White Werewolf [11]

On a day not unlike the one when Fanzer snatched Legacy, a year prior, Ichigo bounced on the heels of her feet excitedly. She was waiting in line for a plate of leviathan sushi. Leviathans showed up all over the place within Gates, but apparently this one specific shop had the best leviathan sushi there was, and no way was Ichigo going to miss out on it.

This was the sole reason she was in Korea.

But when she stepped up to get her serving, the light out of her eyes faded away.

A young man flipped the sign from "open" to "closed."

There was a cry from behind Ichigo, "Aww, why'd y'all close? Y'all still got a few hours 'til closin' time, right?"

The young man slowly looked up to the man, undeniable bags under his eyes. He spoke slowly, a bit too slowly. "We… ran… out… of… supplies… our… guild… will… be… going… out… now…."

The long line of people moaned and groaned, but eventually they cleared away, leaving one extremely dejected Ichigo on her own. She stared at the now-empty shop, dramatic tears filling her eyes.

"I was so close… but I'm still so far…." Ichigo slumped in her spot, turning around slowly as she felt someone tap on her shoulder. It was a young man with golden eyes. He was tiny, much tinier than Ichigo. She stood about a foot taller than him.

"Uh, hey, I got this, and I won't be able to eat it because of a raid. It feels kinda wrong to just throw it away, but don't feel forced to eat it or anything. I'd definitely understand where you're coming from, since it's from a stranger and―"

Ichigo couldn't have moved faster.

She snatched the food from the young man, completely ignoring the odd energy surrounding the black-haired man and downing the food in an instant.

She was chewing and thanking the man at the same time, but by the time she looked up, he was gone, presumably to a raid.

"Where'd he go…?" Ichigo looked around, but after finding nothing, a fierce resolve filled her heart. Passion shined in her eyes.

"A black-haired golden-eyed Hunter. He didn't look too strong, so was he a D-Rank or an E-Rank…? Either way, I've gotta find him and repay him!"

Ichigo's stomach growled.

"Well… after I eat some more."

-----

Fanzer's sprint slowed to a jog when he saw a Gate in the distance. He'd jump in and his chaser would stop if they were even halfway sensible. To Fanzer, jumping into a Gate that'd already been assigned to a guild meant very little. He planned to be out of Korea soon anyways, so he'd jump in, wait a few hours, and then leave with no problem at all.

However, upon experiencing a worryingly high amount of wind surging behind him, his plans very quickly changed. He glanced backward and immediately regretted it.

A visage of what he could only call "a monster" seemed to loom over Ichigo as she raced towards him.

"I signed up for a lot, but not this!" The thief suddenly started high tailing it, dashing straight for the Gate with all hopes in his heart that it wasn't too much for him to handle.

"C'mon, c'mon!" Fanzer huffed and puffed with everything his body had, and he was only a few feet away from the Gate before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going, thief?" Ichigo asked, and Fanzer was quick to reply with a smirk.

"Elsewhere. Where you aren't. Where anyone but the devil herself resides. Also known as, in this Gate," Fanzer grinned, a nervous sweat running down his face. In his hand, another card appeared between his fingers. "Card 1, six-inch teleportation."

Just as it seemed, Fanzer teleported just out of Ichigo's grasp and leapt into the barrier, letting out a "wahoo!" as he did.

Ichigo huffed and leapt after him, unafraid of the consequences that could befall on her.

As soon as those two entered the Gate, Jin-Woo could see as it started to swirl in the opposite direction and the energy turned into a crimson red color.

"No, no, no, no. This can't be happening…!" Jin-Woo watched as the Red Gate started forming right before his very eyes, and after his close shave last time, he wasn't looking forward to entering one again.

However, his feet carried him forward anyways.

He debated turning back or getting a major guild involved, but he knew that those were excuses. No matter how powerful, nobody in Korea would be able to force a Red Gate open. Something like that would only be possible for one of the Divine Five, the strongest five people on the Earth.

For every bit of fear within him, there was a sense of duty, and another bit of elation.

Jin-Woo had to get Legacy back, there was no other option but to. But more than that, the chance to raise his level even higher was a motivator of its own.

