Boss: ? (LVL=71, HP=5922, MP=2381, STR=88, DEF=39)

Ally: JONGUP (LVL=39, HP=1932, MP=268, STR=48, DEF=13)

 * * * * *

Enormous and heavy, a greatsword sliced the air and cut deep into the ground, right at the spot where Jongup had been a millisecond ago.

Jongup tried to block the next blow, but the sheer force of it brought him promptly on his knees.

“JONGUP!!!” Hyuk yelled helplessly. Godd*mmit, why am I so weak?! Hyuk cursed himself for the millionth time.

If he couldn’t protect even himself, how could he possibly help Jongup?

Hyuk took a look at their attacker. He froze.

Something about the man was just as scary, or maybe even scarier, that an enraged Zelo with his red eyes gleaming. But this person was a different kind of frightening – a dark aura hung about him, like a gust of cold air. The warrior’s face was hidden in a hood. All Hyuk could see were his lips, narrow but full.

For a split second, Hyuk could see Jongup whisking a small object from his pocket and tossing it towards the stranger. The grenade exploded with a deafening roar, and all three were thrown on the ground like rag dolls. Hyuk, light as he was, landed the farthest – behind a dark green pixel with orange spots on in. Maybe it was representing some kind of a bush, though it was hard to be sure considering the ty graphics.

Jongup rolled over and got on his feet, only to evade a savage blow to his head a second later. He tried to block the next one with his katana, but his thin blade was no match for a two-handed greatsword.

“Oh no you don’t!” shouted Jongup, slashing violently at the hooded man.

Hyuk could only watch in horror as the greatsword blocked Jongup’s attack with ease, then slid forwards against Jongup’s blade, making the metal hiss horribly, before twisting downwards and sinking into the soft flesh right below Jongup’s lungs.

Jongup fell to his knees, then headfirst into the sea of fluorescent green.

Frozen in a silent scream, Hyuk’s mouth refused to make a sound.

In mute shock, he watched the dark warrior casually turn Jongup over with a kick of his black boot. He stripped the boy of his jacket, then thoroughly searched through each pocket, pulling out potions and a ton of other items, then throwing it all promptly on the ground as though it was nothing but junk.

Without a change in expression, the stranger tore Jongup’s clothes and searched through every fold and pocket until Jongup was left in his thin black boxers.

“I... I felt it... I felt him...” whispered the stranger. His lips trembled. “It... it was here. I felt him...”

That’s when the unknown man seemed to remember there had been another boy with Jongup. His head sprang up, turning left and right. The hooded man started looking around: up into tress, behind rocks - and into bushes. He took a step in Hyuk’s direction, still not seeing the boy. More confidently, he stepped even closer, now only a few meters away.

Hands trembling, Hyuk suddenly knew exactly what he should do. As though it had a will of its own, his arm flung one of his own potions, right in the direction where one of Jongup’s lay discarded on the fluorescent grass.

Head snapping towards the soft clink of two potions together, the stranger walked back towards the sound. Hyuk prayed his knees wouldn’t betray him as he moved out of the bush and sprinted up the hill towards the relative safety of the village.

“I’m sorry, Jongup...” Hyuk whispered into his chin, voice reduced to a barely audible squeak. “I’m so sorry...”

* * * * *