Sandstorm (Sapung), Tiger Mom (Hohuanmama) – (3)

“I’m not too familiar with the geography, but is there a beach nearby?”

“…No.”

“Then it’s a yokai.”

“Yeah, a yokai.”

I didn’t know whether to consider ourselves lucky or unlucky.

Our choice to head straight for the city center instead of the mountain turned out to be correct.

That sandstorm raging in the sky was brazenly descending towards this very city center.

Our gamble to begin detecting the yokai from downtown had paid off.

The surroundings were in chaos.

People were screaming.

Children were wailing.

Some even had the audacity to film with their phones amidst this mayhem, as if struck by reckless indifference.

I carefully released my spirit energy to evacuate those who hadn’t grasped the situation yet.

“Eh, ehhhh?”

Quite flustered, the man filming dropped his phone.

Oh dear.

The screen cracked.

After using my spirit energy to retrieve the dropped phone and return it to the man, I sent him flying far away.

With that, I had secured everyone in the vicinity.

Yi Haneul looked at the sandstorm and asked me:

“Can you stop it?”

“Of course.”

I confidently replied to Yi Haneul while gathering spirit energy from my tails.

Though uncertain, it seemed that unless I eliminated each individual sand grain, the sandstorm would just keep reforming.

So I planned to unleash an overwhelming amount of spirit energy from the start to wipe out the sandstorm entirely.

If there was one strange point, I hadn’t sensed any yoki yet.

[Fox Sorcery – Fox Fires]

I promptly fired countless fox fires at the sandstorm.

Upon contact with the fox fires, the sand grains began literally vanishing.

Seeing this, Yi Haneul muttered:

“This is cheating.”

“It is cheating. I didn’t know either, but apparently fox yokai were considered overpowered characters from the start.”

“…You talk about yourself like some game character. Ugh… I thought I could test my new power.”

That I could engage in such idle chatter meant the spirit energy I released was overwhelming.

The sandstorm quieted down.

Oh.

I sensed yoki.

It seemed that yokai must have been hiding within the sandstorm it created, concealing its yoki.

Soon, my vision cleared, and the yokai hiding in the sandstorm revealed itself.

The yokai’s true form was:

“A, a tiger!”

Indeed, a tiger.

Specifically, a black tiger with black stripes and black eyes, as if ink had been brushed onto the canvas called the world – a picturesque beast.

Ehehei.

Of all things, why did some lame tiger have to show up?

I already knew a crazy tiger named ‘Lord of the Mountain’, so some tiger wasn’t scary at all.

However, it wasn’t an opponent to be taken lightly.

The Sejong Yokai Extermination Office’s yoki detector hadn’t malfunctioned after all.

Compared to any yokai I had encountered so far, this black tiger possessed far more yoki.

Had it been my former self, I might have been terrified by that overwhelming yoki.

But for this tiger, unfortunately for it, I had awoken with eight tails just a few days prior.

Transcending heaven and earth, none could rival me.

Who would dare confront an eight-tailed fox yokai?

Perhaps sensing my dangerous nature instinctively, the black tiger didn’t recklessly attack us.

Good.

I would strike while it was off-guard.

Shiver.

Shiver shiver.

Shiver shiver shiver.

Shiver shiver shiver shiver.

What was that sound coming from?

“…Miho.”

“Yes, yes, yes?”

“Why are you trembling?”

Huh?

Trembling?

Me?

I looked down at my legs.

As Yi Haneul said, my legs were indeed trembling like aspen trees.

…Could it be?

Was I scared of that tiger?

[Roar!]

The tiger let out an earth-shaking roar, and:

“Meow…”

I meekly mewled in response.

---

Miho was afraid of Lord of the Mountain.

A story famous enough for any yokai living in the Inner Realm to know.

It was strange.

Lord of the Mountain was supposed to be an infinitely benevolent and kind ruler to the Inner Realm’s yokai, yet why did Miho fear him so?

It was true that unlike other yokai, Miho could directly feel Lord of the Mountain’s overwhelming spirit energy.

But the fundamental reason lay elsewhere.

Tigers, or rather, Lord of the Mountain, were the primary natural predators of foxes.

