Patching the Distance

by Nasha Rei-Kun

The whole point of the [System] had been to give Sung Jin-Woo gifts of power to prepare him for a role that would lead to a great loneliness at the peak of his world. Yet an addition, a man, a 'simple' addition that could have meant NOTHING... Had meant EVERYTHING. The man who kept up with him, who kept him grounded, who kept his HUMANITY, his uncle. Xover with 'Solo Leveling'.

5. Towering Challenges

~NRK~

Listening to Obito's otherworldly explanation, Jin-Woo just sat beside his uncle with a thoughtful frown.

"I have to assume it's some kinda barrier made by my power, at least, that's what it has to be. You said you saw static and stuff, the same energy as the [Demon Tower]?" The Reawakened man asked.

"That's what it looked like," the older man said, looking at Cerberus's Fang with a sort of determined stare. "... I'm not going to be trying to push that boundary, not now," Obito said as his nephew blinked before nodding with a solemn look. "We don't know what'll happen and I have to be here to ensure you're all safe. I don't need such a ridiculous amount of potential if it's going to take me away from you all. For now, I'll draw up some schematics about the weapons… Or a weapon I just got an idea for if I can make it work."

The younger man perked up as Obito chuckled.

"You want in?"

"Definitely."

~NRK~

The following morning, Obito nodded to the Sung siblings as they all prepared to head out.

Wearing a tight-fitting long-sleeved black top, dark blue jeans, and a pair of dark brown boots, Jin-Woo adjusted a pair of black gloves on his hands.

"I-I'm freaking out!" Jin-Ah said with a shaky robotic stretch, the girl trembling as she turned to the two. "Guys!"

Wearing a tight dark gray shirt, a silver chestplate, tight-looking black pants with a brown harness around her waist and thighs for her shield, knee-high black open-toed sandal-boots she kind of loved out of nowhere when her uncle made them, and some black gloves, Jin-Ah put her hair up in a ponytail as she messed with her greatsword's handle, the sword in a thick-looking black strap holster.

"You'll be fine," Obito said with a smile, adjusting his collar. "Your brother literally has all the protection you need. Almost hilariously so," he chuckled as Jin-Woo grinned.

Wearing a pair of black pants with scaly knee pads, colored gray, on the knees, black normal 'shoe' versions of her open-toed boots, a tight gray sleeveless top that reached up to the middle of his neck, his own pair of black gloves, and golden bicep bangles, he nodded to the fang in his spatial pocket even if that had been providing a weird set of feedback.

'Hopefully, it's nothing,' Obito thought. "Alright, we'll head to the Hunters for now."

Taking their leave from their apartment, Jin-Woo lifted up Jin-Ah as he and Obito stepped onto the railing outside their home.

The girl looked ready to BELIEVE!

They pushed off, falling some stories before they landed, the Reawakened putting his sister down as they continued on.

"I-I wonder how long it'll take me before I can do that."

"With your focused reinforcement, niece, it might not be that far off," Obito said as she nodded, realizing what he meant.

"W-Will I gain super-muscles?" Jin-Ah wondered with a cupped chin. "I mean, Hunter bodies are supposedly way higher on the scale, ya know? Their limits aren't the same as their bodies beforehand."

"In a way, I'm surprised," her brother said as they walked off. "I mean, isn't the 'Awakening' only spiritual?"

"Is it?" Obito considered. "When you think about it, you'd probably be right for Mages and Healers but Assassins? Tanks? Fighters? Their bodies clearly gain some physical increase. Hell, as we'd all know, our bodies, even an E-Rank's, is still greater than a normal human's. If E-Ranks are, say, five-times stronger than an average person, that alone makes them greater than the former greatest athletes."

"I… Actually, I never thought about that," Jin-Woo considered with a look of shock. "I-I… I never saw it, you know? I was the 'Weakest' Hunter. I couldn't even beat magic beasts on my own."

"Due to their make-up," Obito reminded him. "And your lack of magical abilities. I believe that, had they not needed magic to kill them, you'd have been fine. It was sadly the pros and cons of your situation."

The younger man hummed as they reached an intersection before going across the street.

"Still, now that's not the case, oppa," Jin-Ah said. "So, what will you do?" She asked, confusing him for a moment before he looked ahead with a thoughtful hum.

"I… I'm sure that, if I got myself re-evaluated," he began. "I'd be an A-Rank now, Igris is an elite A-Rank at the moment and I know, for a fact, that he and I are still on equal standing. So, with all my power, I'm close," Jin-Woo declared with narrowed eyes. "But I won't do anything, not until I'm S-Rank," he whispered.

