The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 33

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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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Chapter 33
“When we were running, we didn’t sprint in one direction—we bolted everywhere at once, so our scents scattered all over the place. And now every scent is tangled together out here.”
Young Miel found it impossible to distinguish them.
Blinking in confusion as he sniffed at the air, Miel finally understood.
His scent was here, and there, and over there too.
“My scent is everywhere…….”
Miel collapsed in despair, dropping to the ground.
Growl-growl-growl.
His stomach rumbled loudly—he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch.
“I’m hungry…….”
After all that walking, his strength was fading. Miel’s eyes grew dim.
“Hungry? Then… I’ll look around and find us something to eat.”
“Alone……?”
“Yes.”
Lisar spotted a narrow gap between trees that would hide well and pulled Miel toward it.
“You stay here, all right? Don’t go anywhere else. That way I can track your scent and find you again.”
“Mm.”
Miel nodded faintly.
Realizing they’d been going the wrong way had drained all his energy.
“I’ll be back soon…….”
Lisar was just pushing Miel snugly into the hollow beneath the tree when—
Sniff-sniff.
Growl-growl-growl…….
A foul beast-stench came with it, and a deep snarl echoed from the darkness.
“……!”
Lisar’s entire body went rigid. He froze where he stood.
A wolf—its head as large as Miel’s whole body—had thrust its face into the narrow gap between the trees, its pale yellow eyes gleaming as it stared at them both.
“Ugh…….”
Lisar swallowed hard.
Whoosh!
On pure instinct, Lisar conjured flame and hurled it at the wolf.
Whack!
The fire struck the wolf’s face dead-on, but the spark was small and the wolf was massive.
The wolf shook off the slight scorch across its cheek as if it were nothing, and instead began wedging its face deeper into the gap with excited growls.
“Growl-growl-growl……!”
It had only gotten more excited.
“Hic-hic!”
Miel gasped, eyes wide, and began to hiccup.
His whole body shook with each one.
With both hands clamped over his mouth, Miel screwed up his face, desperate to muffle the sound, but the hiccups kept bursting through—his feet dancing anxiously against the dirt.
“Hic!”
“…….”
Lisar, rigid with tension, glanced back at the trembling, terrified child clinging to his back, then clenched his fists tight.
Creak, creak.
The wolf was so powerful that the base of the tree was groaning, the gap slowly widening under its assault.
‘If we stay here, Miel’s in danger too.’
Worse, a bear cub might smell even more appetizing to it.
“Growl.”
Lisar glanced back at Miel.
“Miel, can you stay perfectly still here?”
“……Lisar? Hic!”
Lisar’s small, trembling frame managed a forced smile.
“I’ll chase this wolf away and come right back. I’m incredibly fast, so I’ll lead it away and lose it somewhere good.”
“Don’t…….”
Miel seized a handful of Lisar’s clothes.
What if he got eaten?
The wolf’s teeth, visible through the gap, were frighteningly sharp and strong and huge.
“It’s all right. I’ll be quick. While I’m leading the wolves far away, you stay tucked in this corner, hidden and quiet—don’t make a sound. Understand?”
“Growl-growl-growl!”
Bang, crash!
The wolf began prying at the gap with its head, forcing it wider.
Where only its snout had fit before, now half the wolf’s head was wedging through.
Lisar gripped Miel’s hand tightly. The small, warm fingers trembled in his grasp.
“You can do this, right?”
“……Yes.”
Miel nodded slightly, tears welling in her eyes.
“Once things get quiet, you find someone—anyone nearby—and bring them back to help me. Then it’ll be okay.”
“……Sniff, okay.”
Miel’s eyes burned hot as she nodded again with fierce determination.
‘If only Miel were a bit bigger—like a panda……’
Lisar turned sharply, his face set with resolve.
The boy clenched his fists hard, his jaw tight. Then he dug into his pocket, pulled out a Leaf, and cast Magic.
The fluttering Leaf transformed into a stone the size of Miel’s face.
“You stink—get out of the way!”
Gripping the stone in both hands, Lisar hurled it with all his strength straight at the wolf’s eyes.
Thwack!
“Yelp!”
With a sharp crack, the wolf had no time to dodge and shrieked, stumbling backward from the impact.
There was an opening.
Lisar conjured a couple of smaller stones from another Leaf and flung them at the wolf, whose eyes now bled.
Flash.
The wolf’s gaze gleamed cold as it whirled its head toward Lisar.
Arooooo!
The enraged wolf let out a thunderous howl.
Several wolves lurking in the shadows, waiting for prey to emerge, slowly revealed themselves.
“……!”
Lisar’s eyes widened in alarm, his fists clenching. When he saw the pack closing in, he spun around at once.
“Over here! Stupid wolves!!”
Poof!
With a taut expression, Lisar cried out and transformed into a small fox.
The jet-black fox melted into the dark night and bolted forward at full speed.
Howl!
At the same moment, four wolves provoked by the kit began pawing the earth.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Pound, pound, pound.
Crunch!
Yelp!
Running hard on four legs through the brush, Lisar’s eyes widened when he saw grass crushed to splinters right beside him.
No matter how small and nimble Lisar was, he couldn’t match the speed of a full-grown wolf.
Pant, pant, pant.
Still, Lisar ran with everything he had. He needed to draw the wolves as far from Miel as possible.
But no matter how hard he pushed, the distance between him and the pack didn’t widen. If anything, he felt them closing in from behind.
‘What do I do, what do I do……?’
He wanted to slip through some gap and escape, but of all places, this Basin had none—hardly any trees either.
‘The way we came……’
They’d retraced their steps when searching with Miel, but he couldn’t seem to find them. Somehow, they’d come around to this side instead.
There was nowhere to run. If there were even a small crack in the rocks or somewhere to hide, he could duck inside——
A shadow fell across him from above.
In that instant.
Smack!
“Yelp!”
The small black fox’s body flew through the air and crashed hard to the ground.
“Grrrr!”
The wolf snarled and loomed over Lisar with smug satisfaction.
His strength sapped, Lisar could flee no longer—his small body quivered helplessly.
As the black fox tried desperately to rise, the wolf’s front paw came down, pinning him flat.
“Squeek!”
The small fox, nearly upright, was pressed back against the ground.
Crack.
The wolf opened its massive jaws.
“Squeak…….”
The small fox, pinned beneath an enormous paw, thrashed her limbs desperately.
She had fled such a short time ago that Miel wouldn’t have found an adult yet to help her either.
Not that she regretted it.
And yet…….
‘I’m so scared…….’
Before the wolf, its jagged teeth gleaming as it yawned its maw wide, the black fox felt tears beading at the corners of her eyes.
Growwwl-!
The massive wolf’s head rushed toward the small fox in an instant.
Lisar sensed the end coming and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Eeeek-!”
Father-!
Crack-!
A sound rang out like sharp teeth tearing through skin and shredding muscle.
Splatter.
Blood sprayed forth, and the scent of blood rushed over him.
Lisar had been trembling like an aspen leaf, waiting for the pain to arrive, but as time passed with no agony, he gritted his teeth and slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a solid wall.
Unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar in its scent…….
He lifted his head slowly.
‘……Grandfather?’
Standing there was a man whose face was twisted in anguish, sweat pouring down him—a man who had never once called him by a gentle name.
It was Valen Noctis.

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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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