Not So Solo Leveling VI (Patreon)

Hey guys! Hope you’ve been eagerly waiting for more of this one! We have Job-Change Quests in the house! Biggest ‘actual chapter’ chapter I’ve written in ages. Most of my bigger stuff lately have been one-shots or pilots.

Hope you enjoy!

-]|[-

“Oh!” Joohee squeaked as Miho kept her promise and gave her the mother of all hugs. “M-Miho! Can’t breathe!” She patted the lithe woman’s back as she was lifted into the air.

The three had gone right over to where Miho had opened her special dungeon once their friend told them that she was pushing for the final boss. Soohyun gaped when Miho put Joohee down and she saw her, “Holy crap, Miho. What ran you over?!”

Miho did, in fact, look awful. Her armor and clothes were better described as confetti that had no legal right to still be on her body. Still, she looked happy. “Had to use Blood Rage on the Zinogre.” She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly once she let go of Joohee. “You guys know I turn into a goddamn idiot when I use it.”

“Ah.” Joohee giggled slightly. “Well, you’re in good company, at least.”

“Huh?” Miho looked confused. Soohyun smirked and reached over. She grabbed a shred of Miho’s armor and pulled gently. And like that one strand had been the keystone of her entire outfit, about half of it simply fell off of her, revealing her breasts and most of her pussy. She blinked several times. “Soohyun. Why?”

Soohyun laughed, “Like I said, welcome to the club! Joohee’s was almost as bad as yours was!” Joohee blushed hotly.

It clicked for Miho, “Oh?” She looked over at Jinwoo, who was most certainly eating the eye candy on display. “Well, this doesn’t seem fair. We didn’t get a show after his.”

“We can certainly correct that, if you wish.” Jinwoo gave her a teasing smirk and finally got a blush out of the woman. He then surprised her by grabbing her arm and pulling her in for a hug. “Welcome back, Miho.” He said gently.

She smiled and hugged him back as well. When she went to pull away, however, he wrapped his hand behind her head and pulled her in for a kiss. “Mph?!” She only allowed her surprise to affect her for a moment, before clutching onto him and deepening the kiss. She even wrapped her right leg behind his. When they broke apart with a small trail of saliva hanging between them, Miho grinned. “Gotta say… didn’t think that would happen.” She looked over at Joohee and Soohyun, “Something feels sus. Fess up, you two!”

Soohyun laughed, “Joohee jumped the gun and stole a ‘good luck’ kiss before her delve.”

“Soohyun!” Joohee whined, blushing even brighter. “Y-you did as well after yours!”

Miho laughed as Soohyun stuck her tongue out at the redhead. “Get over here, you idiots.” She kissed Joohee first while Soohyun kissed Jinwoo, before swapping. “Got to say, this feels like my real reward!” She joked once they separated. That earned her a few grins as they walked over to Jinwoo’s jeep.

“Miho, what the heck happened at the end?” Joohee asked once they got buckled in, “We were watching your vitals during the fight, and we saw you win, and then all of a sudden your fatigue skyrocketed and your MP went almost to zero.”

“Ugh, so you remember how I had to live off the land, eat what I killed and all that?” Miho asked, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

“Got to say… you definitely got the weirdest dungeon.” Soohyun frowned, “Ours were downright mundane by comparison.”

“Ayep.” Miho definitely agreed with that assessment, “Well, when it came to the boss monsters, it was… weird.” She grimaced, “It wasn’t even a quest or anything. Just a practically uncontrollable urge. I had to eat their hearts.” She turned a little green, “Raw.”

Soohyun and Joohee gagged. Jinwoo frowned, “…Why?”

“Well, when I ate the last one, I unlocked a new skill.” Miho said before describing the skill and what it did.

“That’s a goddamn nuke.” Soohyun cursed when she heard about it.

“Yeah.” Miho sighed, “One I basically won’t be able to use. Almost ever.”

“The System wouldn’t give you a skill you can’t use.” Joohee said reasonably. “Definitely a once-per-dungeon thing, unless you bank recovery every time.”

“Agreed.” Jinwoo said, “I think saving it for bosses is necessary. They’re the only ones that give enough EXP to make leveling it possible. Who knows? Maybe once it gains a few skill ranks, the drawbacks won’t be so extreme.”

“I can only hope.” Miho sighed, before leaning back and closing her eyes. “I’m going to take a nap.” She muttered. Joohee reached over and began to rub the back of her head. Miho let out a happy sigh and cuddled the redhead. It didn’t take too long for soft little snores to ring out through the jeep.

-]|[-

“What?!” Second Division Manager Ahn Sangmin gasped, actually standing from his chair.

“Soohyun and I are leaving the guild.” Miho said once again, sounding even blander than she had the first time. “My big brother is getting what he clearly wanted.” She pushed as much bitterness into her voice as possible, even if it was only for a show. She didn’t hate Yoonho or anything. She was just eager to rub his nose in the dirt.

“Miss Miho, this really isn’t necessary.” Sangmin protested. “I know that-”

“You really don’t.” Miho didn’t want to hear it at all. “Now please process the paperwork and charge our accounts the break-away fee.”

Sangmin sighed before sitting back down. “This is a dark day for the White Tiger Guild…” He muttered under his breath as he began to do as they requested. It took over thirty minutes for everything to go through, and then the two were free.

“You ready for today?” Soohyun grinned at her as they exited the headquarters.

“Hell yes.” Miho showed all her teeth in her smile. “These stupid C-Ranks won’t know what hit ‘em.”

“With all of us in there, they should probably be B-Ranks.” Soohyun said cheerfully.

…

“Uhhhhh…” The four of them gaped as they reached the park where the first of the Gates Jinho had reserved was. “Jinho… what are we looking at here?” Jinwoo asked the brunet. He and the girls gazed at the five other people there.

“What do you mean? It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Jinho asked. “This is our strike team!” He waved at them. Jinwoo spotted one man with a severe drinking problem, one with a broken leg and a crutch, a young man wearing casual clothes and headphones, a short dirty-blond man, and finally, a girl who looked like she probably wasn’t even in college yet. “I prioritized people who were qualified to be Hunters but have reasons they can’t work.” He relayed, “People who were strapped for cash were high-priority as well.”

“You got injured people… and drunks.” Jinwoo sweatdropped.

“Works better for us.” Miho shrugged, “They won’t be entering the dungeon anyway. At least these guys won’t bitch about that.”

Joohee looked over at one of them, “Wow, even a kid showed up…”

Soohyun patted her on the shoulder, “There aren’t any laws against it.”

Jinho nodded, “She’s right. There’s no legal issue recruiting minors as long as they’re awakened.”

The girl in question walked up, and Miho and Soohyun blinked when they realized she looked quite like their friend Heejin in a lot of ways. “Hey, that’s kind of rude.” She said, glaring specifically at Joohee. “I’m a full-fledged Hunter, you know?”

“But you’re still in high school, aren’t you?” Jinwoo asked. “Do you have any raiding experience?”

“…Not… exactly.” She flushed a little in response.

Miho chuckled, “How cute.” The girl glared at her now, “You’re not a Hunter until you actually hunt.”

“I would keep it that way.” Jinwoo said, “You’re an E-Rank, right?” The girl flushed again and nodded, “Take it from me, then. The last thing you ever want to do is hold onto your entrails as they spill out of you.” The girl curdled in shock. “Dungeons generally don’t give you a second chance.”

“Don’t be mean, Jinwoo.” Joohee lightly smacked his arm. She looked at the girl, “Still, he’s right. I won’t tell you to give up being a Hunter, even though I should. I don’t know what your situation is like.” She turned halfway but kept looking at her, “But at the very least, never enter a dungeon without a healer.” She finished turning and walked away.

“Anyway, let’s get ready.” Soohyun clapped her hands once, “You five just sit pretty out here.” She winked at the group.

“Uhh…” Headphones raised his hand, “Are you seriously going to enter a C-Rank dungeon with only a D-Rank and four E-Ranks?” He looked nervous.

“That’s right.” Jinho chimed in. Off to the side, Miho sighed, glad her paper-thin disguise was working. Funny how a black wig she could equip directly from her inventory, sunglasses, and a complete lack of visible armor was all she needed to go undercover. It did annoy her that it was necessary, but unlike Soohyun, she was famous.

Jinho finished relaying the details of the deal. “Just remember! You can’t publicize our deal at all, otherwise you’ll have to pay back a hundred times what you make!” That was enough to scare any of them straight.

“Uhh,” The one with the red jacket raised his hand, “What if we’re approached while you’re inside?”

Miho looked over, “You mean by the Association or by a guild?” He nodded at her, “If it’s the Association, just tell them the dungeon is being handled and you’re backup. If it’s a guild or other Hunters, just tell ‘em to fuck off.”

Jinwoo side-hugged Joohee, “Did you use that Rune already?”

“For his stealth skill?” Joohee asked and nodded affirmatively when he confirmed it.

“Good. That will help you stay safe as needed.” Jinwoo smiled at her.

“And help you heal us if needed.” Soohyun nudged her cheerfully.

“We ready to go?” Miho asked them, fidgeting in anticipation.

“Ready!” Jinho called out.

They turned around and Miho almost fell over. Soohyun facepalmed, Joohee pressed her lips together, and Jinwoo had a straight up ‘what the fuck’ look on his face. “…What are you wearing?”

“A full set of power-enhancing armor made by an Italian manufacturer!” The black and red armor gleamed every time the sun hit it. Jinho grinned happily, “If we’re hitting the dungeon with only the five of us, I should at least be this prepared, right?”

Jinwoo stuck a finger out and casually pushed against the chestplate. Jinho tipped back with a yelp and crashed onto his back. Miho couldn’t hold it any longer and started to howl with laughter, hiding her face on Soohyun’s shoulder. Soohyun’s head dipped forward as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Joohee was biting her lip and trying desperately not to laugh at him. And Jinwoo still had his finger out. “I’m not trying to be mean here… but take that stuff off.”

“O-okay.” Jinho sounded despondent. He got up… or rather, he tried. He ended up flailing like an idiot instead. “…Boss… can you help me up?” Joohee couldn’t help it anymore and joined Miho in hiding her face on Soohyun as she cackled. The fillers for the Strike Squad just sat there, gaping, and now very much worried about their paydays.

“… Alright, let’s get going.” Jinho said.

“Jinho…” Soohyun huffed through her nose.

“At least let me keep the helmet!” He whined in response.

They all rolled their eyes, “Alright, alright.” Jinwoo said as he took the lead, walking into the dungeon with his hands in his pockets. They all followed after him.

Forty-five minutes later, the group was just standing around when one of them called out, “Hey… is it just me, or is the Gate bigger than it was before?”

The high school girl turned around and frowned, “Is that not normal?”

Headphones shook his head, “No, the size of the Gate is determined when it first opens. It generally corresponds to the dungeon rank, though there are cases where a large C can look like a small B. Once formed, they don’t change in any way.”

Red jacket scratched his chin, “But it’s definitely gotten bigger. Look, the security stanchions look even tinier next to it.”

The high school girl frowned as the man with the broken leg asked, “How long has it been?”

“About forty-five.” Headphones responded, “Even full squads generally take two hours or so. We’ve still got a fair bit of-” He stopped talking as Jinho ran out.

The drunk scoffed, “How lucky. They realized they were in over their heads and got out.”

“N-No!” The man in the red jacket gasped, “Th-the Gate is closing!” He yelled as Jinwoo, Joohee, Miho, and Soohyun walked out of it without a single scratch on them. The Gate started to spin rapidly behind them before shrinking and vanishing with a flash of light.

“Are you kidding me?” Broken leg called out, “They beat the boss?!”

“Where’s the next Gate?” Jinwoo asked as they nonchalantly strolled back to their vehicles.

“Over at the park!” Joohee said cheerfully, “About an hour away.”

“Let’s hurry up.” Miho was smirking, “I haven’t had enough action yet.” Soohyun barely kept her inner twelve-year old in.

“We’re moving to the next one, everyone!” Jinho waved at the group. “The goal is to hit three locations today.” If any of the four had been paying attention, they would have laughed hard at the drunk spilling his poison all over himself as he gaped at them in shock. When none of them moved, he raised an eyebrow, “That means you could potentially earn nine million today. Are you coming or not?”

Headphones could only manage to say, “These guys… who the hell are they?!”

…

“This is insane! I thought you girls got downgraded!” Jinho gaped as he watched the group lay utter devastation on their enemies. This dungeon was meant to be a C-Rank Goblin Dungeon, but it had been upgraded to a B-Rank High Goblin Dungeon. The red-skinned beasts were much larger and more muscular than their weaker, green counterparts, but it was making zero difference against the group.

Miho was simply dancing with her spear. It spun this way and that, gutting goblin after goblin as she acrobatically flipped through the air. A High Hobgoblin tried to throw its spear at her, but she dodged without even looking at it and then decapitated it with a casual swipe of her claws. She vanished and her spear changed in her hand, becoming blue and releasing frigid wisps from it. She impaled three Hobgoblins at once and they all froze solid. “Ugh, maybe we should try grabbing B-Rank Dungeons instead.” She was utterly disgruntled over how easy this was.

“Let’s not.” Joohee deadpanned as she used Divine Bulwark to block an axe. She retaliated with her morningstar, blasting the goblin apart with an explosion of light. She nimbly leapt over a spear thrust and landed on top of it with one hand, almost doing an upside-down split. Her feet then clapped together, stopping a sword cold, before a Guiding Bolt from her free hand smashed into the spear-wielder and blew it to pieces. She flipped again, sending the sword flying through a Hobgoblin’s eye, before landing on her feet and smashing her morningstar into the final enemy’s eye. Another bright explosion turned it into giblets. “I think we’re doing just fine here.”

“I don’t know, she has a point.” Jinwoo moved like a missile, punching clean through another of the red-skinned goblins. An explosion of air burst from its back, taking a bite from another that wasn’t even ten feet from his attack. It collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Jinwoo backhanded a mace away from him and equipped his two daos, turning into a bladed tornado that left fifteen more goblins shredded into legs, arms, torsos, and heads. He vanished again and uppercut another Hobgoblin’s head clean off. “These guys are pretty easy for orange-names.”

“Kinda boring, not gonna lie.” Soohyun laughed as she held her hand up. A thrown spear entered the portal she formed in front of her and then killed the one who threw it coming out of another portal. She raised an arm and then swung it like a sword. With a sound like a bassy implosion, a Hobgoblin was cut in half. She then thrust a glowing purple arm forward and about twenty goblins in front of her were turned into puree. “Honestly, I hate that electronics don’t work in dungeons. I’d kill for some music to kick ass to right about now.”

“Dungeons aren’t supposed to be fun!” Joohee hollered as she launched a dozen Guiding Bolts around her, taking out more and more of the smaller High Goblins.

