Chapter V: The Berserker

Animus Online

During the first session of Physics lab, you are assigned to attend the tutoring session first with half of the class. You walk behind the crowd of students as you make your way toward the campus learning center. It doesn’t take long for you to notice Park Jimin, Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung walking slightly ahead of you and realize they are part of your tutoring and lab section.

“Get off of me!” Jungkook exclaims as he attempts to shake off the other two boys, who have taken it upon themselves to muss his hair up as much as they can.

“But you’re so precious!” Jimin protests, leaning into the younger boy’s space eagerly.

“Who else runs away when they talk to a girl?” teases Taehyung, resting his arm on the boy’s shoulder from his other side.

Jungkook responds by jabbing both of them with his elbows. “I did not! I… I really needed to go to the bathroom!”

“Sure,” sings Taehyung, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

“Tell you what – we’ll forget about what happened if you can prove you can hold a conversation with an actual girl,” Jimin challenges, glancing at the boy with a conspiratorial look.

“Come on!” Jungkook whines. “This is stupid. I can talk to girls just fine.”

“Only when we’re around, apparently,” Taehyung replies, patting his back in consolation.

“All the time,” he stubbornly counters, sniffing in dismissal.

The other boys stay silent, patting his back in a patronizing manner and leaving the younger boy to stew in his own outrage. Before entering the library, Taehyung takes the opportunity to scan the campus and glances back to see you walking alone as you observe their antics with amusement.

“Ah, [Y/N]!” he calls out, drawing the attention of the other two boys. “Jungkook wants to talk to you alone.”

The freshman flushes red and sharply turns to continue walking toward the learning center door, his shoulders tense with embarrassment.

“Come on, you two. Quit bothering the guy,” you answer, watching the boy’s retreating figure with sympathy before narrowing your eyes at the other two males left. “I hope you guys are happy with yourselves.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it, he’ll forgive us if we buy him lamb skewers,” Taehyung smiles, following the younger boy into the room. Park Jimin’s eyes crinkle as he smiles sheepishly and turns to enter the room. You sigh and silently follow after them.

You see the familiar arrangement of tables from your last tutoring session. A single sheet of paper lies on each table. You walk toward the nearest table and read the sheet. As expected, a list of names are listed on the sheet. Not seeing your name, you continue visiting the rest of the tables until you reach the table seating Taehyung, Jimin, and Jungkook.

“Oh no,” you groan before leaning over the table to read the sheet.

“Oh yes,” Jimin replies while flashing a -eating grin as you spot your name on the list.

Sighing dramatically, you drop your bag on the floor and drag a chair back to unceremoniously slump into the seat.

“Gee, tone down the enthusiasm, [Y/N],” jokes Taehyung. You grin lazily and stick out your tongue.

“Oh wow, my treasured dongsaengs and even [Y/N]-ah are in my tutoring group. I’m honored,” a familiar voice cuts in, causing you to stiffen in your seat.

“Namjoon-ssi,” you regard the new arrival coolly. He smiles brightly and pats your shoulder before choosing a seat across the table. As the other members of your group cheered the arrival of the blonde male, you bite the inside of your lip with annoyance and glance sideways toward the shoulder he made contact with. You should have known this guy would end up being your physics tutor.

You and Namjoon had an interesting relationship, to say the least. You didn’t hate the guy, but he got under your skin more than anybody else, sometimes even more than Hyuna. While you could ignore Hyuna’s catty remarks, Namjoon was constantly undermining your efforts to rise to the top of your class in high school. The boy always seemed to be one step ahead of you at nearly any and every subject you went through together. The worst part was that he never appeared to deliberately rub it in your face. However, his occasional teasing, innocent or not, seemed to goad you more often than not. For some reason, that only seemed to encourage more teasing.

As he dives under the desk to rifle through his book bag, you stare at his messy hairstyle. You grudgingly compare the carelessly tousled blond hair to his own effortless persona. What was a slight comfort to you was the knowledge that it also reflects his own tendency to lose anything anywhere. That guy would lose his own head if it wasn’t already conveniently attached to his body.

