CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO!
────the jeju island raid.

❝NOW YOU SEEM MORE LIKE A BUG.❞

AS MUCH AS THE two wanted to stay and hold each other and speak the words they left unsaid...

they had an important matter to attend to.

they sensed two of their summons being destroyed, they knew they had to intervene.

after returning from the park and changing into more suitable clothing, the two planned to go to jeju island.

jin-woo stood outside as he waited [y/n] to join him so he switch with his shadow.

"i'm ready! sorry, jin-ah held me up!" she speaks approaching him with a cheeky smile.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

he chuckles and shakes his head in disbelief, his sister probably thought the two were going on a date of some sort.

though, [y/n] did look beautiful.

"let's get going." jin-woo states, grabbing her waist and pulling her to his chest.

their eyes glow as they look to the sky, pinpointing the location of their summons.

"RETURN."

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE S-RANK HUNTERS of korea were backed into a corner. after defeating the ant queen, the ants had swarmed back into the cave.

they've already lost their s-rank healer, byeong-gu by some kind of super ant. while hunter cha hae-in was in critical condition.

thinking this end for them, the a-rank hunter who was supposed to be broadcasting the raid fell to his knees. he regrets not speaking to his father more often as the ants closed in.

as two ants were about to attack him when a purple and black sword went through the ants, killing them. the a-rank hunter opens his eyes as he looks up to see who saved him.

ONLY TO BE MEET WITH A SHADOWY FIGURE.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE TWO PLAYERS walked side by side. their soldiers trailing behind them, creating an army of black and white.

their highest ranking soldiers glowed in their respective colors, purple and gold as the others glowed blue.

the two stop, standing in front of the swarm of ants. their eyes narrowed and glowed.

"IRON."

jin-woo orders the shadow. iron lets out an ear-shattering roar, meaning he was activating his special skill.

[IRON HAS USED 'SKILL: TAUNTING CRY'.]

the two players see that the taunt had worked on the ants and praise the shadow.

the two walk forward, summoning their new daggers in their hands with a blue spark.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

[ITEM: DEMON MONARCH'S DAGGER]
ITEM CLASS: S
TYPE: DAGGER
ATTACK POWER: +220

DAGGER OBTAINED FROM THE DEMON MONARCH BARAN. USING BOTH DAGGERS FROM THE DEMON MONARCH TRIGGERS A SET BOUNS EFFECT.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

[ITEM: DEMON QUEEN'S DAGGER]
ITEM CLASS: S
TYPE: DAGGER
ATTACK POWER: +220

DAGGER OBTAINED FROM THE DEMON QUEEN ARCANE. USING BOTH DAGGERS FROM THE DEMON QUEEN TRIGGERS A SET BOUNS EFFECT.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE TWO PLAYERS glance at each other, forming a plan almost telepathically.

the two sprint towards the ants, cutting them down easily with a swing of their daggers.

tusk, who was tasked with protecting the s-rank hunters, made sure that no ant could get near them.

the conscious hunters stared at the two players in awe as they watch them destroy the ants.

"wha... what is going on? who is fighting right now?" dong-wook questions absentmindedly, his voice shaky.

yoon-ho who kept his eyes forward. "master ma... i think we're saved."

he watches jin-woo and [y/n] work together, elegantly killing the ants as their eyes glow.

"WE MIGHT JUST MAKE IT."

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

ICARUS GRABS A red ant by its head and smashes it to the ground, killing it.

behind him was igris, who cuts off the heads of two ants with his sword.

iron and scar work together in killing the ants with their brute strength.

[y/n] flicks her dagger to rid of the blood on its blade as she and jin-woo were surrounded by the bodies of dead ants.

"i think we should pick the pace." she suggests with a knowing smirk gracing her lips.

he looks at her with the same smirk. "as you wish." he replies.

then, the two face the bodies of the ants.

"ARISE."

"AWAKEN."

black and white figures begin forming on top of dead monsters, now under the command of one of the players.

the two players order them to finish off the ants as they regrouped with s-rank hunters.

"everyone gather up." jin-woo orders as [y/n] purchases healing potions from the store.

she was about to pass items out when she realizes. 'wait they can't take this themselves...'

she sighs and goes up to choi jong-in and crouches beside him with a soft smile "we'll explain later, but please take what i'm giving you." she explains, like a mother coaxing her child.

the fire mage hunter blushes a bit at her harmonic voice and lets her give him the healing potion. she does the same with the rest of the hunters as they look at their bodies in awe, all of their wounds have been healed.

