NOVEL WEB Chapter 17: Change
< Chapter 17: Change (3) >
A guardian, ‘Gold Tiger’, runs madly while emitting a beast-like sticky aura.
Thud, thud, thud!
The giant tiger’s footsteps shake heaven and earth.
“Ugh!”
I can think later.
If I don’t equip the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet right now, I’ll die instantly.
I opened the iron carrier with a frantic hand movement.
And I immediately grabbed the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet.
“Rumble!”
At that moment, the Gold Tiger accelerated even more.
In an instant, the Gold Tiger filled my sight and raised its huge front paw high.
Whoosh!
If it goes on like this, I’ll be minced meat in 0.1 seconds.
Zing!
Unless I failed to wear the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet safely.
Boom!
I raised both arms and blocked its attack.
“…Wow, shit.”
I almost died if I was a little late.
It feels like my whole body is boiling with power, just like when I wore the World Tree’s Blessing.
However, there was no sense of euphoria that I could do anything.
“Rumble.”
Maybe it was angry that its attack was blocked.
The Gold Tiger bared its sharp teeth and growled.
At the same time, the force it pressed on me became stronger.
“Ugh!”
The muscles of my whole body screamed.
How can this thing be so strong?!
I’ll be crushed at this rate.
I twisted my body desperately.
The special skill [Wildness] engraved on the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet told me how to move my body.
“Hup!”
Using the feeling of deflecting the force with the surface of the gauntlet!
Like this!
Boom!
As its front paw made a huge crater on the ground, I quickly flew back.
I prepared for the next attack. There must be an additional attack coming!
“Rumble.”
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have any intention of rushing at me right away.
It stared at me as if to warn me.
It must have felt that I was not an easy prey.
Thanks to that, I had some time to think.
Why is the Gold Tiger, which should be in the guardian’s room, running all the way to this entrance?
Unless the setting has changed, the Gold Tiger’s intruder detection range is slightly beyond the guardian’s room.
There’s no way it can detect this far into the entrance.
“Rumble.”
Yet the guardian is here.
As soon as I invaded the ruins, it rushed at me like an arrow.
Why? How?
Did the setting of the ruins change when it was remade?
Then it’s really the worst.
If such a trivial setting has changed, then the information I know about the novel is all diminished.
There’s nothing more dangerous than trusting wrong information than having no information.
‘…I hope that’s not the case.’
I bit my lip.
That’s when it happened.
“Kwaaang!”
As if it realized that I was distracted for a moment, the Gold Tiger rushed at me.
Fortunately, I have [Wildness].
The sharp sense of a wild beast predicted its attack to some extent.
I bent my body quickly and dodged its front paw.
Whoosh!
A strong wind swept over my head and passed by.
But the Gold Tiger’s fierce attack was just beginning.
With its sharp teeth.
With its two front paws.
It attacked me like crazy.
No matter how much [Wildness] I had, it was impossible to respond to all of these lightning-like consecutive attacks.
“Kwaaang!”
Due to an attack that I couldn’t dodge perfectly, my equipment started to get damaged.
Puff!
Wounds spread all over my body.
“Ugh!”
Fortunately, the pain wasn’t that great.
It must be thanks to the excessive secretion of endorphins.
Whoosh, boom!
But I can still hold on.
I haven’t suffered a fatal wound yet.
‘…But.’
This is also a matter of time.
I clenched my teeth.
‘About 30 seconds. No, maybe 20 seconds left….’
The time I can wear the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet is only a minute.
The remaining time is less than 20 seconds.
I have to do something.
If I don’t do something about this situation in 20 seconds, it’s not a joke, I’ll really die.
Whoosh! Bang!
But there was no solution in sight, and time passed by mercilessly.
It was hard enough to avoid its attacks in the first place, let alone find a way out of this situation.
Now there are only 5 seconds left.
‘…Damn it.’
All I could do was curse inwardly.
I made a mistake.
I knew this novel was a remake, but I trusted the information too much.
Trusting wrong information is more dangerous than having no information.
I forgot that.
But to make a little excuse, I never imagined that they would touch such a trivial setting like the ruins.
There was not a single changed setting except for my ability so far, which is also one reason for the excuse.
‘It’s all useless.’
While moving my body continuously.
I laughed bitterly.
In the end, a moment of mistake leads me to death.
That’s when it happened.
Zzzzzzzz!
Sparks flew from both of my gauntlets.
“Kwaaang!?”
Maybe it was surprised by the sudden lightning, the Gold Tiger backed off.
“Ugh.”
I felt the power that was boiling disappear.
[Error! ■□ ■■□ Unknow □■■ ■□■□!]
That meant the end.
The end of the wearing time of one minute.
And.
“…Ha.”
The end of my life.
[Error! 변■□ ■□ 매□체 ■□ 오□를 □□]
Both of my hands are hot.
I can’t bear it anymore.
But I endured it.
“Ugh!”
If I throw away the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet here, it’s really over.
[□화 □■ 종■ 특■ 들■□ 순□□ ■]
But the rejection reaction was not something I could endure if I wanted to.
[Error correction completed.]
Along with a message that I couldn’t understand.
Bang!
“Argh!”
The Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet flew out of my hands.