So, with a small huff, Jin-Woo steeled his body and leapt forward, sliding into the center bit of the Red Gate, and barely making it inside. The Red Gate closed behind him, allowing no one else inside.

The area was silent, desolate. It was right next to an abandoned building, and it was barely in the Hunters Guild's domain, just next to the White Tiger Guild's domain. Although no one was around for now, this Gate would soon be under the watch of Choi Jong-In.

The challenges the bizarre trio would face inside would change the courses of their lives.

-----

That all too familiar awful feeling found its way back into Jin-Woo's gut as he arrived in a completely new environment, and Jin-Woo could only note the area as something out of a movie set.

All around was a lush forest, filled with large impending trees and painting an image he never thought he'd get the chance to see. Even the sunlight he was only experiencing moments earlier was completely gone, soft moonlight being the only thing to illuminate the surrounding area.

"This isn't the interior of a Gate; This seems… dangerous," Ichigo's reaction was fairly calm, but there was a certain edge to her voice that confirmed she hadn't experienced a Red Gate before.

"Did we… just land in a Red Gate?" Fanzer asked, his voice coming from way up in the trees. He was peering out into a large clearing, and an intriguing scene was unfolding there. He dropped his raijanju kebab with a yelp, but before it could hit the ground Ichigo downed it all on her own, letting out a satisfied sigh.

A small part of Jin-Woo's brain urged him to get Legacy back, but he ignored it as he looked out into the clearing as well, his eyes growing wide as he swallowed back his nervousness.

In the clearing, a large white werewolf tore through the bodies of a bunch of nearby knights. The werewolf could only be the boss of the Red Gate, its presence was easily three or four times the power of Kabuto and Jill's if they were combined. Behind it was the body of a more powerful knight, possibly the leader of the knights. Even though it was dead, its presence was still quite powerful.

The werewolf roared and swiped its sharp nails through the air, and the mana followed, cleaving through a dozen of knights. The werewolf mowed through the hundreds of knights like it was nothing, and in only a few seconds, the battle was over, the last knight falling to the ground in pieces.

A soft wind blew through the trees as the werewolf sniffed around. Jin-Woo, Ichigo, and Fanzer froze.

The werewolf's eyes landed directly on them.

"Run…. We need to run…!" Fanzer choked, quickly readying himself to flee. "You both should come with me; this isn't a winnable fight, not right now at least!"

Ichigo, however, stepped forward, pulling a metal bat out of the bag on her back.

"What are the chances we can outrun this monster? It was just fighting, so surely it's tired out. Fighting it right now is our best option," She rebutted, taking the opposite approach.

"Ugh, what are you, stupid? You just spelled it out! It's tired! The smart decision is to run away and not just gamble away our lives!" Fanzer groaned, ripping his eyes away from the white werewolf to look at the back of Ichigo's head, glaring a hole in it. Ichigo didn't respond to Fanzer, her attention entirely focused on the boss ahead.

Jin-Woo summoned Jack and The Ripper, holding them in a surprisingly comfortable reverse grip. He nodded, "If this thing attacks our backs, we're dead. Besides, we can get out of here if we can kill it. Leave Legacy here before you leave."

Fanzer clicked his tongue as the white werewolf let out a howl, sighing, "I hate leaving people I just stole from to die, but this can't be helped. Good luck! If you survive, don't try to find me!"

Fanzer leapt off the tree branch to another, then to another, and soon enough, he was gone, with Legacy. Jin-Woo didn't think Fanzer would leave Legacy behind, but he thought the effort was worth it, even if Fanzer just left as if he hadn't mentioned his weapon.

How easily Fanzer escaped made a small part of Jin-Woo's conviction falter. He wondered if he could escape all the same, but he quickly pushed the intrusive thoughts away.

He thought, sighing, 'Fanzer escaped because we're here, and there's no way I'd leave Ichigo alone to fight against a monster like that.'

The boss's howl ended, and silence settled upon the land once more. The white werewolf began slowly backing away, its gaze still firmly locked onto Jin-Woo and Ichigo.

"Is that it…? Was it just a warning?" Ichigo softly spoke, never letting her eyes leave her foe.

