Chapter 330
Chapter 330
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 331
Chapter Title: The Cursed Nine-Tailed Fox
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I looked at the fox right in front of me.
It seemed like she had fallen into some strange misunderstanding after seeing my abilities, just like Elin and Ren, who were watching from the side with eyes full of admiration.
...Just what kind of backstory do these traits and skills of mine have, anyway? Why are there so many secrets?
“...Haa.”
What a pain.
I glanced at Elin and Ren before speaking to the fox.
“Hey. It’s not what you think it is, so don’t misunderstand.”
[...Hm? Not what I think? What do you mean by that?]
At my words, her tone—which had been polite just moments ago—reverted to its initial arrogance.
A magic beast with such a well-rounded personality.
“So... hmm.”
With the creature right there in front of me, I fell into brief contemplation.
I had a ton of questions, but with all these eyes on us, I hesitated to just blurt them out.
How should I handle this...?
[...I see what’s going on.]
At that moment.
Shaaaaaa—
The scenery around where I stood changed in an instant.
Startled for a second, I looked around.
A pure white space where nothing was visible.
I immediately realized this was a space created by the fox’s illusion magic.
I considered dispelling it with [Silver Moon Reversal], but quickly decided against it.
“Here, we can talk safely. Wielder of chaos.”
A clear woman’s voice rang out from behind me.
Turning around, I saw someone dressed in elegant traditional Japanese women’s attire, gazing at me.
The peculiarities were the nine tails sprouting from her hips and the fact that her face belonged to a fox covered in golden fur.
“What’s with that appearance?”
“I figured matching your eye level would make it easier to converse, so I transformed for a bit. Is it strange? Or perhaps...”
The fox swished her hand through the air.
Her face then shifted into that of a beautiful human woman.
“Is this more to your taste?”
I stared blankly at the fox ears perched atop her head.
It looked straight out of a comic.
“Doesn’t matter either way.”
“How boring.”
The fox crossed her arms.
“Then let’s continue our earlier conversation. So, it’s true that you’re not a yokai blessed by the moon like me?”
“That’s right. I’m human.”
I’d considered pretending to be a yokai to manipulate her, but I didn’t want to get caught in a clumsy lie and end up in an irreversible mess.
Plus, I was starting to get fed up with all these misunderstandings.
Perhaps my response was unexpected, because a glint appeared in the fox’s eyes.
“Is that so? I can definitely sense the same yokai energy from you...”
Lost in thought, the fox stroked her chin.
Watching her, a sudden small question popped into my mind.
“But since when were nine-tailed foxes yokai who serve the moon?”
As far as I remembered, kumiho didn’t have that kind of lore. Even checking related papers in this world confirmed it.
At my question, the fox stared at me before replying.
“You’ve got it all wrong. The ‘Moon’s Protection’ isn’t a power of the nine-tailed fox species—it’s a power granted only to select yokai.”
“Select yokai?”
At my murmur, the fox furrowed her brow slightly.
“You really don’t know?”
“That’s why I’m asking.”
“Hmm~ From the looks of it, you truly don’t. Then what’s with this affinity I sense from you...? Ah. I see. I think I get it now.”
Her eyes narrowed into crescent moons as she muttered to herself.
“Human who harbors chaos. If you want to hear about the yokai who guard the moon, there’s a condition. Guarantee my safety!”
I shook my head without hesitation.
“No, that’s not it.”
The fox’s eyes began to tremble.
Her expressions were easy to read even in fox form, but now with a human face, they were even clearer.
“...Y-You’re not curious what the Moon’s Protection power is?”
“No, that’s not the point. You’re the one in the wrong for demanding I guarantee your safety like you’re in charge. If you don’t answer my questions, you’ll die by my hand.”
“......Kuh!”
The fox clamped her mouth shut.
Soon, her face fell, and she nodded.
“...Understood. But I can’t answer everything. There are restrictions.”
“I know that much.”
At my words, the fox nodded and opened her mouth.
“Then I’ll start with the Moon’s Protection. Simply put, it’s the qualification to become a great yokai. It’s a blessing bestowed only on a rare few yokai, just like how some humans are born with special powers.”
That made sense enough.
Like light attributes, demon-slaying abilities, or genius traits you’re born with.
It didn’t seem like a big deal at first...
...No, genius traits cost a million points, so it’s not nothing.
“Alright, got it roughly. Next question.”
“I know you spoke with Jin Cheon-woo. What did you talk about?”
