The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 44
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 44
‘Why is it so quiet?’
It seemed like they had come too deep into the area.
It reminded her of when she had gotten lost in the mountain not long ago.
She was thinking she should quickly go to Ga Hyeon and tell him they should leave when she tried to get up.
Suddenly.
In an instant, without warning, goosebumps rose all over her skin.
Soya froze in place and slowly turned her head.
“…!”
Startled. Soya’s body stiffened completely.
She locked eyes with a man wearing a black mask.
“Oh my. I thought I had completely hidden my presence.”
The man muttered in a troubled voice as if he hadn’t expected to be caught, then pulled down his mask.
“How fascinating, do you really have the power to sense evil magic? I suppose I’ll have to check your Spirit Core.”
‘That person is…!’
Seeing the man’s revealed face, Soya trembled and stepped backward.
‘It’s him. The one who tried to kill me in the Southern Lands….’
The man with a three-legged crow tattoo extending from his cheek to his nape was someone Soya had encountered before.
‘But Saeon defeated him….’
Her crimson eyes shook violently as she stared at the man.
“Allow me to introduce myself, little Young Lady. I am…. Huh? Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”
The man tilted his head and looked at Soya, then touched his own face and grinned wickedly.
“Ah. You must be afraid because of this shell. Tsk. Why do humans always obsess over what they can see?”
The man drew a black sword from his waist and slowly approached Soya.
“Don’t be too afraid. I won’t kill you right away. There’s something I absolutely must confirm about you, Young Lady….”
It was then.
“Stop! Don’t come any closer!”
Ga Hyeon blocked Soya’s path, drawing his sword and pointing it at the man while glaring with fierce eyes.
“Elder Brother!”
Soya cried out in surprise.
And for good reason—the opponent was an adult man at least two heads taller than Ga Hyeon.
The difference in build was too great.
However, Ga Hyeon aimed at the man with an unwavering sword tip and asked.
“I am Baek Gahyeon, second son of the Western Divine Beast White Tiger Family. Who are you?”
“Oh my. A Young Master of the White Family. This makes things a bit troublesome.”
The man sighed with a troubled expression.
“However….”
Hiss—
The man who had been staring at Ga Hyeon’s face soon stretched his lips into a long grin.
“Your shell doesn’t look too bad either. It might be good to switch to it while I’m at it.”
“What…?”
Just as Ga Hyeon frowned at the incomprehensible words.
“It’s dangerous, Elder Brother!”
The man suddenly charged at Ga Hyeon without warning.
Clang, clash—!
Ga Hyeon immediately swung his sword to block the incoming attack.
Feeling the distinct killing intent, Ga Hyeon unconsciously trembled and gasped for breath.
Though he was born and raised as the second son of the White Tiger Family and had trained with the sword since childhood as if it were part of his body, this was his first time crossing swords with an enemy filled with murderous intent in real combat.
However, this was not the time to harbor such weak thoughts.
The man’s sword was flying toward him again.
Clang—!
Clash, clash, clang—!
Sword met sword, creating sharp metallic sounds.
Despite the difference in build, Ga Hyeon exchanged blows evenly with the man.
Then suddenly.
Clang!
The man’s sword was sent flying far away while Ga Hyeon’s sword struck down on the man’s head.
Slash—!
The man’s body collapsed.
“Huff, gasp….”
Ga Hyeon gasped for breath while looking at the fallen man.
“I defeated him….”
Just as Ga Hyeon thought this and was sheathing his sword.
“…Indeed, being a Young Master of the White Family, you’re not to be underestimated.”
“…!”
“…!”
At the sound from the man they thought was dead, both Soya and Ga Hyeon turned to look at him in shock.
“I thought this shell would last long, but it’s broken again. Well, since I’ve found a new shell anyway, there’s nothing to regret.”
The man giggled and shakily got up.
“Wh-what…!”
Crack. Crackle.
Following the trajectory where Ga Hyeon’s sword had cut, crack-like fissures began appearing on the man’s skin.
Then soon.
Rip—!
The man’s skin split open, and a large, pitch-black monster burst out from within.
‘Not… human?’
It was a demon beast with a beast’s face and a bear’s body.
The pitch-black face had no eyes or ears.
Instead, a large mouth in the center of its face was drooling and smacking its lips.
“Four Fiends, Chaos….”
Recognizing him, Ga Hyeon muttered in a pale voice.
“Kuk, kukuk. Since I’ve shown my true form, there’s no choice. I’ll have to eliminate both of you here.”
Chaos burst into murky laughter and spoke in a metallic, raspy voice.
“Of course, I never intended to let either of you live from the beginning.”
Screeeeeech—!
When Chaos opened his mouth wide, dozens of snakes extended from within like vines.
“Soya…!”
Ga Hyeon immediately embraced Soya, but couldn’t avoid the flying snake vines.
Smack!
The snake vines left long wounds on Ga Hyeon’s arm as both children rolled together on the dirt ground.
“Urgh….”
“Hyeoni Elder Brother!”
Seeing Ga Hyeon’s bleeding arm, Soya screamed in alarm.