As the white werewolf backed away into the shadows, its pure red eyes were the only thing that remained visible. But then it wasn't just two, but then four, six, eight, and more. Soon, hundreds the red eyes could be seen within the darkness of the night.

"No, that howl wasn't a warning. The boss was calling for backup!" Jin-Woo warned her, and as soon as he finished, white wolves raced out from behind the trees, rushing into the clearing.

"I'll go for the boss! It's clearly hurting if it needed to call for backup! Just keep their attention for long enough to let me kill it!" Ichigo yelled, racing ahead of Jin-Woo before he could even argue with her. He blinked, and then there was a trail of white wolf bodies left in Ichigo's wake. She was moving much faster than he could keep up with.

Despite her speed though, she was stopped by two larger wolves, their sizes dwarfing the size of their allies. With just a glance, Jin-Woo could tell they were both powerful, more powerful than Kabuto and Jill.

Before he could warn her, he saw her metal bat whizz, and then both monsters went flying into the air, dead.

At one point Jin-Woo didn't know if Ichigo could properly fight against the boss, but suddenly, he knew that her confidence wasn't unfounded. With the feats, Jin-Woo could've sworn she was an A-Rank Hunter.

If the dungeon boss was a B-Rank, she could do it. If it was A-Rank, she may have some problems. If it was S-Rank… well, Jin-Woo hoped it wasn't an S-Rank.

As much as the idea of missing out on the boss's experience didn't make Jin-Woo happy, he listened to Ichigo's suggestion and charged in after her, a smile rising to his face as he slashed through the white wolves.

Blood shot into the air, but no matter how much Jin-Woo slashed, the number of white wolves never seemed to get smaller. No matter where Jin-Woo looked, two screens flooded his vision.

[Savage White Wolf]

[Soul Revival can be used on the target.]

Although Soul Revival could be used on the targets he just killed, the notification was appearing far, far more than that. It only took him a moment to realize that the knights killed by boss were all possible to bring back as his summoned creatures.

Jin-Woo hesitated on activating his skill. If Ichigo came back after beating the boss, he'd be effectively showing off his most valuable card to someone that he didn't know if he could trust.

But his hesitation was quickly swept away. The pros of gaining several new summoned creatures heavily outweighed the cons of showing his summoning abilities to Ichigo.

Between one swipe and the next, Jin-Woo's smile grew wider.

"Arise!" The souls of the nearby soldiers rose from their corpses, the knights listening to Jin-Woo's orders without hesitation. A few of the white wolves also came back up to serve Jin-Woo. Igris rose from a nearby shadow at the same time, slashing through six white wolves with a single move.

In an instant, the tides of the battle shifted.

The summoned knights, all with presences equal to at least D-Ranks, with six white wolves, with presences of C-Ranks, clashed with the still living white wolves, and surprisingly, the former side was winning the clash. Any time the knights were destroyed, they were brought back through Jin-Woo's mana.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

And the experience points the wolves gave him were on a completely different level than the insects in the first Red Gate he stumbled upon. The increased growth rate combined with over 20 summoned creatures all fighting at killing at once made Jin-Woo's level shoot up at a shockingly high speed.

Even with all the chaos around him, Jin-Woo could spare a second to put his new status points into Intelligence, allowing his soldiers to come back more and more.

[Intelligence: 32 -> 38]

With the increased Intelligence, Jin-Woo could summon more of the nearby fallen souls, and then they killed at an even faster rate, allowing him to level up even more.

[You have leveled up.]

[Intelligence: 39 -> 42]

But despite all the fun of seeing his numbers rise at such an impossible rate, Jin-Woo focused on the real threat nearby, the boss. The presence it was exuding was more than worrying, and Ichigo was fighting it all on her own.

Jin-Woo raced through his enemies, jumping over them while glancing towards Igris.

"Make sure this gets cleaned up!" He yelled, and his first summon nodded once, slicing up several white wolves as soon as his eyes left Jin-Woo. His crimson sword flew from his hand, still spinning around like a blender with the help of his Telekinesis.

Jin-Woo landed on a tree branch before rocketing forward, following the clear path of destruction that Ichigo left in her wake. However, Jin-Woo suddenly froze as he saw what was at the end of that path.

