Not So Solo Leveling V (Patreon)

Lo everyone! This one's sat long enough. It is unfortunately the last chapter I have available for this. Hopefully I'll find time to work on it some more soon.

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Jinwoo couldn’t help but peer over at Joohee as he drove her to Gyeongbokgung, the location for her S-Rank Instance Dungeon. She was pale and drawn, and he could see her hands shaking as she rested them on her lap. Neither Miho nor Soohyun were with them. Their Dungeons were located in different areas, with Miho heading for Seoraksan and Soohyun to Itaewon. He hated the fact that none of them could help each other inside their Dungeons. He reached over and grabbed her hand, and she had been so out of it that she jumped in her seat. “You’ll be okay, Joohee.”

She swallowed heavily as she laced her fingers with his. “I’m a Healer.” She whispered, “Why do… Why is the System making me fight solo?!”

“I don’t know.” Jinwoo said, keeping his eyes on the road, “But this is what you’ve been training for. The four of us are going to have to clear Dungeons that the System will upgrade to B-Rank. Maybe even A-Rank if we’re really unlucky.” He felt her squeeze his hand, “We all need to know we’re all capable of doing that. Your stats are great, and you’ve taken well to Miho’s combat training. You can do this, Joohee.”

Indeed, Joohee’s stats weren’t bad at all. Initially she had put all of her stat points into Intelligence and just passively increased the others off of Level Ups, but with the knowledge that she’d have to branch out to a hybrid style, she had started putting points into Strength too. In addition, once she hit fifty points in Intelligence, she actually started gaining forty MP per point.

Name: Lee Joohee

Level: 30

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP: 3725

MP: 1970

Strength: 66

Agility: 39

Perception: 39

Vitality: 39

Intelligence: 79

Available Ability Points: 0

That wasn’t a bad stat line at all, and she had more than triple the MP he had. She would be able to cast dozens, if not hundreds, of Guiding Bolts, and with her healing ability, he had little doubt she would be able to keep her health topped off if she took any damage. “Don’t let yourself get psyched out, Joohee. You’re strong. You can do this.”

“I…” She stopped for a moment, “I freak out every time. I-”

“You used to freak out every time.” Jinwoo said, “You saved Soohyun in our last Instance Dungeon. You haven’t lost your cool since our first Dungeon. You’ve been nervous, yes, but you haven’t let that stop you. If you don’t believe in yourself, then believe in me. And I believe in you.”

Joohee flushed and squeezed his hand a bit tighter, a small smile on her face. “…Thank you, Jinwoo.” She didn’t let go of his hand for the rest of the drive. When they got out, she took her golden key from her Inventory and stared at it in the dim light of the night. “Well, this is it.” She took a few deep breaths before raising it.

“Wait!” Jinwoo had a brainwave. She flinched, looking at him in confusion and trepidation. He brought up a screen, and then a smile split his face. He reached up and unequipped the Gatekeeper’s Collar. He then put it around her neck, and she gasped as she watched both her Agility and Perception shoot up twenty points each. “I think you’ll need that more than I will.” He smirked slightly as it vanished. “Now you’re ready.”

She stared at him for a moment before she surprised him by stepping forward and throwing her arms around his neck. His eyes widened, but he was unable to say anything as her lips found his. He twitched in shock that the beautiful Joohee was kissing him. That didn’t last long as he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her kiss was needy, but not urgent. She clearly wanted to enjoy it, not just do it because she feared it would be her only opportunity. He felt her tongue against his lips and parted them, his own flicking out to meet hers. It was clumsy on both of their parts since neither were experienced. They kissed until they ran out of breath. And then she was resting her head on his chest, hugging him tightly.

In her mind, she wailed, ‘Oh, what did I doooo?! Soohyun and Miho are going to kill me!’

Unknowing of her sudden dilemma, Jinwoo kissed the crown of her head. “Let’s look forward to more of that, once you get back.” He projected confidence he didn’t really have. He’d never even kissed a girl before!

Joohee flushed, but he felt her smile against his chest. “Okay.” They broke apart and she resolutely didn’t look at him, raising her key again. She twisted it, and a golden Gate whirled into existence before her. She took one last deep breath, before stepping through. A blinding light made her close her eyes. When she was finally able to open them, she gasped at what she saw. The sky was golden. It didn’t look like sunset, more like the sky itself was different. And then she looked down, and realized she was standing on what looked like a white, fluffy cloud. “Clouds?” Joohee gaped as she whirled around. “This is nothing like Jinwoo’s! Where am I?!” Nothing of her surroundings remained. She tried jumping and let out a surprised giggle as the clouds acted like a trampoline. She even fell on her back and bounced back to her feet.

Joohee froze as she realized she had just had fun. In a Dungeon. Clapping her cheeks, she refocused. She absolutely was not going to get hurt because she lost focus and forgot that this was an S-Rank Dungeon that could easily kill her. She drew her Morningstar and magical tome, before looking around. She couldn’t really see anything… It was clouds in every direction. No landmarks. No nothing. “This is so weird…” She mused, before setting off in a random direction.

Joohee wasn’t sure how long she wandered for, but eventually, something changed. She saw what looked like… floating balls of light. Or maybe gas? They were a bright, vivid light green. “What are-” Her eyes widened.

[Heavenly Wisp]

And the names were grey. Before she could react, the one closest to her seemed to spaz out before charging at her. “Wah!” She threw herself out of the way as it sped past her. It made a strange, ethereal sound she couldn’t quite describe. Clenching her Morningstar, she let out a yell and swiped at it. There was an audible crunch as the Wisp distended, turning into a tiny little ball of darker light.

She blinked as she received EXP from her kill. “Huh?” Her distraction at the utter ease she had taken care of the enemy cost her. “OW!” She got flung onto her front as another Wisp bashed into her from behind. She quickly rolled to her feet and flung a Guiding Bolt at the offending Wisp, dazzling it with a brilliant explosion. “Why are these things so easy?!” She wasn’t exactly complaining, but Jinwoo had nearly died against his Cerberus! And it had been the only enemy! Why was this so different from what he had experienced?

She launched herself forward, moving far faster than she was used to after her training and bashed Wisp after Wisp, killing each in single blows. When it was finally over, she let out a sigh and healed the three hundred HP damage she’d taken from that one hit. She hadn’t leveled up and wasn’t sure if she was even close to getting one either.

She had gotten a bit turned around during that fight and still couldn’t see any landmarks telling her where to go, so she again just picked a random direction and hoped she wasn’t going back the way she came. She did appreciate the bouncing quality of the clouds but didn’t let it distract her as she jogged.

And then, between one step and the next, she was surrounded by Wisps. “Oh boy.” Joohee gasped as the hidden creatures leapt from beneath the clouds. These ones were red in color, and the names were still grey. She swallowed in trepidation since she knew this would be harder but readied herself. One of the closer Wisps shuddered before shooting off a gout of flame at her. She yelped and dodged out of the way, before charging it and smashing it with her weapon. She was quickly forced into acrobatics she never would have seen herself being capable of as the Wisps attacked en masse. She hopped, somersaulted, and twirled out of the way of the attacks, her heart beating against her chest in terrified exhilaration. She managed to kill three of them before a gout of flame hit her and caused her to scream in pain. It severely burned her leg, even with Kasaka’s Scales taking fifteen percent of the damage.

Still, she fought through it, leaping through the air above them. She readied a Guiding Bolt and charged it with three times the amount of mana it normally used, before launching it at the ground. The resulting explosion blew a hole in the clouds and killed five of the Wisps. As she landed, she was already casting a healing spell on herself and sighed in relief as her leg stopped aching. She glared at the Wisps, before gasping as they all seemed to converge against one another. The Wisps all began to merge, and she cried out, “Oh no!”

She was right to worry, as now she wasn’t facing dozens of Wisps, but a single one with an orange name.

[The Great Wisp, Eflame]

Swallowing in nervousness, she readied herself. The huge Wisp shuddered before contracting. A lance of flame shot at her, bigger than all the others combined. She quickly got the hell out of the way, and bit her lip as she realized that the flame had lit the clouds on fire. A straight line of flame burned merrily now.

Utilizing every bit of speed that Jinwoo had granted her with the item he’d lent her, she found herself in front of Eflame. Her Morningstar was glowing gold with the power of a Guiding Bolt engulfing it, and she let out a yell as she smashed it into Eflame.

Only to her shock and horror, her explosive impact just bounced off it. She saw what looked like a magical circle right where the impact had been, and it had completely absorbed her blow! With a yell of fright, she leapt back, and just in time to get singed rather than burned when Eflame exploded. Even that still knocked off over eight hundred HP. More than a seventh of her total!

She bit her lip as she landed, her Teleportation Stone appearing in her hand. She went to crush it… before Jinwoo’s, Soohyun’s, and Miho’s voices rang in her head. Could she really run at the first sign of trouble? Jinwoo had fought and killed a red-named Cerberus, and here she was, wanting to run from something that was the same level as her! Her friends (and hopefully more) believed in her! Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, she put it away. Eflame was floating around in the least menacing way possible. The stupid thing was cute, and she hated it! It contracted again, shooting another gout of flame at her. She jumped out of the way and when she landed, raised her Morningstar. It was glowing bright and let out a blinding flash as she left behind a floating ball of light. She moved it and it flashed again, and then again, until she had three Guiding Bolts floating above her head.

With a yell, she swung her weapon, and the three magical attacks rocketed forward. The first one smashed into Eflame and was blocked by the shield. The second landed beneath it and exploded. The Wisp let out a shriek from the attack, and then the lagging third bolt smashed into it and blew it across the clouds. When the smoke cleared, she realized it was still alive, though it looked dim and small and was practically lying on the clouds. Like its core wasn’t expelling enough light to keep it afloat.

Knowing this was her chance, she dashed forward and appeared in front of it in an instant, her Morningstar shining. With a yell, she brought it down on the downed Wisp and crushed it. It let out a death wail before vanishing.