"It'd be for the best, you're right," Obito agreed. "If you did it now, you're revealing everything. You've clearly got an idea about that. The fact remains, how will you know?"

"I'm not sure, I've never considered it but I don't know how to calculate an S-Rank. It's not like the normal magic power system as you've shown isn't all that accurate. Without accounting for skills, normal stats, experience, and even just presence, I'm not sure."

"Yeah, it sounds super-complex," Jin-Ah said.

Their walk turned into a run, the three reaching intersections and crossing them with single breaths between each.

Jin-Ah was awed by this speed as Jin-Woo and Obito nodded beside her.

"Your magic power… I wonder if it's not specialized," the [Player] said to the other two as they skirted a corner in unison, taking off again. "You're not feeling tired at all, are you?"

"H-Huh?" Jin-Ah blinked as they jumped, slid, or rolled over a bus booth, the girl doing the second one in an insane act of flexibility and control. "U-Um, actually, I don't think so? But I might know why?" She said as they continued on. "I'm filling my lungs, muscles, and bones with healing magic."

"It's like you don't have a healing spell but a healing network," Obito connected as the siblings looked surprised. "When you think about it, why would healing energy run through her body? That's not how magic works. It's usually magical energy which doesn't really carry its spells' effects but that's not the case for Jin-Ah."

Jin-Woo's eyes widened at the idea. 'Wait… What'd happen if I ran my shadow abilities through my body?' Would that work? Was it possible?

He didn't know but dammit, Jin-Woo was excited at the idea of stretching his powers out more than just by leveling up!

Their run didn't last much longer as the trio made it to the Hunters' HQ, going inside the large fenced-off area the large guild had for relaxing, practicing, and even social interaction.

The last of which had Jin-Woo grinning as Ki-Hoon came over with a chuckle.

"Finally," the Tank said with a look of relief as the [Player] laughed.

"I-It took you a while but I get it, work and play don't always mesh together," Jin-Woo said as they knocked knuckles. "What's up for you guys today?"

"Well, amongst everything else? We've just been practicing with hyung's Lite Wrath Orbs," Ki-Hoon said with a grin, the item currently hanging around his neck on a cord. "Turns out, you can have it like this and just activate it. It's so useful because I don't wanna test my shield being damaged, you know?"

"I get it."

"Welcome!" Cheung greeted cheerfully, Ki-Hoon jumping and then blushing heavily at an… implication that was happening behind him. "Nice~," she shot him double-thumbs-up as he burned harder.

Jin-Woo's eyebrows rose. "Whoa… Wait, you two…?" He asked, shocked.

Cheung grinned with red cheeks as Ki-Hoon chuckled embarrassedly.

"Y-Yeah, for the past half a year, actually," he admitted as Jin-Woo crossed his arms with a raised-brow smile. "T-Things just seemed to happen, yeah? One moment, we're in a dungeon, next moment we're just talking a lot and everything spiraled from there."

"Spiraled, eh?" She 'warned' with a grin, Ki-Hoon's expression going flat.

"Yes, spiraled, I don't know what happened. I just know, all of a sudden, I have a girlfriend."

"You're so cold!" Cheung giggled with a gleam in her eye he feared.

"H-Hey, hyung!" The Tank quickly diverted with a waterfall of sweat falling down his brow. "Help!"

Jin-Ah started laughing.

~NRK~

And then grew intrigued as Ki-Hoon and Cheol took her through some Tanking etiquette.

"Man, your family's something else," the red Tank said as Obito nodded beside him.

"I don't know what's happening but I'm sure it'll all meet together and be fine," he smiled as the other man chuckled, Jin-Woo currently showing off his summoning ability to Cheung and another mage who could summon things. "I have the oddest feeling that, when I do find their father, this family might get put on the map for some reason."

"Hunches are usually like that."

"Don't I know it?"

"Hyung, welcome," Jong-In smiled as he came over, took one look at both Sung siblings, and grew confused. "What?"

Obito considered his words before nodding to the 'appropriate' explanation. "So, you'd never believe it but Jin-Woo turned out to be more of a Mage than a Fighter," he smirked as the S-Rank Mage perked up. "Yes, he can summon the mana of his enemies if they've died, like tons of monsters," he smiled as the fire-user's eyes grew calculative.

"Is. That. So?"

"Hey, it's his choice, not mine. Shoot your shot."

"I will," the guild master said as he dramatically walked over to Jin-Woo.

