久久大陆

"...This is–!"

Jun-seo barely got the words out as he briefly stumbled back, holding his chest as he hunched over slightly, releasing audibly heavy breaths.

"You're no higher than level fifteen," Jun-seo stated, regaining his breath as he held himself, "I can tell that by the strength you've shown me thus far, so why–what is this strength behind your attacks now? It surpasses logic."

"...I don't think telling you would be very beneficial for myself," he replied.

The hooded man caught his breath for a moment before straightening himself, "I suppose you're right. I know now at least you hold something fearsome in that arsenal of yours–I will not be taken by surprise again."

There were cuts across the man's all-black uniform, but he didn't seem seriously damaged at all.

"If I had to guess though, I'd say you possess a "Unique Skill", don't you?" Jun-seo said.

"--"

"I'll take your silence as confirmation," the man said, "It makes sense. Compared to the others, you carry yourself as a much more experienced player. Likely a result of being familiar with games similar to how this world now functions, I'd presume."

As he intended to stay silent, though it seemed the man was reading him like a book, their conversation was suddenly cut short as the short-haired woman leapt back into battle, using her increased physicality to leap heaps and bounds over his own head.

"--Quite yappin' your lips!" Myung-Hee yelled out, descending on the man with a downward strike over her lengthy claymore.

Jun-Seo simply looked up, "And then we have players like this: with no elegance or tact about themselves."

The man raised his own, skeleton-handled sword, halting the woman's attack easily before flinging her away with a push of his arm.

It seemed everybody was now ready for action, as Ara let out an incantation of her own, "Cast: Rock Prison!"

The surrounding cement rose, curving itself as it created an imprisonment around the hooded man.

It was then that he glanced to the side to see Hyun was already back in the fight, with a healed shoulder, though his all-white uniform was stained in his own blood.

"I hate to ask this after everything you've done, but–" Hyun yelled out, "Mind giving me a hand?!"

"You don't have to ask!" He replied.

Together they ran towards the cement imprisonment that bound the man, rushing towards it as they each prepared their own attack.

"Cast: Dark Edge!"

He drew the shadowy, strengthening aura over his daggers, picking up his speed.

"Cast: Dragon Claw!"

Hyun manifested a fiery aura over his broadsword, extending a form of flames that split off into three, sharp edges.

Even further assisting this push by them, Kamou amplified the both of them with a spell she had forgon before, "Cast: Greater Sharpen!"

The spell bolstered the blades he held in his hands with a vibrant heat, thriving with a potency that possessed a heightened ability to unleash devastating, weak point-aimed blows.

Together, Hyun and himself struck the cement imprisonment with their full force, blowing it apart as the impact scattered the debris of the material forcefully.

Being amplified by [Greater Sharpen], both of their attacks hit at a doubled rate; he felt his blades connect against something, but immediately–his hope was overturned.

One of his wrists was grabbed, causing him to stop as he looked over, seeing Hyun's sword-wielding wrist had been gripped as well; it was Jun-seo–in that moment, he had managed to ensnare both of them in his grip.

Did he purposefully take the attack just to be able to grab hold of us–?! He questioned.

Attempting to pull away from the grip of the player of much higher level was an exercise in futility, feeling as though his wrist was lodged in an iron vice.

"Sage Period" off–! He commanded the system through thought.

If he was in the hands of his enemy, the least he could do was prevent himself from taking double damage, but it seemed he wouldn't need to:

"RAAAA–!"

A scream that amplified itself to inhuman, room-shaking levels filled the surrounding area, prompting them all to cover their ears as he felt his body vibrate.

It was from Myung-Hee, a warrior-class skill he didn't know about until his rather rude introduction to it: "[Paralyzing Shout]".

"What the hell…? I can't move!" Hyun yelled out through a strained voice.

"--Same here!" He said.

Though it seemed the same could also be said for the hooded player-killer, whose grip on their wrists was released in the advent of the spell.

Before he could process anything, both him and Hyun were plucked away, turning with the little strength he had in his body to see that it was Myung-Hee pulling them away.

"What–?!" He questioned, confused.

"We're outta here!" Myung-Hee yelled out, "That guy is somethin' else!"

Kamou and Ara were already ready to leave as well, waiting for the other three to pass through the door of the parking garage before the brown-haired, pale-skinned young woman sealed the door.

"Cast: Rock Prison!"

Using the magical skill to manipulate the surrounding material again, she brought the cement high, stretching it and melding it with the door to seal it before they all ran off together.

"Is that going to hold him…?" He asked, stumbling as he began to be able to move again.

"Yeah, if I'm able to move–I doubt he's going to be held much longer!" Hyun let out.

Myung-Hee looked back at the two young men, "Don't worry! I intentionally made it so you two wouldn't be as affected! It should hold him just enough–!"

He could only look back as they ran through the abandoned plaza, praying not to see the magically-shut door not be broken open.

After rushing out of the mall, journeying a safe distance down the streets as they all tucked into a shadow-laden alleyway to also escape any potential Defects, they stopped, catching their breath and resting for a minute.

"...We made it," he breathed out.

"Somehow," Hyun breathed heavily.

Between breaths, Hyun must've realized he was on the other end of curious gazes from both Myung-Hee and Kamou as he glanced at his sister beside him before extending his hand to the two women.

"I'm Hyun," he introduced himself, "This is my younger sister, Ara. Thanks for helping us out back there."

"Don't mention it," Myung-Hee shook his hand firmly.

Kamou shook his hand as well, "Of course. Don't mention it."

After their brief greeting, Ara also shook their hands, before the two siblings also properly did the same to him.

"Really, we would've been goners without you…I can't thank you enough," Hyun said.

"It's fine–seriously," he laughed bashfully, rubbing his own head, "I have a feeling we'd have run into that guy at some point, anyway."

"He's still out there…" Ara said with a bit of pessimism in her words.

They all fell silent for a bit, having to swallow that difficult truth, but that was the reality they stood in.

"What was up with that guy, anyway? Did you two have some beef with him or something?" Myung-Hee asked, folding her arms over her chest.

Ara and Hyun looked between each other before the orange-haired brother shook his head, looking down a bit.

"...We'd been staying at the mall the past week or so. It was safer than most places–a lot of rooms, so Defects had trouble finding us," Hyun explained, "It was this morning–that guy, "Jun-seo", I think, and a friend of his showed up. At first, I thought they were friendly, but they attacked without any reason…we tried to run, but eventually, they backed us into a corner…"

"That must've been scary…" Kamou said quietly, patting Ara on the shoulder.

Hyun leaned against the sooty wall in the alley, folding his white sleeve-covered arms across his chest as he looked down a bit.

"I still don't get it," Hyun said.

"Get what?" He asked.

Hyun looked at them, "Why did he have a different system than us? Doesn't everybody have the same one? We were all given the same thing by that "God" a couple months back, weren't we? None of it makes sense…"

"None of this really made sense already," he sighed out.

"You know, you're not wrong…" Hyun sighed as well.

After a minute of mainly silence in that alleyway, he looked at his two companions, who seemed to share the same thought as him before he looked at the two siblings.

"So…" He rubbed the back of his head, "You two are just by yourselves, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Hyun answered with a nod.

"We've managed to get by, though," Ara added.

"How about joining up with us, then?" He asked, "We're staying at an apartment complex in the quiet part of town, too. It's still mainly untouched, and there's a lot of rooms to choose from."