.

-]|[-

“BARRAGE IT WITH ATTACKS!” A panicked Japanese Hunter was screaming as he and a few mages tried everything to take down the Magic Beast that had come out of nowhere.

The ant had a pure silver carapace and a vaguely humanoid shape. It also had wings and was zipping around so fast the Hunters could barely react. “It’s no ordinary beas-” His last words were cut off with his head.

“What the hell is this thing?!” A Tank was crying out. “It went straight for our Healers!” And before that, the E-Rank Hunters who were just providing covering fire. Two dozen of them had died in moments. “It’s smart! It has to be! It’s doing everything it can to weaken the group so it can pick us off- BLEGH!” And his words were cut off as the ant rammed its arm straight through his heart.

“This footage is all we have of the rampage.” Jinchul said softly. “Forget the ant Choi Jongin and the Hunters found. This thing was far more powerful than anyone could have anticipated and took multiple days to take down.” He flipped through the slides, “It landed in Japan on a remote island and quickly managed to defeat what few Hunters were stationed there, before devouring practically the entire populace. It flew away once more and took out another small town during its hunt.” He sighed, “Japan was forced to mobilize one of its guilds to chase it down. It took the efforts of four A-Ranks to finally exterminate it.”

One of the Association’s bigwigs was holding his head in his hands. “And all because we failed to clear that Gate four years ago. Japan is furious. I can’t believe how strong it is. It might even be a low-S-Rank beast if it took four A-Ranks to bring it down.”

“Indeed.” Jinchul agreed. “And this after a thousand civilian casualties. Over two hundred Hunters in total were dispatched before the situation was resolved. That might seem like overkill, but with its ability to sense danger and flee, the Japanese Hunter’s Association believes it was a reasonable response.”

Another bigwig was running his hand through his hair in frustration. “And Japan has one of the most well-organized systems in all of Asia for defending its Islands. If it had flown in our direction, or worse, had friends, there could have been a complete calamity. We just don’t have the manpower to monitor all of our islands like Japan does.”

Jinchul said nothing, though he silently mused that one ant killing over a hundred Hunters and a thousand civilians was already calamitous enough.

“This tells us everything we need to know.” Go Gunhee sighed, “We’ve let our island rot for far too long. That Japanese island was a hundred-and-fifty kilometers away. That tells us they easily could make landfall here, and not just in the coastal provinces. Mokpo, for instance, would be in direct danger. The time has come.” He said flatly, “We must exterminate them once and for all.”

…

The meeting came to an end with just Jinchul and Gunhee left in the room. “With these new, more powerful ants, can we do this, Hunter Woo?”

“With the help of the Apex Guild, I believe anything is possible now.” Jinchul told his boss and mentor. “If only they had come into their powers sooner, we may have been able to prevent this disaster completely.”

Gunhee smiled, “I can feel how much stronger you’ve grown, even from just those two Gates, Hunter Woo.” He clenched his fists slightly, “I can only pray that we are strong enough to prevent this and further tragedies.”

Jinchul nodded, “I did not mention it during the meeting, but we were contacted by someone in secret.”

“Oh?”

“Hunter Hwang Dongsoo informed me that he intends to partake in the raid.” Jinchul replied.

“Ha.” Gunhee shook his head. “That brat must think we’re all stupid. Deny his entry.”

“I already have.” Jinchul smiled slightly, “Using the incident with President Baek during the Red Gate incident as an excuse.”

“Good man.” Gunhee nodded approvingly, “We hardly have the time to deal with a National-Rank Hunter coming to raise a fuss because one of his men bit off more than he could chew.”

“Speaking of Thomas Andre…” Jinchul winced, “He is waiting for you.”

Gunhee looked to the ceiling while singing Lee Joohee’s praises. His heart likely wouldn’t have borne the strain of all this if it hadn’t been for her.

…

“You’re quite fluent in English, but I’m not sure I’m understanding you correctly.” Thomas Andre was one of the biggest men in the world. Gunhee himself was tall and had the body of a wrestler even well into his eighties.

Thomas, on the other hand, made him look tiny. Standing nearly eight feet tall, one of his thighs was about the size of Jinchul’s entire torso. He had long, blonde hair that looked more like a mane than anything and a large, puffy goatee. “How can you not know the whereabouts of your four new S-Rank Hunters?”

Gunhee chuckled, “Keeping track of them isn’t exactly easy.” He hoped he wasn’t overstepping, but with a National-Rank Hunter, he had to give the man something. He’d be able to spot a straight out lie instantly. “Especially since one of them can teleport.”

“Oh?” Thomas’s eyebrow raised in interest. “Well, isn’t that something?”

Jinchul shrugged, “The four of them are also lovers, so if they want to take a quiet, romantic getaway from nosy busybodies and let the interest die down a bit…”

“Hahaha! A man after my own heart, huh? Fine then. I suppose there’s nothing for it.” Thomas relaxed, “I’ll move on, I guess. I heard my man Hwang Dongsoo stirred up trouble the last time he was here.”

‘‘My man? Don’t pretend that man is American just because you poached him away.’’ Gunhee thought to himself.

“I’d like to request you deny his entry for the Jeju raid.” Thomas continued.

“We already have.” Gunhee said evenly. “I’m sure you don’t have to hear from me how much of a hothead he is. We’d hate to have any quarrel with you should Sung Jinwoo put him in the ground.”

Thomas barked out a laugh. “Confident in your man, huh? That makes me even more eager to meet him. Shame he ain’t here.” Thomas stood, “Anyway, I should head back home. I would have liked to help out with the raid, but I’m a busy man…” He smirked, “Of course, it’d be a different story if South Korea were to have the funds to hire someone like me.”

‘Soon enough, we won’t need help from the likes of you for anything.’ Nothing showed on Gunhee’s face, of course. “Have a pleasant flight, Hunter Andre.”

“I’m sure I will.” Thomas stuck his hands in his pockets. “Oh, and do me a solid and keep our discussion on the down low today, capiche?”

“Of course.” Gunhee agreed. They waited until Thomas was in a car with his assistant Laura and driving away before relaxing. “That man is exhausting.”

Jinchul agreed completely. “And still far stronger than our people.” He said softly.

“For now.” Gunhee’s confident smile returned. “For now.”

-]|[-

Heejin had been in this frozen hellscape for over a month at this point. She had grown stronger and stronger, sure, but really wanted to escape as soon as possible. She wanted to take a real bath, eat real food, and be the filling in a Jinwoo and Soohyun sandwich. To start.

She shook her head roughly as the stray thought invaded her mind again. She’d had a whole lot of time with nothing but her thoughts for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, collecting the runes had proven harder than expected. At this rate, it might take her way longer than she had calculated to get out of here, and she just might lose her mind first.

There weren’t that many Runebears and the Trolls had been few and far between. She had just been lucky, those first two days. Her later exploration had yielded mostly weaker enemies who gave a lot less runes than any of those ‘field bosses.’ Draugrs, Revenants, and even a couple stone golems.

And they didn’t respawn either. She had backtracked to earlier areas, only to find nothing appreciable. At the very least, she had figured out how to fly with Wind Magic. That gave her an edge both in searching for her targets and in landing some surprise attacks.

