As soon as Su-ho set foot in the Imperial Palace, SDF troopers stepped out to block him.
“Not just anyone can co in he— Huh? You’re...?”
Su-ho answered with a faint smile. Of course, with Hiro’s face.
Perhaps the orders had already been passed along, because the SDF troopers promptly and politely escorted Su-ho deeper into the Imperial Palace.
“We’ll summon the director right away. This way, please.”
Not every country is like this, but nowhere do bureaucrats wield power quite like Korea and Japan.
Grateful for Miyamoto’s brisk handling of things, Su-ho was soon face-to-face with the manager of the Imperial Palace Gate.
“I’m Ito. A pleasure.”
“I’m Yasuda Hiro of Sumiyoshi. You’ve heard, I assu?”
“Yes, I just received the ssage. But...”
Director Ito fidgeted like a puppy that needed to go out.
He must’ve had a lot of questions.
Why he’d co alone, whether he truly ant to clear this place, and so on.
But before the questions could even leave Ito’s mouth, Su-ho answered first.
“I’ll clear it solo, and yes, I really will clear it. Just open the Square Door.”
“Ah, understood!”
The Square Door unlocked.
At the sa ti, a crowd of officials held their breath like people peeking at a mythical beast, watching Su-ho make his approach.
Ignoring them, Su-ho stepped through the opened door and stopped before the portal.
The portal rippled.
When Su-ho touched it, system notifications rose into view.
[ Entering the gate. ]
[ Loading gate information. ]
[ Disordered Legend ]
– Entry Requirent: Level 210 or higher.
– Max Party Size: 3.
Disordered Legend.
That was the Imperial Palace Gate’s na.
Right. The legends here are a bit... disordered indeed.
The Disordered Legend Gate could fairly be called the strongest gate currently in Japan.
If old legends inspire fear because of small party caps and a complete lack of information, Disordered Legend was different—there were a decent number of people who had actually gone in and co back out.
As a result, it stood proudly ranked as the most powerful gate.
Of course, Su-ho knew exactly what kind of gate this was.
He’d already judged it more than doable solo.
If nothing else, even as Japan’s “strongest” gate, its level requirent was only 210.
I need to milk as much honey as I can before the mid-stage of the Great Upheaval arrives.
[ Entering Disordered Legend. ]
Fwoosh!
A blinding flash.
His view changed.
When Su-ho opened his eyes again, he found himself at the foot of so mysterious mountain, the surroundings swaddled in thick fog.
So this is the fad Overlapped Mountain.
Its real na wasn’t actually “Overlapped Mountain.”
“Overlapped Mountain” was only a nickna—because several mountains overlapped to form it. Not physically stacked, but a set of particular mountains whose properties overlapped.
In short, a setting the System added for dungeon-making convenience.
Su-ho followed the only path available.
By the ti he reached the gateway of the mountain, the path dead-ended.
More precisely, three stone cairns stood at the path’s end, and the mont Su-ho’s gaze moved to them, a system notification popped up.
[ A quest has been generated. ]
[ Trial of the Disordered Mountain ]
– Rank: S
# Several fad mountains, passed down by oral tradition, exist within the Disordered Mountain.
# Each mountain has its own lord, and each ti you defeat a mountain’s lord, you will receive a different kind of recognition.
# You do not know what results you may obtain in the Disordered Mountain. Kill at least one mountain lord and receive the mountain’s recognition.
# Topple a stone cairn and a corresponding path will appear.
A quest, then.
Its na: Trial of the Disordered Mountain.
Players called this quest “mountain-lord hunting.”
In any case, the goal was to hunt as many mountain lords as possible.
After confirming the quest, Su-ho did as instructed and toppled the nearest of the three large stone cairns.
Crash!
It looked fairly sturdy, but it crumbled at a single kick from Su-ho.
And behind the collapsed cairn, a path he hadn’t seen before revealed itself.
Su-ho stepped onto the freshly ford path.
Shrrrk!
The instant his foot touched down, cloudlike vapor coiled around his toes and his figure vanished.
Simultaneously, the suffocating fog cleared, revealing a dry, verdant mountain interior.
Much better.
He hated humidity more than heat.
With that thought, Su-ho simply started walking.
He didn’t know which section of Overlapped Mountain this was, but mountain lords hungry for challengers would co on their own without any summons.
Then—
“Help !”
A slender woman’s voice.
He turned toward the sound and saw a woman in a kimono running toward him.
A tigerlike predator chased her from behind.
[ Blood Armory activates. ]
Su-ho drew a blood-sword at once and called out.
“This way.”
At his call, the woman sprinted toward him.
And Su-ho, without a mont’s hesitation, swung his blade at the oncoming woman.
Slash— splurt!
A clean cut.
So clean that the wound opened first, and the blood jetted a beat later.
The woman collapsed on the spot.
Blood welled up and poured from a gash that ran from her collarbone down to her waist.
But Su-ho didn’t spare her so much as a glance; his eyes were already on the pursuing beast.
Except—astonishingly—the beast that had been chasing her a mont ago had vanished without a trace.
Su-ho flicked his blade, scattering the blood from its edge, then looked back down at the woman.
She was still twitching on the ground.
He didn’t help her up.
He just watched.
After a while, the wounded woman shuddered all over and then went limp.
Dead.
“Looks dead.”
Murmuring that, Su-ho walked over to her. Then—
Thunk!
He drove his sword into her back once more.
“Gyaaaaah!!”
At that mont, a scream burst from the woman who ought to have been dead.
With a pop, her body exploded into a puff of white smoke, and her form disappeared entirely.