He resurfaces with a manila folder and a pencil and you pointedly look away before he can catch you staring.

Another thing that prickled you about him was how handsome he was without trying. He sometimes wore the most ridiculous outfits to class. High-water pants, extra long-sleeved shirts, even overalls. Not altogether simultaneously, thankfully. But the guy even had dreadlocks at one point. At times, you wondered if he was competing against someone for the title of worst dressed, and felt a masochistic need to see what the other guy had up his sleeve.

You roll your eyes at the thought, catching Namjoon’s attention. He focuses his gaze on you and smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling. You cringe and look down at your worksheet, ignoring the way his plump lips pout at your evasion.

“[Y/N]-ah, you’re going to burn holes into the desk,” he whines, leaning forward in his seat across you.

You struggle to not flush with embarrassment. Why did he insist on talking to you so informally? “I’m just reading our assignment.”

“I would have expected you to have finished it already,” he prods you playfully.

Your hands ball up into fists underneath the desk. You stare at him accusingly, responding bluntly, “It was only posted a few hours ago and I was in class.”

A hand reaches toward the back of your head and musses your hair. “Noona works very hard, hyung,” Taehyung declares gently, diffusing your defensive mood.

You smile gratefully at the brown-haired boy as he withdraws his hand and take a second to breathe in calmly. Something about the easy-going boy brought levity to any situation he was placed into.

“I agree,” Namjoon says softly with a bright smile, ignoring your passive aggressive complaint. You smile half-heartedly in his direction and glance downward to begin scribbling formulas on your worksheet. You knew your defensiveness was slightly uncalled for, but this had been the status quo between you and Namjoon for years. It didn’t help that he seemed to enjoy riling you up.

“Well, let’s get physical, everyone,” Namjoon claps, far too enthusiastically.

As you face-palm in response to the horrible dad joke, the groans from the other three boys bring a genuine smile to your face.


As you take to exploring the city, a ‘ping’ sound distracts you from the boisterous crowd. You open your player menu to view the notifications.

Jin: Hey Y/N! Are you free at the moment? Kookie agreed to help us find the ingredients for your potion. He says hi, by the way.

You: Wow, great! Where are you guys?

Jin: Meet us outside the main Proelium gates.

You banish your player screen and take off running toward the entrance where you had met J-Hope a couple of days ago. With pleasure, you notice that the act of running, while feeling real enough, does not disturb you as much due to time spent leveling up and investing your own time on working on your avatar’s agility and endurance. The blurs of people disappear behind you as you race past them and head outside of the city gates.

You slow into a brisk walk as you approach a pair of males and take into consideration their vastly different apparel. Jin boasts his handsome masculinity with a white, long sleeved tunic, covered by an open, brown medieval jerkins. A dark navy leather belt covers his waist as it wraps around both articles of clothing. Dark navy trousers cover his legs and you notice a strap of leather securing a crossbow to his back.

Kookie, on the other hand, appears to travel less lightly than his guildmate. Thick brown leather covers every inch of his body. A worn leather jacket that has no doubt seen many battles is strapped to his upper body. Form-fitting leather pants cover his legs as he strolls around, toting a monstrously large iron Warhammer with his fingerless, leather-gloved hands.

“Let’s get this party started! I’m ready to bash some werewolf skulls!” the maknae shouts enthusiastically, lifting the Warhammer as easily as if it were a lollipop.

Your eyes widen as you look upon the two men. “Are we seriously going to be fighting werewolves?”

Jin glances with exasperation at the rowdy maknae, who is his Warhammer reverently. “Yeah, we may have to. Unfortunately most of the locations we have to search involve clans or guilds that are very protective of their territory,” he explains, smiling weakly. Considering he is a vampire, it’s no wonder he looks rather unenthusiastic about the idea of clashing with werewolves.

“And are you sure we can handle that by ourselves?” you ask with uncertainty. You had been working on your magic and melee fighting skills, but if you would be fighting physically enhanced players…well, that would be an entirely different story.