"Crazy idea," Cheol said with a sweatdrop that showed through his helmet. "I don't think he's going to join us," he looked around as Obito raised an impressed eyebrow. "Come now, we both know better than that. I'm surprised the Guild Master is so eager about a crazy story like that but he is still young and he believes in you. But, be realistic, he Reawakened, didn't he?" He whispered.

"Yes, sadly, I can't just out my nephew. Besides, he wants to see how far his power truly reaches before he gets re-evaluated. He is planning on it, by the way."

"So, really, it's just a matter of time?"

The Mage nodded as they looked out at the trying-to-be-very-persuasive Jong-In talking with a sweatdropping Jin-Woo.

"Yeah, he's gonna get shot down, ow."

Obito laughed.

---

Evening was only a few hours away and seemed to come pretty quickly, the Sung siblings bowing to their uncle and co. before they left.

"Alright, I gotta go and put the fear of the Gates into a little girl," Jin-Woo said with a happy expression as Gina shot him a shaky smile.

"Please, be easy on her, you can't just, say," she began with a slowly growing grin he reciprocated. "You know? Put in her an easy trap but make sure she's got no idea what's going on?"

"Why are they like this?" Ki-Hoon asked nervously. "D-Dude, don't go to the dark side! Noona does to all of us already!"

"Hmm? Put her in a dark place, great idea, Ki-Hoon!"

"No, you lying bastard, you know what I'm saying!"

Jin-Ah chuckled as Song-Yi came around the corner, took one look at the group, and gawked.

"T-This is insane," she said as the siblings walked up to her with smiles aplenty. "... H-Hmph, you can't stop me."

"Wouldn't dream of it," the older 'E-Rank' grinned knowingly as she began to sweat. "Now, come on, times-a-wastin' and my lead might be terrified if I'm late."

As they left, Obito nodded to Gina.

"I've been working on some stuff," he told her as they watched the group disappear from sight before going to the forge. "It's not wrong to say, I'm making headway on my weapons. I've figured something out."

The trip to the forge was long but the two stayed in companionable silence for the duration of it until they got there.

"I made the molds and the like, I'm going with a pair of sickles," Obito explained as he opened the doors into the heat within, the two of them going in without issue. "The issue is, well, I'm going to need more heat and compression. I already called Jong-In, he's just a bit busy with some paperwork."

"I see," the woman said as they stopped by the table inside and saw the fang. "This is from the [System], right?"

"Yes. It's the fang of Cerberus, the guard of the S-Rank tower we'd gone to."

"Hmm, I'm seeing where you're going with this," Gina frowned. "I never considered it, ya know? But, really, we're going to need a better forge."

"That's going to cost money, unfortunately. It's something we're currently trying to haggle the specialized construction crew for. Right now, it's literally 300 billion Won," he explained as she cringed. "Yes, it's that big of a payment. If we were to do it, we'd basically have to deplete our emergency funds to still have moving money in the markets."

"Damn, that's rough," she frowned. "I guess it's because we're a guild, right?"

"Yes, the specialized blacksmiths, sweetheart," he smiled as she blushed but grinned at the pet name. "So, for now, when Jong-In comes in, we can try to heat-up the bigger molds. For now, let me see your sash?"

Retrieving it, Obito took the enchanted item over to another anvil where a series of iron, fist-sized, circle plates sat.

She was intrigued as she leaned over his shoulder. "Love, what are those?" Gina asked, looking at the five items. "... Wait, those look like normal metal plates?"

"Seemingly so," Obito chuckled as he went to work of grabbing each one, threading thick power thread through them, and then pulled a Low-Level Spirit Core out of the air and put it into the plate in the middle of her sash where it was reinforced by black embroidery.

"?"

He kept working despite her confusion, each plate he added getting the same treatment as the one before.

By the end of it, the five plates sat in perfect distance from one another via a good sense of design.

"There, your sash is now a Spirit Belt," Obito told her, picking it up and fastening it around her waist, forehead to his fellow Mage lover. "I've found out something else about them, two things," he smiled for her as Gina raised a brow before pecking him on the lips.

"You're drumming up tension, just drop the newest 'bomb' you've figured out," she smirked as he chuckled.

"They can hold things," Obito said, surprising her. "I figured out how to 'program' them to, sort of, self-possess into a container. By holding it to the plate, you can keep your hands free of things. Next, the cores resonate with one another duo to the uniqueness of my magic," he continued as she crossed her arms in interest. "Think about it, despite all coming from monsters of their own right, they have 'sharing lines' between them. I assessed that part and realized that, by connecting them via another 'line' through my magic, they resonate through that line of spatial power."

