TSDSE 17

Chapter 17: Change (3)

The Guardian, ‘Geumho’, came charging like a mad beast, exuding the foul, viscous killing intent unique to a vicious predator.

Thump, thump, thump!

The footsteps of the massive tiger shook heaven and earth.

“Keuk!”

There’s no point in thinking about it now. If I don’t equip the Tiger’s Gauntlet immediately, I’m dead.

With frantic hands, I tore open the steel carrier.

And grabbed the Tiger’s Gauntlet.

“Grrrrrr!”

At that moment, Geumho accelerated.

In an instant, Geumho filled my vision and raised its massive forepaw high.

Whoooosh—!

At this rate, in 0.1 seconds I’d be turned into minced meat.

Ping—!

That is, if I hadn’t managed to equip the Tiger’s Gauntlet in time.

Kuuung!

I raised both arms and blocked the creature’s attack.

“…Holy shit.”

If I’d been even a little later, I really would have died.

Just like when I wore the World Tree’s Blessing before, power surges through my entire body.

Except there’s no feeling of euphoria, like I could do anything.

“Grrrr.”

Perhaps enraged that its attack was blocked.

Geumho bared its sharp fangs and snarled.

At the same time, the pressure it exerted began to intensify.

“Kreuk!”

Every muscle in my body screams.

What the hell is with this monster’s strength!

At this rate, I’ll be crushed.

I twisted my body desperately.

The special skill [Ferocity] engraved on the Tiger’s Gauntlet told me how to move.

“Hnngh!”

Using the surface of the gauntlet to deflect the force at an angle!

Like this!

Kuuung—!

The moment the creature’s forepaw created a massive crater in the ground, I quickly flung myself backward.

I immediately prepared for the next assault. A follow-up attack was certain to come!

“Grrrr.”

Fortunately, the creature didn’t seem inclined to charge at me right away.

It snarled, watching me warily.

It must have sensed I wasn’t easy prey.

Thanks to that, I had time to think.

Why has Geumho, who should be in the Guardian’s Chamber, come all the way to the entrance?

Unless the settings have changed, Geumho’s intruder detection radius barely extends past the Guardian’s Chamber.

There’s no way it could detect someone all the way out here.

“Grrrr.”

And yet, the Guardian is here.

The moment I entered the ruins, it came at me like a bolt.

Why? How?

Did the ruins’ settings change in the remake?

If so, that’s truly the worst.

If even minor settings like this have changed, all the information I know from the novel becomes meaningless.

There’s nothing more dangerous than half-baked information.

‘…I hope that’s not the case.’

I bit my lip.

That’s when it happened.

“Kwaaaang!”

As if it had noticed I was briefly distracted by my thoughts, Geumho lunged at me.

Fortunately, I have [Ferocity].

The keen senses unique to a wild beast predicted the creature’s attack to some degree.

I quickly ducked and dodged its forepaw.

Whoooosh—

A fierce wind grazed past above my head.

But Geumho’s onslaught was only just beginning.

Whoosh— Whoosh! Bang!

“Grrrrrrr!”

With sharp fangs.

With both forepaws.

It attacked me like a madman.

Even with [Ferocity], it was impossible to respond to this lightning-fast barrage.

“Kwaaaaang!”

Slaaash!

The equipment began to break under attacks I couldn’t fully dodge.

Pssh!

Wounds multiplied across my body.

“Kreuk!”

Fortunately, the pain isn’t that severe.

Probably thanks to the excess endorphins.

Whoosh, kuuung!

Still, I can hold out.

I haven’t taken a fatal wound yet.

‘…But.’

This too is only a matter of time.

I gritted my teeth.

‘About 30 seconds. No, maybe 20 seconds left…’

The time I can wear the Tiger’s Gauntlet is only one minute.

Less than 20 seconds remain.

I need to do something.

If I don’t resolve this situation within 20 seconds, I’m not joking—I’ll really die.

Whoosh! Thump!

But the solution was nowhere in sight, and time flowed relentlessly.

It was already hard enough to dodge the creature’s continuous attacks—there was no way there’d be a convenient way out of this.

Now only 5 seconds remained.

‘…Damn it.’

All I could do was curse inwardly.

I made a mistake.

Even knowing this novel was a remake, I trusted the information too much.

Believing wrong information is more dangerous than having no information at all.

I forgot that.

To make a small excuse, though, I never imagined they’d touch even minor settings like the ruins.

The fact that not a single setting had changed except for my abilities up until now was also a valid excuse.

‘It’s all useless now.’

Continuing to move my body.

I smiled bitterly.

In the end, a single moment of carelessness leads me to death.

That’s when it happened.

Tzztzztzztzztzzt—!

Sparks flew from the gauntlets on both hands.

“Kwaang!?”

Startled by the sudden lightning, Geumho backed away.

“Kreuk.”

I can feel the surging power draining away.

[Error! ■□ ■■□ Unknown □■■ ■□■□!]

That signaled the end.

The end of the one-minute equip time.

And.

“…Hah.”

The end of my life.

[Error! ■■□ ■□ Match□□ ■□ Five□ □□]

Both arms are burning.

I can’t hold on any longer.

But I endured.

“Kreuk!”

If I throw away the Tiger’s Gauntlet here, it’s truly over.

[□化 □■ Fina■ Special■ □■□ Order□□ ■]

But a rejection response isn’t something I can control just because I want to endure it.

[Error correction complete.]

Along with a message I couldn’t understand.

Paaang—!

“Kraaak!”

The Tiger’s Gauntlets were flung from both my hands.

My hands won’t move.

It must be because of the burns and pain.

“Grrrr!”

That’s when Geumho began to move.

