Micah, seeing Ji Ung covered in blood and stumbling, immediately shouted, "Get the kit box! Now!"
Bonnds rushed out of his tent. "What is it—are you hurt?" he asked, but then he stopped. His eyes widened as he saw Ji Ung's injured and looming figure moving toward them through the rain.
Micah ran toward him, trying to keep his voice steady over the downpour. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Where's Nat?" Bonnds asked, scanning the surroundings.
"Over there," Ji Ung answered weakly.
Behind him, Naran's limp body lay face down in the mud, unconscious.
Bonnds sprinted toward Naran with others close behind. Together, they lifted the boy carefully and carried him into a tent. They applied ointment to his wounds, working quickly. The same was done for the unconscious child Naran had carried.
Meanwhile, Ji Ung collapsed to one knee, gasping for breath.
"What happened?" Micah asked, crouching beside him. "And where did you find the kid?"
"Enough with the questions—let him rest," Coroules said sharply, eyeing Ji Ung's condition.
"No... it's fine," Ji Ung replied, forcing himself upright. His voice was low but firm. "This is something you all need to hear."
Micah's eyes narrowed. "Did you find it?"
The air grew heavy. The entire tent fell silent. The answer Ji Ung gave next could determine not just their mission—but the fate of everyone they cared about.
Ji Ung looked up with grim eyes. "Yes. We found it."
Relief flooded the room—but it was short-lived.
"…But getting it is beyond impossible," Ji Ung added, his tone turning somber.
The silence shattered. Disbelief and dread crept into the eyes of everyone present.
"What do you mean impossible?" Coroules asked, stepping closer.
Ji Ung lowered his head and began recounting what had happened inside the Wolves' Den...
When he finished, Bonnds shook his head slowly. "That doesn't sound impossible. Difficult, yes—but doable. If we avoid the wolves like you did, maybe we can—"
"That's not all," came a soft voice.
Everyone turned as Naran limped into the tent, one arm bandaged and his expression cold and shaken.
"That's not all that happened…" he repeated.
He paused, looking down.
"We were played."
Flashback
Ji Ung and Naran moved quietly through the side paths of the Wolves' Den, avoiding the trail they had used earlier. This time, they weren't retreating—they were pushing deeper.
Suddenly, Ji Ung stopped cold.
Naran noticed and turned. "What is it? Why'd you stop?"
Ji Ung didn't move. His eyes scanned the shadows.
"…Don't you feel it?" he asked.
"Feel what?" Naran replied, confused.
Then it hit them. The air shifted—dense, heavy. An unnatural pressure closed in on them like invisible chains.
Naran looked around nervously. "What is this pressure…?"
"I don't know," Ji Ung said, "but I've felt it ever since we entered the Den."
The pressure grew, like a storm building around them. Then—something moved.
Their heads slowly tilted up.
A towering, monstrous wolf emerged from the trees. Muscles like coiled steel. Eyes glowing a deep, blood-red.
An evolved Lycan.
It stared down at them—silent, calculating, like a predator examining its next meal.
"What… is that?" Naran whispered.
"Whatever it is… just pray it doesn't attack," Ji Ung muttered.
They both turned and ran.
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
Behind them came the thundering of paws—not just the Lycan.
Naran looked back and froze.
It wasn't one. It wasn't ten.
It was dozens.
A swarm of Wiren wolves, not corrupted—but large, vicious, and many. They came crashing through the underbrush, chasing with wild snarls and glowing eyes.
They were surrounded.
Some wolves caught up, biting into their legs. Naran kicked wildly, trying to fend them off, but there were too many. Ji Ung turned, grabbing the unconscious child and hurling him into Naran's arms.
He unsheathed his twin blades.
"Go!" he shouted.
Ji Ung charged into the horde, blades slicing, trying to buy Naran time. His arms moved like lightning, blood flying in all directions. He slashed, parried, blocked—taking the full weight of the attack.
He was ready to die.
But Naran wasn't ready to let him.
Seeing Ji Ung begin to falter, Naran searched frantically for a plan—then he saw it. A massive boulder nearby.
Strapping the unconscious boy to his back, Naran sprinted to the rock. He braced himself and pushed with everything he had.
More wolves broke past Ji Ung. One sank its fangs into Naran's arm. Gritting his teeth, he stabbed it with his dagger and threw it away.