Of course, as the apex predator reigning over all animals, it was only natural for every living creature except Miho to fear tigers.

Yet unlike Miho, the animal-form yokai of the Inner Realm didn’t fear Lord of the Mountain.

Just look at Depot frolicking merrily before him.

Why did Miho alone specifically fear Lord of the Mountain, the tiger?

This was an instinctual matter.

Foxes had feared tigers since ancient times, perceiving tigers as the mightiest animals.

Hence the saying ‘a fox borrows the tiger’s might’.

Foxes themselves acknowledged tigers as the strongest beasts.

No matter how powerful Miho’s spirit energy grew, the predator-prey relationship could not be overturned.

The situation differed vastly from encountering ‘prey’ like goblins.

---

Pababababababak.

The sandblast struck.

Befitting an ability wielded by a yokai with formidable yoki, this was no mere sandstorm – it pulverized everything in its path like a giant blender as it assailed Yi Haneul and me.

Shiver shiver shiver shiver.

My legs remained frozen.

As I stood there trembling, Yi Haneul hastily scooped me up.

Crunch!

The spot where Yi Haneul and I had been standing was instantly ground down by the sandblast.

“What are you doing, Miho! Get a grip!”

“U, uh, that’s, well…”

“Why did you suddenly become such an idiot! You were acting like you’d beat it to death just now…!”

I did want to blast that black tiger with spirit energy and grind it to dust, but my body wouldn’t cooperate – what could I do about it?

“Th, then you use that new power of yours to handle it, Lord Yi Haneul…!”

“It takes at least a minute to prepare…”

“B, but why did you boast so much…”

“Miho, I didn’t expect you couldn’t even last a minute!”

“…”

I had no retort.

My current self was the very definition of a helpless burden.

Not only could I not assist Yi Haneul’s battle, I was actively hindering her.

What further angered me was this tiger’s intelligence.

After discerning that I was afraid of it:

[Roar!]

It would let out ground-shaking roars like that.

Whenever I heard those roars, my heart pounded like it would burst.

This wasn’t funny at all.

I didn’t feel the slightest fear when facing goblins, or even Duergsini herself.

Yet a single tiger had completely frozen me in my tracks.

…Damn it.

Duergsini had seen right through me, hadn’t she?

She must have accurately predicted my fear of tigers and unleashed this black tiger.

Of course, if I unleashed my eight tails, there would be no opponent I couldn’t defeat.

I would become powerful enough to completely overturn the predator-prey dynamic.

But that presented another problem.

If I exhausted my eight-tailed spirit energy to subjugate the black tiger, then reverted to my two-tailed state only for goblins or other yokai to immediately appear…

I would be helpless.

The situation wasn’t favorable.

It was as if I had hit an insurmountable wall, unable to muster the courage to release my spirit energy.

And because I was such a hefty burden, Yi Haneul couldn’t properly fight the tiger either.

I, who had become a ling to protect humans, was now being protected by a human – an ironic situation.

This fact enraged me.

Fueled by that rage, I tried releasing my spirit energy at the black tiger…

Spirit energy…

Ah.

As expected, it wouldn’t come out.

The cliche of awakening through rage seemed to only happen in comics.

As I clung to Yi Haneul like dead weight, moving back and forth, a brilliant idea struck me:

…Allure.

I just had to use my allure, didn’t I!

While the allure-afflicted ‘Grrowl’ was a special case able to possess humans, my allure had undeniably grown tremendously potent lately too.

So much so that even the female Yi Haneul had fallen under its sway.

Though lacking data to know if it would work, it was worth a try.

I focused all my mind on alluring that tiger.

Sniff.

Shiver.

The black tiger began trembling.

Huh, was it working…?

[Fox.]

“…?”

[I know not what trickery you have employed.]

[But I am female.]

Ah.

It seemed my 50/50 gamble had failed.

Damn it.

In that case, I had no choice but to resolve this through conversation.

“A, are you also a yokai qualified for ascension?”

[You seem curious for one so soon to die.]

[Indeed I am.]

“Th, then stop! For the ascension you were granted is…”

[False?]

“Yes, the ascension you were granted is false… eh…?”

I doubted my own ears.

This black tiger…

Already knew its ascension was false.