As if it had been waiting for exactly this moment, it charged at me.

‘…Its movement?’

Strangely, the creature’s movements are perfectly clear.

There’s no way my eyes, returned to F-rank or below ordinary human physical ability, could track Geumho’s movements.

And yet, its movements are perfectly visible.

Could it be thanks to the [Racial Trait] I gained from the Tiger’s Gauntlet?

‘Could it be I actually obtained [Blessing of the Beast King]!’

If so, hope still remains…

‘…No, it doesn’t.’

But that was just my delusion.

“Grrung.”

The reason I could see Geumho’s movements was simply because it was slowly sauntering toward me.

At a speed perfectly visible to my eyes.

Very slowly, as if savoring the hunt.

“…They say even a tiger gives its all when catching a rabbit?”

Ah. Was that a lion?

I looked up at the ceiling.

This is really the end.

Come to think of it, even if I’d been lucky enough to obtain [Blessing of the Beast King], there’s no way to beat this creature right now.

Hope.

Is gone.

As I stared blankly at the ceiling, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘If the novel I was reading ended like this, I would have cursed it to hell and back.’

An unintentional hollow laugh escaped me.

Even at the end, such pointless thoughts.

Geumho, who had been creeping closer, had already arrived right in front of me.

This really is the end.

I closed my eyes, bracing for the pain to come.

It’ll hurt, won’t it?

Being chewed up by those sharp fangs.

Of course it’ll hurt like hell.

Ah. I don’t want it to hurt.

“…?”

But no matter how long I waited, no pain came.

Is it perhaps enjoying the sight of me having given up on everything?

I slowly opened my eyes.

“…Huh?”

And I doubted my own eyes.

“Kyuwoo?”

Geumho was sprawled on the ground,

Fangs hidden, tilting its head with the most adorable expression in the world.

“Gyarurrung.”

Rolling around with the Tiger’s Gauntlet clutched in both forepaws.

“…Excuse me?”

Are you a cat?

It rolls on the ground with the happiest expression in the world.

As I stood there dumbfounded, wondering what on earth was happening—

“Eut!”

Suddenly, pain pricked at my thigh. A faint pain, slightly different from the sharp agony of my wounds—something familiar.

“This, could it be.”

I looked down at my thigh.

Through the tattered remains of my clothes, my thigh was clearly visible.

“…A tiger tattoo?”

A newly engraved tattoo was glowing green.

To sum it up.

The settings of the ‘Golden Sanctuary’ hadn’t changed.

The Guardian rushing all the way to the entrance was simply an unfortunate accident born of coincidence piled upon coincidence.

“…To think it was detecting the Tiger’s Gauntlet.”

I never expected it.

Who could have predicted that this ruin’s Guardian, Geumho, would be connected to the ancient relic, the Tiger’s Gauntlet?

No, I mean, sure, with names like Tiger  and Geumho , there’s a certain similar… feeling… but still.

I scratched the back of my head and looked at Geumho.

“Gyarung.”

Geumho was lying on its back, belly exposed, playing with the Tiger’s Gauntlet.

The more I look, the more absurd the sight becomes.

“What kind of cat are you…”

A tiger half the size of an elephant is doing that…

“Gyarung?”

Perhaps thinking I’d called it, Geumho turned its head to look at me.

Then, eyes sparkling, it charged at me.

It looked exactly like a cat running to its owner, but…

“Hey! Stop! Halt!”

At my urgent shout, the creature stopped moving.

If that massive frame charged at me at that speed, I’d be on my way to the afterlife.

“Kyuwoo.”

Perhaps upset that I’d stopped it, it hung its head low.

“Don’t make that face either.”

If you get excited and kick me once while trying to be cute, I’m done for. You know that?

“Go play with the gauntlet.”

“Gyarung.”

At my words, Geumho flopped back onto the ground. Sprawling its limbs and rolling around.

And to think it looks like a noble king.

“Aigoo.”

Is this really the same ferocious beast that was trying to kill me just moments ago?

“I survived thanks to the trait.”

I understood why Geumho had changed its attitude.

Because of the new Beastman racial trait I’d acquired, ‘Boiling Pureblood,’ it was mistaking me for a Beastman.

Geumho, who had been given the mission to protect these ruins from intruders other than Beastmen, had stopped attacking me once it judged me to be a Beastman.

Truly a tremendous relief.

I can only say I was incredibly lucky.

“It’s a good trait, too.”

I obtained exactly the trait I needed right now.

The effect of ‘Boiling Pureblood’ is to infuse the body with infinite vitality.

What that means is—

First, the body’s recovery rate increases.

Muscle recovery speed accelerates, wound healing speed accelerates, and stamina recovery accelerates.

Indeed, my wounds all over my body have already begun to heal.

That’s not all.

Those who possess this trait experience accelerated physical ability growth.

If this were merely a stat correction, it would mean nothing to me since I don’t have a status window.

But this trait increases muscle recovery speed.

Because of that, it accelerates physical ability growth—so it applies to me just fine.

Of course, there are drawbacks.

If I don’t expend stamina at regular intervals, there’s a risk of falling into a ‘Berserk’ status condition.

Beastman blood is that vigorous.

Of course, I just need to not hold back my stamina.

“…From now on, I’ll need to do some intense strength training.”

I now have a reason I absolutely must train hard, even if I don’t want to.

From now on, I need to devote at least an hour a day to exercise.

‘The day I leave F-rank isn’t far off.’

Now then, let me wrap up the conquest of the Golden Ruins.

“Geumho.”

“Gyarung?”

“Could you guide me to the end of the ruins?”

I need to collect the ancient relics sleeping in these ruins.