“No worries!” Kookie declares, his auburn hair bouncing on his head as he gets into battle stance. “Those wimpy werewolves are actually all bark and no walk. Even awkward Jin can send them off with their tails between their legs.”

Jin scratches the back of his blonde head sheepishly at the younger male’s announcement. You raise your eyebrow at the strange dynamic between the two Bangtan Guild members. You had a feeling Kookie was one of the younger members who persistently disrespected the older members with his antics, even if good-naturedly.

“Watch it, Kookie,” Jin steps forward, ruffling the maknae’s hair with a saccharine smile. “You don’t want to see if I’m faking.”

Without turning to see the younger boy’s face turn slightly green, he walks off into the forest. You pat Kookie’s shoulder gently and follow closely behind the eldest member.

The three of you race through the forest as Jin leads, passing an endless amount of trees and avoiding fallen branches nimbly.

“So is it rare for all of you to be online at the same time?” you ask curiously, voice slightly heavy from the physical exertion.

“I suppose it is, especially if it’s a weekday,” Jin answered, his voice slightly strained as well.

“RM and Suga don’t come online on weekdays very often. They’re huge nerds,” Kookie adds, sounding absolutely normal. You turn to look at him as he speaks, noticing immediately that he looks as if he’s hardly even breaking a sweat.

“How in the world are you not even slightly tired?” you complain with a hint of jealousy, carefully leaping over a fallen log.

Kookie replies with a smug grin, “You’ve gotta have a ton of stamina to use a huge weapon like mine.”

You huff in response, turning your attention back onto your surroundings. It wouldn’t do to trip over a tree root in the middle of your journey through the forest. Especially in front of the insolent maknae. He had already stolen over half of the kills in the forest. You silently wept inwardly for the lost opportunities for more EXP and turn to look at Jin as he slows down.

“We’re almost here, standby with your weapons, you two,” Jin ordered quietly as his lute materialized into his hands. Your mouth quirks up slightly from the sight of the non-threatening choice of weapon. Shaking your head, you began to charge your palms with mana while Kookie removes his Warhammer from its secure spot on his back. You can’t help but feel curious about seeing the guys’ interesting weapons in action.

Your trio walks cautiously into a small clearing, where a small lake is situated to surround a massive rock formation. A path of stepping stones lead across the lake into a dark entrance obscuring a cave. You take a moment to scan your surroundings, silently confirming the absence of enemies.

“This place is called Selenic Grotto,” Jin explains as you and Kookie follow behind him onto the stepping stones. “It’s a known spot for werewolves, players and NPC’s alike.”

As you follow behind Jin, a small ‘ping’ causes you to jump slightly in surprise. A small notice appears at the corner of your sight as a holographic marquee, displaying “Jimin is online” before disappearing after a short moment.

“Great! Jimin can join us when we kick werewolf ,” Kookie exclaims with excitement, pulling up his player menu to communicate with the sunset-haired Spellsword.

As Jin admonishes Kookie for his coarse language, a thought causes you to purse your lips thoughtfully. “Won’t he have to make the trip too?” you ask.

“Actually, since we’re in the same guild, he can teleport to us,” Jin grins as a circular pattern of light illuminates the forest floor beside Kookie. You stare, mesmerized, as tiny orbs of light begin to spiral into a cylindrical shape that is about six feet in height. A human silhouette made out of prickles of light begins to materialize over a stepping stone. Soon the orbs of light begin to diminish, allowing the bright orange of his hair, the dark brown of his leather doublet and the silver of his chainmail grieves to be seen fully.

As Jimin looks around the area with a grin, Kookie rushes forward and swipes his leg over Jimin’s midsection. The orange-haired boy yelps, flailing his arms outward as he loses his balance and falls into the lake. Your eyes widen with surprise at the sudden attack.

“Kookie!” Jimin screams in rage. The water in the lake reaches his shoulders as he stands upright and shakes his hair vigorously, pelting Kookie’s pants with water. “Why the hell would you do that?!”

Kookie backs away to the opposite edge of the stepping stone, an impish grin on his face as he trains his eyes on the soaked boy. You sigh at the display of petulance between the two younger boys.

