Resolve the crisis

Kaeya continued to grapple with Dinger, who effortlessly held the upper hand throughout the fight. Just as Dinger was about to finish off Kaeya, Emily shouted, "Get out of the way!" Kaeya hurriedly dodged, and Emily yelled, "Heavenly Fire Blast!" A powerful beam of flame shot straight toward Dinger. He quickly deployed a protective shield, but the beam's force shattered it and pierced through his right shoulder. "Tch, miscalculated. I'll settle the score with you next time!" With that, Dinger flew off. The move had nearly drained all of Emily's magical energy, leaving her sitting weakly on the ground. "Emily!" Kaeya, ignoring his own injuries, rushed over to check on her. "I'm fine, I just need to rest," Emily said. "We underestimated them. We didn't expect the enemy to be this strong. We arrogantly claimed we'd defeat the Demon King, yet we can't even beat his minions." Kaeya berated himself for his carelessness. General Bos stepped in, "You two have already done exceptionally well. This is the first time anyone's forced Dinger to retreat—no one could stop him before." "No," Kaeya replied shamefully, "we need to keep training. At this rate, we won't even make it into the Demon Realm, let alone defeat the Demon King." Just then, Judo arrived, and Kaeya recounted the events to him.

In the village, every day repeated the same mundane routine: working alongside Bona, delivering goods. Each time we made a delivery, I'd drag Bona with me to the library to read. She'd grown used to my requests. I'd pore over all sorts of magic-related books and secretly practice at night. Some advanced spells, though, I just couldn't manage—whether it was a lack of magical power or the wrong technique, I wasn't sure. One day, while browsing in the library, I stumbled upon a transformation spell that could alter one's physical form. My eyes lit up. Maybe I could use this spell to turn back into a human. I memorized it carefully, eager to try it out once I got home.

On our way back, we heard cries for help coming from the nearby forest. We rushed over and saw several wolves surrounding a peasant woman—perhaps drawn by the scent of the food she carried. Bona's father grabbed a farming tool to drive them off, but as someone who'd defeated the Wolf King, a few wild wolves didn't faze me. I dashed in front of Bona's father and silently recited a defensive spell in my mind. I felt my body grow stronger. One wolf lunged and bit my foreleg. "Little White!" Bona cried out anxiously. It seemed the spell worked—its fangs couldn't hurt me at all. With a forceful swing, I threw the wolf off. Two more charged at me, but I quickly cast an impact spell I'd learned earlier, sending them flying. Bona and her father stared in shock. "Has Little White learned magic?" Bona asked me. "Woof," I barked back confidently. Realizing they'd get nothing out of this, the three wolves prepared to slink away. "Woof woof!" I called out to them in dog language. They turned back, and I whimpered toward the meat we'd bought, glancing at Bona. She seemed to catch on. "You want to feed them?" she asked. "Woo woo," I nodded with a whine. "Well, I'll ask Dad." "Uh… fine," her father reluctantly agreed. Delighted, I grabbed the meat in my mouth and set it before the wolves. They looked at me, picked up the meat, and vanished into the woods. I'd taken down their leader, leaving them without a pack, forced to scavenge for survival. I hoped they'd behave themselves from now on and stop attacking villagers.That night, we returned home. As Bona ate, she said, "Little White was amazing today! No wonder it always wants me to take it to the library—it's been learning magic. The way it used magic today was so cool!" "Yeah," her father chimed in with a smile, "I knew Little White was special ever since it defeated the Wolf King." Embarrassed by their praise, I stopped eating and hid under the table. The house was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.