Chapter 128: The Man Who Defeated Hyedam
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 128: The Man Who Defeated Hyedam
Two weeks later.
The ritual began deep in the night.
A great altar had been erected in the middle of the village. Atop it blazed a massive fire, created by every villager contributing a single foxfire.
“Once you step inside, you will be assailed by unimaginable pain.”
The elders gently placed their hands on Hyedam’s shoulders.
“We are sorry. Forcing you to bear such a burden.”
“…”
“And we thank you. You are the one who will save the Fox Spirits, Hyedam.”
“Wear this.”
The elder grandmother offered her a gag.
“The pain might make you spit out your fox bead. This is to prevent that.”
“…”
“And put this on.”
It was a pair of shackles.
“No matter how strong-willed a Fox Spirit may be, the agony of being burned alive can make one flee without thinking. This is to stop you from doing so.”
“…I don’t need them.”
Hyedam refused.
Her resolve was firm.
She took a deep breath and turned toward the altar.
In the sky…
“The red moon is rising!”
A shadow began to cover the moon, turning its light crimson.
Three minutes.
Within that time, Hyedam would burn to death, the Nine-Tailed Fox would descend, and the Fox Spirits would be reborn.
“Farewell, everyone.”
Hyedam took a step toward the altar.
And at that very moment.
“Hye-dam-!”
Someone came running from the village entrance, shouting.
It was Caleb.
“I am the last survivor of the group that invaded this place half a year ago!”
His voice unleashed a maelstrom of chaos upon Fox Pass.
“Guardian of the Fox Spirits, come down and duel me-!”
He was holding five talismans.
“You…”
The scene was so shocking that Hyedam could hardly believe her eyes.
The residents of Fox Pass began to murmur all around.
“What the! Drag that bastard away!”
“Who does he think he is!”
“Don’t let him interfere with the ritual!”
“The Guardian of the Fox Spirits cannot refuse a duel!”
Caleb yelled.
“That’s the law of this village!”
“…Uh…”
Hyedam ground her teeth.
“You fool!”
Filled with rage, she leaped down from the altar.
“What do you think you’re doing! What is all this!”
“I’ve challenged you to a duel.”
“How could you possibly beat me!”
“Three minutes.”
Caleb held up the talismans.
“I just have to last three minutes to win.”
“…”
Hyedam’s face was filled with sorrow.
“Caleb.”
She clenched her jaw.
“Do you think I can’t kill you?”
“Perhaps.”
“Do you think you can last three minutes against me?”
“…”
“And even if by some miracle you do last three minutes, don’t you know what will happen to you then?!”
She took the fox bead from her mouth.
“You foolish man. I accept your duel.”
Hyedam said.
“You won’t last thirty seconds, let alone three minutes…”
Rip!
Caleb tore one of the talismans.
Foxfire erupted.
The talismans created by Wyndham’s shamans and taoists were comparable to the scrolls made by Sohen’s wizards.
The difference was that, unlike scrolls, Fox Spirit shamans could craft high-tier talismans.
And the similarity was that, whether scroll or talisman, its power depended not on the user’s ability, but on the creator’s.
The foxfire from the talisman created by Hyedam, the strongest shaman in Fox Pass, was as massive and hot as the flames burning on the altar.
“Hrk…”
Even Hyedam herself was so surprised she had to take a step back.
BOOM!
The flame shot into the sky before crashing down, scorching the ground and spreading in all directions.
“How much time do you think you can buy with something like this?”
A fierce wind whipped out from Hyedam’s bead. It was the 6th-tier Fox Spirit magic, ‘Valley Gale.’
The wind instantly suppressed the fire and cleared a path, and Hyedam leaped through the opening.
“Bewitchment.”
Magic erupted from Hyedam’s bead.
Caleb tore another talisman.
‘Soul Sphere Shield.’
A translucent, shimmering bubble, like a soap bubble, enveloped Caleb’s body. It was a 7th-tier Fox Spirit magic.
It defended against all sorts of harmful attacks, including mental ones.
The remaining talismans are Fox Den, Spirit Dash, and Fox Bewitchment.
