Chapter 89: Repay

Chapter 89: Repay

She stood her ground, staring her mother down with unwavering determination. For me.

That had to be a good sign.

So I did the only thing I could do.

I prayed. To every god, every spirit, every shred of luck I had left—that whatever she was saying was enough to convince her mother.

Because if it wasn’t, I was about to become ash scattered in the wind.

The kit and her mother went back and forth for what felt like forever. Sharp barks. Low growls. Long pauses that built into another round of snarls and snapping jaws. I couldn’t understand a single syllable, but I didn’t need to. The lash of the little fox’s tails, the way she planted her paws firmly in the dirt, the way the Matriarch’s molten eyes narrowed—all of it told me this wasn’t some sweet family reunion.

This was an argument.

Meanwhile, I sat slumped in the dirt, blood drying sticky against my skin, mind running in frantic circles. I tried moving my legs, but they twitched uselessly, heavy as lead. My hands trembled, fingers curling around dirt that slipped away grain by grain. Even breathing hurt. I was reduced to a wreck, forced to watch two monsters debate my fate like I was a rabbit they’d dragged home.

My throat still ached from where the Matriarch had nearly crushed it, every swallow like sandpaper dragging down my windpipe.

Think, Eli. Think. What can you do?

There was nothing. Nothing I could do.

I tried to activate my innate skill again, desperate, praying it might break through the restriction. I poured every shred of will into [Warp], then [Leap], then anything else that might pull me out of this nightmare.

But it was like screaming into a void.

No matter how I pushed, nothing answered.

Amazing. I was at the mercy of a nine-tailed calamity who thought my existence was a crime.

Finally, the growls cut off.

The Matriarch straightened, her molten eyes returning to me. A low sigh rumbled out of her chest, the sound heavy, like a furnace letting out steam. Then she padded forward. Each step radiated suffocating pressure, the ground beneath her paws sizzling faintly.

"You vile goblin," she rumbled.

What did I even do now? Breathe too loud? Exist?

"Consider yourself lucky."

I blinked, throat bobbing painfully. Lucky? How exactly am I lucky here? Be specific.

She didn’t bother to answer. Of course she didn’t. She just kept glaring at me like every heartbeat I managed to take was a personal insult. Her expression screamed that she wanted nothing more than to rip me apart. And yet... something stopped her.

She lifted one paw. Power thrummed out of her, invisible yet crushing. My stomach lurched as my body rose into the air, dangling like a puppet on strings.

Telekinesis. Great. As if claws and fire weren’t enough, she could just toss me around like a toy.

"For saving my daughter," she said, her tone flat and emotionless, "I will repay the debt."

Repay? Repay how? I didn’t need generosity. We could just go our separate ways and never see each other again.

But no. That would’ve been too simple.

My vision flooded green.

A glow wrapped around me, soft and warm at first. Invigorating, like when I downed a [Recovery Potion] after clearing a daily quest. My battered body almost sighed with relief.

For one heartbeat, I thought she was healing me.

Then the warmth twisted.

The sensation curdled into fire ripping through my veins. My body began to break. Bones cracked like dry twigs, snapping and grinding back into place wrong, then snapping again. Muscles tore apart in sick, wet bursts, stitched themselves back together, only to tear again. My lungs seized, then ballooned too wide, slamming into my ribs until I thought they’d burst.

I screamed.

The sound ripped out of me raw, animal, beyond control. My back arched. Limbs flailed uselessly. Every nerve shrieked as though I was being torn down to the marrow and rebuilt molecule by molecule.

"STOP!" I howled, my voice cracking in agony. "For the love of the gods, stop!"

The Matriarch’s eyes didn’t flicker.

"Shut up."

Her voice was casual, bored, like I was nothing more than background noise. Her aura pressed harder, crushing down on my insides, wringing me out like a rag.

"If you are so weak," she murmured, voice slicing through my screams like a blade, "then how does my daughter survive being a follower?"

Follower?

The word barely pierced the haze of agony.

I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t breathe. The pain drowned everything.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it ended.

The green glow flickered and died, leaving me limp, trembling. My body still felt wrong—like my skin didn’t fit, like my bones belonged to someone else. My head spun, thoughts sloshing uselessly inside my skull like water in a cracked bucket.

I collapsed back into the dirt, chest heaving, eyes wide and glassy.

"What... the hell..." I croaked.

A familiar chime flickered across my vision.

[Skill Restriction effect has been removed][You can now use your skills]

For a second, my brain refused to process the words.

Then my heart stuttered.

My skills had returned.

Relief slammed into me so hard it nearly broke me. A wild, hysterical laugh bubbled up in my chest, but I swallowed it down, terrified the sound would snap the fox’s fragile restraint.

Without hesitation, without second thoughts, I triggered [Leap].

The world folded. The oppressive heat, the crushing aura, the glowing eyes—everything dissolved in a blur of warped space.

Then I slammed back into reality. My cave. My room. Damp-smelling stone walls, crude bedding shoved against one side. Familiar, blessedly familiar.

I stumbled forward, legs collapsing beneath me, and hit the ground face-first. My arms shook too violently to push myself up. My chest rattled with every breath, blood still bitter at the back of my throat.

The darkness rushed in fast, heavy, irresistible.

"Alive..." I whispered, voice shredded and thin. "I’m still... alive."

Then the world went black.