VS Lion, Part 4

Fervently kicking its stumpy feet off the ground, Boss made its way away from the battlefield as fast as its body allowed it. It would momentarily stop its movement, and start keeping a watchful eye while making a beeping sound.

[Searching… Searching…]

Its tiny little body was chock full of functions. Among them was the function to search for anything that seems useful.

―Kaban wasn't the only one to learn helplessness when watching Friends fight. To keep the promise of safety and peace ―though, currently it was neither― the park guide's body was made with no claws, fangs, or anything that could be used as a weapon. Be it the fight with Eurasian Eagle-Owl, or the current battle with Lion, they are situations not present in the manual, and the park guide robot was trying to come up with a way to deal with them nonetheless. While it was busy processing the unprogrammed cases, Kaban and the other Friends were ahead of it.

…It didn't do anything. It couldn't do anything. Boss had recognized that it was an existence that was truly powerless.

Therein, Kaban had given it a "task". She also terminated the restrictions on its actions and the anti-interference protocol. If it couldn't fulfill this role, it'd be no better than a heap of junk.

Although it was a machine that shouldn't have any feelings, somewhere within its body was fired up with a sense of duty.

[―Search complete.]

The function to find nearby Friends, utilized in night tours to find the exact whereabouts of Friends or animals, was fully operational.

Thermographic apparatus, infrared and night vision camera, motion sensor

―

Switching between the various equipment and using them in tandem, Boss with its tiny body searched through the vast forest.

[Found it.]

And found it, a lone shadow. Boss caught up to the shadow that was in a different place than the trio of Kaban, Serval, and Lion. It also had a different build from Eurasian Eagle-Owl. The distance from here to the Library was greater than the distance from the trio. That Friend must be wishing for help. However―

[...]

As Boss made its move, it had a flashback to its fellow beast's figure after getting mauled by Lion. What if this Friend it found was also in Instinctive Frenzy just like Lion? Acting independently, there was no one to protect it. Scattered around the spot were bits and pieces of scrap.

[...!]

―But why?

Boss mustered its whole body with its tiny little jumps to chase after the shadow. The "task" given to it is to find help as fast as possible. Pondering over the risk factor was a waste of time. Just who was it that was most likely to be torn apart in this case?

[Leave it to me… Leave it to me…!]

It froze up upon witnessing an unexpected event, as if to shake off its hopelessness. Utilizing its practical functions to fulfill its given task, Boss found itself fighting alone away from the others.

…

"..."

Although she had her arms crossed in silence, Professor had been pacing back and forth whilst constantly fidgeting. In a similar manner, Fennec was sitting down dejectedly, watching on only moving her eyes. Her face bared no expressions, but her ears were perked up to not miss even the faintest of sounds. Common Raccoon meanwhile had been meandering here and there, looking out of the window at the rain pouring from the dark night sky.

"...Ah!"

With the sudden sound she made, Common Raccoon dashed up to the door and opened it wide.

"Wai-, Arai-san!?"

"It's alright nanoda!"

Before Fennec could stop her, Common Raccoon had already run outside. Fennec stood up in pursuit. However, Common Raccoon would immediately return and shut the door. In her hands she was holding onto a Lucky Beast struggling to stand.

"Arai-san, that's…"

"It's Boss nanoda! He was walking about right over there noda! We've finally found him noda!"

While Common Raccoon had excitedly raised her voice and held the Lucky Beast up high, Professor had to regrettably splash the cold water on her.

"...That's not the same Boss that went with Kaban. One of his ears is a little chipped at the tip. That's the Lucky Beast that wanders around the perimeter of the Library."

Having confirmed the characteristics mentioned by Professor, Common Raccoon was visibly disappointed. Having been let go of, the Lucky Beast landed with a plop and began wandering around the Library's interior.

"...I thought that it was something else."

Looking over at everyone from the corner of her eyes, African Wild Dog had been stretching her arms, legs, and body, preparing to move at a moment's notice. She wished that it would've stopped raining, but it didn't seem like the torrent would weaken any time soon.

"Hmm…"

Gray Wolf turned her neck, brought up her hand to her throat and coughed lightly. Perplexed by that movement, Professor briefly looked at her. Gray Wolf noticed it, becoming slightly embarrassed. Professor had also noticed that the other's narrow heterochromic eyes were glistening in Wild Release's light.

"It's been a long time since the last time I've done it…"

Gray Wolf took in a deep long breath, turned towards one of the big holes, and stared up towards the open night sky.

"...AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!"

From within Gray Wolf's tiny mouth came a great long beastly howl as she kept her eyes closed. Although it was by no means thunderous, coming out from the depths of her lungs, it resounded far into the dark night. Common Raccoon, who hadn't been paying attention to her until now, jumped up in surprise. Even Fennec had her tail stand on its end and her ears completely straightened out. Professor meanwhile had her hand cling to her shoulders as if trying to hold herself.

Having been howling for a while now, Gray Wolf ended it, dropped her shoulders with a sigh, and opened her eyes.

"Th-Th-That surprised me noda… P-P-Please d-d-d-don't let out such a scary sound so suddenly noda…!"

Common Raccoon, who had cowered while holding onto the Lucky Beast she picked up earlier, let out a nervous undignified voice.

"Ah sorry… I should've warned you."

Gray Wolf apologized while turning off the light in her eyes. Snapping back and clearing her throat, Professor murmured "I see" under her breath.

"A wolf's distant howl, huh…? Certainly, you did it to drive out the enemies from here, right?"

"Well… So far I've only been using it to surprise everyone else and get some nice expressions."

"...Don't use Wild Release for meaningless things, please."

Professor's expression soured as she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Although it's great that a howl like that would make the Friends that entered the Forest through the destroyed barricade instinctively run away in fear…"

"I was frustrated with having to hold my arms behind my back and do nothing, so I tried to do something… So, what do you think…?"

"Good grief… Just where has Kaban gone off at a time like this…?"

Seeing as Professor was unable to hide her worried expression while still complaining, Gray Wolf looked out the window.

Those girls weren't aware of it, but the opponent that Kaban and Serval were facing was no small fry that would hide its tail between its legs and run away from the howl, even if Gray Wolf was a great carnivore herself. No one would've guessed that they were up against the king of animals.

It was impossible to guess.

Hello, this is PoGu. Apologies for the long delay once again. I was thinking of changing my translation schedule so that I'd make chapter translations for written works in between my bigger projects.

Anyway, since FF doesn't like any kind of link anywhere, I'll instead leave directions on how to find the original work.

First method is to search for "「けもの」の本能" and find the link that leads you to a Japanese site called "kakuyomu".

Alternatively, you can go to the kakuyomu site and add "/works/1177354054882921926" to the domain.