Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 69

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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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69. Yagor’s Harsh Snowfield (3)
“Should we put this mutt through some training?”
Mutt training?
The idea was to make the White Tiger chase us while we wore down its stamina. Mister chuckled heartily.
“Mutt training? That’s not bad at all!”
Lee Shin-hee, sitting behind us, burst into laughter. I had to admit it wasn’t a terrible idea.
Mister clicked his tongue as he watched the White Tiger pursuing us.
“Phew, that gave me a start. And here I thought it couldn’t even keep up.”
I’ll admit I was panicked at first. Seeing a tiger the size of a bus barreling toward us from a distance was unsettling.
I’d forgotten that very few monsters could match this snowmobile’s speed.
‘We’re at 190 kilometers per hour now.’
The snowmobile I’d acquired was a hunter-grade model, modified to boast a maximum speed exceeding 250 kilometers per hour.
No matter how powerful a monster was, few could overtake us at this velocity.
I wasn’t sure what an ordinary tiger’s average running speed was, but judging by its current pace, it seemed to be around 120 kilometers per hour.
Since the distance didn’t close even as we made wide loops across the open snowfield to avoid the trees—where our speed would be forced to drop—the White Tiger clearly couldn’t match us.
“Let’s keep going like this!”
I’d already had enough practice fighting large monsters against the Sand Guardians in the Desert, so there was no need to engage unnecessarily.
Besides, a snowy battlefield would be disadvantageous for us.
“Got it! Go ahead! I’ll follow!”
At my words, Mister grinned widely. He seemed to be enjoying this situation of putting a monster through its paces.
Of course, the White Tiger wasn’t.
-Kroooogh!
How to describe it?
It pursued us while letting out a somewhat pitiful cry. We, naturally, were at ease.
“It seems to be targeting us instead of the Young Men from the village that were supposedly attacked?”
“Yes. The timing matches almost perfectly with when the Young Men left.”
“That’s fortunate then. If it’s here with us, it means the Spirit Elixir is still safe.”
Right. Since we’d been heading to the cave first out of concern the White Tiger might consume the Spirit Elixir, encountering it like this was actually fortunate.
Though I’ll admit I was startled by its sudden appearance.
“Wait, it’s speeding up!”
As I slowed to around 140 kilometers per hour to navigate the corner, the beast suddenly accelerated quietly.
It seemed to have been conserving its strength while chasing us.
Did it think we couldn’t maintain that speed?
But unfortunately for the White Tiger, the snowmobile wasn’t a living creature—it was a machine. I accelerated again.
-Kroogh!
And the distance didn’t close any further.
“This beast’s maximum speed seems to be around 150 kilometers per hour?”
“It doesn’t go beyond that. I’ve slowed us down slightly again now.”
As we sped up again, it maintained a certain distance while continuing to pursue us.
“It still thinks it’s hunting us.”
At Mister’s words, I glanced back slightly, and his eyes were alive with intensity. He looked like a predator waiting for his prey to tire.
“Is that so?”
“Don’t you wonder how much longer those eyes will stay that sharp?”
Mister chuckled with amusement.
The snowmobile we were riding had been modified to operate for a maximum of six hours.
Of course, since we were increasing our speed, that time would be reduced, but could that beast chase us for two hours at this pace?
We raced across the Yagor’s Harsh Snowfield, where sunlight reflected blindingly off the snow.
* * *
Ironically, it was Han Hye’s group that grew tired first. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they grew bored.
Chasing across the snow field with the White Tiger in tow was only entertaining for so long.
After dozens of minutes of dragging the White Tiger around like a sled dog, I found myself wondering when this would end.
Eventually, unable to bear the boredom any longer, Choi Chul-gi asked Han Hye a question.
“Should we stop and fight?”
“Should we? We still need to find the Hidden Gate though.”
It was Seo Min-jae who raised his hand then.
“Could I try using some magic while we’re moving?”
“Magic?”
“If I use magic while moving, we might not need to fight at all. Plus, it’s good training.”
Everyone in the group agreed with Seo Min-jae’s suggestion. However, Choi Chul-gi seemed interested in something else.
“Think you can hit it? With the speed and momentum we have?”
“Let’s give it a try!”
“Want to make a bet? Loser buys dinner?”
“Huh?”
Han Hye, who had been watching, let out a hollow laugh.
“You’re trying to get free meals from Min-jae?”
“Lately you’ve been treating me so much I’m broke. I need to mooch off Min-jae instead.”
“Huh?”
Seo Min-jae was taken aback.
He knew Choi Chul-gi’s wealth. After all, he received several times more money than a mage like himself.
“What? Not confident?”
“No! Let’s do it!”
However, when Choi Chul-gi scratched his chin slightly, Seo Min-jae’s eyes sharpened with focus as he gripped his staff. He concentrated intently.