"Okay…" She drummed her fingers on her bicep in thought as Obito smiled patiently. "... Ohhh, they can hold more things if they're all meant for that, right?" Gina grinned as he nodded with a chuckle.

"When the orbs are following the same 'order', they strengthen it. On their own, each of those orbs can hold around 3 pounds of material. With each connection, they exponentially increase. 3. In total, you can hold over 240 pounds in those things."

"That's the concept you want to use on your weapons? Holding things?"

"No, it's something a bit more complex, two-fold at that," Obito explained. "I need to combine the concepts of 'holding'," he began. "For five different objects within the spheres and have them add effects to the main weapon. I want to get around the danger of adding too many materials together by not. I'm not multiplying, I'm parallel reinforcing."

Gina nodded repeatedly, cupping her chin with a small grin. "Love, if you could pull that off, you'd officially be one of the greatest blacksmiths in the world."

"I've gotta keep pushing forward for everyone, being the best in the world is simply a matter of reaching it."

She chuckled at that and pecked him on the lips again, the man holding her close as they kept the act going for a bit, her hands on his chest as he held her waist.

By the end of the minute mark, they separated, swallowed, and laughed.

"Alright, for now, let's shear off some material, alright?"

They did that for a time, testing out smaller parts of the fang's whole to see if they couldn't do more with it.

An hour's worth of effort resulted in, really, nothing.

"Man that stuff is hard," Gina wiped her brow, long since shedding her cloak, Spirit Belt, and rings, leaving her in her thigh-high boots and qipao-bustier. "It needs so much force to break it and it doesn't even break off that much. No wonder you need my powers, you need special molds to break off into."

"It's, sadly, a big part of it," Obito said as Jong-In came in with a worried frown. "Ah, you made… Jong-In?" The Uchiha blinked at the look of distress that'd fallen over the S-Rank Mage's face.

And then he saw the younger man's limp, his wincing, and the cradling of his right side.

Obito Uchiha saw red.

~NRK~

Ki-Hoon shivered at the feeling ahead of him, even as he stood in front of Cheung and Dae with a hissing Cheol.

'T-This guy's not human,' he thought with a shaky grimace even as his girlfriend held him with a pale face and frightened eyes. "Y-You need to go-"

"Go where~? If it's to find that 'Obito' guy," the man who'd brought chaos and carnage with him began, leaning down in front of Ki-Hoon's grimacing face before Cheol skid between them.

"What does the S-Rank Hwang Dong-Su want with one of our members?" The older man grimaced behind his helmet.

At the carnage of their other members' broken or beaten bodies.

Their Mages, Fighters, Tanks, Healers, Assassins, men, women, miners, or even clean-up crew.

His blood boiled as he observed this monster.

The even-larger-than-him man grinned in interest, his red eyes glowing behind his black shades.

Having lightly-tan skin, an angular face, tapered black hair, and powerful build held behind an orange polo shirt, gray pants, and a pair of white and brown loafers, this 'Hunter' was known to all in Korea.

After all, he'd abandoned them for America. This man, the former-strongest Korean S-Rank.

Hwang Dong-Su.

"I don't like his face," Dong-Su taunted, leaning down to get in Cheol's personal space. "So, I figured I'd come around and change that," he grinned some more.

Cheol grimaced. "Well, that's tough but he's not here. You realize it's eight o'clock, don't you? Half our forces ain't here-"

The larger man gripped his helmet and Cheol made the last-minute decision to slip out of it and back, Ki-Hoon jumping with him and Cheung.

Pepper-colored locks fell in a feathery slicked-back style, a sweaty-looking tan-skinned face facing Dong-Su's grin as Cheol's black eyes narrowed, his slight wrinkles showing his age.

"Goddammit," he hissed as the S-Rank crushed his helmet like a tin can. 'Come on, Hyusig! Think!' How the hell did he get out of this situation with everyone… Well.

Not bloodied.

"Man, you look old as hell, I'm guessing you had some experience," Dong-Su said with a smirk. "You can disengage pretty fast for a Tank, not bad-"

Cheol's eyes widened before he pushed the younger members back as the S-Rank Fighter looked down on him from behind.

"Not good enough, TRASH."

The man's fist swung out and the older man hit the ground in a crater the length of a bus.

Ki-Hoon grit his teeth even as he was helped by Cheung to his feet. "D-Damn you!" He cursed the S-Rank as Cheol's eyes went white. "Why?!"

