I don't own solo leveling or Naruto.
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"Oi, wake up already!"
A scrawny looking man jumped from his comfortable spot on the couch, startled into consciousness by his loud and boisterous colleague. His glare was filled with venom at having his nap time interrupted.
"Don't give me that face. We're gonna be late cuz of you, Seven."
Daijo rolled his eyes at the man named Seven.
Seven was a long haired, unathletic looking man, with perpetual bags under his eyes. He had slightly unkempt facial hair and a persistent frown.
"Shut up, Daijo." Seven responded heatedly. "What're you even talking about?"
"The emergency meeting that Mr. Dal called for us."
"What? Are freaking kidding me? It's always something with him isn't it?" He whined, scratching his head.
"Yeah, yeah."
Seven rose to his feet, his scruffy brown hair that much more disheveled from his nap. He quickly strapped on his red biker jacket and followed Daijo down the hallway.
"You know where it's going down?" Seven asked.
"Yeah, but aren't you more concerned about what's going down?"
"It's just a buyer." Seven shrugged his shoulders. "What's the big deal? You've done plenty of big deals in the past."
"Completely different market you lazy bum."
"Hmm…" Seven rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever your reservations, just bring them up in the meeting with Dal and those other two."
"Yeah, yeah."
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"Alright, I'm heading out!" Sung Jinah called out to her big brother sitting on the couch watching the TV for forecasting on the gates that have popped up around the area.
"Hey where are you off too?" Jinwoo asked, turning to her curiously.
She was dressed very fashionably with a tight pair of jeans, a silky brown dress shirt with a dark sun hat with a white floral embroidery. She also had a noticeable gloss to her lips and the dark eyeliner accentuating her eyes which drew a lot of suspicion from the young man.
"Just out with some friends so don't wait up!" She answered, grabbing her denim coat from the coat rack.
"Wait, since when do you have friends?" he said teasingly, his hand propping up his face to make the smirk more prominent on his boyish face.
This caused Jinah to roll her eyes as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oh, harde, har, har. I'll have you know I'm pretty popular at school okay. People love my radiant personality."
"Radiant personality? I beg to differ. You can be a real pain, you know that." He deadpanned.
"Well that's cuz I'm your little sister. I'm genetically designed to annoy and pester you." She said knowingly, as if educating a child on a simple concept.
"It's honestly a real talent."
"I'm hurt." Jinah said with a mock hurt expression
"Yeah, yeah, well just be careful then. There's a lot of weirdos out there so take care of yourself okay." He said seriously, his eyes darkening. He looked like he had aged a few years despite his youthful appearance.
Those eyes had seen far more than they should have and Jinah was glad that the last gate had paid out enough for him to be able to take a break for more than a week. As she thought more about it he had been coming home with less and less injuries, it made her wonder why that had been the case. Did he get stronger? Was that even possible?
She had given up on getting any kind of details about what went on in the dungeon a long time ago because he would just hide it from her with surface level comments like 'it was tough' or 'it's part of the job' or he would hide his pain by not being home for days on end. While it was lonely and scary for the first few times he had done that, she slowly got used to it until him popping up out of nowhere after two to three days was simply something she became used to.
At least not seeing him for a couple of days was better than witnessing him become basically a cripple for 3 days. Maybe that's why he hid from her, he was trying to protect her from the reality of what he was really going through. Which simultaneously she was grateful and furious at him for because he didn't have to carry that burden himself, but it only made her love and respect him that much more.
She couldn't ask for a better older brother. Not in this lifetime or the next.
"Okay, Oppa. I'll be careful." She said stepping out.
Taking a stroll through the park with the destination of the subway in mind. The park was nowhere near the fastest way to the subway but she had left home early and had time to kill so she figured that a stroll through this park was warranted.
She usually ran through this path on her daily runs to keep in shape for her track and field club. Not only was it relaxing but calming with the whistle of the wind always breezing nicely into the paved pathway and the rustle of the trees and tweeting of birds on either side of the pathway being a sign that nature was thriving quite nicely despite the modernisation all around.
