Chapter 145
Chapter 145
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: Savior of the Fox Den
-----------------------------------------------------------------
All the questions began melting away like snow in the sun.
Yet at the same time, she couldn't help but feel puzzled.
If Park Chan-woo was the Ten-Tailed Fox, then where had he come from?
Why had he suddenly appeared, proclaiming himself the 'protagonist'!
...Isn't that right?
The Ten-Tailed Fox was a being known as the Fox God.
If he had revealed himself as the Ten-Tailed Fox from the start, there wouldn't have been any controversy.
Everyone would have followed him without question.
'He deceived me.'
A flicker of anger rose on Yoo Jin-seo's face.
Because she was now certain that Park Chan-woo was far more than just some 'hidden piece.'
No matter how capable the 'Creator of the Burning Boundary' was, he couldn't have created a 'Ten-Tailed Fox.'
The Ten-Tailed Fox couldn't be made into a mere hidden piece.
If it were possible, 'Aureum' would have become the Ten-Tailed Fox long ago and claimed the throne amid everyone's despair.
Only a Nine-Tailed Fox could qualify to become the Ten-Tailed Fox.
'The hidden piece, the foxfire, the enchantment— all of it was a lie.'
Grind!
Yoo Jin-seo gnashed her teeth.
This was a feeling she'd never experienced in her life.
It felt like she'd been thoroughly toyed with.
Yoo Jin-seo quickly crossed the cloud bridge.
Spotting Park Chan-woo, she confronted him sharply.
"You... what are you, really?"
Cold eyes.
A frosty expression and tone.
Park Chan-woo turned to look at Yoo Jin-seo.
He was just about to move on to the next trial.
With the fourth trial cleared, only the 'final showdown' with Aureum remained.
Everything was going according to plan.
'She figured it out.'
His string of bizarre actions must have fueled her suspicions.
Well, anyone would have thought it strange.
He was clearing the 'Fox Den' far too easily.
But would a creator leave all his authority in a mere 'hidden piece'?
'A crossroads.'
...He had to choose.
His answer would determine his path forward.
But without Yoo Jin-seo's faith, he couldn't defeat 'Aureum.'
The holy sword's function.
An option that boosted all stats based on the number of followers!
However, it didn't seem to be based solely on raw 'numbers.'
One Nine-Tailed Fox like Yoo Jin-seo granted more power than the faith of a hundred others.
If she started doubting him, filling that gap wouldn't be easy.
He had to make her believe, somehow.
'She thinks the enchantment didn't work on her.'
Her aggressive attitude meant she was convinced she wasn't enchanted.
She was pretending to be cold, but there was no composure.
The smug certainty of being enchanted was nowhere to be seen.
Above all, she'd bluntly demanded to know his identity.
She must think he was far removed from a 'hidden piece.'
After a moment's thought, he spoke.
"Just as you suspect."
"...So you're saying you're really the Ten-Tailed Fox?"
...Ten-Tailed Fox?
What nonsense was this?
He'd said he'd find a 'foxfire' that could evolve into the Ten-Tailed Fox, but he'd never claimed to be one himself.
Yoo Jin-seo was greatly mistaken.
And not just her—the other foxes probably thought the same.
Park Chan-woo nodded inwardly.
'This might actually be for the best.'
If he played this misunderstanding right, he could gain the faith of the other foxes too.
But claiming to be the Ten-Tailed Fox was a double-edged sword.
It could make everyone his enemy.
"I don't see any obligation to answer that."
He wouldn't say it outright.
Let the misunderstanding breed more misunderstandings.
Like a snowball rolling and growing, misconceptions would swell too.
Without answers, imaginations ran wild, inflating endlessly.
He needed to subtly convince Yoo Jin-seo that he really was the Ten-Tailed Fox.
"...Where did you come from? Why pretend to be enchanted?"
Yoo Jin-seo's pupils trembled slightly.
Because she thought he wasn't a hidden piece but some entity that had suddenly appeared.
'There's no way a Ten-Tailed Fox would just show up in the Fox Den.'
A perfectly reasonable doubt.
The question was, where had he come from?
If not a hidden piece created by the Creator of the Burning Boundary, and if from outside the 'Fox Den' entirely, then from where?
Park Chan-woo recalled what he knew about the 'Ten-Tailed Fox.'
He had studied fox tribe legends and lore a few times.
The fox tribe was a tragic race wiped out in the Great War of Races.
