Eric felt his mind spinning as he opened his eyes—or at least, he was supposed to have eyes.
He felt as though his entire body had been condensed into an unfamiliar mass of mana.
He had no legs or hands.
He was like liquid darkness flowing through a lightless abyss.
It was uncomfortable.
Vile, even.
His body seemed to fight against the foreign form.
His core clearly didn’t agree with his current state.
Lightning shimmered across his formless body, casting flashes of light into the lightless realm.
His body, which had no definite shape, rippled violently as it struggled to regain its original form.
Cracks appeared in the membrane shielding his core, which resembled a semi-liquid barrier.
But before his core could explode, Eric was abruptly yanked out of the shadows.
Instantly, the cracks in the membrane surrounding his core began repairing themselves.
By then, Eric had already fallen unconscious for the second time.
His mundane mind couldn’t handle the backlash caused by the collision of two opposing concepts.
The wolf had just dragged one of the Children of the Life God into the Realm of Death.
The shadow beast dropped his captive onto the ground.
Of course, he knew what had caused the anomaly in the usually silent and welcoming realm.
He just hadn’t expected a human with an affinity for life to still be alive within it.
He finally understood why his mistress was interested in such a weak kid.
But there was a problem.
If he continued his journey on foot, it would take days to reach the core region.
Normally, such a short period wouldn’t be an issue since he didn’t need to eat or rest very often.
But the kid was frail and weak.
He would probably die of hunger before they even made it halfway there.
The beast stood up and commanded the shadows to rise above Eric, forming a thick dome around him.
It then left to hunt for food.
A few minutes later, it returned with a lifeless creature hanging from its maw.
It placed the carcass in front of Eric and let out a loud roar.
Eric didn’t react.
The black dome blocked out most of the sound.
The roar wasn’t meant for Eric.
It was an order directed at a specific type of beast.
Within minutes, a flaming eagle streaked down from the sky and landed beside the wolf.
It stared at the shadow beast for a few seconds before turning its gaze toward the black dome.
A spark of amusement flickered in its eyes.
Then a female voice resounded inside the wolf’s mind.
“What is so special about this kid that the queen had to send the great right hand of the king just to retrieve him?” “Tch.” The wolf scoffed and lay down on its belly.
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” he answered in a detached tone.
He just wanted the bird to roast the damn meat so he could continue his task.
“Oh?
And what is it?” the bird of prey asked, clearly amused.
“I dragged him into the shadows in order to reach the core region quickly, but his core resisted.
It even tried to detonate.” The eagle’s eyes immediately sharpened with interest.
Interesting it seems humans with an affinity to life still exist .
A sweet scent wafted into Eric’s nose.
He slowly sat up, a pained groan escaping his lips.
He looked around before standing and assessing his situation.
His hair was ruffled, and he was practically naked.
His stomach rumbled constantly from hunger.
The mana density here was incredibly high—far higher than what he had experienced in the outer layer.
“Wait…
the outer layer?” Eric thought, slowly turning his head.
That’s when he saw it.
A gigantic black wolf was lying leisurely nearby with its eyes closed.
Eric’s heart drummed, and his body froze in primal fear.
“This…
this isn’t good.” Eric thought about running away, but he knew that would be futile.
He remembered what had happened last time.
Even if he escaped, he would probably just be caught by another creature, and that one might not be as restrained as this one.
He inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, forcing himself to calm down.
Then he finally asked the beast the question that would decide his fate.
“Are you going to eat me?” The beast slowly opened its eyes, then raised an eyebrow—or at least, Eric thought it did.
“Eat you?” The beast chuckled.
“You aren’t even worth a snack.
Your body is nothing but flesh and blood.
How could it nourish me?
And your shadow…
don’t even get me started on that one.
Your shadow, unlike others, is barely existent.” “Ouch.
That stung,” Eric grimaced.
“So what does your queen want with me?” he asked cautiously.
But the beast simply lay back down without answering his question.
“At least cover my dignity,” Eric said with suppressed anger.
Instantly, the shadows around him rippled before embracing his body and forming a black garment.
The upper half fit tightly against his body, while the lower half was loose, giving him plenty of freedom of movement.
Eric raised the garment and looked down at himself, only to find that even his dignity had been covered by black underwear.
“Nice,” Eric said, nodding in approval.
He then looked toward the roasted pork, and his mouth began to water.
“That meat should be for me, right?
You know, since you’re so powerful that you don’t need such mundane food,” he said, conveniently forgetting that nothing in this place was truly mundane.
Receiving no answer, Eric walked over and sat in front of the meat, digging in without a care in the world.
If he had to be a captive, at least he could enjoy the perks that came with it.
After eating his fill, Eric sprawled on the ground, exhausted both mentally and physically.
He gazed up at the towering trees surrounding him.
“I wonder if Rachel would even believe me if I told her what I went through in this godforsaken forest.” Eric sighed.
“How would I even explain this?” He thought for a moment.
“I know.
I’ll just tell her that I was kidnapped by a demonic wolf, dragged into a lifeless realm where I had no physical form, almost blasted to pieces by my own core, and then fed a delicious meal by that same wolf.” He paused.
“Yeah…
nothing we don’t see every day, right?”