During this relaxing stroll her attention was captured by the rustling of the bush next to her. She wondered if it was a rabbit, there had been a rumor that a pair of rabbits inhabited this part of the park and she looked forward to seeing a wild rabbit since they were such cute creatures. So she approached the bush with that little curiosity hoping to be satisfied, crouching near the moving bush and calling to it with soft little clicking noises.
She stood there awkwardly for a few minutes after that didn't work and decided to step a little closer to sedate her curiosity. She wasn't going to go into the bush because she didn't want to get her clothes dirty. Jinah slowly and gently peered open a gap to see what was going on behind the bush only to be shocked to find a black cat munching on the innards of a small bird.
She recoiled at the sight thinking to herself, 'Well that's my appetite gone for the next few hours.' She saw the black cat lazily stroll out the bush, its mouth still matted with the blood of the poor bird, she watched it cross the walkway into the otherside of the woods. As her eyes trailed behind it she couldn't shake the thought 'something' was going to happen today whether it would be good or bad it remained to be seen.
She was never very religious or superstitious like her mother or at least as far as she could remember but she knew she didn't see that for nothing.
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"You clean up nice, huh, birthday boy!" Jinah commented once Sasuke was in earshot.
He wore a simple dark blue hoodie jacket with stark white stripes, a loose white shirt underneath with a red and white uchiwa fan necklace, and dark brown jeans.
"Thanks. You're not bad yourself." He replied although he didn't spare her more than a glance. "So, what do you wanna do?"
"That's what I was gonna ask you. It's your birthday after all."
"But you're the one who said was gonna take me out. I don't really have a desire to do anything other than training."
"Training? Don't tell me that thinking about fighting again so soon after recovering. I can't deal with another moron who can't take care of himself." She gave Sasuke a disapproving glance with her arms folded.
"I'm not your brother. I can actually take care of myself and besides it's just training. I've been 'strictly' prohibited from entering any gate for the next week." Sasuke grumbled.
"Well that's good. God knows you need someone with some sense in your life otherwise you'd just end up tearing yourself apart."
"Is that fact?"
"Of course it is! I think I know a thing or two about self-destructive men."
Sasuke rolled his eyes at her. He didn't know what he had to do to convince her that he was nothing like her brother or at least in the way she was implying.
"Anyway we're gonna be late for the movies so we better hurry up!" Jinah grabbed his arm and pulled him along.
Rivers of people flowed back and forth through the giant building with ceilings higher than any cathedral. Shops and stores lined up next to each other as many filed in to get their fill of commerce or recreation. The mall was vast with escalators and evaluators moving up and down transporting people from floors 1-3.
Jinah dragged Sasuke through o past loads of people to reach the cinema. He grumbled every step of the way but he never stopped her. He did come here to be distracted so he would at least try and enjoy himself.
The movie was long, about 2 hours, and it was quite boring, but Jinah seemed to find it fun. The popcorn was divine though. After that they spent a few more hours in the mall, her getting to buy a couple of new outfits, getting him to try foods like burgers, pizza and fried chips, or just playing games at the arcade. All and all the day was a fine distraction and at the end of the day he was able to crack the soft smile.
"I had a feeling something good was going to happen today." She said, gazing up at the setting sun.
"What makes you say that?"
"You have a pretty smile. I'm glad I got to see it."
Sasuke took a moment to pause to feel that the edges of his lips were curved upwards without his conscious effort. "What do you know? I guess you're right. I am smiling."
"You know I won't pretend that I know anything that you're going through, but if you ever just need someone to talk to then I'm here." She offered with a warm smile coming across her childish, but delicate features.
"What if I don't want someone to talk to?"
"Then I'll talk."
"If I don't want you to?"
"Then I'll just be there."
"And if I just want to be left alone?"
"... I'll give your space Sasuke, but if there's one thing that I've learnt in all my 14 years of life it's that you never truly want to be alone. It sucks balls"
Sasuke couldn't help but let out a little laugh at that, "Yeah, I agree. It sucks." He gripped his necklace that was the crest of his family that he'd gotten as a gift from Choi Jong-in and thought back to those years before team 7, they were difficult.
"That's a nice necklace by the way." Jinah commented casually.
"Huh? Oh, you think so? It was a very thoughtful gift."
