Chapter 29

Three 8-foot-tall Hyenas emerged.

They snarled menacingly, their glowing orbs glaring at us as their jaws covered with foam.

We instantly pulled out our weapons, pointing towards them. Not succumbing to their intimidating appearance.

"What do we do?" panicked Seungjae.

"We have no choice but to fight," I said, in a chary state.

"I've never fought monsters like these before," Yuto admitted, shifting his gaze to me in terror. "What are they?"

"I've only heard this from Heric and Angela. With their yellow-orange stripes and electric antennas, these are no doubt Electric Hyenas."

One of the most dangerous hyenas and one of the most endangered creatures in the gaming world. It attacks with an electric shock that electrocutes at a thousand volts. Enough to kill whatever is in its path.

"They're dangerous, so keep cautious," I said as they returned their attention to the hyenas. These monsters snarled at us, as if they were ready to pounce at any moment.

Minjoon began with his 'Vision' power, staring intensely at the Hyenas in front of him, but due to the electric field protecting the beasts, he wasn't able to trace where their hearts were.

As that was happening, Yuto directed his familiar, Spy, to deliver a message to Seongho about our condition in the castle's kitchen.

He then drew out his Katana blade, charging his power within him at the same time, while chanting, "Time." His eyes became bionic as his surroundings slowed in his perception.

He charged for the nearby Hyena, but just as he was set to slice the monster up, an electric force shielded it. This sent him flying back, and his body slammed into the cottage wall.

"Yuto!" I yelled frantically as I dashed towards him to restore his health.

When everyone's attention was drawn to the injured lad, one of the Hyenas took the opportunity to attack. Its target is Seungjae.

The boy noticed the monster approaching him at a lightning-fast pace. In a panic, he tried to attack with his cold fire, but the monster evaded everything.

In response, the hyena launched an electric bolt at him. Geomjeong emerged from his master's shadow meters before the bolt's point hit the boy. Receiving the hit, electrocuting him.

Seungjae's eyes widened in horror as he realized what had occurred. "Geomjeong-ah!" he cried as he rushed to his partner.

Sujin stood vigilant over his hunt-mate, Snow, by his side as his partner snarled menacingly at the Hyenas.

When he saw his master weeping, the panther sought to console him with a feeble whimper. After I was done with our samurai, I headed to them next.

"I'll help," I murmured as I knelt beside him. Seungjae moved his partner closer to me as he sniffed and wiped his tears with the back of his hand, trying to get his act together.

Yuto and Minjoon joined Sujin in guarding Seungjae and me as I aided the beast.

"What do we do? They're too strong," Minjoon worriedly asked.

To be honest, I didn't know what to do either. Despite the fact that I entered the game months before they did, this was my first interaction with these monsters.

I used to believe that electric hyenas didn't exist and that they were all part of Angela's stories to scare Heric and me on our mission, but not until today.

[Author’s P.O.V]

Spy has located Seongho in the mountains with Milton by his side, hawking to draw their attention.

"Isn't that Yuto's familiar?" Milton inquired as he noticed the eagle above them.

The beast descended and landed on Seongho's arm. It was his first time carrying an eagle, and the weight of the creature surprised him with how hefty it was.

Nonetheless, he was still strong enough.

He was given a little, rolled-up piece of paper to read by Milton. What they assumed was a warm message turned out to be the opposite.

They showed the letter to Angela. She acted fast, wrote down the monster's flaws on paper, and returned it to the eagle.

She then tasked Milton with following the eagle and bringing back some healing formulas for any injured individuals.

Yejoon, along with the other injured knights, were brought to the medics at the same time.

Normal fire, for some reason, will not help unfreeze his leg and will instead burn him rather than heal him. So they decided to bring him to the evacuation site and entrust him to the doctors of the Medicine Clan, Joseph and Angela.

While he was being treated, his huntsmen were still fighting the dragon on the battlefield. But fret not; they had a plan.

The strategy began with Heric attracting the dragon's attention. When he successfully did his job, Jiwoo and Jiho, who were hiding behind the monster, utilized water and aimed it at its leg.

Jun then used his ice element to freeze the dragon in place, while Heric used his wind power to help make the ice considerably stronger and indestructible.

This strategy was employed as Jaeseong used his illusion ability and vehicle to assist the boys as they rode around the dragon till they reached the top.

Jiho's plan, which was to take advantage of the dragon's element and turn it into its weakness, worked brilliantly. With a collective effort, they successfully froze the 20-meter-tall Winter Dragon in no time.

As this was happening, the monster was roaring furiously, attempting to break free from the ice they had produced. However, the boys remained unsympathetic as they exterminated the creature who had harmed, killed, and frozen hundreds of people in this kingdom.

The dragon's roar gradually muted as the boys continued to freeze its body from head to toe until it froze within and died.

"Ready when you are," Heric responded.

They had Jiho on standby for the final elimination seconds after they finished freezing it. Using his 'Creator' power, he created an artillery gun, aimed it at the frozen dragon, and then shot.