"Why? I'm looking for someone and you shits aren't helping," Dong-Su said as he tilted his sunglasses down, expression shifting into a form of apathy that sent blood-curdling chills down everyone's spines.

They… T-They couldn't fight this.

'And Vice-Guildmaster isn't here,' bad, very bad-

His ears twitched at the sound of air displacing behind him, the feeling of malice sending an involuntary urge throughout his body.

Cheung was thrown to the side into the arms of one of their Assassins as Ki-Hoon braced himself.

The punch that followed sent to the ground to his hands and knees, the feeling of his shield pressing against his back causing him to grit his teeth.

Dong-Su raised a brow with interest, the similar-sized crater not sporting an unconscious Ki-Hoon gaining his attention.

"Well, this is annoying," he said as he raised his foot. "Go down, trash."

He brought it down and Ki-Hoon let out a breathless choke, hands and knees driven into the ground more.

"What did I just say, huh?!"

Cheung's eyes trembled with tears as more rumbles spread throughout the ground, on the helpless sidelines with the others grimacing or defeated-looking members.

By the end of the twelfth stomp, Dong-Su scoffed as he adjusted his glasses, Jin-Chul's running form only then reaching the inside of the Hunters' field area.

He grimaced almost instantly. 'FUCK! What is he doing?!' He'd jumped away as fast as he could when they couldn't find Sung Jin-Woo by the White Tigers, something that had chilled the Monitoring Division member's heart as he gave chase as best he could.

And it was still too late.

Ki-Hoon choked on his blood, limbs driven into the ground, body broken, and eyes unfocused… But he spat out his blood and turned his shaky head to face the grimacing S-Rank.

"Y-You… THUG," he insulted him, body already going cold. 'I… I've lived a good life,' he'd learned, he'd lost, he'd won.

"S-Stop," Cheung pleaded.

He found love, he'd gained amazing comrades, and he even found a man to look up to and be proud of.

"STOP," she tried once more.

He was fine with that.

"You piece of… O-Of TRASH," he hissed what he was sure was his final breath.

"Hunter Dong-Su! DON'T!" Jin-Chul shouted as he lunged at the enraged man's raised foot.

The S-Rank's cold eyes never left Ki-Hoon's blood face-

Cheung fell to her knees and cried out. "OPPA?!"

There was silence as she let out another sob, wet eyes going up in confusion at the hand on her head.

Obito settled Ki-Hoon down by her feet as he pat her head.

"It's fine," he told her in a whisper, settling Cheol off his other shoulder onto the ground gently. "I'll handle it."

Dong-Su looked down to find no Ki-Hoon beneath his heel… But then that all fell away.

Because he found him. That fucker.

"Hehehehe," he laughed with his hand to his face, eyes full of malice and fury. "So, you showed up."

Jin-Chul slid between the two with a growl. "THAT'S ENOUGH! You may have some pull here but NOT this much," he hissed as Dong-Su shot him an unimpressed look.

Their eyes remained locked-

---

A dark sky fell over them like theatrical blinds, the shadows of the world around them playing an ominous tune.

As that horned demon stood up and turned his red eyes towards Dong-Su.

---

The S-Rank's eyes widened before they narrowed, the hiss of dust beneath Obito's feet ignored as the Mage stood in front of him.

With blazing red eyes.

"You piece of shit," he cursed him as Dong-Su's mouth began to enlarge into a grin. "You've got something to say to ME, huh? You DICKLESS COWARD?"

And all of the sudden the air filled with two forms of ominous bloodlust.

The two's bodies released the wicked auras of white and dark blue, Mage and Fighter's eyes locking before they slowly narrowed in unison-

Obito's hand found his face.

And then the Uchiha brought the S-Rank down.

Jin-Chul's eyes widened as the crater shot out past him and the other Hunters' feet, Obito standing up from its epicenter.

Dong-Su's eyes remained wide, the man stunned but not really harmed.

Save for his pride as Obito put his foot right on his face.

The S-Rank's eyes burned a wicked red.

And a trio of high-speed circling threads snapped around the Uchiha's shin.

An impossible amount of force slammed down on his face with its heel, the others jumping as the crater deepered by the two.

Obito raised his foot again. "It's a shame you weren't born a Tank," he uttered. "I wanted this to last a while."

It came down with a dark spark.

And the air vibrated as the ground cratered again and again in a familiar display of power and strength beyond comprehension.

And each one caused the ground to quake, crumble, and deepen as the Mage lifted his foot one last time.