“Well, you should feel lucky you didn’t have to run all the way here,” Kookie grins innocently as he watches Jimin wade toward the shallow end and lift himself onto a stepping stone.

You roll your eyes in response and cut in. “As if that really hindered you!”

Jimin passes by Kookie, bumping his shoulder intentionally as he walks toward your stepping stone. He slings his damp arm over your shoulder. “At least I have [Y/N] here to protect my honor.”

You flash him a lopsided grin and shrug his arm off of your shoulder. “In your dreams, Jimin,” you tease, watching the mock expression of hurt cross his face. Something about the playful boy made him fun to mess around with.

“Come on children, let’s go,” Jin declares, puffing up his chest with an air of importance as he begins to step toward the cave opening.

“He’s one to talk,” Kookie whispers loudly to you and Jimin.

“I heard that,” Jin rebuked playfully.

“Good.”


“Is this place usually so…quiet?” you ask, flinching as the sound of your voice ades the atmosphere of the grotto. The gentle sound of running water accompanies your question like an afterthought.

“Actually, that does seem strange. The werewolf pack might be out today,” Kookie answered, looking around the vacant cave thoughtfully. He begins to sniff around.

‘Wait, sniffing? He’s weirder than I thought,’ you shake your head and turn away from the strange boy.

Without the presence of high-leveled enemies, it is easier for you to take notice of the beautiful, natural cave formation. The small entrance of the grotto had led you into a cave with walls that seemed to glow peacefully with moonlight, despite the enclosed space. Running water appeared to trickle from cracks in the walls, moistening the ground and collecting into a deep, stagnant river beside the path you were following.

Patches of light blue, glowing mushrooms were sprouting across the cave ground and walls. You couldn’t resist picking a handful for experimentation at the apothecary’s alchemy workstation. Jin had followed your example, picking a handful and explaining that they gave his soups a certain zest. Whatever that meant. At least in this game you didn’t have to worry about whether things could be radioactive. Any strange glowing could easily be explained away by magic.

“Well, I wouldn’t look a gift-horse in the mouth. Their guild doesn’t exactly like me,” Jin murmurs as he quietly dispatches a rat scuttling across the cave with his crossbow.

You had been taking care of small creatures such as rats and spiders, but so far you had seen neither the NPC werewolves nor the player werewolves. It had been a quiet and simple trip, which suited you just fine. Why struggle now when you still had other items to find for the vampire disease potion?

“They don’t exactly like me either,” adds Kookie with a sneer across his face. “Ever since they infected me, they’ve been pestering me about joining their Silver Claws guild. Even if I weren’t in a guild already, I would never join their ranks. They’re just as bad as the Bloody Roses with their aggressive way of recruiting.”

Your head whips around to face him, “No way. Don’t tell me you’re a werewolf, too.”

“I’m the most ferocious of them all,” Kookie smirks while wagging his fingers, which you only now just notice are embellished with sharp black nails.

“Wow,” you deadpan. “Is there anything else I need to learn about you guys? Is Jimin a demon?”

“Hey!” Jimin shouts, looking ruffled. “Do I look like I could be a demon?”

“It’s always the quiet ones,” you whisper conspiratorially, turning towards the other members, who shake their heads and grin in response.

“Well if anything, I’d say Jimin is a fairy or something. He’s too adorable not to be one,” Jin smiles while dodging a half-hearted swat from the bright-haired boy.

“You guys are picking on me,” wails Jimin, displaying the most pitiful facial expression that he can muster.

“Because it’s fun!” Kookie nudges the older boy.

“I’m your hyung!”

“That’s enough, you guys,” Jin interrupts the bickering pair, waving his hand between them. “Remember, we’re in unfamiliar territory.”

While Jimin looks down, appearing slightly chastised and embarrassed, Kookie sticks his tongue out after Jin turns his back to them. You shake your head at the immaturity of the group of boys and jog to catch up to Jin.

“So what exactly are we searching for here?” you ask quietly as you follow alongside him, hesitant to interrupt the peaceful trickling of water with your own unrefined voice.