"Really? What's it mean? Do you like fans or something? Are you some kind of fan collector? Which no judgement if you are."
Sasuke chuckled at her assumptions, "No, I'm not a 'fan collector'. It's the crest of my family, one of the few things that I can remember them by." he explained with a solemn expression.
"Oooh… Are they?" Jinah started unable to really choke out the words to something so private.
"Yes, they are. Murdered by an evil man."
Sasuke stopped over a bridge leaning on the ledge watching the calm stream in the glow of the evening sun. His face had a complex range of emotions that Jinah couldn't decipher before settling on just a blank of unfeeling as if he was detaching himself from the memory.
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder as a sign of comfort. Sasuke initially flinched at the contact before accepting it.
"Don't be. I'm actually finding it easier and easier to talk about it these days."
Jinah smiled because even though it couldn't compare to losing all of your loved ones, the death of her father and the coma of her mother really did scar her for a long time. She was very closed off and angry at her Jinwoo when he probably didn't need the shit she was throwing his way back then. She found talking to her comatose mother helped to stave away the feeling of despair from gripping her life, talking about it really helped—even if it was to someone who couldn't talk back.
"Happy Birthday, Uchiha Sasuke." She gave him a sincere smile.
"Thanks." He didn't smile back but the intensity of his eyes showed that he meant it.
After spending time just watching the sun set they walked down a quiet street, passing multiple stores to Jamsil train station. 'All these stores are closed surprisingly early. It's not even 6 pm,' Jinah noted. She wondered if it had something to do with a gate in the area—it was the only possible explanation. Regardless of her reservations about the area, she walked side by side with Sasuke, no words—just the comfortable silence between them.
That is until a black cat crossed their path and Sasuke felt a shiver run down his spine. He sprung into action quickly, grabbing Jinah and sweeping her off her feet into a princess carry, which had her very flustered.
"Sasuke! What are you doing?" She cried angrily, a furious blush running across her cheeks.
Sasuke didn't have to answer as he leapt away from a giant fireball of death that burst through the walls of a vacant store next to them.
"That was pretty close wasn't it?" He quipped, landing on a nearby rooftop.
"Tell me about it." She answered with a slight tremble in her voice.
Sharingan flashed into life as he looked down to see what was going on and what he saw greatly surprised him.
"Is that Gang Taeshik?"
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1 hour earlier.
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It was within the depths of a dungeon that one would find many hunters battling out against a magic beast of terrifying might and power. It towered over the average person very casually and had razor sharp claws, however, it was getting swiftly outnumbered and overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents it had to fend off.
It got down on all fours and made an attempt of retreat, but was halted when tendrils of light pierced it in the back, pinning it to the ground and causing it to howl in pain. It desperately squirmed against the restraints hoping to break free and regroup but the pounding of its heart and the ringing all around made it impossible to orient itself. It knew the end was coming.
It was only a scout to investigate the creatures, humans, that had invaded their territory and once it had found out and tested their strength it was to report back so that its pack could form a hunting strategy to fight back. However, in its desperation to stay alive it had forsaken the element of surprise that his superiors so favoured and let out mana infused roar.
[Calling Howl]
Taeshik gripped his ears tightly and grimaced as the pinned werewolf let out an ear-piercing howl which could only mean one thing. Several of its kin would converge on this location. He grumbled at the unfairness of 3 monitoring jobs in the space of a day. The Association's shortness on active agents really was getting on his nerves because now he was feeling less like an employee and more like a slave.
The reason for all this extra work was due to the meeting Chief Woo Jinchu called yesterday where they learnt about a drug called Eclipse. There was a report from a gate monitoring employee at the outskirts of the city that reported a dungeon break was thwarted thanks to the efforts of a single D-rank hunter named Han Jihye. The reason that this was so impressive was that multiple on scene hunters reported Jihye suddenly gaining a massive boost in power and tearing through the magic beasts with beast-like movements. Jihye himself after recovering from the hospital only a day later attributed this massive boost in power to some pills he'd received from a suspicious hooded individual while he was in process of evacuating the area. That's where the name of the drug Eclipse came from.