“Oh, come on!” Soohyun laughed as she Warped to avoid a thrown axe. She appeared next to the thrower and gently placed a hand on its chest. Its flesh almost seemed to bubble before distending and then caved in. Gore burst from its back in a huge spray. “Sing along! It gets darker the deeper you go! The pressure builds, it’s incredible!” She sang in English.

‘Because of course her singing voice is actually incredible.’ Jinwoo chuckled to himself as he butterfly twisted between two goblins and killed one with his dao and another by quite literally kicking it in half.

Miho laughed as she switched to her fire spear and started spinning it, generating intense wreathes of flame that burned the surrounding goblins to a crisp. “Now or never, so unlock the power! Telling you to quit, but you’re not ready!” Soohyun cackled gleefully as she flew into the air and lifted half a dozen enemies into the air.

Joohee let out a groan, “I was normal!” She grumbled, “There’s not gonna be a next time! You don’t get to press the rewind!” She continued the lyrics, dodging a sword like she had eyes on the back of her head. Miho and Soohyun cheered as she continued, “The fightaholic gotta find another point of view! Not hyperbolic, they just wanna call out to you!”

And Jinho just stared with a twitching eye, protected by Buryura as Jinwoo’s other summons wreaked havoc on their enemies.

…

By the end of their third dungeon that day, they had leveled up a total of six times and hit level forty. “I think Soohyun and I are close to being back to full strength!” Miho said excitedly as she plopped down on Jinwoo’s lap.

“Stronger.” He grinned at her, “You certainly didn’t have all of these skills before.” He tapped the Breath of Destruction on her screen. She had used it once against all three bosses (thank the System for Mana and Fatigue potions) and they had all gaped at just how devastating it actually was. The first time she had used it, it had been pointed at the sky, so she hadn’t actually realized how powerful it was. Each and every boss had evaporated. As had everything behind the boss. For miles. As far as the eye could see.

This skill was utterly broken and completely unfair. It made total sense that it had such ludicrous costs. Also, it left nothing behind. Not even a shadow for Jinwoo to resurrect. He’d be mad about that if the bosses hadn’t all been weaker than most of his shadows already. He couldn’t exactly hold a lot of them. Also, the skill itself wasn’t even close to a level-up either.

“Honestly, I’m more interested in this.” Soohyun grinned, “Job Change Quest? We can finally become employed?!”

Joohee did a spittake, “I don’t want to go back to a 9-5!”

“We should take tomorrow off to do it.” Jinwoo was excited. He wanted an actual class. Who knew what benefits one would have!

“No!” Joohee said, and it was clear she was putting her foot down. They turned to her in confusion. “We’ve had the System for long enough to know that it’s probably going to have some absurd quest-specific requirements, like, I don’t know, Jinwoo not being able to use his Shadows during it. If it’s giving it to us at forty we’re probably not actually supposed to even attempt it until, I don’t know, sixty.”

“On one hand, that’s insane conjecture.” Miho said, “On the other hand, you’re completely right. The System would absolutely do something that stupid.”

Soohyun chortled, “A million Won says it scales to our level.”

“I’ll take that action.” Miho grinned as Joohee paled.

“I don’t even have a million Won… I think.” The redhead muttered.

“I have us both covered.” Jinwoo grinned, “I mined the hell out of the lizard dungeon’s crystals, remember?”

“Alright then.” Soohyun grinned, “Let’s grind some more levels quickly. We’ve got plenty more Dungeons to go.”

“That’s right.” He stood, “We can wrap up these dungeons by Friday, take Saturday off to just relax, and then hit the Job Change Quest on Sunday.”

“That’ll leave Jinho one dungeon short.” Soohyun snickered at her cousin’s misfortune. “We’ll have to wrap them up on Monday.”

“No, Jinwoo has Jinah’s parent-teacher conference on Monday, remember?” Joohee chimed in.

Jinwoo had, in fact, forgotten. “Early Sunday it is.” He chuckled as they all stood and got ready to end the Dungeon they were in.

…

On and on the raids went, each of them turning into B-Class Dungeons of varying difficulties. The first one of the next day saw Jinho screaming and crying as he was chased around by Kasaka’s much larger but more boring cousins. The snakes in the dungeon were nowhere near as pretty as their giant snake had been, but much stronger than Kasaka had originally been. Jinwoo was delighted to realize that all of his leveling now meant that it was stronger than them despite that. The shadowy serpent left many of its brethren bitten in half, even as Jinwoo, Miho, Soohyun, and Joohee beat others around.

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

Then it was a scorpion and centipede dungeon that left them all drenched in sweat from the sheer heat beating on them. It made them realize that even with their stats, they weren’t immune to the elements.

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

On and on they went, leveling their skills and increasing their confidence- Joohee’s especially. The young woman that had first entered the Cartenon Temple with them was a far cry from the brilliant lady that stood with them now. As she showcased in another Gnoll Dungeon, going invisible with Camouflage and cracking skulls with every swipe of her morningstar.

The one skill they had that didn’t see much of any use was Joohee’s Divine Light, because they quite simply weren’t getting hit as often as they thought they would be. Even as they walked into Dungeon after Dungeon and saw orange name after orange name, their teamwork on top of their individual skills and Joohee’s Buffs saw them shredding their enemies.

Honestly, it was making them more and more confident that the Job Change Quest would be where the other shoe was going to drop.

-]|[-

“A hundred-and-fifty million Won?! Who the hell would buy a C-Rank Gate for that much?!” Ahn Sangmin gasped when his assistant division chief brought him the info. “You probably wouldn’t make a lick of profit on most of them!”

“The original price for them was seventy.” Hyun Kichul told him. “When I raised it to a hundred, they bumped us by another fifty. No one in their right mind would buy them for that much! It’s made it impossible to train our lower rank Hunters.”

Ahn growled, “Who the hell are they?” He glanced at his computer and started pulling up Association files. “Squad Leader: Yoo Jinho. Never heard of him before.”

“I looked him up.” Hyun replied, “He’s the second son of Yoojin Construction’s chairman.”

“This is a bit much for a rich kid with a hobby.” Ahn said as he pulled up the team’s files before his jaw dropped, “What the fuck!” He cursed in horror. She might have been wearing a wig, but that was Miho. [Baek Miho – E-Rank] stared up at him like a cursed video. And then he moved on and saw Soohyun. ‘Oh, President Baek, you fucked up. They’re going to join this new Yoojin Guild!’ He thought to himself in horror. And then he saw Joohee and tilted his head. And then Jinwoo brought up the rear and Ahn realized something was fishy. “Kichul, the Double Dungeon.” He said suddenly, “What were the names of the survivors who were left behind?” He looked at him, “Besides our two, I mean.”

“Ah, I’m pretty sure it was Lee Joohee and Sung Jinwoo.” Hyun replied.

“Everyone stop what they’re doing! Get me everything on D-Rank Yoo Jinho, E-Rank Lee Joohee, and E-Rank Sung Jinwoo! On the double!” He roared as the rest of the crew got to work.

…

‘I knew it! Something happened in that Double Dungeon!’ Ahn worked into the night. Everyone had already left hours ago while he continued to compile everything their department had been able to get their hands on. ‘I knew it was impossible for a Hunter to be de-ranked! I knew it! But what actually happened?’ He thought to himself as he rubbed his bloodshot eyes. ‘They all survived that Dungeon and then were robbed of all of their potential, except Mr. Sung, who was always a weakling’

He grinned, ‘But then Sung Jinwoo survived a Dungeon with Hwang Dongsuk. He wasn’t overtly suspicious, but his trail wasn’t clean. Every once in a while, in dungeons I’m guessing were unusually rich, their fillers would die. I think Hwang bit off more than he could chew.’

He turned to Joohee, ‘And then she killed B-Rank Kang Taeshik with a new skill she claimed she caught Kang by surprise with when he attacked them. It might even be true as her profile was updated to include Guiding Bolt, but perhaps she was just covering for Sung so that he could continue to go under the radar as an E-Rank.’

‘It doesn’t matter how surprising the skill was. No E-Rank could possibly kill a B-Rank Assassin type. Especially not a Healer. Clearly she, Miss Miho, and Miss Soohyun have gotten their powers back. And more, even.’ He rubbed his chin in consternation. ‘But why go through all this? Did her brother anger Miss Miho that much? Why quit instead of just getting reevaluated again?’ He was missing something. He knew that much.

He wasn’t entirely sure if that something was Yoo Jinho, Soohyun’s cousin. ‘I know that Yoo Myunghan is searching for skilled Hunters to establish a guild. Maybe they’ve decided to go and help establish that guild instead so they can pick better contracts and take over their own area away from the White Tigers? But that would only make sense if they immediately got reassessed upon breaking their contracts here. Myunghan wouldn’t waste time and money on E-Ranks even if they were family. They haven’t. I would know for sure, if for no other reason than the tantrum President Baek would throw when he found out. Instead, they’re just buying up C-Rank Gates willy nilly.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at the clock. “Oh crap.” He cried out as he saw the mockingly flashing ‘03:43’ on the face. He let out a tired sigh. “Tomorrow.” He swore. “Tomorrow I’ll figure this out.”

…

That afternoon, Ahn grabbed Hyun and dragged him away from their HQ. “Sangmin, where are we going?”

“We’re off to visit our friends with deep pockets.” Ahn grinned, “I can’t say for sure, but I think we’re dealing with at least one Reawakening in Sung Jinwoo.”

“Are you serious?” Hyun gasped as they walked to Ahn’s car.

“I don’t know for sure, obviously.” Ahn said, his voice low, “But I also think Miss Miho and Miss Soohyun have recovered as well. I read the official reports and just don’t buy them. Plus, all four Double Dungeon survivors who were left inside that awful Temple are in this Strike Squad. This could be big, Kichul. We NEED to try to entice Miss Miho back to the White Tigers so that the other three will follow.”

“Do you really think that’s even possible with what President Baek did?” Hyun frowned, “Personally, I know I wouldn’t.”

“So we’ll have to be our most persuasive.” Ahn said, his face falling as he considered his second in command’s words.

-]|[-

“Man, I kind of wish I had a stealth skill like that.” Soohyun muttered as she watched Joohee brain three clueless Werewolves that had been charging at the rest of the group. She negligently flicked her wrist and another three lifted off their feet and plowed headfirst into the cavern walls.

Jinwoo chuckled, “I’d probably be using daggers if I had it.” He said as his gauntlets flashed, putting holes into one black werewolf just from the wind pressure of his fists. He then vanished and was holding his twin daos when he reappeared next to a falling pile of blood-soaked fur. “But these new skills are holding me over nicely.” He grinned as the screens popped up:

[Pugilist Lv. 1

Passive

Unarmed only.]

He was pretty grateful that his gauntlets didn’t count as weapons.

[Due to your dedicated martial training, physical, unarmed blows will deal 50% more damage.]

Which was awesome. It was actually better than his new sword passive.

[Advanced Sword Techniques Lv. 1

Passive

For Swords Only.

Due to your extensive use of a sword, you are now more proficient in its usage. You will inflict 33% more damage when attacking with a sword.]

Of course, he also already had some sword skills like [Backlash] and [Deadly Storm,] but he could always do with a new one. [Umbral Rend Lv.1] popped up and he grinned, turning around as one of his daos began to glow. “Miho, duck!” He said as he swung his blade and a black-and-purple slash leapt from the edge of his blade. It made no noise whatsoever as it flew. Something he would have to take careful note of whenever he was in a party. He couldn’t rely on everyone being able to sense it the way the girls could.

Miho did a half-split as the energy passed overhead, cutting the five Werewolves surrounding her in half. “Kill stealer!” She yelled as she got back up and flung her spear. It flew straight and true with an aura of power surrounding it. It passed by Joohee who squeaked in surprise, before piercing another Werewolf and lifting it off its feet. It then changed course and stabbed into another. And then another. And then another, until finally, seven enemies ended up stapled into the cavern wall.

“Please, take them. I don’t mind.” Joohee said dryly as the spear vanished and reappeared in Miho’s hand. She rolled her eyes as Miho stuck her tongue out at her. And then an explosion behind her blew another enemy into giblets but only ruffled her hair. She sighed, not even paying attention as her shield of floating Guiding Bolts detonated against another monster. “At least the explosions blow the gore away from me.” She lifted her morningstar and crushed another Werewolf’s skull.

With that, the Dungeon was basically cleared, or at least this area was. The four sat down while Jinho and the shadows got to work mining and harvesting. Soohyun pouted, “Honestly, I kind of wish we could share the System with Jinho at least. He’s not actually getting anything out of this.” She sighed, “Even if he does become the Yoojin Guild’s master, without us there…”

“He should have thought of that before approaching us with this deal.” Jinwoo said softly, “I’m sure he has… but perhaps thinks he’s going to be able to change our minds.”

Joohee giggled, “Who knows? Maybe once we have jobs we can each have a minion.” They all started to laugh. And then Miho speared a lone, pouncing Werewolf without missing a beat.

-]|[-

“What the hell?” Ahn sweatdropped, “Is this a picnic?” He looked at the people just chilling next to the Gate. “Why is everyone hanging out? Are they waiting for someone? What’s going on here?”

“Nunya.” The youngest girl there walked up to them, still wearing her hoodie and holding her hands in her pockets.

“I-I’m sorry?” Ahn turned to her. “Nunya?”

“Nunya business.” She replied flatly. “This area is off limits, so you should scram.”

‘Rude kid.’ Ahn thought to himself, “Kids shouldn’t be in such a dangerous area.” He sighed, “Where’s a truancy officer when you need one.”

“I’m a Hunter.” She deadpanned, taking her ID out and revealing her name: Han Songyi.

“Oh! My apologies, Miss Han.” Ahn said… both for not realizing she was a Hunter and for her unfortunate E-Rank. “Are you a member of this Strike Squad?”

“What’s it to you?” Songyi asked bluntly. “Like I said, this area is off limits.” She finished. ‘I don’t want to get in trouble. The penalty is insane.’

‘Wait, they entered the Dungeon without the rest of their squad?’ Ahn thought to himself in shock. He realized the other four just sitting around were the Strike Squad. The only ones missing were the five he was interested in. ‘I knew it! They’re all going to be superstars! I NEED to convince Miss Miho to come back!’

“Hey, they’re back!” Headphones called out, drawing Ahn and Songyi’s attention.

First Jinho came out, and then Jinwoo and the three girls followed, chatting with one another. ‘Not a scratch on them!’ Ahn grinned, ‘That only happens if they’re a rank or two above the Gate ranking. I knew it!’ He excused himself and brushed past Songyi, “Miss Miho. Miss Soohyun.”

Miho turned to him and let out a groan. “Chief Ahn. How… annoying.”

