It locked onto them. The frog monster picked up one huge foot and set it down. The earth shook so hard that it sent a couple cadets who were closer to it off balance. Yuna stumbled too as she quickly tried to scan the monster. Waiting for the page to load felt like it took ages. The three of them tried to back away, but found the salamanders blocking their escape route. They circled, looking for an opening.

Finally, the scan completed as a window popped up above her watch.

“What does it say?!” Sunghyun asked.

Neither him nor Suho had time to tear their eyes away from the monsters surrounding them to check what was written on the window. Yuna was strangely quiet. She finally parted her lips.

“Unregistered fire type. A to S rank.”

Sunghyun’s blood ran cold. Suho reacted less, not as accustomed to the ranking system—and because Animal Instinct had been telling him since the moment that monster appeared that it was beyond dangerous.

B-rank they could handle together. A-rank they could hold back with some luck and enough people. S-rank was a realm that mere students couldn't even imagine. Only one S-rank gate had ever appeared in South Korea, and that was nearly 10 years ago. Sunghyun didn't know if they should consider themselves lucky that it was on the line between A and S instead of fully an S-rank monster, but if the instructors didn't get here fast…

They were doomed.

It seemed like the other cadets in the area were coming to the same conclusion. As they began to make for the safety of the trees—

The frog opened its mouth wide. It inhaled, a vortex forming and sucking in everything nearby—rocks, trees, and people.

“No!”

“Stop, wait—”

Students screamed as they disappeared into the gaping maw. The only thing that stopped Yuna, Sunghyun, and Suho getting caught as well as the wall of ice that instantly rose between them.

“Ice Realm!” Yuna shouted, holding her hands in front of her.

Sweat beaded on her forehead despite how the magic cooled the air. The ice cracked under the force of the frog’s vortex, but didn't break.

It closed its mouth and grumbled, seemingly dissatisfied. The frog started walking towards them. It moved slowly, but every step covered a huge distance. And the level of miasma that was emanating off of it seemed to clog their senses. It stank like a decomposing swamp.

“We should split up and run,” Sunghyun suggested. “We don't know who it’s after—”

He barely got his sword up in time as a salamander lunged at him. Suho slammed his spear into the second, sending it off course, but was held up by the third as it snapped at him. They were like herding dogs, trying to force them in the wrong direction. Yuna froze its feet to the ground.

“I agree,” she said. “I can’t stop that thing for much longer. Let’s split and run.”

She clenched her hands into fists and took a deep breath.

“Ice Realm!”

All three salamanders were frozen in place. The ice was quickly melting on contact with their skin, though. Taking the chance, they scattered in three different directions.

Suho wove through the trees, out of breath. The poison gas that he had ingested was still hampering his senses. Now that it was just him and the one salamander on his tail…

He racked his brain. Could he handle it alone? Was he in any state to be making judgement calls? If the frog monster opened its mouth and tried to suck him in again, he wouldn't have Yuna’s protection this time. Reasonably, he should be doing everything to get as far away as possible.

Not that he had a choice in the matter.

A salamander caught up, leaping and weaving through the trees like it belonged there—melting the bark off trunks as it went. It launched itself at Suho and crashed into his side. He got his spear up to block, but he was still thrown to the ground.

He rolled, trying to keep distance, but the monster was on top of him in a second. Suho kicked upwards powerfully, throwing it off before it could bite. He scrambled back to his feet. The poison’s effects weren't going away. He didn't have time to open the exam store on his watch and shop for medicines that might help. He only had his weapon with him, and—

Suho’s eyes widened. He’d nearly forgotten.

He had a backpack. And he’d left it somewhere around here.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

He turned and sprinted through the trees as the salamander dove for where he had been. There was a chance he was wasting his own time looking for that backpack. It could've gotten blown anywhere after the giant frog appeared, or even gotten sucked up into its mouth. But it was his only shot.

Suho scanned the forest floor madly as he dodged another attack and nearly ran into a tree. And there it was. Half buried under debris and torn up was a familiar bag.

He knew already what he wanted from it. In as little time as he could manage, Suho snatched it up from the ground—still running—and stuck his hand into a small inside pocket.

He threw the bag away as the salamander appeared above his head and lunged at him. It nipped by his arm, but got mostly a mouthful of backpack. That delayed it just long enough for Suho to open the thing in his hands.

It was a tin filled with pressed pills, but they weren't the pink stop pills. These were white and chalky. People called them caffeine pills, but they were made with even more potent dungeon herbs. Suho had bought them from the exam store to test out if they’d help him hunt without needing to sleep.

Instead, they just made him really nervous. He hated the way they felt, so he’d stashed them away. But now he had no other option.