Jinchul then called a meeting to discuss the report and also the fact that he'd been made aware of such a drug a few days before its debut thanks to a criminal named Sook that he'd detained. Sook allegedly claimed that the drug could boost a hunter's power by 20-30% which is a claim yet to be sustained due to there being only one report for them to go off of. At the conclusion of their meeting the Chief had ordered a code 3 awareness state for D to C- rank non-guild affiliated parties as those are the people that'll likely be targeted for the drug to spread through the rest of the community. Since then it's been a hard day of tolling away in low rank dungeons all over the city for Taeshik and many other active agents like Seorin who was usually doing admin work. Hence, he was here with a party of weak C to D-rank hunters which was really grating on his 'urges' because these hunters were such a well coordinated team.
Usually that was supposed to be a good thing but he figured that a dysfunctional team would be more likely to have a drug user on the team. This was because a dysfunctional team left gaps in the offense and defense that monsters could exploit leaving the hunters in more desparte positions, which would lead to a scenario where a person will consume the drug. It was a fair deduction but now that he was here he grew tired, aggravated and annoyed by their great teamwork because he wouldn't find the culprit among these people.
After a long day swimming around with small fries like them his 'urges' and 'appetite' grew greater and greater. His desire to kill was hard to sedate even on the best of days and killing low level monsters wasn't going to be enough for him. He needed something more.
His eyes set on the backs of the hunters regrouping.
A pack of werewolves came rushing at the group of hunters after answering the call of their fallen packmate. The tank unleashed their skill [Taunt] to direct most of the wolves towards him and give time for the spellcasters and damage dealers to set up a plan of attack.
Taeshik watched, feigning boredom, as the tank held his own fending off bites and slashes from left and right. He spaced himself well showing his experience in high speed life and death battles as he avoided or tanked lethal strikes using his superior magic defense. The damage dealers rushed in to flank the werewolves after receiving agility, defense and attack power boosts from their spellcasters.
'They really do work well. How annoying!' Taeshik clenched his fist around the handle of his blade as a strong desire to kill these people came rushing forth.
"Dang that was a close one!"
"Good thinking with that taunt skill. I wasn't expecting them to rush us so quickly!"
"We should get this thing done soon."
It didn't take long for the hunters to take down the pack werewolves. Their boosts wore off as the spellcasters healed their tank and frontline damage dealers. After that they took the time to gather up the werewolf corpses and dissect them to find their Essence stones, which went for quite a bit of money in bulk. This took awhile and after nearly 40 minutes they had done all rudimentary work and left two of their weakest comrades to deal with the skinning of werewolves to seal their hides afterward.
He followed the rest as they advanced further into the expansive, winding cave, littered with mana crystals that lit up the path very well.
They didn't run into much trouble after that and eventually reached a giant door that obviously led to the boss of this dungeon. Whatever it was beyond those doors Taeshik was confident that it wouldn't be a challenge for him. He gripped his blade tighter as his bloodlust increased, looking on as the tank pushed open the doors into the boss lair.
Their eyes met the ferocious glare of a savage Wolf Shepherd Roke magical beast. Its magical energy was far above those of the wild werewolves and its dominating presence made it clear that this was the boss.
The howl it sent towards them caused shockwaves as the boss room trembled. Every hunter equipped themselves and got ready to engage.
The tank used his [Taunt] skill once more which dragged the giant wolf's focus onto him.
[Impenetrable Fortress]
The Tank's body swirled with red magic power as an aura of red energy covered him and reinforced his, already, defensive statistics. He used his shield to block the powerful paw swipe from the aggro wolf, causing his feet to crack the ground from the force.
[Showers of Light]
Multiple energy based spears were shot out by one of the spellcasters but they didn't even pierce the hide of the predator.
"Dammit, it has high magic resistance!"
Taeshik spotted the soft glow of a rune symbol on the magic beast's bone-like helmet like the skull of another wolf similar in size. 'It looks like a [Protection from arrows] symbol. Hmmm.'
[Protection from arrows] was a rune spell that was able to protect the target from projectile fire of a low or similar level to its own and grant a high possibility of the projectile missing the target.
