Chapter 27 - Kon part 3

Yumemi finally woke up, finding herself next to Yuuma.

“Good morning!” I jumped and greeted her, licking her face to make her feel better.

“Ahaha, Kon-chan! That’s ticklish!”

Yeah, I have to distract her from our current situation.

“Yuu-kun… is he raising his level while I was asleep and is now sorting his memories? Wait, level 20!?”

Ah, damn it. I quickly ran to the Lizardman we defeated, and put my paw on it.

“You’re saying that it's thanks to us defeating that Lizardman…?” She then checked something. “No, it’s me and Kon-chan who finished that Lizardman, that means Yuu-kun won’t get more EXP than us.”

Ugh, she remembered…

She then reassessed the surroundings, and found out the burnt spot I left when scorching the human male…

“What… is that burn spot…?”

Agh, we forgot to cover it! How do I explain it to her!?

“Ah, uh, that’s… uhh…” I can imagine how weird I sound to her right now.

We messed up! If only I was more thorough…!

“Yuu-kun… he’s covering for me again, isn’t he…?” She started crying…

I… can’t make anymore excuses… since she already got it…

She then said to herself… “I can’t let myself be protected all the time…!” and went to sleep.

When I realized it, the number on her name changed like how Yuuma’s was. I can’t read, but I know she just decided to level up.

The feelings of wanting to get stronger… in order to stand on your own feet, not to be protected all the time…

I somehow understand that feeling now…

I guess the two of them wouldn’t be waking for a while. I had to watch over them!

>X<

… after some time, suddenly…

*DRRRR* *CRACK* *DRRR* *CRACK* *CRACK* *DRRR*

The ground started to shake, and cracks started to form.

The ground below us started getting uneven, before everything actually crumbled and we were falling.

I tried my best to kick some rubbles, and managed to catch Yuuma with my mouth and Yumemi on my back. By instinct, I tried to keep using the falling rubbles to reduce our falling speed.

“Ugh…!”

We then landed, only I had lost a small amount of HP because I kinda got my front leg twisted a bit and getting a sprain.

In the safe zone, we’re not supposed to take any damage to our HP like how Yuuma stopped the human male even if he had to wound his own hand. The death cause of that human male is due to blood loss, not HP.

Does that mean we’re not in the safe zone anymore?

*BRAK!* *DRR* *BLAM*

There are still some rubbles raining down, so I did my best to dodge all of them while carrying Yuuma and Yumemi, who are still busy in their sleep due to them raising their level.

I managed to dodge all of them, and ran quickly to the spot where rubbles was already piling. Looking up, there is no more rubbles to fall down on that area, so I put Yuuma and Yumemi down around there.

And fortunately, we are now safe from the falling rubbles.

“Ugh… What is actually happening!?”

The dust that piled up was getting clear, making me able to see my surroundings. The area is large but filled with rubbles, and I could see water running down from a high place. Near it is the tree where fruits grew…

The whole safe zone has crumbled and fallen.

And then, a shadow landed swiftly. A shadow that gave me chills.

… The gray wolf appeared from behind the rubble dust, walking slowly towards us.

It’s relaxed as always, as if it knows there is no being stronger than itself in this whole cave.

Even though I myself have grown bigger, the wolf is indeed bigger than we last encountered it.

“It is worth my time to dig and take down the whole barrier thing, eh?”

“Hmm!? You can talk!?”

“Hmm? Ah, I forgot that you are an Inari Fox. My bad, you don’t look much like one after all. Now that I think of it, I’ve killed your kins and enjoyed listening to their desperate screams, haven’t I? Though I still don’t get the special power I was promised for…”

I don’t know what it means by special power, but it understood what my kins had said at that time, and yet he dared to do such things to all of them…!

I can’t forgive it! This bastard who killed my family and my kins!

“To be honest, I’m only targeting those two behind you all this time, like those weird sparks that hurt my nose and the magic that made me lose sight of the three of you. But it seems like you’ve grown to become my fodder, aren’t you? The little fox that escaped my hand… I’m so touched you’re back!”

“Like hell that’s the case, you sickening bastard!”

“Yeah-yeah. That anger you had in your eyes too. I love it when weaklings are scared of me, desperate to fight back and still lose. But now that I think of it, the eyes of one who doesn't fear me like yours are also intriguing! How can you not fear me when we clearly had such a disparity of level!? How can you be so tough in such a situation!?”

This wolf sure loves to talk… even though he never said anything before.

What made me strong? Is it the will to get revenge on it? Is it the will to survive?

No… right now, those are not important. I’ve come to a realization that what I want now is…

“Because I want to live with Yuuma dan Yumemi!”

“I see… haha…hahaha…! What a boring answer… yet interesting! I wonder what will happen when you fall into despair! I can’t help but get excited!”

“I’ll definitely protect these two!”

The wolf slammed its front paws and broke the rubbles below it.

“Do your best not to die too fast, pipsqueak!”

It threw the rubbles it crushed to me, but I couldn’t dodge in order to protect Yuuma and Yumemi.

I parried most of the rubbles that came towards us, but some still hit my body and that took 10 percent of my HP…

“Ooh, you’re able to withstand that, huh!? Perfect! I became so strong that I had no match, so I was getting bored!”

“... bastard…”

“I’ve decided, I’ll not target those two, let’s fight fair and square pure by our prowess!”

“Huh…?”

The wolf dashed towards us in an instant, and passed me. It stops its claws before reaching Yuuma’s head.

“Now you know how easily I could kill these two, right?”

“What are you planning on!?”

“Nothing, really…it’s just… rather than looking forward to your despair, I want you to amuse me with all your might, that’s all! And I want to give the despair look to them once they find out that I killed you!”

This wolf could easily pass through me… yet it didn’t kill them…

… I’m so weak… I couldn’t even protect them…!

This wolf is acting like he’s the best, the strongest, and I am sure that’s really the case…

I would probably die here… but at least I can buy time until Yuuma and Yumemi wake up…!

“Okay, let’s have a duel! Fair and square!”

“That’s the spirit! Now, amuse me with all your might!”