That was what she was doing now. She had come across an area she had yet to visit and was- rapidly waving her wand to summon a shielding wind. She made it just in time, knocking a swarm of arrows away from her. “What the?!” She gasped as the arrows started to glow. “AHH!” She screamed as they all lit up in bright flashes of light that seared her eyes. She started flying erratically as she was forced to give the System voice commands. A potion vial landed in her hand before a stray arrow pierced her shield and then her chest. The same searing flash cooked her flesh, and she let out a howl as she fell to the ground. She hit hard.

Blood spurted from her mouth as she lost an amount of HP she couldn’t see. She ripped the arrow away and chugged the HP potion she had been lucky to manage to buy before being hit. It healed her instantly, which was a relief because she let out a yelp and ducked away from the blade of a sword. Some of her hairs were sliced off as the being passed by her, and she ran away to get her bearings.

She didn’t even know what had attacked her yet!

But the System told her everything she needed to know as the one who had nearly cut her head off chased her.

[Light Elf Slayer]

“Oh hell, is that a new breed?” She hissed as she managed to finally find her footing. The Slayer was clad in white, gold, and gray armor. He? She? It had a mask on that prevented Heejin from actually seeing its face. Its body was slender but also rather androgenous. She couldn’t figure out if it actually had a gender. It danced towards her with its swords, both of which seemed to be made out of magical light.

Heejin waved her wand and instantly, a series of ice spikes rose, seeking to impale the Elf. It acrobatically danced away from the attack and crossed its blades, spreading its arms with a screech and sending an ‘x’ of light at Heejin.

It might have been dumb, but Heejin had even spent some of her Daily Quest earnings on Strength. After the Wendigos, she never wanted to be caught the way she had been again. She was able to nimbly dodge the ranged attack, watching carefully as the Elf sped towards her landing spot to cut her off. Heejin channeled her magic and jumped off the air, flipping over the shocked elf’s blades. Her wand generated a huge icicle blade and she attacked, cutting its head clean off.

[Level Up!]

She smiled as the lingering pain in her eyes and chest vanished. ‘Thank you, System.’ She thought in relief as she generated a much stronger gust of wind. This time, the arrows weren’t just blown off course; they were blown back towards the archers that had chased her down. Their eyes widened as the arrows exploded, the light harming them but not blinding them.

Heejin didn’t waste a moment, waving her wand and writing a large rune in the air. The dark skies crackled with green, and then a huge bolt of lightning came down, striking the center of the Light Elf formation with a tremendous explosion.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

“JEEZ these things are strong! That was so much Exp!” Her eyes were wide as she got two whole levels out of just twenty enemies.

And then her face lit up as their runes all collected. “Four million?!” It was clear what she needed to do. It was time to exterminate these Light Elves.

-]|[-

How long had they been fighting for?

Songyi’s arms felt numb and her fingers were bleeding. It had been hours fighting in the courtyard, killing score after score of demons funneling through the drawbridge. Her fatigue was over eighty percent at this point.

Jinho wasn’t any better as they retreated to the castle gates themselves. His sword and shield were drooping, and he was completely matted with sweat. His borrowed armor had deep dents in it.

Her arrows were flying sluggishly through the air, and some of them were even plinking off the demons when they ended up having armor. “Jinho, I hate to admit it, but I don’t think we can do this for too much longer.” Even her voice was raspy.

He let out an exhausted chuckle. “…I think you’re right.” He looked at the remaining soldiers. “And I don’t think our men are going to last too much longer either…” There were just over a hundred of them left.

Suddenly, quest screens appeared in front of them. “Shoot! The Daily Quest!”

Jinho’s face lit up. “We can go recover in the Penalty Zone!”

“No we can’t!” Songyi cried as she launched another arrow, “Do you think these tin cans can last without us for another four hours?! If they reach the throne room, we’ll die the second we pop back in!”

Jinho’s face fell. There was a lull in the fighting, and they needed to decide what to do. Fast. He dropped his sword and shield and fell to the floor, quickly banging out his final three pushups. “Accept Status Recovery!” He barked out as he stood and was quickly back to full strength.

“Jinho!” Songyi gasped. “What are-”

“You head to the Penalty Zone alone, Songyi.” Jinho said, a painfully-faux, confident smile on his face. “I’ll hold the fort.” He summoned a new spear and shield again. At the very least, the various minibosses that had occasionally hit them had dropped better gear. He also switched his armor, now looking like a demonic knight himself.

“Jinho…”  Songyi teared up a little.

“Go.” He said, “I’ll be here when you get back.”

Her throat was tight as she regarded the young man. She could hardly recognize him now. He was taller than he had been and had bulked up a bit more than even Jinwoo had after acquiring the System. He was a far cry from that young man she had to hold herself back from laughing at, back when Jinwoo had pushed him over with a finger. He looked like a real Tank now. “I’ll see you soon.”

In a flash, the timer expired, and Songyi vanished. Jinho’s weary look returned. “Tanks in the front with me! Protect the man beside you! Nothing gets past!” He yelled, “Archers in the back! Anything gets through that door; you shoot it dead!”

He braced himself as the tsunami of demons roared as they broke into the castle. Jinho’s black, demonic shield began to glow and emanate a magical shield as the horde crashed against them. He roared as he pushed them back and then slammed his shield on the ground. ‘Thank you, level ups!’ He thought to himself as his Quake of Provocation radiated out not as a sphere, like he had initially only been capable of doing when it was only at level one, but as a cone right in front of him. Demons roared as their bodies shattered and practically exploded.

Blood poured onto the stones and made them slick. ‘They won’t get past.’ Jinho thought to himself. ‘They won’t. THEY WON’T!’

-]|[-

Joohee sighed as she finally stepped foot inside the First Sphere. It was a gleaming city of white marble and completely resplendent in gold filigree. “Looks kind of gaudy, honestly.” She deadpanned.

The corpses of the [Inspired] and the [Resplendence] littered the Second Sphere now. The Resplendence were huge angels that appeared superficially similar to weaker ones like the Cachets & Compassions from the Third Sphere, but only superficially. They were massive enemies that were flagships for the damn Worships. And they also had their own attacking power as well, shooting beams from the mouths of their multitude of faces that reminded Joohee very uncomfortably of the damned laser beams from the Statue of God.

She prayed that she wouldn’t need to fight that. Because as far as she had come… that might trigger her PTSD again. She hoped not…

In any case, it had taken her four days just to wipe out the swarms of defenders of the First Sphere. She had shot up in level and was now much closer to Jinwoo again. (Well, where Jinwoo had been prior to entering the Demon Castle again.) His Shadows were so unfair! Her Angels cost Mana and they had barely been worth summoning against First Sphere enemies!

“Alright…” She said cautiously as she stepped forward. “What have you got for me?”

Three loud thuds rang in front of her as three enemies that looked rather like the Beloveds from the Second Sphere. They were a bit smaller, sure, but looked to be much more agile because of it. And she was right, because the enemies all sprang towards her and attacked in a fury. She ducked, dodged, weaved, and leg-lifted between their trio of weapons. Every chance she got, her morningstar flashed with crushing force.

She flipped over a thrust from one of their axe-spear weapons and whipped her right arm. Its marble carapace cracked and shattered, revealing the ugliness beneath just like every angel prior. She landed and did a split to duck under another weapon, reaching up with her free hand and allowing herself to ride it. She twisted her body and ripped the weapon out of the Brave’s hand, whipping it into its owner’s chest. Blood exploded from the now-gaping wound as her morningstar began to glow. A huge burst of light shone out, pushing the Brave back but not wounding it as much as she had expected. “Tch, resistant to me, huh?” She hoped that didn’t mean there would be more resistant enemies.

