Hyunjae tried hard not to panic as he spotted the reflections of the ten-ish imoogis. Where were they all coming from?
Younghoon slowly indicated him to move towards the end of the stream. Hyunjae nodded. They couldn't stay hidden here for long, after all, water is the imoogi's forte. The two trod silently under water as they held their breath. Both of them kept glancing up and at the water reflections. They simply couldn't fight that number of enemies.
"Hey, can't you contact the others from that bond you told us about?" Hyunjae whispered.
"I don't want to trouble them."
"Well, trouble's gonna come to us." Hyunjae sassed but Younghoon hurried to shut up his mouth. The two of them held their breath as one of the imoogis stopped walking. They crept back to the rocky surface and stuck close to it. Not daring to let out even a squeak.
Younghoon and Hyunjae felt their heart beat fast as the imoogi walked closer to the stream, towards the bank. He slowly crouched down, inspecting the water. Younghoon's eyes widened and he prepared himself. Hyunjae also prepared his mental state to face the ten imoogis on the surface.
"Gotcha!" Younghoon and Hyunjae heard a familiar cry and they both looked at each other.
"Jaemin." they both said. Then, they peeked up to see the three guys from earlier fighting the imoogis.
"I guess this counts as backup?" Hyunjae said. Younghoon shrugged.
"Important thing is we don't get in trouble." He said. Hyunjae nodded in agreement. The two climbed on the surface and started helping the others.
"We saw them coming towards this direction and thought you might need some help!" Taeyong shouted, tackling down two imoogis at once. Hyunjae put a thumbs up at him.
"That was awesome and thanks, by the way." he grinned. Taeyong gave a small tilt of his head. He was about to warn Hyunjae of the incoming imoogi behind him when Hyunjae whipped his sword around, cutting the imoogi's throat.
Taeyong made an impressed face as Hyunjae proceeded to struck into the imoogi's heart and twisted his sword twice for good measure.
"That's a bit gruesome, isn't it?" Jeno winced. Hyunjae looked at Jeno and then at Taeyong. The two adults smirked at each other.
"If you think that's gruesome, you're in for a long ride, kid." Hyunjae said, patting Jeno's shoulders. Then he turned away to fight more imoogis.
After a while, the imoogis dispersed. Jaemin let out a screech which startled both Hyunjae and Younghoon.
"The sun hasn't set yet!?" He cried out. Jeno chuckled and patted his back, encouragingly.
"Hey, thanks for helping us. We owe you." Younghoon said. Taeyong nodded.
"It's only a one time thing." He replied and gave a small smile, "Forget it." He pocketed some of the orbs and threw a few to Younghoon.
The three left again, leaving the two alone at the stream. Hyunjae didn't know if Younghoon sensed it but he felt like there was more to Taeyong's smile.
Juyeon and Hwall looked at each other, then at the other two in defeat.
"I thought it would be fine since Chanhee wasn't here, but..."
"Why are they arguing again?" Juyeon massaged his forehead. Hwall shrugged. The two looked at Youngjae and Sunwoo who were arguing who was to get the bow and arrow.
"Have you forgotten your archery skills? You dare touch the bow?" Youngjae provoked Sunwoo.
"At least I won't be going throwing the arrows by hand." Sunwoo retorted. They two pulled the bow and arrow quiver towards themselves.
Juyeon and Hwall sighed at the tug of war in front of them.
"Enough! Both of you can't shoot." Juyeon took the quiver away. He turned to Youngjae.
"You can't shoot any moving or living target." He said. Youngjae pouted sadly
He turned to Sunwoo.
"You can't shoot an unmoving target." He said. Sunwoo scowled but didn't retort since he was right anyway.
Juyeon rolled his eyes and turned back to Youngjae who was pouting down at the ground. Juyeon immediately felt bad.
"You can still hit a still target though. That's good." He said. Youngjae still didn't look up. Juyeon turned to Hwall for help who just shrugged.