Despite the overwhelming strength Ichigo displayed, the white werewolf held Ichigo up with one clawed hand, its jaw opened and ready to take Ichigo's head clean off her shoulders with a single bite. The other boss's shoulder was completely pummeled in, making one of its arms unusable. Ichigo struggled endlessly, but she couldn't escape the werewolf's grasp.

[Failed Werewolf Construct]

[Lycaon]

A small, insignificant part of Jin-Woo thought about letting Ichigo die. He would be given the opportunity to gain her as a summon if she passed away after all.

But that part of him was small, so small that Jin-Woo wouldn't have ever listened to it. He couldn't remember why she helped him, true. He couldn't even recall when they met. But if there was one thing he knew, it was that he wouldn't ever let her die for his own selfish goals.

With his two green blades in hand, Jin-Woo leapt towards Lycaon, appearing before the monster in a flash. The monster didn't give mind to Jin-Woo's presence at all, but that didn't bother the E-Rank. He flipped his swords around and stabbed Jack into the beast's arm while he tore the bottom of the monster's jaw to shreds with The Ripper.

The monster dropped Ichigo, and its free hand now coming up his its face as it reeled back in pain. Jin-Woo stored his weapons in his Inventory, picking up Ichigo's weapon, and turned tail, starting to flee.

"We're leaving now!" Jin-Woo left no room for debate, taking Ichigo's weapon with him as he ran with all he could manage. As soon as Ichigo's feet touched the ground, she stumbled and ran right behind Jin-Woo.

They flew past the trees, an awful stench flooding their noses. They didn't have time to find out what it was from, leaping into the clearing and over the fight between summoned creatures and Lycaon's underlings. They landed, Ichigo falling to one knee while gripping her side, while Jin-Woo kept his eyes on where the boss would be approaching from.

His eyes quickly flickered over the battlefield, landing on the powerful knight he'd seen earlier. In all the chaos he didn't notice that when he tried to bring back the nearby souls, that powerful knight was quite defiant and didn't come to serve him.

After his situation with Jill and Kabuto, Jin-Woo wasn't quite ready to give up a new powerful summon, but he knew that he wouldn't get another good chance to try and bring the summon back in such a hectic situation.

From the corner of his eye, he could see trees being mowed down, the white werewolf approaching at a slower speed than expected. It was injured, but not enough to stop it from advancing.

Jin-Woo peaked at his MP, noticing that it was dropping at a faster pace than he was comfortable with. With that observation, he made a quick decision.

"Fall back! Igris, pick up that powerful knight's body! Follow me!" Jin-Woo gave his orders with conviction, hoping to sound confident, even if he didn't quite feel that way.

His summons followed his orders loyally and faithfully, all stopping their advances and fleeing. The battle was basically over, so the white wolves that were left hesitated to fight what looked like a clearly losing battle. Igris picked up the powerful knight's body, who was a far bit larger than the average person, even dwarfing Kabuto's size.

As his summons fled, Jin-Woo glanced down at Ichigo, whose hand was entirely coated in crimson red blood. He offered a hand to her, which she took. He helped her up and started to move with her.

"Do you have any healing items with you?" He asked her, taking things slowly as they moved through the dense forest. Jin-Woo wasn't quite sure where he was going beyond getting farther away from Lycaon.

Ichigo took a deep breath, nodding, "I don't, but I'm a Healer anyways. I can heal myself, but I'll be out of the fight if I do. I'll need some more time to gather up mana."

Jin-Woo squinted before nodding, allowing Ichigo to focus on gathering mana as he helped her along, unbothered by the blood seeping into his clothes. He tried not to harp on her immense displays of power despite being a Healer. The two walked for a long while and based on how they didn't sense anything behind them, they assumed Lycaon lost them, which was a correct assumption.

They slowly moved through the lush forest, leaving a trail of blood behind them.

"That's bad news…. The boss is a werewolf, so after it heals up, it'll have a clear path to us. We'll need to be careful," Jin-Woo noted, receiving a nod from Ichigo.

