the shadow in the light
chapter twenty four; the rematch
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"tenacity is strength in adversity."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
a/n: we are now entering season two of solo leveling! time flies by quickly ;-; also, hae-in won't be appear to sign up for jin-woo's guild because you have already taken that spot (even though she got rejected)😌✋ also i was high writing this so this chapter isn't that good as the others 👍
"yet again, the ones i seek are not here. the fragments of brilliant light...they're quite elusive, aren't they?"
a hunter collapsed to the floor, his eyes wide as fear completely took over him. what stood before him was no human. it was a monster. it was an old elf with blue skin, long silver hair with a single long strand dangling over the right side of his face, blank white eyes, and round ears. he wore a ragged white cloak with a black collar over a tattered white shirt, ragged black pants, and a pair of black boots.
"w-what are you...?"
the monster paid no attention, instead turning around when it heard someone appearing behind him.
"what brings you here, yogumunt?" the monster asked.
yogumunt was an old man with gray hair, light red eyes, and a blood-red blob symbol on his torso. he wore a tattered blackish-purple hooded cloak, a pale yellow bone-like mask over his mouth, and two metallic horn-like objects extending from his upper back.
"i've come to inform you of the land of the east, monarch of the frost," yogumunt responded.
"if you mean the small strip of land in the east, that is where the shadow monarch resides." the frost monarch turned and looked at him. "i believe you were in charge of that area, were you not?"
"it seems the rulers are planning to set legia free a little south from there. that is where i shall be going," yogumunt said.
"what about the shadow monarch?"
"as long as the architect carries out our agreement, there should be no problem." yogumunt grinned as he continued, "i have one more piece of interesting news for you."
the frost monarch gave yogumunt a look of curiosity, eager to know what yogumunt wanted to tell him.
"it's been confirmed that 'the two greatest fragments of brilliant light' are there."
the frost monarch almost immediately smiled, "how interesting indeed. i'm surprised you came to relay this message to me in person."
"how about it then?"
"if you insist on me letting me have this opportunity, i shall gladly accept," the frost monarch spoke. "more importantly, it seems we were lured here."
"someone like him couldn't possibly possess the powers of one of the fragments."
"i was wondering why he left traces of himself... it seems he is trying to get in our way."
a man now stood in their way, his face covered by the hood of the tattered cloak he was wearing. he looked up, his eyes glowing a bright yellow as he spoke to them.
"the small land in the east... are you referring to south korea?"
"what's it to you?" the frost monarch asked.
"monarch of frost, we do not have time to play silly games with that weakling," yogumunt told him before disappearing into a portal behind them.
"try and catch us if you can." the frost monarch grinned and turned away.
"not so fast," the man said and summoned his daggers, sprinting towards the frost monarch. "i'm not gonna let you get away!"
his dagger that was raised in the air, was brought down in a second to strike the frost monarch. the frost monarch raised his hand, summoning a wall of ice to deflect the attack. an explosion rang out as the two continued their battle, bringing chaos in their wake.
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"i feel like i'm gonna be sick from this rain."
y/n wrapped her arms tighter around her body. she was feeling cold, even with jin-woo's coat around her, which he gladly offered.
jin-woo hummed and hung his arm around y/n's shoulder, passing her a key. she glared at him before reading the description of the key.
"a key that allows you to enter the cartenon temple. this item may be used at a designated gate. it will be revealed after a certain period of time has passed which will be 417 hours, 6 minutes and 52 seconds from now."
"the system is calling me back," jin-woo said to her. "back to where it all started, the double dungeon."
"if someone planned it, they must be waiting for you there." jin-woo nodded at y/n's words.
y/n sighed and wanted to change the topic. she instead pointed to the new shadow he had, "when were you going to tell me that the ant king was your shadow soldier?"
his eyes widened and he looked back down at y/n. he nervously laughed, kissing y/n's lips to distract her.
"kissing me isn't an answer," y/n said with narrowed eyes.
"yes it is," jin-woo replied which earned him a smack on the arm. he pouted at her, trying to get out of trouble.
y/n continued to stare at him before sighing in defeat. "fine, i forgive you."
jin-woo smiled, kissing y/n on the lips again. she smiled at his actions before pushing him away, "we should be going now."
⿴݃*₊↷TIMESKIP。
✧∘* ೃ ⋆｡˚.
