It really was an oddity. Ruger had never expected his rash guess to prove true.
Ruger silently hoped that this filthy fellow would not struggle. He was no giant; even in demon form, he stood only a little taller than the wolf's back. If it struggled with all its might, he feared he could bite it bald and still fail to complete the maneuver. At the same time, he secretly hoped for another answer, one that had nothing to do with him.
Or perhaps it did.
In one swift motion, he clamped his jaws around Monster Wolf's scruff as he landed, twisting his waist with the momentum.
As the filthy Monster Wolf swung from his jaws and its legs left the ground, everything seemed to slow.
He saw the grime on Monster Wolf beside his face. Through the sparse fur on its neck, he saw Varin's wide, astonished eyes in the distance, Mona's lingering smile tinged with surprise, and finally, the Black Sword Bearer standing frozen at the other end of the chain attached to the wolf's tail.
Even the sharp clinking of the chain slowed at that moment.
He waited in anticipation.
Although Monster Wolf was hardly a powerful oddity, and was both filthy and battered, he liked this fellow very much.
He was already considering giving it a fur transplant.
But it was rather unusual. Or rather, all the oddities on this island were unusual. They could not be treated as alchemical creations, nor entirely as oddities. For instance, true oddities born under special circumstances were miraculous creations of the world. Never mind a One-Ring Wizard like him-even a High-Rank Wizard might not be able to repair or modify them.
Ruger still clearly remembered Half-Man's words: unique, of an exceptionally high order, and impossible to reproduce.
Artificial oddities