---

“`html

―――!

Bichunmang was too dazed by the raging transformation taking place between its torn scales. Even though it tried to raise its magic power to shake off the wolf, it just wouldn’t budge. With each step and bite it took, the dragon energy slipped away. The only way out was to unleash a breath attack, but doing so would also drag itself into the chaos, making it unusable. Everything was unfolding just as the wolf had planned.

As time went on, Bichunmang became more of a wreck with no choices left. It twisted its body, charging in, and as a giant mouth loomed over the wolf, a massive shadow engulfed it at that moment.

―――!

The eyes of Imeugi turned red. Its body was pierced, and teeth were digging in, yet the remaining eye held a glimmer of pleasure. It felt as though it had defeated a strong foe. As it felt victorious, something flickered in the eyes of Bichunmang.

It was the wolf, cloaked in a flickering shadow. …How? Bichunmang was struggling to comprehend the situation, and the wolf, seeing the confusion in Imeugi’s eyes, calmly met its gaze.

‘It was expected.’

When Imeugi’s head thrust forward and the shadow appeared, it had already slipped inside the shadow and escaped. It could have dodged earlier but chose to lead its opponent to bite it instead. It was impossible for Bichunmang to gain the upper hand against the wolf in this battle of brains. As such, the wolf’s tentacle burrowed into Imeugi’s one remaining eye, and the shadow penetrated even deeper. Pulling out Imeugi’s firmly lodged jaw ripped out the fangs still stuck within.

Bichunmang writhed and twisted in agony. Just before the shadow that burrowed deeper touched the brain, Imeugi erupted with all its magic power, creating a storm. ―A level of magic that was on a different scale than anything before.

‘It’s that much.’

This meant that Bichunmang had no leeway. The fear and dread growing inside Imeugi were already perceiving the wolf as a monster.

―――!

With gritted teeth, the wolf threw everything it had at the storm, but resisting was a challenge. The overwhelming storm, fueled by Bichunmang’s fear, blanketed the wolf—

‘This is better.’

Instead of resisting the storm, the wolf surrendered to the current. No matter how great the magic power, opposing it was difficult. Being pushed back endlessly, the wolf created layers of footholds in mid-air to support itself. While it attempted to grab hold with its tentacles, they snapped far too easily. Eventually, the wolf collided with the debris, the impact forcing it to open its eyes wide.

[All Damage Reduction (D) Lv.9 has reached its maximum level. All Damage Reduction (D) Lv.9 → All Damage Reduction (D) Lv.10]

[All Damage Reduction (D) Lv.10 has reached its maximum level. All Damage Reduction (D) Lv.10 → Mitigation (C) Lv.1]

The sensation of its spine about to collapse eased, and the wolf did not stop, but leaped once more. The flames burning its body and the evaporating blood, along with collapsing debris, obscured Imeugi’s sense of smell. Having expended most of its magic power and staggering, Imeugi was nothing more than a tempting meal for the wolf.

Originally, Bichunmang had the ability to evade or flee from the wolf at high speed.

However, with both eyes lost and magic power depleted, there was no way for Imeugi to locate the wolf now. It could only tremble in fear and flee into the darkness. The one mistake Bichunmang made was not attacking the wolf sooner. If it had simply destroyed the building and attacked from the beginning, there may have been a chance of winning.

‘Not now.’

In the past three days, the wolf had grown accustomed to this place. As its vision faded, Imeugi’s fear swelled endlessly. Thinking it would die from the ripening flesh, Imeugi elevated its altitude at the last moment, believing that if it could just extinguish the flames through friction, it might survive.

‘It must be aiming for the ceiling.’

It thought so. It could not think otherwise. The last thing its gaze had read was nothing but endless fear and terror. ―And so it waited. The wolf, having read Bichunmang’s trajectory ahead of time, sprang upward. Imeugi, still oblivious to the fact that something had jumped on it, just climbed higher and higher in pure terror.

Amidst the flames, Imeugi had merely descended into a state of being a beast, and just as it was about to reach the ceiling, the shadow extended by the wolf finally burrowed into Imeugi’s eye socket, touching its brain.

――――――!

With no more vital points left, Bichunmang screamed in a final gasp just before losing consciousness, ultimately plummeting off the cliff, and right before that, the wolf extended its tentacles to the building, pulling itself in to avoid falling.

“…Are you okay?”

Before long, the White Deer arrived with a strange expression. Having traveled with the wolf in the dungeon, the White Deer knew that the wolf possessed a higher-level predation skill.

So it had to ask.

“……”

The wolf didn’t respond. It simply continued staring at the falling Bichunmang.

‘It seems like it was very regrettable.’

However, what the White Deer saw reflected in the wolf’s eyes was not regret or disappointment. It was filled solely with anticipation and certainty.

“……?”

At that moment, the White Deer’s ears perked up as if something strange was happening.

“White Deer! Jump!”

At the wolf’s command, the White Deer finally understood the situation. The wolf had no intention of abandoning Bichunmang’s carcass, but merely—!

‘What the hell is this…!’

Slowly, the world began to distort. No, it was the opposite. The world, which had been gnawed away by the name of a dungeon, was regaining its original form. As up and down flipped gradually, at last, the floor and ceiling were reversed. —Up became down. Down became up.

Even after returning to the fantasy world, the wolf and White Deer did not hesitate to run.