And brought it down with all his might.

The world rumbled as Gina helped Jong-In onto the scene, Cha Hae-In's jumping form landing beside them in a shirt and shorts.

"W-What happened?!" She asked over the towering cloud of dust, pebbles, and debris, the feeling of static in the air alarming her. "... W-Wait, Jong-In?" Hae-In asked, concerned as she saw her fellow S-Rank's grimacing state.

"M-Mmm," he groaned as she held up his other side, her nose's twitches be damned. "D-Diplomacy, unfortunately, didn't work," Jong-In explained as their eyes went to the dispersing dust cloud.

And found a crater the depth of a bus and length of their field sitting there, a familiar Mage standing at its epicenter with his foot on Dong-Su's grimacing, bruised, face.

The Uchiha looked down at the hissing Fighter before crouching to his level.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you next week," he whispered in a malicious tone.

And then jumped back before landing a few meters away with an apathetic expression as another explosive cloud formed, Hwang Dong-Su standing up at the center of it with a raging aura of red and black.

"I'm gonna KILL you, you fucker."

"That's enough!" Jin-Chul grimaced as he appeared between them one more time, hopefully for the last time. 'He's not a C-Rank, I can't believe it anymore,' his eyes snapped to Obito's own stare of malice, the two sides making his skin crawl. "Tsk… Listen, at this moment, you're making a scene," he sighed.

And the sound of flashing cameras reached the group's ears, the murmur of people on the street, in stopped cars, in nearby buildings, and more looked on with interest and disbelief.

"..." Dammit. "If you're here to fight someone, Hunter Hwang Dong-Su," Jin-Chul turned to the vein-bulging Hunter. 'He's going to cause an incident,' why had this meathead become an S-Rank!? "Then do it professionally," he said with a heavy heart.

That seemed to confuse the hulking man enough to sideline his rage. "Excuse me? You're saying I gotta play nice to fuck this guy up?" He looked ready to growl.

"With all your equipment," Obito said with a flat stare. "You'd still be weaker than me, S-Rank, Hwang Dong-Su."

The other man's aura rampaged and tore at the ground, Ki-Hoon groaning in Cheung's lap as Dae healed him with a pale face.

"W-What's going to happen?" The A-Rank Healer asked in a whisper, Cheol already healed but still knocked-out. "G-Guys?"

"H-Hyung…" The A-Rank Tank grimaced as his eyes cracked open to watch Obito's confrontation.

And then the Fighter's aura died down, the S-Rank's energy thrumming in the air as he kept gaze with Obito for one last exchange.

"I'm going to rip your head off your shoulders," he promised.

"Wash your neck for me," the shorter man shot back. "Let's make it a CLEAN cut."

The air grew thick with tension once more before Dong-Su kissed his teeth, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and left, cowing the civilians around as Obito watched him go the entire way.

Jin-Chul sighed heatedly as he grimaced, leaving the area but not before getting one last look at Obito. 'There's likely only a 1% chance for you to win this fight, Hunter Uchiha Obito,' he thought as he put on his shades. 'For everyone's sake, I hope you can find that possibility.'

As the man made it back to the car and took off with haste, Obito released one long breath.

'He's a monster,' metaphorically and physically. 'Those blows barely even bothered him,' Obito thought with a narrow gaze. 'I'm going to need everything and more to kill that man,' his hands clenched before he caught Gina as she slammed into him.

She looked him over with a terrified gaze his own softened at, the man holding her close.

"Fucking hell," she grimaced as he nodded, the Mage woman deepening the embrace as their guild's S-Ranks came over. "... Obito, you're going to fight that monster?" Gina grimaced at her own question.

Because she knew the answer long before this moment. It was simply a foolish question.

As Obito had said before, missing them once would only be the beginning of a shift in their lives they'd live with.

This one moment, this event, they knew when Dong-Su was going to bring the fight to them.

If he missed this opportunity, they'd never know like this again.

"I will win," Obito told her, holding her cheek. "There wasn't any other option in the first place. An adult's foolishness should be handled by an adult and not a young one," he smiled as she leaned into his touch. "And with that confrontation, I've guaranteed he won't do a damn thing until Monday."

"It was a good move," Jong-In said as Dae healed his side, the S-Rank Mage sighing in relief. "Thank you, Galdae-In," he rubbed his side as the Healer nodded with a still-pale face.

"G-Guild master, surely, we can do something about this. O-Oppa will die against that monster!" She pleaded as his eyes softened, the man sighing in relief.

