Chapter 491 – 491. The Past of the Fox (2)
Kreureung!
Confronted by the ferocious beast that rushed at full speed to bite off his head, the man swung his sword without panic.
He ducked his back to avoid the attack, and cut off the beast’s abdomen with his sword, cutting off his breath.
With a split second, the charge went through the air, and the abdomen, which had been properly cut by the sword strike from below, spurted out blood fountains and viscera.
The man who wielded the sword, Ortas, immediately pulled out his body so that the blood wouldn’t splatter on his clothes, and swung the sword in the air to scatter the beast’s blood clinging to his blade.
“Whoa.”
Ortas sighed and gazed up at the sky.
“What is the world going to be like…”
Recently, the frequency of appearances of demon beasts has increased, and people’s anxiety symptoms have increased day by day.
In response to this, the country trained a large number of soldiers as soldiers and placed them on the frontlines to protect the territory and to focus on subjugating the beasts, making various preparations, but the reality did not improve at all.
Currently, Ortas belongs to the kingdom’s military reconnaissance team, and his main mission is to search for and guard against monsters approaching the territory.
He reported to the superiors on a scouting mission, and was conducting independent investigations on special ruins recorded in ancient texts in order to find a means to deal with the rapidly increasing number of demon beasts.
“When the war against demons was in full swing, Shinsura fought alongside humans…”
It was a hopeful speculation that if I could get my hands on something left by that divine beast, there would be a breakthrough to counter the Witchbeast, but it was worth putting my hopes on.
In my head, I recited the story of the divine beast described in the literature and moved on.
The magic beasts encountered on the way to the place where the ruins are presumed to exist are at a level that can be easily dealt with even with the skills of Ortas, who is reputed to be an ace even within the kingdom’s reconnaissance team.
After a long journey that took several days without much crowd, Ortas finally arrived at a place.
“This… ?”
Sensing the presence of a special barrier blocking his approach, Ortas hardened his face.
He stared blankly into space again, finding the slightest distortion in the air.
“… Found.”
Although invisible to his eyes, Ortas was certain that the ruins he was looking for were right in front of his eyes.
The very minute distortions that appear as if something was overlaid to hide something are tiny cracks that the general public can never find.
However, Ortas was able to notice this small crack because he had researched a lot of literature on the ruins and possessed the highest level of search ability even among the reconnaissance team.
“…”
Ortas swallowed his saliva and cautiously reached out his hand.
Paperweight!
“Kuh!?”
As soon as he brought his hand close to the rift, a spark ricocheted off Ortas’ hand, as if trying to deny him access.
His hands trembled as he felt an electric current flowing through them.
It was not a trembling from fear or fear, but a very natural reaction of the body.
Staring at his trembling arm, Ortas gained more confidence in his judgment.
There is no doubt that there were ancient ruins in the past where there was a divine beast that had great power to fight against demons and beasts.
Ortas immediately clenched his fists, forcibly removed the trembling of his body, and released his body’s mana to protect his whole body.
Then, he stretched out his hand to the fine crack that was the boundary line of the barrier.
Jigsaw Jigsaw!
He refused to approach again with wild sparks, but Ortas, who had increased his resistance by enveloping his whole body with magical energy, pushed away the interference of the barrier as much as possible and entered the interior.
When he finally entered the interior, Ortas hesitated at the completely changed environment.
He peered through the transparent curtain and stared at a building that existed inside.
“Here… Is it a place called a ‘shrine’?”
Recalling the literature that was used in the past for a purpose similar to a temple to enshrine a god, I walked slowly and entered the inside of the building.
“… Amazing.”
Pillars built with wood and tiled roofs stacked on the ceiling are special styles of the past that cannot be seen at all in the kingdom.
It has been neglected and neglected for a long time and has been hit with the traces of the years, but perhaps because of that, it is creating a more mysterious atmosphere.
As he explored the inside of the shrine with cautious steps that made no sound, Ortas sensed a special energy flowing from deep inside.
“No way…”
Ortas headed towards the innermost part of the shrine with his eyes shining in anticipation that there might be something left behind by the god, rather than just an empty ruin.
“Ah… !”
He let out a small exclamation as he saw a being in his field of vision.
His eyes were drawn to the figure of the being lying on top of the innermost altar, trying to sleep.
It was a beast woman with fox ears who was buried in the nine tails that blended in rich silvery white color.
The first emotion that rose in Ortas’ heart was ‘beautiful’.
The nine-tailed beast woman was in such a deep sleep that she didn’t even realize who had entered the shrine.