"whew! took down another one today! i managed to deal with another band of haters trying to smear hyung-nim's name."
"thanks for your hard work." jin-ho screamed when he heard jin-woo's voice. he quickly sat back up, his eyes widening when he saw y/n behind him.
"hyung-nim! miss y/n!"
"hi jin-ho, and please, no need for formalities. just y/n is sufficient." y/n smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.
"everything good?" jin-woo asked jin-ho.
"yes, hyung-nim. why do you look so disheveled?" jin-ho asked jin-woo. he then looked at y/n who looked just as disheveled. his eyes widened and he quickly shouted, "were you two-?!"
jin-woo quickly smacked jin-ho's head, "don't say such things."
y/n chuckled as she said, "we just came back from a gate. jin-woo told me that you needed a bit more money to start your guild. we brought back some essence stones."
jin-ho inspected the bag y/n passed him, his eyes widening at the contents. "some essence stones?! these are premium essence stones! did you two clear a high-ranking gate?!"
y/n shrugged her shoulders, "it was just a b-rank gate. but then it turned to a red gate."
"this should be enough to pay our employee." jin-ho grinned at the essence stones, feeling like he was incredibly rich.
"about that," jin-woo suddenly said which alerted jin-ho. "y/n's our third founding member."
jin-ho immediately dropped the bag of essence stones, his eyes wide. he looked down, muttering, "i feel like i should be the member instead of vice-guild master."
y/n laughed hearing that and she shook her head, "no need for that jin-ho. i'm perfectly fine being just a member of your guild. i'm still one of the founding members at least."
"are you really sure about that y/n? i feel that you should be vice-guild master instead. in fact, why don't you become the master of our guild? hyung-nim, i'm going to need you to step down-"
jin-woo smacked jin-ho's head again, which made the latter pout as he rubbed his head. y/n laughed and nodded her head, "i'm sure about that jin-ho. but have you two decided on the name of the guild?"
the younger male froze at the question. jin-ho and y/n slowly turned to jin-woo, who was still drying his hair. "what?"
"have you chosen a name for our guild?" jin-ho asked.
"oh... i thought it was something important," jin-woo muttered and placed his arms on his waist.
"this is a super-duper important matter, hyung-nim!"
jin-woo continued drying his hair as jin-ho began to ramble. "how about sung-yoo guild after our last names? yoosung guild has a better ring but i can't put my name before yours..."
"what about solo play guild?" at that suggestion, y/n spit out the coffee she was having.
she and jin-ho gave him a look before turning to look at one another. they both shared the same thing in mind. jin-woo was clearly not good at naming the guild.
"how about we ask your sister for this matter? i'm sure she'll have... better suggestions."
"i'm gonna grab some food, i'm starving," jin-ho said and left the room.
y/n stood up, stretching her arms in boredom. "i need something to do."
"we just came out of a red gate, are you that restless?" jin-woo asked, walking towards her and ruffled her hair with the towel he was using.
she grumbled, letting jin-woo dry her hair as he wished. she let out a gasp when jin-woo wrapped the towel around her neck and pulled it to bring her closer to him.
"wanna go train?" he asked.
"sure, i could use the time to get used to my new skill," y/n added.
jin-woo threw the towel onto the couch she was sitting on. he placed an arm around her waist, making sure she was close enough.
"what're you doing?" she asked him.
"trying out something new. stick close to me, got it?" y/n nodded her head, placing her hands onto jin-woo.
"shadow exchange."
the two hunters were soundlessly sucked into the shadows beneath their feet, disappearing from the room. just then, jin-ho entered the room with a plate full of food.
"i brought some food, why don't you- AHHH!"
a high orc soldier stood at jin-woo and y/n's previous position, looking back at jin-ho. it grabbed the plate in jin-ho's hand, chomping it in one go. jin-ho only looked at in shock, before retreating back to the exit.
at the gymnasium, y/n and jin-woo appeared from the ground. y/n looked at him, clearly impressed at the new feat he had covered.
"i fall in love with you even more as days pass." y/n sighed dramatically, placing her hand on her forehead. jin-woo grinned and held her by her waist, "i fall in love with you even more as days pass too."
"oh really? can you prove it, mister jin-woo?" y/n asked with a grin.