"There is something we can do… But it's not one any of you will agree with. We must get hyung to the highest of his capabilities while he has the week. This isn't just a small thing, this is our pride and home that Hwang Dong-Su trampled on, we won't allow that to stay."

Hae-In frowned at the entire situation and yet was still taken-aback by this crater. 'Oppa put him in this,' with just his foot? How?

Perhaps, Obito had the strength needed to end this conflict but Hae-In was, sadly, not a blind believer in one trait.

He'd need all of them to outstrip Dong-Su's to win.

"Haa," Obito opened up his phone as he held Gina. 'If he went near Woo, I can't promise I won't go off the handle,' he thought with a frown, opening his screen and preparing to go to the phone app.

Making a call, his phone came back with a tone, one special one meant only for when a Hunter was still in a Gate.

"..." His eyebrow twitched.

~NRK~

Obito, Hae-In, Jong-In, and Gina quickly left Jong-In's car to find a waiting Baek Yoon-Ho and several other men, all in clean black suits save for the S-Rank's sleeves which sat torn up to his biceps.

"You came," the White Tigers Guild leader wore a worried frown. "... He came to you, didn't he?"

"If you mean Hwang Dong-Su? Yes, he did," Obito declared apathetically. "But he's not important right now, what's happening-A Red Gate?" His eyes widened with the others as they hurried only to stand in front of the rare phenomenon. "What?"

"A C-Rank Gate turned into this after they'd entered," Yoon-Ho said with a close-eyed grimace. "It's already been four hours… I'm sorry, there's no chance they're alive-"

"No, they are," Obito told him, confusing the Guild Master. "My spatial thread is powerful, Mr. Baek, I know they're alive and kicking," he explained as Gina sighed in relief while Jong-In nodded. "... We can't get in, can we?" The Mage asked himself sarcastically as his former student perked up.

"You're going to use that skill? Are you fine with that despite your knowledge of them being alright?" Jong-In asked, confusing the others.

"A Skill for this situation?" Hae-In asked, confused. "Guild Master?"

The fire Mage considered Obito's nod before reciprocating. "Just… Watch," he said.

And then Obito let out a deep breath as he performed those familiar actions of 'Breaking In'.

The others were confused as the C-Rank Mage's hands clawed at the Gate… Before prying a part of it open!?

"What?!" Yoon-Ho's eyes snapped to Obito's impossible feat. "... You knew about this?" He asked the serious-looking Jong-In, the glasses-wearing man sighing as he adjusted his spectacles.

"Hyung has been able to do this for years," he said, shocking them. "And I learned of this when he saved me from a closed Gate many years back in the beginning when I was still a normal young teen."

Obito's aura rampaged between blue and red.

"He's been a protector in my eyes for a long time. From when his family was my family's host family, when he taught me Chinese, protected me in China's underground, helped me learn my powers, and when he told me I had the qualities to be a leader," Jong-In said as the sound of 'cracking' reached everyone's ears. "I was sure he was a man of great power and worthy of all my respect."

The Uchiha growled as he ripped his hands apart.

And the Red Gate spasmed as a large 'crack' formed in its center.

"More than anyone else."

~NRK~

Jin-Woo nodded to the others as they ate more bear meat.

Jin-Ah let out a soft sigh of relief, satisfied stomach relaxing her a good bit. "Mmm, I-I didn't think bear meat would work so well," she chuckled as he nodded.

"From what uncle's said of it, it's gamy, slightly tough, and something you really have to 'adjust' to," he said as she grinned, Song-Yi swallowing some of her own.

"M-Ms. Park, this is amazing," the other young woman said as one of the three people with them grinned.

She was a woman of average height, white skin, powerful green eyes, and long black hair that combed over the right side of her forehead.

With the entire group wearing new, provided by Jin-Woo, warm coats, and Jin-Ah wearing a familiar White Cloak Mantle, she hummed as she ate.

"No, really, were it not for your brother, we'd be in a worse-off situation," the woman smiled. "I'm more worried about what's going on outside, you all understand?"

"I get it," another man said, looking relieved. "But, hopefully, Kim-Chul and the others can defeat the boss soon so we can just leave."

"I'm worried, though," the last member of their group said nervously as he looked around. "What happens if those Hyakki return?" He grimaced.

"I'll handle it," Jin-Woo declared. "And, if I were a betting man," he grinned as the others looked confused. "Uncle will be here, eventually."

