Advancement [15]

Despite Ichigo's clear competence, Jin-Woo proceeded with his plans, sensing that Lycaon was down for a moment, but not entirely out. He even sent Tempest to assist Ichigo, although he admittedly wasn't sure what the horned wolf could do against a monster like Lycaon.

Jin-Woo summoned The Ripper from his Inventory, setting it on the ground next to Jack. He could tell Fanzer was curious as to what he was doing, but he didn't react to the Thief. He held Legacy over both short swords, unsure of how Legacy's first ability would be activated.

He didn't really want to get rid of his newest weapons, not only because of the usefulness of a short swords' range when compared to a dagger's range but also because he enjoyed using short swords far more than he thought he would've. Despite his grievances, Jin-Woo knew that all the fun in the world would amount to nothing if he was dead, so he was more than willing to sacrifice two weapons for not only his safety, but Fanzer's and Ichigo's as well.

After a moment, filled with distant sounds of Ichigo's and Lycaon's brawl, a notification appeared.

[Would you like to sacrifice Jack and The Ripper to Legacy?]

[Yes/No]

With a bit of hesitation, Jin-Woo pulled Legacy to where the yes button was and tapped it. Energy suddenly swelled around Legacy before enveloping the two weapons. Legacy's black energy soon faded, leaving Legacy looking a bit different than before.

The dagger was no larger the small sharp-edged beauty that Julie gave him, but rather, a black shortsword. The weapon could only be classified as pure darkness, reflecting very little light and leaving a cold presence around itself. Upon closer investigation, Jin-Woo noticed that it was sucking in nearby mana, heat, and even light. That seemed to be making the blade stronger as time passed, even if it was in very small increments.

Jin-Woo picked up the black shortsword and looked it all over, pulling up its equipment screen.

[Legacy (Shortsword Form)]

[Rank: ???]

A dagger Julie bought from a mysterious seller. All its abilities have been unlocked by its current user.

Attack Power: +125 (+50%) (+???)

Ability 1: Can absorb the abilities of other weapons. Chances of failure 90%.

Ability 2: Void Slash (Proficiency: 50%)

Ability 3: Can transform between a shortsword and dagger, changing its speed and power to fit the change.

After spending a half-second to absorb the information before him, Jin-Woo silently noted that Jack's ability to momentarily give him additional Dexterity was completely lost in the transaction. He also noted that Legacy now had an "attack power" stat, which only showed up as a combination of Jack and The Ripper's individual attack powers.

With a new weapon in hand, Jin-Woo turned towards Fanzer, informing him of a new plan. He didn't care about being discreet since the boss was so far away, but he did want to inform Fanzer of his idea, so that Fanzer may be able to help it rather than hurt it.

"Damn, you're one crazy guy. But fine, I'll go along with your plan," Fanzer agreed, sighing dramatically as he shook his head from side to side. He flicked his hand and one of his many cards appeared within it. "Card 14."

A simplistic item appeared within Fanzer's hand, causing Jin-Woo to softly nod.

"Okay, so I need you to―" A loud howl silenced Jin-Woo, and before he could react to it, Ichigo let out a scream of clear frustration. "We don't have time, come on!"

Jin-Woo ran towards the forested area where Ichigo and Lycaon were tussling, but as he moved, he observed his surrounding as much as he could.

Igris was behind him, right in front of Fanzer. Tempest was with Ichigo, assisting her. His other soldiers were approaching from all angles, on his orders. He hoped to overwhelm the boss and take it out easily, but a small voice in his head told him that would be too much to expect.

Jin-Woo sprinted towards the action. He didn't look to see if Fanzer and Igris were behind him. They'd make it eventually. He rushed quickly.

Trees were knocked over all around, but that putrid smell he expected wasn't flooding his senses.

Just a little bit further, Lycaon blocked Ichigo's overhead swing with one set of claws before slamming his other set into her chest, lifting her off the ground and sending her flying into a nearby tree.

She coughed and looked up. Lycaon's claws were rushing towards her. Ichigo blew the boss's claws away with a swing, leaving the monster's chest wide open. She brought her bat down towards its chest, sending the boss sprawling through the dirt.

Ichigo charged forward, heaving her bat back and attempting to slam it down onto the boss's head. She missed by a few inches, the boss's hind leg getting suddenly shoved into her stomach. She gasped for air before she was sent flying through a nearby tree, tumbling across the ground.