He responds softly enough for you to hear. “Near the end of this cave, there is a chamber missing a ceiling. There grows a certain type of flower called the Moon Flower. Like the glowing Luminous Russula mushrooms we found earlier, this type of flower is indigenous to this type of environment.”

Kookie suddenly interrupts Jin’s lecture, rushing past him to turn around the corner. “We’re here!”

You glance at Jin, who is now sporting an exasperated expression. Smiling apologetically, you speed up your walk to follow the eager maknae into the chamber.

“Whoa.”

You ignore the shuffling of feet behind you as you greedily feast your eyes upon the moonlit chamber. A circular opening in the stony ceiling exposes the chamber to the night sky. The full moon rests high in the sky in full view, its reflected light pouring into the cave chamber. On the cave ground, slabs of moonstone encircle an illuminated garden of various species of herbs and flowers. Water trickles from a corner of the cave, forming a shallow pond around the edges of the garden.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” asks Jin, stepping beside you to admire the view.

“Extremely,” you breathe out, tentatively taking a step forward. A distant howl interrupts your thoughts.

“Crap, the pack is returning,” Kookie curses. “Hurry up and get the flowers so we can leave. The wolves are nearby.”

Jin rushes forward toward the garden and collects a few of the luminously white flowers in the garden. He turns around and rushes back toward the group.

As you exit the moonlit chamber together, Kookie interrupts, “We are not going the long way back. Follow me, I know a shortcut. I hope you guys have some water-breathing potions.”

Without waiting for a response, Kookie dives into the river along the grotto pathway. The rest of your group jumps in behind him to follow. After diving into the deep river with held breath, you open your eyes to see the dim silhouettes of your friends through the dark water. Just another reason to be grateful for the presence of the luminous mushrooms scattered throughout the cave.

You concentrate on the knowledge of your novice water-breathing spell and cast it underwater. You notice Jimin and Jin doing the same, while Kookie takes a quick sip of a potion as he leads the group along a hidden underwater pathway. As you break away from the relatively drier cave path, your eyes strain to recognize the forms of the boys swimming ahead of you. As if your thoughts had been broadcasted, a response in the form of light appears from Jin’s open palm, illuminating the submerged path.

Thankfully, the path appears to be straightforward, containing few diverging paths. As you swim, you notice a human-sized skeleton sprawled across the cave ground. With a shudder, you press forward, watching as Jimin effortlessly cuts through a piranha with his short sword. Feeling the effect of your spell waning, you cast it once again.

You begin to approach a better lit section of the cave. Perhaps the end? An aggressive fish emerges from a crevice you pass, plunging its sharp teeth into your leg. You hiss in surprise, bubbles escaping your mouth as you summon a small dagger from a holster on your thigh. Twisting your body, you swipe your dagger across the fish’s body, killing it instantly.

You sheathe your dagger and continue swimming to catch up to the group. The light grows brighter as you reach the end of the path. You watch as the boys rise to the surface one by one and follow after them, gasping deeply when your head pushes past the water and meets the crisp night air.

You wade to the edge of the surface of the lake, shaking the water from your hair. You know from experience that drying in-game occurs quickly, so you don’t worry about being soaked for long. Which was a good thing, considering how it seemed to slow you down by a noticeable degree.

Jin stiffens beside you as a sneer forms on his face and Kookie growls suddenly.

“Well, well. What do we have here? A ragtag group of misfits?”

You settle back into a defensive position at the sound of the low, bass voice coming from the edge of the forest beyond the clearing surrounding the lake. A small group of heavily armored men emerge from the cover of the foliage. The steel of their pauldrons reflect the moonlight as they approach the clearing to meet your group. You gulp nervously. There were howls earlier. Could this be the werewolf guild?

“Hello there, Ulric,” Kookie replies, barely keeping the sound of disdain from his greeting.

Ulric, a tall and muscular with shaggy, light brown hair, steps forward alone, silently distinguishing himself from his pack. A cordial smile crosses his face as he examines your group.

“I see your entire pack is not present. But you have brought along your leech.”

