The Cheat Seed

Chapter 10

Marcus stared at the respawn circle beneath his feet, his mind racing. The Nine Tailed Demon Foxes—creatures that had claimed hundreds of legendary Revokers throughout Krozon's history. An SC-ranked dungeon that experts had deemed physically impossible to clear.

Professor Jules's lectures echoed in his memory: "The Home of the Nine Tails remains our continent's greatest threat. We've lost tens of Legendary and Monarch seed users attempting to clear it. All in vain."

He remembered the haunted expressions on the faces of survivors shown in academy textbooks—men and women who'd escaped with their lives but never fully recovered from what they'd witnessed. Their eyes held the vacant stare of those who'd glimpsed their own mortality.

"The reports," Marcus muttered, pacing within his three-foot safe zone. "Eight Demon Monarch foxes and one Demon God."

Each fox possessed a different number of tails—the Monarchs ranging from one to eight, while the Boss, the Demon God, possessed nine. The more tails, the greater their speed and power.

And speed was their primary weapon. The Nine-Tailed Boss supposedly moved at light speed—a velocity no human had ever matched. Even Cypher, with his legendary status, would struggle against such an opponent.

The forest itself served as their hunting ground, thick trees obscuring vision and providing perfect cover for ambushes. Marcus looked at the dense foliage surrounding his respawn point, recognizing the tactical advantage it provided his unseen enemies.

"I need a plan," he whispered, watching the shadows between trees for any sign of movement.

He stepped forward cautiously, feeling the dried leaves crunch beneath his feet.

One foot. *Crunch*

Two feet. *Crunch*

Three feet. *Crunch*

He inhaled deeply, steeling himself for the fourth step. The moment his foot crossed the invisible boundary—

*Whoosh*

[You Died]

"FUUUUUU...HUSHHHHH!" Marcus cut off his curse, respawning inside the circle.

"I need to stay calm. Losing my cool won't get me home any faster." He closed his eyes, forcing his breathing to steady. When he opened them again, he studied the forest with renewed focus.

The trees towered nearly fifty meters high, their trunks approximately ninety centimeters thick. They stood in unnaturally perfect rows, reminiscent of the Ogretto army from his previous trial.

"The Boss moves at light speed, but what about the others?" he wondered aloud.

He hadn't even caught a glimpse of which fox attacked him. Logic suggested they'd send their faster, more powerful members to deal with threats, but without visual confirmation, he couldn't be certain.

Marcus approached the closest tree within his safe zone and delivered a careful punch. The trunk exploded, taking down several trees behind it like dominoes. Something about their arrangement triggered a thought, but he pushed it aside for now.

"I'll explore that idea once I can move beyond this THREE-FOOT PRISON!" His frustration erupted in a shout that echoed through the forest.

Taking a deep breath, Marcus decided to try once more. He counted his steps as he approached the boundary.

"I've got to evade..." he muttered as he prepared for his fourth step.

As his foot crossed the threshold, it struck a loose stone. Marcus lost his balance, slipping sideways with a startled cry. As he fell, time seemed to slow.

For a split second, he saw it—a massive creature lunging through the air precisely where he would have been standing. Its fangs missed him by millimeters, giving him a clear view of its body as it passed overhead.

One, two, three... He counted quickly. Eight, nine. Nine tails.

"The Boss?" he gasped, still falling.

[Skill Created: Perfect Evasion]

[Skill Perfected: PerfectX2 Evasion]

[AGIL+ 1 CEPTILLION]

[Due to Evading a Light speed Demon God ranked beast, The gained stat is multiplied by 10]

[Due to original skill 'Perfect Evasion' stats multiplied by 100]

[Total Stat Gain = AGIL+1000 Ceptillion]

"What?" Marcus barely processed the notifications before detecting movement from his peripheral vision.

Another nine-tailed figure launched from a nearby tree, moving so fast it appeared as little more than a crimson blur. Before Marcus could react, his head separated from his body, sailing through the air. As his consciousness faded, he caught a final glimpse of his attacker.

Nine tails. There were two of them?

[YOU DIED]

The respawn circle glowed beneath his feet once more. Marcus stood motionless, processing what he'd just witnessed.

