabin with her life.
"What else do you feel?" Ivy asked.
"Chest tightness," Ethan replied, rubbing his ribs. "Miss Chloe got heavier."
He took several deep breaths in a row. A mage's frail body was on full display at times like this.
At the same time, he concealed something abnormal—
The reason he hadn't cast a spell when Miss Chloe pounced was because he had formed a strange mental link with her. He knew clearly that she'd pounced out of excitement, not aggression.
Ivy could never be allowed to learn that.
Otherwise, Ethan would become the next research subject.
But now he faced another issue.
"This… what species is she, exactly?"
He seized the initiative before Ivy could. Miss Chloe no longer belonged to any creature Ethan recognized.
Her feathers had mutated into a vivid, eye-catching crimson. Her beak had sharpened, long and vicious-looking. The greatest change was in her tail feathers—
One tail had become three beautiful, forked tails.
"Wolf-chicken," Ivy said without hesitation.
That question didn't trouble a Society devotee in the slightest. "It's simple. A human wears the cursed object and becomes a werewolf. A chicken wears it and becomes a wolf-chicken."
As she spoke, Ivy wrote her newly invented species into the record.
Ethan fell into thought.
Despite looking nothing like a wolf, Miss Chloe had already displayed many traits of one—of a dog.
Ivy produced a chunk of raw meat from somewhere and tossed it toward her.
The palm-sized piece was intercepted in midair and swallowed whole before it could even touch the ground.
If Miss Chloe pecked a person now… it wouldn't just "hurt a little."
"Don't space out," Ivy reminded him. "We still have a lot of tests to run."
Height and weight. Destructive capability.
Ethan had to admit: when he watched Miss Chloe crush a chunk of granite with a single claw, he felt a small shock in his chest.
Then came the most crucial test.
Ethan and Ivy each spent half an hour alone with Miss Chloe. The result matched their expectations.
Once the cursed object activated, its irresistible "attraction" vanished.
At dusk, Ivy ended her tests. Smoke rose from the town in the distance. She put away her pen and paper, then looked toward the faint lights at the end of the road.
"If we bring the wolf-chicken back to town, it'll cause panic and rumors," she said. "I'll bring you food. Until the Containment Bureau arrives, you'll stay here."
She glanced at Miss Chloe. "With her by your side, you won't need to worry about wild beasts either."
Ethan couldn't have been happier.
He'd been struggling to find an excuse to leave town. Living alone here would let him train Frostbolt as he pleased.
Besides, compared to a Society devotee like Ivy, Ethan preferred animals.
Man and chicken stood at the roadside, watching Ivy disappear down the road.
Miss Chloe walked up to Ethan, rose on her toes, and rubbed her head against his chest.
"Want to go hunting?" Ethan asked on a whim.
Ever since arriving in this world, small animals seemed to like him. Too bad this world didn't have a Beastmaster profession—otherwise he might not have needed to hide in town practicing Fireball for two years.
Miss Chloe nodded and happily dashed toward the forest.
Wolf-chicken could understand human language.
And Ethan could sense her emotions.
Like now—
She was excited.
She plunged into deep brush. When Ethan approached, she poked her head out playfully, as if trying to startle him.
Ethan was infected by her mood without realizing it, and his pace quickened.
But elsewhere…
Compared to Miss Chloe's bright excitement, someone's mood had sunk into absolute darkness.
A figure cloaked in pitch-black robes stood in a crater at the mountain peak, staring with bloodshot eyes at land reduced to scorched earth.
The people who followed them trembled, frozen in place, not daring to make the slightest sound.
Suffocating fear spread through the group.
After a long time, someone finally gathered courage to break the deadlock.
"Priest… I think we should strategically adjust our target. That town… something's off."
The others remained silent, sneaking glances at the figure in the crater, silently agreeing.
All evidence had indicated that Creekwood Town's sheriff was nothing more than a Tier Two Truth Society bookworm. The town should have been destroyed last night by the ritual-triggered tide of monsters.
But a meteor from the heavens had allowed the town to survive by sheer luck.
Worse still, the priest's carefully raised pet had been obliterated in that disaster—bones and all. Even the token was missing.
An omen like this… was never good.
"I'm sure the Mother Goddess will understand—"
The man's voice cut off abruptly.
His eyes bulged. It was as if something had lodged in his throat.
He clutched his chest, fell to his knees, and cold sweat drenched his clothes.
The next instant, he vomited a mouthful of blood—
And something writhing.
A heart.
A still-beating heart, coughed up from his own throat and caught in his hands.
He felt his life draining away, unable to speak. He could only look at his companions with pleading eyes.
Everyone lowered their heads in terror. Someone hurried to declare loyalty.
"Please rest assured, Priest! Creekwood Town will be destroyed. The entire empire will fear us!"
Thud.
They all heard something heavy hit the ground.
The man collapsed, frozen in disbelief. The beating heart fell from his hands as well, landing on the earth.
Black ash clung to it.
It trembled a few times—
Then went still.
"Activate the summoning ritual at the southwest corner," the robed figure ordered in an unquestionable tone. "I want to see this place reduced to ashes with my own eyes."
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