The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 4 - Chapter 74 - A Fox and a Break (Patreon)

Here's a rather laid back chapter for you all with some comedic relief :)

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                                                         Arcadian Live
                                                      Half a day later

“Dad,” Sapphire’s voice echoes throughout the dozens of massive stadiums, resonating over the voices of the trillions of viewers who have been filling the viewing room since the Fae realm’s coming out of the shadows and into the public. “You have terrible luck.”

Not a single person within the stadium can take their eyes off of the Pandora’s Box sitting in front of Wolf and Sapphire as the shouts of trillions of people fill the viewing room. It’s to the degree that not a single person within the stadium can hear any one voice except for those coming from the livestream, leaving any wishing to talk to each other having to do it through System messages instead.

Even the host – Mikaela – simply floats in the air in front of the main screen within the main stadium staring blankly at the box.

“Yeah, yeah,” Wolf mutters, a hint of defeat sounding in his voice, “just get in my shadow already. I’ll be elemental shifting and fleeing the moment we open the box and find something dangerous in it.”

Sapphire’s giggling can be heard throughout the stadiums for a few moments before she grows serious again and enters his shadow. The young reaper then takes a deep breath and reaches out to touch the Pandora’s Box under the gazes of trillions of people from all over existence.

As soon as Wolf’s fingers touch the sinister looking box, he jumps back past the bounds of where the walls of the room were before vanishing at his touch of the box and narrows his eyes on said box. But what he finds leaves him frowning, along with every last viewer within the viewing room.

“That’s…” Wolf mutters in confusion as the bright light that had begun shining from the Pandora’s Box slowly fades away, “not a monster?”

Sapphire leaves his shadow at that before moving behind Wolf and sticking her head around him to look, as if using her father as a shield. The reaper just ignores this to slowly take a few steps forward. But the moment the light finishes fading, revealing a small fox, only spanning about two feet In length.

The stadium falls silent as the creature stretches its little limbs on the livestream. But the silence is eventually broken when Mikaela mutters, “He found another mascot.”

A loud roar of voices echo throughout the stadium.

Meanwhile Wolf and Sapphire simply stare at the fox for a few more seconds. It isn’t until Wolf looks at Sapphire and shows a relieved smile that he says, “At least you’re not chasing this one too.”

Sapphire just sends him a weird look and says, as if somehow offended by the mere thought, “Why would I go after a fox of all things? C’mon dad, you should be better than this.”

Wolf just stares at her. Various members of the audience also send strange looks towards the screens, with many of them beginning to create forum threads about this very topic.

After several seconds, Wolf eventually asks, “What’ve you been reading on the forums that taught you to talk like that anyways?”

The spider in humanoid form simply tilts her head then looks away and says while stretching her arm out, “Hey, it’s the chick!” in a clear attempt to distract her father. But despite the lie that everyone in the stadium can see through, the immortal chick really does appear out from the ground moments after she says this. And Sapphire immediately bolts for it after seeing it.

Wolf lets out a sigh that resonates throughout the viewing room, making many of the viewers laugh. Before they can laugh for very long, however, the immortal fox makes a run for the chick at a speed even faster than Sapphire and begins chasing it through the air, somehow walking on the air itself.

“Are you kidding me?” Wolf mutters, making the laughs intensify.

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                                                                  Wolf
                                   Nearly a month later, on the 179th floor

“Ya know, for once I don’t mind this fire based theme,” Sapphire says rather lethargically as she swims by in her one-piece swimsuit through the hot spring we’re lounging around in. Meanwhile the various volcanos scattered all around the nearby area continue to erupt at random intervals.

We both ignore them thanks to my little ice dome shielding us from any of the lava.

I let out a sigh of relief as I lie back and look up at the sky while muttering, “Yeah. Quite relaxing.”

When we first found this hot springs, Sapphire immediately started bothering me about going swimming. Because apparently, there are old Earth TV shows on the System Forums somehow?

And despite my doubts at first when Sapphire mentioned buying swimsuits through the System Store, I actually managed to find them there. So I decided, ‘why not?’, and we bought a couple and jumped into the hot springs.

Of course, there were a couple of annoying monsters who were using this hot springs first. Mostly dragonoids, but a couple of abyssal demons of all things as well.

Needless to say, they didn’t last very long.

I let out another sigh as I close my eyes.

In all honesty, I probably needed this relaxation time. Considering how I’ve been on an endless sprint through the dungeon for over half a year now.

It’s just a pity that I can’t relax for long. From what Diane said, the Abyssal faction is plotting something. Something big. And it’s supposed to happen – whatever it is – around the 200th floor.

How she got that information is beyond me, but I’m very thankful for it. Even if we still don’t know what it is they’re planning to do.

Another roar echoes throughout the floor from a passing drake. But I simply wave my hand, forming a large spear of ice outside of the dome and piercing straight through the creature with it. All while still lying down in the hot springs.

This dungeon is beginning to become more of a nuisance than anything else. After all, the bosses since the hydra – which wasn’t even a boss – have honestly been pushovers compared to how much I struggled against them in the beginning. And I’m getting further and further ahead of the other Competitors. To the point that I’m pretty sure I’m almost three themes ahead.

At this rate, the dungeon run won’t even be a race anymore.

For some reason though, I get the feeling this might just be the calm before the storm. It could just be me being paranoid though.

I open my eyes just to see a certain fox chasing a chick through the sky.

“Paranoid indeed…” I mutter out loud before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

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