“I DID IT!” She squealed in happiness and exhilaration as she received a single Level Up. She then checked her inventory for any rewards, and her face lit up when she saw a Rune Stone! She had earned that herself. She immediately took it out and crushed it, her eyes glowing a bright blue. “Oh!” She gasped as she realized what it was. She had been so excited she hadn’t even read the description!

[Divine Bulwark LV. 1

Cast a shield around your entire body. Capable of absorbing any one hit and turning the damage you would have taken into MP.]

“Oh, that was the shield Eflame used!” She exclaimed, before testing it out. She raised her right hand with her book floating in front of her and cast it. A series of magic circles surrounded her, before evaporating. She tried to cast it again but was unable to. Her arm seemed to burn slightly, as though she had been working out. It was two whole seconds before she was able to cast it again, and that was consistent every time she tried it. It may not have seemed like a long time, but in the kinds of battles they fought with multiple enemies and with how fast beasts and Hunters alike could be, it may as well have been an eternity.

Shaking her head, she checked her Inventory. “Hmm… I don’t think I’m done.” She said, trepidation once again worming its way in. She had only leveled up once. And she definitely couldn’t say that her enemy was as strong as Cerberus had been, according to Jinwoo. But more importantly, she still had no clue about what was next, nor had she received a key the way he had.

With her stomach fluttering, she cautiously continued on. Finally, she came on something that seemed different. The cloudy floor was starting to turn uphill, and she quickly moved through it. Occasionally, she got attacked by more Wisps and even had to fight a second mini-boss Wisp that spewed ice. Getting frozen was awful, and she honestly felt it was worse than getting burned. If it wasn’t for her new skill, she probably would have been in a lot more trouble. She got one more level from that, and then she arrived at what had to be her destination.

It was a literal golden gate, blocking off what looked like a steep drop off the face of the earth. “Uhhhh…” She said stupidly, “This better not be a joke.” She grumbled, before taking a step forward. She flinched when the gates violently opened, making a loud clang, and then let out a whine when something stepped forward.

It was an utterly breathtaking beast. Something that had Joohee wanting to coo at it and pet it. A unicorn. Its body and mane shone like gleaming silver and its horn seemed almost iridescent.

[The Gatekeeper of Heaven, Mystica.]

“Noooo! It’s too cute! I don’t want to fight it!” She moaned, crying crocodile tears. Well, that was too bad for her, because it clearly wanted to kill her. The unicorn let out a neighing sound and reared up, before slamming its hooves down and charging at her. It moved like a lightning bolt, moving so fast Joohee barely had a chance to get Divine Bulwark up to take the hit from its horn.

She had to move rapidly, backpedaling and trying to avoid its stomping hooves. But it was just so fast. She was just barely able to get out of the way of its horn, meaning it scored a gouge on her cheek rather than impaling her right through the nose. “WAGH!” She yelled as she slammed her Morningstar into its flank, drawing some blood and ruining its coat.

The unicorn slammed its hooves back, hitting her shield once more, but her eyes widened in panic as it just landed and then kicked back again. She dodged back but still took the hooves in the stomach. Her eyes bulged from the pain, and blood erupted from her lips, before Joohee was launched clear across the clouds, bouncing repeatedly. When she stopped, she reared over and vomited. As she raised her shaky gaze, she had to raise another Divine Bulwark in panic as it didn’t give her a moment’s respite.

She jabbed forward with her weapon and let loose a Guiding Bolt at the unicorn, blowing it across the clouds. In a panic, she immediately grabbed her Teleportation Stone from her Inventory to escape.

But the burned and singed unicorn was in front of her once more, and she couldn’t use her shield. “AH!” She screamed in pain and terror as her lifeline was kicked right out of her hand. She rolled away from the beast and had a perfect view to watch her Teleportation Stone fall off the side of the clouds.

“Nononononono!” She screamed as she desperately tried to keep away from the Divine Beast. She tried to look in her inventory to summon it back, but it was gone.

She was stuck.

How could things have gone so badly so quickly? She blocked another charge, and, now knowing it was do or die, desperately smashed her weapon into its snout. It let out a whine of its own and reared back, and she caught its hooves with her shield. Her MP was basically completely full still, so she charged three hundred into a Guiding Bolt and slammed it into the unicorn, flinging it away once more. It was its turn to crash and tumble across the clouds as Joohee hurried to heal herself. Her heart was hammering so hard it was actually painful in her chest. Her body was covered in sweat, and she felt cold and clammy.

The unicorn snorted and whinnied as it got to its feet, looking a little sluggish itself. Its eyes started to gleam maliciously, and its horn started to glow like a rainbow. “Oh, what now?” Joohee asked.

Lasers.

That was the answer.

The unicorn shot a gods damned laser at her. She yelped in shock as she raised another bulwark, absorbing the hit. The unicorn let out a loud cry towards the golden sky, and unlike what she expected, it didn’t use a skill.

No, instead, dozens of Wisps rose from the clouds. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Her face turned blue. The world was, unfortunately, completely serious. She immediately sprang into action, battering the Wisps around and sending Guiding Bolts flying, but it was immediately apparent that she could not take her eyes off the unicorn, because a laser from its horn smashed into her from behind. She screamed as the heat and concussive force from the attack injured her and blew her clothes apart. She was now nearly nude, her clothes in tatters, and the laser had taken out half her HP in one blast.

She needed to do something different. Remembering the trick she had pulled against Eflame, she started summoning Guiding Bolts. Many of them. As many as her mana could summon. But she didn’t fire them. Instead, she started to spin them all around her in every direction. One Wisp found that out the hard way when it ran into one of her attacks and blew itself to smithereens.

[Guiding Bolt has leveled up!

Guiding Bolt LV.1 > LV.2

Now able to summon dozens of bolts and control them as a passive shield. Anything that comes into contact with a bolt will take damage.]

Her attention was stolen as another laser came for her. She blocked it with a shield, restoring her mana and immediately using it for the sweet relief of healing. She then did something she had never done before. She cast a Buff on herself. And not just any buff, but a Warrior buff, temporarily increasing her Strength, Health, and Agility by about twenty percent. This time, she charged at the unicorn, ignoring the Wisps around her. They attacked anyway and merely blew themselves up. She blocked one laser, then rolled under another, and then pumped her legs as hard as she could. She smashed into the unicorn, her Guiding Bolts all exploding one after the other as they ran into it. It tried to dislodge her, whining weakly as it managed to push her away slightly. It took a step and then flopped over, letting out shuddering breaths. With a yell, she raised her Morningstar with both hands and then slammed it down right on the unicorn’s head, cracking its skull open and spilling its brains and blood everywhere.

[You have defeated Mystica!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

She let out a sigh of relief, putting her hands on her knees and sagging, taking a deep breath. And then she was thrown over the unicorn by one of the Wisps. Growling in irritation, she sprang into action once again, smashing Wisp after Wisp and then finally flopping onto her back, spread-eagled when it was finally over. She let out an exhausted moan despite her low Fatigue stat. She just lay on the fluffy clouds, eyes closed, and contemplating taking a nap right then and there. It was so fluffy and wonderfully warm!

But she knew it was a bad idea. She sat up and opened her inventory to see her rewards.

[Iridescent Necklace

Rank: B

+15 Intelligence

+15 Strength

+15 Perception]

It was made from the unicorn’s shattered horn. She let out an exhausted sigh. The mission had driven home that she would, in fact, have to fight on her own, and the gear she kept getting pushed her in that direction too. It was actually stronger than the collar Jinwoo had given her, though it lacked any boost to Agility and had five less Perception. The other stats made up for it though. She swapped them out, making sure to make a note to give the collar back to Jinwoo. She would have to put some points into Agility, because if she hadn’t had the Gatekeeper’s Collar, she had little doubt that she would have been impaled. Repeatedly.

She then eyed the [Heaven’s Key] that she had been given and scoffed at the idea of opening those gates. Finally, she eyed the Rune Stone she had been given. “No crafting item? I guess not all of our Dungeons will have prizes like that.” She mumbled, “Or at least not so early.” She crushed the stone and gasped in joy as her eyes gleamed gold.

[Healing has evolved into Divine Light.

Divine Light LV.1

Summon a miniature sun above you. Its rays will heal your party members with powerful regeneration.]

Her healing had become AOE AND she had finally gained Regeneration? She would have given anything for that ability back in the Double Dungeon when Jinwoo lost his leg. Now she had it. Finally. “YES!”

Oh, she hated how she had acquired the skill, but knowing she had it was a huge relief for her. Now she could make sure that her teammates would always come out of every dungeon hale and whole.

That was it for her rewards, at least for this… she was assuming floor “zero.” It was like Jinwoo said. They definitely weren’t strong enough to progress further, but the rewards for at least clearing this first floor were beyond amazing. She could hardly wonder what the rest of the dungeon would bring her. She took a moment to assess her stats.

Name: Lee Joohee

Level: 34

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP: 4225

MP: 2730

Strength: 85

Agility: 43

Perception: 58

Vitality: 43

Intelligence: 98

Available Ability Points: 0

She could hardly believe she was the same girl she’d been before the Double Dungeon. Smiling, she raised the Dungeon key and twisted it, forming her exit portal.

…

Like the girls before him, Jinwoo had been nervously watching not only Joohee’s stats, but also Soohyun’s and Miho’s. When he saw her take fifty percent of her health in a single hit, he started to panic. The other girls were in danger too, and he could hardly imagine what they were going through. Well, Miho was fairly obvious, though he was praying that the “Dragons’ Summit” did not mean actual dragons, because if it did…

Well, the entire world remembered Kamish.

Hot, burning relief filled him when he saw her level up twice more… though he was then very confused when she took small bites of damage for a few minutes. Minutes later, the Gate formed next to him, and he turned to face it. “I told you that you could do it, JooHEEEEEEE!” His face flamed red as she stepped out.

“Thanks, Jinwoo.” Joohee said, before blinking as he whirled around, facing away from her. “Jinwoo?”

“J-Joohee, uhh, look… look down.” Jinwoo stammered.