"oh, i sure can." y/n placed her hands on jin-woo's cheek as he leaned forward to capture her lips into another sweet, gentle kiss.
[a/n: gun-hee watching this be like: 👁👄👁]
"shall we begin?" jin-woo asked after pulling away.
y/n nodded her head, walking to the opposite side. she summoned her sword from her inventory, swinging it a few times to get her grip.
"igris," jin-woo called and a small portion of his shadow separated. igris rose up from that portion, his position remaining the same.
"either you defeat igris or surrender, sounds good?" jin-woo asked. y/n gave him a nod, placing her sword in front of her as she concentrated. jin-woo was surprised at the surging aura surrounding y/n, noting that she had gotten stronger.
igris unsheathed his sword, getting ready until jin-woo stopped him. he grinned when he gave igris the demon king's longsword. y/n gave a look of disbelief, seeing as igris got an upgrade with his weapon.
"that is unfair!" she exclaimed.
"well, i gotta make the match interesting. you got an upgrade with your skills, so igris gets an upgrade with his weapon." jin-woo shrugged his shoulders and gave her a sly look.
y/n clicked her tongue and got into her stance once again. jin-woo stepped to the side and announced, "begin!"
igris made the first move, swinging the longsword to activate its passive ability. the effect, 'storm of white flames', would activate every time the sword is swung. the effect of 'storm of the white flames' was that a violent thunderstorm would be summoned within a specific area.
a crack of lightning flew in a straight line towards y/n. she activated ruler's protection and reflected the lightning with a flick of her sword. the wall of the gymnasium was scorched jet-black after getting struck by the stray lightning.
y/n twisted her sword, setting it at a specific angle and thrusted her sword forward. a beam of light made its way to igris but he quickly shielded himself using the longsword.
in the main building, gun-hee was busy signing documents at his office. he flinched when he felt a surge of mana coming from the gymnasium.
he looked at it, seeing that all the lights were switched on. i'm sure no one reserved the gymnasium today.
gun-hee tilted his head slightly before picking up his phone to dial his personal assistant.
"yes sir?"
"can you link the gymnasium's internal cctv feed to my office?"
"sure thing sir."
shortly after, the cctv feed was displayed onto the large television that was occupying the entire wall of his office. that's when gun-hee spotted y/n hugging jin-woo at the center of the gymnasium.
when did hunter sung get with my daughter, i-
his eyes widened when he saw the two kissing. he looked away, smiling to himself, "it seems that i've been quite slow to catch on. they must be secretly rendezvousing here, i should give them privacy."
gun-hee picked up his phone again and said to his personal assistant, "i'm sorry but could you turn off all the security cameras in the gymnasium?"
"pardon? but..."
"just write today off as an inspection day."
"understood, sir."
the giant tv screen turned off as soon as gun-hee ended the call. he looked at the framed picture on his table, smiling at it. it was a picture of him and y/n when they were much younger. she was only a child at the time, and she had already been doted on by gun-hee.
"it seems that hunter sung has already captured my daughter's heart." gun-hee spoke before furrowing his eyebrows, "wait, does that mean i'm expecting a grandchild soon-"
a minute later, a tremor came from the gymnasium. the korea flag hung behind gun-hee dropped as his computer shook.
"ah, youth. guess i was right."
jin-woo's mouth was left agape as he looked at the scene before him. just by using ruler's authority, y/n had smashed igris to the wall and cut his arm with just one swing with her sword.
"you can call him out jin-woo," y/n said confidently.
"but you can get hurt. i don't want that to happen," jin-woo responded, expressing his concern.
"it's alright. i know you'll step in before i can get seriously injured." y/n smiled at him and flicked her sword.
jin-woo sighed and nodded his head, "beru."
a tremendous aura overwhelmed the gymnasium with beru's summon. y/n's breath trembled as his appearance and she gripped her sword even tighter.
"i'm asking you one last time. are you sure you're okay with this?" jin-woo slowly questioned once again. y/n nodded her head again, determined to take on beru.
"my liege, what shall i do with her?" beru asked.
"defeat her, but make sure she doesn't get hurt. i won't summon you ever again if she gets hurt." beru quickly nodded his head, not wanting to be forgotten by his master.
beru let out a mighty screech and glass exploded all over them. blade-like claws began extending out from the ends of beru's fingers. jin-woo gave him an unhappy glare as he commanded, "put those away. i won't make life easy for you if you hurt her."
