Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 145

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 145. The Savior of Fox Den
Every doubt began to dissolve like snow in spring.
Yet at the same time, bewilderment was inevitable.
If Park Chan-woo was the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity, where had he come from?
Why had he suddenly appeared and claimed the role of “protagonist”!
…wasn’t that so.
The Nine-Tailed Fox Deity was a being called the God of Foxes.
Had he revealed himself as the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity from the start, there would have been no controversy.
Everyone would have followed of their own accord.
‘He deceived me.’
A small flame of anger kindled across Yu Jin-seo’s face.
Because she had become certain that Park Chan-woo was not merely some “Hidden Piece.”
No matter how capable the Creator of the Burning Boundary might be, they lacked the skill to craft a Nine-Tailed Fox Deity.
The Nine-Tailed Fox Deity could not be made as a mere Hidden Piece.
Had that been possible, Aurum would have long since become the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity and settled itself as the despair of all.
Only a Nine-Tailed Fox possessed the right to become the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity.
‘The Hidden Piece, the Fox Fire, the Enchantment—all of it was false.’
Crunch.
Yu Jin-seo ground her teeth.
This was the first time in her life she’d felt this way.
It felt as though she had been toyed with entirely.
Yu Jin-seo crossed the cloud bridge swiftly.
She then found Park Chan-woo and demanded an answer.
“What is your true identity?”
Eyes cold as frost.
A chilled expression and tone.
Park Chan-woo turned his gaze toward Yu Jin-seo.
Just before advancing to the next trial.
With the fourth trial resolved, only the Final Battle with Aurum remained.
Things were unfolding exactly as planned.
‘She’s caught on.’
His string of peculiar actions had apparently bred suspicion.
Well, even she would have found it strange.
They were resolving the Fox Den far too easily.
But surely the Creator would not have left all their authority in a mere Hidden Piece.
‘A fork in the road.’
…He had to choose.
His future hinged on what he said next.
Yet without Yu Jin-seo’s trust, he could not defeat Aurum.
The function of the Holy Sword.
An option that increased all stats based on the number of followers!
But it seemed it wasn’t determined by mere “numbers” alone.
The trust of Yu Jin-seo, a Nine-Tailed Fox, granted far greater power than that of a hundred ordinary followers.
If she began to distrust Park Chan-woo, filling that void would not be easy.
He had to make her believe, no matter what.
‘She thinks the Enchantment didn’t take.’
Her forceful attitude meant she was certain the Enchantment had failed to bind her.
Beneath the cold facade, she had no composure.
Gone was the leisureliness he’d sensed when he was confident the Enchantment had worked.
Above all, she had demanded his identity outright.
It was because she’d decided Park Chan-woo was far removed from any mere Hidden Piece.
After a moment’s deliberation, he opened his mouth.
“As you believe.”
“…Are you saying you’re truly the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity?”
…Nine-Tailed Fox Deity?
What kind of nonsense was this.
He had spoken of finding Fox Fire that could evolve into the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity, but he had never—not once—claimed to be the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity himself.
Yu Jin-seo was operating under a grave misunderstanding.
Not only her, but likely the other foxes harbored similar thoughts.
Park Chan-woo gave an internal nod.
‘Better this way, actually.’
If he played this misunderstanding right, he could win the trust of the other foxes as well.
But the lie of being the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity was a double-edged blade.
It could turn everyone against him.
“I don’t seem obliged to answer.”
He wouldn’t spell it out directly.
Let misunderstanding breed more misunderstanding.
Just as a rolling snowball grows larger, so too did confusion and assumption.
Without an answer, people imagined. And imagination had a way of swelling, growing bigger with each passing thought.
He needed to make Yu Jin-seo gradually become certain that he truly was the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity.
“……Where did you come from? Why did you pretend to be under Enchantment?”
Yu Jin-seo’s eyes trembled slightly.
She had assumed he was an existence that appeared suddenly from nowhere—not a Hidden Piece.
‘A Nine-Tailed Fox Deity couldn’t just appear in the Fox Den out of nowhere.’
It was a natural suspicion.
The real question was where he could have come from.
If he wasn’t a Hidden Piece created by the Creator of the Burning Boundary, if he had come from outside the ‘Fox Den’ entirely, then from where exactly had he emerged?
Park Chan-woo recalled what he knew of the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity.
He had researched fox lore and legend several times before.
The Fox Clan had been a doomed race, annihilated in the tribal war.
…Just as humans had been.
Park Chan-woo answered.
“I was inside the Crack.”
“……The Crack? You’re asking me to believe that now?”
At this absurd response, Yu Jin-seo’s brow furrowed.
Of course, she knew better.
It made no sense.
But Park Chan-woo had to package this ‘nonsensical story’ in a plausible way.
“When the world where the ‘Fox Den’ existed was destroyed, and as a result the ‘Fox Den’ fell through a Crack into another world, I came through with it.”
“Don’t lie. Only Divine Beasts can survive inside a Crack.”
“Signus.”
“……?”
That was the moment.
Flap!
From high in the sky, Signus descended and perched on Park Chan-woo’s shoulder.
