Chapter 40
I’m translating the chapter into the required HTML format and keeping the special text as styled blocks where needed. I’m checking the scene structure first so the paragraphs and dialogue land naturally in English.CHAPTER_TITLE: Winter Has Come — 3-on-3
When the wolf finished speaking, the forest seemed to sink even deeper into silence.
Geoung, the hunting goblin, and the goblins who had been going about their daily work all froze in place. None of them could move as they stared at the presence before them.
Tap. Tap.
The sound of claws scraping stone echoed from somewhere ahead. The wolf’s eyes shifted toward it.
And then, out of the darkness of the cave, green scales began to show.
A dragon walked out.
It was Dohyun.
He had just emerged from the dungeon entrance when he met the wolf’s gaze, and a chill tightness seized his heart.
“Smaller than I expected.”
...A Great Yokai.
He had heard it from Heok-o.
That being was said to stand on the next step beyond a Yokai beast.
A creature of an entirely different order from ordinary demon beasts.
A Great Yokai.
He was no match for it now.
It was strong.
Very strong.
It was hard to even estimate just how strong.
For a moment, neither side spoke.
Heok-o climbed onto Dohyun’s shoulder and said, “Gwiwolrang, long time no see.”
“...And the annoying one is here too.”
“Kuhuhu, to come in winter, when that one’s eye isn’t watching...”
Heok-o curled his beak in a meaningful smile.
Gwiwolrang’s eyes narrowed, and at the same time the air around them seemed to freeze.
“...Watch yourself. If that one hadn’t told me not to lay a claw on you, you’d already have been a meal.”
“Yeah, I know.”
At Heok-o’s reply, the wolf called Gwiwolrang ignored him no longer and looked back at Dohyun.
“Dragon. Are you the one who has drawn the attention of the master?”
Master...? Ah, the tree.
At that moment, Gwiwolrang’s eyes flashed.
Whoosh—
The forest air froze in an instant.
The goblins swallowed their cries.
Geoung’s muscles locked up.
Even breathing became difficult.
“...Do not call that one...”
Gwiwolrang’s voice rolled out low and heavy.
“...by that name.”
So I’m not supposed to call the tree a tree?
Dohyun understood in an instant that the wolf and the forest’s lord had a far deeper bond than he had assumed.
Understood.
It was a simple answer, but with that one line, the coldness receded.
And he realized that the feeling a moment ago had been nothing more than the surrounding qi trembling with the other’s mood.
Heok-o suddenly cut in. “Gwiwolrang! You were jealous, weren’t you?”
“Crow.”
The wolf bared his teeth as if he could chew the bird apart on the spot.
“Do not say useless things.”
“Yep!”
Just when Dohyun thought the crow had grown too bold for his own feathers, the wolf called again.
“Dragon.”
“I have already heard of your existence. They said you were more than worthy of being entrusted with a region of the forest.”
It sounded like praise, but—
“However, I cannot acknowledge you. Of course.”
The wolf slowly looked at the goblins and orcs waiting to fight beside Dohyun.
When they met his gaze, they bulged their muscles and gripped their weapons tighter in tension.
The wolf’s stare was so sharp that it might have turned their green skin pale.
“Your subordinates are sufficiently valiant.”
Of course they are.
His subordinates were managed under a thorough calculation.
“Arrogant, young dragon.”
He growled the words out.
“If you were not one whom that one had spoken to...”
He fixed Dohyun with a look like a hunter sizing up prey.
“...you would already be beneath my fangs.”
Coldly, he said it.
When the subordinates around him began to stir again, Dohyun stopped them with a gesture.
“If you are a dragon that has caught that one’s interest...”
Gwiwolrang’s eyes narrowed.
“...then you must possess at least some possibility.”
The wolf spoke, and the forest shuddered.
Then, between the leaves, dozens of eyes opened.
They were wolves with white fur.
Gwiwolrang’s mouth curved faintly.
“Young dragon.”
He bared white teeth as he spoke.
“I will see whether your potential is real through your subordinates.”
As soon as Gwiwolrang finished speaking, one of the wolves stepped forward.
To Dohyun’s senses, it was a Yokai beast.
At that moment, Dohyun looked at the orc standing beside him. The orc met his eyes and seemed about to step forward.
But before he could react, a small shadow moved ahead.
It was a goblin.
The goblin’s entire body was covered in scars.
A scar split across the forehead in two lines.
Scars packed his upper body, and old wounds were tangled all over him like a spiderweb.
At the goblin’s appearance, the others began to murmur.
That one is...
For a moment, Dohyun searched his memory as he looked at him.
That goblin seemed crazy.
He never stopped training.
Even if he broke, he got back up again.
And so he was the one who had earned the recognition of the others as a leader, an alpha.
Dohyun glanced around at the goblins nearby.
Kie...
Kiiii...
There was something there, some mixture of expectation and trust.
