Chapter 293
Chapter 293
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 293
>Chapter Title: Kukuru, the Immortal Shadow Wolf
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Kyaaaaaaaang-!
A shadow wolf howled as it charged toward Coco.
Kwarung! Kwarururung!
The still-intact bookshelves around it came crashing down in a heap.
Kang Seol clicked his tongue.
These were kin that no longer existed anywhere else in the world—surely there should be some affection there—yet the shadow wolf he’d encountered on the sixth floor greeted Coco with ferocious hostility.
No choice now but to switch to combat mode.
“Things never go that smoothly…”
As Kang Seol gathered his hands to prepare a spell, he froze mid-motion.
‘…Jamad?’
The night ravens were one body, after all. Nothing happened unless they pooled their energy together. And Jamad was gripping the energy tight, refusing to let go.
‘You’re not helping?’
- He says not to.
‘Who?’
- Coco.
‘…Coco?’
Kwaaaaaang!
Kwaaaaaang!
“Eek… H-hide!”
“It’s flying! Watch out!”
As Jone and Santio ducked into a corner, Kang Seol briefly pondered why Coco had made that call.
Paaaat!
Kyaaaaaaaang!
Kwajijik!
The two shadow wolves rampaged as if intent on demolishing the entire place.
Swish!
Coco streaked past Kang Seol.
Whoooosh…
Followed by the other shadow wolf hot on its tail.
‘Danger…!’
Kwaaaaaang!
Kang Seol rolled across the floor to avoid getting caught in their clash.
‘…Huh?’
Something felt off.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the fight seemed sluggish somehow. Lackluster results for the power they wielded.
“We need to find a way to stop them! At this rate, they’ll bring the whole floor down!”
“We can’t use magic recklessly without knowing what that wolf really is. Besides…”
To Jone and Santio’s eyes, it looked different. Impressively destructive, even. With debris flying everywhere, it was the picture of indiscriminate havoc.
But Kang Seol saw it otherwise.
Shadow wolf battles were quieter, deadlier affairs. Especially in terms of speed over raw destruction.
Coco usually lounged around lazily, only to explode into blinding velocity the moment combat began. Yet now, it was moving at less than half its normal pace.
- This is a windfall, nothing less.
‘Ur?’
As he puzzled over their fight, Ur began to explain.
- Some fool twisted the rules governing the upper floors, allowing that shadow wolf to exist as a true ‘living being’ right now. Otherwise, it would’ve vanished long ago.
‘Exist as a living being? What does that mean?’
- In that state, it can persist independently of the usage rules. Meaning we can tame it.
‘That possible? Even in a mystical place like the Myriad Forms Library…’
- Do miracles care about location? One of that magnitude can happen anywhere.
While Kang Seol and Ur conversed mentally, the shadow wolves’ tussle shifted.
Krrrng…
The wolf that had blocked the sixth floor gently nipped Coco’s neck and held still.
Grrrng…
Then Coco returned the favor.
They merely pretended to bite, never baring fangs or piercing flesh.
The space fell quiet.
‘…No way?’
- Ho… Even after all this time, primal instincts endure? The Myriad Forms Library… intriguing. It didn’t just mimic the form—it fully materialized it.
Krrrng…
Now they rubbed heads.
“……Ah.”
- Mating season? No, no signs of that. Probably just a greeting. Still, I wonder: can your creation, the shadow wolf Coco, pair with this library-altered one?
Ur’s words made sense yet didn’t.
Obviously, they’d just met, and the newcomer looked plenty vicious—no instant bromance vibes.
However.
- That one seems to like your Coco. Also… ugh…
Someone crashed their conversation.
- Eek, embarrassing!
- …Mind stepping aside?
- What do I do, what do I do! Coco’s a guy after all!
- Hey, Karen. We get it—now back off a bit.
It was Karen who’d barged in.
She sounded chipper enough, apparently quite at leisure in the void.
While Karen and Ur bickered, Kang Seol stared blankly at the two wolves.
‘…Pair up?’
- Kugh… pl?
- I won’t forgive this!
- I oppose this marriage! I oppose this marriage! I oppose this marriage! I oppose this marriage!
- Bulyeosi: Father-in-law! Give me Coco!
- Coco’s a boy!