Jin-Woo pushed through a set of thick vines, hearing the odd sound of crashing waves in the distance. He looked at Ichigo, but she seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness, so he just pushed forward. A few minutes later though, the duo arrived at a beach, with waves crashing against the nearby rocks.

"A…. beach?" Ichigo stumbled, slowly walking forward. Jin-Woo wanted to assist her, but he let her walk on her own. "What sort of Red Gate is this…?"

Jin-Woo looked far out into the ocean, his skin suddenly paling. It would be a little hard to see for the average Awakened, seeing that it was nighttime, but for Jin-Woo's enhanced vision, it wasn't a problem.

"We're not just in a forest…. We're on an island, and… and that boss isn't the biggest threat around," Jin-Woo's words were vague, but before Ichigo could ask for clarification, she saw a massive serpentine fish swimming in the far distance. Its shining blue scales couldn't be mistaken for anything else by a Hunter.

"A…. leviathan!" Ichigo gasped, an interested glint flashing in her eyes. "I wonder how it tastes if I fry it!"

Jin-Woo looked over to the red-haired woman, slightly grimacing, "It'll be the one tasting us if we mess with it. Even S-Ranks recommend not messing with leviathans, since they're distant relatives of dragons."

Ichigo drooped, nodding in agreement. She sighed, "That's a good point. Fighting it in its own habitat would certainly be a death wish. But… it would still be so tasty…!"

Jin-Woo looked around, hoping to find a place to momentarily rest. As if responding to his thoughts, his knights gestured for him to follow them, and after receiving a reasonably confused expression from Ichigo, he began following them.

The knights led the duo to a small village, right on the outskirts of the beach and the lush jungle. The buildings were made mostly out of straw and wood, but they were more than enough to house just Jin-Woo and Ichigo.

The duo sat down, several of Jin-Woo's knights bringing the food and supplies that were left in the village. Ichigo sat down and took a few deep breaths, her green mana running around her body in a calm flow.

It seemed like she was healing herself, but it also seemed like it'd be a while until she was done, so Jin-Woo left the small building and looked around, noticing his soldiers standing on the outskirts of the town, looking for any approaching enemies.

"Having so many Summons is really convenient. It's unfortunate that I can only save five of them at this point. Still, compared to what most Hunters can do, even saving five Is a feat that most couldn't imagine. Ah, before I forget, Igris," Jin-Woo called his red knight, and the summon appeared before him with the large knight boss held over his head.

Without another word, Igris laid the body down in front of Jin-Woo's feet, kneeling to his master.

"Should I try and bring this guy back now…? I already failed once, so it's probably just strong enough to be a challenge to bring back. On top of that, the longer it'd take me to try and revive it, the worse my chances would become. Ugh, in that case…. Arise," Jin-Woo called the soul back, and unsurprisingly, his skill failed.

[One chance for Soul Revival remains.]

Jin-Woo sighed, "How can I be so lucky to miss out on Kabuto, Jill, and now this enemy?"

Jin-Woo shook his head, slapping both sides of his face.

"No, I can't resign myself to failure so easily! Right now, the biggest threat on the island is Lycaon, and as I am, I can't beat him. I may not know your name, or even how you fight, but right now that doesn't matter. Your men have chosen to follow me, will you? Arise!"

The energy of the large knight rose from its body, but rather than forming into a summon, it just floated within the air, not taking shape like every other summon had done.

[Soul cannot entirely form due to a misshapen soul. Would you like to infuse Failed Construct Siegfried's essence with a summoned creature?]

[Yes/No]

Jin-Woo blinked at the notification. He expected his skill to either fail or succeed but getting a favorable middle ground certainly didn't bother him. He clicked yes, and another screen appeared before him.

[Select a summon]

1. Igris

2. Basic Knight

3. White Wolf

Jin-Woo tapped his chin for a moment before choosing Igris. He didn't know the level of power Siegfried's soul would give, but after Igris had helped him so much, he only thought it was right to give his summon a boost in power.

He clicked Igris, and a flurry of new notifications filled his vision, causing Jin-Woo to whistle.

[Failed Construct Siegfried's soul will be infused with Igris.]

[Igris has been given the new skill, "Ruinous Dawn."]