Then he ran forward again, straight into two wolves. One lunged—he stabbed it in the eye. The other slashed—he blocked with his arm and drove his blade into its chest.
The third tackled him to the ground, biting into his shoulder. Screaming in pain, Naran kicked it off, rolled, and got back to his feet.
The beast pounced again.
But this time, Naran sidestepped, leapt onto its back, and with a final cry—
stabbed his dagger straight into its skull.
The creature fell.
And Naran stood there, bloodied, breathless—alive.
Naran turned back, knowing he had to get ji ung's attention.
Exhausted and bloodied, Ji Ung had slain countless wolves, yet their numbers seemed endless. He could only hope Naran had made it far enough to deal with the ones that slipped past him. Resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes—until a voice cut through the chaos.
"Ji Ung, run!"
He spun around to see Naran, bleeding and frantic, waving him forward. Without thinking, Ji Ung's body reacted, surging toward him. Naran sprinted back toward the boulder, heart pounding. "This has to work.'
The wolves lunged, teeth snapping at Ji Ung's legs and back, but sheer desperation drove him forward. As he ran, loose pebbles skittered down around him. He glanced up—an unstable cliff side loomed overhead, rocks trembling on the edge.
Naran slammed his weight against the boulder.
CRACK
The landslide began.
Ji Ung stumbled, crashing to the ground as debris rained down. He looked up just in time to see a wolf mid-leap, jaws wide—
BOOM.
A boulder crushed the beast in an explosion of blood. More rocks followed, crushing wolves beneath the avalanche. Dust billowed as the last of the rubble settled, sealing the pack beneath the wreckage.
"Get up already."
Naran's voice snapped Ji Ung from his daze. He staggered to his feet, coughing. Before he could speak, Naran swayed—then collapsed.
"After Naran passed out, I carried him back," Ji Ung finished.
"Shit. You guys have been through hell,"Bonnds muttered.
The group fell silent, the weight of their situation pressing down. Charging into the wolves' den wasn't just dangerous—it was suicide.
"The giant lycan… that's why it's impossible, isn't it?" Micah asked, curiosity flickering behind his fear.
"And the wolves," Naran added weakly.
"Corrupted or not, that many wolves would overwhelm anyone," Bonnds said.
The reality sank in. They'd have to fight an army of beasts and a monstrous lycan. The air grew heavy with dread.
Coroules clenched his fists. There had to be another way. Naran and Ji Ung had barely survived—would the rest of them fare any better?
"What's the deal with the kid?" Bonnds suddenly asked.
"Just some boy we found in the den. Nothing special," Ji Ung shrugged.
"And he's alive?"
Naran and Ji Ung exchanged glances. They hadn't questioned it before—why hadn't the wolves torn him apart?
"Probably saved as food for their cubs," Micah mused. "A snack for later."
"Enough about the boy," Micah interrupted. "We need to prepare."
"You're not seriously suggesting we go back?" Bonnds asked worriedly.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Micah answered
"Are you stupid? I'm not dying in there!"
Before Micah could retort, Coroules' voice cut in, cold and sharp.
"Do we even have a choice?"
Bonnds stiffened. "What do you mean by that mister coroules."
"You want to give up now? Fine—I understand how you feel. But give up for what? To go home… and watch your family die? The same family that placed their trust in you? The friends who are praying—begging—for you to come back alive and save them?
You want to turn your back on that? Because you're scared?
What about our brothers? Our comrades? The ones who died to get us this far? You want to make their sacrifice meaningless? They had families too. And they believed in us—they believed we would protect what they left behind.
But now… you want to quit?
Run away from fear?
Run to what? Death by another man's hand? A monster's fangs? A slow death, filled with regret?
No. Not me.
If I die, I die on my own terms. Not as a coward. Not as someone who betrayed the trust placed in him.
I'll die fighting—for them. For the people who believed in me. Because that's how I choose to go out.
Not a coward. Not a traitor.
But someone who did everything he could. To the very end."
Coroules stepped forward, voice steady, eyes burning.
"Choice is a stupid bitch," he said. "I won't ask any of you to fight to your last breath. But I will.
Even if I have to go in there alone—I'll give it everything I've got.
Even if it's the last damn thing I ever do."