— You crazy bastard, what in the hell are you?!
From behind him ca a stranger’s voice, scolding him.
He turned his head and saw the woman he’d just stabbed.
Su-ho smiled.
“Not dead, huh?”
— I asked what in the hell you are!
“Fox hunter.”
— What?
“Let’s call it that for now. You’re a fox, and I’m trying to kill you. Both true.”
— What are you...!
“How long are you going to play dumb? Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune (白面金毛九尾の狐)... ugh, what a mouthful. I’ll just call you a gumiho.”
— ...!
Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune.
Commonly called a gumiho, the woman widened her eyes in disbelief.
— How did you learn my identity?
“I don’t do ‘not knowing.’”
— What?
“Na’s Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune. Easier to say gumiho, or Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox, White-Faced Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox—one of Japan’s Three Great Evil Spirits. Correct?”
Exactly so.
The gumiho known as the White-Faced Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox was one of Japan’s most powerful Three Great Evil Spirits—and the only bestial one.
One of its traits was using sorcery to disguise itself as human, then—from stealing hearts at the low end to bringing down nations at the high end—boasting a flashy résumé.
Sure enough, once Su-ho called it out, a naplate finally rose above the woman’s head.
— Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune Lv.220
Level 220.
Considering the gate’s entry cap was 210, that wasn’t exactly high.
Still, anything in the 200s wasn’t nothing.
If this were only 1★, there’d be no hope for leveling at all.
Su-ho raised his blade again.
“Nothing else to say? Let’s wrap this up.”
— Y-You lunatic!
The gumiho, enraged by Su-ho’s indifferent, businesslike tone, began to unleash its power.
[ Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune releases yokai power. ]
Yokai power, unsealed.
At once its body swelled, shedding the last vestige of human shape and transforming into a massive nine-tailed fox.
— Kyaoooooo!!
[ Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune uses Boss Monster-grade Fear. ]
[ Dragon Blood activates. ]
[ Fear does not apply due to Dragon Mind, a Dragon Blood effect. ]
Monster Fear deployed simultaneously.
Naturally, it didn’t land.
“Three Great Evil Spirits of Japan” or whatever—nowhere near a dragon.
Grinding her teeth, the fox hissed,
— I don’t know how you saw through , but I will not let you die easy...!
“Please do.”
Su-ho answered just as blandly.
At the sa ti, he pushed off the ground once.
[ Blessing activates. ]
[ Holy Enchant activates. ]
[ Mana Perception activates. ]
[ Endurance activates. ]
[ Enhancent activates. ]
[ Eye of the Blacksmith activates. ]
System pings cascaded; skill effects blood.
Blade up, Su-ho chained a skill straight at the fox before him.
[ Weaken activates. ]
Fwoom!
Light burst forth.
At the sa ti, Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune felt its power cut in half.
— How?!
“Like this.”
Tatadat!
Su-ho sprinted straight at Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune.
Startled by the sudden gap-close, the fox’s eyes flew wide.
Unlike when he first cut her, the presence he exuded now had swollen to sothing monstrous.
And with it ca a very real sense of threat. A thick, visceral threat to life.
— Tch!
Kyaoooo!
A high, ringing fox-cry.
At once, green flas peculiar to fox yokai flared across all nine tails.
[ Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune uses Foxfire. ]
[ Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s Attack greatly increases. ]
[ Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s Defense greatly increases. ]
[ Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s Regeneration greatly increases. ]
Foxfire—one of Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s ultimate arts, igniting yokai flas on all nine tails to raise every stat.
Bringing this out at the start ant she’d go all-out from the opening bell.
At the sa ti, the fox thrust her nine tails like spears at the onrushing Su-ho.
He stared straight at them.
Then swung.
[ Cloud Severance activates. ]
[ Enhancent applies. ]
[ Cloud Severance’s power increases further. ]
Whooosh— slice!
A great sweeping cut.
A ringing note of severance.
The fox’s eyes flew open again.
Her tails—harder than steel—were sheared away like a lie.
Too early to be shocked.
The blood-red swordsman’s charge wasn’t over.
Through the shower of tail-stumps falling like the bristles of a broomhead, a crimson blade drilled in.
Crunch!
With a reverse grip, Su-ho drove the blood-sword square into the fox’s glabella.
Then, like an extending staff, he lengthened it to the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» limit.
Kzzzzrak!
The blade punched through, boring down the length of Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s body.
At the exquisite agony, the fox shuddered—and then stopped moving.
Thud!
Her body toppled.
Only then did Su-ho withdraw his sword.
He let his layered buffs fall away as well.
At that instant—
— Kyaoooooo!!
The fox, thought dead, raised Foxfire once more and, like a whale’s maw, swallowed Su-ho whole.
Crunch!
Su-ho was engulfed.
However—
Crunch!!
A bone-splitting crack.
At the sa ti, a long blood seam opened across the fox’s neck—and her head thumped down.
Su-ho stood on the nape of the severed head.
[ You have slain Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune. ]
Only then did the kill notice rise.
Seeing it, Su-ho finally smiled.
He knew the pattern well.
In particular, he’d been warned to beware her undeadlike regeneration—like a snake’s head that moves even severed.
So he’d deliberately baited her into relaxing by dismissing his sword and dispelling his buffs.
Result: resounding success.
Not that it was anything to crow about.
From the start, Su-ho hadn’t considered Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune a particularly dangerous opponent.
His interest lay elsewhere.
Blood-sword in hand, Su-ho began rummaging through the corpse.
It didn’t take long for a smile to curl his lips.
“Found it.”
A large gem sat in his palm.
None other than the Fox Bead.
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