Lycaon charged after her, looming above her before roughly kicking her chest, lifting her off the ground just to slam her back down into it. The boss stomped onto Ichigo, kicked her ruthlessly, and flung her around whenever it got the chance.

Lycaon grabbed Ichigo by her leg, dashing through the forest, slamming her up against every tree in sight. The boss flung Ichigo into a tree with a howl. The tree cracked and fell over as Ichigo gasped for air. However, she did not fall, blood running down her face. Her eyes stayed locked onto Lycaon, and her feet were firmly planted on the ground, but her gaze was blank. Determined, but blank.

Tempest let out a soft whine and pushed Ichigo with his nose, but upon receiving no response, he turned and stood in front of her, growling at Lycaon. Lycaon let out its bloodlust, trying to suppress all of Tempest's will to fight.

However, Tempest stood with conviction, growling despite the pressure.

Lycaon growled back, falling on four legs, and still looming over Tempest, showing just how much bigger the boss was when compared to Tempest. Tempest was about the size of a large motorcycle, and while on all fours, Lycaon was still double his size.

Lycaon approached slowly before suddenly lunging towards Tempest, his jaws outstretched, ready to kill Ichigo after destroying the wolf. Tempest stood his ground, charging up a bolt of lightning as the boss's jaw wrapped around his head.

Tempest's skill activated just an instant earlier than Lycaon's jaw could, and Tempest shot a bolt of mana-created electricity straight down the boss's throat. Lycaon stumbled back with a growl, spasming as it squirmed on the floor.

Tempest turned to Ichigo, attempting to put her on his back and run away, but the lack of opposable thumbs really disabled his plan.

Lycaon was back up quickly, and this time, Tempest charged forward, rather than waiting for the boss to approach him. Tempest lunged through the air, but his assault was instantly squashed out, one of Lycaon's heavy paws pinning him to the ground in an instant. It buried Tempest's horns in the dirt as well, stopping him from using his Lightning skill again.

Lycaon firmly grasped Tempest, raising its other claws high into the sky, mana becoming denser and denser around them. Its gaze was firmly on Ichigo's unconscious body, as if nothing else mattered but killing her.

Tempest growled, squirming about in the boss's grasp, and even though the boss's grip became tighter and tighter, the wolf didn't stop. The wolf let out a loud howl, letting out the bloodlust deep within it in hopes of even slightly slowing the boss down.

Lycaon's attention left Ichigo, turning entirely on the annoying wolf within his grasp. He slammed the wolf into the ground, not enough to destroy it, but enough to injure it, and Lycaon did it over and over again, holding nothing back.

Tempest, even though it was beaten and battered, didn't stop fighting back, it didn't stop trying to protect Ichigo, and that angered the boss. Lycaon threw Tempest towards Ichigo, clearly hoping to kill both of its problems in one fell swoop.

Tempest flew, and, too tired to fight back, only attempted to not injure Ichigo. He turned so that his soft fur would hit her.

However, there was a flash of wind and then the Summon fell into two considerate arms.

Jin-Woo slid back while holding Tempest, barely not hitting the unconscious Ichigo with all his efforts.

"Thanks, Tempest. You gave me enough time to get here. Now just rest, we've got this," Jin-Woo reassured his summon, and Tempest fell into the shadows of the nearby trees, resting.

Although Summons pulled from Jin-Woo's MP for regenerative effects, they couldn't just spam skills recklessly. Every individual Summon had a different sized mana pool, so even an experienced fighter like Igris had to choose when using a skill was worth it or not. Beyond that, physical exhaustion still totally built up on Summons, so they couldn't forever move at 100% strength.

Jin-Woo believed that Tempest deserved some rest for his actions, so Jin-Woo gifted him some time to rest.

Jin-Woo flipped Legacy around in his hand, taking the shortsword into a more traditional style. He didn't give the boss any time to size him up, charging forward with a flash. It was just him and the boss, but with Ichigo unconscious, he didn't dare to waste any time.

His heart was almost thumping out of his chest.

Evaluating the boss as he rushed forward, he noted the injuries inflicted by Ichigo were actually quite fatal. A chunk of its side was taken out, its arms looked broken in multiple locations, and its head was smacked a few times too many, but all of that was being healed before his very eyes, leaving him flabbergasted.