Hyedam mentally tallied the cards Caleb held.
He wasn’t a fighter to begin with. As a wandering traveler, he was good at improvising, a smooth talker, and quick-witted, but he was weak in combat.
All she had to do was get rid of his talismans.
“Tail Wind Blade.”
Hyedam’s eight tails whipped forward.
It was neither a skill nor a spell. It was a mystical power that used her tails as a medium but was unleashed from her bead.
The sharp currents of wind were like well-honed blades, and coming from the greatest shaman of the Fox Spirits, they were powerful enough to shred even a Deep Layer monster in a single blow.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
And there were eight of them.
The blades flew like shrapnel from a grenade, embedding themselves in the shield and popping it like a soap bubble pierced by a needle.
Thud-thud-thud!
With Caleb exposed once more, Hyedam charged straight for him.
She planned to grab and subdue him, but she could also predict his next move.
It’s Fox Den!
Just as she thought!
The moment Caleb tore the talisman, Hyedam recognized it instantly.
Caleb’s body vanished.
Fox Den creates a number of teleportation points within a 100-meter radius, corresponding to the caster’s ability.
While the spell is active, the caster can move to any desired location at will, but…
“Do you think I wouldn’t know my own magic?”
Hyedam held her bead and focused her mind. A predatory glint flashed in her deep blue eyes, which resembled an ethereal lake.
‘Soul Tracking.’
A Fox Den created with Hyedam’s power would generate a total of eight points.
There was no need to search for their locations. She just had to track where Caleb was headed.
“Ground Ignition.”
A massive explosion erupted where her bead was aimed.
The ground burst open, and a great pillar of fire shot up.
The first Fox Den was destroyed.
“Ground Ignition.”
Following the direction of his moving spirit, she calmly destroyed them one by one.
“Ground Ignition!”
Once all the Fox Dens were destroyed, the only cards he had left were Spirit Dash and Fox Bewitchment.
She had to be careful of Fox Bewitchment.
As for Spirit Dash…
“Chase him.”
She sent her fox bead flying to catch him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Caleb burst out of the last den and sprinted at incredible speed, weaving through the Fox Spirits, but the fox bead pursued him even faster.
However…
I must not let it hit him.
The high-speed fox bead was charged with immense magical power. A man like Caleb would die if it so much as grazed him.
The best method was to simply threaten him.
To pursue him closely and prevent him from using the Fox Bewitchment talisman.
And to let him escape.
If Spirit Dash was activated by one of Hyedam’s talismans, even the Fox Spirit warriors here would have a hard time catching him.
I’ll just chase him out with the bead.
If she was going to summon the Nine-Tailed Fox and leave anyway, she wanted to avoid bloodshed at the last moment. Especially if it was Caleb.
Please, just get out of the village!
He stopped dead in his tracks.
After running about two laps around the altar over the course of seven seconds.
Right at the path leading to the village entrance.
“Hah… Hah…”
Instead of running, Caleb had stopped.
Exactly one minute had passed since the duel began.
“You idiot!”
Hyedam shouted in frustration.
“Do you want to die? Why did you stop!”
“Hah… Hah…”
Catching his ragged breath, Caleb took out his last talisman.
Fox Bewitchment!
That was dangerous. It would inflict a widespread bewitchment effect on every resident in Fox Pass.
“Dammit!”
Caleb’s hands slowly raised the talisman. Just before he tore it—
‘Phase Swap.’
Hyedam activated the spell, switching places with her bead.
SLAM!
She tackled Caleb, slamming him to the ground.
It was a close call. With her right hand, she twisted his wrist, forcing him to drop the talisman.
“…”
Hyedam straddled the fallen Caleb, aiming the sharp tips of her claws at his chest.
“Finish him, Hyedam!”
The elders roared.
“…”
“…”
Hyedam met Caleb’s gaze for a moment. She felt wretched.
“You…”
She said.
“There was no way you could win. How could you possibly last three minutes? Did you really think such a foolish strategy would work?”
“…”
“That if you lasted three minutes, the red moon would set and I wouldn’t have to die? Did you think such a half-baked plan would succeed?”
