Perhaps unsurprisingly, things did not go smoothly for the undying one and the officer.

After a brief search, they found Azi dozing on her belly in a corner of the first floor. That part was easy.

The problem was, that was the only part that was easy.

“Oh! Miss Dog!”

Her ears perked up, and her tail swayed gently. Sensing someone nearby, Azi cracked her eyes open and inspected the humans calling to her.

Then she immediately growled.

“Grrr.”

Her attitude was markedly different from usual. This was not even wariness of strangers. Compared to this, her first meeting with the officer had been as warm as a reunion with an old friend.

This growl was directed solely at the undying one—a warning born of a fundamental aversion.

Sensing trouble, the officer looked at him.

“Trainee. Don't tell me...”

“Haha! Come to think of it, she did this when I first arrived here, too! It seems Beast Kings aren't particularly fond of our race!”

“Grrr.”

The earthfolk.

An immortal race that had offered their entire tribe to Mother Earth, gaining bodies closer to her than any other.

True to their name, the flesh and blood of the earthfolk resembled soil and lava. Their skin was tough but stiff as packed mud, and their blood flowed hot, only to harden inside their bodies when it cooled. Just like Mother Earth, who took the whole world as her flesh.

Thus, while her aversion might be less than what she felt toward vampires reeking of blood... Azi felt no kinship with them.

“But it's all right! Any beast bares its teeth and growls when you first try to tame it! Surely overcoming that and forging a bond is the very wisdom humanity used to tame beasts!”

Declaring this with confidence, the undying one strode toward Azi.

“Miss Dog! Come, let's get to know each other!”

“Woof.”

BOOM!

Azi irritably swatted his right arm. With the sound of a mound of earth bursting apart, it snapped at a grotesque angle.

Now sporting a backward-bending joint, the undying one looked down at his hand, scratched his head with his remaining left hand, and backed away. Only once he retreated did Azi stop growling.

As he returned without accomplishing a thing, the officer fixed him with an utterly icy glare.

“... Hey.”

“Hahahaha! This beast is a particularly fussy one! My apologies, friend!”

Raising his dangling right arm, the undying one declared,

“I don't think I can do this!”

“Then what am I supposed to do?!”

The lieutenant colonel finally exploded and stalked toward him in anger. He offered an awkward smile as he set his dislocated right arm back into place.

“Haha. I'll leave this part to you, Lieutenant Colonel, a human in every sense of the word! Miss Dog is still a dog, after all, so she ought to obey you better—Urgh!”

A hard military boot struck his shin. Unable to finish speaking through the pain shooting up his leg, the undying one doubled over.

Having chastised the incompetent fool, the officer turned away from his groaning form.

“Unbelievable. I even wasted a World Tree leaf on this useless fool.”

“Haha! I have no excuse! But don't you worry! At the very least, our tribe doesn't take the goods and run!”

“I'd rather you got out of my sight right now.”

In the end, this useless man had accomplished nothing. All the help her helper provided was noisy chatter at her side.

As always, the mission's success now depended entirely on the officer's own abilities.

She walked past him toward Azi.

“Move. I'll do it.”

“I'm counting on you! Be sure to accomplish what I could not!”

Leaving behind words that might have been encouragement or mockery, the officer approached Azi. Though Azi had coldly rebuffed the undying one, she greeted the officer with a wagging tail.

Standing before her, the officer called out,

“King of Dogs, Puppy. Stand up!”

“Woof!”

Azi sprang to her feet. Looking at Azi smiling up at her from slightly below eye level, the officer enunciated clearly.

“Listen carefully, King of Dogs. This officer is Lieutenant Colonel Callis Kritz of the Military State, appointed by its orders to take overall command of Tantalus.”

“Woof? This officer? Is that food?”

“... I am Lieutenant Colonel Callis Kritz.”

Only after she put it simply did Azi understand that the officer was introducing herself. Swaying her tail, Azi replied cheerfully.

“Woof! Nice to meet you! I'm Puppy!”

“... What on earth was whoever named this generation's King of Dogs thinking? Of all the names to choose, they picked that?”

After muttering her complaint, the officer straightened again and spoke.

“Puppy.”

“Woof! My name! You called?”

“As a human being, I make a demand of you.”

“Woof...”

The moment she heard the word “demand,” Azi's ears and tail drooped.

“Don't like demands. Too much trouble.”

“You must listen. I am human, and you are the King of Dogs. You must do as I say.”

“Woof...”

Azi stood at a slouch, making her annoyance abundantly clear. The officer did not know whether to rebuke this insolent attitude or be grateful that she was listening despite it.

Regardless, she had a job to do. Composing her voice, she spoke in a commanding tone.

“Puppy. This officer—no, I demand this of you. From now on, whenever I call you, you must follow me immediately.”

“Woof. Okay.”

Despite the affirmative answer, the officer was not satisfied. Azi had agreed so readily that her answer felt altogether too casual.

To make certain, the officer added,

“... Even if another human calls you, ignore them and obey me.”

“Woof? Can't do that.”

Her refusal was just as swift, and equally firm.

The officer clenched her teeth. In other words, if that convict laborer deliberately chose to interfere... she would never be able to get the King of Dogs out of Tantalus.

Growing anxious, she spoke.

“Why not? You're supposed to obey human orders! Therefore, you must obey the order I'm giving you now! I've ordered you not to listen to him, so under the pact, you must ignore what they say!”

