Jinyoung watched as something dropped out of the sky and cratered in the dirt, sending out chunks of soil, wood and even rocks. He raised his hands to protect his eyes, so he couldn’t get a good look when the thing threw itself at the nearest group of lizardmen. It was a flurry of limbs and bodies as it tore through them.
Whatever it was, it was big. And it was frighteningly fast, like the queen bee had been. For a moment, he could only stare.
image [https://i.imgur.com/UHOOAeH.jpg]
“Wake up, boy!”
The shock of the thing speaking to him, more so that it was a human being, shook him awake. He immediately turned and engaged two lizardmen who had turned to run away. Still, he watched out of the corner of his eye as the man (as it turned out) punched and kicked his way through a group of seven.
On his own, the bedraggled fighter took out 14 lizardmen while the Phoenix clan and the remnants of the caravan’s own party killed eight. To Willow and Jinyoung, the man didn’t look much different from a monster.
image [https://i.imgur.com/v0yl2gr.jpg]
The man wore the traditional garb of a fighter, but his gi was tattered. The material had been stained with monster blood, soaked in rivers and oceans and dried under the sun so much that it was stiff. Almost like armor unto itself. Which was interesting because the man wore no armor. He carried no weapons and even after the battle was over, he left for a short time to only retrieve a sack of clothes and supplies.
When he walked towards Jinyoung and Willow, his long, tangled mess of hair only shifted slightly in the wind. Once he was close enough, he spoke.
“Where’s Hana?”
It took a moment for the words to even register.
“She’s helping patch up the rogue,” Jinyoung responded. How does he know my sister?
The man nodded and walked away in the direction of the caravan. Jinyoung and Willow took a moment and then continued moving the bodies of the lizardmen. Their bodies needed to be disposed of properly so they cleared a space to light a pyre. While they moved the corpses, they also had to check for supplies or materials that the lizardmen had on them. Scholars routinely harvested livers and kidneys, but that required chemicals and storage units. So instead, they went through and checked any pouches or belongings before lighting the pyre a fair distance from the makeshift camp the caravan members had set up by the road.
When they rejoined the others, they were surprised to see the savage warrior sharing a quiet cup of tea with Hana. They weren’t sure whether to approach or not, but Hana made the decision for them. She called them over to introduce the man.
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“This is Mr. Han. Mr. Han, this is Jinyoung and Willow.”
“You can stop calling me that , Hana. You’re old enough to call me Dae now,” he replied gruffly. Dae stood up and looked at the two younger players. He smiled at Willow and performed a deep bow. Very traditional.
When his eyes landed on Jinyoung, all he gave was a perfunctory nod. “You.”
It’s hard to know how to respond to that. There are greetings and salutations. Then there are times when a person simply acknowledges your existence. This was obviously the latter.
“Have we met before?” Jinyoung could hear the edge in his own voice.
The man let out a laugh. It was rough and almost cruel. “Yes, boy. We’ve met. But it’s been some time, so I’ll let it pass.”
He turned to face Hana. “I have some loose ends to clear up, so I’ll meet you further in, by the falls. Until then.”
He bowed deeply to Hana and Willow. To Jinyoung he nodded curtly and rumbled out, “Boy” before leaving.
It was quiet for a moment. Hana would have preferred that it stay that way, but she knew they had a journey to make.
“The caravan’s patched up as well as it can be. They'll be heading forward to the next checkpoint where they’ll bury their dead and resupply. In the meantime, we’ll-”
Willow couldn’t wait for Hana to finish her thought. “Was that Han Dae? The fighter? Like the fighter?”
The realization broke slowly on Jinyoung. Han Dae was a fireman up until the World Break. He had worked search and rescue during the events that followed and was one of the first players to max out his skills. That meant he had completely leveled the [stoneskin], [powered strike], and [warrior’s call] skills in the fighter class. Hana herself had leveled just the [stoneskin] skill enough that she took very little damage against 10 lizardmen. No wonder Dae could fall out of the sky like that and continue fighting without a scratch. Unlike players from later generations, Dae had never moved past the fighter class. He had no weapon specializations and fought in unarmed, unarmored hand-to-hand combat. He was a legend.
He looked to Hana for confirmation and she nodded her head. “You should’ve bowed.”
Han Dae was also a friend of her father’s. Technically, their father. The man who had adopted Jinyoung and Hana after the World Break. Dae had visited on multiple occasions while they were growing up and although he was a hard man, he was a good friend of the family.
Hana continued with her briefing, “We can talk more later. Mr. Han will be clearing out this region, while we head further in. Once he’s done here, he’ll meet up with us tonight for the remainder of the quest.”
After the events of the day, Jinyoung just had to make sure. “Does that mean…?”
“Yes, oppa. We’re going to hunt the mid-boss.”
QUEST: OUTBREAK at Seorak
OBJECTIVE: Kill 20,000 monsters in the Seorak QUEST Area within one week
Progress: 9,043 / 20,000
REWARD: 2,000,000 GOLD (each party will receive a portion of the reward)
FAILURE: The Seorak region will no longer be safe for humans