“Wh-what…!”
“Kaengkaeng!”
When he realized that only his pant leg had been torn off and he hadn’t been bitten, he heard a familiar cry.
Jeongwoo lowered his sword blazing with red flames and checked below. He saw something like a small ball of fur. It was Kaengkaeng, holding onto Jeongwoo’s pants.
“Kaengkaeng? How are you here…?”
Jeongwoo was about to pick up Kaengkaeng but hesitated for a moment. It was very strange that Kaengkaeng was here at this moment.
Even though Kaengkaeng looked like an insignificant small animal to the eye, that wasn’t really the case. No matter how much Yeong-i called it Kaengkaeng, it was clearly the heir of the fox clan. Just because they’d grown attached didn’t change that identity. Jeongwoo looked at Kaengkaeng and tensed his muscles, becoming vigilant.
Was it harboring resentment for killing its mother and trying to take revenge? If so, now would be the perfect time. He hadn’t understood why it followed them out of the dungeon in the first place. In that brief moment, various thoughts flashed through Jeongwoo’s mind and simultaneously left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Kaengkaengkaeng!”
Kaengkaeng released Jeongwoo’s pant leg, barked fiercely a few times, then slowly began to inflate its body.
Jeongwoo watched such a Kaengkaeng with wary eyes.
At first, Kaengkaeng’s body, which had been the size of a puppy, didn’t take long to become as big as Jeongwoo. When the undead interfered and got in the way in between, it swung its tail once, and the undead fell like autumn leaves in the wind. Seeing that formidable power, Jeongwoo closed his mouth.
But Kaengkaeng’s growth didn’t stop there. Kaengkaeng continued growing its body larger without rest. The moment it gained a body the size of a house, its long silver fur that had been swaying beautifully began emitting a mysterious light softly. Even the darkness that had been devouring all light couldn’t block that light.
Now it seemed like it could no longer be called Kaengkaeng. Its overall size was as big as a house, and one tail was as big as the torso, and there were exactly nine such tails. When it leisurely swung its nine tails, wind arose.
Now, just looking at the appearance, it was difficult to distinguish whether it was Mirang or Seohuryorang.
Jeongwoo bit his lips tightly while looking at such a Mirang.
While the young Kaengkaeng wasn’t a difficult opponent, Mirang, the head of the fox clan, wasn’t an opponent that could be easily dealt with.
“You… right now… did you use accelerated time?”
– Kheuheuheuheu.
At Jeongwoo’s words, Mirang laughed with a hissing sound. Shaking its giant body that emitted light in the darkness while laughing, the laughter felt visible to the eyes rather than audible.
“Using accelerated time could have any kind of side effects! Your remaining lifespan might completely disappear with this. Don’t do such a foolish thing.”
– Do you think I would do this without knowing such things? And foolish acts aren’t exclusively human property. No matter how wise someone is, they can sometimes make foolish judgments. If blinded by emotion.
Jeongwoo bit his lips tightly. But did it use even the spell to accelerate time because revenge was that desperate?
The reason Kaengkaeng’s physique was small was because it was still a young fox. If you calculated the small fox Kaengkaeng by the fox clan’s age, it was similar to Yeong-i or perhaps even younger. It would still need hundreds more years to become an adult like Seohuryorang.
“…Are you doing this because you want revenge for your mother? This isn’t revenge. It’s just self-destruction.”
– Ridiculous human. Who are you saying that to? Say those words to yourself instead. Am I the only one who will receive consequences for playing with time? Even if Jaehee doesn’t know, you don’t have the right to say such things.
Jeongwoo closed his mouth. He didn’t realize Mirang had noticed this much.
Like Mirang said, when it came to this problem at least, he had nothing to say.
“So what do you want to do? Mirang, are you going to take revenge on me?”
At Jeongwoo’s words, Mirang laughed again with a hissing sound while trembling its body. Jeongwoo felt like it was mocking him and felt choked up.
Mirang approached and gazed at Jeongwoo with clear eyes. At the calm and clear gaze, Jeongwoo flinched. Mirang raised its head and looked at the sky for a moment, then looked at Jeongwoo again and smiled.