However, Ga Hyeon immediately got up and stood in front of Soya, then….
Pop!
He underwent Beast Transformation and became a pure white tiger.
“Grrrrrrr…!”
Ga Hyeon bared his sharp fangs and let out a powerful roar.
Soya’s eyes widened at the sight of the massive white tiger.
Until now, the only tigers Soya had seen were small and cute juvenile cubs like Gayul and Arang.
The white tiger that had completed its First Growth possessed a body even larger than an adult man.
‘That’s… a tiger…?’
Ga Hyeon charged straight at the demon beast.
Screech!
Thud!
Ga Hyeon struck down and pinned Chaos with his massive front paws.
Just as he was about to bite down on Chaos’s neck.
Hiss!
Dozens of snakes burst from Chaos’s mouth like vines, coiling tightly around Ga Hyeon’s body.
Ga Hyeon struggled to break free, but the more he fought, the tighter the vine-like snakes squeezed his body.
“Grrrowl…!”
“Elder Brother!”
Soya picked up the sword sheath that had fallen to the ground and ran toward Ga Hyeon.
“G-get away…!”
Soya gripped the sword sheath tightly with both hands and swung it at the snakes wrapped around Ga Hyeon’s body.
The black snakes shattered when struck by the sword sheath.
Thanks to the loosened grip, Ga Hyeon took the opportunity to tear away all the snakes coiled around his body.
“Got it!”
“Do you really think so?”
Chaos, who had been letting Soya and Ga Hyeon be without attacking them until then, giggled and asked meaningfully.
“Urgh…!”
Suddenly, Ga Hyeon’s body collapsed.
“Elder Brother!”
Dark red poison was spreading from his front legs.
He had been bitten by the snakes that Chaos had released earlier.
“P-poison…”
“N-no, Elder Brother!”
“Soya, at least you should, urgh, get away…”
Ga Hyeon coughed up blood as he spoke with difficulty. The pure white tiger’s fur was gradually stained red with blood.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make good use of that shell of yours.”
Chaos approached Soya, who was tearing up, step by step.
“The second son of the White Family should satisfy the Lord. My Master has quite a grudge against your family clan, after all.”
“Stop!”
Soya stood trembling in front of Ga Hyeon, blocking his path.
“I-if you have business with me, just target me! Don’t touch Elder Brother!”
“Elder Brother.”
Chaos burst into a sneer toward Soya.
“How ridiculous. How can a tiger and a bird become family?”
Soya flinched at those words, but soon recalled what Ga Hyeon had said to her.
[I want to become real family with Soya.]
[Real family who protect and cherish each other regardless of what form we take, whether bird or beast.]
[I promise, I’ll be an unchanging fence that protects you for life. I’m Soya’s real Elder Brother.]
He who had promised to become her ‘real Elder Brother’ had kept that promise even while his entire body became battered and broken.
“He said tigers and birds can become family too. He said he’d be a fence that protects me for life.”
So now it was her turn to protect her ‘real family.’
“That’s why I’m going to protect my real family too.”
Unlike her small body that trembled instinctively, Soya’s voice as she glared at Chaos was unwavering and firm.
She actually knew. That there was no way she could defeat that demon beast.
But still, because they were family.
Because they were ‘real family’ who would never abandon each other in any situation.
So she wouldn’t run away alone.
Even if it became a meaningless dog’s death, she would protect Elder Brother.
“Hahaha! Then let’s see you try.”
Chaos grinned, stretching his black mouth wide.
A giant python burst from his black mouth and flew toward Soya.
‘I’m going to protect him…!’
Just as Soya raised the sword sheath gripped in both hands high.
Flash!
Suddenly the sky flashed and lightning seemed to strike down…
Rumble!
Horim Mountain began to shake.
“Wh-what is this…!”
Chaos, who had been shouting in confusion, suddenly froze like stone.
It wasn’t just Chaos.
The black python that had been charging at Soya, and Ga Hyeon who had been coughing blood and losing consciousness.
As if time had frozen, even the tree leaves swaying in the wind and the sound of water flowing from the spring… everything stopped.
In the quiet surroundings, in the frozen time, only Soya moved her lips and breathed out thin breaths.
“How is this…”
Just as Soya was looking around.
Grrrrrrrrowl!
With a roar like thunder, a massive spirit beast wreathed in white light appeared.
‘A phantom beast?’
For a moment, Soya thought it was an illusion.
Because it was imbued with white light like the phantom beasts created by Saeon’s illusion magic.
―So it was you who awakened me.
Soya’s eyes widened at the clear and divine voice that seemed to ring inside her head.
‘No, it’s not a phantom beast. This is…’
Soya swallowed hard as she looked up at the pure white spirit beast.
Somehow she felt like she knew what this was.
Because… the spirit beast before her eyes resembled Ga Hyeon’s beast transformation form that she had just seen.
Pure white fur and blue eyes. Though it wasn’t small and cute like the tigers Soya knew.
‘No doubt about it.’
It was the ancient divine beast, the White Tiger.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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