Blinking owlishly, she did as commanded, and was met with her full, exposed breasts. ‘Oh… right.’ She thought to herself, mortified as she remembered the attack from Mystica destroying her clothes. Her tight pants were now more like leg warmers, with only a small strip of cloth attaching her waistband to the pant legs up front. Blushing brightly, she reached back and patted her ass, finding that the only thing giving her even a semblance of modesty was the cute thong Soohyun had bought for her.

She looked around and saw that thankfully, she and Jinwoo were the only ones there. That was strangely comforting. And emboldening, because frankly, she could use a reward after all that. Blushing, she stepped forward and walked to Jinwoo. She then wrapped her arms around him, feeling his body stiffen in her arms.

“J-Joohee?” The squeak that came from him was adorable.

She bit back a giggle, “If you’re uncomfortable, I can stop…” She let off leadingly.

He swallowed heavily, before turning in her arms and hugging her back. She let out a pleased, happy sigh as she squished her breasts against his chest and then stood on her tippy toes to kiss him once more. She didn’t want to do more than that though, and after a few moments, merely laid her head on his chest to listen to his heartbeat. She began to mumble about what she had experienced in the dungeon while he listened attentively.

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Miho couldn’t say she wasn’t looking forward to this. When she heard about what Jinwoo experienced, she knew she was going to look forward to the challenge. That said, the name of her Instance Dungeon did have her rather worried. Dragons were… hellbeasts if there ever were any. A single dragon had escaped an S-Rank Dungeon in America, and it had devastated the entire western seaboard of the country. Hundreds of S-Rank Hunters had been like lambs to the slaughter. Only five had survived, and they were now known far and wide as the five most powerful Hunters in the entire world. National Level Hunters.

If whatever was inside this Dungeon was even a tenth as powerful as Kamish, she’d still be running for the hills. Raising her key, she ‘inserted’ it into the air and turned it, spawning an angry red Gate that she walked through.

[You have entered the Dragons’ Summit. Time Dilation is in effect.

A Quest has arrived! You must survive off the land. Kill the beasts of this world. You will be unable to leave before completing this quest. No outside food may be consumed.

Daily Quests are suspended for the duration of your Dungeon Dive.]

The world hadn’t even really formed around her, but that was already anxiety inducing. When she finally exited her Gate, her mind was on the new quest, and she had to shake her head and take in her surroundings. Immediately, it became clear that she wasn’t anywhere near where she had been. This area was a thick jungle. The air was hot and humid, and the temperature was sweltering. She was immensely glad that she had bought some heat-resistant gear, specifically rings, to help control the temperature. Despite the heat, or perhaps because of it, the skies above were thick with black clouds. Lightning flashed every couple of seconds, and the rumble of thunder filled the air.

Swallowing heavily, she leapt and scaled up one of the huge trees, her claws and talons sinking into the bark. The tree was unearthly in size. Nothing on the planet could possibly grow this big and stay standing. As she went into the foliage, snakes uncamouflaged and attacked her. Growling, she stuck her talons into the wood to secure herself and carved them up with her claws. They were fast, but not faster than Baek Miho.

When the waves of serpents ended, she continued her climb. Other trees were even taller and larger, so she had to leap from one to another and spend another few minutes rolling her eyes and carving up some more snakes. When Miho finally reached the apex of the tallest tree she could find, she was more than three hundred meters high. She imagined the trunk would be about fifteen meters wide near the base. “What a view! Good thing I don’t mind heights.” She chuckled, though she wished she still had her wings so she could glide down instead of having to climb again.

From what she could tell from her survey, she was actually on some sort of island. She could see the ocean from here in most directions. It honestly made her think of Jeju, back before the island had been ruined by those damned ants. Like Jeju, there was a central mountain, though it was surrounded by smaller ones. Smoke poured from the apex, and she imagined that she would eventually have to go over there herself.

It was also clear to her that this was going to be unlike Jinwoo’s Dungeon. The island was too massive to just be a one and done ‘Level Zero.’ Jinwoo had known almost immediately where to head. Miho could barely figure out where to start.

“This quest…” She eyed it. “Why did it give me no real information? How long will I be stuck here? It’s like a Red Gate.” This was clearly going to be a survival challenge for her. It was really annoying that the System loved throwing these curveballs at them. “And I can’t even count on Daily Quests to level up my stats? What bullshit is this?”

Still, Miho at least had her bearings and spent the next several minutes zipping down the trees at blinding speed. ‘Guess I’ll just have to start hunting.’ Miho thought to herself as she landed and immediately took off running between the trees. She wasn’t sure how long she was running for, but it didn’t take too long for her to be attacked.

She was forced to dodge a concentrated, coordinated attack from a pack of beasts. They were lizards but seemed almost wolf-like in appearance. They had light green scales with some blue and reddish stripes covering their bodies, as well as a blue underbelly. They were roughly the size of Komodo dragons, give or take a bit in either direction.

[Jagras]

Was what they were called, and Miho was surprised to see that their names were white. That meant she’d barely be getting any EXP off them. It was shocking after hearing about Jinwoo’s Cerberus. That also did not bode well for escaping from this place quickly.

Still, there was nothing to it but to do it. She quickly blitzed her first Jagras and carved it up instantly with her claws. Smirking, she quickly sped through the group, dodging every bite, tail whip, and even attempted body slam nimbly. Her claws diced them apart, tearing through hard scales as easily as they would through flesh.

Within a minute, she had turned a group of twenty Jagras into meat confetti. Her armor was covered in blood, and she knew that was bound to attract attention from other beasties. She was proven right as a large behemoth knocked over a tree in its arrival.

[Great Jagras]

She read the light orange name without much worry. It meant it was barely within her level range. The Great Jagras didn’t look much like its smaller counterpart. It resembled an iguana almost, though it was about six meters long, so it was much bigger than the earth creature. Its scales were yellow with orange accents, and it even appeared to be carrying around some fibers on its head (or maybe it had actual fur?) that resembled dreadlocks.

The beast roared at her and charged, much slower than the smaller variants. But its every step had much more impact, and when she dodged its blows and retaliated, she knew she was really only doing superficial damage.

The Great Jagras then surprised her by eating one of the corpses of the smaller beasts she had already killed, swallowing it whole. And then it ate another. And another. Her jaw unhinged slightly as she noticed how bloated its blue belly was getting. Finishing its meal, it roared towards the sky, and Miho let out a surprised squeak when a whole pack of the lesser Jagras arrived as well. Now she was contending with the huge beast and many smaller ones at the same time.

She was stronger than them for the most part but having to deal with a whole pack and dodging the overweight behemoth was annoying. The landscape trembled and was reshaped under its weight. It knocked down trees and shattered boulders in its attempt to crush her.

At one point it even regurgitated its meal, firing the corpse at her like a cannonball. Dodging that caused her to finally take a bite from one of the lesser Jagras, though it barely managed to penetrate her own scales with its weak jaw. She yelled as she flung it at the Great Jagras, who bit down on it immediately. She used the distraction to leap into the air and land on the back of its neck.

With a roar, Miho clenched her right fist and punched the beast right in the back of its skull. A sickening crack rang through the forest, and the beast fell limp like a marionette that had its strings cut. She jumped and slid on the ground, glaring at the lesser Jagras. They got the idea with their pack leader killed and ran away as fast as they could.

Miho took a deep breath and eyed the creatures strewn around her. “Well… hopefully these things at least taste good.” She said dubiously as she opened up the shop and purchased a whole bunch of camping equipment for cheap. Despite having eaten not long ago (or at least it felt that way) she was suddenly feeling ravenous.

She quickly butchered several of the beasts, hoping that at least something here would be tender and edible. It wasn’t like she could spend half a day slow cooking them. She didn’t exactly have a taste for raw meat either, despite her powers. She gathered stones and had a fire going with the felled trees, with a rudimentary rotisserie built.

Honestly, she was almost hoping stronger monsters would be attracted by the smell of her cooking. Miho had come here expecting a challenge, and thus far, had been disappointed.

Hours later, she was quite happy. The beasts hadn’t tasted bad, even if the meat hadn’t exactly been tender except for a few of the cuts she’d tried, and she now had at least some information on the quest.

[You must survive off the land. Kill the beasts of this world. You will be unable to leave before completing this quest. No outside food may be consumed.

Jagras: 37/100

Great Jagras: 1/10

Girros: 0/100

Great Girros: 0/10

Tidal Najarala: 0/5

Zinogre: 0/1

Magnamalo: 0/1

Lunagaron: 0/1

Odogaron: 0/1]

“…Shit, do I have to fight four boss beasts?” Miho couldn’t help but wonder. She wondered where she would even find these things. But at least there was something to be happy about. “At least these damn things taste good.”

And there was one final thing that really annoyed her. “Why the hell have I killed 37 regular Jagras and a Greater Jagras and not gotten a single level up?” Miho griped, glaring at her stats.

[EXP gain rate in this Dungeon is decreased. Skill EXP gain rate is increased. This only applies to foes that are as strong as you or weaker.]

Her glare increased in heat, “Well that’s just great.” Miho snarked. That wasn’t going to be an equitable trade, was it?

She eyed her skills.

[Draconic Transformation Lv.2]

[Advanced Spear Wielding Lv.1]

[Spear Throwing Lv.1]

[Piercing Strike Lv.1]

[Berserker Fury Lv.1]

If she couldn’t get all of that up at least two levels each, it definitely wouldn’t be a fair trade off. She eyed the number of minions she had to kill. “Tch.” She clicked her teeth, knowing she probably would have to kill far more than just those.

Sighing, Miho quickly climbed the biggest tree around. She went up about a hundred feet before stopping and transforming her claws. She started to stab her fingers into the bark and tear out chunks of wood. It took her a decent bit of time, but she managed to hollow out a large part of the trunk. “This will do for a base.” She said, glaring at the uneven floor she had created. It was at least relatively flat. She quickly bought a thick mattress from the shop and plopped it down, before buying a sleeping bag and getting naked. She quickly got herself settled, smiling at how comfy the mattress was due to how thick she had gotten it. She eyed the hole dubiously, but reasoned she was up high enough to avoid attention. She hadn’t seen any flying creatures around and hoped that none would suddenly decide to bother her.