...Just like humans.
Park Chan-woo answered.
"I was in the rift."
"...The rift? You expect me to believe that?"
Her eyes narrowed at the absurd reply.
Of course, he knew it sounded ridiculous.
But he had to make this 'ridiculous story' believable.
"When the world containing the 'Fox Den' was destroyed, and the 'Fox Den' fell through some rift into another world due to the aftermath, I came along."
"Don't lie. The only beings that can survive in the rift are divine beasts."
"Cygnus."
"...?"
It was at that moment.
Flap!
From high in the sky, Cygnus descended and perched on Park Chan-woo's shoulder.
Yoo Jin-seo's eyes widened at the sight.
"A divine beast...!!"
Anyone could see Cygnus was a divine beast through and through.
Moreover, descending from the sky meant it had been in the 'creator's domain.'
Now she understood.
'The reason he threw the holy sword into the sky...'
It was to hand it to the divine beast.
That was why the Heavenly Spirit hadn't even appeared.
A divine beast contractor.
His claim of coming from the rift no longer felt entirely false.
And besides.
'Legends say the Ten-Tailed Fox commands divine beasts.'
Pulling the holy sword marked him as a fox, and commanding a divine beast made him unmistakably the Ten-Tailed Fox.
Plus, the Ten-Tailed Fox could freely enter other 'creative abysses' via divine beasts.
Everything matched the legends.
Now things were starting to fit together.
But doubts lingered.
"Then why pretend to be enchanted...?"
"I needed your faith."
"My faith...?"
"I'm incomplete. To complete this scenario, I needed your help—and the foxes'. Didn't I give you half my liver for that very reason?"
"... "
Yoo Jin-seo fell silent for a moment.
The words about needing faith.
For some reason, they resonated deeply in her chest.
And it was true she possessed half his liver.
The fox tribe's pact that prevented other foxes from enchanting her.
There was a slight inaccuracy in saying he 'gave' it, but it wasn't entirely wrong.
"Does the foxfire... really exist?"
One final question remained.
She now knew where he'd come from, why he'd pretended to be enchanted, and what his identity was.
But the 'why' still nagged at her.
She couldn't fathom why the Ten-Tailed Fox would enter a 'Fox Den' without even a creator to complete its scenario.
Park Chan-woo smiled faintly.
"It does."
"...!"
This, at least, wasn't a lie.
Once Aureum was defeated and the Fox Den scenario completed, the 'foxfire' would appear.
The true 'magic' power the fox tribe had lost.
Park Chan-woo drove the point home.
"Yoo Jin-seo. I came to the 'Fox Den' to save it."
So, believe.
I am your salvation.
Just before the fourth trial began.
Yoo Jin-seo addressed the people.
"Only this one can save us."
She was openly declaring Park Chan-woo as the 'protagonist.'
The ripple effect was huge among the foxes.
No matter how many times the protagonist changed, they'd never seen Yoo Jin-seo speak like this.
'He really is the Ten-Tailed Fox!'
'No room for doubt now.'
'Salvation! He's talking about us foxes.'
She was certain Yoo Jin-seo wouldn't have used the word 'salvation' lightly toward the people.
These words were meant for the foxes.
That only Park Chan-woo could save them.
In response, all the 'holy sword users' chimed in.
"I think so too."
"Let's follow him!"
"We'll follow!"
"Everyone, join us in following him!"
The impact of the Nine-Tailed Fox Yoo Jin-seo's words was enormous.
Hundreds flocked behind Park Chan-woo in a massive wave.
His followers from the temple had laid the groundwork, but her single statement was the decisive blow.
And many foxes joined in too.
The stat boost was beyond words.
'One step left.'
One step to reaching Aureum.
It felt so close.
Without hesitation, Park Chan-woo challenged the 'fourth trial.'
In truth, the 'fourth trial' posed no problem for him.
A single deep well lay before them.
A bottomless pit.
Park Chan-woo threw himself into it.
At the same moment.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Boom! Crash!
'Heavenly Punishment' rained down wildly over the well.
And that wasn't the end.
"What, this fast...?"
"I-Is it over already?"
"As expected of our savior!"
The 'Water Spirit' was eliminated at a speed incomparable to before.
Thus, the fourth trial ended.
Absurdly simply.
At that moment, everyone's faith solidified even further.
Even those who had doubted now had no choice but to believe.
Only one gate remained.