"It's using the skill [Protection from arrows] which lowers the accuracy and effectiveness of projectiles fired from weaker opponents!" The spellcaster using a detection spell to spot any weak points in their opponent. The leading spellcaster then beckoned her fellow party members to cast boost magic on their front line damage dealers since cover fire would be basically useless.
[Greater Reinforcement]
[Physical Damage Accelerator]
[Agility Elevation]
After all the buffs were applied to the front line damage dealers, they set out to help their tank. The close combat hunters jumped the giant wolf using their magic infused weapons to cut and slash into the flesh of the magic beast. However, getting so close to such a behemoth was dangerous if you were tank and downright life-threatening if you weren't. The wolf used its tail to lash out and send the damage dealers along with the tank crashing into the ground.
It let out another supersonic roar which in their dazed state caused a vertigo effect to come over them. The wolf pounced on them in an instant ready to render their flesh and bones into minced meat by chomping down.
[Barrier Spell: Protection]
Suddenly a transparent wall of mana blocked the wolf's monstrous bite, however it was immediately cracking under the pressure of its bite force.
"Sorry to ask this of you Mr.Taeshik, but can you please help us out!" The female spellcaster, Kim Ae-cha, requested desperately. She sweated profusely as the boss wolf continued to crack her shield until it remained in nothing but pieces.
"Oh sure, I'd love to but I just have a question I want to ask first."
"At a time like this, sir!?"
Taeshik unsheathed his two daggers, rushed forward at impossible speed and slammed right into the giant wolf right as it was about to tear into a still vertigo stricken hunter.
"My question is very simple. Between hunters and magical beasts, which one do you think are truly capable of monstrous acts?" He stabbed his dagger into the eye of the downed wolf causing it to whimper and howl in pain. He dug even deeper with his blade all the way into the brain killing the beast.
"Obviously you'll say magical beasts but that's only because of their instinctual and territorial behavior to dominate and slaughter anything they deem weaker. It's just the way of the world for them. You'd think it would be different for us humans since we have intellect and emotions and can debate about these topics, but even then we follow this same line of logic. Hunters or magical beasts? If you ask me I'd say…" He turned towards them, hand drenched in blood with eyes of an unprecedented amount of killing intent.
"We humans are capable of truly unholy slaughter. Like right now for example."
"R-Right now?"
Kim Ae-cha questioned aloud, stepping back fearfully from the hunter. She knew that this was a B-rank but how could his bloodlust be so above a C-rank boss monster, it was unlike anything she'd ever felt.
"Yes! The true hunt starts now so you better start running!"
But his warning didn't spur the hunters to start panicking and running away in fear, which is something he expected from such a good team. 'I'll give a little taste of what I have in store if you don't start running fools!'
He sped over to the nearest hunter and grabbed him by the throat. He slammed him down and brought a dagger to his neck. He watched gleefully as the blood sprayed from his neck like a sprinkler due to his actions.
"Gang Tae-Shik! What's the meaning of this!" Another of the hunters cried out in outrage at watching their friend getting brutally murdered by a Monitoring Division agent.
"What's the meaning of it? It's because I feel like it and also because I'm a monster."
The outraged hunter didn't get to respond as his head went flying off his shoulders. His head dribbled on the ground, rolling and revealing his vacant, shocked expression to Kim Ae-cha.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" She screamed in terror at the sight of her long time comrade killed so brutally.
[Showers of Light]
Suddenly a volley of energy spears forced Taeshik to move out the way. He then blocked a powerful axe from the lunge attack launched by Min-ho, the tank.
[Reinforcement]
He called forth a massive amount of mana to strengthen his naturally high brute force and physical power. This sent Taeshik reeling and crashing into a wall with force enough to make him dizzy.
'Even if he's a C-rank, as an assassin fighting a power type hunter like him is very dangerous. I should avoid getting hit like that.' Taeshik shrugged off the concussion he'd likely received.
He rolled out the way to avoid an overhead strike from Min-ho which caused great fragmentation and shook the entire room.
Suddenly a hail of magic blasts came rushing at him in an unavoidable wave. 'Shit! I gotta use it!'