[Igris has been raised to the grade of, "Knight."]

[The information of the summon will be accordingly changed.]

The small box over Igris's head slowly shifted, golden light slowly overtaking it and changing it.

[Igris | Lv. 15]

[Grade: Knight]

Jin-Woo saw as Igris grew before him, the summon standing taller than his master. His armor seemed to grow stronger, golden mana slowly rising from his body at random increments.

Jin-Woo whistled at his knight's clear increase in power. Its presence wasn't quite comparable to the boss, but Jin-Woo was still pretty sure that Igris was at least B-Ranked, which in turn only confirmed his own abilities.

Before Jin-Woo waved Igris away, a sudden idea struck him on his head.

"Hey Igris, do you mind using Ruinous Dawn on a nearby tree?" Jin-Woo asked, and his soldier nodded once, dashing towards a thick tree, dragging his greatsword behind him.

Igris's sword suddenly began emitting light before it cut directly through the tree as if it was butter. Despite the speed of Igris's blow, the weight of his sword was undeniable, so much so that even he stumbled as his newest skill faded and his sword became much lighter.

"It seems really useful, but it'd probably be a little mana extensive to use. And honestly, it's not as destructive as I thought it'd―" Jin-Woo was cut off by the sound of the other trees slowly falling over. 20 to 30 trees all fell at once, causing a thunderous boom to echo about. "More… destructive."

Jin-Woo thought about getting the skill, but with how destructive it was, he wasn't positive that he'd be able to stop the move from hitting his nearby allies. With that observation, he nodded and dismissed Igris, allowing the knight to fall into the shadows.

Sung turned on his heel and prepared to check on Ichigo but was suddenly stunned in his spot.

An extremely revolting smell radiated from where Igris cut the trees with Ruinous Dawn. He approached the fallen vegetation to see a while goop oozing from the cuts on them. Jin-Woo vaguely remembered the same horrendous stench earlier, around where Lycaon and Ichigo were.

He didn't pay them much attention before, but now he summoned Jack and poked the horrible ooze. It wasn't acidic, and it had a consistency like syrup. It could've tasted sweet, but with its distinctively awful smell, Jin-Woo wasn't willing to taste it himself, musing that it may've been poisonous based on its taste alone.

He wiped Jack off with a little hum before returning to the small shack Ichigo was in, curious to ask her about the sap.

His eyes widened upon realizing that Ichigo had already finished healing and was now sitting in the middle of the room, meditating, to regain her lost mana in a somewhat faster time.

'Ah, I didn't expect her to be done so quickly. Maybe my vision of being healed is a bit skewed though,' Jin-Woo thought, letting out a low hum.

Ichigo opened her eyes to see Jin-Woo thinking to himself. She gave him a smile before rising from her spot, stretching a little bit. As she stretched, her shirt rose, allowing Jin-Woo to see the lack of wounds around her stomach area. He also couldn't help but see her well-defined abs. He was impressed, but not specifically surprised after Ichigo's display of power. He could only wonder how hard she had to train to overcome the gap in ability she had compared to her peers.

"I guess the healing process was a success, huh?" Jin-Woo asked, receiving a soft nod from Ichigo.

"Yes, but… I'll need at least a few more hours to gain enough mana to protect myself. For now, I'll just be relying on my physical strength," Ichigo sighed, but Jin-Woo almost didn't believe it was a problem for the Hunter.

He remembered how she caught up to him, and soon after, Fanzer, with nothing but her physical strength, and doubted that she'd be in much of a dangerous position for a little bit.

"In a normal situation I'd say you're probably in a better position than the boss is in, especially with the state you left it in, but well…." Jin-Woo's voice drifted off, but Ichigo nodded.

She continued for him, "Because it's a werewolf, those injuries are probably already healed. It's even lucky for us that they didn't heal as we were running away."

Jin-Woo nodded.

A few seconds passed before Ichigo broke the silence, her stomach growling.

Jin-Woo and her met gazes before they both laughed.

"It's been a long day, even if we've only been in here for a little over an hour. Let's eat," Jin-Woo suggested, receiving an invigorated nod from Ichigo.