The Braves apparently realized they had a real fight on their hands and did a pose. “Huh?” She asked in confusion, before gasping as they threw themselves at one another and combined into one huge being. It was way bigger than the Beloved, but as she realized with a yelp, was still just as agile as its smaller counterpart. She was forced to dodge again and again as it speedily chopped at her.

Unfortunately for it, it was also a much bigger target. She yelled as she launched herself at it, her morningstar gleaming like the sun itself. With a roar, she burst right through its chest in a shower of blood and gore. She landed with a huff and a grimace and turned to make sure the Brave was dead. Once it didn’t move, she continued on.

For the next two days, she battled through the First Sphere, taking down Brave after Brave, Valiance after Valiance, and Valor after Valor. The Valiances were creepy angels. They were humanoid in shape, just a lot bigger than any human. Bigger even than the High Orcs, with red skin just like them. What made them creepy was their complete lack of a head. The only head they had was on the guard of their massive sword. The Valors were golden Tanks. Red-skinned just like their greatsword-wielding counterparts, and just as headless, but wearing far more armor and even a cape. They favored a sword-and-board rather than a single greatsword.

The battles she had with them, (and occasionally Joys as well as powered up versions of the Grace and Glory angels from the Second Sphere called Gracious and Glorious) had turned the once resplendent floating city into a burning wreck.

Frankly, the excessive gold had been getting on her nerves after nearly a week of it. She had packed enough food into her inventory for two weeks but frankly had been hoping not to need it. As she ascended back up to the First Sphere on the seventh day, she hoped it would be for the last time.

She landed on the floating island, but this time she wasn’t immediately attacked. She walked, carefully looking around, frowning when her senses couldn’t pick anything up. But the second she stepped into the large courtyard at the very center of the island, an alarm sounded and the land began to shake.

[You have angered the Cardinal Virtues with your destruction of the First Sphere.

You may descend no longer.

Defeat the Cardinal Virtues.

Fortitudo: 0/1

Temperantia: 0/1

Iustitia: 0/1

Sapientia: 0/1]

Well, she was apparently going to get her wish.

-]|[-

Soohyun sighed as she allowed another blast from one of these strange creatures to whizz around her. It was getting easier and easier for her to use her Void Aegis almost subconsciously. It had definitely gotten the largest amount of level ups as she descended into what must have been Hell. The creatures she faced were still varied and seemingly ripped straight out of a multitude of horror novels, and the landscape had continued to evolve into something more recognizably Seoul, while also becoming more and more broken as she descended the levels.

She was pretty sure she had killed a few Necromorphs at this point, which was something that made her shudder. “I swear to god, if this fucking dungeon makes me fight a Brother Moon as the final boss…” She descended into unhappy grumbling as she swiped her arm. A dark refraction appeared in the air as her Void Blade cut another hapless enemy in half, a vibrating thrang hitting her ears.

Soohyun scratched the back of her head as she opened up her status page and regarded her stats. “Nice, I’m close to level hundred now. If Jinwoo wasn’t so far ahead…” A creature with scythes for arms swiped at her. The weapon distorted and wrapped around her. “Hmm, you almost hit me.” She said, sticking a finger right onto the tip of its tiger-like mask. Its head exploded into a spray of dark blood. “Running into enemies that can counter my powers might be really annoying, but at least it raised my skill levels up a ton.”

They had been way harder for the first five days. On several floors, she had to deal with the same MC Esher-esque nightmares that she had dealt with in her Job Change Quest along with enemies trying to kill her. She had actually needed to spend over ten million gold just on HP and Fatigue potions. But as she fought, her skills had leveled up, and she learned to counter their countering.

Maybe soon, she would be able to have Void Aegis activate automatically, cutting off its Mana consumption tremendously. She rubbed her chin, “Is it just me or have there been fewer and fewer enemies to kill as I’ve gone down the levels?” Soohyun raised her arm and used a Convergence above her head. An intense suction caused several doom blasts to swerve around it, picking up speed. She spun her arm in a circle, and the blue hole in space followed her motions, destroying high-rises all around her while picking up all of the debris. She threw it at an enemy and the swirling attacks collided with it, incinerating it in a colossal explosion. She reached out with Ruler’s Hand and grabbed another enemy, one that looked like some strange cross between a T-Rex and a Mantis Shrimp. In an instant, its upper body collapsed and formed a void. Intense radiation shot out and fried several other enemies.

She looked around curiously. “What the heck, man? Where’s the permit? Why am I stuck on this floor?” She’d been here for two days already! ‘Is there a hidden enemy around here?’ She activated her Gaze of the End, searching for any mana signatures, but no matter where she looked, Soohyun couldn’t find anything. She deactivated her eyes and rubbed them. “Okay, seriously, what the hell is going-”

She cut herself off as an intense burst of mana formed in the exact center of the city. She whirled around, and her eyes widened at what she saw. It looked like a black hole had appeared in the air, with an accretion disk and everything! The blood red of the sky was draining away, as if being sucked into the void. Even when she looked at herself, she seemed to be losing her color in this strange light.

Something slowly fell from the hole. ‘Is that the fucking Grim Reaper?’ Soohyun thought incredulously. It was literally a skeletal skull wearing a crown and a ‘robe’ made entirely of shadows. It even had a scythe! She swallowed as she felt its intense Mana. “Oh good. Looks like we’re having the boss now.” She snarked, aiming a Divergence at it and firing it. The tiny red ball sped towards the skeleton. Her eyes widened as she saw her attack getting slower and slower as it approached the skeleton before evaporating into nothingness. “Oh you have got to be kidding me.” She said flatly.

The skeleton opened its mouth, and a purple miasma spilled out. The miasma spread out, and the second it touched one of the buildings, Soohyun felt a cold chill down her spine. The glass crumbled to sand, as did the exterior. The exposed steel rusted to nothingness in half a second. And then the building collapsed… but no sound rang out, nor did a dust cloud erupt upwards.

Everything was simply gone. Rotted away.

Soohyun swallowed heavily again, “Okay, Yeomra.” She said as she eyed the red-named [Yeomra, God of Death,] apparently named for her country’s deity of the same name. “I think you’ve earned that name of yours.” She prepared herself for the fight of her life.

-]|[-

Miho had left a gigantic trail of corpses behind her as she walked towards a mountainous caldera. The dragons of this island had proved themselves far superior to the ones she had fought previously. The first few days, she had been hurt bad. Just as badly as Jinwoo had been when he had first faced the Cerberus in the Demons’ Tower. She’d lost limbs, gallons of blood, and quite nearly her life. She’d been forced to chug potions every spare minute she could and had also abused the Full Recovery of the System just to stay alive.

All in an effort to take down her first real dragon. She had been forced to put every single lesson she’d learned and every single skill she earned to use to take it down. She hadn’t been lying when she told her lovers that she had taken down three of ‘Kamish’s younger brothers.’

What Miho hadn’t told them was that it had been on day two. She had taken twelve hours to kill that first beast and had slept like the dead for the next twelve once she managed to drag herself deep into a cave. It had survived nearly everything she had thrown at it. She had only succeeded in actually killing it once her Ruler’s Hand had leveled up, allowing her to grab its wings and snap them right at the shoulders, practically pile driving it headfirst into the rocks below.