-Boom!
But the magic he launched eagerly missed the White Tiger.
The snowmobile was moving far too quickly. The spell struck a spot so distant that the White Tiger didn’t even need to dodge.
“Heh, not working, huh?”
After attempting two more times with similar results, Choi Chul-gi playfully teased Seo Min-jae.
“It’s getting closer each time!”
Provoked by Choi Chul-gi’s words, Seo Min-jae concentrated harder. After two more failures, he chose an area-of-effect spell.
Whether he was using magic obtained from the Desert, sand suddenly erupted from the snowy field.
The surging sand formed a single spear that blocked White Tiger’s path, but unfortunately it failed to strike true.
White Tiger leaped nimbly into the air and dodged with agility.
“Damn, what a shame.”
Apart from Seo Min-jae’s disappointment, the grimoire I’d obtained from the desert looked quite promising.
If it could produce that level of destruction in Yagor’s Harsh Snowfield, it would fare even better against multiple enemies elsewhere.
Just as Min-jae was preparing the next spell, Choi Chul-gi turned the snowmobile’s direction.
Because of that, my magic flew off in a completely wrong direction.
“Hyung-nim! How is that even allowed?”
“Hahahaha. There was no rule against interfering, was there?”
Han Hye and Lee Shin-hee, watching the reckless Choi Chul-gi’s antics, let out deep sighs.
Since the moment happened simultaneously, their eyes met, and realizing they felt the same emotion, they nodded slightly at each other.
“How about it? It won’t work, right?”
“Just a moment. Let me try adjusting the spell enhancement to focus on accuracy alone.”
“Can you even do that?”
“I’m not sure. Since mages enhance spells, it should work, right? I’ve never tried it before though.”
Seo Min-jae prepared the spell once more. This time, the preparation took longer than before.
I was in the process of imbuing the spell with a homing property.
And then….
Boom-! Boom-!
While not overwhelmingly destructive, this spell struck the tiger’s torso directly.
Even though White Tiger twisted its body nimbly, it embedded itself like a homing projectile.
“Oh! Did you see that?”
“Tsk….”
Just as Seo Min-jae cheered and Choi Chul-gi lamented, Yong-yong, who had been flying at a distance in the sky, suddenly charged at White Tiger.
“Krrrraaaagh!”
It had interpreted our attacks as the signal to begin combat.
As White Tiger staggered, Yong-yong breathed fire as if it had been waiting for this moment.
-Screeeech!
-Roooar!
White Tiger cried out in agony from the intense heat, then furiously kicked off the ground and soared through the flames.
However, Yong-yong simply fluttered its wings lightly and shot upward into the sky. White Tiger’s claws raked through empty air.
“Ooh. Is that the legendary dragon-tiger clash I’ve only heard about?”
Choi Chul-gi clapped his hands in admiration, but Seo Min-jae tilted his head.
“Hyung-nim. When they say dragon-tiger clash, the dragon isn’t that dragon, is it? Yong-yong is Red Dragon.”
“Well, what does it matter? It’s still a dragon. We can’t exactly call it a dragon-tiger clash either.”
“….”
Min-jae frowned at the uncle joke. No matter how much I tried to follow Choi Chul-gi’s humor, I couldn’t laugh at this one.
“Sigh….”
Lee Shin-hee, riding behind Han Hye, let out an equally deep sigh.
“You don’t like uncle jokes? Noted.”
“Huh? No, that’s not what I meant….”
Lee Shin-hee was flustered by Han Hye’s teasing, and the atmosphere grew slightly awkward until Choi Chul-gi cleared his throat.
“Ahem.”
Han Hye steered the conversation back to the battle.
“But this isn’t bad, right?”
“See? It wasn’t actually bad, was it?”
Choi Chul-gi thought she was complimenting his joke and beamed, but Han Hye immediately frowned.
“What? No, that wasn’t funny at all. I meant Yong-yong.”
“Ahem. Why Yong-yong?”
“Because combat experience helps with growth. Plus, this is Yong-yong’s first real battle. Don’t you think we could take down the White Tiger this way?”
When you thought about it, this was Yong-yong’s first actual combat. I’d ridden the Red Dragon with Chul-gi before, but that was only fighting as a “mount,” not real combat.
Chul-gi’s eyes grew serious at Han Hye’s words. However, Seo Min-jae seemed slightly worried.
“What if it gets hurt….”
“It’ll be fine. It’s a dragon, after all. We have healing potions, and Lee Shin-hee is here too.”
“Yes. A dragon can’t grow like a delicate flower in a greenhouse.”
Yong-yong turned its gaze toward us from the sky, as if waiting for the next attack.