Yu Jin-seo’s eyes widened dramatically at the sight.
“A Divine Beast……!!”
To anyone’s eyes, Signus was unmistakably a Divine Beast.
And the fact that it had descended from the sky meant it had been in the ‘Creator’s Domain’.
Only then did she understand.
‘The reason for throwing the Holy Sword into the sky……’
It was to pass it to the Divine Beast.
That was why the Heavenly Punishment never even appeared—why it had vanished.
A Divine Beast contractor.
The claim about coming from the Crack no longer felt like a complete lie.
Moreover.
‘The Nine-Tailed Fox Deity is said to have commanded Divine Beasts.’
If he could draw the Holy Sword, he had to be a fox. And if he displayed the ability to command a Divine Beast, he was unmistakably the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity.
Furthermore, through a Divine Beast, the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity could freely enter other ‘Creative Abysses’.
Everything aligned with what the legends told.
Now, piece by piece, everything was clicking into place.
Yet doubt still lingered.
“Then why did you pretend to be under Enchantment……?”
“I needed your trust.”
“My trust……?”
“I am incomplete. To perfect this Scenario, I needed the help of you and the other foxes. Isn’t that precisely why I gave you the Half of the Liver?”
“…….”
Yu Jin-seo was silent for a moment.
The words about needing trust.
For some reason, those words echoed deeply within her chest.
It was true that she possessed Half of the Liver.
A sacred pact among foxes—to prevent another fox from using Enchantment.
There was some ambiguity in saying he’d “given” it to her, but it wasn’t entirely inaccurate either.
“Fox Fire… does it really exist?”
One final question remained.
He understood where it came from, why she pretended to be enchanted, and what its nature was.
But the question ‘why?’ wouldn’t leave his mind.
He couldn’t fathom why the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity would enter the Fox Den—a place without even a Creator—and push to complete the Scenario.
Park Chan-woo smiled faintly.
“It exists.”
“…!”
On this much, at least, he wasn’t lying.
Once he defeated Aurum and the Scenario of Fox Den was complete, Fox Fire would manifest.
The true power of magic that the Fox Clan had lost.
Park Chan-woo drove the point home.
“Yu Jin-seo. I came to save this Fox Den.”
So believe me.
I am your salvation.
* * *
Just before the Fourth Trial began.
Yu Jin-seo spoke to the assembled crowd.
“Only this person can save us.”
She had openly declared Park Chan-woo as the true protagonist.
The impact rippled through the foxes with considerable force.
No matter how many times the protagonist had changed, they’d never heard Yu Jin-seo speak like this before.
‘She really is the Nine-Tailed Fox Deity!’
‘Now there’s no room for doubt.’
‘Salvation—she’s speaking of salvation for us foxes.’
Yu Jin-seo would never have spoken of “salvation” in reference to the humans gathered here.
Those words had been aimed at the foxes alone.
That only Park Chan-woo could save them.
At this, all the Holy Sword users fell silent in agreement.
“I believe the same.”
“Let us all follow!”
“We shall follow you!”
“Everyone, let us follow this person together!”
Ding!
《896 challengers are now following you.》
《1 Nine-Tailed Fox is now following you.》
《21 Foxes are now following you.》
《Holy Sword user abilities have dramatically increased!》
《All stats have risen by 200.》
The shockwave from Yu Jin-seo’s words was staggering.
Hundreds of people surged forward to gather behind Park Chan-woo.
His followers in the temple had laid considerable groundwork beforehand, but Yu Jin-seo’s single declaration had served as the final catalyst.
More than that, many foxes had fallen into line as well.
The magnitude of the stat increase was beyond reason.
‘One step remains.’
Just one more step until reaching Aurum.
It felt so close now.
Park Chan-woo didn’t hesitate and threw himself into the Fourth Trial.
In truth, the Fourth Trial posed no real obstacle to him.
Ding!
《Welcome to the Well of Despair.》
《Reach the end of the Well of Despair and defeat the Demon Race leader!》
《All Demonic Fish present in the Well of Despair must be eliminated before you may proceed.》
A deep well lay directly ahead.
Its bottom was nowhere to be seen.
Park Chan-woo hurled himself into it.
At the same moment.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzt!
Boom! A deep, rolling crash!
Heavenly Punishment rained down upon the well like something possessed.
But that was not the end.
Ding!
《The Water Spirit has been destroyed!》
《Someone has completed the Perfect Scenario!》
《The scenario achiever has been granted five additional Black Stars.》
《The Well of Despair has been cleared.》
《The scenario has been renamed ‘The Savior of Fox Den’.》
“How… how did it end so quickly?”
“It’s already over? Already?”
“Truly, our savior is incomparable!”
The Water Spirit had been eliminated at a speed that bore no comparison to anything before.
With that, the fourth trial was complete.
Anticlimactic in its simplicity.
In that moment, faith solidified into something unshakeable.
Even those who had harbored doubt could no longer deny it.
One gate remained.
Ding!
《Prepare yourselves for the Final Trial.》
《Attention! In thirty minutes, the Demon Race Aurum will appear!》
《Once the Final Battle begins, none shall escape Aurum’s Domain.》

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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