[y/n] crouches beside hae-in's body, who laid unconscious on the ground. her face was full of worry as her healing potion barely worked on the girl.

"why is hunter cha the only one who hasn't recovered?" dong-wook frantically asks her.

she hums, furrowing her eyebrows. "she's in serious shape. neither of our abilities can handle this kind of damage." she explains solemnly as jin-woo puts a hand on her shoulder.

he examines the blonde hunter with a bit of worry.

'she's fading little by little...'

"i think the situation here has settled down a bit. please evacuate before the ants swarm again." he tells dong-wook and he agrees.

the two players feel a powerful presence behind and they turn to look to see who it is.

a monstrous ant that stood tall entered the cave. its magical aura it gave off was sickening.

"THERE'S NO KING OUTSIDE."

it suddenly speaks, shocking the players a bit as it walks closer and closer to them.

"he was not the king. is there another? the one who you call "the king?" he speaks again, scaring the hunters.

the female player stands up beside her friend, their magical energy practically visible. "master ma, i'll leave hunter cha in your care." she states, as the two players walk over to the ant

"HUNTER SUNG?! HUNTER [L/N]?!"

'i was wondering why the signal from goto ryuji stopped, seems it was him.' jin-woo analyzes as he loosely wraps an arm around [y/n].

"are you the king of humans?" the big asks again.

the female player snickers. "cute! a talking bug!" she cooes mockingly making her friend laugh.

"to answer your question, i am and she's my queen." the male player declares with a smirk as the two were finally face to face with the tall monster.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE BUG STARES down the two players, his eyes glowing red.

"humans... you have a dangerous aura." he states, letting out a loud and powerful screech.

the two smirk, unfazed by its intimation.

"NOW YOU SEEM MORE LIKE A BUG."

the ant makes its first move as it goes to punch jin-woo's face. the two seem to disappear as the floor cracked from the impact of the punch.

jong-in used his cape to shield himself from the force. "the strength of their magic is insane!" he shouts.

"we looked down on the ant too much! but he just took a direct hit pulling hunter [y/n] with him!" yoon-ho yells, coving his face with his arms.

the dust settles as everyone watched in anticipation. when the ant speaks. "weak... you are not the king either—"

everyone's jaws were to the floor when the two hunters reappeared. the crack on the floor was the cause of the two holding their ground. a cut was visible on jin-woo's cheek as he spat out some blood.

[y/n] practically unharmed as she didn't take a direct hit but had a menacing glare on her face.

the ant was surprised that the two were alive and had no time to react.

[SKILL: 'DOMINATOR'S TOUCH' HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.]

the female player raises her hand and forced the ant to its knees, almost bowing. the male player then reels his arm back and punches the ant, it was powerful enough to send him slamming against the wall.

the ant lets out a battle cry before coming towards jin-woo again who narrows his eyes at it. 'it's pretty sturdy. is it because of its exoskeleton?'

he glances at [y/n] and she only nods at him with a plan in mind, she quickly disappears as she lets her friend deal with the ant.

jin-woo uses blocks an attack from the ant and punches him right in his side. they keep exchanging punches as the ant's exoskeleton begins to crack. realizing it's losing in the battle of strength.

being pushed back, the ant checked his waist to see it cracked.

'he cracked the shell? impossible, he did that to me?'

he looked to see jin-woo come at him and punch him in the chest. he staggered back and managed to regain his balance. his head looked to the ceiling narrowing his eyes, annoyed a mere human had so much strength. when he snapped his head down with a murderous glare, a poison needled was fired from his mouth.

the tip coated in a deadly poison attached to a tongue like tentacle shoots at jin-woo scratching his cheek.

he falls to his feeling the effects. 'poison?' he guesses, his eyes glancing to his cheek as the tall ant towers over him.

"how unfortunate human." he mocks, showing off his poison-tipped tongue.

the male player only looks up at him, his eyes glowing in confidence as he calls out a name.

"[N/N], ITS YOUR TURN TO PLAY!"

in a flash, the ant's tongue was cleanly cut off and combusted into flames. he screeches in pain as he tries to heal himself. he looks towards the person to the right of him as they turn to face him.

[y/n]'s eyes glow dangerously as she smirks at the ant. "my bad, seems like i went overboard." she taunts as the ant glares at her.

she planned to provide backup or when jin-woo wanted her to join the fight.

she couldn't let him all the fun.

but they had to finish this quickly. her [e/c] eyes glance at hae-in's body, the color of her skin was slowly beginning to lose its color. she clicks her tongue and faces forward.