-]|[-

Seven days had passed inside her new, unwanted home before something happened to break the ‘monotony.’

[Lee Joohee is video calling you.]

Miho blinked as she eyed the screen that had popped up, “Huh, forgot this was a thing. Good thing I just woke up. Accept.”

“Miho!” Joohee smiled as she saw her friend looking safe. She, Jinwoo, and Soohyun were all there, and Miho sighed in relief when she saw that both of them were okay. “What’s going on? You’ve been gone for seven hours. None of us took nearly that long!”

Miho scratched the back of her neck, “I’ve been here for seven days, actually.”

“What?!” Soohyun blurted, “How the hell?!”

“Yeah, apparently my dungeon is a Red Gate.” Miho deadpanned, smiling slightly as Jinwoo winced, “I’m stuck in here until I complete a survival/kill quest… and I’m not even getting regular EXP from it. I’ve yet to see anything with even a dark orange name, and apparently I trade EXP for Skill EXP with anything as strong as me or weaker.”

“Ouch.” Jinwoo said, “I wonder how we’re talking to each other then? If you have time dilation going on, I mean.”

“Let’s not question it in case it breaks.” Soohyun snarked, and they all shared a laugh.

“Anyway, how did your dungeons go?” Miho asked them, raising an eyebrow when Joohee blushed slightly.

“It went well.” Joohee said and launched into the story of her own personal dungeon.

“Ooh, those are some great skills!” Miho complimented her.

“Oh, but Joohee hasn’t told you the best part.” Soohyun said, smirking slyly.

“Soohyuuuun!” Joohee mewled, blushing brightly.

“Oh?” Miho looked amused as she imagined the feline ears on Soohyun’s head.

“Yes, when we met up later, Joohee was giving Jinwoo quite the show.” Soohyun giggled and Miho’s jaw dropped as Joohee’s face went nuclear, “Apparently the mini boss she fought blasted most of her clothes off and left her almost naked.”

Miho started to wheeze as she tried to hold back her laughter. “Hmph!” Joohee huffed, looking away with a pout.

“Oh, and we’ll have a little something something to talk about once you get back, Miho.” Soohyun said, throwing her arm around Joohee’s shoulder and side-hugging her.

“Sure.” Miho focused up again, “So, how did your Dungeon dive go?”

“It was… weird.” Soohyun said, grimacing, before launching into her own story.

…

Soohyun turned her key, watching as a vivid purple Gate appeared before her. She took a few moments to fortify herself, before charging in. “…” She blinked as she looked around, “…Huh?” Her surroundings were utterly befuddling. She appeared to be inside a home, or at least a building of some sorts. “I thought this Dungeon was called ‘Cursed Seoul.’ Where the heck am I?” The walls, floors, and even the windows were broken and dilapidated. Wallpaper was peeling, stains marred every other inch of the floor. Trash and other bits of junk littered the floor…

She let out a shiver, “Ugh, this place is creepy.” She cautiously began to walk, finding that she was near the top floor of what looked like many. “…Are there even monsters to fight here?” She descended down a grand staircase, taking care to make as little noise as possible, before taking a right and continuing to explore.

As Soohyun walked, she did as Miho had taught her and took in her surroundings. It was just so eerie in there. The pitter patter of rain on the windows was just about the only noise there was other than her soft footsteps. She looked inside room after room but found nothing but some rats that had scared the hell out of her. She continued to walk and was surprised to find another grand staircase at the end of the hall. “Huh? Did I get turned around?” She asked in befuddlement.

Scratching the back of her head, she walked down the staircase with a bit more confidence this time. She took a left this time, hoping to find some sort of exit. And after a few minutes more of walking, came across yet another grand staircase. A vein popped up on her forehead, “How many giant freaking staircases does one house need?” Soohyun stomped down, fuming. She tried to go behind the staircase this time and found another door. She entered and found another hallway and was completely unsurprised when walking down it led to yet another staircase.

“Wait.” She stopped suddenly, before eyeing the trash. She squinted at the arrangement of the junk. Underwear, a bag of some American snack called Doritos, some cans, a heavy stain… She walked some more, ignoring all the doors and increasing her pace. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” She paled as she came upon the staircase again. Underwear, a bag of some American snack called Doritos, some cans, a heavy stain… Again she moved, this time running, and again came across the same staircase and piles of junk.

She looked around, and now the ominous atmosphere of the mansion seemed to have intensified. “Okay… how do I get out of this?” This… warping and folding space. “Wait!” Soohyun gasped, realizing all of a sudden that this seemed like a much more esoteric application of her own powers. “Could I do something like this?” She wondered before focusing. Rather than let out blasts like she liked doing, she instead just sent waves of gravity and warping space around her. Immediately, the mansion began to warp around her, undulating like ocean waves.

An ominous creaking and groaning rang through the abandoned house. She was able to affect her own surroundings. Good. But that still left her trapped inside, and she didn’t quite know what to do. Surely this wasn’t a moment for brute force, right? What if the building began to collapse around her as whatever kept it together came undone?

Soohyun bit her lip before setting her feet in a runner’s stance. If this didn’t work, she’d have to actually try launching attacks out and seeing who had the more powerful spatial magic. She engulfed herself with her own power, forming an ominous purple aura of her own. She then took off at blazing speeds. She ran and ran and ran, going faster and faster as she did so. And as she did, she could hear the groaning intensify. Her eyes were quick to spot the looped space beginning to unravel at the seams. She just pushed more and more power into her aura. From the outside looking in, she must have looked like Sonic the Hedgehog blurring up and down. And then the folded space shattered, and something burst from the floorboards at the bottom of the staircase.

It was unlike anything she’d ever seen. No Beast even came close to it. It had a vaguely dinosaur-like body, except with the muscular arms and legs of a body builder with what looked like a tiki mask for a head. There was a giant hole in the center of its chest, and despite the clear lack of lungs, it was making an unearthly noise that sounded like two different voices wailing at once. She even swore she could see a second set of teeth in its gullet.

It reached out for her, and she reacted instantly, pushing with her magic. She sensed that it wasn’t particularly powerful, but she had been surprised and because of that, she went for overkill. The beast was compressed and then shredded as she annihilated it and the house behind it too. “Whoops!” Soohyun yelped as the building started to come apart. She quickly ran out of the hole she had just created and yelped again when she was suddenly pelted by the falling rain.

It was icy cold rain, and she had to create an umbrella of gravity above her just to keep it from cutting her to the bone. She floated into the air, gaping. “Where the hell am I?!” Soohyun asked as she spun around. If this were Seoul, it must have been several hundred years in the past. She couldn’t see so much as one modern-looking building anywhere. There were certainly no skyscrapers around, just burnt-out husks of olden buildings.

And everywhere she looked, she could see corpses. Ones that looked relatively fresh, ones that had already turned into naught but bones. But more importantly, she could see dozens if not hundreds of similar monsters. All of them with huge, leathery-looking bodies, and all of whom had bone white masks over their heads.

And they had all turned to her as one and began roaring. They all attacked at once, some of them scrambling over one another in their rush to get to her. She even saw one start eating one of its fellows, apparently judging it to be an easier meal than her.

“Well, this is more like it.” She muttered, before holding out her palm and channeling her magic. She unleashed a wide Spatial Rend that took out half a dozen of them in one go. “Sorry boys.” Soohyun smirked widely, “But I’m not on the menu!” And with that, she was off, flying under her own power and playing keep away. Some of the monsters were landlocked, and she easily crushed them. The ones who could fly fought an aerial battle with her. One they simply weren’t strong enough to win. “This is nothing like Jinwoo’s Dungeon.” She muttered, dodging a spray of what looked like acid from one of the beasts – Hollows, their name tags said.

A barrage of steel-like feathers came from the wings of one, which she batted down and retaliated by grasping it with her magic and simply pulling it apart. “They have a bunch of varied techniques, huh?” Soohyun grumbled as she used a gravity shield to block a supersonic spray of water. “Oh, EW!” She yelped as another dropped a bunch of leeches on her. Despite managing to keep them away, she came very close to getting some gross slime all over her.

And then the leeches exploded, blowing her away. She growled, glaring at the beast that had just scorched her clothes. “You’re dead.” She hissed, chasing it through the skies and catching up in a burst of speed she never would have thought herself capable of in the past. She focused her gravity around her arm, warping the space around it more and more. She swiped her hand down and the creature simply fell into two pieces, cut as though she had wielded the sharpest of blades.

[You have created the skill: Gravity Blade.]

Smiling, she continued to fight. She even got to make use of Kasaka’s Infrared Vision when an invisible Hollow scratched her side. She wasn’t sure exactly how long she was fighting for, but in the end, she was floating through empty skies, panting and downing potions to get her Fatigue down and MP back up. “Nothing like Jinwoo’s.” Soohyun muttered as she dropped a bottle and bought another.

It was as she was raising it to her lips to take a sip that her instincts screamed at her and she got the hell out of the way. And it was a good thing she did, because she would have been cut in half if she hadn’t. “What the hell are you?” She growled as she whirled around.

For the first time, this monster didn’t bear much resemblance to the others she had been fighting. It was humanoid in shape, but much, much bigger. It was probably around double her size. The head was incomprehensible. She couldn’t see a mouth, a nose, or even eyes. It was just a black, shadowed mass. Its skin was a leathery purple speckled with white, making it look like its body was made of a galaxy. It had an extremely long tail, and wings came from its wrists. It had a large sword in its right hand. It was covered in golden jewelry. Rings, earrings, bangles, you name it. It even had rings on its toes. Finally, and most importantly, its name was red.

[Keeper of the End, Aes Sidhe.]