Kookie snarls quietly while Jin’s fists curl and tighten with anger. Anticipating a violent confrontation, you begin to charge your mana from your fists

“What’s this? A she-wolf?” He asks with interest when he notices your action. He sniffs the air in your direction. His eyes widen and narrow threateningly. “Oh, she is turning into one of them,” he growls with contempt as he juts his chin in the direction of Jin.

“That’s of no concern to you. We were just leaving the area,” Kookie explains stiffly, standing his ground.

“Of course, I’d be interested in the company a young pup keeps. Especially when I catch them coming from our hide-out.”

“We took an ingredient from the grotto. Which will respawn after an in-game day, surely,” Jin offers, maintaining a civil tone.

“Looking for the cure? Ashamed of your own affliction, aren’t you? Not surprising for a leech,” Ulric prods with a smug look.

The tenseness in the atmosphere is almost palpable. Everybody remains quiet for a short few seconds, with the exception of Kookie, who is now growling dangerously low. Jin clears his throat and responds tersely.

“There is no need to worry about it. Please allow us to go back home without incident.”

Ulric looks back toward his pack of followers, four in total. Finally, after exchanging a look with the eager werewolves, he returns his focus to your group. Your heart rate catapults as you recognize his expression as that of a predator ready to chase after its prey.

“I think not. Let’s teach these guys a lesson about trespassing, boys.”

Guttural snarls and growls fill the air as the opposing guild collectively transforms into werewolves. Your friends withdraw their respective weapons and spread themselves out to surround the transforming werewolves. Smooth skin is replaced by thick fur in various shades of brown and black. Small black claws begin to grow and sharpen. Their shiny metallic armor fades away with the transformation, revealing thick, muscular torsos.

As you hastily back away from the transforming wolves, you cast a fire shield around yourself. Briefly noting the fact that Kookie has chosen to remain untransformed, unlike the other werewolves. You quickly wonder about the weaknesses of their transformation. Such information would prove to be useful in this battle, after all.

You charge mana in your palms as you watch Jimin and Kookie rush toward the wolves, wielding a heavy Warhammer and a sharp sword respectively. As you fling a fireball at the nearest beast, a russet werewolf, Jin strums a tune with his lute and quickly replaces it with a crossbow. You feel a subtle tingle and notice a light red aura around you and the Bangtan guild. With no time to check for yourself, you privately speculate that it must be an effect that would fortify health points and continue to bombard the russet werewolf with fireballs.

As the werewolf attempts to shake off the remnants of flames across his body, he turns his focus to you and charges forward. Realizing that the werewolf has an immense speed advantage against you, you switch tactics and blast the ground with ice magic. The soft soil freezes over into a thin sheet of sleet, then into a thick layer of ice. The werewolf realizes your ploy too late to change his path and loses his footing on the ice. You run out of its path as it barrels down the frictionless ground.

Determined not to squander your advantage, you bring your hands together and launch a large ice spear, its trajectory accounting for the werewolf’s undignified glide across the ice.

You barely have the chance to see the spear embed itself within the beast’s flesh when a heavy blow to your head rattles your senses and knocks you to the ground. With rising panic, you manipulate your mana around you and send thunderbolts in every direction. A strangled yelp lets you know the attacker was knocked away momentarily as you rise to your feet and stumble away, fighting heavy disorientation as you turn to face him. The effects of the red aura surrounding you kick in, rapidly regenerating your lost health.

The black werewolf recovers from the shock, shaking his heavy pelt before pouncing on you. Within a split second, you make the decision to attempt something innovative and form an ice dome over your body, hastily reinforcing it with ice spikes. A pained yowl accompanies the cracking of ice above you as the werewolf slams into your shield. You run away before the dome collapses and drops the werewolf on the ground where you had stood.

Hearing the loud trotting of paws and a snarl behind you, you throw yourself to the side, hitting the ground painfully as you roll away. Your breath hitches in your throat as you realize your reflexes had saved you from the claws of the russet wolf you had assaulted with the fireballs and icy slip-n-slide.