Since direct combat was beyond its current ability, it was expressing its willingness to assist in coordination with our attacks.
“Min-jae. Prepare your magic.”
Han Hye drew out the Wind-flow Sword. It was capable of ranged attacks.
Thus, the battle resumed within the chase.
Each time Seo Min-jae’s magic and Han Hye’s Wind Slash connected with the White Tiger, Yong-yong seized the opportunity.
The White Tiger wasn’t helpless either.
-Roooar!
It even turned the tables, aiming for Yong-yong as it descended to exploit the gaps between spells. But Yong-yong was a dragon too.
With animal instinct, it read the White Tiger’s movements and sometimes only feinted attacks.
Thanks to this, Seo Min-jae’s magic and Han Hye’s Wind Slash could affect the White Tiger more effectively.
After about twenty minutes, the White Tiger collapsed onto the Snow Field, bleeding profusely.
-Roooar….
Unlike the White Tiger, which released its final cry as its strength faded, Yong-yong circled through the sky.
-Kraaaaaaagh!
Its triumphant roar of victory was a bonus. Then it descended and nuzzled against Han Hye’s face.
It was asking for praise.
“Well done. You fought better than I expected.”
“A dragon is a dragon, I guess. The way it dodges even when the White Tiger attacks cleverly—impressive.”
“Krr!”
Yong-yong seemed delighted by the praise and even grinned. Han Hye petted Yong-yong and tossed it some beef.
.
.
.
We recovered the White Tiger’s corpse and magic stone, then drove the snowmobile back toward White Tiger’s Lair.
That’s when Lee Shin-hee spoke up.
“That must have been quite a difficult battle.”
“Pardon?”
“The White Tiger, I mean. If it weren’t for Han Hye, the fight would have been much harder.”
I had to agree. This wasn’t false modesty—it was the truth.
We’d taken it down easily, but thinking about it, the White Tiger wasn’t just any boss monster that appeared in a 26-30 level Gate.
We’d had to face a creature that sprinted at over 120 kilometers per hour across a snow field where every step sank deep into the powder.
Responding systematically to that speed while trudging through such treacherous terrain was extraordinarily difficult.
‘Ordinary hunters would have been slaughtered without question in a situation like that.’
Without the intelligence we’d gathered and our snowmobiles, we wouldn’t have hunted the White Tiger so easily.
In the first place, hunters who weren’t high-level rarely thought to bring snowmobiles into snow field Gates.
Beyond the cost, there were numerous complications. If the snow field was an environment where they couldn’t be used, hauling them around became a burden.
While we had this conversation, Mister and Min-jae were discussing a wager beside us.
“So, is there anything you’d like to eat? I’ll treat you to something delicious.”
“No, I think I should be the one treating you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Thanks to you, I was able to imbue my magic with homing properties. That’s something to be grateful for.”
Min-jae spoke with genuine sincerity, but Mister seemed slightly flustered instead.
“Congratulations. Still, a wager is a wager—I should be the one paying.”
“No, really, I insist.”
Either way, it was good news. It meant Min-jae, our mage, was making steady progress.
When we finally arrived at Tiger’s Cave, it was quite eerie.
Bone piles were scattered throughout. But that wasn’t what we focused on.
Deep within the cave, blooming atop a mound of snow, we saw a flower.
[Frost Bloom (Grade B)]
-A flower that grows sparsely in caves of extremely cold regions. Still not fully matured.
-Consuming it would seem to grant extreme resistance to cold.
“Grade B! This is real!”
“A Grade B from a Gate at this level is tough to find, but this really is a hidden reward.”
“Right. Who would even think to hunt the White Tiger and then search for its cave in this freezing place?”
That was true. The White Tiger’s actual lair was quite a distance from where we’d encountered it.
I asked Chun-bae eagerly.
‘If we plant this on the Farm, wouldn’t it become Grade A?’
-Negative. Impossible. The Farm within the Subspace has its limitations. It is not equipped to mature spirit herbs meant to thrive in such extreme cold environments.
Right. Even when we plant Grade A spirit herb seeds, they come out two ranks lower. Strengthening them further would be difficult.
It was unfortunate, but unavoidable.
“Let’s head back to the Village for now.”
Since no other hidden rewards had been revealed yet, we postponed the distribution and turned back toward the Village.
It was time to hunt for the next hidden reward.
“By the way, what could the hidden reward be?”
“Well, could it be related to someone named Yagor?”
“Yagor?”
“The Gate is called Yagor’s Harsh Snowfield, but Yagor never appeared in any of the information we gathered.”
“That’s certainly possible.”
Well, I still don’t know for sure. I’ll find out once I return to the Village.
Still, I found myself growing curious. What could possibly emerge from a hidden dungeon that’s harder to obtain than B-rank elixirs?

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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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