Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: The True Silver's Will
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Two rune letters floated before his eyes.
Upon seeing them, Jeon's mind began to whirl furiously.
He could quickly grasp their simple meanings.
'One is Storage, and the other is... Will?'
However, he lacked the information on what those two letters truly signified and how to implement them in magic.
In that moment, a change began to occur in Jeon's body.
"Huh?"
Wooong
The mana within his body reacted on its own, and silver mana flowed out from Jeon.
That mana gathered in front of him and began to take the form of the Guardian rune.
'What in the world...?'
The Guardian rune formed from Jeon's mana, along with the two floating runes before him.
The instant all three runes fully took shape, they resonated, emitting a simultaneous hum.
Whoooong!
With that, the other three runes blazed with intense light and merged into one in an instant.
And what now stood before him was...
"Welcome."
"Sil...ver?"
Judging by its appearance alone, a silver fox quite familiar to Jeon had appeared before him.
The difference was its enormous size.
The silver fox's head alone was larger than Jeon's entire body.
Its scale was beyond easy comprehension.
"Silver, yes. You call a part of me by that name."
"Then, do you have a separate name?"
Perhaps due to its overwhelming size,
Jeon unwittingly addressed the silver fox with polite speech as he gazed at it.
The fox let out a soft chuckle at the sight.
"Hehe, I have no separate name. I might have had one once, but it no longer holds meaning."
As it spoke, the silver fox slightly rose to its feet.
Behind it, countless silver tails swayed in a rippling sequence.
'A kumiho?'
A fox with multiple tails.
For Jeon, with memories of his past life, the first thing that came to mind was a kumiho.
But this fox had far more tails than that.
There were so many that even a brief glance made it hard to count them.
"If you prefer to call me by a name, then Silver will do."
"Ah... Yes."
Jeon awkwardly nodded as he looked at the massive Silver, now with multiple tails.
"To think I'd encounter a human child in a space like this. I expected someone of Silvermont blood or at least a Foxkin child."
"Lady Merimue mentioned something similar... Is there a reason humans can't enter here?"
Merimue had also said she hadn't expected to meet a human.
Of course, he could understand why.
This place was left behind like a provision for Silvermont.
So, it might be inaccessible to ordinary humans.
But conversely, he wondered why he could enter.
"Hm, to be precise, I didn't expect a human to know how to use the Guardian rune. One must master Silvermont's mana cultivation method, but the Guardian rune was specially created by refining existing runes for Foxkin."
'Is it possible to arbitrarily refine runes like that?'
Come to think of it, runes were artificial characters imbued with meaning.
So it seemed possible, but with Jeon's current knowledge, it felt nearly impossible.
His Korean Patch ability let him understand the meanings and uses of runes themselves.
But it didn't reveal their background, creation process, or history.
Thus, Jeon quietly listened to the massive Silver's explanation.
"The Guardian rune is a bit different from ordinary runes. As you've experienced, it possesses some will and can receive commands, but it's not the same as a summon."
As the massive Silver said,
Unlike the Compression rune, which one simply activated, the Guardian rune felt like manifesting a being with will through mana.
"And what appears through the Guardian rune is me."
"You mean... you, Silver?"
Jeon slightly stuttered at the somewhat awkward name, but the massive Silver smiled endearingly at him and continued.
"Hehe, yes. Though it's merely a part of me, not my entirety. In truth, my existence isn't entirely clear even to myself."
As it spoke, the massive Silver fully unfurled its tails.
Dozens, no, possibly over a hundred tails spread out.
"The number of these tails represents the diverse beings that make up my existence. I am formed from the accumulated wills of Silvermont's mages across generations."
"...Is something like that even possible?"
An existence born from generations of accumulated wills.
And if the number of tails represented those wills, its history was far from short.
'Is this all thanks to the Storage and Will runes?'
How could one possibly gather the wills of the long-dead and forge them into a single being?
Jeon, who hadn't yet deciphered the runes, couldn't even fathom it.
"That's why using the Guardian rune requires not only knowing Silvermont's mana cultivation method but also receiving a sort of permission from the willful Guardian rune. Naturally, those of Silvermont blood have a much higher chance."
The Guardian rune borrowed a part of this being formed from Silvermont's wills to manifest.
Blood bends toward blood, as they say.
In the end, it would naturally favor Silvermont or at least Foxkin.
"But you seem different. Among the many 'me's, one must have granted you permission—no one could deny it."
Yet the Guardian rune had permitted Jeon.
Why? How?
Such questions naturally followed, but the massive Silver soon resolved them.
"You possess a wondrous ability, don't you?"
From the massive Silver's question,
Jeon could tell it perceived abilities surpassing even Merimue's.
Not just that his soul came from another world,
But it seemed to pierce through his unique Korean Patch power, which even Merimue couldn't see.
'Well, Merimue is part of this place too.'
She was likely the first being that constituted this massive Silver.
So it wasn't surprising if this Silver wielded powers beyond hers.
"Can you see details about my ability too...?"
Thus, Jeon cautiously asked the massive Silver.
In truth, alongside how his soul crossed to this world, the Korean Patch ability was what puzzled him most.
A casual pub tale of dropping into another world had become reality.
And so had the joking notion of gaining a Korean Patch ability.
'Why? How?'
He'd deliberately avoided dwelling on it without means to know.
But if a being could peer into his soul and recognize the Korean Patch, that changed things.
"Hmm, unfortunately, I can't see that far. I only see that you possess a shining something from a completely different dimension than ordinary people."
"Ah."
But even this massive Silver couldn't fully pierce his ability.
A small sigh escaped Jeon's lips in disappointment.
"Hm, you seem quite curious about your own ability."
"...Yes. I don't know its origins either."
"Don't be too disheartened. As you walk your own path, the day will come when you contemplate it within yourself."
