SAFBIAN Ch 56

Chapter 56

‘Next is the assassins.’

Clang! The moment the swords clashed violently, instinct took precedence over reason. This wasn’t the time to be afraid of being discovered as a human.

As long as things unfolded like the original story, all I had to do was aim for that moment. The thought that I knew something even Haban’s guards and soldiers didn’t gave me courage.

Dori, now in human form, hastily threw on clothes. After checking that his ears and tail were well hidden, he hurriedly lifted the edge of the tent.

‘……!’

However, Dori froze on the spot, unable to move any further.

‘……I didn’t expect it to be this bad.’

He thought he had mentally prepared himself enough.

But seeing the bloody chaos with his own eyes was a whole different shock.

To make matters worse, he saw Jipyeong driving a sword into the body of an assassin clad in black, then pulling it out. Blood spurted from the human body like a burst water pouch.

‘Ugh!’

Dori involuntarily held his breath and tightly shut his eyes. His vision turned entirely red, as if his eyeballs had been soaked in blood.

I hate this.

It’s terrifying.

It’s horrific.

It’s disgusting.

His head spun so violently he felt dizzy. A rising nausea stirred from within.

Dori let out a slow breath.

Could I really help Haban?

His heart pounded like a drum.

‘It’s okay. I can do this. I’ve been telling myself that for days.’

If you don’t kill, you’ll be killed—there was no other choice. No one gives up their life just because they pity their opponent.

Dori forced his eyes open wide. Doing his best not to look directly at the mortally wounded, he glanced around.

‘Found him!’

Haban was fighting two assassins closest to the tent.

The assassins, with their faces half-covered by masks, were already bleeding from arms and legs, apparently having been grazed by the sword multiple times. Meanwhile, Haban’s body was completely unscathed.

Dori crept out quietly, careful not to draw attention, and curled up behind a box.

After a few more exchanges, the assassin on the right lifted his sword overhead. It was a big move, clearly meant to slash down in one powerful blow. At the same time, the assassin on the left drew in closely, pressing the blade against his body.

Haban was using a single sword to fend off both sides, making the situation difficult.

‘Danger!’

Dori covered his mouth with his hand and hunched his shoulders. Fortunately, Haban blocked the downward slash and simultaneously delivered a hard kick to the wounded assassin on the left.

“Ugh!”

The assassin on the left lost balance and staggered. In that brief opening, Haban pushed away the opposing sword and slashed deeply across the assassin’s chest.

……Phew.

Seeing that, Dori inadvertently let out a sigh of relief. After all, he’d rather see strangers fall than Haban get hurt.

But killing one didn’t mean it was over.

A new assassin rushed in, stepping on his fallen comrade. There wasn’t even a moment of mourning. To make matters worse, arrows rained down again from the trees above, as if perfectly timed.

Haban’s gaze briefly flicked toward the tent.

‘Did he notice I’m gone?’

The moment Haban lifted the entrance, Dori tensed, ready to quickly transform back into a fox.

But then—

“Your Majesty!”

A foolish soldier shouted in surprise, exposing the emperor’s location. The assassins firing arrows dropped their bows and swiftly leaped down toward Haban.

It happened in an instant.

‘Who was it! Damn! I was too busy watching Haban to see who did it!’

Meanwhile, four soldiers rushed in to help Haban. Since he had memorized their faces during the ride, he confirmed they were indeed Haban’s men.

‘So there was a spy among them, disguised as a soldier.’

From the outside, it looked like they were protecting Haban, standing with swords drawn behind him—but one of them had different intentions.

Dori’s heart pounded at the sight of the soldiers closing in around Haban like a tightening ring.

‘It’s soon.’

A tension unlike anything before overwhelmed him.

‘When the injured assassin leaps. When something shiny is scattered—that’s the signal.’

……But why does it look like they’re all sincerely trying to protect Haban? Is there even a traitor?

Dori was confused.

Just then, one of the assassins took a step back and whistled sharply.

In that fleeting moment, the assassins exchanged glances and each pulled something from their robes, throwing it to the ground beneath them. Smoke began to rise from the shattered pieces.

‘What is that? Smoke bombs? This wasn’t in the original story.’

Dori grew flustered as his view became increasingly obscured by fog-like smoke.

‘Don’t! I can’t see Haban!’

He shifted, trying to avoid the rising smoke, and then fully stood up. Wearing the same outfit as the soldiers, and with everyone too preoccupied to notice, no one paid him any mind.