Soohyun sighed, “I told you a hundred-fifty was too much, Jinho.” She pressed her palm to her forehead. Her cousin flushed and looked away, whistling.

Ahn felt a little insulted. He thought they had at least parted on good terms. Before he could speak, Songyi said something, “Wait, you know this guy?” She asked Miho, “I was trying to get him to leave.”

“We do.” Miho sighed, “He’s an acquaintance I used to work with.” That was an understatement. “I suppose I should have known better than to think he wouldn’t sniff us out.”

“Well now, you’re making me sound like a bloodhound, Miss Miho.” Ahn rubbed the back of his head in consternation.

Soohyun snorted, “Well Mr. Ahn, if you want to speak with us, it’ll have to be later. We’ve got two more Gates to clear today so we can meet you tonight when we’re finished.”

Ahn smiled. Well, at least they weren’t shutting him out. “You have my number, Miss Miho. Just send me a location and a time.”

“You got it.” Miho said as they walked towards him, “Let’s get these Gates over with quick, guys!” She yelled and then put her hand on Ahn’s shoulder once she was next to him. “And I would keep whatever you think you know to yourself, Mr. Ahn.” She murmured as she passed by, her slitted eyes glowing gold.

“O-Of course, Miss Miho.” Ahn murmured back, sweating suddenly.

She patted him on the shoulder once and they made their way to Jinwoo’s car.

…

“Let’s cut to the chase.” Miho said as she stared at Ahn in a private room with her arms crossed. The foursome and their plus one had rented a private billiards room. There was also a dartboard and a poker table in the room. “What have you figured out?”

“And why were you investigating us in the first place?” Jinwoo stared at him placidly.

Ahn still felt chills drip down his spine. “Well, Miss Soohyun guessed the why.” Ahn replied, “We ran out of C-Rank Gates to train our lower rank Hunters in.” He swallowed heavily, “The prices they were bought out for stood out. Once we saw that, we checked out which Strike Squad was doing it and found Yoo Jinho’s name on each and every purchase. It was a short process to check on who was in the squad, and Miss Miho immediately stood out even with the wig.”

“Ugh, I warned him too.” Soohyun groaned, “To think he wanted to do two-fifty.”

Ahn’s jaw dropped, “Is he mad?”

Soohyun snickered, “Honestly? Jury’s out.”

Ahn shook his head, “As for what I know?” he swallowed nervously as he turned to Miho, “Nothing concrete.” He said carefully, “Just enough to know none of you are really E-Ranks. The three major incidents on your records were the Double Dungeon, the Dungeon where Hwang Dongsuk and his squad died, and the incident with Kang Taeshik. All four of you were only together in the first one, but it was enough to start drawing patterns once I saw you in the same Strike Squad. I thought that Miss Miho, Miss Lee, and Miss Soohyun had regained their powers and that you, Mr. Sung, had Reawakened. Obviously, I had no proof. Just too many things that didn’t add up.”

He took a breath, “Additionally, you met Miss Soohyun’s cousin by complete coincidence. After witnessing your skills firsthand, he’s been testing you out for the Guild his father wants to build. This wouldn’t have happened if he had been the one to take out the Boss in that disaster Dungeon like the official reports say. It all makes logical sense if you look at the facts. And looking at the facts so I can scout talent is my job. That’s why I came to try to convince Miss Miho to return to the White Tigers.” He smiled nervously, “That way I could swoop all four of you in one go.”

They all looked at him for a moment, before relaxing. Miho even chuckled, “Yoonho should have made you the first division chief instead of that asshole Joo.” Ahn flushed slightly at the praise. She crossed her arms, “You’ve gotten a few things wrong, but fact in this case is stranger than fiction. Though you won’t be learning any more than that any time soon. We also have no interest in this time of joining or rejoining the White Tigers, though we’re not against collaboration in the future, if it ever comes up. I would just keep my nose out of our affairs if I were you. Is that clear?”

“Crystal.” Ahn’s nervous smile widened, “I’d normally have to submit a formal report to President Baek but… I think I’d like to keep my neck. I’ll make sure Kichul stays silent as well.”

“Good.” Jinwoo tossed him a pool cue, “Then relax and let’s play a few rounds.”

Ahn relaxed as well, “Ah, before that, we do still have the issue regarding the Gates. We’re behind schedule on training our newer Hunters.”

“You can relax on that as well, Mr. Ahn.” Joohee smiled at him, “Tomorrow we won’t be raiding, Sunday we all have something to do, and on Monday Jinwoo has a meeting he needs to attend. That gives you three days without having to worry about us.”

“Though we will be buying at least one Gate on Tuesday, so I’d wake up early to get prime spots if I were you.” Soohyun teased him.

“Well then!” Ahn said cheerfully, “All that’s left is to defeat you at pool.”

They all laughed. An hour later, a victorious Miho laughed harder.

-]|[-

“This should be far enough, don’t you think?” Jinwoo ‘parked’ the car in the tree line of a large clearing. The foursome had greatly enjoyed the previous day off as Soohyun had brought them to one of the highest-end restaurants in Seoul. Being the niece of a chairman of such a huge conglomerate had some nice advantages.

“I just hope it doesn’t take forever like my last one.” Miho groused, “Would be nice if we could go home tonight.”

“Fuck.” Soohyun suddenly cursed, “We forgot our dailies.”

The other three blinked, before Joohee sighed, “Ugh, well, at least it’s not like it will take us too long after we’re done. We can do all of them in, what, fifteen minutes now?” Normally they would have just done them now, but they hadn’t actually used their recovery all week. Their Dungeon delving had gone a little too well for them.

“True enough.” Jinwoo laughed, “See you girls on the other side.” He grinned as the screen popped up in front of him. “Accept.”

There was a deep thrum in the air before a literal black hole appeared in front of him. It shut and then light purple lightning started to spark in front of him. It didn’t actually do any damage to their surroundings thankfully, and then a massive, dark-purple gate about three times his height popped up.

The three girls smiled, “Good luck.” They all said, before turning and facing one of the other directions. “Accept.” They declared before the same thing that happened to Jinwoo happened to them. A bright, golden gate appeared in front of Joohee, an angry red gate appeared in front of Miho, and finally, a black gate appeared in front of Soohyun.

“See you on the flipside.” Jinwoo called out as they all walked forward. All of them got the sense that the real game was about to begin. One second, he was in a forest, and the next, he appeared to be inside the halls of a large, ornate castle. He immediately knew the System was screwing with him. “FUCK.” He cursed as he read the notifications.

[In this area, potions, access to the store, and allies are forbidden. You will not recover your stats when leveling up.]

[You are forbidden from exiting the Dungeon until the Job-Change Quest is complete.]

Jinwoo ground his teeth as he tried to summon one of his smaller Shadows. Predictably, the skill failed. He was so going to spank Joohee for apparently giving the System that idea. He was also trapped inside. Apparently not even a teleportation stone would get him out. “At least the inventory still works.” He growled as he equipped his gauntlets and greaves, before drawing his two daos.

A soft clanking filled the hallway and grabbed his attention. A single knight walked from the shadows. It was an orange-named [Black Knight] with some gilded armor wielding two two-handed greatswords. The knight was a good bit taller than Jinwoo himself was. His head only came up to the knight’s midriff. Its walk was calm and self-assured, making Jinwoo smirk. “Let’s see how long that’ll last!” He roared as he charged forward.

He vanished from sight and a storm of flashes erupted around the Knight before he skidded to a stop behind it. “Deadly Storm should be enough for you guys-” He choked back as the knight turned around. The knight’s black armor didn’t have as much as a single scratch on it. The knight ran full tilt at him, greatly surprising him with its speed. He managed to block its swing with one of his own swords, but his bones felt like they rattled from the impact. He then had to dodge back as the dual-wielding knight attacked with the other blade. “Umbral Rend!” He called out, sending out a crisscrossed flying slash at the armored enemy. The black ‘X’ smashed into the chestplate and forced the enemy to slide back. Jinwoo cursed as it stopped sliding. He had damaged it, but a cross-shaped gouge on its breastplate had not been what he had been going for.

Even if he aimed exclusively for thin spots in the armor like the neck, he’d be wasting mana by the truckload with every enemy he slayed. He dismissed his two blades seeing as they were useless. “I guess daddy will have to get the belt.” He got into a martial arts stance before racing forward. He ducked under one wild slash, grabbed the other blade with his free hand, and then unleashed a crushing blow directly in the center of the knight’s chest.

Metal groaned and crumpled from the impact, before a black, shadowy sludge seemed to leak from the faceplate. The knight fell back, defeated. “Oh good, that worked.” Jinwoo sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “At least I didn’t focus solely on swords.” He turned and smirked when he saw the gigantic pack of Black Knights appearing from the shadows. “I hope the girls are having fun!” He yelled as he charged at the enemies without a care.

-]|[-

Miho blinked in shock when she opened her eyes. “What the hell?” She asked in shock as she looked around. She was in a white, featureless void. No matter where she looked, she could see neither beginning nor end. The literal only thing she could see other than herself was a book floating before her.

“This is going to be one of those quests, isn’t it.” She groused as she stomped forward and grabbed the book. The second she touched it, it glowed red and disappeared, allowing screens to pop up in front of her.

[The Job-Change Quest will now begin.]

[Welcome to the Revenant Tower.]

The first screen said, and she felt almost disorientated as a volcanic hellscape appeared around her. She hissed as the temperature spiked, but there was really nothing she could do about it. It was hot but at least still bearable.

[Enemies shall spawn around you with the sole goal of killing you. Your goal is to survive as long as possible and kill as many as you can. Each time you clear a level, you will be transported to a new area. Enemies will increase in strength the further you progress. The quest will end upon your death.]

A bloodthirsty grin crossed her face, “Horde Mode, huh?”

[The number of enemies is endless. There is no other way to end the quest. You will only have a single resurrection waiting for you at the end of the quest.

Be warned that performing poorly will lead to severe penalties, up to and including permanent reduction in stats as well as loss of the System.]

That completely wiped the smile from her face. Who knew just what the System meant by ‘poorly enough?’

[In this area, potions and access to the store are forbidden. You will not recover your stats when leveling up.]

“Fuck.” She cursed.

[At the end of each floor of the Tower, you will have a choice between three random buffs or recovery options.

Begin when ready.]

“Okay, that’s something at least.” She bit her finger. “Well, nothing to it but to do it.” She said as she summoned her spear and took a fortifying breath. “Bring it on!” She yelled as the screens disappeared and immediately, enemies started to literally spawn in. Some crawled out of the lava flows, some literally just appeared in flashes of light… She was completely surrounded.

She didn’t wait for them. She vanished, spearing through three demon-looking enemies in one go. They all screeched furiously and leapt for her. She was almost disappointed. All these demons had gray names.

-]|[-

Soohyun looked around in confusion. “Am I… in New York?” She spotted one building, “Yeah, that’s the Woolworth building!” She grinned, “They sent me to Broadway? The very start of Broadway even! Don’t mind if I do!” As soon as she said that, an absolutely gargantuan portal opened up on the other side of the street she was on. All that excitement turned to ash as she remembered she was in a Dungeon. She whimpered, ‘From the size of that thing… I think it might be an SSS Dungeon. What the fuck!’ She wailed in her head as all around her, the people stopped dead and stared at it in complete shock. ‘The System better not expect me to FIGHT anything from that!’

[The Job-Change Quest will now begin.]

[Your exit has appeared.]

“Eh?” She blinked, looking from the screen to the massive portal she could see at the end of Manhattan over the tops of the buildings.

[Your goal is to simply walk through that Gate.]

“You’re shitting me.” She deadpanned.

[All resources are available.]

“Fuck.” She paled.

[Your time limit is twelve hours.]

“Double fuck.”

[If you are unable to exit in time, you will die.]

“Oh fuck you, System!” She hissed as the timer immediately started. She lifted into the air and flew right for the Gate, not noticing the people around her scream in shock and awe as they watched a beautiful woman fly under her own power. She flew faster and faster, but the Gate never seemed to get any closer. “Not this trick again.” She groaned as she remembered her S-Ranked Dungeon. “At least I know how to beat it.” She started flying as fast as she possibly could and felt a cold chill inside her stomach as she realized nothing was happening.

She slowed to a stop and simply floated in the air. “What the fuck?” She whispered in horror, looking behind her and seeing an infinitely stretched out road and repeating buildings. It was an absolutely fractal horror for her. “Warping! That’s got to be it!” She said as she vanished… only to appear in the exact same spot. She almost started to hyperventilate before she took a few calming breaths.

“Okay,” She huffed to herself. “The System is challenging us. It’s putting us in situations that are difficult but not impossible to overcome. I can beat this… but how?” She bit her thumb before pulling the System up and looking at her lovers’ stats. All of them were obviously in combat of some sort. She watched Joohee’s mana drop before recovering more than she had lost. Her fatigue went up a percent. Jinwoo’s mana was level, but he’d taken some small bits of HP damage, as had Miho.

She couldn’t contact any of them. She couldn’t risk distracting them. But that info was valuable, because it made her realize something. “Why don’t I have any enemies?” She looked around. She noticed the humans around her were gaping at her as if she were God. She frowned. “What, have they never seen a flying woman before?” She grumbled, not realizing that this was a normal world unaffected by the Gates. She looked around once more and then looked up her skills. “…every single one of my skills except the one I got from Kasaka have to do with spacetime in some manner.” Her shield skill outright bent spacetime to make attacks flow around her. Her Spatial Rend was a huge gravity screw. She could even teleport!

Maybe there was something she wasn’t seeing. She activated said skill from Kasaka and looked around. ‘It’s not just infrared!’ She thought to herself in glee as she witnessed the churning of spacetime around her. It was as though she could see the bubble she was trapped in. “Can it really be that simple?” She asked as she blinked away the effects of Kasaka’s Gaze so as to not waste any more mana. “Okay, let’s do this!” She cried out as she stuck a hand out and fought with the spacetime bubble she was in. The air visibly warped in front of her as she struggled. Her mana ticked down steadily as she tried to find the right way to pierce through it. It was like trying to fight a landslide with her bare hands.

She ground her teeth, pushing more power and beginning to glow black as her aura intensified. She took the lessons she knew from Void Aegis and applied them, forcing the spacetime bubble to warp around her own bubble, forming a hole. She immediately warped, coming out of the bubble and sighing in relief when she saw the buildings were different.

She flew on… up until she almost crashed into the pavement. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” She yelled as she just barely stopped herself from breaking her own nose. Her jaw dropped as she backed away.

Forget the earlier challenge. THIS was a fractal nightmare. The city seemed to be coming apart at the seams. She looked down and then behind and saw a car simply folding onto the road, driving across it, and then folding back down and out of sight. There were sideways buildings, the river was upside down in the air like a ceiling… and folding at a right angle before vanishing somewhere off to her left.