Even mid-step, Jin-Woo thought about how werewolves were commonly handled.

They were burned to ash, frozen to death, turned to stone, and cursed. Basically, as long as their regeneration could be stopped, they'd go down without much of a problem. Usually just attacking its head was a fairly decent option as well, because the brain was what fueled the hormones that allowed it to regenerate at such a ridiculous speed.

But Lycaon wasn't a normal werewolf, but rather a creation handcrafted by whoever Yogumunt was to kill whatever Hunters were unfortunate enough to be trapped within the Red Gate.

The boss couldn't be invulnerable, and when Ichigo originally chased after it, it was in a bad condition. But now, it barely seemed bothered by Ichigo's blows, as if it'd adapted.

Something in Jin-Woo's head clicked.

He couldn't understand why the boss was so… normal to other werewolves when compared to Kabuto and Jill, who were very original and hard to forget. Lycaon was a Failed Construct, but he was still infinitely stronger than Jill and Kabuto, so Jin-Woo expected to see something that would normally be impossible for werewolves but received nothing groundbreaking.

Until now.

A werewolf, a monster with almost limitless regeneration, being extremely adaptable to enemy onslaughts meant that people who had limited move sets would lose against it if they didn't destroy it immediately. Ichigo, unless she changed up her fighting style dramatically, or moved fast and hard enough to kill the monster in a single fatal blow, didn't have a chance of beating the boss. The boss had probably taken physical damage before, so it was more prepared to fight against her than not.

Fanzer may've had a chance but seeing how the fire-based attack he used on the boss only seemed to annoy it, Jin-Woo was pretty sure that Lycaon has run into other Hunters before, who tried very similar tactics.

Jin-Woo felt a smirk grow on his face.

"I'm the perfect enemy for you, Lycaon. Too bad… for you," He grinned, Jin-Woo jumped up high into the air, meeting the boss's gaze confidently. "Igris!"

Jin-Woo's blood-red knight activated Ruinous Dawn once more, cutting down the nearby trees in an instant. Even though the Knight was nowhere to be seen, its skill shot out far enough to cut the trees behind Jin-Woo. The white sap flowed from the burned trees, slowly allowing the ooze to soak into the surrounding area.

"The reason why that small wasn't coming before was because there wasn't any heat for the trees!" Jin-Woo cackled, the horrible stench flowing into his nose. He laughed because no matter how bad it was for the human beings, Jin-Woo's enemy was doing much worse.

Lycaon clawed at its snout, trying to flee from the putrid smell at any cost. It backed away, slamming into one of the few trees that were still standing. Its gaze burned with anger, and it charged towards Jin-Woo with a roar. Lycaon's claw flew towards Jin-Woo, but Jin-Woo stood his ground, meeting the boss's enraged glare.

"But you've never experienced a Hunter doing this! Fanzer!" Jin-Woo yelled out into the distance.

Fanzer could see Jin-Woo being charged, his life in danger. Fanzer wanted to scream for a moment, but he reeled back the sudden frustration and pulled out the small item he summoned earlier.

Fanzer blew into the small item he obtained from Card 14, a dog whistle. Jin-Woo, Fanzer, and any of Jin-Woo's Summons heard absolutely nothing, but the boss suddenly halted in the tracks.

Its ears shot up, twitching wildly within the air. It locked onto Fanzer, growling wildly. All the focus that was once set on Jin-Woo suddenly faded, and it was all placed on the dog-whistle holding thief.

Fanzer, still several meters away, took a hesitant step backward. The boss took a step forward. Fanzer fled. Lycaon chased. Jin-Woo failed to stop Lycaon.

"Jin-Woo, do not let me die here!" Fanzer screeched, running for his life through the trees. Igris tried to stop Lycaon with Ruinous Dawn, but before his skill properly activated, Lycaon tore through him.

Fanzer stumbled on a root, rolling onto the ground and barely avoiding Lycaon. The werewolf flew over Fanzer, clawing through several of the trees. Some water hit Fanzer's face, but he didn't even have time to wipe it away as he stumbled to his feet.

He met Lycaon's hungry gaze, seeing a ton of gross saliva falling from its mouth. It was looking at Fanzer as if he was the most premium steak ever.

"Tch, damn it…! I was saving this for a rainier day, but it seems pretty rainy so fine! Card 59: Silver Gun!" Fanzer summoned the weapon that seemed like it'd be most effective, a gun of pure silver appearing in his hand. He readied his aim and unloaded his clip.