Finally, the assassin on Haban’s left was stabbed by a soldier’s sword. It was the traitor—he had deliberately stabbed the assassin’s arm.

The assassin took a step back and leaped into the air. It was an attack meant to draw Haban’s eyes upward and open his lower guard.

With the other soldiers occupied, Haban naturally looked up. At that moment, the assassin tore open a cloth pouch and scattered sparkling powder downward.

“Ugh.”

Haban instinctively shielded his eyes.

The spy didn’t miss that opening. Just as in the original, he turned away from the assassin and readied his sword toward Haban, thrusting forward in one swift motion.

Then—thud! He was flung back after hitting something.

Pant, pant.

It was Dori, who had charged forward with all his strength and slammed into the traitor with his entire body.

“……!”

Haban stopped breathing for a moment.

Amidst the thick smoke obscuring his view, a faint figure appeared.

Was this a dream? Was he dreaming?

Flowing white hair, flushed pale skin, and radiant golden eyes.

“……You… How are you here…?”

That face—one he couldn’t forget even in dreams—was right before him.

“Haban! That one’s the traitor!”

And the voice, clear and bright.

A ripple of emotion spread through Haban’s dark eyes.

“Growl.”

Dori growled menacingly as he bit into the traitor’s ankle.

The thought of finally finding the spy and the desperation to hold on, the fear so overwhelming it overrode all reason—it all made him lunge out instinctively.

But fighting an assassin in a frail human body was harder.

After knocking down the traitor, Dori hid in the smoke and turned back into a fox. Then, summoning all his strength, he sank his fangs into the assassin’s ankle.

The taste of blood filled his mouth—it was disgusting, but he didn’t let go.

“Aaaaagh!”

Sensing his failure, the traitor flailed his sword wildly.

Three of the soldiers who had been guarding Haban quickly dispatched their assassins and took turns deflecting the traitor’s blade, now fully aware of his identity.

The traitor tried to go after Haban before the smoke could completely hide him, but the white haze had already engulfed the surroundings. One by one, the disoriented assassins were taken down.

It was over.

The traitor turned his rage toward the fox at his ankle.

If not for this damned creature!

“You little bastard!”

Just as he raised his leg to kick Dori, he screamed again—this time an even more horrifying scream. It seemed someone had stabbed him from behind.

Dori immediately let go and backed away.

“Yip!”

Got him!

He rolled away to avoid the falling body of the traitor and bumped into the tent, but he managed to get up unscathed.

Still, he was so overwhelmed that tears streamed down his face.

As he rubbed his eyes with his paws, the smoke began to clear. Behind the running Haban, a flare exploded into the sky.

‘What’s that…?’

That didn’t happen in the original story. Was it because Haban had already been stabbed back then?

‘Why is everything changing and confusing me—ugh!’

Dori coughed and trembled violently.

“I told you… to stay inside.”

Haban half-bent down and gently scooped up the fox, his voice heavy with restraint.

Haban, who hadn’t even flinched at the sight of assassins or blood, now looked completely broken as he examined Dori.

Dori opened his mouth without thinking.

“……Yip.”

“…I see.”

“Yip… yip, yip.”

I was really scared. Terrified.

But I still mustered up the courage to help someone for the first time. And that someone was Haban. That made him feel proud and happy, enough to want to brag about it.

‘I saved you. You know that you’re supposed to repay the one who saves your life, right?’

So later, if I run away, don’t come after me trying to kill me. And don’t skin me either.

Also…

Tensed far beyond his limits, Dori fell asleep as soon as Haban laid him on the wool blanket in the tent.

“This little guy’s the one who saved His Majesty?”

“Yeah. Came flying out of nowhere and bit that spy’s ankle. Braver than you, I’d say.”

“This damn fox… Always has to one-up—ugh. Anyway, thanks to him, we caught that bastard. Guess fox spirits are magical after all.”

“Didn’t you say he was an evil temptress just a while ago?”

“Will you just shut up already?”

Dori scratched his nose awkwardly, surrounded by a ring of soldiers.

‘What’s going on with everyone?’

Though their words were still rough, Dori had never received this much warmth from others, not in his previous life or since being possessed.

It didn’t feel bad.

His ears perked up and his tail fluffed out thickly, showing just how he felt.

Oooh!

The soldiers’ cheers grew louder.