- Bulyeosi: Father, I want to be with him…
- No interracial couples!
They’d escalated to licking each other’s fur.
“…Coco?”
- Coco! We were gonna eat popcorn and watch late-night movies together!
- You promised to support me forever!
- Nooo!! Don’t go to that Bulyeosi!
Hah… hah…
As Coco turned toward Kang Seol, its new paramour approached him too.
Thud… thud…
Vastly larger than prime Coco. A normal human would’ve fainted just meeting those eyes.
[Charm Emanation activates.]
[The creature senses your charm and inevitably feels curiosity toward you.]
Perfect timing for the charm.
A rare stat delivering big.
[Early Twilight Kukuru]
Grade: Immortal
Estimated Level: 50~55
Among ancient lifeforms, shadow wolves preserved their primal, pure power right up to the brink of extinction.
Just as bloodlines mean more than mere forked roots to living beings, all shadow wolf lineages wield shadow power without exception.
Kukuru was a mighty shadow wolf who once dominated an era long ago. Though she never chose to grow massive, she was innately larger than others of her kind.
Her foes lived in terror, forever dreading her arrival with the night. As powerful as she was, she had many enemies—and was swept away by them and the tides of time, her life’s flame extinguished.
Now, through some inexplicable event in this Myriad Forms Library, she has returned to the world. It may tremble in fear once more at her emergence.
Fortunately, Kukuru seems quite taken with the library, treating it like home.
For now.
Basic Abilities: [Bite 5], [Claw 5], [Lonesome Life 4], [Bone-Crushing 5], [Shadow Step 4], [Gut Rake 3], [Sticky Vitality 5], [Involuntary Marrow Extraction 5], [Blood Scent 3], [Persistent: Shadow Beast 4], [Persistent: Pack Lord 5], [Persistent: Shadow Affinity 5], [Persistent: Berserk 4]
Special Ability: [Ultimate: Waterfall Rend]
‘…Immortal?’
- This I didn’t see coming.
Coco was transcendent grade, so he’d assumed the same. But this giant Kukuru outranked it by a step.
- Makes sense, considering Coco’s still growing.
‘Why’re you so chill… What now?’
If it attacked, could they subdue it without Bihwan awake?
“C-careful!”
Jone, hiding behind a book.
Chattering away from cover.
“Santio! No way to help?”
“My magic shines against the strong.”
“It looks plenty strong!”
“Then it must be weaker than it seems.”
“Damn it!”
“What about you, Jone? Got a plan?”
“My transfer magic needs your help on living things! They resist forced transfers, even more than normals!”
“Care to say that louder so everyone hears how useless you are without me?”
“Not the time… Huh…? Santio!”
“Anyway… for now…”
“Santio! Look over there.”
Santio turned toward Kukuru, heart heavy. Had it devoured Kang Seol in the interim?
But…
Sniff… sniff…
“…….”
Kukuru rubbed its nose against Kang Seol’s hand.
Suddenly stroking this massive shadow wolf’s snout, Kang Seol kept a straight face.
- What is this?
- Feels familiar…
- Is this Alcatraz? Did I regress?
Ur’s response finally came.
- Too risky to accept outright. Take it outside the library, and who knows—worst case, it melts away.
‘Then what…’
- Explained to Jamad. He’ll handle it.
“Mm!”
Ur briefly chatted with Jamad.
Kang Seol truly felt the luck in his summons communicating.
“Coco.”
Now Jamad called Coco, explaining something.
Linked by ability, Coco understood perfectly—just look at the nods.
“Alright… then…”
Jamad began chanting unintelligible spells. Meanwhile, Coco clung to Kukuru, emitting strange whines.
Krrrng…
Kukuru growled in response.
‘Not going well?’
Then a choice popped up for Kang Seol.
[You’ve encountered the mate of your creation, Happy Coco, here in the Myriad Forms Library. The mood suggests things might work out. How will you proceed?
1. [Req: Kukuru’s Favor] Ask Kukuru to step aside just to pass through.
2. [Req: Shadow Wolf][Risk: Kukuru’s Dissipation] Accept Kukuru as a companion and head to the next floor.