Not even absorbing its powers with her Draconic Absorption had been able to keep the exhaustion from her weary bones. But it had been well worth it. The next day, she had managed to kill three of the things. Her level had shot up, and while she was still behind Jinwoo (the dirty cheater!) she was close to joining him in the ‘over level one-hundred’ club. Absorbing the power of the dragons she slew had helped as well, not only increasing her skill levels but giving her extra stats on top of it.

It had gotten easier and easier to take down her enemies… though it had been by no means easy. So now, it was time to face the last dragon on the island. The heat radiating from the caldera was intense. Even she, with her resistances, had been feeling it.

But Miho wasn’t afraid of a little heat. It was time to face her final boss. As she exited the cave she was walking through, she saw the sloped walls of the volcano. It was ‘asleep’ right now, though she doubted it would remain so if their battle raged for too long. And right as she entered, a huge beast crashed down in front of her.

[Bayle, the Dragon Eater.]

It was a pitch-black dragon that seemed to be covered in blood. Battle scars littered its body. Patches of flesh were prominent, and she could see a dragon’s whole head and neck stabbed into one of its spikes. The decaying remnants were either a trophy or out of reach of its vicious fangs. Like about half of the dragons she had faced over the week, it was more of a Wyvern than a true dragon.

But to Miho’s surprise… it was an orange-named beast. Even the first dragon she had faced had been red! “You’re the boss?” Her eyes narrowed.

The dragon, of course, said nothing. It roared loudly enough to make Miho’s eardrums rattle and then unleashed a storm of Dragon Breath at her. Unlike all the other dragons she had faced, this one was a mixture of elements. Fire and lightning wreathed and danced with one another as the blast burned the earth beneath them.

Miho quickly grew wings and flew out of the path, watching as earth and rock alike turned into molten slag. Her own Dragon Breath grew in front of her mouth, and she unleashed it with fury of her own. The flames smashed into Bayle and seemed only to anger it. It roared to the sky, which was already dark with clouds. Instantly, orange lightning started to pound the caldera. Miho winced as it struck her a few times, taking small chunks of HP away even with her resistances. “ENOUGH!” She roared, feeling her magical power surge. Scales covered her body as she transformed.

She dropped down onto the ground and breathed out a purple miasma of poison at Bayle. It quickly engulfed the beast before the cloud lit up with orange lightning. Bayle lunged out, snapping its jaws at Miho with an explosive burst of elements. It raised its right wing, which Miho could see had been damaged badly. Flame and lightning crackled around a spike of dragonbone, before it slammed it down where Miho had been standing. Lichtenberg figures raced out from the impact, jarring her as she once again felt the elements creep along her skin.

She unleashed a furious growl and raced forward. Ruler’s Hand built up in a red miasma around her hand. She had learned this trick two days ago and had instantly killed a dragon with it. “RAGH!” She roared as she punched. A huge shockwave erupted from her fist, shattering the sound barrier. The wall of air was practically glowing with plasma when it hit Bayle, and she was astonished to find that all it did was blow off a few fangs and shatter part of its upper jaw.

“Damn, you’re one tough fucker.” Miho growled as Bayle reared back and roared at the sky once more. Wings, which almost seemed to be made of fire and lightning, appeared behind its back.

It flew into the air with an adeptness Miho hadn’t expected when she had first seen the ragged state of its true wings. It flapped hard, generating huge currents that pushed Miho back. And then, almost like Bayle somehow had a sniper rifle in that maw, bursts of lightning and flame started to rain down on her. She dodged nimbly, watching the sky for movement even as the attacks had the volcano waking up beneath her feet.

Bayle swooped, and Miho flew into the air herself, watching as the massive dragon dragged a trench into the earth with its body. Lava started to burst around it. Miho readied another punch enhanced with Ruler’s Hand and drove it right into Bayle’s spine. For the first time, she heard something other than rage in its voice. She had hurt it for sure.

But her fatigue was at sixty-five percent. That attack took a lot of focus, and she was forced to retreat rather than pressing her advantage. The Store opened up, and she quickly filtered for Fatigue potions. Bayle whipped around and tried to tail slap her. She managed to somersault over it and quickly bought her potion. Bayle infused its talon with lightning again and slammed it down on her.

She dodged much further back this time, opening her wings and taking to the sky. She managed to drink her potion right in time to dodge more lightning raining down on her. “Alright, asshole!” She snarled with a vicious grin. “Round two.”

She raced for it, prepping another super punch. Miho was shocked when Bayle leapt back. Her attack plowed into the ground and erupted, causing a huge explosion and then a geyser of magma to erupt. Bayle charged through the lava and bit down on her.

“FUCK!” Miho screamed as she instantly lost half her HP. Ruler’s Hand pried Bayle’s jaws open, only for her to see its Draconic Breath bubbling in its throat. She used her own, filling its maw with ice. Bayle screamed in agony as lightning and fire burst from its distending neck in multiple places. It writhed in front of her before energy started to crackle around its entire body.

Miho hobbled away with her one good leg as a huge burst of lava, fire, and lightning crackled out of Bayle. She hissed as she dropped down to less than twenty-five percent health. But it was Bayle’s turn to not press its advantage. Its injuries and the poison were finally taking their toll. Miho quickly bought the best HP Potion she could and downed it.

Her leg healed, and she smashed the bottle on the ground, glaring. “Time to end this.” She hissed as she took off running. Bayle tried to breathe at her, only for most of the fire and lightning to erupt out of the gaping holes in its throat. With a furious cry, it lunged at her with its maw crackling with the elements again. She dodged out of the way and jumped up, her Ruler’s Hands grabbing one of the dragon’s horns.

Miho roared like a dragon herself as she wrenched its head. Its neck snapped, and she tore its head right off. She spun through the air and landed right on Bayle’s back as the dragon collapsed. Its head shook the ground as it landed.

She panted in exhaustion even as her Fatigue was restored. She grinned happily as she started to absorb Bayle’s power.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

“I’m finally level one hundred!” She breathed gleefully.

[Ruler’s Hand has reached level three.]

[Draconic Transformation has reached level three.]

[Draconic Breath has reached level four.]

[Draconic Resistance has reached level four.]

She looked over at the message she had for killing Bayle.

[You have defeated Bayle the Dragon Eater.

Receive one free Status Recovery.]

And felt her stomach drop through her feet. “No!” She quickly rose to her feet, only to almost fall over as a huge tremor rocked the island. “Shit, shit, shit!” She cursed as she flew into the air. “Store! Filter for spears! Filter for Anti-Dragon attribute!”

She saw the earth shake once more. Deep trenches started to open up as the island seemed to rip itself apart. Miho quickly looked through the few spears that appeared in the store and finally settled on one. Nothing at all had been good enough the previous times she had tried this, and that told her everything she needed to know. She looked up and saw the center mountain crumbling. “Use free item!” She yelled and the new spear appeared in her hand.

[Bayle’s Fury

Rank: S

+600 Attack

+30% damage to Draconic Enemies]

“Finally, something to use that free store reward on!” Miho let out a shaky breath. “I guess that orange name makes sense now…” At least she had been fully recovered in time for the real boss. “Jinwoo is going to be pretty pissed that he can’t Arise any of these guys…” She muttered as everything seemed to stop. There wasn’t even any sound coming from the surrounding storms. It was so silent that she could almost hear her heartbeat. Her hands tightened on the shaft of her new spear. The blade itself seemed to be made out of Bayle’s scales, and had a cracked and shattered appearance, with the same orange glow of Bayle’s elements shining and even crackling outward from the ‘broken’ bits. It looked vaguely like magma. She looked at the mountain. “Alright. Come!” She roared, allowing her voice to carry.