[Active skill! Protection from arrows]
Using crushing the runestone he had procured from the corpse of the Wolf Shepherd Roke. He activated the skill [Protection from arrows] to take as little damage as possible from the hail of magical fire. Although it was a skill that protected the user from weaker projectiles, that didn't mean he was immune to the damage if the collective of those weaker projectiles was strong enough.
"He's using the skill [Protection from arrows]!" The spellcasters with the detection skill informed the others.
"Dammit! Then we're really in trouble!" Min-ho grunted in frustration. "You guys give me all the buffs you can, I'm the only one who stands a realistic chance against this guy!"
[Greater Reinforcement]
[Ability Boost]
[Physical Damage Accelerator]
[Agility Elevation]
[Pierce Resistance]
[Dynamic Vision Boost]
All the boosts were given to Min-ho who used his extra power and speed to cut down the rogue hunter. Taking advantage of [Dynamic Vision Boost] he was able to somewhat track the assassin's high speed movement and with the [Agility Elevation] and [Ability Boost] buffs he was able to swing his arms quickly enough to force Taeshik to block.
"Are you sure that's going to be enough? Even with those boosts you're barely keeping up!" Taeshik taunted.
"Whatever it takes to kill a villain like you! You'll pay for what you did to my friends!"
Minho moved on for another ferocious strike but Taeshik sidestepped and stabbed his dagger forward. However, [Greater Reinforcement] and [Pierce Resistance] were hard at work to stall him from penetrating his skin.
'What a strong defense buff! No, they're more like multiple buffs stacked on top of each other. Those are some good magicians.' He switched his focus on the spellcasters being guarded by the weaker front line fighters. 'Change of plans. I gotta take care of those magicians before I can play with him properly.' He decided, switching gears and shooting forward lightning-fast.
"What?" Min-ho blurted out when Taeshik completely outpaced him, his [Dynamic Vision Boost] and [Agility Elevation] allowed his eyes to follow his path and chill ran down his spine when he realized more of his comrades were going to become memories.
"Sorry guys, but buffs are cheating!"
Taeshik cut down the close combat hunters charged at him. Given the fact that they were mere D-ranks, it meant that they were insignificant compared to him.
[Light show]
"Even from this close your [Protection from arrows] skill won't be enough to save you!" Kim Ae-cha used the last bits of her remaining mana to launch a powerful torrent of magical energy from her staff.
Taeshik moved to avoid the blast but a firm grip on his ankle kept him in place for just long enough for the attack to hit him square in the chest. Like a missile he crashed into the far wall of the room and formed a crater.
"Haah, Haah, Haah… T-That should've done it." Ae-cha panted from exertion.
"I'd say so. There's no way he could've got up from that! When you detonate your staff it becomes a violent torrent of magical energy capable of taking out a B-rank monster." Min-ho said, in relief to see the raid captain alive.
Ae-cha nodded in agreement, taking solace in Minho's words that this nightmare was over as her staff disintegrated in her hands. Out of mana and low on stamina she was practically dead on her feet.
Her eyes grew watery at the sight of many of her long time comrade friends dead or dying on the ground. It was only thanks to the intervention of Son Je-sun holding Taeshik, no, that monster by the ankle. She dreaded to think what could've been.
Suddenly a shriek broke her thoughts as her fellow spellcaster kneeled over dead, her throat slashed out. Another comrade fell to the floor with a similar slash wound.
"What's going on?" Her mind roared.
"Arghhh!" Min-ho fell to his knees as blood leaked out from wounds behind the back of his knees and under his armpits. He was rendered immobile due to the injuries that appeared from seemingly thin air.
"Minho!" She cried out desperately, stretching out her arm. Suddenly goosebumps ran all over her body as a cold hand gripped her arm tightly and then she heard that monster's voice. His form revealed to her as if he was being unveiled by reality itself.
"Boo." His cold, unflinching purple eyes looked down on her like an apathetic deity.
"H-How?"
"You should know that even among B-ranks, I'm an anomaly. While that blast would've taken out any normal B-rank, I was able to focus most of my mana upon the point of contact along with the skill [Protection from arrows] to mitigate most of the damage." Taeshik explained, as a massive gaping hole in the chest area of his suit revealed bruised and singed skin.