Shattering the ice with the dragon and saving the village and kingdom, all screamed at their victory when the battle had successfully ended and peace had been restored.

***

[Yumi’s P.O.V]

Yuto’s familiar had returned along with Milton. He provided us the healing formula, and we were able to fully recover Geomjeong's health as well as Yuto's.

The samurai removed the paper from his partner's necklace, rolled it open, and revealed a message that said, 'Water.'

"Angela wrote that; she said it was the only weakness these monsters have," Milton explained further.

Which made perfect sense: electricity, when dipped with water, quickly kills every living thing that comes across the puddle.

However, after witnessing the electric energy that surrounded these monsters, we must devise another method of approaching them without them obstructing us.

They're intelligent, but we were far more so. I smiled smugly at the strategy in my head, and I needed my hunt-mates to assist me.

"Seungjae, Sujin, use your vocals to slumber," I instructed.

"Slumber? Why?" Sujin inquired, but the Hyenas began charging their power as electricity bolts massaged their murderous bodies.

"Quick!" I exclaimed, and the two singers started singing something soft for their slumber, and their beautiful soothing vocals gradually put the monsters to sleep."

They were resisting the attack, but no matter how hard they tried, the combined force of the Songist pair was stronger than theirs, and they soon went into deep sleep.

Now that they were unconscious, we could proceed with our attack plan with ease, knowing our enemies wouldn’t hurt us.

I explain my strategy to them. The main objective is to bury the monster with water. Then, we wake up the monsters and upset them so that their electric volts charge up, hopefully electrocuting them to their demise.

"But wouldn't it be easier to just kill them with our bare hands now that they're unconscious?" Yuto stated. It is true that the monster was now in a vulnerable state that was bursting with loopholes.

"That may seem to be the case, but that unfortunately won't work," I responded.

"Why not?" Minjoon inquired.

"That's what Angela had told Heric and me. If you want to do so, be my guest."

Minjoon shrugged his shoulders and approached the sleeping monsters, summoning his knife to his hand in the process.

He kneeled and attempted to touch the Hyena's body, but it gave the boy a bit of a shock. This caused him to swiftly remove his hand as he landed on his rear. Hissing in pain, he rubbed his hand to relieve the sting.

"Are you okay?" Yuto inquired, alarmed.

"It still electrocutes you even though they're asleep," Minjoon explained.

Seeing that near combat wasn't going to work, Sujin sighed. "I'll go grab some water," he stated, while the rest of the boys followed him inside to collect buckets of water and splash it on the hyenas.

Seongho came back a split second later. Now that their battle with the dragon was over, he rushed over to help us fight the hyenas. He was surprised to see us unharmed as we were in the middle of following our plan, throwing water on the beasts.

"Is the battle over?" he inquired, perplexed.

"Not quite," I said, further perplexing the knight.

"What do you mean?"

"We just have to wake them up," I replied as I used my abilities to create a boulder with my imagination and flung it at the three sleeping monsters.

"You know, we could've just used your imagination power to create something to eliminate these monsters from afar," Seungjae told me.

"That is, if we have Angela by our side, she could move items freely for us." I replied, "But for now, it's best to stick to what our expert wrote." I continued to toss rocks at the Hyenas. The boys helped, and we kept throwing until they woke up.

As soon as they awoke, they immediately snarled and grew defensive. They were enraged. However, this wasn't nearly enough rage we needed.

So we kept hurling rocks at them at a much faster and stronger rate until we could see them charging their electric force.

Just as Angela advised, they electrocuted themselves as they increased their electric strength, killing them instantaneously.

Their agonizing cries resonated through the forest till they dropped dead on the ground.

"Instant kill!" exclaimed Seongho gleefully.

I headed to them to dismember their skin, hearts, and meat to sell at the Poffice Guild. These creatures were quite rare, and I hope to be well compensated for them.

***

The next day, the village continued to recover from yesterday's fierce battle. The citizens were laboring to repair what the dragon had damaged, and doctors were tending to the injured with the support of the King and Queen.

We couldn't just leave Yejoon in the gaming realm, so we stayed. Because of the battle, his left leg was paralyzed, and we are uncertain what will happen if he leaves the game with the injuries.

While we waited for his recovery, we decided to venture out to Holland Kingdom to take on the job for the prince's 20th birthday.

But first, we went to the place where all the injured knights and hunters were laid to heal after the battle. To alert Angela and Joseph to our journey.

Among the injured patients was our musician. He appeared at ease in bed as he observed the other nurses treating their patient next door.

He noticed us coming in and heard us yell his name as we waved. He returned our greeting with a wave and a smile.

"How is our reckless musician doing?" Sujin jokes.

"Cold and bored, but I can manage it," he answered, adding, "Did you bring me anything? I'm going insane from boredom."

"Yep! I brought seven books with me with different stories to keep you entertained during your stay here," Heric stated as he handed him a bag with those books inside.