And like that was all the beast had been waiting for; the entire mountain exploded. A shockwave ripped the entire storm apart, even slicing Miho’s cheek just from the intense Mana storm. Shards of the mountain rained down as meteors, shaking the entire island apart.

And the beast standing up in the center of the island’s ruined centerpiece sent Miho right back to the Cartenon Temple.

[Giauzar, Lord of the Sky]

Forget Kamish’s little brother. Kamish was its little brother. It was covered with jet black scales and dwarfed every other dragon she had ever faced almost by an order of magnitude. She couldn’t be sure without an exact measurement, but she was almost certain it was far bigger than the Calamity on Wings itself. And as said wings spread out, fire erupted explosively around it. It flapped its wings and rose into the air and Miho felt the storm of air like a punch once more. As it flew towards her, the ground was wiped out by the sheer air pressure. And if any green had remained on this hellscape? It would all have burned away in the firestorm chasing Giauzar.

Miho forced her hands to stop trembling as she transformed into her draconic form once more. All that stood before her and going home was a single, blood-red-named beast. This would be easy. She let out a roar of her own as she charged.

-]|[-

Jinwoo was smiling slightly as he watched Esil decimate forces she would have struggled greatly with not even a week ago. Her spearwork was actually fantastic, and her ‘Advanced Spear Wielding’ skill was actually a lot higher than even Miho’s. And she was fierce. The two of them had laid waste to the demons of the tower. Initially, he split his army, giving her two hundred High Orcs to work with. She had raged through the regular demons while Jinwoo worked on the Demon Nobles in their castles. That gave her plenty of time to level up and get her spear wet with demon blood. More importantly, it allowed both of them to gain EXP and gold that would have gone to waste, since Jinwoo only wanted the permits and would otherwise have only fought the nobles.

Esil had used her newfound gains (along with a generous donation from him) to grab herself some good accessories and better armor pieces. He had to say, she looked damn good in her new armor which shone like a black mirror, accented by purple and red which matched her hair and eyes. She had already gotten quite the bump in stats because of it.

Once they hit floor ninety, Esil joined Jinwoo in assaulting the Demon Nobles. She had even killed a few of the floor bosses herself! (Being very vicious with the Rokan clan in particular.) When he questioned her about it, she merely mumbled something about a ‘jackass’ and left it at that.

She even managed to convince him to relax a bit during their climb. As she insisted on reminding him multiple times, they only needed to climb four floors a day to make it to floor one hundred before his week was over. They could afford a small time ‘waste’ and farm the final nine floors clean of her lesser brethren.

Of course, even with the knowledge that they would make it in time, Jinwoo had still wanted to hurry. Esil had to very firmly put her foot down and inform him that Baran’s moniker of ‘the Demon Monarch’ wasn’t just a fancy title. He alone was as strong as the majority of the demonic army. They could not go into that fight unprepared, or they would die.

It was that argument that had finally convinced Jinwoo. There was no way he was going to fail at the final hurdle. And so, human and demon scoured the lands clean of the demons infesting the burning city. Or at least as best as they could. They left nothing but rubble in their wake on several floors, with Titan’s earthquakes flattening several collapsed skyscrapers. Jinwoo, Esil, and his Shadows all leveled up a tremendous amount. He wasn’t entirely certain, but he was pretty sure that Igris was close to a Rank Up. He couldn’t wait to see how strong his loyal knight would be once he did so.

And so, as they finished up on floor ninety-nine, Jinwoo and Esil decided it was time to make their final preparations. “You ready, Esil?”

She swallowed, “As ready as I’ll ever be.” She mumbled. Even with her newfound strength, she found it rather hard to believe that she was really going to face Baran. The Demon Monarch was the thing that Demon children were told horror stories of at night to make sure they behaved.

‘She looks very nervous.’ Jinwoo thought as he looked at her. “Can I see your spear?” He asked suddenly.

“Eh?” She grabbed it, “Here you go.” He frowned as he stared at it.

[Glorious Demise

Rank: A

+120 Attack]

‘It’s impressive that she managed to do so well with such a mediocre weapon.’ Jinwoo thought to himself before throwing it over his shoulder.

“Ahh! Why?!” Esil gaped as one of the bears snatched it out of the air and started chewing on it. “My spear!” She pouted as she watched. “Jinwoo, you meanie!” She had also become so much more relaxed around him over the past few days.

“Here.” Jinwoo smirked as over a billion gold drained out of his account in moments. “Try this one out.”

Her eyes widened as he tossed her a new spear. “Woah…” She blurted in awe. It was much longer than her previous weapon and only had one blade, but she could feel how much stronger it was. It had a dragon’s head for a guard, and the gourd shaped spearhead also had an eastern dragon engraved on it.

[Dancing Blade

Rank: S

+300 Attack

Capable of channeling Demonic Power for extra piercing and slashing damage.]

“Thank you, Jinwoo!” Esil beamed at him.

“You’re welcome.” He chuckled. “Let’s get some rest. Once we wake up, Baran falls.” He said with finality.

“Yes!” Esil agreed. And then, surprising him slightly, she moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder. His lips twitched as she yawned and said, “Goodnight.”

Chuckling lightly, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Night.”

-]|[-

Heejin smirked as she killed another set of Light Elves. She was getting stronger and stronger as she went, and her gear was getting better alongside her. The Wand of Everfrost that Jinwoo had gifted her with over a month ago had finally been used enough to level up too.

[Wand of Everfrost

Rank: S

+200 Attack

+30 Agility

+30 Perception

+30 Intelligence]

The bonus stats had doubled and the attack bonus more than doubled. Her casting speed was a far cry from where she had been even within the Red Gate now, and she was now capable of summoning multiple different spells at once.

Something she took great advantage of now, as the Light Elf Warriors attempted to surround her. Magical circles appeared all around her, their various scripts pulsing with energy. Beams of fire, ice, and lightning shot out. Several warriors cried out as they were hit, their magical resistances too low to keep themselves out of harm. Several were frozen solid, several others were electrocuted, and yet others were burnt to a crisp.

The magical circles rotated slightly around her before firing more blasts out. Screams and shrieks of pain and fury rang out, with Heejin allowing herself to lift into the air. She flew up just in time to dodge several beams of light. “Mystics, huh?” Heejin narrowed her eyes at them.

The light was extremely fast (obviously,) but not so fast that she couldn’t react to them. (Which told her everything she needed to know about the beams’ properties.) Everything the beams hit was instantly burned through. It was extremely hot and dangerous.

She waved her wand in front of her and the air seemed to solidify. A beam hit and gleamed for a moment before firing right back at the Mystic with the sound of a gong being rung. She moved her mirror shield around her, blocking beam after beam and killing Elf after Elf. ‘Not very smart, huh?’ She deadpanned as she stabbed her wand forward, sending forth another bolt of lightning that killed the final Mystic.

[Level Up!]

Heejin landed and took a deep breath before looking at the temple before her. She was certain that she would find the Boss of this entire Quest within. She was very close to the hundred-million runes she needed and so was pretty certain that whatever was within was the only thing left inside this Dungeon to kill.