Being able to focus one's mana was a high level skill that was very rare for low-level hunters like her. Mana was so hard to control for even high rank hunters and was often seen as a useless endeavor when you could just buy gear to deal damage to magic beasts.
"I'm going to kill you now and then all of your friends." Taeshik announced.
He raised his dagger and swung down, serving the woman's head from her shoulders. Her head bobbed all the way to Minho who was faced with her blank, unseeing eyes forever stitched in his memories.
"What the fuck is your problem! You monster!" Min-ho screamed angrily at the retreating figure of Taeshik with tears in his eyes.
He never received an answer as Taeshik likely went to finish off his two friends that they had left further away to mine the mana crystals. Minho was helpless to stop him as the bastard had severed the tendons in his knees and arms to leave him limp on the ground.
He looked at the headless body of Ae-cha and used his chin to drag himself over to the bag of potions and pills spilled over next to her. One of those items had to have something to restore him so he could grind, tear and render that monster's flesh to nothing.
He used his tongue to motion the healing potion to his mouth. He psyched himself and bit through the glass that sealed the potion as its effects ran through his body and repaired most of the damage. Minho was able to rise and consume the rest of the healing potions until there was nothing left in Ae-cha's bag except for some small midnight blue pills.
He didn't know their effects but he would take them. Whatever advantage was needed to kill that bastard.
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Taeshik sighed as he stepped out the gate into the darkness of a closed toy store. He wondered what story he'd come up with for why a formidable C-rank hunter party suddenly ended up all dead but he wasn't. If his injuries were anything to go by he could always just say that it was a powerful monster, looking at his condition they'd have to believe him.
He appreciated that spellcaster chick even more now because she made his story believable despite how angry he was at the injuries she'd dealt him.
'Maybe I should go back and take some mana crystals for myself. I mean I still have time, right?' Just as the thought escaped him, a clawed hand shot out from the gate.
With his inhuman reaction time Taeshik pulled out his daggers and blocked the hand. Out of the gate came a screaming man with beast-like features and unholy fury in those glowing red orbs.
"TAESHIK!!!!!"
The man-beast who had a striking resemblance to Minho screamed his name and pushed him back into a wall and then smashed him through the next one and then the next until they reached the quiet street near Jamsil Station.
"Argh…" He moaned as he was thrown across the street into a lamp post that he bent over.
'Oh man this is bad…' Taeshik gingerly rose to his feet and brandished his daggers ready to fight. With his head spinning and dizzy from being crammed through countless walls, he didn't have enough concentration to be able to use his [Camouflage] skill to disappear and run away.
Beast Minho rushed forward at frightening speeds to strike him down with his newly acquired razor sharp claws.
'Ah! I won't be able to block it in time!' Taeshik realized with a substantial amount of panic over taking him. If he was to get hit now he surely wouldn't survive.
"What's this mess you've gotten yourself into, you damn eggplant!"
He widened his eyes when he saw Sasuke Uchiha holding back Minho's claw strike from eviscerating him.
"U-Uchiha Sasuke…!"
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And that's the chapter done and dusted. I really enjoyed making this fight and finding a way to piece everything together.
Do you also like the addition of the uchiha necklace as a gift to Sasuke from Choi? They've become a lot closer and I'm hoping to write a flashback of some kind about it. Jinah introducing Sasuke to more junk food lol. What do you think he enjoyed the most?
Delving into the Taeshik (you can tell I love writing this dude btw), I wanted to capture that serial killer vibe he had going on in canon for his reasons for killing being he enjoys killing humans more than magic beasts. I want to expand on that a little more in the future but it's going to be hard since he's also a character that doesn't make excuses for himself. He knows he's a scumbag, but he can't stop getting a kick out of killing people.
I haven't watched Frieren yet, but I heard solo leveling beating it out for anime of the year was crazy. Which if it's being judged based on S1 of solo leveling(which is what I'm hearing) then that's kinda crazy, cuz S1 wasn't insane or special imo as an SL fan but whatever
SL fans we're up regardless!
The Yellow Flash fic (I'm still working on that if there are any fans of it reading this one).