The true horror of her task struck her like a punch from Jinwoo.

-]|[-

When Joohee opened her eyes, she was surprised to find herself in an alleyway. She looked around and behind but found only a single exit in front of her. Shrugging slightly, she started to walk forward and onto the street. Immediately, she felt a little self-conscious as some people walking around started pointing and laughing at her.

‘What, have they never seen a Hunter before?’ She grumbled internally as she just picked a direction and started walking.

One guy jeered at her, “Hey sweetheart, you’re a week late for Comicon.”

She walked faster, frowning in confusion. ‘What the heck is going on? Where’s my Job-Change Quest?’

She brushed past a group of teen girls who were glaring at her, intimidated by her body and ‘confidence’ over wearing ‘cosplay.’ And then all of a sudden, everything changed. Blue light and wind blew through the street, causing several people to scream. A huge Gate, the biggest she’d ever personally seen, appeared right at the end of the street. “What the hell is that?!” Someone screamed and everyone around her started grabbing their phones to take pictures.

Joohee was confused. Why were they acting like this was the first Gate they had ever seen?

[The Job-Change Quest will now begin.]

Joohee gasped as a cold feeling went down her spine.

[The first ever Gate of this timeline is about to Break.]

Joohee’s stomach fell into her feet. ‘What?! No! It only just formed! There should be seven days!’ She protested uselessly and then blanched as the first part of the sentence penetrated her brain.

[You are the only Hunter in existence.]

No. Nonononononono.

[Defeat as many enemies as you can and close the Gate. Protect as many humans as you can. All resources are available.]

A look of horror crossed Joohee’s face. “GET AWAY FROM IT! RUN!” She yelled, drawing the attention of the hapless fools who didn’t know any better but should have known better than to get close to a glowing blue portal.

The portal’s ‘face’ cracked like glass and a massive claw erupted from it, slashing into a man. He went down screaming as the shards from the shattering portal’s surface fell to the ground and the biggest bear this world had ever seen stepped out. It let out an ursine roar as pandemonium erupted. Hundreds of people began to run as more bears started trying to squeeze their way through the broken Gate.

Police that happened to be there tried to open fire, but their handguns would probably have been useless even against regular bears. They had to stop anyway, because Joohee got in the way. She charged the leading bear, slamming into its nose and forcing it back into the rest of the pack. She grabbed the man who had been disemboweled and had been about to become a snack and threw herself back. She got him to safety. “Are you crazy, lady?!” One of the officers yelled at her. “He’s beyond sav-”

Joohee’s left hand and specifically her rings glowed gold as she activated her Divine Light. The man moaned in shock as his guts slurped back into his body and then the wound sealed shut without even a scar. “Angel!” He managed to get out before the shock got to him and he went completely unconscious.

“Oh, Heavenly Father,” A few of the police fell to their knees. “You have brought us your salvation!” They crossed themselves and stared at her in rapture.

“What are you doing?!” Joohee screamed at them as her morningstar began to glow. They flinched as she yelled, “Get people as far away from here as you can!” She finished yelling as she swung her morningstar and a Guiding Bolt blew a bear’s brains out. “I’m one woman! I can’t protect everyone! GO!” She yelled as she charged and smashed the head of another bear.

‘At least it’s only bears! They’re strong but I can deal with bears!’ Even as she said that jaguars began to speedily run out, and unlike the bears, they were more interested in the weaker, much more abundant prey they could smell around the city. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” She screamed as they began charging away from the portal and into the streets. The bears roared as they either charged for her and were met with her Guiding Bolts or straight up started to scale and tear into the nearby buildings like they were tuna cans, and they wanted to get to the goodies inside.

She screamed as she jumped at them and started to chase, breaking spines and bursting skulls as she went. The bears tried to fight and kill her when she interrupted their meals, but her own skills were up to par in combat now. She didn’t have a taste for it like Jinwoo and Miho and perhaps even Soohyun, but she was no longer the terrified little girl who truthfully wanted to quit after every raid.

Her swings were powerful and precise. She tried to waste as little energy as possible as she killed forest bear after forest bear. And then began healing the poor, sobbing people those bears had tried to make meals out of. Many were already on the brink of death and about to bleed out, only for her to bring them right back with her Divine Light. As she healed, she defended. A bear tried to tackle her, only to bounce off her Divine Bulwark and restore some of her mana. She immediately crushed it with her weapon before telling the people she had saved to run as far away as they could.

She ran back to the window of the building, only to feel her knees weaken in horror. More and more beasts had flooded onto the streets while she was occupied with the bears in the buildings. She could see Giant Spiders, Stone Golems, Wood Elves, and more pouring out. “How am I supposed to do this?!” She cried out, “Why couldn’t Jinwoo get this Quest?! His army could have-” She hissed as she barely dodged an arrow from an elf, a sharp cut appearing on her cheek.

She dodged another and dropped to the ground. ‘No! I can’t think about Jinwoo being able to clear this disaster more easily than I could!’ She dodged more and more arrows as she ran forward. ‘I can only think about what I need to do!’ A dozen Guiding Bolts appeared around her. “I NEED TO SAVE PEOPLE!” She yelled as her attacks fired, blowing elves and spiders back as she did so. She blocked a punch from a Stone Golem to recharge her mana, before screaming as she pounded its chest with her morningstar. The one solid boulder practically exploded into a shower of pebbles from her attack.

She winced as she leapt up onto a building in a single bound. Elves with swords jumped to follow her, only to be blown out of the air with more bolts. She could hear screams everywhere. Agonized screams. “What do I DO?!” She bit her knuckle. Bottlenecking them here meant leaving the other people defenseless! There were no other Hunters coming.

She was all alone.

-]|[-

Jinwoo had been fighting for what felt like hours. For the first time since his acquisition of the System, he was feeling a little worry creeping in. Not because he couldn’t handle everything the Dungeon had thrown at him so far, no. He had easily handled himself against every enemy that had been tossed at him.

The knights had been crushed under his fists and feet. The archers and mages had been diced up by his blades. The assassins had straight up been gutted or pierced somewhere else in their bodies by the sharp fingertips of his gauntlets. Several of them he had straight up picked up and ripped in half.

The enemies weren’t the problem. Their names had gone from orange to white to gray. He had leveled up a few times as well. He’d even collected item drops and oodles of gold from his enemies. All signs of a successful raid. Why then, was he feeling a little worried?

Fatigue: 53%.

He was starting to creep up into exhaustion territory. He couldn’t rest at all while fighting the hordes of enemies. Every time the Dungeon felt empty, and he took a seat to take a breather, he would have to catch an arrow or dodge a fireball as more enemies spawned. And the fucks didn’t even have the decency to keep giving him exp now that he had overleveled them.

At the very least, he had stuffed some drinks and rations in his inventory. At this point he could fight these guys with just his feet as he scarfed down a sandwich and drank some water. But while the food sated his thirst and hunger, it didn’t do anything for his fatigue. He quite simply needed to move on.

And so he did, walking up to the room he had seen at the end of the hallway. He opened the huge double doors and peered inside, seeing nothing but blackness. With a roll of his eyes, he walked in. As he did so, torches lit up all the pillars in the massive, cathedral-like throne room. Said throne was at the end of the hall and he furrowed his eyebrows, “Empty?”

And then he heard one single, soft step, and it was like every fight-or-flight receptor in his body activated all at once. He stiffened like a rock as a bead of sweat dripped down his face. ‘My eyes, my ears, my fingertips… every inch of my body remembers.’ He swallowed heavily. ‘It’s the same feeling I had in the Double Dungeon.’

It was a knight with blood red armor covering his entire body, and unlike the Black Knights from the corridor, he was about Jinwoo’s height and pretty slender. A large plume like a horsehair tassel flowed from his helmet, acting like a long, fluffy ponytail. He also had a tattered red cape attached to the armor. All of the intensity that Jinwoo was feeling came from the Knight… and for good reason.

[Knight Commander Igris the Blood Red]

The name shone brightly in equally red writing right above Igris’s head. With Jinwoo at level fifty-seven from all the grinding with the girls as well as the earlier parts of this Dungeon… This knight was probably an S-Rank.

The bead of sweat on his forehead dripped down. The second it hit the floor, as if Igris had heard the sound, the knight vanished and appeared next to Jinwoo.

With a choked exhale, Jinwoo ducked underneath the swing. The sword didn’t touch the pillar next to him, and yet it still exploded. The air pressure from Igris’s giant blade was a more effective cutting weapon than his Umbral Rend.

Jinwoo hurriedly summoned his daos and crossed them as Igris attacked again. Jinwoo almost felt his bones break as he caught the attack and then hurtled away from Igris like he had been fired from a cannon. He smashed into a pillar and hacked as his body broke through it. He hit the ground hard and rolled, leaping to his feet. He didn’t even have a moment to blink before he was moving again, desperately dodging a very bad haircut as Igris’s bronze blade almost took half his head off.

He roared, swinging his daos at the impossible powerful knight. With a metallic clang Igris stopped his blades cold. “With one hand?!” Jinwoo choked out as the knight’s eyes narrowed. And then with casual ease, the knight flung him away. When he landed, he leapt over Igris’s head as the ground in front of the knight’s blade seemed to explode.

‘He’s so fast.’ Jinwoo wiped his forehead, ‘In such heavy armor too. His stats… every single one of them must be better than mine… and perhaps by a lot. What a monster!’ Jinwoo threw himself at the red knight, ‘The only reason I can keep up is probably because of his armor’s weight! If he dropped all of it, he’d even be faster than me too!’ He used his Deadly Storm skill to launch a barrage of slices at every angle he could find. Igris blocked or dodged them all and even nonchalantly whapped Jinwoo on the back a few times without capitalizing with a deadly strike of his own. Like he was saying ‘olé’ at one of those Spanish bullfighting matches he had seen a video of once. “UMBRAL REND!” A furious Jinwoo roared as he spun around, launching the silent, black attack at the knight.

Igris could have done a lot of things. He could have dodged. He could have blocked. He even could have let himself be hit square in the chest, just to show Jinwoo the futility of using a blade against him. He chose a different path. He held out a hand, and the energetic attack hit his gauntlet. He stopped it cold, holding it in the air for a second, more than long enough for Jinwoo to realize what he had done. And then he flicked his wrist, sending it contemptuously over his shoulder. It carved into a pillar about twenty feet from the ground and sliced it in half.

And then Igris simply stared, not moving. ‘‘What will you do next?’ Is that it, Igris?’ Jinwoo growled as he dismissed his two blades. With his gauntlets and greaves gleaming in the torchlight, Jinwoo got into a fighting stance.

Igris tilted his head. And then, surprising Jinwoo, he slammed the tip of his blade into the ground. Jinwoo’s eyes widened as he threw a pair of daggers down as well, still in their sheathes. And then he reached up, tearing his cape off and flinging it away. “Chivalry, huh? You must think this is going to be easy.”

Well, he couldn’t have that. This was no time to conserve Mana. He activated his speed boost and blazed towards Igris. The two met in the center of the throne room, their fists impacting like asteroid strikes against one another. The ground beneath them cratered and blew apart as they jumped away. The two blurred, clashing thirty feet up in the air near one of the pillars, his shin against Igris’s. The pillar next to them blew away, sending stones clattering to the ground below.

As they landed, Igris moved even faster, surprising Jinwoo as he barely dodged a fist to his nose. His fist thundered into the red knight’s gut, launching him away and through a pillar. Jinwoo took a deep breath in relief. He could hit the Blood Red Knight! “Everything starts with one!” Jinwoo declared as the smoke from the dust cloud cleared.

Unlike the Black Knights, Igris’s armor wasn’t indented. The red knight looked down, before brushing off his chestplate with a few sweeps of his hand. And then without even looking at Jinwoo, disappeared. And in a shocking turn of events, Jinwoo found himself on the other side of the exact same thing he had done to Hwang Dongsuk.

His face was grabbed with a cold, blood red palm, and then the back of his head slammed into the cratering floor. “Guh!” He gasped as he settled for a moment. ‘No! He was holding back THIS much?!’ And then he had no more time to think, as Igris continued to drag him across the ground by his face before flinging him across the room. He hit the back wall with a devastating impact and then the red knight was on him again.

He managed to dodge the first punch and the second, landing an uppercut. Igris flipped back and then went even faster. It was all Jinwoo could do to keep up even slightly as the two rocketed around the throne room. Each and every landing or impact left craters everywhere. The blue and red blurs impacted again and again, flipping over one another, trying to sweep each other’s legs, kicking, punching, elbowing, and kneeing.

At one point they even headbutted each other, which Jinwoo instantly regretted half a moment later as his brains rattled. If he didn’t know better, the red knight was amused by that, as he allowed Jinwoo to stumble back drunkenly and shake his head. The battle resumed a moment later and after several minutes of being beaten around the throne room like a punching bag, Jinwoo managed to land a solid hit with a roundhouse kick to Igris’s neck that actually dented his armor just slightly.

Apparently, that was one strike too far as the Blood Red’s eyes became red themselves. And then Jinwoo found out what it was like to be tenderized as Igris pounded him up and down, bashing him with a right hook and then a left cross. He then double hammerfisted Jinwoo into the ground, kicked him back up, and slammed a spinning backfist into his jaw, flinging him across the room.

He caught up to the flying man in an instant, grabbing his leg and whipping Jinwoo over his head before slamming him into the ground. And then again. And then again. Then he slammed Jinwoo face first into a wall, before turning and flinging him all the way across the room. Jinwoo crashed into the wall like a comet right above the empty throne, before falling forward and landing sprawled right on it.

Igris walked towards Jinwoo slowly, eyes still red with anger and contempt. He strode up the stairs before raising his hand. A red glow engulfed it before also surrounding his sword. The blade wiggled for half a moment before flying across the room into his hand. He raised the sword over his head before bringing it down on Jinwoo’s neck.

Jinwoo raised a hand and caught it, looking up at Igris with fury and a desire to live in his eyes. “I HAVEN’T LOST YET!” He roared as he clenched his hand with all his might. His crushing grip shattered Igris’s sword, with a large, thin, sharp chunk remaining in his grasp as the rest of the weapon clattered around them. He jabbed the jagged metal directly into Igris’s eye.

For the first time since he’d entered the Dungeon, an enemy roared in agony. Jinwoo grabbed the knight’s wrists next and crushed them, squeezing them until metal sheared and his hands sloughed off his arms. A crushing kick from Jinwoo sent Igris hurtling across the room before smashing into the wall. Jinwoo roared as he dashed forward, punching and kicking Igris with wild abandon. And then with one final scream of exertion, he delivered a palm strike right into the metal that was still jammed in Igris’s eye, forcing it deeper and killing the knight for good.