She pushed forward and grunted as she pushed the huge doors open. ‘Really, what is the point of doors this big and heavy?’ She grumbled mentally as she stepped within the temple. It looked rather overgrown, but she only had eyes for the boss, sitting on her throne.

[Alva, Queen of the Light Elves]

Her name was red, which made Heejin really glad that it had taken her a further three days to clear out the Light Elves from this forest. She would have a Status Recovery, just in case she needed it.

Alva stood and floated down from her throne, jerking her arms and summoning two blades of light that looked kind of like scimitars. Heejin didn’t know much about swords, so she could be wrong.

She just knew she was really glad to have focused on her physical stats a bit more, because otherwise she would have lost her head then and there. She lost a few hairs as she ducked a swipe of Alva’s blade, retaliating with a lightning bolt. Alva moved one of her swords and cut her bolt in half.

“Well… crap.” Heejin gulped as Alva again moved so fast she could barely react. A whirlwind surrounded her and pushed Alva’s hand, helping her dodge the swipe. She kicked Alva in the chest, but the masked Elf barely reacted to it. She still flew back, before crossing her swords and unleashing another x-shaped cut of light at Heejin. She rolled out of the way, but Alva quickly did it again, and again.

All around them, Alva’s Temple of the Light was being sliced apart. Heejin waved her wand and summoned a huge gout of fire above her head. Her attack surged forward and set the temple on fire, but the boss herself was easily able to evade and slice more beams of light at her.

Heejin’s teeth were grinding in her jaw at the supreme amount of focus she had to keep to dodge all of Alva’s attacks. She needed to regain control of the fight! She raised a huge ice wall in front of her that started getting chipped away by Alva’s continuous ranged attacks. But she only needed a moment to cast her next spells, first using another gout of fire to turn the ice into steam which rapidly filled the room, and then by silencing herself and allowing a shimmer of camouflage to surround her.

Heejin quickly moved around, getting behind Alva and summoning her icicle sword to stab her in the back. Alva whirled around and smacked her sword against Heejin’s icicle. “Shit!” Heejin barely managed to avoid losing an arm as she threw herself back. She rolled on the ground as Alva stabbed down repeatedly at her, trying to staple her to the temple floor.

Finally, Heejin rolled again, and the chasing Alva stepped onto a rune that lit up red. The Light Elf Queen didn’t have time to react before a firestorm engulfed her. Heejin panted as she got to her feet and crafted an icicle lance. She fired it at the firestorm, her jaw dropping as a tornado of blades erupted, extinguishing her flame and cutting the lance into nothing more than shaved ice.

Alva’s resplendent white, blue, and gold outfit was horribly charred. The Elf kneeled and Heejin’s eyes widened as the moonlight entering the temple converged around her. “NO!” She yelled, summoning another firestorm above her head and whipping it at Alva. She let out a cry of dismay as a shield of light prevented her attack from hitting Alva. When it cleared, Alva was completely healed once more and didn’t even have the decency of looking tired.

Alva sprang towards her, and Heejin was too slow to move. “GUH!” She cried out as Alva’s blade skewered her breast. Blood spilled from her lips as she managed to catch Alva’s arm to prevent her from pulling away, while also catching her other arm to avoid losing her head. Runes wrote themselves onto her leg, surrounding the limb with crackling, green lightning. She barely managed to make a noise of exertion with her right lung in the state that it was in.

Still, her attack did its job, blowing Alva away from her and into a pillar. She quickly yanked the sword blade out and, to prevent the Queen from grabbing it again, stuffed it into her inventory. “S-Status Recovery!” She rasped, moaning in relief as her health was restored.

She glared at Alva as the Queen once again kneeled. “NOT THIS TIME, BITCH!” She yelled as she wrote several runes into the ground. This time, it wasn’t fire that erupted, but a thick cloud of black ash that blotted out the light of the moon.

And finally, that seemed to have gotten underneath Alva’s skin. She let out a cry of fury and raced towards Heejin. ‘She’s slow!’ Heejin realized instantly. Well, not slow, but slower. Slow enough that Heejin could react to her attacks. Heejin ducked and weaved, waving her wand and summoning more and more ash. It clung to Alva and rubbed at her skin. Heejin was thankfully immune to her own magic and was able to slip into the ash cloud.

Alva let out another furious screech and used a Mana Explosion to try to blow the ash away, but Heejin had made it far too thick and dense at this point. Dense enough, in fact, that she was able to make it coalesce in her hands. Alva let out an agonized cry as Heejin sliced deep into her right calf with a blade of clinging ash. Her mobility wasn’t crippled since she was floating, but now her silver blood was dripping all over the temple.

Heejin had another idea, writing runes into the ash itself. The ash surrounding her collected and densified even more, forming into ten ravens that let out croaks again and again as they circled, swooped, and clawed Alva.

The Light Elf Queen was swinging almost aimlessly for the birds, scoring hits that did nothing really appreciable since they were made of ash. They just collected together once more, every time Alva ‘killed’ one.

Finally, the moment Heejin had been waiting for arrived. One of the ravens grabbed the golden mask Alva wore, tearing it off her face, revealing grey flesh that had apparently been ritualistically mutilated in patterns that weren’t too dissimilar from tattoos. Another raven landed talon-first in Alva’s eyes.

The screech that rang out was music to Heejin’s ears and she dashed forward, taking Alva’s own sword from her Inventory and impaling the Light Elf’s heart with it. Alva let out a death rattle as silver leaked from her lips. Heejin allowed her to fall. She wasn’t too far behind as the exhaustion hit her even through the two Level Ups she got from killing the boss.

She panted on the floor of the temple, barely paying attention as the System announced that she had received the rest of the runes she needed to collect. “I’m just… going to lie here… a little bit.” She whimpered as the ash slowly disappeared.

…

It had taken her quite a while to collect herself after her near-brush with death. Slowly, she trudged back to the Well of Eternity. “Please let this be it…” She whispered as she fed the last of the runes into it.

[The Well of Eternity has accepted your runes.

Lake Capacity: 100,000,000/100,000,000]

Instantly, the water of the lake turned silver and began to shimmer with its own light. Golden steam started to rise from the surface as well, shimmering in the light. “Beautiful…” She breathed as she looked around and waited. But nothing happened. Nothing at all. “But… but now what?” The System was silent. “Don’t you dare make me chase my tail aimlessly again! You did that before I found this place!” Still, the System was silent. “How do I GET OUT OF HERE?!” Heejin screamed furiously as she fell to her knees. What was she missing? There was nothing else to kill! She had completed this damned collection quest! It had taken her forty-five days to do it! Why was she still trapped here, away from her home, her friends, even a fucking warm bath?!

And then she froze. “No.” She thought to herself. “No, you damned System, don’t tell me…!” She clenched her hands and glared furiously at the lake. “I swear on everything-” She furiously started ripping her clothes off, shivering in the frigid air as she got completely naked. With goosebumps covering every exposed inch of skin, she took her first step into the lake. “It’s warm!” She gasped and hurried to get further into the water. But as more and more of her disappeared beneath the surface, it no longer felt warm.

It felt hot. Burning hot, even. She let out a cry as it felt like she was starting to burn. Her skin was as perfect as ever and nothing was actually burning, but it certainly felt like it! ‘It’s the runes!’ She thought to herself as she realized she was absorbing the runes into her very flesh. The burning heat was her own mana.