She swallowed heavily. Suddenly this felt a lot like Jinwoo’s Dungeon. “Okay big guy let’s-” She blinked, and it was gone. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she immediately dropped out of the sky. Its sword passed right where her neck had been, and she retaliated with a Spatial Rend. She wasn’t able to charge it up much, so all it managed to do was make its flesh ripple. She did hear at least one crack meaning a broken bone, so that was gratifying.

It looked down on her, and boy was its soulless ‘stare’ creepy. It reversed its sword into a reverse grip, before stabbing downward. Soohyun was nowhere near it so- “OH HOLY SHITFUCK!” She yelped as she dodged backwards as an absolutely gigantic version of the blade dropped on her head.

Soohyun growled, “Oh, is that what this whole stupid Dungeon is going to be? ‘Me but better?’ Screw off.” She threw another blast at it, and this time watched it dodge. “Oh yeah, definitely ‘me but better.’” She said as she actually watched it Warp away from her attack. It simply appeared next to her in a flash of purple, its sword already swinging for her head. She ducked and retaliated, but it kept swinging its blade. Their fight turned into a dance of her desperately keeping ahead of its sword while trying to tickle it (or at least it felt like that!) with her own blasts.

It somersaulted above her and slammed its blade into the ground. Soohyun had to flee into the sky as a dozen portals opened, and twelve identical blades shot in every direction. She bit her lip, “I need some kind of shield like Joohee.” She muttered, hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake as Aes Sidhe shot after her. Holding her right hand in front of her, she channeled her dark magic in a dense and wide pattern.

The creature swung at her, and her magic made the entire weapon distend as it seemed to bend around her. She quickly followed up with a Gravity Blade, smiling viciously when she cut one of its wings right off its wrist. “Ooh, nice!” She smiled as she saw a screen pop up in her peripheral vision.

[You have created a new skill: Void Aegis.]

And then she screamed as her tiny distraction cost her. Blood erupted from her front as the blade pierced her back. It had used another portal to redirect its weapon directly at her. The pain was unbelievable and even her teeth were stained red as she started to cough up blood. In desperation, she grabbed the sword to prevent Aes Sidhe from being able to pull it out, and then dumped half of her mana into a Spatial Rend. The attack smashed into her enemy and sent it rocketing away from her to smash into a building. A huge plume of dust, dirt, and debris erupted into the air. As it was forced back, she screamed again as the sword was ripped from her back through its portal.

She fell down onto the ground, rasping weakly. “S-Status Recovery!” Golden light enveloped her, and she sighed in relief, choking back a sob. That one attack had taken three-quarters of her health. If it wasn’t for Kasaka’s Venom Gland from that first Instance Dungeon she ran with everyone, she would have had less than two hundred HP remaining. She could have almost died off one attack. She panted as she got to her feet, looking at the crater she’d put that damned beast into. “You better be dead!” She hissed.

It wasn’t. An eruption of purple magic blew the debris away from it and it rose back up. Bile also rose in her gut. ‘I-I can’t take another hit like that! Should I just run?’ Soohyun thought to herself, grabbing the Teleportation Rune in her hand. But before she could even consider her decision, Aes Sidhe was on her again. Before her disbelieving eyes, her lifeline crumbled. The beast had attacked the stone itself. It had KNOWN what she was going to do!

And Soohyun didn’t have another. Cursing, she backpedaled, trying to think of something, anything she could do to kill this thing. She ducked and weaved, trusting her perception to the max as she played a game of aerial cat and mouse with it. Aes Sidhe was moving even faster than it had before, and it was all that she could do to keep ahead of its Warping and Portals.

She needed to do something fast. Her only option was going to be one absolutely crushing blow. She began to gather her mana, charging more and more into her left hand which glowed with a fell purple light. When she felt her attack couldn’t take any more mana, she stopped dodging and blocked with Void Aegis. Its sword was redirected once again, and she kicked it in the chest. Strength was by far her weakest stat, but she wasn’t trying to hurt it. Just get it away from her. And her kick accomplished that. “DIE!” She screamed as she raised both her hands above her head. She then thrust them down like she was throwing a Spirit Bomb from Dragon Ball Z, and it was like a filter was put on the world.

What looked like a tube ten meters across burst into existence around Aes Sidhe. The purple demon became even darker as every bit of the air turned black from the terrifying gravitational tides. One moment it was flying back, and the next it was a smear of blood on the ground. And a beat after that, there was a giant, impossibly smooth borehole extending down who knew how far.

[You have defeated Aes Sidhe, Keeper of the End.]

She fell from the sky in exhaustion even as the level ups poured in and rejuvenated her.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

She crashed hard into the ground and let out an exhausted moan. “This better be worth it.” She hissed out.

Opening up her inventory, she took in her rewards. First up was a Rune Stone, which she smiled about. Crushing it, her eyes began to glow purple.

[You have acquired the skill: Warp.

Become completely intangible and teleport anywhere, in any direction. The cooldown of this skill varies based on distance and obstruction. Warping to far-off places takes concentration and will drain Fatigue. Does not cost Mana to use.]

“Oooh, that’s awesome! Screw you, Aes Sidhe, your powers are mine!” Soohyun cheered, brushing her hair back. “What else?”

[Aes Sidhe’s Earrings

Rank: A

+25 Intelligence

+20 Perception

+15 Strength]

“Holy crap, that’s way stronger than the drop Jinwoo got!” She exclaimed, eyes wide. She bit her lip, “…I think this guy was stronger than the Cerberus.” She said, knowing that was really the only option there was. If she recalled correctly, the Gatekeeper’s Collar had been B-Rank. “I guess it makes sense… I did almost get insta-killed.” She shuddered as she remembered the sword that had been through her body. She also patted where the wound had been and blinked, looking down. “Oh, come on.” She let out a sigh of irritation as she saw her exposed breast. The blade had ruined her cute clothes!

She equipped the earrings, “Wonder why it keeps giving me strength.” She asked the empty air. Unlike Joohee, she wasn’t using a Morningstar! Finally, she had some crafting materials as well as a recipe for a weird looking weapon. She couldn’t craft it yet, but apparently it was supposed to be tailored for her powers. Finally, there was a ‘Dungeon Pass’ for the next ‘floor’ of Cursed Seoul.

Which she wouldn’t touch with a twelve-foot pole.

Finally, she decided to look at her stats before leaving.

Name: Yoo Soohyun

Level: 34

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP: 3725

MP: 3450

Strength: 58

Agility: 59

Perception: 63

Vitality: 39

Intelligence: 108

Available Ability Points: 0

“Ooh, looks like the amount of MP you get per point in INT doubles at some point.” She said cheerfully. “Maybe every fifty?” With nothing else to do for now, she grabbed the dungeon key and turned it, opening the Gate back outside. She practically ran through it and gave a quick call to Joohee and Jinwoo, asking where they were. Joohee had finished her own dive not long ago, and apparently they were still at Gyeongbokgung. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on where she wanted to go and, in a blink, was gone.

“Jinwoo, Joohee!” She yelled as she appeared almost right next to them. The two yelped and jumped up, and Soohyun had a front-row seat to watch Joohee bounce. “…Ara Ara, what’s this?” A cheshire grin rose on her face.

“Soohyun!” Joohee squeaked, “How’d you do that?!”

“New skill.” She grinned, “Why are you naked?”

“Blasted off in the dungeon.” Joohee was still blushing.

“Same.” Soohyun pointed at her exposed breast, and Jinwoo choked as his attention was drawn to her perky tit. She then let out a shuddering breath as that reminded her, “…I almost died.” She said somberly.

“Me too.” Joohee immediately hugged her, not caring that they were both in less than reputable states of dress.

‘Girls, mercy! I’m only a man!’ Jinwoo hunched over, hoping he wasn’t about to have one of those anime nosebleeds. And then he yelped as Joohee grabbed his wrist and drew him in for a three-way hug. That left both hers and Soohyun’s exposed breasts pressing up against him. Neither of them really cared, and he could tell that Soohyun needed this as much as Joohee had. “Hey, you’re both fine. You won.” He switched into comforting mode.

“It was still… terrifying.” Soohyun managed to choke out. “The enemy almost killed me in a single blow. If it hadn’t been for the damage reduction from Kasaka’s Venom Gland it would have been even closer.”

“I’ve been there.” Jinwoo said softly as he patted her head. “First Dungeon I ever ran, I got gutted. If we hadn’t had a Healer…” They both flinched in his arms, “But I’m still here. And so are you. And with our skills, eventually, these beasts won’t be able to hurt us anymore.”

Soohyun smiled and pulled back, wiping her tears. “That’s a day to look forward to.” She said, “Thank you, Jinwoo.” She then turned to Joohee, and Jinwoo blinked as they seemed to have a silent conversation. Joohee suddenly nodded, and Soohyun turned to him.

Before his brain even registered it, her lips were on his. “Mph!” His yelp was muffled as she immediately slipped him some tongue, holding the back of his head with her hand. ‘Well, I don’t seem to be dead, and Joohee is still hugging me.’ He thought to himself clinically as she pulled away. And then Joohee kissed him once more. “Girls.” He said, his tone remarkably even when his redhead pulled away. “…Explain.”

Soohyun gave him a cheery smirk, “Miho is going to be pissed that she’s last.” Joohee let out a little giggle.

‘This is my life now.’ Jinwoo deadpanned before pulling Soohyun close and kissing her properly this time.

-]|[-

Things were going well for Miho, though she couldn’t help but feel some weariness by now. After hearing about the dangerous boss Soohyun had faced and congratulating her close friend on a job well done, Miho had gotten right back on the grind. Several days had passed since then, and she had already long-since completed the primary requirement for her quest. The dungeon actually kept count of how many she killed past the quest requirements too, and she was already in the 500s for Jagras and 300s for Girros. She was pretty happy to have gained quite a few skill levels already. Her Draconic Transformation in particular, was already at least back up to the level it had been before she had reset. Hunting via the air had sped things up tremendously.

