[Enemy Recognized: “Titanic Maw” | Level 28]

“Damn, twenty-eight?!” Yeong-Un let out, seeing the same prompt for himself.

“T-twenty-eight?!” Sol said as well, though his was much more in shock and horror than Yeong-Un’s intrigue.

It continued to let out a bellowing hiss, eyeing them with its crimson, beady eyes as its meaty paws clamped down on the steel flooring, looming over them.

“Looks like this is our target, though,” he said, holding his daggers up as he composed himself.

“Yeah,” Yeong-Un smirked with his sharp teeth, holding his twin broadswords up with spread arms, “Let’s get our pay!”

While the two stood side-by-side, holding their weapons up, squaring off against the goliath of the sewers, Sol held a trembling smile, beginning to back away.

“Err, I, um…I’ll make sure no enemies ambush us–!”

“Like hell ya’ are!” Yeong-Un called out.

The spiky-haired man didn’t hesitate to grab his friend by the back of his umber collar, pulling him back before he could attempt to flee.

“Huh?! Are you trying to kill me?! Seriously, I’ll have an asthma attack! I’ll die and it’ll be your fault! Your fault! You hear me?!” Sol frantically tried to escape.

Yeong-Un wasn’t having any of it, using his brutal physicality to toss Sol up to the front, making him the closest to the morphed alligator.

“Give ‘im hell, Sol!” Yeong-Un smirked.

“Hey, isn’t that a bit much?” He said wryly with a small smile.

“He’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Yeong-Un assured him, resting the dull side of one of his blades on his own shoulder, “He may cry and piss his pants now, but…” his eyes looked forward with belief, “…Sol is actually a pretty damn reliable guy, when it comes down to it.”

It was hard to believe that when looking upon the back of the hazel-haired, leather-armored man whose legs quivered in the face of the behemoth, slowly drawing his ivory spear from behind his back._.

“Help me, help me, help me…”

–The quiet, repeated mumbles from Sol definitely weren’t reassuring anyway.

“I think you might be wrong…” He said.

“Huh? What makes ya’ say that?” Yeong-Un looked at him.

“That…”

They watched as the gargantuan, pale deformed alligator began to crawl forward, spreading its massive maws to reveal an endless valley of jagged, bloodied teeth inside, slick with saliva, all while Sol remained still with shaking legs.

He’s completely frozen with fear! He thought.

“Ah, crap…Hey, Sol! Do something, man!” Yeong-Un called out.

Though it seemed fear had completely taken over Sol as he stood there, quivering and holding his spear as if it were his one and only protective force.

“Weren’t you confident in him just a second ago?!” He asked.

“Well…yeah, but…crap–!” Yeong-Un’s expression hastened with intensity.

–Before the two could act to aid their quivering friend, the towering, pale-scaled alligator was already right in front of Sol, spinning around with speed that didn’t fit its ridiculous stature.

“Crap, crap, crap–!” Sol yelled out.

The thin, sharp spear he wielded wasn’t something meant to be used as a shield, so when he raised it as such against the path of the gargantuan, multi-meter long, thick tail of the crocodilian–it didn’t go well for him.

“Gah!”

With a harsh slam, Sol was knocked away with a brutal force that lifted the soles of his boots from the putrid water, flicking him to the side as he bounced off of the steel walls, crashing off of it and back into the ground.

“Sol!” He yelled out, rushing towards him.

“–” Yeong-Un was silent, not knowing whether to focus on taking down the behemoth alligator or aid his injured companion.

“Hold it off, Yeong-Un!”

–The choice was made by Jeong-Hui, who yelled back at his spiky-haired companion while he rushed to Sol’s side.

“…You got it!” Yeong-Un held his blades, crossing his arms as he wielded the dual swords with a resolved glint in his eyes towards the beast.

He listened to the beginning of the battle between the scarred, youthful man and the alligator as he reached Sol’s position, dropping to his knees as he checked on the condition of the hazel-haired adolescent.

“You okay, man?” He asked, grabbing his shoulder and turning him over.

“Urgh…” Sol groaned, spitting out the sewage water that infiltrated his mouth with a repulsed expression.

He doesn’t look too bad at all. I guess he’s got a pretty high constitution? He thought.

Helping Sol sit upright, he inspected him, not seeing any obvious wounds besides a trail of blood coming down from his forehead.

Though Sol seemed to be a bit groggy and woozy from the impact, swaying side-to-side and only staying upright because he had his hands on the afflicted adolescent’s shoulders.

“Crap, I don’t have any potions…Do you? What’s your health status looking like?” He asked.

“Health status…?” Sol replied groggily.

–

Behind them, in the center of the vast dwelling of sewage water that came in through a plethora of interconnected tunnels, Yeong-Un laughed as he combated the massive, ancient beast, clashing his blades against its massive claws and scales.

–

“Yeah,” he nodded.