"don't look so angry. unless you wanna die by fire, you're choice." she taunts, pointing her dagger at him, her magical aura growing.

her dark-haired friend recovered easily from the poison and stands up, dusting off his knees. their eyes meet and they smile at each other before jin-woo hides in the shadow letting his friend take over.

he screeches at her runs to attack her, extending his talons. she easily blocks it with her dagger. she summons her other dagger in her hand and slashes his stomach, using her special skill.

the wound burned in pain and he jumps back, flying in the air and healing himself.

"awe you scared? can't handle the heat?" she asks mockingly with a wide smirk.

knowing that a contest of strength was a waste of time. he decides to win with his real advantage, speed.

the ant charges at her with his talons out. she dodges it and reappears on his left, she swings her daggers but the ant blocks it with his talons.

he pushes her back to a wall, but she kicks off the wall behind her using it as a boost to charge back at the monster.

the two jump around as they exchanged blows, [y/n] focuses on her senses. blocking his attacks and knowing when to attack. it shocks the ant that a mere human could match his speed

it wasn't long before his exoskeleton started visibly breaking down.

'i can finish this!' she thinks as swings her daggers expertly hitting the ant's body.

[SKILL: 'CRITICAL HIT' HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.]

with this, [y/n] landed multiple hits on the ant, and at the same time, her skill upgraded.

[SKILL: 'CRITICAL HIT' HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO ITS FINAL FORM: 'CRITICAL CHAIN'.]

she blinks and smiles happily. "ooooh! an upgrade!! i can't wait to tell woo!"

suddenly the ant begins to flee, knowing he can't win. all the pride he had before was gone.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"

she actives her new skill, slashing all over the ant. 'oooh not bad! this is fun!' she muses backing off, her back hitting a sturdy chest.

she looks up to see jin-woo smiling down at her. her face brightens upon seeing him. "woo! look, my skill upgraded!" she states pointing at the ant's body that looked wrecked beyond repair.

he chuckles at how she can smile in a time like this, though he never minded. "that's my girl. you're getting stronger every day." he praises as he bends down to kiss her forehead.

her heart races at his praise and the affection he was giving her. though it was interrupted when the ant lets out a rage-filled screech.

waves upon waves of ants began flooding the cave, going to attack the players. the main ant looked at the two players with confidence.

"how's that humans?" he taunts, thinking he's won. but when they grin at him, his beady eyes widen.

"REVEAL YOURSELVES."

"GO FORTH."

masses of purple and gold magic appeared behind them, their soldiers forming and standing tall.

with a simple command, their soldiers marched towards the ants at a scary speed. the two armies worked together in killing the ants.

tusk is summoned beside the two players. then [y/n] looks up at him her arms crossed. "focus on the ants. if the humans get hurt, i'll tell woo to never summon you again." she warns in a mother-like tone while jin-woo agrees, confirming her statement.

he nods eagerly, not wanting to make his queen mad.

[TUSK'S SKILL: 'HYMN OF THE GIANTS' HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.]
[TUSK'S SKILL: 'HYMN OF THE FIRE DRAGON' HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.]

with these two skills, tusk wipes out the ants with gigantic spews of fire.

the black ant stared at the fire with wide eyes, not believing what he was seeing. 'i... i was more powerful than any other from the moment i was born. i swallowed up everything in my path and stood at the apex... growing without a limit: that was me.'

A MONARCH.

I WAS A MONARCH.

two figures walked into the fire as it didn't harm them. progressively getting closer as their eyes shined through the flames.

THAT'S HOW IT SHOULD BE.

the ant felt small and fear racked his body, his eyes wide as his instincts told him one single thing.

FLEE.

I MUST FLEE.

in the presence of jin-woo and [y/n], he felt incredibly scared. the gap between them and him was too big, too great.

their glowing eyes narrowed onto the ant who was on his knees. he knew that now was the time to run away.

he quickly uses his healing ability on himself, gained from killing byeong-gu, and flees once more.

'that must be hunter min byeong-gu's healing ability. it's the first time we've seen a monster that can absorb the ability of those he has consumed...' jin-woo muses as the two watch the ant run away.