Jinwoo was so exhausted he simply fell back, gasping for breath and laying on his back, spread eagle. “Holy…” He gasped out. It took a moment for him to manage to get to a seated position. “I…I won, right?”

[Notification!

You have defeated

Knight Commander Igris the Bloodred]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Even victorious, he didn’t really feel like he had won anything. Igris had been an utter monster. In terms of skills, ability, and experience, he had completely outmatched Jinwoo. Jinwoo frankly should have been dead, and it was only luck that allowed the sword to break in the exact way it had. “I wish I could fight you again, Igris.” Jinwoo said, “Again and again, until I could beat you fair and square.” He sighed and punched the ground, “But even Shadow Extraction isn’t working at the moment.” He shook his head in frustration.

When he opened his eyes again, he blinked as four reward screens popped up. “Holy hell, a million and a half gold? The S-Rank [Crimson Knight’s Helmet] with 30 STR, 30 VIT, and 20% physical damage reduction?” He immediately equipped it, wishing he’d had the item before he had decided to headbutt a knight. He then looked at the third reward, “[Ruler’s Hand] huh?” He grabbed the Runestone and popped it immediately, grinning as he saw that it was a skill that used no mana at all and gave him Telekinesis.

He held a hand out and Igris’s cape and daggers flew into his hands. “Wow, these are great too! Shame I don’t use daggers.” He mumbled as he put them in his inventory. The cape was, unfortunately, just a cape. He put it down on top of Igris in respect. “And last but not least… an Instant Teleportation stone.”

He frowned. Why would the stone not go into his inventory? Why give a stone to him now when the quest was fini- He froze. “No, it can’t be!” He whirled around as his senses caught onto the feeling of Gates popping up.

[The Job-Change Quest will now begin.]

“Son of a BITCH!” He cried out as he hurriedly took a bottle of water from his inventory and chugged it. These gates would stay open indefinitely and time was the major factor in how well he did in the quest. He could handle Black Knights, but if there was another Igris now he was screwed.

And to his relief, it was a knight that stepped from the first Gate. And the second. And the third. And the first again. And the fourth.

And then Jinwoo started to sweat as hundreds of walking suits of armor started popping out of the portals.

And Jinwoo’s fatigue was at seventy-eight percent with less than two thousand HP remaining.

-]|[-

Miho sighed as she clawed through the final giant hornet of the area. She had been fighting for hours at this point, though it honestly felt like weeks. The first two dozen ‘floors’ of the tower had been outright monotonous. It was just kill after kill after kill. Boring. No effort. Not a single point of damage taken. She hadn’t even really needed to use much mana. And yet even from that relatively light exercise, her fatigue had slowly crept up. The first floors were designed to tire her out. Maybe get a lucky hit in here or there.

She quickly got into the flow, defeating floor after floor. And each time, she got a buff, as promised. And yet, things hadn’t quite gone the way she had thought they would. Each ‘buff’ was good. Damage reduction. Increased damage. Stuff like that. Great on paper… if each floor hadn’t been mind-numbingly easy. Even the floor bosses every five floors, enemies she had already defeated in the past, had been easy.

The problem ended up being that each buff only lasted for the next floor. It was always replaced by whatever she chose next. And there were many to choose from. She usually ended up just regenerating her mana or, on the very rare occasions where it was available, wiping out some of her fatigue. She basically had to choose that one every time it popped up.

And then the white-named enemies popped up, and she felt the glory of EXP once more. A slow trickle, to be sure, but it was EXP! Here, she started taking occasional knicks of damage. A dozen here. A hundred there. Little bites. Papercuts.

Annoyances.

HP Regeneration joined the list of buffs she occasionally took. Recovering 1000 HP here and there helped keep her topped off. Even then, fatigue started to rack up because each buff didn’t get rid of a lot of it.

It didn’t feel particularly rewarding either, as she only leveled up twice in the entire forty-nine floors she had just completed. She sighed as she just took a moment to sit on a rock in the field. “Next round should be a boss. Give me the good shit, System.” She said as her options popped up in front of her.

[HP Recovery Lv. 1 – recover 1000 HP.]

[Damage Boost Lv. 2 – Increase Damage by 30% in the next round.]

[Fatigue Recovery Lv. 2 – Remove 25% Fatigue.]

Her eyes widened. This was an actual choice for her to make. She eyed her Fatigue, which was sitting at forty-three percent. That was a little bit better than a potion. Normally she only got the level one buff which only took off ten percent.

But this next boss would likely be the first that was in the ballpark of her level. It would likely be an orange name. Thirty percent more damage against a boss could be game changing. She bit the tip of her thumb and started to pace as she considered things. The Fatigue Recovery option really didn’t like showing up. She’d gotten it maybe seven times in forty-nine rounds. The goal was to last as long as possible and clear as many floors as possible. Thus far, each and every monster had been something she had faced at one point or another. She would likely be familiar with its attacks.

On the other hand, with the bump to orange names likely coming up, if she got stuck facing a boss for too long, the Fatigue Recovery option could end up being useless. It might end up being more valuable to take the Damage Boost and simply finish the fight faster. She continued to pace for a few moments before the field seemed to flash. “Hurry up, huh?” She growled, glaring at the screen. “Fine. Fatigue Recovery.” She said the first one that came to mind and instantly moaned as her tiredness mostly melted away. “Hope I don’t regret that.”

The field dissolved into the white void once more before a mountain formed around her. She grinned as an old friend crashed down in front of her. “Hello beastie!” She let a bloodthirsty smirk form on her face.

The Zinogre roared at her and tried to tail-whip her. The exact same way that the beast had done the first time she faced it. Before, it had been so fast that she hadn’t even been able to see it. Now? She somersaulted over it and slammed her spear into its flank in a single motion. It roared furiously as it bucked, trying to dislodge her. “Not this time, old friend!” She roared as her draconic transformation took hold of her. Her wings and tail burst from her uniform and her claws came out. With a roar, she slashed its back, tearing through scales and carving into its flesh.

Roaring in agony now, it started to spark with lightning. She quickly flew away, lifting into the air and flapping her wings hard. The lightning struck the Zinogre to no effect, as it was immune to its own attacks. The second the blue glow disappeared she was on it again, her spear transforming into its venomous form. The blade bit into its marred flesh and penetrated deep this time.

The agonized howl from the beast that had given her so much trouble over a week ago was music to her ears. It bucked and rolled, trying to squash her. The paralysis wasn’t doing anything due to its resistances, but the bleed was doing a fine job, as the blood pouring from between its teeth told her.

With a vicious grin, she charged for its face, her claws swiping across its eyes and blinding it. She finally took a good hit in return as its paw crashed into her and sent her flying. “Shit, I got cocky!” Miha cursed as she glared at the twenty-five-hundred HP she had just lost. She glared at it as it primed another electrical attack.

The lightning bolt fired at her this time, and she swooped to get out of the way. She charged but had to abort as it fired a second lightning bolt at her from its mouth. She zipped around a third bolt and grinned when the electricity was apparently depleted. With that, Miho activated Dash and her massively increased speed put her right beside it. Her spear changed to its fire form and she yelled, “Immolating Strikes!” She jabbed like lightning herself, putting seven burning holes in the Zinogre’s side and belly at once. The beast howled and tried to get away from her as she let go of her spear and grabbed its tail. It was so big she couldn’t even fully get her arms around it. Her brother might have had better luck, but she was fairly petite.

That didn’t stop her for a second. “RARGH!” With a roar of exertion as its claws dug into the mountainous ground, she pulled it backwards and then flipped it over her head. It landed with an almost canine hack and whine as she dove forward. Her claws bit deep into its gut as she flew up its body and carved right through it. In an instant, the beast that had brought her near death the first time she had faced it was disemboweled entirely. Miho landed near its head and neck as it pawed uselessly at the air. A brutal punch broke its upper jaw with a spray of blood and a clatter of fangs. She then grabbed the lower jaw, jammed her foot in its open mouth, and tore upwards.

A sickening sound rang through the air as she widened its jaw by over a meter. Blood sprayed all over her as the beast’s struggles slowed and then ceased.

Miho sighed as she backed away, beaming at how much progress she had made. The only damage she’d taken had been from a careless mistake. If only she could throw the thing into her inventory for Jinwoo to raise later. Alas, its body was disintegrating already. The one thing that put a scowl on her face was the fact that she didn’t, “-get a single level from that?! What the hell, System?!” She growled. It better not be messing with her EXP again!

She quickly eyed the options and scowled as she chose the HP Regeneration. Best option of the lot. The mountain dissolved and she cracked her back and joints with quick movements. “I guess this is where the game really begins.” Miho said as she appeared in another primordial area. This time, some weird constructs made out of basalt and lava popped out rather than demons, and she got back to work.

She was rather mollified when she leveled up upon killing her first monster of floor fifty-one.

-]|[-

It had gotten worse. Soohyun didn’t know how it possibly could have, but this damned quest had gotten worse. The city itself had actively been trying to kill her. She had landed on top of a sideways building to try to collect herself, only for the damn thing to start trying to eat her. She’d just barely managed to get back into the air as the bricks of the building had started seemingly multiplying and crawling over one another, trying to grab her legs. Like she had been in fucking Harry Potter or something.

The people around were apparently safe, at least. It was like nothing happening to the world actually affected them at all. They were perfectly happy with their city turning into an MC Escher painting and were routinely walking into downward ninety-degree angles with no issues.

She had been forced to fly the entire time, gulping down mana and fatigue potions like they had been going out of style as she tried to figure out what to do. And she’d been at it for hours. Her timer was ticking ominously, and she’d barely made it a quarter of the way through the gravity screws and warped perspectives.

If it wasn’t for the fact that her skills had been growing by leaps and bounds, she would have been in a complete and utter panic by now. Eyes glowing a very dark purple, she held out her hand and fought against the spatial warping in front of her. Grinding her teeth, the building in front of her groaned as it righted itself, getting out of her way. She flew through the space and then released her hold.

The building groaned again as it slammed behind her. Well, not literally. There wasn’t a shockwave or broken glass or anything. But she could still feel it somehow. “This wasn’t what I had in mind.” She panted, “I would have preferred fighting against some bullshit boss.” She growled as she bought more mana and fatigue potions and guzzled them.

She flew on, now-effortlessly bending spacetime as she went to escape more bubble warps like that first one and not even flinching when multiple appeared around her and tried to grind her into dust. Her skills were growing by leaps and bounds and had leveled up several times from the esoteric ways she had needed to use them.

It was when she hit fifty percent of the way to the Gate that she ran into another huge issue. The city warped again, skyscraper after famous skyscraper bending into a solid wall in front of her. She clicked her teeth in frustration as she floated in front of them. The Rockefeller building was directly in front of her, upside down. She reached out and tried to bend the skyscraper up and out of the way, but it was apparently welded to the rest of the surrounding buildings for all the movement she could get out of it.

She ground her teeth, pouring more and more power into warping spacetime. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the building and land above it started to rise out of the way. She poured more and more mana into it, trying to create a gap she could squeeze through, but it truly felt like she was fighting against the world itself for the first time.

Blood spurted from her nose as a warning screen appeared in front of her. And a second later, before she even registered it, her flight abruptly cut out. She crashed to the ground and blew a crater into the pavement as she landed. She groaned as the meager progress she had made against lifting the building out of the way was erased.

She was forced to move physically as the ground itself attacked her. She hurried out of the way of waves of pavement trying to crash down upon her. And then a literal tsunami of water came rushing at her from the river. She quickly guzzled a mana potion and screamed as she flew into the air, just barely missing out on getting caught by the water. She floated there, gasping for breath before she started buying more and more mana potions. She bought Fatigue potions as well as she wearily looked at the timer.

[08:37.36]

Was the number that caught her eye. She still had quite a bit of time left, but she wasn’t anywhere close to fifty percent of the way through the quest yet. She fought the rising panic inside her and glared at the 30 Rockefeller Plaza building. “Okay, no more nice girl.” She hissed at it, before blasting off towards it. “SPATIAL REND!” She roared as her dark powers churned around her arm.

The air in front of her warped before the front of the building distended and then shattered. A massive hole got blasted into its face and she flew straight through it, sighing in relief as she got to the other side. She paid no attention to the screaming of the people all around her in every direction as the building collapsed into itself, falling upwards from her perspective. She continued to fly, before the world churned in front of her once more. Skyscraper after skyscraper started coming from every angle now, rather than just ninety-degrees. The same thing from earlier happened, except instead of a solid wall, now a mountain of metal and glass stood before her.

Building after building lined up one behind the other. She growled as she prepared to destroy the Chrysler Building as well. With a roar, she fired another Spatial Rend. It crashed into the building and blew its back out… into the One Vanderbilt behind it. She swallowed as she saw that she hadn’t gotten through and readied another attack… only for the building in front of her to wobble for a moment, before compacting. Every floor that she had crushed with her attack crushed down, forming another solid wall in front of her. And off to the side, more building grew out of the fifth floor. Other than the clear line of damage, it was like the building was completely unaffected.

Her jaw dropped in surprise, “Oh that’s fucking HAX!” She cried out furiously. She took a few deep breaths and topped off her mana. “At least this attack scales with how much energy I put in.”

She used eighty-five percent of her total mana this time. The warping of spacetime was insane as she fired it. Even without Kasaka’s Gaze she could see the gravatic waves. The building in front of her was completely blown apart. Her attack continued to travel, blasting through what must have been half of the skyscrapers in Manhattan… only to stop cold before it could blast through all of them. Even as glass raced towards whichever direction ‘down’ happened to be, the buildings started to undulate, more glass and metal growing out of itself and sealing shut the hole she’d created.

Her hand fell limply to her side, and this time, she couldn’t fight the panic welling inside her.

-]|[-

Hours had passed for Joohee, and despite her best efforts, Magic Beasts had escaped the initial area where the Dungeon Break had occurred. Her attacks quite simply did not have the AOE needed to take out multiple waves of enemies at once. Her Guiding Bolts were strong and had quite a bit of explosive force, but only when she charged a lot of mana into them. She had turned the area around the broken Gate into a cratered mess, but in the time it took her to gulp down mana potions, dozens more had managed to escape into the city beyond.

She really wished she had a Taunt skill right about now.

It took her over four hours of fighting before she had both leveled Guiding Bolt enough and experimented with the attack enough to create a new skill. She crashed down in front of a jaguar who was mauling a poor girl and grabbed it by its jaws. Not giving it a chance to react, she ripped it open. Not its jaw, it. She would freak out about it later, she thought to herself as she dropped the banana-peeled animal. She quickly healed the girl and stood her up, pushing her to safety as a myriad of beasts appeared.