Suho shoved a bunch in his mouth. They went down dry. He had no time to think about the discomfort as the salamander charged at him and snapped at his face. Suho jammed the shaft of his spear between its teeth, arms shaking as he held it back. Pills for hunters were made to metabolize fast, so he should be feeling the effects soon. He gritted his teeth and bore with the attack, digging his heels in.

And then the dark patches that had been gathering over his vision started to dissipate.

Suho felt energy returning to his body, the effects of the poison being overridden by a tense, almost static-like feeling that he associated with the “caffeine” pills. It made his insides feel jittery—constantly fighting between shutting down and waking back up. But it was better than passing out.

Suho pushed back. The salamander felt the spear shaft digging into the corners of its mouth and instinctively clamped down on it. It wouldn't let go. Suho couldn't release his only weapon either.

He kicked his foot hard into the bottom of the salamander’s jaw, right into the soft spot where the tongue was. The moment its mouth cracked open, Suho pulled his spear out and jumped away.

Just in time. It shrieked and puffed out another noxious cloud. Its eyes, even more angered, locked onto him.

It charged. Suho was able to dodge and block as it snapped and clawed, but the heat was still becoming unbearable in close proximity. The salamander wasn't only hot, but its entire body seemed to emit some kind of irritating fume like sulfur. It stung at Suho’s eyes the longer he fought it.

Its jaws clamped onto his spear again, but this time its eyes glowed bright orange.

Suho shouted as searing heat went through the metal shaft of his spear, crackling through his skin like electricity. He let one hand go on reflex, but kept his other on it through the pain. That was enough of an opening for the salamander. It leapt forward and snapped down around his freed hand. Suho was knocked over by its weight. He gritted his teeth as he felt its teeth sink into his forearm.

“Fuck, let go!”

He tried to stab it with the spear in his other hand, but he couldn't get the momentum. The salamander dragged him across the ground, returning to where the giant frog was waiting.

The monster wasn't trying to kill him. It was trying to take him somewhere. That was an even more sobering reality.

Suho adjusted the grip on his spear and thrust it at the salamander again, but this attempt was no different. He had no footing, and he was running on fumes.

Suho took a deep breath, centering himself. He couldn't let panic get to him now, after everything. He thought about what he could possibly do next, and against his better judgement—

He let go of his spear. It was quickly out of his reach. Mustering up what strength he had left, he grabbed the monster by the horns that decorated its head, ignoring the way it burned his fingers, and pulled himself closer to its mouth.

The salamander could tell something was weird. It shook, trying to get him to detach. He refused. Suho flexed the hand that was stuck deep inside the salamander’s mouth, and instead of pulling it out, he drove it in deeper.

The salamander gargled in alarm as a fist was thrown down its throat. Suho held on tight and pushed even further, down what he hoped was the windpipe. By the way the monster’s eyes went wide and its fiery complexion started to change, he had hit home. It shook its head in a frenzy, opening its jaws to try and spit him out. But Suho held on tight. This was his only chance. He couldn't run fast enough to get away from it, so he had to stay right here.

It clawed at him, ripping through his uniform and scratching up his face and chest. Suho ignored the pain and shoved his fist into the salamander’s mouth, all the way to the shoulder. Its teeth dragged long lines of blood into his arm as it writhed and tried to bash him off. Finally, its red-orange skin turned ashen gray, like an ember going out.

Suho held there for a moment, catching his breath. Slowly, he drew his hand out of the salamander’s throat.

He was covered in burns, cuts, and bruises. Suho stumbled over to where his spear had fallen and picked it up. He looked back to where the giant frog was. He could still see it, between and above the trees. He was supposed to run, now that he had a chance. But then he spotted something that made his blood freeze.

One of the other salamanders was approaching the frog’s wide open mouth. And held in its jaws was Yuna—knocked out, hanging from the back of her shirt like a ragdoll.

She hadn't been able to escape hers.

The salamander hopped over the craters and spires of ice on the ground, heading toward the frog like a dog returning to its owner after fetch. Suho took one step forward, but he couldn't help but think he couldn't handle another one. If he jumped into that fight now, then he’d end up captured too. He’d barely gotten away from the one on his tail. Still, he couldn't bear to turn away from her.

Luckily, he wasn't the only one who thought that.

BANG.

Suho stopped in his tracks as he saw something collide with the side of the salamander’s head. Its neck snapped to the side, blood gushing from its templed. Yuna fell from its mouth.

The monster shook off the blow quickly, looking around, baffled at where the attack had come from. Suho knew only one person who could do that.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Kitae’s voice resounded inside his ears like he was right next to him, probably using a skill.

“Let me help you out.”