Ch.40The Evolution of the Hwang-gu

“Haah…”

As soon as I confirmed that Fenrir had breathed his last, all the tension drained from my body.

With a long sigh, I collapsed onto the floor.

It seemed my control over the shadows had dissipated as well, as even my subordinates who had been sinking their teeth into Fenrir’s body to drink his blood vanished.

“Nngh…”

I sighed and got to my feet.

Having defeated the boss, there was still something I needed to do.

Namely, collecting the dropped items.

“Hmm…”

I flipped Fenrir’s massive body over, examining it from different angles.

I’d been worried that no items might have dropped, but thankfully, there was indeed an item where Fenrir had been lying.

A ring made of dull silver.

That was the item Fenrir had dropped.

Judging by its size, it looked more like a bracelet—an item I didn’t recognize from memory.

[Murky Moonlight]

Level Requirement: 20

Race Restriction: Werewolf, Vampire

Defense +20

Attack +10

Regeneration +60

All Skill Levels +1

A bracelet imbued with the power of a Fusion Body.

Ordinary humans cannot wear it.

This was definitely an item I’d never seen before.

That made sense. Fenrir wasn’t originally a monster that dropped items.

I slipped the large bracelet onto my arm.

I was worried it might not fit, but it seemed to have an auto-sizing function like other armor pieces.

The large bracelet instantly shrank to perfectly fit my thin wrist.

The bracelet’s stats were quite impressive.

While the attack and defense increases weren’t particularly noticeable, I could immediately feel the regeneration boost.

As soon as I put on the bracelet, my body began to regenerate rapidly.

The wounds I’d sustained while fighting Fenrir were disappearing in an instant.

Fresh pale skin grew over the red gashes on my chest, and my twisted leg returned to its original shape.

Such powerful regeneration without even drinking a potion.

With this level of regeneration, even wounds from silver bullets would heal quickly.

-Tweet tweet!

I was in the middle of testing the bracelet’s “All Skill Levels +1” option by manipulating shadows when I heard a familiar chirping from above.

Looking up, I saw Aurel’s subordinate, the sparrow Jjak-jjak, circling above me.

Aurel must have sent it to check on the situation.

When I extended my hand, Jjak-jjak landed on my finger without hesitation.

“Did Aurel send you?”

-Tweet!

The sparrow answered energetically.

I dipped my finger in Fenrir’s blood on the ground and offered it to Jjak-jjak.

The sparrow extended its beak and began drinking the blood.

Despite having the body of a small sparrow, Jjak-jjak was Aurel’s subordinate.

Naturally, it was a vampire too.

After drinking its fill, Jjak-jjak chirped happily and flew high into the sky.

If I waited here, Aurel and Hwang-gu would surely come running after hearing about the situation from Jjak-jjak.

I gazed at Fenrir’s corpse, lost in thought.

Originally, the subordination skill couldn’t be used on players.

But for some reason, I was able to use it.

I wondered if I could make boss monsters my subordinates too.

Of course, I couldn’t use the subordination skill on Fenrir since he was already dead.

But if, just if, another boss appeared, I would try using the subordination skill then.

I lay down on the cold blood.

While I wasn’t physically tired, I was mentally exhausted.

This was the first time I’d felt sleepy since becoming a vampire.

***

The situation was resolved very quickly.

Since Fenrir had only dropped one item, we didn’t waste time on distribution issues.

Of course, the other vampires didn’t show any interest in the dropped item either.

Their reaction was understandable.

Without me, they would have failed to defeat Fenrir.

It was only natural that I, who had contributed the most, should take the item.

The number of vampires who died in this Fenrir raid was 20.

That was far more than expected.

If humans hadn’t attacked, the number of casualties would have been less than half.

The clan leaders didn’t raise any issues about being forced to participate in the Fenrir raid.

It was fortunate that the plan succeeded; if it had failed, I would have become enemies with all the clans gathered here.

After wrapping up the raid, before everyone dispersed to their territories, I set up new appointments with each clan leader.

The reason was simple.

We needed to identify the traitor who had leaked information about the Fenrir raid to the humans.

After the Fenrir attack force disbanded, I headed to where Fenrir’s corpse lay.

Though there were no additional dropped items, I thought the tough hide might be useful someday.

As I slowly walked to Fenrir’s corpse, I found someone had arrived before me.

The first thing that caught my eye was a plump, swaying tail.

A tail that moved enthusiastically as if trying to enchant people.

It was Hwang-gu.

Crunch- crunch-

As I tilted my head in confusion, wondering what she was doing, I heard an eerie sound.

“Ah?”

Hwang-gu, who had been crouching in front of Fenrir’s corpse, seemed to notice my presence and turned her head.

Her face and both hands were stained red.

“Charlotte!”

“What are you doing?”

“Eating!”

Hwang-gu answered cheerfully.

