Tycoon Wolf

After returning, I immediately shared what we had seen with Aira and Nadja.

When they heard my report, Aira’s face stiffened in disbelief, while Nadja’s eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of a new, powerful opponent.

“So this… Tycoon Wolf—what kind of monster is it exactly?”

“The Tycoon Wolf is, to put it simply, the parent of the Forest Wolf,” Wheel-san explained.

“The Forest Wolf? That one’s fairly well-known,” Nadja said. “But even so, that thing’s far too large to be its parent, isn’t it?”

I’d actually seen a Forest Wolf before.

To put it simply, it was a wolf made entirely of wood.

Its eyes were hollow, and its ears looked like clusters of twigs bound together. It resembled a Treant—if the Treant had taken the form of a wolf.

According to the Adventurers’ Guild, it was classified as an E-rank monster, which meant it was even weaker than a single Wood Golem.

“Actually, the Forest Wolf isn’t really a wolf-type monster at all,” Wheel-san continued.

“Wait, what?” I blinked.

“That’s new to me too,” Aira added.

“Same here,” Nadja admitted.

“Well, it looks exactly like a wolf, so it’s only natural people assume it is one. But in truth, it belongs to the tree-type category of monsters—just like Treants or Gaia Trees. To put it in a way Woody-dono would understand… the Tycoon Wolf is the tree itself, while the Forest Wolves are its branches and leaves.”

So the Tycoon Wolf was, essentially, the superior form of the Forest Wolf.

Those green trees we’d seen growing from its back—those weren’t decorations.

With a mere thought, the Tycoon Wolf could transform them into living Forest Wolves.

In other words, it could generate and command them freely.

The number it could summon depended on its own strength.

“Judging by its size,” Wheel-san added, “that one can probably call up more than just one or two. We should expect a whole pack.”

Apparently, the Tycoon Wolf’s first move was to launch an overwhelming swarm of Forest Wolves.

But if it was a numbers game, then I wasn’t going to lose.

“Then we’ll handle its Forest Wolves with my Wood Golems,” I said confidently.

No matter how many it spawned, I’d crush them with sheer numbers. The Forest Wolves weren’t particularly strong; with enough Golems, their side would crumble first.

“Then that leaves the main body to me,” Nadja said, grinning.

After dealing with the Forest Wolves, the three of us would take on the Tycoon Wolf together.

That was the best approach, and everyone agreed.

“My apologies, but the most we can do is ensure everyone’s evacuation to Tree Village if things go south,” Wheel-san said with a regretful tone.

“I’m sorry for not being able to offer more…” added Catherine-san.

“Oh, no, that’s already more than enough!” I replied quickly.

Catherine bowed deeply, and I found myself more flustered than anything.

Just having them assist with an escape route was already a huge help!

Divine Beasts were bound by certain restrictions—unable to openly display their power except under special circumstances.

Simurg-san had mentioned those same limits before, and they applied equally to Wheel-san.

Even helping us flee was likely stretching that rule quite far, so rather than feeling disappointed, I could only feel grateful.

Besides, if we handled this properly, they wouldn’t even need to intervene.

That wolf-shaped pretender who dared to trouble Wheel-san and the others—

—we’d take it down fast and clean.

Once it was gone, everything would be solved.