"Umm...you are good at combat skills too! Yeah, you know how to use your daggers and spears well. And you know how to dodge and avoid attacks. You look cool when you fight with your powers." Juyeon gushed out. Youngjae slowly lifted his head back up and peered up at Juyeon.
"Really?" He said in a small voice. Behind Juyeon, Hwall and Sunwoo furrowed their brows at Youngjae's voice change and innocent glint in his eyes.
"Yeah, really." Juyeon said, relieved that Youngjae didn't seem upset anymore. Youngjae smiled down at the ground and tapped his foot shyly. Hwall and Sunwoo's eyes widened at the gesture and gagged.
"Hwall, let's go look over that area, huh?" Sunwoo said, trying to avoid. Hwall nodded and followed Sunwoo quickly. Juyeon furrowed his brows at the quick decision. He smiled down at Youngjae.
"I guess, it's you and me, then?" Juyeon said. Youngjae nodded shyly. Juyeon walked away, trampling on some plants to make way. Youngjae followed. They walked for a while before coming to a clearing surrounded by bamboo trees.
Juyeon stood in the middle, looking far out in the bamboo forest. He felt Youngjae fidget beside him. Youngjae pricked up his senses as he turned his head around.
"Youngjae?"
"There's someone." Youngjae whispered. Juyeon nodded, readying his bow and arrow. He put it on aim. Then it came.
The fog started thickening around them. It got denser by the second. The two of them stuck to each other's backs to make sure they didn't lose each other. The two were on high alert.
Then they heard a growl. Juyeon's eyes flickered towards the sound. He immediately went to stand in front of Youngjae when the imoogi emerged from the thick mist.
The imoogi tilted his head at them. Youngjae scowled at the mocking gesture. He could sense it.
"Juyeon, you should stay behind and back me up." He said, walking towards the imoogi. Juyeon hesitated but agreed that would be best. After all, Youngjae had better advantage than him.
Youngjae's eyes blazed as he cracked his knuckles. Somehow, he felt adrenaline rushing through his body. Come to think of it, this was the first time Youngjae was fighting alone without his brothers.
He smirked to himself. He was going to make his brothers proud. (Including Juyeon)
Youngjae walked until he was face to face with the imoogi. He had a smug face as he looked up at the imoogi. Curse his short height.
The imoogi breathed down Youngjae. The two had a short intense stare down before both of them flung fists, missing each other. Youngjae jumped over the imoogi and kicked him backwards. The imoogi stumbled forwards, whipping around with an angry face.
Youngjae nudged his head, challenging the imoogi again. The imoogi growled as he charged at Youngjae with a force ball forming in his palms. Youngjae concentrated on reflecting the energy back when the imoogi striked down at him. He gave a shout as he gripped onto the imoogi's wrists. Youngjae had learned force control from Joonyoung. He was glad he did.
He smirked when the imoogi seemed confused for a while and took the chance to pull him towards and blast him back with his own energy force.
The bamboo trees surrounding them wavered and shook with the two creature's energy. The imoogi braked himself by planting his fists into the ground. Youngjae panted, he had never used this much force before. He had never tried tackling an enemy by himself. And maybe he was wishing his brothers were here when the imoogi stood up, seemingly unscathed except for small signs of being tired.
"Yah, you should stop now, don't you think?" Youngjae groaned as he dodged the imoogi's attacks. Suddenly, the adrenaline he felt earlier depleted completely. Youngjae fought the imoogi angrily. He was more angry towards himself rather than because of the fight.
Was he still that weak? Was he still the baby of his brothers?
Occupied with his own thoughts, Youngjae fell down with a kick on his chest. He wheezed as he felt the air knocked out of him. Damn, he got really rough feet.
While Youngjae was down, the imoogi quickly landed a blow on him. Youngjae let out a yelp as he felt the hit. Real hard. Before the imoogi landed another, an arrow landed into his arm making the imoogi scream out loud. The arrow was blazing with fire.