Despite that, she had made zero progress on any of the others. “Where are these fucking things?!” She snarled, glaring at the 0/5 for the Tidal Najarala. She ran her hand through her hair in frustration. “Is this damn thing just… not in the jungle?” In fairness, she had stayed in the same general area while hunting. She ventured further each day on her search, especially once she had gotten her wings back, but not too far as she didn’t want to lose track of her ‘home.’

Miho sighed, “This tree was comfortable, but it looks like I probably won’t be able to come back.” She started putting the things she had bought into her inventory, before transforming and breaking her wings out. She soared into the sky with a few strong flaps and hovered there, trying to figure out where to go. She eyed one of the further parts of the island that looked like it had much less jungle and more lakes and rivers. “Well, it’ll be a change of scenery at least.” Miho muttered, before diving and swooping in that direction.

As she flew, she saw other mobs that she hadn’t seen before. Wulgs, Shamos, Bullfangos… She smirked viciously, “Time to hunt.” She swooped down and went into what seemed like a bloodlusted frenzy, carving the new enemies up. They were a good deal weaker, and after cooking all of them up, she decided the Bullfangos tasted best and stored quite a bit of meat in her inventory to share with her friends. “Good thing stuff won’t spoil in my inventory.” She said cheerfully, before settling down to relax and plan out the next morning’s excursion. Thankfully, she had scouted a nice cave from the air, so finding shelter had been easy.

…

It took her three more days before she finally figured out where the next beasts on her list were. She had gone all the way to the shoreline in search, and a Tidal Najarala had literally burst from the ocean to try to snatch her out of the air. They had quite a resemblance to Kasaka with their glittering purple scales, though there were greens, yellows, and grays as well. The head was completely different. In fact, it looked like it had a beak of sorts and bony protrusions near its mouth. It also was legged, and just a bit smaller than Kasaka had been.

It was fast, whipping its body around and even launching itself from the water like a whale. It would slither, claw, and even try to bite her as she led it on a merry chase back to shore. It crawled onto the sand and screeched at her, before spitting out a huge glob of liquid. “Preeeedictable.” She laughed as she dodged the attack and landed on the beach.

That seemed to piss it off as it clawed the beach and used its anchors to whip itself around, trying to slap Miho away with its tail. Miho’s defense and endurance had increased massively over the time she’d been in this dungeon. It had been shy of a month, but she had slaughtered dozens of beasts and used that experience to harden her scales and sharpen her claws. Rather than dodge, she braced. She grunted as the impact still took away a fair bit of health, but her bared fangs were set in a smirk as she held on. The Najarala screeched and tried to pull away, but she held fast. With her eyes blazing with an inner fire, she roared with exertion and whipped the creature over her head. It was flailing in panic as she slammed it down, smashing it headfirst into the sandy ground.

Smirking, she whipped it up again and slammed it one more time, and then again, and then again. The beast’s struggles grew weak as she let go of its tail and it tried to slither away, looking drunk. Summoning her spear, she leapt into the air and landed on its face. With a snarl, she slammed the blade of Kasaka’s Venom Fang through the scales on its forehead. Her new skill [Piercing Strike] easily allowed her to drill right through the tough armor. The beast stilled and then went completely slack.

Miho yanked her spear loose and let out a sigh, swiping some sweat from her brow. “Phew.” Drawing a carving knife from her inventory, she got to work butchering the Najarala. “Hopefully, this meat tastes as good as it looks.” She muttered, before starting to hum a tune that had been stuck in her head.

-]|[-

She had been on this island for a month and a half already, and it was starting to get to her. She missed her friends. She really missed her friends. And she wanted a gods damned hot shower. Thankfully, the end was in sight. Only one of the beasts remained, and she had a feeling she knew where it was. She had explored the entire island and found no trace of it, and that meant there was only one last place it could be.

Miho glared at the volcano, “Tomorrow, you’re going down.” She muttered, before looking away and getting ready to get settled in for the night. “I wonder if Jinwoo and Joohee are done with that Dungeon already?” With the monotony of the endless hunting settling in, she had started video calling them more often. Of course, that meant she usually went days without being able to see them since the time dilation meant they’d be asleep or busy. And she knew they had been getting ready to run a Dungeon that the Association had requested they fill spots for when they had last spoken.

Hoping she wasn’t interrupting anything, she called Jinwoo. It took a few rings, but Jinwoo answered, and she frowned when she saw the stone-faced look he had. She then realized Joohee was in his lap, crying, with Soohyun hugging the both of them. “What happened?” She asked immediately, all business.

Soohyun snarled, “The fucking System is what happened.”

Miho swallowed and took a deep breath, “Tell me.”

Jinwoo started to explain, but Joohee put a finger on his lip and straightened out in his lap, tears silently pouring from her eyes.

…

Neither Jinwoo nor Joohee were happy when they saw who they’d be running this Dungeon with. “Mr. Kim.” Jinwoo said flatly, while Joohee said nothing. It was very unlike the warm-hearted Healer, but nothing they didn’t deserve.

Kim Sangshik didn’t even have the balls to greet them, or even to speak to them. He looked away in shame. Jinwoo said nothing more and led Joohee over to some girders so they could sit as they waited for the party to fill out. “It’s not fair.” Joohee said softly as, rather than taking a seat of her own, she settled between his legs and let him hold her. “That Mr. Kim is here, and Mr. Song isn’t.”

Jinwoo simply closed his eyes, “He was a good man.” He replied softly. “He would have stayed with us.” She nodded, sniffing sharply as she tried to keep from crying a bit in his memory.

“Things are getting steamy, huh?” Their attention was drawn as a minivan pulled up, and three men stepped out.

“What the?!” Jinwoo tightened his hold on Joohee as they took them in.

The three men were all wearing orange jumpsuits and were handcuffed. “We on a movie set or something? Or are Hunters dating each other these days?” All three had numbers on their jumpsuits, and had nasty looks on their faces.

“Who the hell are you guys?” Jinwoo glared at them.

“Oh, we’re-” The leader with messy black hair started to say, before another voice cracked like a whip.

“Shut it.” A man Jinwoo and Joohee recognized stepped out of the driver’s seat and walked around. He had vivid purple hair and eyes, and a serious look on his face. “This isn’t a picnic.” His name was Kang Taeshik, and he was one of the two who had remeasured Jinwoo’s potential after the Cartenon Temple.

“What’s going on?” Joohee asked as she and Jinwoo walked over, eyeing the prisoners warily.

“Ah, I can explain.” A bespectacled woman with a bowl cut got out of the passenger seat. “Mr. Sung Jinwoo and Ms. Lee Joohee, you’re the Hunters that were called on duty, correct?”

“That’s right.” Jinwoo said, “Now explain.”

“Oh, you mean them?” The worker nodded over at the prisoners, “As you can see, they are probational prisoners who will be accompanying you on this raid in order to get their sentences reduced.”

Joohee was holding Jinwoo’s hand, and she tightened her grip in some anxiety, “We’re expected to run a Dungeon with criminals? How are we supposed to trust them?”

“You don’t have to worry about them causing trouble. The whole point of this is to get their sentences reduced. They won’t do anything to jeopardize that.” She smiled at Jinwoo and Joohee, “Plus, Mr. Kang Taeshik is a member of the Surveillance Team. He’s a B-Rank Hunter and will be keeping an eye on them at all times. The prisoners are only C-Rank.” She bowed, “I hope you understand, ma’am. We don’t really have a choice here. Too many Hunters in this district have either perished or retired. We simply don’t have the manpower.” And with that, she walked away without waiting for a response.

Jinwoo and Joohee looked at one another. They had a silent conversation, and Jinwoo merely let out a little smile as he saw the resoluteness in her gaze. He leaned forward, “Keep your new skills hidden. I have a bad feeling.” She nodded, turning slightly to peck him on the cheek. The two of them walked forward and joined the rest. The handcuffs were undone on the prisoners, who were smirking with vicious bloodlust as they were allowed to hold their weapons for the first time in a long time. Kang Taeshik then walked over to the other four. “Which of you will be leading?” He asked without fanfare.

Kim Sangshik opened his mouth, but Jinwoo beat him to the punch. “I will.”

“What?!” Kim blurted, whirling around and looking at him.

“Do you have a problem with that, Mr. Kim?” Jinwoo glared at him, daring him to say something.

Kim’s jaw clenched a little, “No. No complaints here.”

“Fine then. Let’s go.” Taeshik said, before following Jinwoo and Joohee through the Gate. It only took a few minutes for them to clear the initial area of goblins. The prisoners were actually fairly skilled and slaughtered them in droves. Jinwoo and Joohee did their duty efficiently. She buffed all of them, and they made mincemeat of the enemies.

All the while, Mr. Kim stared at Jinwoo especially in distraction. ‘How is this possible? It’s like he’s a completely different person.’ He thought to himself as Jinwoo cut off a goblin’s head with strikes that looked utterly at ease. He had to dodge a spear and cut down another beast himself.  Once the area was clear, they came upon a set of three caves leading in different directions. “Looks like it splits up.” He said unnecessarily.

“This Dungeon seems easier than expected.” Taeshik said casually, “How about we split up? It might be a bit riskier, but we’ll clear it a lot faster.” He asked Jinwoo.

“I was going to suggest the same thing.” Jinwoo replied, “Joohee and I will take the left.”

“Good. I’ll go right with the prisoners.” Taeshik agreed, “Just call if you find the boss’s lair.”

“Guess we’ll go down the middle.” Kim sighed as he and the rest of the survivors of the Cartenon Temple (who hadn’t quit Hunting) started down the middle path.

Both Joohee and Jinwoo twitched as they felt something ominous coming from Taeshik. Once they all disappeared into their own paths, he turned to Joohee.

But she preempted him, “You felt that too, right?” The anxiety was back.

“Something feels off about that guy.” He agreed, “Keep your guard up.” They continued on, with Joohee summoning her Morningstar and beginning to help him clean up the goblins. Neither of them were having much trouble, and they were leaving the path littered with their corpses.

And that was when they heard a bloodcurdling scream. “What?!” Joohee gasped, “That was Mr. Kim!”

