Say it Again

Chapter 21

*****

Mia is clinging to his back tightly with her legs and arms as Joonghyuk needs a free hand to deal with monsters that dare to cross his path.

It's frustrating that he had to trust others to  down possesed Seolhwa, but it's not like he could really fight her… not without risking killing her in the process.

Gilyoung should be able to control Antinus. He just needs help to get there. Everyone knows what they should be doing to organize quickly.

It's going to be fine.

Mia taps him on the head as she poinths him to the side where a small group of people is threatened by a bull-like monster.

Joonghyuk had no intentions of helping, but since his little sister insists, he turns toward them, drawing his sword and quickly cuts the creature down. He turns and picks direction again.

“Savior!”

“Thank you!”

Some people call after them, looking like they want to follow, but they are too weak.

“Good luck! See you!” Mia seems to be waving goodbye at them. He can't run as fast as he'd like when she has an unsure grip.

“Mia, hold tight,” he reminds her.

“Why are you so grumpy…” she complains, kicking out her foot and he can feel her cheek pressed against his shoulder.

“…”

“Oh, look at that smoke! Is that where we're going?”

There isn't supposed to be any smoke, but instead a great pillar is rising into the air. It has to be some serious fire as the source. There is only one variable he knows that could have tripped the events like this.

“Yeah.” Right there to find Dokja and see what exactly is he trying to gain from this.

“Did your crazy boyfriend do it?” She asks and wiggles, pulling on lapels of his coat insistently like she's trying to make him put her down.

“Stop that.”

“What? He's really weird and he makes you weirder!” Mia insists, kicking again before she freezes at the sight of all the monsters filling the river.

Writhing scaly bodies seemingly on the verge of spilling out of this limited space.

“Are we really going there?” she asks softly, her little arms hugging him tightly.

“I have to.”

“Can't that guy handle himself? We could just wait for him,” she insists as Joonghyuk walks closer to the waterline, drawing his sword.

“He can. There's something else I need there.” He's already watching how the monsters move, knowing that as soon as he jumps he'll be in the center of attention.

After one over there shifts to look it'll be a decent platform for the next jump, and then that one will lunge, one over there should have a tail in decent position for the next jump. Then using momentum from the attack made by that one…

“Oppa, I don't like this,” Mia complains again but this time she takes away her right arm, probably to grab her own sword.

“Just hold on tight.” There's no need to treat this as a fight. Just platforms. A bit aggressive, no second chances platforms.

But just something to use, not really an obstacle.

Mia grumbles something unhappily as she grabs onto him properly, curling herself tightly as he gets a running start.

And then screams as soon they are in the air, feet colliding with the wet scales, dangerously slippery as he finds purchase for the next jump. Only constant movement keeps them relatively safe.

Thankfully, ichthyosaurus is really predictable.

Mia screams again as he deflects the attack, and wind whips her hair across Joonghyuk's face. Her grip on him slips.

He quickly pulls her to his front and curls around her protectively the best he can as they are about to hit the ground. He might get bruised, no big deal with his stamina level, but he knows that Mia is not so sturdy, even with how much coins he passed to her.

“Oww…” Mia groans as she bats his arm away to get up. He lets her go and sits, quickly taking in stock of the damages. Not much, but he must've hit something hard with the left side of his back, which left a painful spot. Not worth using panacea over. “You're not allowed to do that again!” she points at him and pouts before starting to quickly dust herself.

He nods at this. He won't need to do it this way next time.

He gets up and offers Mia his hand to hold as he turns in the direction he knows the meteorite must be. Dokja knows ro hatch it, but probably didn't do it yet, since he's up to… whatever he lit the building on fire for.

Joonghyuk could ask, but then decides that it's going to be a better conversation in person

*****