Truth be told, the real reason I’d released this fox yokai from her seal was to uncover secrets related to this.
But at my question, the fox blinked vacantly and tilted her head.
“Jin Cheon-woo? Who’s that?”
“The man who released your seal and resealed you.”
Right then.
Her pupils turned red, and intense killing intent began to pour out.
Her entire face flushed, veins bulging, transforming her into something like a wrathful ghost.
“So that bastard’s name is Jin Cheon-woo...”
What the hell? Why’s she so pissed?
She seemed to harbor more malice than even the Yoo sisters.
“What happened with Jin Cheon-woo?”
“That bastard deceived me...!”
“Deceived you?”
“Yeah. He released me from the seal and cast an ancient curse of magic on me. He promised to lift it if I sincerely answered his questions! But he didn’t keep his word!”
Ancient magic curse? What’s that?
Then, as if remembering something, the fox spoke up.
“Huh? Wait! I almost forgot! Now that I think about it, I need to break the seal’s curse.”
“What seal curse? We already broke your seal.”
“Not that seal. The seal curse Jin Cheon-woo put on me.”
The fox continued.
“That damn bastard cast an ancient magic called Eternal Seal on me. Even if the seal is broken, after some time, it automatically reseals me into the seal stone. It’s a truly vicious spell.”
Eternal Seal.
Even I’d never heard of it.
“Wait, didn’t Gensaku say the seal Jin Cheon-woo put on was unstable?”
“Gensaku? Are you talking about the descendants of Nurarihyon?”
“No idea about that. I mean the guys who were with me earlier.”
“Hmph. What would those fools know? They’re just yokai who can barely glimpse the future. Their foresight is trivial—something I gained incidentally as a Herald of Mystery.”
Muttering that, the fox looked down at her hand.
A complex ritual pattern floated above the back of her hand.
“Aaah! The seal!”
She began injecting mana into her palm.
I stared blankly at the ritual. At the same time, Outsider’s Boon activated, flooding my mind with the information contained within.
“Wow... So there’s a sealing spell like this in the world.”
I couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.
It had a more beautiful form than any sealing spell I’d seen before.
The mana circuits and flows were flawless, and the complex, seemingly incompatible formulas inside fit together perfectly, like a single entity.
So this is ancient magic. Where the hell did Jin Cheon-woo get a ritual like that?
“You’ve got about ten minutes before you’re resealed.”
“...Ugh! Just wait. I’ll break it right now.”
“You can’t break that here. Absolutely not.”
At my words, the fox stopped and turned to me.
“...For real?”
“Yeah. You can tell at a glance.”
Even using Outsider’s Boon, unraveling that ritual would take at least two weeks.
As I said it, the fox’s ears drooped limply.
She looked like she’d lost everything in the world.
“No way.”
“While you’re at it, answer the rest of my questions before you go.”
“....♦.What?”
She was already fated to be resealed.
From her attitude, she didn’t seem inclined to answer.
No choice but to offer a condition.
“If you answer well, I’ll lift your curse when I have time later.”
“...R-Really?”
“Believe it or not, up to you.”
“Grr. Fine. You were curious what Jin Cheon-woo asked me, right?”
“Yeah.”
The fox pondered for a moment before speaking.
“The first thing he asked was how to kill Cruas.”
I’d half-expected that.
At the same time, my own curiosity stirred.
To save Lee Seo-jun, I had to stop Cruas. How do I take him down?
“What’s the way to kill him?”
“There isn’t one.”
«..»
There isn’t?
“No matter what you try, you can’t kill him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Is he immortal or something?”
The fox shook her head.
“Even as a Herald of Mystery, he’s mortal. Even the one called the King of Heralds has the concept of ‘death.’ Chop off his head, and he’d probably die.”
She continued.
“But even so, killing him is impossible. Not even if something several times stronger than him appeared.”
The fox looked at me with clear eyes.
“He was born with a fate of not dying to anyone.”
“A fate of not dying?”
“That’s right. The Black Dragon King was born with a destiny that no one can kill him. The world itself decreed it, so no one can change it.”
A decreed fate...
Then the fox stared at me intently and spoke.
“But there’s one single exception.”
I immediately caught on to what she meant.
“You mean chaos.”
“Exactly. Chaos from outside disrupts fixed fates. Even if the Black Dragon was born with an undying fate, if chaos alters it, it means nothing.”
I already knew I was an outsider to this world, connected to chaos.
In the end, that meant only I could kill him.
“And Jin Cheon-woo said back then that he’d find a way to draw out chaos.”