“Let’s go!” They tore back down the path, before going up the middle to search for the others. And then they froze when they saw Kim Sangshik resting up against a wall, totally covered in blood and slash marks. “What happened?!”

Joohee didn’t miss a beat and raised her hand. Golden light erupted from her, and instantly, the color returned to Kim’s body. “M-Ms. Lee?” He gasped as the cuts on his body all sealed up. “H-How?!” He rasped, before his eyes widened, “WATCH OUT!”

Joohee and Jinwoo were already whirling around as he began his shout, and Joohee managed to catch Taeshik’s wrist, keeping the point of his dagger from penetrating her eye. “What?!” And then Jinwoo’s fist caught him in the cheek, sending him flying across the cavern. He landed in a crouch and slid back, glaring at them, “Oh, this isn’t what I was expecting.” He said as he glared at them, “Your file didn’t say anything about Regeneration, Ms. Healer. This is going to be troublesome.” He turned his glare on Jinwoo, touching his cheek, “And that was quite a punch. Who the hell are you two?” He asked as Kim stared in disbelief.

“Why did you do this?” Joohee glared and took a step forward, anger infusing her and keeping the anxiety at bay.

“Oh, you mean the prisoners?” Taeshik smirked at her, “A favor to the father of their victim. They raped a poor girl, and she killed herself over it. Just a bit of justice is all.”

“No.” Jinwoo said, “If that was all, you wouldn’t have hurt Mr. Kim and Mr. Kang. You didn’t just try to kill them to silence them. You carved them up multiple times. You tortured them. You don’t give a damn about this victim you’ve made up, do you?”

Taeshik’s grin split his face, “Nah, but the money her father paid was a nice bonus. I suppose it’s a waste of time to try to make up a fun, little story for you. I’ll just have to create one for the gullible public to eat up when I’m done here. You want the truth?” He looked utterly insane at this point. He drew both of his daggers, “It’s because I find killing people a whole lot more fun than slaughtering mindless beasts.” He vanished in a blur of speed, once again trying to take Joohee out first due to her troublesome ability.

His daggers were like little flashes of light as he tried to get through Jinwoo to get to Joohee. Jinwoo’s sword wasn’t nearly as maneuverable but had much longer reach. Taeshik was a tiny bit faster though, and managed to slip a dagger through.

It clanged against Joohee’s Morningstar, making his eyes widen as it just appeared in her hand. He then had to contort backwards and somersault away from Jinwoo’s dao as he tried to cut Taeshik in half. And then something Jinwoo had been dreading happened.

[An urgent quest has arrived!

Urgent Quest: Kill the enemies!

There are enemies nearby that intend to kill you. Kill all foes and ensure your safety. 

If you fail to follow these orders, you will die.

Number of foes to defeat: 1

Number of foes defeated: 0]

And worse, because of Taeshik’s behavior and his obsession with killing her first, that screen didn’t pop up in front of him. It popped up in front of Joohee. “Oh no!” She gasped in shock.

He wasn’t going to put her through that. “Joohee, let me do it.” He took a step forward and then wobbled. “What?” he fell to a knee, feeling dizzy and watching the room spin, “What is-”

“Jinwoo?!” Joohee gasped, but didn’t dare take her eyes off of Taeshik.

“Sung!” Kim kneeled next to him, “What is it?! Was his dagger poisoned?”

[Urgent Quests may not be interfered with. Player Lee Joohee must complete her Quest on her own. Player Sung Jinwoo will be debilitated until the Quest is complete.]

“Damn you!” He growled at the System.

In front of Joohee, the quest was amended.

[Urgent Quest Update:

Protect your allies.]

Joohee swallowed heavily as Taeshik began to giggle, “Oh, what’s this? I guess… Sung, was it? Couldn’t hack it. Looks like you’re all alone, Ms. Healer.” He played a little game, tossing his daggers back and forth and catching them. “You two looked so cute together outside. Maybe I’ll even be nice and bring your bodies back so that they can bury you together.” He giggled insanely.

Joohee’s fists clenched even harder, and her Morningstar was shaking. She didn’t want to do this! She and Jinwoo were just going to beat him up and turn him over to the authorities! Why did the System have to do this to them?!

“Aww, you look so sad and scared.” Taeshik mocked her, “I don’t think I like that. Let’s put a smile on that face.” He vanished in a blur of speed, both daggers racing for her cheeks.

Joohee was feeling utter anguish, but the stakes were too high for her not to react with all the speed she could. His daggers crashed into her Divine Bulwark. His eyes widened in shock, and she whipped her weapon at his head. He just barely ducked under it and backed away rapidly to reevaluate. “What the hell? I thought you were just a Healer?” He eyed her with wariness. “Regeneration, and now a magical shield? And you almost took my head off with that weapon. Who the hell are you?” He glared at her.

She didn’t answer, merely glaring at him with tears in her eyes.

He sneered, “You’re like a scared little lamb with skills too good for that attitude. That look on your face pisses me off, lady.” He straightened up, “I think I changed my mind. I want to see despair in that face before I kill you.” He then vanished into thin air. It wasn’t speed. He literally disappeared.

“Stealth?!” Joohee gasped.

“That’s right.” His ominous giggles rang out all around.

Jinwoo clenched his teeth, desperate to protect Joohee, both from Taeshik and from what she was being forced to do. But his entire body felt weak. He couldn’t even summon his Shadows!

And then Joohee vanished in a burst of speed, and a clang rang out as she blocked one dagger that had been aimed for Jinwoo’s eye. “I won’t let you!” She yelled, taking a slice across her cheek from the other.

“Ehehehe, you won’t, will you?” Taeshik cackled, “You don’t have a taste for blood, little lady. Do you expect to protect them forever?” She blocked again, taking a slice on her leg that made her gasp. “Try as hard as you might, eventually you’re going to slip.” And again, though this time she blocked the follow up with Divine Bulwark. “I wonder which of you will die first?”

Joohee snapped, screaming and not aiming to block the knife that was heading for Kim. Instead, as she heard Kim yelp in agony, she attacked and heard a satisfying crunch. The sound of gagging rang in the still cavern as Taeshik was launched across the room and into the back wall. “Ugh!” He slumped down as his invisibility ended.

Joohee panted as she healed herself and Mr. Kim a second time. “Why can’t I just incapacitate him?!” She hissed at the System. It didn’t respond, other than flashing the quest requirements in her face again.

Taeshik got to his feet, growling as he felt his cracked ribs. ‘She’s more dangerous than I thought.’

“Joohee.” Jinwoo called, “I know it hurts. Trust me, I know. But he won’t stay down. He’s just like those Lizards. If he gets out of here, he won’t stop. He’ll just keep on killing more and more innocent people.”

Joohee bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

“Enough.” Taeshik snarled, “I think I’m going to find that guy and make him double my payment. I didn’t expect Hunters of this caliber in a Dungeon like this. Enough games.” He turned invisible again and this time, went straight for the kill.

Joohee closed her eyes as a few tears leaked out and summoned dozens of revolving Guiding Bolts around her. Taeshik didn’t have more than a moment to regret charging her before he gashed her cheek again, and the first bolt hit him. The explosion rocked him. He was flung across the room, crashing into the back wall. He spit blood from the impact and crashed down.

Joohee gathered all of her bolts into her Morningstar, which began to glow brightly. With a roar that was filled with her despair, she dashed at him and slammed it down on his head. “Wai-” Taeshik couldn’t even finish his word before his head exploded. Gore rained around her for a half second and she backed up, trembling. Her Morningstar fell from limp fingers as she let out a sob.

Before she could fall to her knees, she was wrapped up in Jinwoo’s embrace as he could suddenly move again. “Shhh, let it out, Joohee.” He said softly, caressing the back of her head. She wailed into his shoulder and hugged him like she never had before. He also rubbed her back, whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

Mr. Kim watched it all, bitterness in his gaze. It took several minutes for her to calm down, and when they broke apart, her face was red and splotchy. They turned to Kim, and he dropped into dogeza, “Thank you. Y-You saved me again.” He said, pressing his head against the bloody floor. “I… I left you all in that Temple. I ran like a coward and left you all to die. Sung, Lee, I’m so sorry! I’ve regretted it every day since it happened. Please forgive me.”

Jinwoo and Joohee stared at him dispassionately, and Jinwoo eventually sighed, “Get up, Mr. Kim.” He said finally, “Get up and get out of here. Go notify that Association Worker about what happened. Joohee and I will take care of the boss.” He told the man, before walking away with Joohee without another word. Mr. Kim let out a sob as his apology was rejected, and all he could do was what they’d ordered.

…

“And after that, we killed the boss and closed the Dungeon.” Joohee finished the story as Miho stared at her, pale.

“Gods Joohee, I’m so sorry.” Miho told the young woman, wishing she could be there to embrace and comfort her too.

“I’m worried.” Soohyun growled, “This damned System is feeling more and more cursed the more time passes.”

“It’s using us as much as we’re using it.” Jinwoo said, his face hard. “But forcing that on Joohee is beyond the pale. He tried to kill us both, but the System only forced her to kill.”

“We need to find out more about the System.” Miho said, glaring at nothing, “Who created it. How it functions. What it wants from us.”

“And when we do.” Jinwoo growled, “We’re going to swallow it whole.” He held onto Joohee tighter.

“You all stay safe.” Miho commanded, “I’m almost done in here, and when I’m out, I’m going to give you the biggest hug of your life. Okay, Joohee?”

Joohee nodded, “I can’t wait.” She said quietly.

Miho went to hang up, but Jinwoo called out for her to wait a moment, “There’s one more thing.” He sighed, “Because of what happened, at minimum, Mr. Woo Jinchul is now aware that Joohee regained her power and more besides. She had to reveal her Guiding Bolt skill. Told him that she found the stone in a Dungeon and she caught Kang by surprise with it. There wasn’t any way to hide it.”

“Shit.” Miho let out a groan, “Does he suspect me and Soohyun as well?”