To your dismay, the wolf who had fallen to your ice dome had recovered and was now picking himself on the ground. With rising desperation, you spread your hands to point them toward each of the werewolves and discharge electric shocks. Throaty growls reveal that your attack is debilitating, but not enough of an impediment to stop them from their charge towards you.

You quickly pick yourself up from the ground and run away from the menacing beasts. There is just no way you would attempt what you had learned from J-Hope today. Not against their brute strength. Instead, you opt to fling more fireballs in their direction as you put more distance between them and yourself.

You become painfully aware of the fact that your mana reserves are dwindling and not regenerating quickly enough. Quickly, you summon a potion from your inventory and drink from the vial to restore the mana you had used.

With more magic to spare, you slam your hands on the ground, sending a cascade of ice spikes erupting from the ground toward the werewolves. The russet werewolf manages to change his path and avoid the assault, but the other werewolf isn’t as quick. As the werewolf falls, yelping with pain, you concentrate and send a small blizzard cloud at the other werewolf running toward your position. The werewolf attempts to zigzag in order to shake off the storm, but your focus allows you to manipulate it. You watch with relief as the beast’s fur begins to freeze over as it is pelted by the localized ice storm. Using ice was often a good strategy for enemies with stamina to spare. The inhibiting frost was often quite effective in slowing their movements.

Unfortunately, the russet werewolf you had distracted with the ice spikes had risen once more and was rushing toward you, his teeth bared with frustration. You cloak yourself in fire and with alarm, realize that the distraction had released the other werewolf from the minor icy tempest. The constant focus required for the spell had drained a lot of your mana. The two werewolves had been weakened significantly from your battle. Just a little more and you were certain you could take one out and hopefully hold off the other until one of the Bangtan members came to your aid.

You fling fireball after fireball towards both of the werewolves. The black werewolf who had been covered in icy patches howled loudly from the sudden, drastic change in temperature. Despite their injuries, both werewolves hurtle past the onslaught of fireballs, taking the brunt of the magical damage in favor of the advantage of melee combat.

With shaky hands, you switch to releasing a constant stream of flames from your palms, turning yourself into a human flamethrower. This change in tactics serves to slow them down, but at this point they have become enraged enough to ignore the searing blaze. The two beasts jump into the air, displaying an awe-inspiring configuration of trailing flames and smoking pelts. Frightened by the reflection of light on their sharp fangs, you run backwards and stumble, falling hard on your back.

Before you can even think about closing your eyes and resigning yourself to a quick death, another form hurtles into your line of vision. The tall, lithe figure swings his two-handed Warhammer and strikes the closest werewolf, who knocks the russet werewolf away from the force of the blunt attack.

“Kookie!” you shout in recognition as you watch him become engulfed by a turbulent blood-red aura.

The moonlight offers just enough light for you to be able to witness his face become covered in dark red facial markings. From his side profile, it appeared as though the paint had been painted vertically across his eye while a horizontal line of paint crossed the vertical marking and extended across the bridge of his nose. As you rise to your feet, you watch the maknae’s fearsome transformation and privately wonder whether it was caused by some hidden werewolf ability.

With an earsplitting war cry, Kookie lifts his Warhammer above his head and swings downward at the black wolf struggling to stand. The werewolf grunts with pain and collapses with no further resistance. Kookie barely spares a glance at the fainted player before charging toward the other werewolf, who is stumbling back onto his feet after the abrupt knockdown. Behind him, the defeated enemy begins to light up as the pixels that compose its body scatter and disintegrate. Hopefully he’d be his wounds wherever he respawned for a long while.

As Kookie leapt with his Warhammer raised high, the russet werewolf below him transforms into a human wielding a large, two handed sword. Your eyes widen when you recognize the light brown, shaggy hair. Ulric! You had been fighting the leader of the pack, along with one of his guild mates? No wonder you had struggled so much just to get an upper hand in the battle.

The loud clang of metal breaks you out of your shocked state.

“The werewolf affliction is wasted on you, pup,” Ulric spits out, firmly blocking the Warhammer despite his haggard appearance.