Hyedam gritted her teeth. The corners of her eyes burned, so she forced them wider.
“How could you possibly beat me…”
“You really…”
Caleb burst out laughing.
“You’re really underestimating me. I already won.”
“…What?”
“Look at the sky.”
Hyedam looked up.
The red moon was disappearing.
For the past two weeks, Caleb had gone down to Wyndham and sought out Fox Spirit shamans.
It was to confirm the effects of the talismans he had received.
“They said it would last for two minutes.”
The Fox Bewitchment talisman, that is.
“You lied. The time I had to endure was sixty seconds.”
What Hyedam had wrestled from Caleb wasn’t the Fox Bewitchment talisman. It was the paper used for talismans, but it was a blank sheet with no magic, just some random scribbles.
“I already used the real talisman. Right when the red moon started to rise.”
He had cast Fox Bewitchment over the entire village.
To make them unaware of Caleb.
To make them unaware that the red moon had risen.
The magic makes those under its spell see only what the caster wants them to see.
“The red moon… has set…”
The moon’s power had already waned.
Hyedam collapsed to the ground as shock spread through Fox Pass.
“This…”
The enraged elders were leaping down from the altar.
“How dare this insolent whelp!”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?!”
Caleb shouted back at them.
“I know perfectly well!”
“What?”
“I saved Hyedam. That’s what I did.”
“Hyedam!”
The elders yelled.
“What are you doing! Kill that scoundrel at once!”
“We never should have let such a harmful creature near Hyedam.”
“We should have gotten rid of him long ago!”
“Didn’t we tell you to keep your body and mind pure so you wouldn’t be tainted?!”
“…”
Caleb looked at Hyedam with a weary expression.
“You… Do you know what you’ve done?”
Hyedam’s voice trembled.
“What are you going to do now? Now… what now… How are you going to get out of here?”
She asked.
“Why didn’t you think about that? Are you an idiot? I’m the guardian of this village. Now I have no choice but to kill you…”
“Don’t treat me like an idiot.”
Caleb replied.
“This was my choice.”
Hyedam’s shoulders flinched.
“You said you weren’t being exploited or sacrificed, but that you were choosing to be a martyr. It’s the same for me. This was my choice.”
“…”
“Hyedam!”
The elders shouted again.
“Kill him! And then we must discuss the current situation. Now that the red moon is gone, we must find another way…”
“Elders.”
Hyedam retracted her claws.
“I… can’t kill him…”
The guardian of Fox Pass, who had been like a fortress of steel, crumbled. Like water dripping on a stone until it breaks, tears fell from her eyes, drop by drop.
“Can’t you… please let this man live…?”
“This is getting more and more absurd.”
The elders took out their fox beads.
“Step aside. I’ll kill him myself.”
Caught between the advancing elders and a resigned Caleb, Hyedam felt like she was going insane.
Like peeling away the hard rind of a fruit to reveal the soft flesh within, once her heart had broken, the true feelings she had ignored were laid bare.
Honestly, she was glad.
That Caleb had come for her.
That he had challenged her to a duel before she had to leap into the flames.
She was actually grateful.
That he had held her back.
And…
“Foxfire.”
A powerful flame summoned by the Eight-Tailed Fox Spirit Shaman fell from the sky.
BOOM!
It landed like a meteor, right in front of the elders.
“Hyedam!”
“I…”
She was like a teenage girl defying her strict father.
She managed to stand on trembling limbs, fearfully gripping Caleb’s hand.
“I’m sorry. As the defeated guardian, it is right for me to atone with my death. But before I die…”
She wiped her tears and said.
“I want to see them.”
“What…? What in the world are you talking about?”
“The snow… and.”
It was her dream, something she could never achieve as long as she couldn't leave Fox Pass.
“The perennial snow. And the Lizardfolk… and the pasta they sell in Wyndham…”
Hyedam, the strongest shaman of the Fox Spirits, had relinquished her position as guardian.
Because she had been defeated in a duel with a certain human man.
And just two months later.
A new Deep Layer adventurer was born in the labyrinth city of Wyndham.