The Divine Wolf... or?

After the smoke cleared, Ark could see the cat once more. Although it was still alive, it had returned to its original form, and it was covered in injuries all over. The cat looked at Ark with a wary expression at first, but after a few seconds, it just sat down in defeat. The cat was smart, and it knew that Ark was a lot more powerful than itself.

It had no way of fighting back and had already lost the fight. It was over. Ark watched the cat's dejected appearance with some interest, and he realised that this cat was a bit smarter than he had thought.

"Hey, do you want to live?"

After thinking it over for a bit, he tried to communicate with it using telepathy.

"Live? Yes."

The cat looked at him with a weird expression, but Ark didn't mind. He was just happy that he was able to communicate with it, even if the cat's thoughts were a little scattered.

"Then follow me, I'll take you out of here."

The cat seemed a little confused by what Ark was saying.

"Out of here?"

"Yeah, out of this dungeon, there's a whole world out there that's a lot more interesting than in here."

The cat looked at Ark with a curious expression as it tilted its head to the side.

"You will not kill me?"

"No, I'll even heal you if decide to follow me."

The cat who had originally resigned itself to its fate now had some hope. Could it trust this person in front of it? Who knew, the cat wasn't really smart enough to think that far. Even if it could, this was basically like choosing between life and death. Even if Ark was suspicious, most people would still choose to follow him in this scenario.

The cat limped over to Ark's side and looked at him with curiosity, then it suddenly relaxed and sat down.

Ark put his palm on the cat's head and entered its consciousness with his soul. After finding the cat's soul, he branded it with his own soul, creating a seal. What he was currently doing was something known as a soul contract, and it was something that all creatures of a certain strength and intelligence could do.

Ark himself had learned how to do it when he became an Overlord Elemental Wolf, but he didn't have a use for it until now.

This was because the creature he used the soul contract on needed to be weaker than himself, and willing to go through with it. If they were not, then he would suffer a harsh backlash on his soul, which would create an injury that was very hard to heal. After he had created the soul contract, he looked at the cat and decided to give it a name.

Since this cat was going to become a companion that would follow him for a long time, he wanted to give it a name that was imbued with his own power.

"Your new name will be Mado."

After he finished speaking, Ark could feel his mana and soul power rapidly leaving his body, whilst the cat in front of him seemed to be receiving baptism from the world. The cat, which was now called Mado didn't grow in size, but after the baptism was over, its original black and red fur had become black and white instead.

Its eyes shone with a more intelligent light, and Ark could already tell that its powers had changed in nature.

Originally a creature only capable of controlling fire and using fire magic, could now probably use a majority of the elements. This was the power of Ark's mana. His soul power on the other hand had awakened the cat's intelligence and spirituality, which meant that it was now capable of deeper thinking than before. Ark was satisfied with the changes and picked up Mado to pet him a little.

His fur was very soft and fluffy, very nice to the touch, and Ark could finally feel what others felt when they touched his fur.

Although his own fur was still softer, it felt nice to have a cat that he could pet every now and then. Mado was a creature that was originally born from fire. It had never had parents or friends, so the feeling of being petted was something it had never experienced. It subconsciously started purring and leaning into Ark's palm whenever it was being petted, and Ark looked at it with a gentle smile.

Since the soul contract ensured that Mado would never be able to harm or betray him, Ark was able to let down his guard around it. A thing that he could only do around his family in the past. Well, Mado was now a part of his family.

After a while, the sea of fire surged once more, and another creature was about to jump out of it. When they sensed the disturbance, Ark put Mado down and took out his spear. Mado, however, jumped up onto Ark again and climbed up onto Ark's shoulder. Ark was a little surprised, he didn't expect Mado to be so clingy already, but he wasn't opposed to it. If anything, his heart fluttered slightly.

The creature that ran out of the sea of fire was actually another wolf. Ark wasn't completely sure about the species, but he thought it looked similar to a lava wolf. Since it was another wolf, Ark could naturally communicate with it, so he tried to see if he could talk to it without fighting first.

"Hello, my name is Ark, there's no need for us to fight."

His wolf tongue was a little rusty since he never used it, but since it was an inherent race skill, it didn't matter, he would always be able to communicate with other wolves, even if he was in his human form. However, to Ark's surprise, the wolf didn't respond to him at all and only looked at him with some serious hostility.

After some deliberation, the only conclusion that he could come to was that the creature in front of him wasn't actually a wolf, it only looked like one.

Even if a wolf was under the influence of hypnosis or anger, fear or mental control he should be able to communicate with it. The current situation was something he had never encountered before, and he was sure that the "wolf" in front of him was something else. Since he couldn't communicate with it, Ark raised his spear and got ready to fight.

As the wolf approached him, Ark could feel a large fluctuation of mana coming from his left shoulder, and with some interest, he didn't immediately attack.

Mado swiped with its tiny paw, just like Ark had done against it, and a gust of wind that turned into a tornado was sent straight at the "wolf" that was running towards them. The attack didn't stop there though, as Ark could feel Mado gathering even more mana.

The wolf who was running towards them was suddenly lifted up into the air by the tornado, and before it could struggle free, a large spike of ice suddenly descended on it, piercing straight through its head.