[y/n] activates dominator's touch and slammed the ant to the ground. he felt the pressure of being squished as the two players walk over to him calmly.

he lets out a screech and begins to crawl away but the two closed in on him quickly.

the two now having the skill: critical chain, the two slashed the ant to his death.

[YOU HAVE DEFEATED YOUR ENEMY!]
[PLAYER 1 HAS RISEN TWO LEVELS!]
[PLAYER 2 HAS RISEN TWO LEVELS!]

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE TWO PLAYERS stare at the dead ant and put their daggers back in their inventory.

"HUNTER SUNG! HUNTER [L/N]!"

yoon-ho shouts approaching them with a worried look.

"HUNTER CHA SHE'S...!"

their eyes went wide and quickly ran over to the group, getting on their knees. the two inspect the girl's face as it was deathly pale.

'damn it! we took too long! even if we ride on helios or kaisel we wouldn't make it in time. woo's shadow exchange abilities are in cool down right now...' [y/n] thinks her eyebrows furrowing until she gets an idea.

she looked to the cameraman. "please, could you turn off your camera for a bit?" she asked kindly.

"excuse me?"

"she said turn it off. hurry, before i smash it to pieces." jin-woo warns and the cameraman does what he's told.

she summons her knights and looks at them with pleading eyes. "please, all of you! search for byeong-gu's body!"

"what is she going to do..." yoon-ho mumbles as he watches one of her high orc knights delicately carry his friend's body and lay it on the ground.

[y/n] stands up and walks over to the healer's body. 'it's best if i do it with my ability. there's a chance it might not work with woo's...' she guesses and puts her palm out towards byeong-gu's body.

"hunter [l/n]... what are you planning to do?" yoon-ho asks again but does not receive a response.

she takes a deep breath and her eyes glow as she looks down at his body.

"AWAKEN."

the sound of wind chimes rang in the air, a soft breeze flows through the cave somehow relaxing the hunters present.

then in powerful waves of royal blue and white begin to surround the body.

suddenly a hand was placed on her shoulder. "HUNTER [Y/N] [L/N]! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO BYEONG-GU?!" yoon-ho exclaims in fear.

"YOUR ABILITY... THE TRUE NATURE OF YOUR ABILITY IS...!"

everyone watched as a white figure slowly stands up from byeong-gu's body. pulling himself out of his body and into the light.

"POWER OVER THE DEAD?!"

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

EVERYONE WATCHED AS byeong-gu's soul manifested in front of [y/n] and quickly walks over to hunter cha hae-in

he raises his hand over her body and begins to glow green and heal the s-rank hunter.

"the true nature of my ability is not the power over the dead, do not be mistaken hunter baek yoon-ho. that is hunter sung jin-woo's ability." she starts, surprising the hunters with this information as they look back and forth between the two players.

her [e/c] eyes gaze over to her new summon. "my ability deals with light, not darkness. i manifest their souls and convert them into light. but it seems like hunter min byeong-gu already had that light within his soul..."

"i can already tell what kind of man he was in this life. he healed hunter cha hae-in without being commanded to." she states with a small smile.

"HE HAD SUCH A WARM AND KIND SOUL."

yoon-ho looks between the knight and [y/n]. "that thing is... is no longer byeong-gu..." he exasperated and the female player could only stay silent.

"you're correct..."

the other hunters watched in awe at the reveal of their powers, realizing how powerfully scary it was.

"i'm sure that you and hunger sung will accomplish great things in many future battles to come. and i'm just as sure that byeong-gu's power would great assistance then... but in his life... he absolutely hated fighting." yoon-ho informs as his voice begins to shake.

"TO DRIVE HIM TO BATTLE ONCE AGAIN... PLEASE, DON'T DO THIS."

he pleads and [y/n]'s heart aches as she gently removes his hand on her shoulder.

"this is the second time you've grabbed my shoulder, hunter baek yoon-ho." she warns before looking over her shoulder at him.

her eyes glow and she gives the man warm smile. "unlike before, instead of it being an order, it's a heartfelt request."

after byeong-gu's finishes healing hunter cha hae-in, [y/n] walks over to him. "i feel the same way as you." she states.

she stands in front of the summon and grins. "go back where you rightfully belong, may your days there be spent in the sun. cancel summon." she softly commands.

byeong-gu looked surprised that she decided to send him back but he looks to yoon-ho and gives him one last smile.

tears prick yoon-ho's eyes as he smiles back. he watches the figure of his friend slowly disappear and return to spirit world.

"THANK YOU."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO! END!
────the jeju island raid.