He felt the exchange of emotions among them, and considered it. It was not the orc that was going out, but this goblin.
Not bad.
Without question, a true Yokai beast would be difficult for him.
If you judged goblins by martial standards, they were still hatchlings.
In a straight fight, there could only be one result.
Defeat.
But this was a goblin who knew nothing of such calculations.
Dohyun’s gaze moved to the rear.
Hundreds of goblins were watching.
Expectation.
Fear.
And respect.
...Not bad at all.
Dohyun’s calculation was complete.
If this was a test, they would not be killed.
If he performed well, morale would rise.
Even if he lost, showing determination would be enough.
Worth sending out.
He knew how precious intangible assets were.
So Dohyun nodded, granting permission.
Step-!
The goblin who advanced faced Dohyun squarely and struck his own chest with a fist.
Dohyun did not know who had taught him, but the gesture looked almost as if he were saying, Thank you for trusting me.
At that sight, the fighting spirit of the other goblins flared alive.
Kieek!
Kiiik!
Dohyun thought, Everything is going exactly as calculated.
“A lesser yokai.”
Gwiwolrang narrowed his eyes as he looked at the one who had stepped out.
A small yokai was called a soyo. There were many variations among mutated beasts, but in general, their weakness was the same: they were weak.
The wolf waited, as if telling the goblin to make the first move.
The goblin drew his weapon, a spear.
Dohyun had given it to him because he knew the goblin had recently devoted himself to spear technique.
He took the spear in a formal stance.
It was the orthodox human style.
When the spear tip pointed at the wolf, the wolf moved.
So fast that it seemed to vanish.
Shhrrk-
The goblin’s left shoulder was torn open.
Long claw marks split across it, and blood burst out.
The goblins watching held their breath.
The wolf vanished again.
The next instant, the goblin thrust his spear forward.
For one brief moment, the wolf’s body faltered and showed itself.
In that tiny opening, the goblin stabbed with the most efficient line possible, as if he were striking in a training ground.
Crack-
The stone spear snapped.
It had failed to pierce the wolf’s hide.
The wolf swung its claws again, disdainful as if looking at something worthless.
But the goblin did not panic.
Thap-!
He dropped his body low and executed a quick, clean grappling counter straight to the ground.
Stone at his feet scattered upward and slammed into his body.
Blood sprayed.
Drip... drip...
He was quickly reduced to a blood-soaked wreck.
Watching him, the wolf walked forward at a measured pace.
It was the gait of something finished with the hunt, approaching the prey it had already caught.
Kiiik-!
And yet the goblin’s eyes did not dim, even then.
Seeing the wolf’s form blur away, he threw his body forward.
Thud—
A heavy impact rang out, and blood spilled from the goblin’s mouth.
But he was smiling.
Kieek!
Dohyun understood the cry.
Got it.
He had managed to seize the wolf by the nape, leaping in while holding the stone spear and catching the beast by the neck.
The goblin’s hands locked onto the fur at the back of the wolf’s neck.
The wolf shook its body to throw him off.
But the goblin stubbornly held on and opened his mouth.
Crunch!
X bit into the wolf’s snout and tore it apart.
The wolf’s weak point.
Its nose.
The wolf screamed.
It thrashed even harder, and with the pain in its nose growing unbearable, it rolled on the ground.
The goblin rolled with it, scraping against gravel all the more, until he was nothing but a mass of blood and dirt.
Still.
He never let go.
The wolf slashed at the goblin’s arm where it gripped his neck.
Blood burst out.
The claws did not stop. They raked across the goblin’s entire body.
Even so.
He did not let go.
The goblins around them held their breath.
Weakness despised.
Instinct said it.
The wolf was strong.
Overwhelmingly strong.
And yet one goblin was clinging to that wolf.
The goblins’ eyes changed.
They turned red.
Kieek...
Kiiik...
The wolf struggled in pain.
And as they watched, more and more of the goblins’ eyes turned red.
The goblin biting the wolf had eyes so red they looked ready to drip blood at any moment.
Harder.
He gripped the neck tighter.
He bit down harder.
Crhk—
At last, the wolf’s movements began to slow.
Then.
Thud.
It collapsed.
The forest fell silent.
The goblin warrior panted hard, his whole body drenched in blood, and stood over the wolf.
The goblins shouted.
“Kieeeeeek—!”
Their roar shook the forest.
Bright red.
It was plain to see that they no longer thought of themselves as the weak, but as the strong.
Watching that, Dohyun’s eyes changed only by the slightest degree.
“...Ho.”
Gwiwolrang’s mouth lifted a fraction.
Then he looked at Dohyun.
“You have an interesting subordinate.”
The goblin bowed to the wolf he had fought, then stepped back with dignified pride.
When he returned, he looked like a corpse standing upright with ghastly injuries, but his blood-soaked face was smiling.
Like someone waiting for the next fight.
As Gwiwolrang watched him, he said coolly, “Next.”