The Shapeless Shadow, The Wildcat Yokai Legend (9)
The club struck the empty air with a dull thwack. Crack.Thwack-thwack.Thwack-thwack.
A goblin. No—a yokai that had taken the form of a goblin swung its club through nothing, yet the bizarre cracking sounds echoed anyway. It was a completely unreal sight. After being possessed by a fox yokai, I thought I’d grown used to the unreal, but this was on another level.
The unreality shown by a ‘yokai’ and the unreality shown by a ‘goblin’ felt fundamentally different somehow. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but the difference was clear.
I tensed up. Just because this thing had taken a goblin’s shape didn’t mean it could actually use a goblin’s powers. Still, the fact that Hojun had passed out proved it had done something. Since I knew nothing about goblin abilities, I couldn’t charge in recklessly.
Besides, unlike every other yokai I’d encountered so far, this one gave off absolutely no demonic energy. Caution couldn’t hurt.
The yokai swinging the goblin club suddenly spoke to me.
“…”
The goblin’s words continued.
What meaning? There were plenty, but if I had to pick the biggest one…
I answered him honestly.
“I just really fucking hate you. Not just you—every single yokai blathering on about ascension or whatever the hell. I hate all of you.”
“Don’t bother understanding. I can’t understand trash like you either. I bet you think you have to devour a thousand humans or some shit to ascend… that’s the kind of disgusting ‘truth’ you’re probably clinging to. So tell me—has even a single yokai in history actually succeeded in ascending?”
“I despise yokai like you who treat human lives like insects. Yeah, that’s more than enough reason for you to die here.”
At least the blue-flamed nine-tailed fox hadn’t killed humans. Sure, she’d probably planned to build some automated liver-harvesting factory for when she needed them, but in the end I’d still managed to save every single employee of the Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office.
In response to my answer, the yokai wearing a goblin’s form countered.
“Ha… You look like a goblin on the outside, but inside you’re nothing but a son of a bitch. Cut the bullshit. If ascension isn’t your goal, there’s no way you’d pull off something this reckless.”
Yokai weren’t stupid. The one I was talking to right now clearly possessed high intelligence. It had to know that indiscriminately slaughtering humans would bring retaliation. This creature was taking on an insane amount of risk. Why? Because of that damn ascension.
Ascension was such a sweet reward that it was worth the risk. That was probably the logic.
“Bullshit. I don’t believe you.”
“…”
Ascension was a means. I didn’t know why, but I had a strong feeling that what this yokai had just said was incredibly important information.
“You son of a bitch, after ripping humans apart and devouring them, you have the nerve to say that…”
The yokai wearing the goblin’s form continued with an expressionless face.
“…”
“…”
A noble purpose. Yeah. Just now, a noble purpose had been born inside me too.
I will do everything in my power to stop yokai from ascending.
I had no idea what the King of Yuldo and the Taoist master Jeon Woochi had been thinking when they prevented yokai from ascending. But I had a bad feeling that if a yokai succeeded in ascension, something very bad would happen.
So in this era without Hong Gildong or Jeon Woochi, I would take on their role. That was my noble purpose.
Grrrrrrrrr.
I completely released the instincts I had been suppressing as a fox yokai. Fangs and sharp claws sprouted. At the same time, the creature swung its goblin club.
Thwack.
Before it could even finish speaking, I burst toward it, radiating murderous intent and demonic energy.
Crack.
Close enough to reach out and touch. I slashed at it with my sharp claws.
Thwack-thwack.
Crunch. Crunch, crunch, crrrrrunch.
The instant it finished speaking, a horrific sound of bones and flesh twisting came from my right arm where I had swung at it. Looking closely, the very space where my right arm was located was literally warping.
This, too, was an unreal sight.
“Aaaaaagh…!”
I had no idea how much adrenaline was pumping through me, but even so, I let out a sharp scream from the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. Dark red blood dripped steadily from my elbow. My right arm dangled as if it would fall off at any moment.
I didn’t have time to cry from the pain. It swung the club once more.
Thwack.
I hurriedly put distance between us and tried to heal my arm with foxfire. But for some reason, my right arm remained in its mangled state. There was no sign of healing at all.
Crack.
I had to dodge. Was this a goblin’s ability? The goblin club’s ability? I didn’t know, but the sequence of thwack, crack, and then thwack-thwack seemed to be the activation condition. There was enough time between the sounds.
Fox Arts — Foxfire — Wall of Flames.
I raised a blue wall of fire that completely blocked my vision, then hurled a Fox Arts — Foxfire — Flame Strike at the goblin. It was powerful enough to kill even that massive blue-flamed nine-tailed fox in a single blow.
Thwack-thwack.
The goblin’s voice came from beyond the wall.
Shhhhhhhhhhh.
At the same time, the wall of fire I had created by consuming a huge amount of demonic energy, and even the Flame Strike that possessed enough power to kill a blue-flamed nine-tailed fox in one hit—both turned to ash and vanished.
…Fuck.
Only now did I understand. The blue-flamed nine-tailed fox had devoured around forty livers. Just forty livers had made her that overwhelmingly powerful. This yokai… had to have devoured hundreds of humans at the very least.
Of course, I still couldn’t sense any demonic energy from it, so I had no way to accurately gauge how strong it was. But one thing was certain.
This yokai existed on a completely different level from me.
Once again, the yokai in goblin form swung its club. This time it wasn’t aimed at me. It swung toward Hojun, who lay collapsed on the ground. Once. Twice. Three times.
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.
Fuck. I had to run. There was absolutely, positively no way I could win. To take this yokai down, I would need at least… Sangun. I needed to bring Sangun.
Run. If I kept fighting like this, I’d just die a dog’s death anyway.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
I began rationalizing it to myself. Hojun wasn’t someone precious to me. He was just a human I’d met about an hour ago, nothing more than a passing stranger. Besides, he hadn’t been much help in this fight. My own life was far more valuable. So sacrificing him to save myself was the right thing to do for the greater good.
Then why couldn’t I move my feet?
Thwack-thwack. Thwack-thwack. Thwack-thwack.
It wasn’t that I wanted to throw away my precious life. I had once been a yokai ready to give up on life, but now I was a yokai trying harder than anyone to keep living.
The reason I stood in its way wasn’t because of my will. My body had simply reacted on its own. That was all.
My body warped. It warped again. And then it tore apart. It felt as if the flame of my life was being extinguished. It wasn’t a sensation I was experiencing for the first time. I had felt it back when my demonic energy had dried up and I was living like a mayfly.
Probably, after I gasped for breath about ten more times, the flame of my life would go out completely.
In that moment, the fact that one more tail had sprouted from me was, of course, not because of my will. It was an automatic reaction.