“The Berserker ability is a lot cooler than being some bumbling beast,” Kookie growls, pushing against the man. Somehow, the lightweight boy is able to force the larger man backwards a few steps.

“You’re a fool for hanging around vampire spawn,” the muscular male snarls. He suddenly rushes forward, knocking Kookie’s Warhammer away and forcing him off balance. He quickly circles around Kookie and slashes his sword at his side. To your surprise, the gaping wound heals almost as immediately as it was inflicted.

Before Ulric can swing again to retaliate, Kookie swings his hammer in an upward arc aimed toward his head. A sickening crack follows the harsh impact, rattling his brains enough to knock him down.

“That’s for insulting my friends! And for ganging up on a lady!” Kookie declares, with a final swing at the enemy leader’s torso. Ulric’s body shines with light as his body dissolves into scattered pixels. The blood-red aura begins to dissipate from Kookie’s form, taking his exotic facial markings away.

His fresh, boyish face snaps you back to reality. Your cheeks burn at the comment. “I’m not some damsel in distress!” you shout, feeling indignant.

Kookie’s face wilts with disappointment. “But noona, I saved you,” he whines.

“I-I guess so,” you concede gruffly, unable to look at his childish face without feeling protective. And this was the guy who had bashed in the skull of a guy twice his size. The thought causes you alarm for a second, until you relax again when you realize that you’re being ridiculous and that Kookie is your ally. 

“Thank you, Kookie,” you smile sincerely.

His face brightens immediately. “Noona, you kicked !”

You cast your eyes downward with some diffidence. “A-ah, you think so?”

“Definitely!” a voice cuts in. You turn to see Jin and Jimin beaming at you. “During my battle I kept seeing flashes of light. It was impressive!” Jin exclaims, his eyes twinkling with admiration.

“Yeah, and none of those meatheads would ever choose to fight with magic, so we knew it was you,” Jimin grins, while shaking some dirt from his orange hair.

“Thank you, guys,” you reply cheerfully, moved by their praise.

Kookie lifts his heavy Warhammer to equip it onto his back. “Battles always make me hungry. Jin-hyung, can we have lamb skewers today?”

Jin pretends to consider the request. “I suppose we’ve all earned it.”

Before you can wonder why the request seems familiar, the other boys cheer with renewed energy and bolt away in the direction of the city. You smile and join in the race, feeling the carefree spirit sweep you away like the night breeze.

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lirimaer
5/6/16: Finally! I sat my down to write this all. I finished classes, so you can definitely expect frequent updates! Sorry for the wait...Hope you enjoy!

Comments

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baekluvyachan
#1
I can't wait to read this.
Aruchis11
#2
Chapter 6: i’m looooving the story!! gameau stories are so good, and the narration in this one is no joke, I feel like I’m in the game as well. It’s so sad you haven’t updated in a while thou :((((
Aruchis11
#3
Chapter 6: i’m looooving the story!! gameau stories are so good, and the narration in this one is no joke, I feel like I’m in the game as well. It’s so sad you haven’t updated in a while thou :((((
Tarako #4
Chapter 6: what a great read!! this story is so cool!!! please keep updating, can't wait for more intriguing adventures, hehe ❤
Anneme #5
Chapter 6: Gosh, I was so excited to see this story update! It's funny to see how differently (Y/N) reacts to the real world Yoongi and game Suga and cool to see that she previously had a history with Namjoon and it didnt end badly. Looking forward to the rest of the story!
hikari0415
#6
Chapter 5: It hurts to see the previous button only :(
starliet
#7
ah, i miss this so much : ((
bbyjeongguk
#8
Chapter 5: Oh my god, I've been obsessed with this story, I keep reading this (I've reread each chapter loads) even if it's only like five chapters. I hope you do continue, I understand if you're busy or not want to continue anymore. I hope you do! :) It's really good.
uroppa #9
THis was a greatttt read so far:'))) its ur choice really but i hope u continue this!!:-) hwaiting!
adeeada
#10
It's so good, I hope you will continue this amazing story :D