He looked inside the bag and nodded in approval. “Well, this is enough, I guess," he remarked.

"I still can't believe you did something so reckless." Jaeseong then sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Someone had to do it, so I volunteered," Yejoon said while giving an unbothered shrug.

Angela visited seconds later to observe how Yejoon was doing after the youngster swallowed medicine to help thaw his immobilized limb an hour before.

"Noona, how is Yejoon doing?" Seongho inquired as she approached.

‘Noona’ is what men call a woman who is older than them, and ‘Unnie' is used for other women who are older than them. When the boys realize Angela is three years older than the 1995 liner, they begin to address her with respect.

"He's doing quite well, actually!" she exclaimed.

"Do you need to amputate it?" I inquired, startling the youngster.

"AMPUTATE?" shouted Yejoon, his eyes widening in fear.

However, Angela instantly denied, saying, "No, no, no! That is not necessary."

Yejoon felt relieved when he heard that.

"But he does still need to stay here for a week more until he fully heals," she continued.

It was a relief to learn that Yejoon's injury was minor and treatable. I wasn't sure what would happen if he couldn't heal.

We were all concerned that his injuries here would be permanent when we returned to the earthly realm. Because they were idols, he needed to use his legs to perform on stage.

Now that we've seen and heard the latest update on his injury, we're all set to travel to Holland Kingdom.

I huffed in contentment. "Well, we'll be leaving him with you for a couple of days, if you don't mind," I said.

"Are you going somewhere?" Yejoon inquired.

"Minjoon and I were invited to cook for the prince's birthday party in Holland," I explained.

"Holland?" Angela exclaimed in shock. "That's far from here!"

"How far is it?" Minjoon inquired.

"It'll take you a day and a half to arrive there from here."

"A day and a half?" The boy yelled, dumbstruck, then returned my gaze. "Did you know about this?" he inquired.

In response, I nodded. "The length from here to there is as long as Kagoshima to Sapporo. If airplanes would have existed here, then it would've taken about 5 hours," I went on to say.

"Will you both go alone?" Yejoon inquired once more.

"Nope. Jiwoo Hyung, Jaeseong Hyung, Milton, Seungjae, Jun Hyung, and Heric—about six other boys—will be joining our trip," Minjoon responded.

They decided to come along to explore more of the gaming realm because they had nothing to do in the cabin while waiting for Yejoon's recovery.

It was still snowing in our kingdom, so we packed some essential garments and covers to keep us warm.

We've also included ingredients from our front yard garden, as well as additional components provided by the royal family.

And, of course, we brought our traveler's ID, which would act as our passport for this journey.

We were ready to travel once everything was packed inside our self-designed carriage.

This carriage, however, was not your typical carriage. It was long and cozy. We had developed something that looked like a combination between a royal carriage and a limousine.

This time, Jaeseong was our driver, and he rode from the inside so we wouldn't have to rely on our familiars to shiver in the cold.

Then, when he becomes exhausted and numb from driving, we can have Minjoon take over while Milton stays by their side, assisting them with directions, since he is our human compass.

Because cars did not yet exist in this reality, there was no oil to utilize as fuel to start the engine. Therefore, we utilized our abilities to design an engine that runs on water as its fuel.

That way, we can use Jun's water element anytime it runs out of fuel along the road.

***

It was the second day of our trip; the sun had set, and it had quickly become night. We decided to put an end to our journey and prepare for dinner and bed.

We were only an hour away from the kingdom, but we weren't in a hurry, so we opted to rest and resume our journey early the next morning.

"Let's make dinner and eat; I'm starving!" Seungjae said after Jaeseong had parked the carriage somewhere safe for them to spend the night.

Before we moved our belongings outside, I built a little snow barrier to keep us safe. We needed the warmth of a fire to survive this winter, but in order for it not to be put out, this was necessary for us to do.

After erecting the barrier, we headed outside and coordinated to build a tiny and cozy tent for a couple of us to relax in while we ate our dinner around the campfire.

Jun utilized his fire element to light the fire camp in the center to keep us all warm, and we also prepared our dinner over the fire.

I prepared some meat for our excursion, and Minjoon grilled it all for us as we conversed under the stars.

Although this was Heric and my first time camping, the Arkane boys were used to it. Because of their job as K-pop idols, they created video content with a campfire mood, which added a sentimental aura to the video.

Since it was our first time, the boys taught us basic activities to do during a campfire.

They use garden lights to create a pleasant atmosphere around us by hooking them onto a pole and the carriage.

It was the coziest campfire we'd ever experienced, with the carriage and tent by our sides and the wooden chairs ringing the blaze in the center.

They taught us how to prepare smores and shared scary stories, whether fiction or nonfiction; it sent a wave of goosebumps all over.

We walked out of the barrier and started making snow angels and building snowmen, which rapidly evolved into a snowball fight to determine which huntsmen will sleep in the tent.