Her tightly closed eyebrows, her high nose, and smooth lips were like a picture expressing the extremes of art, and they took away Ortas’ heart at once.
“…”
As I slowly closed the distance with the gumiho with a dazed expression, the gumiho’s eyes slowly opened as it felt the presence.
“… Who are you?”
Gumiho, who has more sensitive senses than ordinary humans, reacted to the slightest sound and strange smell and glared at the person who woke him up from his sound sleep.
Little by little, Ortas narrowed the distance, but his steps stopped while receiving the ferocious gaze of the nine-tailed fox that stared at him.
“Who is it,” She asked. How did you get in here?”
This is her own special space that is blocked from outside invasion by the barrier created by the nine-tailed fox.
It was the first time someone had invaded this place, and it was very difficult for the nine-tailed fox to understand that the existence was nothing but a human.
‘No matter how weak I am, I can’t believe the human barrier has been pierced?’
After the fight with the demon, she spent a long time sleeping to recover her power after consuming a lot of power, but the barrier she had built was not weak enough to be penetrated by humans.
Just by bringing your hand close to the barrier, if you were an ordinary human, your hand would burn and you would never be able to use it.
However, the human he sees in front of him breaks through the barrier and stands in front of him.
‘How on earth?’
Ortas, who was under the watchful eye of the nine-tailed fox, finally opened his mouth.
“My name is Ortas.”
“I would have asked how you got here.”
“I protected myself with magical power and just broke through the barrier.”
Ortas radiated his magical energy to cover his entire body in order to explain how he had entered this barrier.
The nine-tailed fox frowned upon checking the inside of Ortas’s body, which was filled with very thick, high-quality mana.
Her state of mind was closer to bewilderment than dislike or annoyance.
‘Is that an aura that humans can have?’
The quality of the energy is different from the energy that humans have in their heads.
The nine-tailed fox, who could not fathom how long she had been asleep, could not decide whether all humans were capable of possessing enormous magical powers like the ones in front of her, or whether the humans in front of her were very special.
The pure talent of the man who introduced himself as Ortas was very special.
He has enormous energy, and his sense of using that energy and his ability to apply it are also very good.
After completing the search, the gumiho raised its upper body and met Ortas’s eyes.
While staring at each other silently without saying anything, it was Ortas who spoke first.
“I have a favor for you.”
“Ask?”
“It’s very chaotic outside right now.”
Ortas briefly explained the situation outside the country he was in.
Beasts are appearing everywhere, threatening the kingdom.
The kingdom side is also preparing for defense by nurturing soldiers, but it is very difficult to withstand the attack of demon beasts with that alone.
“That’s why I want to borrow your strength that you were strong enough to fight against powerful beings called demons in the past.”
“…”
After hearing the explanation, the nine-tailed fox stared blankly at Ortas.
He read Ortas’ emotions by using his own special ability to read the emotions of others.
The feelings of ‘beautiful’ and ‘fascinating’ that everyone had after seeing a nine-tailed fox existed even before falling into a long sleep.
What is special is that Ortas thoroughly suppresses his instincts as a man and puts certain emotions first.
A strong sense of mission as a soldier who wants to protect the people belonging to the kingdom.
The nine-tailed fox was intrigued by Ortas’s feelings, which put forward the sense of mission to protect people from the beast while resisting his own demonic power overflowing outside of him.
Until now, there was no human male who did not fall in love with his charm in front of him.
However, the man named Ortas in front of him is resisting that instinct and putting his own mission first.
‘He’s a strange guy.’
When there was no answer or response, Ortas reached out his hand towards the nine-tailed fox and asked politely again.
“Me, no… Can you help me for the sake of the kingdom?”
The nine-tailed fox came down from the altar where he was sleeping soundly and closed the distance with Ortas.
The nine-tailed fox looked up at Ortas, who was slightly taller than himself, and answered his invitation to ask again.
“There’s nothing I can’t do.”
“Then…”
“However, there are conditions.”
“… What?”
“A part of the aura you have. Can I have it?”
The nine-tailed fox reached out and grabbed Ortas’ neck, triggering his ability.
[Nine-tailed fox unique ability]
[Energy Drain]
This ability to absorb and extort the energy and mana that exists in a person’s body and use it as one’s own is a very dangerous and irrational ability that can suck all the vitality and wither to death for a human who is in the position of being victimized.
The nine-tailed fox was testing Ortas now.
‘Can you risk your life for the kingdom and for the kingdom’s people?’
Realizing that he was slowly stealing his body’s mana, Ortas understood the nine-tailed fox’s actions and words.
Then he answered her question with a clean face without any hesitation, where fear and fear did not exist.
“However much.”