Every shot pushed the boss back a little more, and for a moment, Fanzer grew hope. He wouldn't die today; He was elated.

Until… his clip had no more bullets, and the boss looked at him with the same expression as before. Lycaon approached, and Fanzer swallowed.

Lycaon roared, just inches away from Fanzer's face, saliva flying from the monster's mouth. Fanzer tried to think of a way out. As the monster's mouth got closer and closer to his throat, time slowed for the young, purple-eyed man.

'I need another answer…! Silver, which is the most common way of killing a werewolf, didn't do anything to it! Why didn't it do anything?! No, I can't get caught up on something like that! I need to think. I can think my way out of anything…!'

Lycaon's jaws began closing.

'What do I know about the boss…?! Well, it's powerful and hungry for one! Beyond that, it's the apex predator with amazing sense of smell, and hearing. It's not the strongest thing around because leviathans could probably still drown it, but it's probably the strongest thing on the island right now. It may not have been a werewolf since the beginning, but because of the moon being permanently in the sky, we can't plan on the transformation being reverted.'

He could feel the teeth pushing into his neck. They pierced his skin. Blood ran down his neck.

'No, I don't have time for debates like that! I need a way to survive this…! Damn it, I used my six-inch teleportation recklessly last week! What do I do…?! What do I do?!'

Suddenly, Fanzer could feel the air all around, filled to the brim with mana. As the world seemed to spin, the words of someone long since forgotten played in his mind.

-----

"Fanzer, there's one thing you do right before you lose any of our practice fights, do you know what it is?" She said, spinning that beautiful blade of hers. It was made entirely out of the power of her thoughts.

"Huh? What are you on about, you old hag?"

She ignored his insult. "You put everything on a bet, on luck. You gamble, Fanzer, but you only do it when you have no other options. So Fanzer, gamble more. Gamble so much more. Maybe you'll gamble away needing to use those cards of yours."

"…Hag, are you trying to give me a gambling addiction??"

-----

"Heh, sorry for taking so long to understand what you meant. When I die, I'll let you hit me a few times for being so stupid. But for now… for now, I'll stake my life on this gamble…!"

Lycaon's teeth pushed a little deeper into Fanzer's throat.

"Wind Cyclone…!" Fanzer yelled, clenching his eyes tight as he focused his everything into his hand.

In an instant, the mana swirled around Fanzer's hand, which was positioned right underneath the massive beast. Even faster than the beast, the natural mana of the wind was forced under Fanzer's control, and it came rocketing out of his hand. Wind, naturally invisible but made visible by the abundance of mana, shot up into the sky, like a small tornado, and it dragged Lycaon with it.

With the power that an S-Rank Mage should've only been able to dream of, Fanzer blew the boss into the sky.

As the skill still shot from Fanzer's hand, filling the sky with a tornado, he traced his way up the swirling wind and his mouth hung open. Trees were uprooted from the ground and thrown in all directions, and all that was left was a crater all around the Thief.

"I thought my magic was hard to control before… but this… this is just ridiculous," He laughed, but as soon as he spoke, the mana suddenly dispersed. The cyclone was gone in an instant, and everything that was pulled up with it was flung.

Even Lycaon.

Fanzer fell to a knee, gasping for air. His attack sucked the air straight out of his lungs, and he hadn't even realized it until after it was over. He looked around, all the nearby trees being effectively flung away and leaving a clear plain behind. He saw Jin-Woo in the distance, running towards him.

Jin-Woo got about 20 meters from his ally, Lycaon plopped down directly in front of him, clearly injured. The white werewolf had several patches of fur ripped off, along with cuts of varying sizes littering its body. The cuts were created by the wind, but even they were being healed right before Jin-Woo's very eyes.

Jin-Woo didn't feel the need to hesitate against his enemy. With Legacy's sword form, he closed the distance between himself and his enemy and raised his weapon up high. He activated Void Slash and felt his sword get cloaked in its energy.

Igris was behind him, readying the last Ruinous Dawn that he could manage. Behind him, was Tempest, his bloodlust leaking off his body in droves as lightning formed between his horns. Even for Tempest, it looked like this attack would be the final one.