She continued deeper, fighting through the ‘pain’ until she was in the center of the lake, until she was completely submerged. Once she did, she felt her eyes go wide involuntarily. She was absorbing every single iota of magic within the Well of Eternity. She let out a cry, a bubble of air escaping her as the water invaded her mouth. The water was suddenly dense, and she couldn’t escape it.

Everything went dark.

And then Heejin let out a yell of fright, gasping for breath. “Wh-What?” She looked around wildly. “My-MY ROOM?!” She let out a cry that was half incredulity, half utter joy. She whipped her blanket off and let out another cry, this time of shock. Glowing emerald runes covered her skin. “Oh, please don’t let these be permanent!” She begged, only to sigh in relief as they vanished.

She slumped back onto her bed, glaring at the screens that now hovered above her.

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

She let out a breath of relief.

[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.]

She impatiently went to the next screen.

[You have been promoted from the “Wizard” class to the ‘Rune Master’ class.]

Heejin rolled her eyes, “Gee, I’m so surprised.”

[Your Job has been finalized.

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

“…Honestly, I almost figured that we non-original Players wouldn’t get our hands held quite as much.”

[You survived on your own for forty-five days.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You defeated every single beast inside the Dungeon.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

[You exceeded the expected collection time by fifteen days.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

“What?!” She blurted, “I was supposed to be in there for even longer?!”

[You collected every single rune available, maximizing the Well of Eternity’s potency.]

[Bonus points will be awarded.]

“Are you telling me I could have bathed in that damn lake at any point to get out of there?!” Heejin screamed at the screen, now furious.

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

Emerald light poured out of Heejin as she lifted into the air. The runes on her body lit up once more, changing in shape and collecting together into larger runes, which then shrank to their original sizes once more. She dropped back onto her mattress with a light moan.

[You have been promoted from the “Rune Master” class to the “Rúnatýr” class]

[“Word of Power” has evolved into “Primordial Runes.”]

[You have acquired the skill “Ruler’s Hand.”]

[You have acquired the skill “Rune Stone Crafting.”]

Heejin’s jaw almost fell off her skull. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN CRAFT RUNESTONES NOW?!”

She quickly opened up the skill description and read on with an absolutely flabbergasted mien. It was right there, in plain Korean. Once a day, she would be able to straight up create a Rune Stone. That was the kind of skill countries might actually go to war for. She could either create it with no input and get something completely random, use a Beast’s corpse to get something appropriate for said beast, or figuratively join hands with a Hunter to create a skill that was completely optimized for them. The more mana she used (in other words, the stronger the enemies she killed or the Hunter she joined hands with), the higher the rank of the Rune Stone would be.

She couldn’t do anything but laugh. Incredulously. So hard, in fact, that she started to cry. It took her several minutes to settle her nerves, and then she made good on her promise. She drew the hottest bath she could be comfortable with and prepared for the longest, most relaxing soak of her life.

She was so astounded by her new skill that she almost forgot to check her stats.

Name: Park Heejin

Level: 81

Job: Rúnatýr

Fatigue: 0

Title: Elven Bane

HP: 18600

MP: 8330

Strength: 113

Agility: 137

Perception: 120

Vitality: 104

Intelligence: 179

Available Ability Points: 0

-]|[-

Jinho was just straight up not having a good time. His last level up had been over two hours ago, and he just was not getting the EXP he needed to gain more levels. He outclassed the demons swarming into the castle by a wide margin, but he could only fight for so long without rest. He and Songyi had been at this for far too long already, so while he had been reset twice (once by the daily quest and once by his level up,) his fatigue was going up faster.

He had crossed seventy percent over ten minutes ago, and it had not stopped ticking up. “UGH!” He grunted as he punched a demon into a crater. “UGH!” He uppercutted one so hard it embedded into the ceiling. He had lost his weapons and shield over an hour ago, so all he had left were his fists. Since Songyi had left, the minutes and hours had just sort of blended together. He had no idea when she was due to return.

He had few Black Knights left. His army of a hundred had been whittled down, bit by bit. One abducted into the air by a Winged Horror here, another crushed to open a stronger demon up for a killing blow there…

His fatigue hit eighty percent, and Jinho felt himself slow even further. He was a bit too slow to dodge a hammer blow and it clipped him, sending him flying into a wall. His arms felt like lead as he pushed himself to his feet. He charged, ducking another swipe and damn near cutting the demon in half with a punch. His knuckles were burst open, the flesh and bones beneath already exposed. It hurt. It hurt a lot.

He reached up and snagged a Horror’s leg, whipping it at another demon, only to be tackled from behind. He went sprawling, and a foot smashed into his breastplate, denting it inwards. But the metal saved him, for there were tough claws on that foot. ‘Is this it?’ He thought to himself in exhaustion.

He just barely dodged an axe, snagging it and wrenching it away from the demon holding it. He cut it in half with a gasp of exertion, only to take a severe blow to the head and go sprawling once more. ‘Is this really as far as I can go?’ He thought to himself, his exhaustion topping ninety-percent.

In his dimming vision, he saw his final Black Knight get slain, its chestplate crushed under the weight of a club. He was so tired that he outright started to hallucinate. “This is what you deserve, Jinho.” It was his brother, dressed in his immaculate suit and tie, like usual. “For daring to think you could get in my way. You should have known your place.”

Jinho’s teeth ground together as he popped back up, cutting a demon in half with his stolen axe. “I-I won’t-!” He managed to get out before a huge demon with an orange name knocked him down. A pair grabbed his arms, while another grabbed his legs. He was face down on the ground, listening as the demons all laughed. ‘If I could just-’ He struggled, but he may as well have been Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. Even the weaklings holding him down weren’t bothered by his remaining strength. Not when he was over ninety-five percent fatigue. ‘Kill him!’ He raged at his weakness as the demon raised his warhammer. He blinked…

And the demon had a massive hole in its chest and a comical look on its face. He blinked again, and all the demons holding him down were turned into sacks of flesh spilling blood everywhere. ‘W-What?’

Something pulled him up and rested him against the wall. “S-Songyi…” He let the back of his head hit the wall.

“You did great, Jinho.” Songyi said gently. “Rest now.” She said, and then she was gone. She burst through the Castle Gates as another wave started to come in. She drew a new bow and nocked her arrows, firing a huge barrage at the demon menaces. Dozens of them went down in a moment, before she fired a charged shot down the portcullis. The shockwave of her attack turned the approaching demons into salsa before continuing onward. With the gate cleared, she leapt over the portcullis and fired an arrow straight down, destroying the gates and creating a huge pile of rubble any demon trying to get inside would have to climb over.

Not that she was going to let any of them get close. She climbed the highest spire in a few leaps and stood atop it, her green eyes beginning to glow. Suddenly, she was looking far further than she had ever been able to look with her new Hawkeye skill. She gazed past the hordes of weaklings, spotting all thirteen catapults. But she went further still, gazing towards the demon castle in the distance. It had one huge tower that peeked into the clouds, surrounded by battlements not unlike the ones they had defended.

And as she expected, inside said demonic tower, she was able to see a gaping red portal disgorging wave after wave of demons. She sneered as she blinked, before summoning a spear from her inventory.

[Holy Warrior’s Spear

Rank: A

+120 attack

Deals explosive Light-attribute Damage]

She hated to destroy this thing… but needs must. She nocked it on her bow and began to both overcharge it and alter it. The spear thinned out and became incredibly long, losing some of its blades up front in order to create some stabilizing fins. It was pulsing with incredible amounts of light as Songyi pumped more and more mana into it.