Both of my hands don’t move.
It must be because of the burns and pain.
“Rumble!”
The Gold Tiger started to move then.
As if it had been waiting for this moment, it ran at me.
‘…Its movement?’
Strangely enough, I could see its movement clearly.
My eyes, which returned to the physical ability of an F-rank or lower ordinary person, couldn’t possibly grasp the Gold Tiger’s movement.
Yet I could see its movement clearly.
Maybe it’s thanks to the [Race Trait] I got from the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet.
‘Could it be that I got [Beast King’s Blessing]!’
Then there’s still hope left…
‘…No.’
But that was just my delusion.
“Crunch.”
I could see its movement because it was just walking slowly.
At a speed that I could see clearly.
As if to enjoy hunting me, very slowly.
“…Don’t tigers use their full power even when catching rabbits?”
Ah. That was a lion.
I looked up at the ceiling.
This is really the end.
Come to think of it, even if I was lucky enough to get [Beast King’s Blessing], there’s no way I can beat this thing right now.
There is no hope.
There is none.
As I stared blankly at the ceiling, I suddenly thought of this.
‘If the novel I read ended like this, I would have cursed it all.’
I laughed without knowing it.
Such a silly thought until the end.
The Gold Tiger, which had been slowly approaching, arrived right in front of me.
This is really the end.
I closed my eyes to prepare for the pain that was coming.
Will it hurt?
It must hurt a lot to be chewed by those sharp teeth.
Ah. I hate pain.
“…?”
But no matter how long I waited, I didn’t feel any pain.
Is it enjoying seeing me give up on everything?
I slowly opened my eyes.
“…Huh?”
And I doubted my eyes.
“Meow?”
The Gold Tiger was lying on the floor,
hiding its teeth and tilting its head with a cute expression.
“Rrrr.”
It was rolling around with the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet in its front paws.
“…Excuse me?”
Are you a cat?
It rolled on the floor with a happy expression.
I was dumbfounded by this situation.
“Ow!”
Suddenly, I felt a pain in my thigh. A slight pain that felt different from the agony caused by the wound.
“Could it be?”
I looked down at my thigh.
Through the torn clothes, I could see my thigh clearly.
“…A tiger tattoo?”
A newly engraved tattoo was shining in green.
* * *
To sum it up.
The setting of ‘The Golden Rest’ didn’t change.
The guardian came all the way to this entrance by a series of unfortunate accidents.
“…I didn’t expect it to detect the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet.”
I didn’t expect it.
Who would have expected that the guardian of this ruin, the Gold Tiger, had something to do with the ancient artifact, the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet?
Well, of course, the names are similar, so there’s a vague feeling of similarity.
I scratched the back of my head and looked at the Gold Tiger.
“Rrrr.”
The Gold Tiger lay on the floor and played with the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet.
It’s an unbelievable sight.
“Are you a cat…?”
A tiger half the size of an elephant is doing that…
“Meow?”
As if it thought I called it, the Gold Tiger turned its head and looked at me.
And then it sparkled its eyes and ran at me.
It looked like a cat running to its owner, but…
“Hey! Stop! Stop!”
It stopped moving at my desperate scream.
If that giant ran at me at that speed, I would be dead.
“Meow.”
As if it was sad that I stopped it, it lowered its head.
“You can’t make that face.”
If you get excited and stamp your feet once, I’ll be gone. Do you know that?
“Go play with the gauntlet.”
“Meow.”
At my words, the Gold Tiger lay down on the floor again. It stretched out its limbs and rolled on the floor.
It looks like a noble king.
“Ah.”
I wonder if this was really the beast that tried to kill me a while ago.
“I survived because of the trait.”
I also figured out why the Gold Tiger changed its attitude.
It was because of the new beastman race trait I got, ‘Boiling Pure Blood’.
The Gold Tiger, which was given the mission to protect this ruin from intruders other than beastmen, stopped attacking me because it mistook me for a beastman.
It was really fortunate.
There’s nothing else to say but that I was lucky.
“It’s a good trait too.”
I got the trait that I needed exactly right now.
The effect of ‘Boiling Pure Blood’ is to infuse infinite vitality into the body.
What this means is,
First of all, the body’s recovery ability increases.
The muscle recovery speed also increases, the wound healing speed also increases, and the stamina recovery also increases.
In fact, the wounds all over my body have already started to heal.
That’s not all.
Those who have this trait have an acceleration in their physical ability growth.
If this was just a numerical adjustment, it wouldn’t mean anything to me without a status window.
But this trait increases muscle recovery speed.
That means it applies to me as well, as it accelerates physical ability growth in this way.
Of course, there are drawbacks too.
If you don’t consume stamina at regular intervals, you may fall into a ‘Rampage’ status abnormality.
The blood of beastmen is so fiery.
Of course, you just have to not save your stamina.
“…I have to work hard on strength training from now on.”
I have a reason to do hard training even if I don’t want to.
From now on, I have to work out for at least an hour a day.
‘I won’t be F-rank for long.’
Then let’s finish exploring the Golden Ruin first.
“Goldie.”
“Meow?”
“Can you guide me to the end of the ruin?”
I have to get the ancient artifacts hidden in this ruin.