"Two nine-tailed foxes? That's impossible. The reports mentioned only one Demon God."

He checked his status window:

[User: Marcus G Orno]

Age: 16

Sex: Male

Seed: ???

Soul Level: ???

Strength: 100 ceptillion (Limit break in 1000)

Stamina: 10

Agility: 1000 Ceptillion (Limit break in 1000)

Durability: ∞, (Infinity break, Nihility in 10000)

Damage Per Hit: 200 ceptillion (X2 strength)

Sprint speed: 2000 Ceptillion (X2 agility)

Skills Learned: G Orno Twist(Original,DMGX100), Lightning Bolt(Original,DMGX100), Doom(Original,DMGX100), Perfect Evasion(Original,DMGX100)

Passive Skill: (Creator)(Perfection At First Fight)

[Current Progress(The 3 Guardian Trials): 33.3%]

His agility had skyrocketed. The system had rewarded him handsomely for evading a light-speed attack, even if it had been accidental. But more importantly, his sprint speed now matched—no, exceeded—light speed.

"I can outrun them," he whispered, a plan forming.

He needed to understand his environment better. The perfectly aligned trees, the multiple nine-tailed foxes that contradicted every report—something wasn't adding up.

Marcus focused on his respawn circle. Each time he'd died, he'd materialized in exactly the same spot, facing the same direction. What if that wasn't coincidence?

He turned slowly, examining the circle beneath his feet. Near its edge, barely visible against the glowing golden light, was a small inscription. Marcus crouched, adjusting his glasses to read the tiny characters:

"The watcher becomes the watched. The hunter becomes the hunted."

"A clue?" Marcus wondered, standing up again.

He closed his eyes, recalling everything he knew about the Nine Tails dungeon. Professor Jules had mentioned something during one lecture—something about illusions.

The Nine Tails were masters of deception, capable of creating false realities to confuse their prey. What if the perfect rows of trees weren't real? What if the "boundary" that killed him wasn't where he thought it was?

Marcus took a deep breath and activated his Doom skill, focusing its power not outward, but inward. If the foxes could create illusions, perhaps he could shatter them with his own abilities.

"DOOM!" he roared, directing the energy to flow through his entire body.

The forest around him flickered like a damaged video feed. For a split second, Marcus saw the truth—a barren landscape with only a few scattered trees, nothing like the dense forest he'd been perceiving. Nine crimson figures stood frozen in shock, their illusion temporarily disrupted.

"Got you," Marcus grinned.

Before the illusion could reassert itself, he activated his Perfect Evasion skill and launched into motion. His body vanished from the respawn circle, moving faster than light itself.

The nine-tailed foxes—all identical, all part of the same deception—recovered quickly. They darted after him, tails streaming behind them like b****y banners.

But Marcus was faster now. His enhanced agility allowed him to dance between their attacks, evading with millimeters to spare. Each successful dodge increased his confidence.

He weaved through the real forest—much sparser than the illusion had suggested—searching for something, anything that might give him an advantage. Then he spotted it—a clearing where a massive stone altar stood.

Upon it lay a single crimson fox, significantly smaller than the nine illusions chasing him. It had no visible tails, its body curled in sleep or meditation.

"The real one," Marcus whispered, understanding dawning.

The reports had been correct about one thing—there was only one Nine-Tailed Fox. But they'd misunderstood its nature. The nine tails weren't physical appendages; they were projections, illusions, extensions of its consciousness.

Marcus changed course, heading directly for the altar. The nine illusory foxes converged to intercept him, but his perfect evasion allowed him to slip through their formation.

He reached the sleeping fox and raised his fist, channeling all his strength for a decisive blow. Just before impact, the creature's eyes snapped open—eyes that held ancient wisdom and, surprisingly, resignation.

"Well played, Guardian," it whispered in his mind.

Marcus hesitated, his fist trembling inches from the fox's head. This wasn't what he expected. The creatures were supposed to be mindless demons, not sentient beings capable of speech.

That moment of hesitation cost him everything.

The small fox smiled—a terrifying sight on a predator's face—and all nine illusory foxes converged on Marcus's position, their fangs tearing through his enhanced durability as if it were paper.

[YOU DIED]