Glaring at the leading beast, a gigantic mandrill of all things, she raised her morningstar which began to glow with golden light. “Ray of Light!” She cried out, thrusting the weapon forward. A searingly hot beam of light sped forward. It wasn’t the speed of light, so it was probably more of a plasma attack than anything, but it was fast all the same. That flash was the last thing the Magic Beasts saw before whatever the light touched disintegrated.

She blinked the spots from her eyes before leaping away, wishing she was faster. She sped through the city, attacking everything non-human that dared to move. Everywhere she went, she had to hold back tears as she saw just how many people had already been eaten. What a horrible way to go.

She killed and she killed and she killed, but everywhere she looked, she felt like more of a failure. She healed who she could. She had saved tens of thousands of people in this city already. The park had been a nightmare. SO MANY people in one area. She’d had to send hundreds upon thousands of underpowered Guiding Bolts in every direction, not necessarily to kill the Magic Beasts but to get their attention away from the humans. She’d had to be far more careful with her Ray of Light so as not to hurt people as well. She cleared hundreds of magic beasts and healed thousands in just over fifteen minutes.

And yet the dead bodies she couldn’t get to fast enough haunted her. The Horde seemed endless, and worse, the boss was nowhere in sight. Every hour or so, she returned to the Gate and saw it still pouring enemies out. She’d even seen a troll of all things exiting and had immediately crushed the gigantic enemy’s skull. She’d known the second the armor-like bone had crunched from one swing that it hadn’t been the boss.

It didn’t matter how long she fought or how many people she healed. If she couldn’t kill the boss to close the Gate, more would come. It was frustrating. So, so frustrating. And then as she felt her spirit wane, she heard something new. A ticking sound. She furrowed her brows in confusion. “What is that?”

[Caution! – If the daily quest remains incomplete, penalties will be given accordingly.]

Her eyes bulged as she saw the clock. It was in the red. Deep in the red. “No! Nononono! Don’t you-” She vanished from the city under siege.

-]|[-

“-dare!” Joohee cried out before screaming in fury. “TAKE ME BACK! I HAVE TO SAVE THEM!”

“J-Joohee?”

Joohee’s eyes widened and she whirled around, letting out a little scream as she saw Jinwoo and Miho on the floor. Jinwoo’s fatigue was at ninety-five percent, and Miho’s just barely edged his out at ninety-six. Both of them had health and mana levels so low they were almost in the negatives. Miho was even missing her right arm. Soohyun by contrast at least looked to be fine physically but looked like she was mentally unraveling worse than Joohee had in the Cartenon Temple.

Joohee sprang into action, draining her mana rapidly to put them back at full health. The two sighed in relief as their pain vanished. Miho’s arm regrew in seconds, and she finally opened her eyes, smiling weakly at her. She tried to get up, but it was impossible. She felt like she had an entire ocean on top of her. Joohee rushed for her, grabbing a fatigue potion. “Soohyun!” She called out.

But their purple-haired girlfriend didn’t move. It was like she wasn’t even there.

“Soohyun!” Joohee called out again, “Help me! SOOHYUN!”

Soohyun finally started, shaking herself in shock. She turned around and tears started to pour from her eyes. “Joohee! Miho! Jinwoo!” She crawled over to Jinwoo and helped him drink his Fatigue potions.

His eyes popped open, “S-Soohyun.” He croaked, reaching up to wipe away a tear. “A-Am I dead?”

She sobbed, clutching onto him. “No.” She croaked out as well, “But I’m going to be in less than five hours.”

“No you’re NOT!” Miho growled out, now well enough to sit up and buy her own potions.

Before anything else could be said, the first of the [Ferocious Giant Desert Centipedes] rose out from beneath the sands. It wasn’t the same as the last time they had been here. It was bigger, stronger, and had a black exoskeleton rather than red. It screeched as it dove for them, only for Jinwoo to appear beneath it and kick it through the stratosphere. “We’re talking here!” He spat at the formerly-deadly arthropod. “Read the mood, asshole.” He cursed it as he landed. “Now.” He said firmly as he stood Soohyun up and kissed her greedily. “Tell us everything.” He said once he pulled away.

Soohyun’s chin wobbled before she began to speak.

…

They had to fight as they talked, the Penalty Dungeon not giving them a moment’s peace for the first three hours. Soohyun had been despondent as she had explained everything that had happened to her. In a lot of ways, her dungeon had been the worst of all of them, something Joohee could scarcely believe. Despite not having a single enemy to fight, her penalty for failure was just straight death. She had been hard stuck at the same point for hours, completely incapable of passing it no matter what she had tried.

And the damn Penalty Dungeon was going to cut her remaining time to finish the damn Job-Change Quest to just over thirty minutes.

But as they fought centipedes and scorpions and lizards and snakes, killing a seemingly endless wave of desert beasts, she had slowly cheered up. Jinwoo and Miho had wracked their brains thinking up possible solutions for her, and she had quickly gained more and more skill experience in the desert. Her level had skyrocketed though she didn’t quite catch up to Jinwoo, who was the highest of them at sixty-three. She had leveled up eleven times to his three, putting her at fifty-nine.

He had even realized his Shadows were available again but didn’t use them to give the girls the most amount of combat experience he could. Soohyun had put all her effort into the fighting, doing her best to use her skills liberally to continue leveling them up. Her mana had also jumped up, which would help, but the new use for her Void Aegis had been what had truly put her in a good mood again.

The sand beneath the final tarantula moved apart like water as Soohyun leapt from it like a dolphin. With a swipe of her arm, gravatic shearing cut the spider in half in a spray of pale, green blood. She grinned as she didn’t even have to brush herself off despite having turned the desert sand into her own personal swimming pool. Not a single grain had ever touched her, after all.

“It’s going to work.” Her cheer had returned with a vengeance. She landed near Miho and kissed her so hard the magenta-haired woman’s toes had curled. “It’s going to work!” She exclaimed again.

Miho grinned haughtily once her eyes unglazed from Soohyun’s kiss. “Of course it is! I thought of it.” She said, smirking in superiority.

The two jumped and landed on top of a centipede beside Jinwoo and Joohee. “We still have fifteen minutes.” Jinwoo said softly. “Whatever preparations you have to make, now’s the time.”

“Right.” Soohyun said, pouting, “It’s not fair though! You all got over a million gold from your Job-Change Quests so far.” She hadn’t had a single solitary coin drop. She’d had no enemies, after all. She’d blown thousands on potions, however.

Something they all did now, just to top themselves off. They then spent the gold they earned while Soohyun grumbled.

Joohee bought a new morningstar. An S-Ranked weapon that Soohyun swore had to be right out of a game she played as a teen. The head glowed with its own light, and it inherently increased the power, effectiveness, and mana costs of Light and Fire Magic. She also bought a set of boots which had increased her Strength and Agility by twenty each.

Miho used her gold exclusively on accessories, raising her Strength, Agility, and Perception by thirty each.

Jinwoo had spent his gold on a new pair of gauntlets and greaves, both of which matched Igris’s helmet and made him extremely glad that the Blood Red Knight had never used the skill apparently attached to his armor. His new equipment-exclusive ability allowed him to double-hit a target. If he had it earlier, he might have even been able to dent Igris’s breastplate. Finally, he used Shadow Extraction on some of the Penalty Dungeon’s beasts. He was now the proud owner of a giant centipede, a Gila Monster, a scorpion, and, amusingly enough, a giant roadrunner-like creature.

Soohyun grumbled some more as she didn’t have nearly enough gold to buy anything as high-quality as that. She had to settle for a new pair of rings, though she was delighted to realize her lovers could transfer leftover gold to her. So the forty Intelligence bump was nice. She didn’t even have to remove her old ring to equip it!

As they prepared to face their Job-Change Quests for the final time, they checked their stats.

Name: Sung Jinwoo

Level: 63

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP:19600

MP: 2090

Strength: 160

Agility: 109

Perception: 108

Vitality: 108

Intelligence: 82

Available Ability Points: 0

He was the strongest of them now, though not by much. He pulled away from Miho and Joohee by two and three levels respectively. Joohee’s stats were next.

Name: Lee Joohee

Level: 60

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP: 12100

MP: 4730

Strength: 131

Agility: 119

Perception: 100

Vitality: 78

Intelligence: 124

Available Ability Points: 0

She had realized that the mana gain had doubled again when she hit a hundred intelligence and so hadn’t touched it. She wanted to hit herself when she realized she still had a bunch of banked points from the week’s daily quests. She had completely forgotten about it with her utter focus on the Dungeon Break. She had quickly dumped each and every point into Agility. Soohyun was next.

Name: Yoo Soohyun

Level: 59

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP: 12350

MP: 10010

Strength: 83

Agility: 95

Perception: 100

Vitality: 79

Intelligence: 190

Available Ability Points: 0

Soohyun pouted very hard when she equipped her new ring and realized that the Mana gain did not double again at 150. Still, it was a huge jump from where she had been, and she’d be able to use much more powerful attacks now if she put everything into one single attack. Even her less-charged-up attacks would hit almost like her failed attack against One Vanderbilt now. Her mana had almost doubled with all her leveling. Finally, Miho checked out her stats.

Name: Baek Miho

Level: 61

Job: None 

Fatigue: 0

Title: Beast Menace

HP: 15100

MP: 1610

Strength: 150

Agility: 125

Perception: 112

Vitality: 90

Intelligence: 70

Available Ability Points: 0

They were as ready as they were going to be. “Everyone be careful and crush the rest of these Quests.” Jinwoo said, eyes narrowed as he stared at the clock.

“See everyone outside.” Miho said.

“Good luck.” Soohyun and Joohee took deep breaths as the timer hit zero. And then they were gone.

-]|[-

“Did’ja miss me?!” Jinwoo roared the second he landed back in the throne room. Immediately, the knights turned to him, only for the one closest to him to meet a heavy punch that launched it backwards, clearing out an entire swath of the armored enemies. He must have gotten hundreds just off that one punch.

And yet, he quickly realized that none of these things had a name. Forget not getting EXP because of gray names, these guys had no names at all. And that meant that for as deadly as their weapons were, they weren’t real enemies.

Narrowing his eyes, he considered everything that they had discussed back in the Penalty Zone. ‘My Job Quest had me face my past. Even that hallucination of myself from two months ago. While I didn’t personally fight each and every enemy, they were all enemies or situations I faced before. The mages for Kyuhwan, the assassin from when the System forced Joohee to kill Kang Taeshik…’

But he had never been placed in a situation facing such overwhelming numbers like th-

Jinwoo’s eyes widened, “The mages!” He yelled out as he leapt up. He dug his fingers into the stone pillar and hung there, searching rapidly for all the mages. “You fuckers are me!” He yelled as he pushed off the wall and crashed down next to two mages at once. His axe kick annihilated the ground, forming a destructive shockwave and crater that destroyed dozens of knights at once.

And more importantly, killed the two mages. Jinwoo didn’t stick around in the dust cloud, leaping up just in time to watch two of the portals fizzle out and hundreds of the damn suits of armor crumple to the ground.

His sharp eyes quickly spotted another mage, and he used his new skill to grab it and yank it into the air. He squeezed his fist and the enemy crumpled like an aluminum can. Hundreds more enemies went down. He then used Ruler’s Hand to grab at the pillars. They were all too big and heavy for him to move, but he could instead use the skill to move himself. He flew around the throne room, looking for the mages. He spotted another lone mage and summoned a dao, slashing the air and unleashing another Umbral Rend. It cut the mage in half right down the middle, and now enough of the knights were down that the last two were easy to find.

Apparently, they decided that was too scary. They hunkered down, pressing their palms to the floor and sending a pulse of dark light through the entire throne room. A magic circle appeared between them and every single bit of metal that had once been summoned by them lifted into the air once more, mashing together and forming a gigantic knight golem of sorts.

“I’ve had just about ENOUGH OF YOU!” Jinwoo leapt into the air, facing the golem so that its head and the mages behind it were lined up. He took a suggestion from Miho and used Ruler’s Hand once more. Only he didn’t use it to try to grab the golem. Oh no, he used it to strengthen his attack. A dark purple aura engulfed his fist, tearing away the sleeve of his sweatshirt. With a roar of exertion, he punched forward.

The shockwave emitted by his fist created a visible windstorm. It smashed into the golem and completely blew apart its head and upper torso. It continued on, engulfing the two mages and tearing them to shreds, before smashing into the floor and digging a borehole down into the bedrock beneath.

The golem collapsed, as did any stray knights, and Jinwoo landed hard. “Holy hell, forty-five percent Fatigue in one blow!” He panted as he lay there, his keen senses telling him the danger was gone.

And lo and behold, the System popped a myriad of windows in his face.

[You have defeated all the monsters within the testing room. The Job-Change Quest has now concluded. All disabled functions will now be enabled.]

“YES!” Jinwoo cried out gleefully, his gaze going directly to Igris.

[Due to the Player’s performance, the Player has qualified for a High-Rank class.]

“Awesome.” He smiled, “What class should I choose though…” He mumbled, rubbing his chin after dismissing his armaments.

[The appropriate Class shall be assigned based on an analysis of the Player’s records.]

His face went flat. “Or you could just choose for me. Fucking damn it, of course.”

[Wherever the Player goes, death follows.]

[The smell of blood fills the air, and the Player leaves a trail of corpses in his wake.]

His eyes narrowed.

[The Player yearns for great power and does not rely on the help of others. Rather, he stands on his own and props up the others around him.]

“What class fits these messages? Fighter? Paladin? I invested mostly in strength. But…” His most valuable skill had nothing to do with his strength. Could the System be…

[Your desire for power and close relationship with death is enough to call forth the wandering spirits within the valley of death.]

“Of fucking course.”

[An army of the dead will follow your every order, clearing the path upon which you shall walk. An inspiration for others not of shining light, but all-consuming dark.]

[You have been assigned the ‘Necromancer’ class.]

[Will you accept?]

“It’s giving me a choice?” Jinwoo frowned, “No, this is probably one of those ‘not-really-a-choice’ choices. Besides… Shadow Extraction is an awesome skill anyway. I already know full well how good it is. Those weakass mages were kicking my ass with these weak knights. Nothing says I can’t be a Necromancer while also being powerful myself. This can only make Shadow Extraction better. Accept!”

[Your Job has been finalized.]

Shadows started to swirl around Jinwoo’s feet.

[Depending on the advancement points acquired, you may immediately progress to an upgraded higher class.]

The shadows seemed to darken, almost becoming fluid and spiraling all around him.

[You have exceeded the expected survival time.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You have not used the Instant Teleportation Stone.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

The shadows exploded outward, creating a tornado of darkness around him and blowing armor pieces away.

[Leftover HP is over 50%.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You have defeated all enemies.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[Your total advancement points have exceeded the class threshold.]