Jeongwoo blinked at Mirang’s gentle expression that showed no hostility at all.
– I’d like to tease you more, but it’s unfortunate there’s no time. Go to Jaehee immediately. That person has come. That person is with his Constellation. The humans present now are insufficient to protect Jaehee.
“…Mirang!”
– Go quickly. Even I don’t know how long Jaehee can hold out.
“Wait, …what are you going to do? These aren’t simple mission executors. Right now they’re targeting me and holding me back so I can’t go.”
– You seem to have forgotten what we foxes are best at.
Mirang showed a faint smile, then slowly changed its appearance.
“Uh…!”
At first it seemed like the body was shrinking again, but at some point the shining fur disappeared. The tails also disappeared and long extended legs appeared. In an instant, Mirang’s outer appearance became the same as Jeongwoo’s.
– When rushed, you forget even obvious things. For the fox clan, wearing another’s skin is easier than biting their own tail. It’s just that there’s usually no need to do such things.
Mirang looked over its arms and legs once with a face identical to Jeongwoo’s.
– It’s a bit awkward without fur and tails, but the human appearance isn’t bad either.
When Mirang suddenly dashed in one direction, the undead who had been standing still suddenly started moving following Mirang. The undead were recognizing Mirang as Jeongwoo.
– It’s like playing tag. This body will play here for a while, so Jeongwoo, you go to Jaehee quickly. I like both Jaehee and Yeong-i. Though I don’t like it when the little one pulls my fur sometimes. Tell Yeong-i to stop pulling my fur.
“Wait, Kaengkaeng, no, Mirang! This is… if you use accelerated time like this right now…!”
– Human. Is such a thing important to you right now?
Jeongwoo was momentarily speechless. Kaengkaeng wasn’t simply physically grown—it was completely different from its usual frisky self. It was a calm tone with dignity somehow present.
– Anyway, you only have one important thing, don’t you? So you go find and protect your important thing. I’ll take care of this place. Being by your side all this time, even I could understand what you want and what you’re thinking. It’s not like we didn’t anticipate this kind of situation anyway. Since you were the first to bring in a Constellation, the other side must have used the same trick. I’ll do my work, and you do yours.
An indescribable surge welled up inside.
Throughout his past life and this life, the one thing he wanted most was this kind of comrade. But the comrades Jeongwoo had protected by sacrificing everything betrayed him at the critical moment. They poisoned Jaehee while he was away, and stabbed others in the back for their own benefit.
Yet now the young fox of the fox clan, which he had considered a yokai, was offering help.
Unable to describe his emotions, he bit his lips tightly.
“I’ll finish things over there as quickly as possible. I’ll come back after that, so stay alive somehow.”
Jeongwoo himself knew well that these were meaningless words. The fight with Lee Shinhoo, who was borrowing a Constellation’s power, couldn’t be finished quickly, and even if it were, Mirang would have to pay the price for using accelerated time.
Using accelerated time meant directly violating the fundamental laws that constitute the world. At that moment, the world does its best to erase them, and the interest on that compounds like a snowball.
He knew that better than anyone else.
Jeongwoo took a deep breath and looked at his hand once.
He stared somewhere in the darkness. He felt like his eyes met with Mirang’s somehow.
And Jeongwoo turned around sharply and began running in a straight line toward one direction.
This would probably be the last time with Mirang.
If there was a bit more time, he would have asked why it followed them.
He had noticed that the relationship between Seohuryorang and Mirang wasn’t that good, but he couldn’t understand why Mirang would go this far for himself and Jaehee, who could be called the enemies who killed its mother.
“…Mirang, thank you.”
Since all the undead had flocked to Mirang, there was almost nothing blocking Jeongwoo’s path. Whether King’s Veil was still intact, the hemisphere-shaped dome emitting a pale light was visible even from afar.
Jeongwoo began running at full speed. His running speed was closer to an animal than a human. The fierce wind struck his face and pierced his lungs, but he didn’t falter in the slightest.
In the pitch-black darkness, Jeongwoo lightly jumped over various things and ran in a straight line. There was no time to hesitate.