3. Challenge and defeat Kukuru.
4. [Req: Shadow Wolf, Kukuru’s Favor, Shadow Sorcery] Revert Kukuru to core form.
Absurd requirements on that fourth option.
Infuriating to even imagine fulfilling them all.
Yet, Kang Seol had them all ready.
- Here we go.
Whiiiiiirrr…
Whooooosh…
A vortex whipped up like a storm. Dark mist enveloped the sixth and seventh floors, swirling around Kang Seol.
“Urgh…”
“Hold fast—don’t get blown away!”
Kang Seol extended his hand, and the mist gathered atop it.
Fwoooooosh!
‘This…’
- Yeah, you’ve seen it once.
When Coco had been slain by Ur, it turned into something black like this.
Paradoxically, when he’d shown it to Ur—now his ally—back then, Ur had said:
- Shadow wolves, when death nears, gather all power to revert to their primal core.
Likely the shadow wolf core.
So this orb forming in Kang Seol’s hand was Kukuru’s.
Whooooosh-!
Soon, the mist cleared completely.
Kang Seol gripped the orb.
‘Revive it like before?’
- No. No shadow essence here—send it to the void.
‘The void?’
- Yeah. We’ll process it there. Plenty to investigate, and shadow essence overflows in there.
Essence from void monsters should suffice.
Kang Seol nodded.
- Acquiring this one isn’t just adding firepower. A male-female shadow wolf pair means natural breeding’s on the table.
‘That possible?’
More creations were always good.
But self-propagating ones?
- Natural breeding’s low odds. But their tastes align perfectly. Given the display, not a bad outlook.
“Whoa! What’s all this fuss…”
“Phew, Jone. No need to play it cool. We all know we did jack squat.”
“Shh… Can’t lose face by popping up shamelessly. Kid, g-good work.”
Kang Seol had blitzed through floors 6 and 7.
“Releasing something this ridiculous—who’s the idiot…”
“Probably dead.”
Kang Seol felt grateful to that idiot.
‘Whoever it was, they did us a solid.’
Drastically cut their time. Maybe he didn’t need to send the Hwamun group ahead after all.
‘Just the eighth floor left?’
The librarian’s domain.
No usage rules apply where the curator resides. And the Myriad Forms curator was immensely powerful.
Full power? Maybe. But with Bihwan asleep, no chance of winning.
‘Not that we’ll fight.’
Good news: the curator didn’t interfere with patrons. And… it had perished ages ago.
Thus, eighth floor was just empty shelves now.
Up they go, grab the goods, done.
But.
“Hmm… Hey.”
“This…”
Jone and Santio, checking the path Kukuru had blocked.
“Mana traces linger. What is it?”
“Someone went up?”
“Yeah, but something’s off.”
“How so?”
“Not the transfer magic guy who mangled the rules—he’s surely dead. Expecting flawless circuits from that botched ritual? That’s faith territory.”
“Then…”
Kang Seol met Jone’s gaze.
“Might’ve been one more book opened here.”
“…….”
“Let’s head up. If I’m right, we’ll know the moment we arrive.”
* * *
Step… step…
Kang Seol’s group moved from sixth-floor passage to seventh, then seventh to eighth.
Fwoom…
Through the glowing door, no bookshelves greeted them.
Whirrrrr…
“C-cold…”
“What in the…”
A vast snowy plain unfolded suddenly.
Dropped right in the midst of a blizzard-swept expanse.
“Heard the eighth was imagination space, but this scale… Ugh, m-my beard’s freezing.”
“What happened…”
Whirrrrr…
The plain stretched endlessly. As they puzzled it out…
Rustle…
Lights flickered in the distance.
Drawing nearer.
Santio spoke.
“Something’s coming. I’ll cloak us—hold your breath.”
[Santio uses There Yet Not.]
[Allies within range exist outside perception unless they act aggressively.]
Slink…
Kang Seol’s group vanished into thin air.
Jone poked Kang Seol’s side, whispering.
“Confirmed. Another book got opened.”
“What kind of book…”
Sniff sniff…
Sniff sniff…
A group emerged, torches imbued with sorcery. Hulking builds, massive tusks.
Kang Seol nearly laughed in disbelief.
‘Northern trolls?’
Blue-skinned, white-maned—the polar-dwelling trolls appeared.