“......What?”
The fox shrugged.
“Seeing you appear before me, it looks like his plan succeeded. Whatever method he used, it’s shockingly unbelievable.”
“...Wait. What do you mean? Jin Cheon-woo pulled me from the outer world?”
“It’s just a hypothesis, but that’s how it looks to me.”
I was too flabbergasted to speak for a moment.
I’d somewhat anticipated being part of Jin Cheon-woo’s plan.
But I thought he’d predicted my arrival through something like foresight.
Jin Cheon-woo was the one who brought me into this novel world?
Is that even possible?
“You look confused. It’s just my prediction, so don’t read too much into it. Hehe.”
The fox laughed, wagging her tail playfully.
Hard to believe this was the same creature sulking moments ago.
I gathered my thoughts and asked the next question. She didn’t have much time left.
“What was Jin Cheon-woo’s next question?”
“He asked why Mysteries create Heralds and what their purpose is.”
The reason and purpose for creating Heralds...
“What was the answer?”
“Mysteries create Heralds for the stability of the world. Not all Mysteries do, but some can be called the world’s Heralds. They create them to judge those who disrupt the world’s laws.”
To judge those who disrupt the world’s flow.
The Evil Dragon had said something similar when it tried to kill Lee Seo-jun.
That he was a seed disrupting the world’s laws, so it had to kill him.
...But that raised another question.
Lee Seo-jun was just material for Jin Cheon-woo’s ‘immortality.’ Why target him?
“Anyway, that’s all the conversation with that damn bastard. We talked more, but it didn’t seem important to you, so I won’t bother.”
I nodded.
Plenty of doubts remained, but a few had been cleared up.
Just then, the ritual pattern began creeping up the fox’s neck. The pure white space around us gradually darkened.
Her resealing was almost upon us.
I glanced around before asking.
“Finally, something personal I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“I recently heard from a prophet that I might die soon. She said she read the flow of causality.”
I asked if there was any way to avoid a future crisis.
The fox blinked at me, then burst out laughing, shoulders shaking.
“Hahaha... Who told you that? How amusing.”
She stared at my face as if observing me, then continued.
“Indeed. I can see the mountain of karma piled up on you right now.”
“Karma?”
“Yes. All the things you’ve done. The chaos you’ve sown across the world. You’ve altered countless fated destinies, and it’s built up inside you as karma. Soon, not far off, you’ll have to settle that karma.”
First the goblin, now this one saying the same thing—it seemed something big really was coming for me.
And with the word ‘karma,’ it felt like no matter what I did, I couldn’t avoid it.
“......Haa.”
I scratched my head.
“Can’t I avoid my death?”
“Settling karma doesn’t always mean death. You could lose something precious, or everything you’ve built could crumble. Or...”
The fox trailed off with a smile.
“...the secrets you’ve hidden could be exposed to the world.”
That was a little—no, very scary.
“If I survive the karma settlement, does that mean I’m completely free afterward?”
“No. Once settled, it starts piling up from zero again. With you, it’s obvious you’ll stir up trouble everywhere.”
Couldn’t argue with that.
“Then far in the future, a second karma settlement day will come. And if you endure that one too... something truly enormous might happen.”
“Enormous how?”
“No idea, but I think something no one could imagine will occur.”
Then the ritual covered her face.
The space began to collapse.
The fox gazed vacantly at the sky and said.
“It’s time to part ways now. You made a promise, so please break my seal.”
Woooong!
Flash!
When I came to, the space had changed.
Looking around, we were back at the back mountain where we’d fought the fox.
And before me, the massive body of the nine-tailed fox was shining brightly.
I stared up at her blankly.
Then a massive voice echoed.
[O wielder. Keep your promise...]
With those words, the fox reverted to the form of the rock I’d first seen.
The people around us looked shocked at the sudden resealing.
“What just happened?”
“...What? The fox got resealed again.”
Elin murmured beside me with wide eyes.
Then Ren approached cautiously.
“Uncle Master, did you converse inside the nine-tailed fox’s illusion?”
I nodded slightly.
“Yeah.”
“As expected. But at the end, she said something about keeping a promise—what was that? Did you promise to release her seal?”
“No need to worry. I have no intention of freeing her seal yet.”
Even if I’d gotten some info, she was still a calamity-grade magic beast.
A monster that brought disaster to humans by name—I couldn’t just let her loose into the world.
But since I’d made the promise, I’d do it someday.
Of course, only after putting some serious restraints on her.
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