"yes, my liege," beru responded dejectedly, retracting his claws.
beru immediately appeared behind y/n and she struck her sword in front of her. she glared at beru, dodging his claw from above. she quickly pushed him away and slammed him to another wall using ruler's authority. within that short timeframe she had before beru recovered, y/n had twisted her sword once again. she thrusted her sword and a beam of light shot straight towards beru.
beru moved away swiftly, appearing next to y/n. she used ruler's protection and held her sword in front of her. beru's claw pushed against her sword and she quickly used ruler's impediment to burn it.
beru jumped back, looking at his claw. it was gone but was healed unknowingly from jin-woo's mana. while he was distracted, y/n was busy preparing for her next attack. she sprinted towards beru, swinging her sword in his direction. she continued to swing her sword in all different directions, even if it didn't hit beru.
only when y/n stopped in her attacks did beru realise her true goal. while she was busy swinging her sword, spheres of light were left in multiple areas. it illuminated the gymnasium even more and amazed jin-woo with her skill.
when beru flew towards her, y/n disappeared and appeared behind beru. she grinned as beru did the same thing again, this time appearing next to him.
that's right, she can teleport if there are light sources! the spheres of light serves as different sources, meaning she can teleport anywhere within the area.
beru had figured it out the same time jin-woo did and clawed at the sphere nearest to him. but when he did, the sphere burned him once again. beru was frustrated. he couldn't hurt her but there was no way he could win if he couldn't defeat even one sphere of light.
y/n stopped in her tracks, taking deep breaths as her eyes glowed. the gymnasium's lights began to dim and the spheres of light were the only things illuminating the gymnasium.
y/n seemed to have disappeared from her spot since beru couldn't see her anymore. he was alarmed when y/n grabbed onto his arm in a tight hold. he panicked when he remembered when she had done it before.
the spheres of light began to glow brighter as y/n focused her mana into her attack. beru tried to get away but was stuck in his position from ruler's authority.
"ruler's judgement!" beru let out a screech as his arm burned once more. the gymnasium was overwhelmed by the bright light and jin-woo had to close his eyes.
when he opened them, he saw beru on the ground. y/n had used ruler's impediment in a split second, piercing beru in his shoulder.
in that one second, beru had received a quick and simple command. one that was given to him by his queen. annihilate the enemy.
"this woman is my enemy," beru told himself and his claws turned into sharp blades once more. his body grew into giant proportions and his mandibles split wide open as if getting ready to chew metal.
y/n's eyes widened at the sudden change. she knew she had gone too far which caused beru to forget jin-woo's command to not hurt her.
"stop!"
y/n had no time to cast ruler's protection as ten claws reached out to her in less than a second. she closed her eyes in fear, waiting for the impact.
"i told you to stop, didn't i?"
y/n opened her eyes, seeing jin-woo standing between them. he stopped both sets of beru's claws with his bare hands and glared at his shadow soldier.
beru immediately scampered away, not bothering to get rid of y/n's sword in his shoulder.
"are you okay?" jin-woo asked, gently holding y/n's shoulders.
"y-yeah..." she muttered, still feeling the fear in her as she almost got hurt by beru for the second time.
"m-my liege, have mercy...!" beru begged as he kneeled to jin-woo.
jin-woo gave another glare to beru's, crossing his arms at him. "i told you didn't i beru?"
"y-yes, my liege! but something overcame me... i'm truly sorry...!" beru apologised again.
jin-woo hummed as if he was in thinking. y/n looked at him and he gave her a cheeky grin.
"beru, i will not punish you..." jin-woo trailed off and immediately, beru sat up in happiness.
"thank you, my liege!"
"no, don't thank me yet. your punishment lies within y/n's hands."
"huh?" both beru and y/n said at the same time.
"beru, from now on, you will also listen to y/n." beru's eyes widened as he spoke up.
"my liege, but why?" beru questioned, raising one of his hands.
"she is someone that i truly care for, which is also makes her, your liege." y/n felt herself shrink at jin-woo's words.
igris and iron were fun shadows to hang out with. but beru?! the ant king that almost killed me twice?!
jin-woo grinned at y/n's shocked face. she was just as speechless as beru was. beru turned to look at her and she gave a wave in return.
i'm gonna pass out brb.
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