The shadows now became solid things, lifting him into the air and engulfing him with an eerie purple glow. And then, they exploded away from him, cracking the remaining pillars in the room and dropping him gently on the floor.

[You have been promoted from “Necromancer” to the “Monarch of Shadows.”]

[You have learned new Job-Specific Skills.]

[Shadow Extraction has been upgraded from Lv. 3 to Lv. 5.]

[You have acquired Shadow Storage Lv. 1.]

[You have acquired Shadow Crafting Lv. 1.]

An evil, blinding grin rose on his face as he checked all of those skills out. Shadow Extraction could now be used to monitor anything the Shadows saw, as he would be able to look through their eyes. He tried to do so, but seeing into the girl’s Job-Change Quests was forbidden.

Shadow Storage had taken his small limit of storing Shadows and quadrupled it. He went from fifteen Shadows able to be stored to sixty. He could do a hundred extracted Shadows too now with level five. And it even gave him a separate Shadow Inventory for the next skill.

But the final skill. Ooh, that one was a doozy. “Create equipment using Shadows? That I can give to other people? Maybe even sell? This is amazing!” He eyed all the material laying around him evilly. “Arise.” He declared, raising one of the giant Black Knights. He placed a hand on its chest. “Manufacture.” The Shadow pulsed once before writhing. It shrank in on itself, crumpling down before revealing a breastplate.

[Black Knight Chestplate

Rank: C

Strength +10

Vitality +10]

And that sure rained on his parade. That wasn’t very good at all. “These things were B-Rank, weren’t they?” He scratched the back of his head, before trying again a couple times. None of the Black Knights yielded anything above a C-Rank and had middling stats. He sighed, “Guess it wasn’t quite as good as I thought. Still.” He grinned, “That’s probably because it’s Lv. 1. It’ll get better.”

He then extracted all the Shadows he could except for one, storing them. He had a good number of Black Knights, all of the mages, and even some archers. The Shadows he couldn’t store, he crafted into items. Nothing was good enough to replace his own gear, but he could certainly donate stuff to some poor E-Rank.

But now, he had something he needed to do. He walked straight over to Igris and simply stood there for a moment. “You were the greatest foe I’ve ever faced.” He said softly, “Someone that took everything I had in me to beat, and I know you were still holding back. I don’t know how long you’ve been here, guarding that empty throne. But I do know that it’s time for you to have a new purpose. Become my general. My teacher. Arise, Igris the Blood Red, and I promise, one day I shall surpass you and the owner of that throne.”

The Shadows pulsed angrily. A torrent of red and black energy pulsed from Igris’s corpse, before the red was engulfed by the black. The shadows coalesced before him into his former foe. He bent forward, the back of his chestplate seemingly bubbling before a black cape popped out. Ghostly blue flames crackled from the joints in the armor, while for the first time, his soldier retained something from life: the red plume from his helmet.

“I look forward to fighting alongside you, my friend.” He put his hand on Igris’s shoulder. “You shall henceforth be named Igris.” Because saying ‘the Blood Red’ was kind of cringe. And to Jinwoo’s complete and utter delight…

Igris was an [Elite Knight Lv. 1.]

-]|[-

Miho should have had her one death from this quest a long time ago, she knew. The enemies she had faced were strong, sure, but they were around her level. Maybe a bit stronger than her. It was the recovery that made it impossible to keep pushing. She mostly could have faced any of these enemies if she could start with all her health and mana each time. But that wasn’t the case. It was a grueling marathon that she was on.

When she got back, she had finished off the enemy that had taken her arm and nearly killed her on level sixty-five. A strange, mutated version of the Zinogre that she had already faced off with once. It was called a Thunderlord Zinogre… and that goddamn hellbeast was seemingly permanently in that thunderous state where it could launch lightning attacks willy nilly.  She had quite simply been too fatigued already to face it. All it had taken was one stun from an electrocution and it had been on her, mauling her and ripping her arm off. She had quite literally been saved by the bell, landing in the Penalty Zone.

She continued trudging on, fighting more powerful variations of her enemies from the Island alongside more generic enemies like Demon Knights. But it was as she got to level seventy-five and faced off against a Cerberus far bigger and scarier-looking than Cerbie that she knew she wasn’t going to see seventy-six. The Cerberus’s name was red, she had two-thousand HP left, and her Fatigue was at seventy-one percent. One single hit from its paws would kill her. She knew that in her bones. So she knew she wasn’t going to see seventy-six.

But if the System thought for one second that she wasn’t going to GET to it, the System was out of its mind.

She had taken the first level three buff she’d seen all day: a thirty percent speed buff. Why that one in particular when there had been Damage Reduction and Fatigue Reduction options in play, both at Level two?

She opened her jaw and unleashed a Breath of Destruction. The increased speed wasn’t just movement speed. It was charging speed and velocity too. Her attack smashed into the Cerberus and annihilated it instantly. All that remained of it were its paws.

Miho fell forward, smashing her face into the ground as her buff options appeared overhead. It sat above her unmoving form for one minute, before an option was randomly chosen. She was transported to the next level… and the former White Tiger Huntress was impaled with extreme prejudice.

…

“WAH!” Miho leapt off her back, breathing heavily. “What?” She blinked rapidly, shaking her head. “Fuck.” She said as the screen appeared in front of her.

[Your Job-Change has now concluded. All disabled functions will now be enabled.]

She took several deep breaths, knowing she had done the absolute best she could have. “Okay, I’m ready!” She clapped her cheeks, “Give it to me straight, doc.”

[Due to the Player’s performance, the Player has qualified for a High-Rank class.]

She sighed in relief. At least her efforts hadn’t been for nothing! “I’m choosing a fighter class.”

[The appropriate Class shall be assigned based on an analysis of the Player’s records.]

She twitched, her smile falling. “If you start giving me mage skills I swear on everyth-”

[Wherever the Player goes, death follows.]

[The smell of blood fills the air, and the Player leaves a trail of corpses in her wake. The Player yearns for great power and will push past any challenge standing before her.]

She frowned, “It’s not… going to give me Jinwoo’s skill, is it?”

[It does not matter what wall stands before her or what the Player has to fight with. She will lay all those before her low. And if the Player has no weapons, she will tear out the enemy’s throat with her teeth.]

“Okay, definitely not just giving me Shadows.” She sighed in relief.

[You shall stand at the pinnacle of the world. A bastion of strength. And where needed, an engine of annihilation.]

She turned slightly blue, “Wait… you’re not going to give me-”

[You have been assigned the ‘Dragon Knight’ class.]

[Will you accept?]

“Phew, I thought it was going to be Barbarian.” Miho swiped the sweat off her forehead. “Accept!”

[Your Job has been finalized.]

Miho began to shine with a dark magenta light.

[Depending on the advancement points acquired, you may immediately progress to an upgraded higher class.]

Her flesh began to ripple as her claws and fangs sharpened into points.

[You have exceeded the expected survival time.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You took no damage for the first 32 levels.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

Power erupted from her as she screamed into the air.

[You reached level 76.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You defeated an enemy you should not have been able to defeat without taking any damage.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[Your total advancement points have exceeded the class threshold.]

“RAGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” She screamed as the entire white void she was in seemed to shake and ripple. She transformed completely, her entire body becoming draconic in nature while still retaining her humanoid form. But she also looked vaguely metallic, like her scales were now extra armored as well.

Finally, the volcano of power stopped erupting, and she floated there in the sky, flapping her wings and releasing growling pants. She sank down and landed, transforming back to her full human form.

[You have been promoted from “Dragon Knight” to the “Sovereign of Annihilation.”]

[Breath of Destruction has been upgraded from Lv. 1 to Lv. 3.]

[You have acquired Dragon’s Breath Lv. 1.]

[You have acquired Dragon’s Resistance Lv. 1.]

[You have acquired Ruler’s Hand Lv. 1.]

She started to laugh as she stared at the skills she had acquired. Breath of Destruction’s requirements had decreased, though not sharply. It now would exhaust only sixty percent of her Mana and Fatigue upon use. Dragon’s Breath therefore became a more regular attack that mixed both Fire and Lightning damage. Crucially, as a channeled spell, it used Intelligence or rather her Mana pool to determine how long it could be used for… but the damage scaled off her Strength.

She was over the moon.

The second-to-last skill was simpler but no less important. A complete immunity to fire, lightning, and ice; as well as a passive fifteen percent damage reduction to all forms of damage. And finally, she had also acquired the same skill Jinwoo had already shown off.

She started to laugh. Oh, she couldn’t wait for the next time she sparred with her brother. She could not wait.

-]|[-

When Soohyun opened her eyes, she glared at the wall of buildings that had so successfully blocked her way. She bent her knees and flew forward, face first at the building. Without skipping a beat, she hit the glass and slipped through it like it was nothing more than water. She continued to fly, phasing through wall after wall until finally, she was in the free air again. She didn’t take a moment to rest, though she did cut her technique off. No need to waste the Mana. Not when it was her most Mana-hungry skill by a mile.

Another building tried to block her path, but she nonchalantly halted it in place, forcing it back. And then she asserted her control over this entire fucked up dimension. Slowly, space started to untwist and unfold. She forced it all back to normal as she passed, destroying the threads of power forcing the abnormality.

In five minutes, she cleared the rest of her little obstacle course. She had been lost in despair over what she had known would be her fate until her lovers put her head on straight. She hadn’t told them that she loved them before because, heh, death flag, but she was damn well telling them after. She reached the Gate with time to spare. “Well, you sure put me through the ringer.” She sighed, “But I win.” And then, as if to spite her, something came out of the Gate. “YOU!” She hissed out.

[Aes Sidhe, Keeper of the End]

The Gate behind the enemy vanished, leaving the tip of Manhattan and open water exposed. It was honestly quite beautiful.

This time, it wielded not a sword, but a long staff/spear. Its name was still red, but she was in no mood for this bullshit. It stabbed downward and a giant version of the spear came out of the sky above her head. Soohyun didn’t move and the blade flowed around her, leaving her untouched. “Not this time.” She growled before raising her hand behind her back. An entire building was ripped out of its foundation before shattering into multiple huge chunks.

She threw her hand forward and sent the giant weapons screaming towards Aes Sidhe. She instantly saw when it tried to teleport and screamed, “I SAID NOT THIS TIME, MOTHERFUCKER!” Her inner gamer came out as she interfered with its warping. The first chunk of what she now realized was 40 Wall Street crashed into Aes Sidhe and buried him in the ground. He escaped and then the second chunk hit. And then the third. And then the enemy which had once nearly killed her was flying backwards over open water and she was flying above it.

With a pulse of pure gravity, she sent it hurtling into the drink, forming a funnel down into the bay until she saw him hit bedrock. With a roar, she thrust both hands into the air and then swiped them down. Her strongest Spatial Rend ever warped the atmosphere in front of it and even generated lightning from the friction. When it hit the water, a monstrous tidal wave erupted in every direction. It was like a meteor had hit the water. Down below, Aes Sidhe was shredded as the waves washed into New York and New Jersey.

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

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

“AND STAY DEAD, THIS TIME!” Soohyun screamed at the water, not even taking the time to celebrate catching up in levels with Miho.

[Your Job-Change has now concluded. All enemies defeated.]

Oh, oh that felt good.

[Due to the Player’s performance, the Player has qualified for a High-Rank class.]

[The appropriate Class shall be assigned based on an analysis of the Player’s records.]

“I figured.” She grinned, “I am the quintessential Sorceress, so don’t go making me a Barbarian or I will find a way to kill you.”

[The secrets of the Universe are within the Player’s grasp. The Player operates outside the realm of normality. Fundamental forces are her playthings. The unknowable shall become known.]

“Okay, I’d like to add “Cosmic Horror” to the list of classes I’d not like to be given.” Soohyun deadpanned, gulping from the words.

[When you stare deeply enough into the abyss, sometimes, the abyss stares back.]

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!” She screamed, “I’m too pretty for a tentacle beard!” Soohyun sobbed melodramatically.

[You have been assigned the ‘Void Sorceress’ class.]

[Will you accept?]

“Oh thank fuck.” She sighed in relief. “Okay, accept!”

[Your Job has been finalized.]

A deep purple (far darker than even Jinwoo’s purple) energy started to glow in the center of her chest.

[Depending on the advancement points acquired, you may immediately progress to an upgraded higher class.]

She wondered if she had done well enough for that. She’d used almost all of the time available and had legitimately thought she was going to die in here. The energy engulfed her.

[You had time left over.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

Well, that answered that.

[You improved your skill levels over ten times total.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You overcame a superior foe using its own specialty.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You defeated a superior foe without taking any damage.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[Your total advancement points have exceeded the class threshold.]

She erupted into a pillar of Fel light. Everywhere for miles around her, gravity started acting strangely. Cars lifted off the ground of their own accord, people were warped as though someone had applied a filter to them in real life, though none came to harm. Water surged out of the way and simply stood there as if a giant sphere had been pressing on it.

Finally, it ended, and the strange effects came to a stop.

[You have been promoted from “Void Sorceress” to the “Abyssal One.”]

[Spatial Rend has been upgraded from level six to level ten.]

[Void Aegis has been upgraded from level four to level seven.]

[Gravity blade has been upgraded from level five to level eight.]

[You have acquired Gravatic Nihility Lv. 1.]

[Spatial Rend has been upgraded to Spatial Divergence Lv. 1.]

[You have acquired Ruler’s Hand Lv. 1.]

“Oh, that’s Jinwoo’s skill!” Soohyun said as she saw the last one. “What about the other two?” She read the description for the two and gasped. “Oh, that’s cool!” She exclaimed as she raised her hands. She used the first new skill and a blue ball of energy formed above her head. Instantly, an intense vacuum formed and began sucking in everything around her. She whipped it into the water before summoning it back out and liquid as well as parts of the busted tower swirled in chaotic rings around the central core. She let it evaporate after testing it. “Now the other.”

She raised her finger, and to her surprise a small red ball appeared on the tip of her finger. She could still use her old skill if she wanted to, but this tiny little thing was so much more compressed than the old version. She could either burst it or send it flying and it would hit her target not unlike the building she had hit Aes Sidhe with. If it had been in one piece. And traveling significantly faster.

She let it burst before her and gaped at the size of the tidal wave she just sent across the ocean. She turned a little blue. “Let’s… save that for emergencies.” She whimpered. Shaking her head, she said, “Enough experimentation. It’s time to go home.” She flew through the much smaller Gate in front of her and vanished, leaving a traumatized city behind.

At least they would have an inkling of what to expect once Magic Gates started appearing.

-]|[-

Four hours gone had been four hours too long. She flinched slightly as she looked up and saw some planes she didn’t know the name of pass by. An ear-splittingly loud BRRRRRRRRTTTTTTT filled the air as the military did a strafing run on Magic Beasts. She knew from her own history just how useless that would be.