Yes, Hwang-gu had been tearing into Fenrir’s corpse.

Her appetite must have been incredible. It hadn’t even been five minutes since I’d left to make appointments with the clan leaders, but Fenrir’s corpse had already been reduced by half.

The once-sturdy hide had been torn to shreds by Hwang-gu’s teeth.

I watched with an astonished expression.

“Urgh…”

“Is it… good?”

“Yes!”

Hwang-gu even burped.

She seemed full, as she was rubbing her now-bloated belly.

Her stomach had swollen so much it looked like a pregnant woman’s belly.

“Can you… walk?”

“Ugh…”

She seemed too full to walk.

Hwang-gu, who had tried to get up, unbuttoned the front of her shorts and lay back down.

This caused her strawberry-patterned underwear to peek out slightly.

Aurel, who was standing beside me, seemed fascinated by Hwang-gu’s bloated belly and rushed over to poke it repeatedly.

“Ugh…”

Hwang-gu flinched each time Aurel poked her.

Aurel stroked Hwang-gu’s belly with a subtle smile.

I sighed at the sight.

There was no way to retrieve Fenrir’s hide from Hwang-gu’s stomach now.

“Charlotte! Look at Hwang-gu’s belly!”

Tap-! Tap-!

Aurel started tapping Hwang-gu’s bloated belly.

The sensation must have been more fun than expected.

Though Hwang-gu made a tearful face and told her to stop, Aurel didn’t give up.

I casually approached and touched Hwang-gu’s belly.

Honestly, who wouldn’t want to touch such a bloated belly?

The skin was soft and warm, but the inside was quite firm.

“Ugh…!”

When my hand touched her, Hwang-gu twisted her body with a strange moan.

It must have tickled.

I cleared my throat and sat on a collapsed building.

Since she couldn’t move like this, I planned to wait until Hwang-gu digested the Fenrir meat she had stuffed inside.

Hwang-gu’s belly gradually shrank as time passed.

She wasn’t growing taller or gaining weight elsewhere.

Where did all that Fenrir meat go?

I was tilting my head in mild curiosity when—

“Gasp…!”

Hwang-gu suddenly gasped and sat up.

Then she raised her tail high into the air.

“Hwang-gu?”

“Gasp…!”

Hwang-gu suddenly started running.

Like a puppy, she began spinning in circles, chasing her own tail.

Was there something wrong with the Fenrir meat she ate earlier?

Just as I was getting up out of concern, Hwang-gu’s body began to change.

“Huff huff…!”

Her body started growing larger.

The hair that had grown down her back lengthened further and began covering her body.

Her plump tail also grew bigger.

“Gasp… Charlotte…! Hwang-gu is…!”

Hwang-gu was transforming. Not into a half-human, half-beast form, but into a perfect wolf.

Majestic large paws, stiff and rough-looking fur that seemed soft underneath, ears and tail that had grown much larger than before.

“Hwang-gu has evolved…!”

Is “evolution” really the right word for this?

It seemed there was something in Fenrir’s meat after all.

Hwang-gu had turned into a massive wolf.

The wolf’s eyes were wide open, as if she couldn’t believe her own transformation.

“Hwang-gu?”

Wondering if it was really Hwang-gu, I called her name, and the large wolf immediately responded.

“Woof!”

Her tail began spinning like a propeller.

This was definitely Hwang-gu.

Hwang-gu approached me and rubbed her massive body against mine.

Honestly, when she was a small girl, it was manageable, but now that she’d grown so large, it was a bit overwhelming.

With only slight exaggeration, she was now as big as the motorcycle I used to ride.

“Huff huff…!”

“Um… Hwang-gu. Can you return to your original form?”

Hwang-gu tilted her head at my question.

Then she closed her eyes tightly and began trembling.

She seemed to be trying to return to normal.

At some point, the large wolf’s form began to shrink.

It was like watching Hwang-gu’s transformation in reverse.

Eventually, Hwang-gu was able to return to her previous soft, warm form.

“I’m back!”

Even though she had returned to human form, her large tail and ears remained.

Aurel seemed deep in thought looking at her.

Then, as if struck by a good idea, Aurel raised her hand.

“Charlotte!”

“What?”

“How about riding on Hwang-gu?”

“Ride on Hwang-gu…?”

“Yes! We’re out of gas for the motorcycle anyway!”

Indeed, with the motorcycle out of gas, we’d been walking everywhere lately.

Without transportation, our movement speed had become quite slow.

If we could ride on the large wolf form of Hwang-gu, it would certainly be convenient.

“R-ride on me…?”

Hwang-gu asked in a trembling voice, looking at me.

I sighed at the sight.

How could I ride on such a small and cute child?

She seemed to dislike the idea so much.

“You can ride me anytime!”

Just as I was about to shake my head and say no, Hwang-gu shouted with her eyes tightly closed.

Her face was flushed red as she panted.