“Wooof...”

“Answer me properly. Keep your promise!”

“Promise isn't like that...”

“No, you have to obey!”

People can see themselves reflected in the reactions of those they face.

Azi looked at the officer as though she were a child throwing a tantrum. Meeting those calm eyes, the officer realized she was being unreasonable.

She had neither the power nor the justification to back her demands. All she had was a promise humans had exchanged with dogs long ago. Leaning on something whose true nature she did not even understand, she was stubbornly insisting that the King of Dogs obey her.

The first emotion she felt was shame. While she pressed her lips tightly shut, Azi spoke as though soothing—or gently admonishing—the tantrum-throwing officer.

“I do what humans say. That's not obedience. It's trust. Like the promise we made long ago. If I follow humans, if I trust them and put myself in their hands, they'll lean on me just as much. That's what I hope.”

“Exactly! So you must do as I—!”

“You're human. But you're not the only human. Woof.”

Having calmly delivered a truth everyone knew but preferred not to think about—that she was only one human among countless others—Azi cautiously added,

“... And, woof. You're my friend, but I'm not your friend. You... don't like me.”

The officer jolted.

A mere dog had seen through her true feelings. Worse, the King of Dogs had guessed how she felt and even shown her consideration.

She had lost both in strength and in character.

That fact ate away at her pride.

The Lords of Creation were human supremacists, a gathering of people who considered even beastkin inferior to humans. Hatred was their fundamental attitude toward beasts.

That emotion was fueled by unhappy childhoods and the savagery of the beasts they had experienced that day.

For Callis in particular, who had lost her father—her only family—to beasts, this was a defeat she could not accept.

“Shut up and do as I say!”

Even when the officer lost control and shouted, Azi did not so much as blink. She only watched her with large eyes full of worry and concern.

Thoroughly irritated by that look, the officer lashed out.

“Don't look at me like that! You're just a beast!”

The officer looked around. Here in Tantalus's cells, once filled with implements for restraining prisoners, remnants of those tools still remained.

What caught her eye was a chain lying on the floor, broken in the middle. She snatched it up and walked toward Azi, pulling it taut threateningly.

Guessing what she meant to do, the undying one tried to stop her.

“Uh, Lieutenant Colonel. Wait. Isn't that going a little far? Perhaps you should reconsider...”

“Shut up, you useless fool! I wouldn't be doing this if you'd done your job!”

The undying one scratched the back of his head, looking deeply troubled. Meanwhile, the officer formed a loop with the chain and tossed it over Azi, who still stood without resisting.

CLINK-CLATTER.

The makeshift chain loop settled around Azi's neck. Even as it tightened around her throat, she merely frowned and did not resist. Until the chain had wrapped twice around her neck, Azi did nothing but silently look at the officer.

'I can't stand it. A mere dog that can't even defy humans, acting as though she understands everything...!'

Even after hurling abuse at her and wrapping a chain around her neck, the officer's anger did not abate.

None of this would have happened if she had obeyed from the start. If she had cooperated with the mission, followed her willingly, helped her complete it successfully.

The problem was that a mere dog had gone against her wishes.

“A beast like you deserves nothing more than a leash to be dragged around on! You can call yourself a king and wear a human body, but you're still just an animal! Trying to talk this out was a mistake. I should have done this from the—!”

Just as she was about to pour out her pent-up feelings on the King of Dogs...

... Heavenly Sword Art.

The space at the end of the corridor rippled, and a wind blew where no wind should exist: in the bottomless pit.

Following it came killing intent as sharp as a blade.

A blade of wind raced down the first-floor corridor. Filling the broad passage and tearing up everything around it, it hurtled toward the officer.

More precisely, toward her right arm, which held the chain.

By the time she sensed that murderous intent, the sword's energy was already upon her. While she stood dazed, still unable to fully comprehend what was happening—

“Lieutenant Colonel!”

The undying one rushed over and threw himself in front of her.

The wind blade slashed into him. A massive wound opened from his right shoulder to his left flank, and the following shock wave shredded his flesh into rags. Its edge spent, the wind battered his body before rampaging in every direction like an unbridled horse.

In less than a second, he looked as though his entire body had been hacked apart by tiny blades.

Even knowing he was undying, it was not easy to remain calm while watching a person get torn apart before her eyes. The officer called his name without thinking.

“Rash...!”

But Rash, the undying one, was a monster who, though a little outclassed here, had been perfectly fine even after losing an arm.

His body swayed briefly with a booming thump like a drum bursting, but he promptly stamped his right foot down and let out a forceful shout.

“Hup!”

He was still brimming with vital energy. As he drew on his power, his wounds healed in an instant. Torn muscles regained their shape, and ragged flesh became smooth once more.

Having regenerated his body in a single breath, the undying one clenched his fist and addressed the figure approaching from beyond.

“Now, isn't it a bit much to start swinging a sword without warning, boy?”

The Regressor did not answer. She did not even spare him a glance.

Her eyes remained fixed solely on Azi and the chain around her neck.

“The chain.”

A voice as cold as though carved from ice carried on the wind.

It was neither loud nor close, yet its clear, sweet tones sounded as distinctly as if spoken right beside their ears.

“Drop it.”

The Regressor spoke, radiating restrained killing intent.