As Jin-Woo honed it on his opponent, he could hear distant pitter-pattering, but he dismissed it rather quickly, thinking it may've been his own knights approaching. He brought his sword down in an arc, aiming for Lycaon's neck, but he was suddenly shoved away at the last second.

Igris tried to jump over Jin-Woo to take down the boss on his silent orders, but he was swamped by several wolves, all attempting to tear him to shreds despite his armor. Tempest was put in the same situation, attacked from all angles by wolves who came one after another.

Jin-Woo suddenly remembered Lycaon's howl when it was fighting Ichigo, just a little bit earlier. He'd forgotten it in the chaos of everything happening.

Jin-Woo scowled, thinking, "Is this what that howl was for?! Reinforcements if things went wrong?!"

The E-Rank turned Legacy back into its original form, using it to slit the throats of the wolves and try to escape his prison of horribly disgusting white wolves. But, to no avail, Jin-Woo couldn't get up.

Through the small cracks between the furry monsters, Jin-Woo could see Lycaon healing. Its wounds reversed as if they were never there, and Jin-Woo was positive that in less than 30 seconds, all the work the three Hunters did would amount to nothing.

He tried to push his enemies away, but even if he could maintain the focus to do so, there was too many enemies on him to do so. He couldn't ask Igris or Tempest for help, since they were stuck in the exact same situation, and all Jin-Woo's foot soldiers were too far to help in time. If that was the case….

"Arise!" Jin-Woo ordered, and the nearby souls rose. But before they could even fully form, their opponents tore through them. The white wolves' eyes glowed red, just like Lycaon's, as if they were supercharged beyond belief.

Sung Jin-Woo was trapped, with HP constantly dropping and a body that begged him to lay down and take a long nap.

Julie Heyun flashed through his tired mind.

He didn't remember opening his mouth to yell so loudly, but he could remember what he said.

"Fanzer Leblanc! Ichigo Jin-Sol! Help me beat this bastard of a monster!" Jin-Woo's voice echoed over the destroyed forest, and an instant later, all the wolves were blown off him by a gust of powerful wind. Immediately after, two more gusts came and assisted Igris and Tempest.

Jin-Woo looked to where they came from to see Ichigo standing proudly, a smirk on her face as she swung her bat over her shoulder. While he was looking away, one of the wolves tried to get the drop on Jin-Woo, but it was silenced by a fireball slamming into its head. Jin-Woo looked to see Fanzer standing there, a grin on his face.

"Heh, don't worry, we were on our way," Ichigo grinned. "I just needed a little nap."

Fanzer nodded. "Of course, we were gonna save you, we aren't ruthless or anything."

Jin-Woo snorted. "Says the thief who got us into this mess. Still, thanks for the save, sorry about that plan failing."

"'Says the thief who got us into this mess,' he says," Fanzer mocked, murmuring to himself. He shrugged, "Eh, it's fine, plans do seem to do that."

Jin-Woo rose from his spot, dismissing Igris and Tempest to conserve whatever little bit of mana he had left. He also dismissed his other summons, no matter where they were on the island.

Jin-Woo, Ichigo, and Fanzer stood against Lycaon and his army of wolves. There must've been a few hundred of them, all seeming more ready and pumped up than ever before.

"Jin-Woo?" Ichigo chimed in, tapping the grip of her bat. When he gave her a low hum to confirm he was listening, she continued. "Wouldn't this be the ideal time for all of your summons to be here?"

"With how destructive you two are… I don't think that's anything to worry about. It would probably hurt more than it'd help, besides, I'm basically out of mana either way," Jin-Woo admitted, causing Fanzer to nervously laugh.

The monsters on the opposing side approached, and the three's attention snapped towards them.

"Jin-Woo, if we clear you a path, can you kill it?" Ichigo asked, her expression grave. "It's gotten used to my blunt attacks at this point."

Jin-Woo shook his head, "Probably not, no. It's either shrugged off my attacks or dodged them at this point. Still… if you two can incapacitate it, for even one moment, then I'll do it."

Fanzer let out a low hum. "Seems… hard enough. Fantastic."

The army slowly stalked forward. The trio readied themselves. Ichigo swung her bat in one hand, Jin-Woo ran his finger down the side of Legacy's blade, and Fanzer trailed around the rim of an imaginary hat, flicking it with a grin.

"Let's go," Jin-Woo smirked, Ichigo nodded, and Fanzer grinned before they all took a step forward, and promptly disappeared.