“You! Are you out of your mind!”

The inverted skyscraper returned to its former state, and what fell through the breached boundaries of the dungeon was—!

“……!”

A colossal Imeugi collided with the skyscraper. There was no way a 40-ton behemoth could withstand the shock of falling hundreds of meters. With a thunderous crash, the building collapsed, and the resulting impact shook the ground. Dust rose into the air like a cloud, and when it finally settled—

“Hah… Is that you?”

The skyscraper had already crumbled, and the surroundings had turned to ashes. The wolf turned its gaze slightly with a look of embarrassment.

“……”

It was a bit different from what was expected. In truth, it was because this was the fantasy world, not the real world. If things went awry, it felt confident that it could save the fairies and familiars since it was falling from hundreds of meters.

“What in the world are you…!”

Now truly filled with weariness, the White Deer shook its head. It wanted to shout, but it knew that this was definitely the only way to consume Bichunmang’s remains. …Yeah, it understood that part.

“Hoo…”

Rarely, the White Deer couldn’t help but let out a sigh of frustration. After all, this was the fantasy world it wanted to protect. Though it knew it would be restored eventually.

“If you’re going to cause such a scene, can’t you at least give a warning beforehand?”

“…Sorry.”

If there was a miscalculation in the wolf’s plan, it was that the dungeon collapsed slower than it had thought. Ideally, the moment it shattered Imeugi’s brain near the ceiling, the dungeon should have collapsed, and the ceiling—should have fallen.

‘It took longer than expected.’

While pondering why it took so long for the dungeon to collapse, fairies and Dragon Worms started to gather due to the commotion.

“……”

In contrast, the wolf calmly began to devour Bichunmang as though nothing had happened.

“Hoo…”

The White Deer forced a deep breath as it watched this scene. Though the building had collapsed, none of the caught familiars were hurt. In the end, it would heal itself over time. The fantasy world was like a mirror bound to the real world. When the fantasy world reflected the real world again, its scenery would change.

As the White Deer was lost in thought, the wolf tore off a part of the flesh of Bichunmang and handed it to the Dragon Worms.

“Kyaaaah~! It’s a monster’s corpse! A monster’s corpse!”

The fairies giggled, circling around the wolf while the Dragon Worms, with glee in their eyes, gathered around. Though it was just a piece weighing less than 10kg from the massive 38-ton carcass of Bichunmang, it was more than enough size for the Dragon Worms, smaller than the joints of a finger.

‘I want to confirm one thing.’

While consuming Bichunmang, the wolf’s gaze remained locked onto the Dragon Worms. Previously, the White Deer had said that most of the Dragon Worms lived their entire lives as larvae, not taking the risk to evolve. Very few dare to venture into the real world.

‘The method to grow into a Fairy-type Monster is…’

Most likely, it involves devouring something. Similar to how the wolf levels up. Even now, that thought remained unchanged. Although they would need a much larger prey relative to their original size, there was a flicker of hope with the meat of Bichunmang.

‘If I’m correct…’

[You have consumed Bichunmang. Experience points and fullness have increased]

[Experience points have reached maximum capacity. Lv.26 → Lv.27]

[EXP 137521 / 496722]

—After eating all of Bichunmang, it rose to level 27 and gained nearly 100,000 experience. In essence, it acquired close to 1 million experience points.

‘And yet, just 2 levels…’

The demand for experience points was changing. Each level up required an increasing amount of experience. Given this, it was already worrying about the next evolution.

‘True, it wasn’t a tough fight.’

While having the White Deer’s help made it one-sided, the moments of real danger were few. If there had been a floor or if they had fought on the ground, Bichunmang wouldn’t have stood a chance against the wolf. Even considering that, there remained some regrets.

“Wow~! The wolf ate that huge snake! So chubby! So chubby!”

“Fool! It’s not chubby, it’s just well-fed!”

The fairies gasped in astonishment as they watched the wolf devour all of Bichunmang from its seated position. Meanwhile, I checked the remaining Dragon Worms. Still left were some Dragon Worms, and among them.

[Dragon Worm (In Metamorphosis)]

Some of them began to metamorphose as expected. The Dragon Worms were sprawled out, seemingly having no more appetite, but the 10kg of meat handed to them still had about half remaining.

‘As anticipated.’

Successfully inducing a metamorphosis in dozens of Dragon Worms, the wide-eyed fairies began to collect the eggs undergoing metamorphosis.

[Destruction Probability 91.54% → 91.53%]

[You have gained 0.01% of an upgrade.]

With the collapsed inverted skyscraper, the probability of destruction dropped by 0.12%, and the metamorphosing Dragon Worms provided an additional 0.01% gain. It was a satisfyingly good result.

‘Indeed.’

I nodded inwardly. If the birth of Fairy-types benefits this world, then a decrease in the probability of destruction is only natural.

‘I don’t know how long this will be possible though.’

Of course, the birth of Fairy-types wouldn’t indefinitely prevent destruction. No matter how many there are, there are limits to what the Fairy-types can do, and if their numbers exceed a certain threshold, the probability of destruction will no longer decrease.

Yet, it was crucial to realize that such methods were available. Surely, it would come in handy someday.

‘…And above all.’

[Evolution route unveiled]

At last, the long-awaited moment arrived, and the wolf’s eyes sparkled.

“`

 

---