The massive Silver spoke comfortingly to Jeon, once more wearing a warm smile.
A fox's face, yet so human-like— the more he saw, the more wondrous it seemed.
"Now, shall we talk about the fundamental reason we created this place?"
Having answered Jeon's questions, the massive Silver slowly moved toward him.
"The fundamental reason?"
Indeed,
Jeon had been curious about this ruin's purpose.
But the more he learned—of Silvermont's progenitor, accumulated wills—the harder it was to guess.
"Yes, the reason Silvermont's mages accumulated their wills across generations and stored them at this ruin's end: to find an inheritor for that will."
To inherit Silvermont's will.
"What... does that mean?"
"Exactly as it sounds."
"No, not such a vague answer..."
Both Merimue and this massive Silver,
Seemed to answer his questions in detail at first glance,
Yet their responses felt nebulous on key points.
'It said we'd discuss the fundamentals, but what is this?'
Moreover, it had brought up the topic first this time.
Just as Jeon opened his mouth to complain,
"You'll learn everything from now on anyway. Well then, I look forward to working with you."
Before Jeon could finish, silver light flowed from the massive Silver's body and seeped into him.
"Wait, what is th—?"
Jeon tried to react to the sudden event,
but
'This...?'
As the silver light entered his body, the two rune letters from earlier resurfaced in his mind.
His thoughts whirled once more.
But it didn't end there.
Along with the two rune letters,
countless scenes flashed through Jeon's mind.
The wills and history accumulated by Silvermont's mages began to settle into his body.
"What in the world happened?"
Inside the ruin's cavern.
They had barely made it to the door.
But the moment Jeon touched it to open, he froze in place.
"Lord Jeon, Lord Jeon, are you alright?"
Even shaking and calling yielded no response.
As if his soul had departed.
"What do we do?"
"We hold out for now. He's the first to react upon touching this door anyway."
They couldn't forcibly pull him away now.
So the expedition surrounded the door and Jeon in a curved semicircle.
"We absolutely cannot let them through!"
The remaining zombies charged at the expedition.
The expedition met them with desperate resolve.
Falling here would render their journey meaningless.
"Grrraaah!"
"Arrrgh!"
Kwaang! Kaang! Kwaaaang!
Knights' auras and mages' spells poured out once more.
The zombies faltered momentarily but didn't retreat.
Their firepower couldn't fully end regenerating zombies.
Yet the expedition held firm.
They readjusted stances, drew up mana,
and as charging zombies approached again,
"Thank you all for protecting me."
Jeon's voice rang out.
He, who had frozen upon touching the door, had come to his senses and turned to them.
"Lord Jeon? Are you okay? What happened?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I have much to tell you, but... let's deal with these first."
Jeon nodded reassuringly to the worried Gillard, then shifted his gaze to the encircling zombies.
"Clearing them all will be tough. We need to escape somehow...!"
"No, it's possible. They can't regenerate anymore."
Zombie regeneration parasitized the power maintaining the ruin.
But that power was now gone, making regeneration impossible.
"Even so, their numbers are too great!"
Without regeneration, they were still no pushovers.
Especially those made from the prior expedition's corpses, retaining past prowess—highly dangerous.
"It's fine. Lord Gillard, and other mages, the moment I signal, cast your strongest spells at me."
"Pardon? What do you...?"
The mages, including Gillard, reacted with confusion to Jeon's abrupt words.
When even targeting zombies with their strongest spells felt insufficient, now at him?
"Please."
With that, Jeon closed his eyes.
Utterly out of nowhere, but his serious tone rang true.
'He really means it?'
Yet it was hard to believe outright.
And with him closing his eyes after those words, no further questions could be asked.
In the confusion, Gillard quickly steeled himself.
"Everyone, prepare as Lord Jeon instructed."
Gillard's hands began preparing a 5th Circle spell.
'He must have obtained something from inside that door.'
Gillard had never seen Jeon speak idly, especially in crises.
Thus, in that frozen moment at the door,
Gillard believed Jeon had contacted something within and gained new power.
Others might not, but Jeon could.
"A-Alright."
With Gillard starting, the other mages exchanged glances and prepared their spells.
Silvermont's signature magic: Flame.
Mages manifested flames at full power from their hands.
Precisely then, Jeon's closed eyes opened.
"Now, please."
At his signal, the mages unleashed toward Jeon with resigned determination.
"Will, Storage."
Gazing at the incoming spells, Jeon uttered two words.
A silver fox leaped from his bosom into the air.
Simultaneously, Silvermont's spells converged on the silver fox.
"Wh-what is that!?"
"The spells... are merging!?"
The gathered spells didn't clash.
Nor did they weaken in the fox's light.
Instead, they flowed into the silver fox,
transforming the small silver fox into a massive one wreathed in silver flames.
"Is something like this... possible?"
One mage asked Gillard amid the unprecedented sight.
But even the highest-circle mage here, Gillard, was witnessing it for the first time.
"I... don't know either..."
Gillard could only gape at the impossible scene.
"Alright, Silver. Let's sweep them away!"
"Got it!"
Regardless of their reactions,
Silver, having absorbed Silvermont's magic and cloaked in flames, charged the zombies at Jeon's command.
"Grrraaah! Grraaack!"
Zombies counterattacked the suddenly charging fox.
Ordinary ones thrust claws,
aura-wielders poured aura at it.
But none landed.
A soft silver glow neutralized every attack on contact.
And more.
"Here I go!"
Kwaaaang!
Where claws touched, massive flame storms erupted.
Tails and fangs wrought the same.
"Grrraaah...?"
Untouchable yet causing natural-disaster damage with every move.
Even mindless zombies hesitated at this unbelievable being.
Kwaaaaang!
And that was their end.