Sol’s amber eyes blinked a bit as he looked confused at the question, “Why would I need a potion…?”

Is his head really messed up or something?! You just got whacked by a massive tail, dude! He thought.

“Well, for starters, you’re bleeding from your head,” he told him with a wry chuckle, keeping his hands on his shoulders to stabilize his friend.

For some reason, those words made Sol’s eyes go wide as if a sudden burst of energy birthed itself through his body.

“B-b-bleeding…? Did I hear that right? Is my head just all messed up? It is, isn’t it? Bleeding?!” Sol began talking frantically, placing his face close to his as he spoke without any care for personal space.

He backed away a bit, not expecting such a reaction, “…If you think your head is messed up, why is it so hard for you to believe you’d be bleeding?”

As if cementing this question into the frantic, cowardice-fueled mind of the falsely-bravado adolescent, Sol gulped as he slowly raised his trembling hand, brushing his fingertips against his forehead.

He watched as his hazel-haired, eccentric companion brought his fingertips in front of his gaze, seeing the clear sight of fresh, running crimson on his hand.

“Ah.”

“Ah…?”

That was all that left Sol’s lips before his body suddenly went limp, slumping over as his consciousness left his eyes.

“What the–?! Sol?! Hey, Sol?!” He let out worriedly, shaking his friend’s body by his shoulders.

“Leave him be, fire-head!”

Yeong-Un yelled out while in the midst of battle, continuing to clash with the massive, yet swift beast as he countered one of its claw slashes with a burst of flames from his white-handled blade, sending it back momentarily.

“Huh?! You want me to leave him?!”

As he asked this, he watched as Yeong-Un sprinted over to him, grabbing his arm and having him raise to his feet while the alligator was temporarily stunned by the flames.

“What’s the big idea?”

He rarely fought alongside the two, and when he did, it was usually against easy-to-handle, lower-end Defects that were dealt with swiftly; this was a new experience.

“Ya’ got to trust me on this one,” Yeong-Un gave him a reassuring smile, gazing directly into his eyes.

“…Gotcha,” he hesitantly nodded.

He hesitantly followed alongside Yeong-Un as they faced the great, towering beast clad in scales together.

It already recovered from the burst of flames, seeming undamaged by their heat, only angered as it unleashed a water-vibrating hiss from its jagged-toothed maw.

“Not even those flames hurt it?…This thing is tough,” he commented.

“Damn right it is,” Yeong-Un smiled, “It’s a proper fight!”

They weren’t quite in sync as he was still standing still while Yeong-Un burst forward with incredible, wild speed while his spiky, dark-blue tufts brushed in the swift winds of his own agility.

Yeong-Un spun around, gathering wind pressure around his dual blades as he smiled wide, “Let’s see how ya’ like this one, ya’ overgrown dinosaur!”

Around his white blade, flames formed along its silver, and on the black blade, traces of red lightning forged across the steel. While he spun around to gather force, the two elements seemed to intertwine, forging an unnatural element of chaotic flames and erratic lightning, clad together before being unleashed towards the alligator.

It attempted to part its massive jaws to swallow him in one bite, but was met with an unsavory counter in the form of the merged elements, being propelled by the visceral force of his dual-wielded blades.

“…Take this: Red Tiger, Raging Dragon!”

He could only watch from below, unable to join in the attack as the assault launched from the dual spellblade produced a colossal, powerful impact itself. In its winds, Yeong-Un’s rolled-up, wild coat was brushed by the wind as his sleeveless, mesh-shirt that did little to hide his torso beneath was in full view.

The moment the lightning-infused flames crashed against the scale-clad beast, an explosion roared out, propelling Yeong-Un back as he landed nimbly against the far wall.

Electricity hissed around the orange clouds of flames that engulfed the snow-white beast, infusing the sewage water with that same element as both chaotic forces worked together to seize the beast.

“Holy crap–! Talk about flashy!” He held his arms up, feeling the abrasive winds generated by the attack push against his body.

“Ya’ like that one?” Yeong-Un asked with a bashful grin of his sharp teeth, rubbing the spot between his upper lip and nose as he leapt back beside him.

“Hey, watch out!”

While Yeong-Un was being bashful about his flash skill, he was distracted, forcing him to push the spiky-haired companion of his to the side, causing them both to stumble over.

“What’s the big idea, fire-head…?!” Yeong-Un stood himself up.

But, the scar-covered adolescent witnessed what the purpose of his friend’s action was as through the billowing center of fulminating flames, the massive, armored arm of the beast stretched out, slamming where they previously stood with force that would’ve surely crushed them.

“…The damn thing is still goin’…?” Yeong-Un asked quietly.

“Looks like it,” he said, catching his breath as he straightened himself up before taking off in a dash the moment the flames settled, “Back me up, Yeong-Un!”

It didn’t even have to be said; Yeong-Un smiled at this turn of events, smacking his two blades together, “Hell yeah!”