She leapt up to the tallest building to get her bearings, looking around. “Oh, that’s weird.” She blinked as she looked to where the Gate should have been. Instead of the glowing blue portal, it appeared as if a forest had just plopped itself down where it had been. As she watched, fighter jets came in and launched missile after missile at the new wooded area. Trees were blasted away, dirt and rock was sent flying, and when the dust settled, an animated tree-like being still stood there.

She knew instantly that it was the boss, and that if it had been human it would have brushed itself off contemptuously for all the damage the military was doing. It did not move from its spot. Clicking her teeth, she made sure to cast her gaze around more of the city. If it wasn’t going to move, then she could do something more useful than throwing herself at it. Near the outskirts, she saw what looked like a medical area that had popped up.

She threw herself in that direction, summoning her Guiding Bolts as she sped through the city. Every time she saw a beast, she launched one, blowing it to smithereens. She raced towards the medical camp, raising an eyebrow when she saw tanks firing at Magic Beasts. The attacks weren’t actually doing damage to the enemies, but it was sending them flying back. Or at the very least, the explosives were. The bullets were doing all of nothing. Even armor-penetrating rounds would just bounce off even a regular goblin’s skin. The only things that non-magical guns could do anything at all to were the weakest of E-Ranks.

Behind the tanks, a wall of crushed cars had been erected in the hopes of protecting the injured inside. A rather futile hope, but a hope, nonetheless. She landed near and raised her morningstar. Ray of Light erupted from it, a continuous beam that melted the charging beasts.

“What the hell?” One of the people in the tank popped their head out, “We’ve been sending heavy artillery at those fucking things for hours, and some chick shows up and kills a couple dozen of them with a damned laser?”

“Your weapons are useless against them.” Joohee replied, “Without magical power you won’t do any damage. Not to beasts this strong.”

“Oh great, fucking magic! We just need to wait for some fucking wizards to pop up!” The commander snarled, clenching a fist.

Joohee wrinkled her nose at the language, “They will, eventually.” She said before leaping over the car wall. Everywhere she looked, agonized and despondent people were sobbing or crying out in agony. A man with a ripped-off leg here, a child covered in blood there. It was a miracle any of them had managed to evade the jaws of beasts this strong.

She was here to help. This was her calling. Fighting was only her secondary concern. She raised a hand and an unearthly, outright heavenly light shone on the entire medical camp. People cried out in shock as their limbs returned. Those who had been fighting for their lives recovered in mere seconds. It had taken about two-thousand Mana, but she had saved over a thousand lives in one go.

She quickly bought a few mana potions to top herself off. “Oh, Angel!” A woman ran up and fell to her knees before her in prayer.

Joohee blanched, “No, no, stop it! I’m a human too!” She held her hands up as if warding them off, “I’m just here to save as many people as I can.” A roar rang out, and she put her game face back on. She leapt up to the top of the car wall and saw three massive trolls that outweighed the tanks five times over charging for the medical center. The tanks were firing at them, but the explosions were doing nothing this time.

She raced past the tanks, making one of the Commanders scream in fury as she got in front of his shot. The tank shell hit Joohee square in the back… sending her flying right at the beast. Not even her clothes were messed up. She smashed into it with a thunderous boom, cracking its skull with a brutal swing of her morningstar. It fell back, slamming on the pavement as she rolled off of it.

She summoned up another Ray of Light, searing through the one on the left. She turned, but a brutal backhand from the final troll sent her flying through a building, taking out three-thousand HP. Not quite half, but the most devastating hit she’d ever taken. She just got right back up and healed herself, flying through the building and launching herself at the troll again. She landed on its shoulders, a Guiding Bolt charged up in her hand, before punching it down at its skull. The blast went through it and out the other end, blowing up the street beneath. She backflipped off of it and landed.

“Get as many people as you can away from the city.” She called out to the military. “Don’t bother trying to fight the big ones! Like I said, your weapons won’t do anything!” She turned and ran the other way. She had seen some other areas of concern she needed to get to.

One tank Commander turned to one of her subordinates, “Did she just use a tank shell to rocket boost?”

Joohee heard none of this as she charged around the city, eliminating as many enemies as she could. Trolls, golems, bears, jaguars, everything that she encountered fell before her. She healed thousands of others, sometimes physically ripping beasts off of them and chucking the savages over her shoulder. She saved thousands more and got them back on their feet.

It took quite a while, but the city had quieted down. She could no longer hear constant gunfire, nor explosions. Some Magic Beasts had most certainly escaped the city, but there was nothing she could do about that.

Instead, she made her way to the boss. As she stepped onto the forest, the boss turned to greet her. [Guardian of the Forest: Semias] stood before her. Unfortunately, it was a red-named boss. This was going to be a very hard fight.

It was a literal living, humanoid tree towering above her. She could clone herself three times and stand on her own head and not reach the tips of its branches. And its gigantic battleaxe was just as long.

She held her morningstar ready as it raised its axe. “Ray of Light!” She called out, blasting it with light and heat. It staggered but pushed right through it. Its right arm extended as it swung at her, making her squeak at the sheer range as she dropped to the floor. She summoned her Guiding Bolts around herself, dashing at it. She leapt for its face, cracking its woody exterior with her morningstar.

The explosive bolts around her smashed into it too, blowing up as they did so, dealing massive amounts of damage. As she landed, Semias punched the ground and thorns shrieked as they pierced the sod below and impaled her a dozen times over.

Joohee screamed in agony as over half her HP vanished, leaving her bleeding all over. Semias charged at her, swinging its great axe at her head, looking to split her in twain. She rolled beneath its legs and out of the way. She got to her feet and quickly healed herself, hissing as the numerous wounds stitched themselves closed. She fired another Ray of Light at her foe, burning its mossy ‘pauldron’ from behind. It whipped around, its arm elongating and trying to bitch slap her, for lack of a better description.

She ducked underneath and charged forward, only for it to retract its arm and then raise a hand in her direction. A green glow seized her and lifted her into the air. It was like a ghostly hand was holding her up.

Joohee struggled to free herself as Semias leapt up at her. She summoned Guiding Bolts and flexed her muscles as hard as she could, finally blowing the hand off of her. The explosion blew her away from the swing of the axe and she landed roughly, rolling in the sod and flinging herself to her feet. Semias landed in a crouch and finally made a sound: a sort of growl that sounded more like two cinderblocks rubbing together.

She summoned ten overcharged Guiding Bolts and flung them at her foe. Each impacted with a tremendous explosion that shattered glass for a mile around them. Semias (rather burnt now) erupted from the cloud of smoke with its weapon glowing. It slammed the butt of its great axe into the ground and a wave of green energy erupted in an expanding circle around it.

Joohee wanted nothing to do with that energy and used her Divine Bulwark to absorb it. She ran forward, only for it to pulse again, forcing her to defend herself again. And then a third pulse came, and she was forced to leap into the air to avoid it because her skill was still on cooldown. Semias raised its axe right as she landed and brought it down in front of her.

A cataclysmic eruption caught Joohee completely by surprise, flinging her off her feet with a scream and three-fourths of her health missing. She landed roughly and Semias took a step forward, swinging its axe in an upward slash that sent a wave of green energy at her. She got to her feet and absorbed the wave before dodge-rolling away from another wave. Semias then leapt up and slammed down, throwing another pulse around the forest.

Joohee absorbed it and immediately used the time to heal herself back to full. ‘Maybe I should actually put points into Vitality.’ She grumbled mentally as Semias lifted its axe and swung at her. “Oh sure!” She yelled as the waves kept coming, “Just stay in rage mode, why don’t you!” She dodged wave after wave and then absorbed the slam down. With it relatively low following its attack, her hand was almost able to touch the boss’s face. “RAY OF LIGHT!” Semias staggered back, dropping its axe as it reached up to its face.

Its hands caught on fire, as did its torso. The antler-looking branches on its head already were smoldering. Joohee leapt at it, clutching her morningstar tightly. The head glowed even brighter with the power of a Guiding Bolt building inside of it. She let out a scream as she swung with both hands at its chest.

Wood cracked, revealing a green internal glow that brightened. Semias roared as the energy escaped it furiously. Joohee was even knocked back and away from the rush, but when she landed, it was already over. Semias stood there, completely inert, looking more like nature art than a Magic Beast.

[You have defeated Semias!]

She didn’t even get a full level up out of it! That was so unfair!

[Your Job-Change has now concluded. All enemies defeated.]

She was done?! “But what about the other Magic Beasts?!”

[Due to the Player’s performance, the Player has qualified for a High-Rank class.]

[The appropriate Class shall be assigned based on an analysis of the Player’s records.]

Oh sure, just ignore her. “Come on, are these people safe without me or not!?”

[Now that the Job-Change Quest is terminated, Hunters will start Awakening.]

She sighed in relief. “Thank you.” She was summarily ignored again.

[Death or healing: The Player cares not which they seek.]

“Hey!” Joohee yelled indignantly. That wasn’t her at all! The system pushed her into this role!

[The Heavens open for the Player. Her light touches and soothes all. No injury is too grave, for if there is even a drop of life still within their bodies, the Player will bring them back from the brink.]

Yeah, that was a lot better.

[But the Player brings not only Heaven’s Salvation, but also its fury, for the light can heal or the light can burn!]

She shook her head, “Damn it Soohyun, it really is going to make me a Cleric! This is YOUR fault!”

[You have been assigned the ‘Light Domain Cleric’ class.]

[Will you accept?]

“Yeah, sure.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Let’s just get this over with so I can go cry about how many I failed to save.”

[Your Job has been finalized.]

She began to glow gold.

[Depending on the advancement points acquired, you may immediately progress to an upgraded higher class.]

The heavenly glow intensified as she lifted up into the air. Her back started to feel weird.

[You cleared over 75% of the Magical Beasts that escaped the Gate.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You healed over fifty-thousand people.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

She grit her teeth as it felt like something was coming out of her back near her shoulders.

[Leftover HP is over 50%.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You broke out of Semias’s Ruler’s Hand skill without possessing it yourself.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[Your total advancement points have exceeded the class threshold.]

She screamed as she seemed to explode. A beam of pure, golden light soared into the sky and pushed all of the clouds away. The forest around her began to smolder from the heat released. When it cleared, Joohee did not look the same. Her outfit seemed to have transformed into something much more fitting Miho and Soohyun’s aesthetic as it was completely skintight and showed off quite a bit of bust. Her red hair now looked like it was actually made of red and gold flames shaped into individual strands. A golden halo floated above her head, and two pairs of gleaming white wings with veins of gold running through them held her aloft in the air. Her morningstar now had a fiery aura around it.

[You have been promoted from “Light Domain Cleric” to the “Seraph of Light.”]

[You have learned new Job-Specific Skills.]

[You have acquired Angelic Transformation Lv. 1.]

[You have acquired Celestial Beam Lv. 1.]

[You have acquired Ruler’s Hand Lv. 1.]

[Guiding Bolt has been upgraded from Lv. 5 to Lv. 10.]

[Ray of Light has been upgraded from Lv. 1 to Lv. 4.]

[Divine Bulwark has been upgraded from Lv. 2 to Lv. 3.]

Joohee looked at herself in shock. She had literally been transformed into an angel?! Had that seriously just happened? She instinctively knew how to fly with her new wings and got herself down to the ground before ending the transformation. She returned to regular old Joohee and even her clothes transformed back to normal. She lost the extra ethereality that surrounded her. And the second she did, she sagged in exhaustion. Her Fatigue was high, sure, but this had nothing to do with that. It was just a bone-deep exhaustion she knew her lovers had to be feeling as well. She went through the portal and almost stumbled out of it.

“Joohee!” Jinwoo, Soohyun, and Miho looked as exhausted as she did. Clearly, she was the last one out, and by a good bit as well. It was still dark outside, though the sun was starting to just barely peek over the horizon.

She drooped as she walked towards them and almost fell into Jinwoo’s arms. “I want to go home.” She moaned quietly.

Miho let out an explosive yawn. “Same here. We were just waiting for you.” She hugged Joohee and Jinwoo, “We’re all so proud of you, Joohee.”

The warm feeling of love engulfed her as Soohyun joined the group hug. “I love you.” Joohee said, “All of you.”

“We love you too.” A different pair of lips kissed her forehead and both cheeks.

Soohyun smiled, “Let’s go home.” And then her powers engulfed them, and she Warped them to Jinwoo’s home.

Joohee gasped. “What about the car?”

Jinwoo grinned, “Stuffed it in the Inventory.”

Joohee gaped for a moment before they all started to laugh as quietly as they could to avoid waking Jinah. What followed was the most unsexual group shower in history as they were all too tired to even care. Within minutes, they fell into Jinwoo’s bed in a tangle of limbs and didn’t even last ten seconds before they were all dead asleep.

-]|[-

24 motherfucking thousand words. (well, 23,900, but whatever.)

I really wanted to split this one into two because it seriously got away from me, but there was no point that I could do it to my liking. Plus, I kind of giggled at the idea that I ended up perfectly dividing S1 by two and ending up with six chapters to twelve episodes.

I hope you liked all of the Job Quests. Coming up with and then actually writing four different ones with three completely new quests and situations was actually pretty damn difficult. My thanks to all my friends who helped with brainstorming!

And I hope you liked what I did with all four of them. Jinwoo takes a page from his canon son’s book and becomes an item crafter on top of the Shadow Monarch! Miho is well on her way to headbutting Antares and usurping his position, Soohyun basically becomes Gojo Satoru, and Joohee becomes a goddamn angel.

There was some heavy inspiration from games I like. Joohee’s boss was literally the latest raid boss that launched in Vindictus. Miho got a bloody palace style quest. And Soohyun straight up got tossed into Dr. Strange’s nightmare and then had to face Aes Sidhe again. (Another Vindictus boss.) Though she was so pissed off by that point she wasted him.

And I was so mean to poor Joohee. Again. Her reward was more than worth it though, I’d say.

Also, just as a small aside as I’ve never really gone in depth into the enemies:

Gray Names: These enemies are so weak they don’t even give EXP. It’s like stepping on a baby rat that can’t move on its own yet.

White Names: weak enemies that can technically fight back, but only technically.

Orange Names: Enemies that have stats about equal to the Players. They can hit you just as hard as you can hit them.

Red Names: Foes that you CAN defeat, but it will take everything you have plus some luck. They can hit you MUCH harder than you can hit them so your room for error is minimized.

Black Names: Something that hasn’t actually popped up at all and I’m not certain if it ever will, but if they do, then it’s a situation where literally nothing the Player does will have any sort of effect. You straight up cannot damage this enemy, and they can kill you with a flick of a finger.

Anyway, that’s enough yapping from me. Hope this was worth the wait! On to chapter 7.