Finally, she loosed her unwieldy-looking arrow, watching it fly at several times the speed of sound. The shockwave not only killed every demon it struck, but the burning light seared the eyes and flesh of several more distant demons.

Her shot was more than perfect. It went right through the open portcullis, blowing the entire gateway apart, and struck the ground right before the portal. A gargantuan explosion almost blinded even Songyi, who was miles and miles away. She shielded her eyes from the intense flare, only looking back over a few seconds later while rapidly blinking the spots out of her vision. She smirked as she saw the mushroom cloud she had just generated while also watching the upper half of the huge tower collapse in on itself, like in Lord of the Rings. The area started to get obscured by dust.

A moment later, an even bigger explosion happened as the magical energy inside the castle backfired. The shockwave shattered the ground around it for at least a mile, swallowing up thousands of demons.

[You have destroyed the enemy castle!]

[Level up!]

Inside their own castle, Jinho moaned in relief as the experience pushed him over the edge and reset his fatigue. He still grimaced as he got to his feet.

[Complete your Job Change. Annihilate the remaining enemy forces.]

He grabbed two of the giant axes and rose, his eyes glowing an intimidating red. He charged out of the castle and leapt over the pile of rubble Songyi had created. Up above, she smirked as she heard him roar, “TIME FOR SOME PAYBACK!” He flew out, Wind Magic now surrounding the two axes. He spun around as he struck, with the winds forming shearing tornadoes that sliced the demons into pieces.

Songyi growled as she looked up and saw more meteors coming their way. She drew charged arrows into her bow, firing them with pinpoint precision. Unlike the first time she had tried this, her arrows blasted the meteors apart in fiery blazes. “Time for the rest of you to die.” She hissed as she summoned C-Rank weapons from her inventory. A sword with a red blade elongated into an ‘arrow,’ losing its curve. She fired it directly at one of the catapults, smiling viciously as the resulting explosion destroyed all three of the ones in the area. She summoned another sacrificial spear. She fired it, wiping out another three catapults.

Two more arrows wiped out the remaining seven, and they were officially free of any more attacks on the castle. It took only a few minutes more to wipe out the remaining demons, who Songyi had realized in the desert were mostly just clones of ones they had already killed. That was why the endless hordes started giving them less and less EXP.

But finally, it was done, and they could breathe a sigh of relief.

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

She and Jinho both had the same screens appear in front of them. Songyi leapt over to Jinho to give him a hug. “You did a good job.” She repeated herself.

“So did you.” He hugged back before giving her a cheesy grin. “Thanks for saving my ass.”

“Of course!” She said haughtily, smirking back at him. “Now let’s see what we’ve got.”

[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.]

They read through all the screens, grinning when both of them read through all the messages the System was spamming them with.

“Tank and Ranger, huh?” Jinho asked with a deadpan tone as they were given their classes.

“Yes, yes, come on, give us the good stuff.” She said impatiently as the System told them how many points they’d earned.

Songyi got her’s first.

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

Songyi’s body began to glow as she advanced to her higher class. Mana poured out of her in silver waves, even outshining the green in her eyes.

[You have been promoted from “Ranger” to “Star Piercer.”]

Her eyes bulged, “Woah, I get a badass Job Class!”

Jinho chuckled, “You’re telling me.” He nudged her, “Don’t think anyone can beat Miho’s though.” She pouted at him and elbowed him. He smirked, “Not sure I deserve such a badass one myself after needing you to save my butt.”

[You have been promoted from “Tank” to the “Dauntless Shield.”]

“Nah, fuck that!” Songyi said vehemently. His eyes went wide. “You held the line for four hours while I fucked off to farm centipedes! You deserve it, Jinho!”

He gave her a watery smile and wiped his eyes. “Thanks, Songyi.”

She smiled back, “Now, what skills did we get?”

[You have acquired the skill “Ruler’s Hand.”]

“Looks like we’re all getting that one.” Jinho chuckled since it was in his list as well.

“It’s plenty badass.” As she spoke, she raised her hand and grabbed a demon corpse. She was able to lift it with some ease and flung it a couple meters away.

[You have acquired the skill “Unlimited Blade Works.”]

Songyi’s eyes widened, “Wait, what? But I’m an arche-” And then they bugged out as she actually read the skill description. “Oh, holy fuck.” The awe in her voice was palpable.

“What does it do?” He asked curiously, wondering what could have possibly given her that reaction.

“My soul will memorize any weapon I see.” She said, “And allow me to project copies into reality.” She materialized Jinwoo’s [The Monarch’s Dao.] As Jinho’s jaw dropped, she pouted, “Oh, it’s degraded. It’s an ‘S-’ instead of S-Rank and lost a hundred attack and its bonus.”

“It’s still an S-Rank weapon! What the hell, Songyi?!” Jinho wanted to dope slap her. “Plus, what does it matter if they’re slightly worse if you can just project endless copies of them!”

“Not endless!” She protested, “That took a bunch of Mana!”

“Yeah, for an S-Rank!” Jinho growled back. “You don’t ever need to buy another weapon! Don’t make me get the ‘brat cap’ out!”

Songyi growled at him, “Well, what did you get?!”

“Hmm, let’s see…”

[You have acquired the skill, “Burning Bulwark.”]

“Huh, looks like a Taunt variation.” Jinho muttered as he read through the description. “I Taunt enemies to attack me, and anything that touches my shield gets burned by a magical fire that halves their strength stat.”

She grinned, “Well, isn’t that appropriate.”

He frowned, “But why give me a teleport skill too?” He wondered as he looked at the final skill he had acquired.

“Well, you’re not just a tank. Sometimes you fight without a shield.” Songyi said, “That allows you to close the gap for some devastating attacks.”

“True enough.” Jinho grinned, “And allows me to get in front of attacks to block them too. This is perfect, actually.” The final sentence was said from behind Songyi, who yelped and leapt away.

“Jerk!” She yelled as she started chasing him around.

“Hey, don’t wave that thing around! Songyi!” Jinho protested as she chased him with her degraded dao.

“Tch, you’re lucky you were kinda cool in here.” Songyi grumbled as she dismissed the sword. “Oh, looks like I got about half the Mana I used on it back since it was in my hand and undamaged.”

“Nice!”

“What are your stats looking like now?” She asked him curiously.

He grinned, “Read ‘em and weep!”

Name: Yoo Jinho

Level: 56

Job: Dauntless Shield

Fatigue: 0

Title: Indomitable

HP: 27600

MP: 970

Strength: 162

Agility: 82

Perception: 90

Vitality: 140

Intelligence: 58

Available Ability Points: 0

Songyi smirked at him, “Why would I cry when mine look like this?”

Name: Han Songyi

Level: 73

Job: Star Piercer

Fatigue: 0

Title: She Who Shot Down the Sun

HP: 18350

MP: 3290

Strength: 150

Agility: 133

Perception: 117

Vitality: 103

Intelligence: 99

Available Ability Points: 0

Jinho slumped, “You couldn’t let me have it, could you?”

Songyi laughed, “Someone has to keep you honest.” She winked, “Later, Jinho!” She vanished as she ended her Dungeon Dive.

“…And you had to get the last word too.” He deadpanned with a shake of his head before vanishing too.

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