“Probably.” Soohyun said, “We’re not going to be able to hide it forever. And even if we stagger our reassessments, the fact that it will be us four will be more than suspicious enough.”

Miho sighed, “What a pain in the ass. Soohyun, we’re going to have to leave the White Tigers sooner than we thought. My brother will fight us leaving much harder if he knows we’ve gotten back up to par.”

“Right.” Soohyun scratched the back of her head in irritation, “Well, at least we had our contracts rewritten. Even for me, breaking the old one would have been a pain in the wallet.”

Miho snorted humorlessly, “Yeah, almost like he wanted us to quit. Ass.” Even Joohee rolled her eyes at the familiar rant. “Anyway… see you soon.” Her screen vanished.

…

With her newfound desire to get the hell off this Island and to get home, Miho immediately went hunting for the final enemy on her list: the Zinogre. She flew quickly through the air, heading to the volcano. The closer she got, the more she sensed the ominous presence waiting for her. The other ‘boss’ beasts she had fought had been tough. Miho now had yet another bit of kinship with Jinwoo, seeing as how the damned Lunagaron had managed to bite her right leg off. As much as she hated what the System had done to Joohee, she did love the benefits. She’d managed to kill it and staggered back to her home base. By morning, her leg was back, the same way Jinwoo’s had been.

At least with the Magnamalo it had been just one wing that she’d lost. Not a natural part of her body, and so it hadn’t hurt nearly as badly as the leg. After that, she had been far more careful with the Odogaron. She’d narrowly avoided getting gutted by those huge claws a couple times and had eventually managed to get it to impale itself on her spear. Ripping its head off had been satisfying.

She landed near a cave and prepared herself. She unleashed her power, a blatant challenge for the beast she could sense inside. The returning roar sounded like a mix between draconic and lupine. Light erupted from the dark cavern, and she swallowed heavily as she saw the beast for the first time. It was massive. Just its paw alone was probably close to being two meters long, and that meant it could squish her flat. All told, it was probably about four meters tall at the shoulders and probably over ten meters long.

Its body was covered in turquoise scales, whitish fur, and tan bony spikes. It really did look like someone had taken a wingless dragon and cross bred it with a wolf. It had two large horns and a long, strong-looking tail that looked like it would be dangerous. It growled at her as it stalked forward, and she made sure she was ready for any sudden movements. The other Boss beasts had been quicker than she had expected, so she didn’t doubt the same would hold true for this Zinogre.

And yet even with that in mind, she still underestimated how fast it would be. She blinked and its tail smashed her in the chest, flinging her across the landscape until she crashed into some rocks, losing a thousand HP in one go. She hacked out some blood from the attack, and barely even had time to breathe before it was on her again.

She rolled out of the way as the Zinogre crashed into her boulder, shattering it under its bulk. Miho let out a furious roar as she stabbed her spear into its side, her Advanced Spear Wielding and Piercing Strike combining to allow her to perforate it with ease. She yelled as she dragged the spear, slicing through flesh until a bony spike stopped her cold.

She ripped the spear from the beast as it roared in fury, whirling around and trying to get her with its claws. It was outright acrobatic, flinging its body like a creature a tenth of its size. It was nimble and quick, and Miho’s armor, which had seen better days even before today, was quickly growing even more bloody as she came away from each exchange with a new cut.

She found an opening and tried to stab it in the face, but it caught her spear in its jaws in a mirror of that moment from the E-Ranked Instance Dungeon. ‘Oh, not again.’ She only had a moment to groan before it whipped its head back and flung her away. Thankfully, she had learned to dismiss and resummon her weapon. It growled and she balked as its body began to glow blue. “No, you’re not going to-”

A bolt of lightning slammed down where Miho had just been standing. The Zinogre roared as its attack was evaded, and then its body began to crackle with electricity. It sprang forward, and despite dodging again, little forks of electricity raced along the ground and got her when it slammed its paws down. She froze from the minor electrocution, and that was enough for its jaws to bite down on her.

Miho howled in agony as the Zinogre’s fangs bit down into her, losing more than half her remaining HP from it. She hated to do this, but she needed it. She activated her Blood Rage. Instantly, her HP pool increased massively while also healing her, and her Strength, Agility, and Vitality skyrocketed. She pried its jaws open, her own jaws clenched in a snarl that showed off her fangs, and her eyes were pools of blood. She slipped one hand and dropped a hammerfist onto one of its eyes. She then grabbed it and roared with fury as she lifted it over her head by its jaws and slammed it on the ground.

She then jammed her claws into the sides of its neck, gouging its flesh and nearly ignoring its scales. It howled in pain and fury and ignited with electricity again, frying her for another 500 HP. Despite the fact her body was smoking, she continued to claw it. It managed to get to its feet and bashed her away with its paws. Again, she crashed into an earthen wall, but this time she sprang right back and started trying to gouge out its eyes. This was why she really didn’t like using Blood Rage. It may have given her much higher Strength, Agility, and Vitality, but it also turned her into an idiot. She fought like a complete savage and sacrificed defense.

And that was what the two looked like. Two beasts savaging one another. She clawed it; it clawed her. She got deep cuts carved into her body; she bit a chunk of its throat out. It slammed her into the ground with its massive tail; she returned the favor by literally tearing it out. It howled in agony and that just empowered her. She dashed forward and carved up its midsection with her claws, allowing blood to literally rain on her. It discharged electricity again, flinging her away. As she got to her feet, she staggered and the red vanished from her eyes. Miho nearly choked as all the pain she hadn’t been feeling hit her all at once. Her fatigue was at seventy percent, and her HP was in the red. “Shit…”

But luckily for her, the Zinogre wasn’t looking so hot either. It had lost its entire tail. Its body was covered in torn scales and gouged out flesh. Her hammerfist had burst one of its eyes. It was bleeding from several new orifices, and its breath sounded raspy from the holes in its throat. It was glaring murder at her, and she saw the electricity sparking again. She screamed as she dodged out of the way of a lightning bolt that certainly would have killed her and watched as the Zinogre staggered. It fell down, and didn’t move much except for breathing weakly.

She managed to get to her feet somehow and summoned Kasaka’s Venom Fang. She let out a yell as she threw it, falling over in the same motion and faceplanting into the rocks. The weakened beast couldn’t defend itself, and her spear pierced three feet into its skull and spine.

Miho let out a moan of relief as her fourth level up screen in nearly two months appeared. Her HP was restored and her Fatigue diminished, and yet she just decided to lay there and enjoy the ground for a few moments. She finally got to her feet and stumbled over to the Zinogre. With a yell, she kicked the beast over onto its back and clambered onto its chest. “I’ll always remember this fight.” She said, acknowledging the strongest beast she’d ever personally fought. With a yell, she jammed her claws into its chest, shattering bones like crackers. She pulled back, revealing its heart. She didn’t know why this felt right with the Boss Beasts, but it had. Grimacing in disgusted anticipation, she bit down on the organ, tearing the flesh with her fangs.

She chewed in disgust and then swallowed, and it was like her body pulsed. She had felt something the previous three times, but nothing like this. Her body felt like it was on fire, and she dropped the heart, clutching her chest. Magenta lightning began to crackle around her as she felt like she was going to vibrate out of her own skin.

With a roar, she turned her head to the sky and a massive blast of fire that crackled with an aura of lightning erupted from her maw. The attack pierced the sky and blew the clouds away. Under her feet, even the volcano began to awaken. An earthquake rocked the island. When the attack ended, Miho slumped and fell on her ass in exhaustion. Her fatigue had instantly rocketed up to eighty percent, and her mana had been entirely depleted.

But despite that, she could only stare at the new skill on the screen in front of her in awe.

[Breath of Destruction lv. 1

Annihilate all in your path.

Mana Cost: 100% of your total mana

Fatigue cost: 80% (warning: reaching 100% Fatigue will instantly render you unconscious and leave you in a coma until you have recovered)]

It was plain and obvious that this skill was a last resort against a boss she absolutely could not beat on her own. If she missed she’d be on her ass, and an easy target for any beast. But if it hit…

She shakily reached for the Store, buying potions to restore herself. She then checked the screens that had been waiting for her attention.

[Quest Complete!

Rewards: Ten stat points.]

It was almost disappointing. “All this for a skill I’ll barely be able to use and ten points?” Miho frowned before checking her inventory. “…A formula?” She drew it from the inventory, and then her eyes widened as she saw that it was a crafting recipe for a brand-new set of armor and weapon.

And best of all, she had everything she needed to craft it from all of the beasts she’d fought in here. She quickly set to crafting it, and grinned when she saw the results.

[Armor of the Fanged Wyverns

Rank: S

+ 40% Physical Damage Reduction

+25% Elemental Resistance

+10 Strength

+10 Vitality

+10 Agility]

She immediately swapped it out, marveling at how much stronger she felt wearing it. Even the heat that had been annoying her for nearly two months didn’t feel as oppressive. She then crafted her new spear, frowning slightly when she saw that Kasaka’s Venom Fang was part of the recipe.

“Woah!” Miho’s eyes bulged when she saw her new spear.

[Fang of the Wyverns

Rank: S

Attack: +80]

That was great on its own, but the ability the spear possessed was what had a giant smile on her face. Currently, her spear was more like a trident, and electrified water was spilling from the tines as she spun it. She then gave a mental command, and the spear transformed into Kasaka’s Venom Fang, except the venom had been empowered from the addition of the Odogaron’s habit of consuming carrion. She then gave another command, and it transformed into another spear, one capable of commanding cold. Finally, she transformed it into a flaming spear.

“And to think I was disappointed!” She burst out laughing as she stowed it in her inventory. She then checked her stats and smiled as she looked at her profile.

Name: Baek Miho

Level: 34

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP: 8350

MP: 670

Strength: 93

Agility: 68

Perception: 55

Vitality: 63

Intelligence: 43

Available Ability Points: 0

Smiling, Miho went about her final task: Rendering down the Zinogre for its meat. She hoped Jinwoo, Joohee, and Soohyun would enjoy the meat as much as she had.

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