Youngjae blinked at the arrow then at Juyeon who shot it. With no pause in between, Juyeon continued shooting one arrow after another at the imoogi. The imoogi screeched and gripped his head in pain as he knelt down. The imoogi helplessly held up a hand as if there was someone who was going to save him.
Before he dispersed, Youngjae made direct eye contact with the imoogi. The imoogi looked at him with pleading eyes. He felt goosebumps. But before Youngjae could think anything, Juyeon pulled him away.
"There are more coming. We can't stay in one place." He said, running. Youngjae stumbled after Juyeon, the imoogi's eyes still floating in his mind. He shook his head.
"Holy shit! Just how many is-"
"I don't know, but while you were fighting with him, they started coming." Juyeon replied. Then he looked back at Youngjae.
"Did you collect the orb?"
"Huh? Oh, I forgot." Youngjae made to turn back but Juyeon stopped him.
"Never mind. We'll be overpowered if we go back."
"But the competition-"
"Is not worth risking our lives for." Juyeon cut him off. Youngjae wanted to protest but Juyeon ignored him and dragged him along.
While they were trying to flee the site, an imoogi dropped down from above. Juyeon and Youngjae halted and backed up. They turned around to see more already behind them. They were trapped.
Youngjae started to panic. He had not expected this to escalate.
"We're gonna be fine." Juyeon said, readying his sword. Youngjae nodded. Then, the duo's chaotic fight began.
Youngjae did not stay still as he jumped from one imoogi to another and beat them down. Juyeon was also weaving through as he slashed and thrusted his sword. It was tiring. But once they gave up, they were dead.
Juyeon lunged at an enemy and huffed as he tried to stabilize himself. He was trying to catch his breath when he heard a thud from behind.
Turning around, he saw Hwall with an imoogi under his feet. Hwall casually took the orb from the dead and winked at Juyeon.
To say Juyeon wasn't surprised would be a lie. Hwall grinned at him as he threw a dagger behind Juyeon. Juyeon nodded in satisfaction.
"When did your aim improved?" He asked. Just the other day, Hwall was struggling to hit the bullseye. Hwall shrugged.
"Practice and luck." He replied. Juyeon nodded, though he felt a bit weird with the way Hwall was behaving right now. Hwall seemed very confident and aloft. Almost as if he was an entirely different person. But then, that may just be his gumiho persona.
"Never been so glad to see you!" Youngjae shouted as he threw an imoogi over his head.
"I know!" Sunwoo yelled back, jumping into the fight. The four stuck their backs together.
"We ready?" Juyeon shouted. The rest of the three nodded firmly.
"Attack!" Juyeon led the way. Youngjae and Hwall tackled the near ones while Sunwoo and Juyeon took care of the ones in the back.
It had been a while since Sunwoo felt this kind of thrill. He laughed like a maniac as he weaved through and rebutted the attacks.
"Stop laughing! You look crazy!" Youngjae yelled. Sunwoo ignored him. He put all his attention on taking down the enemies. He had learned how to use the sword a lot better now.
"We need to get out now! That way!" Juyeon yelled. Youngjae and Sunwoo listened and strated fending off the enemies one by one. They didn't forget to collect the few orbs they could get. After all, this was a competition.
"Hwall! I said, get out! NOW!" Juyeon yelled again, trying to catch Hwall's attention. But Hwall didn't seem to notice as he fought the imoogis with a crazed look on his face. Juyeon felt shivers at that.
"I said, we need to get out now!" Juyeon grabbed Hwall from the back of his collar as Youngjae and Sunwoo knocked down a pile of rock boulders to block the imoogis on the other side. Juyeon looked at Hwall angrily. Hwall didn't seem to mind though.
"We don't have time. Let's get going." Sunwoo said. The four of them sprinted away to a safe place.