"W-What? How?!" Ms. Park said, looking red in the face much to his confusion. "I-I mean, a mature strong man coming through s-sounds grand!" She burned as his jaw dropped and Song-Yi blushed at the implication. "I-It's not important!"

Jin-Ah laughed at the sheer impossibility of this crap. "Oh, man," she wiped a tear of laughter from her eye.

'Is this that maturity thing?' Song-Yi wondered with a pout. "T-The world of adults is way too weird."

"... Right," Jin-Woo said with a bit of a squint as the blushing woman looked down, their other members joining Jin-Ah with their chuckles. "What I was saying is that he should be able to get into here."

There was an odd crack in the distance, one that released a curious sound.

Jin-Woo's SENSE piqued and he grinned.

"And that's him now."

"You all!" Came a voice from their side, a pair of figures skidding to a stop by the group. "Where's… Y-You guys are fine?" Yoon-Ho asked in disbelief as Obito chuckled beside him.

"Hey, shuushuu," Jin-Woo waved casually.

"Hi, I'm glad you all are fine," Obito chuckled as he and the S-Rank came over.

"I'm surprised it's just you two," Jin-Woo said as Jin-Ah nodded.

"Yes, well," Baek Yoon-Ho shot Obito a look of utter disbelief the older man smiled weakly at. "... Your uncle's ridiculous skill set comes with some limitations."

"It seems like this only works for a few people at a time, notably, a certain amount of magical power passing through causes my tears in the Gates to break down on their own."

Ah, because Obito had been the only one who'd been coming through, usually save for that last time, they'd never known.

"M-Mm!" Ms. Park burned as the two men came over before sitting with the group, the woman's fingers twiddling in her lap. "P-Pleased to meet you!" She said with a big embarrassed smile. "Y-You're that odd Mage I've heard nothing but good news about! Park Hee-Jin, at your service," he was so much older than her.

So, mature and wise and was he working out?

Noting this odd phenomenon and Jin-Ah's laughter, Obito had a feeling he'd have to deal with this one of these days.

"Yes, well," Obito began as the others sans the utterly baffled Yoon-Ho snickered. "Ahem, what's been happening?"

Getting two coats from Jin-Woo, something that the two men had lied and said came from his shadow, the group had informed them of the situation.

"Wait, what? HYAKKI?!" The Guild Master grimaced as he got up. "Dammit, that's not good," he looked out into the distance. "I need to go and find those guys before they get themselves killed," he told them.

"We'll be fine. Please, go," Obito said as the other man nodded before shooting off in a swirl of wind and snow. "Hmm, so… Um, you might want to know something that's happened," he added as the group blinked at him.

"What is it, shuushuu?" Jin-Ah asked.

And then Obito revealed everything that had happened before he'd arrived.

All jaws dropped as the male Mage rubbed the back of his head, looking focused.

"Yes, he came earlier looking for you, Woo," Obito admitted as his nephew winced. "But with you being in the Gate, he came to the next available source and I ensured he found his face literally stomped into the ground," his eyes narrowed. "So, for now, I'm going to make use of this Red Gate," he said as he got up.

"No, wait, go back!" Song-Yi paled as Jin-Ah wheezed. "S-Sir?!"

"I've got some plans, that meathead's well-known, especially in America's databases," Obito said as he moved to the hut.

A large spiral of thread formed in the ground before the group gawked at the large wooden table that'd sprouted from it with a large number of weak spirit cores on it alongside some other material.

"... Actually, does anyone here have some form of Earth magic?" Obito asked the group as Hee-Jin swallowed and raised a shaky hand. "Okay, here, I was making these to get better at the craft," he admitted, taking the four Earthen Rings he & Jin-Ah had made and walking over to the increasingly-red woman.

Gently placing the accessories into her hands, Obito turned around too quickly to notice the woman had basically fainted while sitting.

"... Is it that easy?" Jin-Woo asked weakly.

"I-I think shuushuu holds power we can't understand," his sister said with just as much disbelief.

---

With the shock, horror, and disbelief falling away, somewhat, they'd gathered around before Jin-Woo had gone out with Jin-Ah and his Shadows to bring back Ice Bear corpses.

When asked when, the man had admitted he'd killed them a day or so ago to keep them all safe.

Needless to say, everyone looked at the uncle & nephew like they were high-caliber.

Still, the hours passed before Obito nodded to a series of bone weapons made from the many bones he'd received.

"Alright, thoughts?" The Uchiha asked as Jin-Woo Observed, with a capital 'O', the items.

{Item: Ursine King Bone Dagger}

{Item Class: A}

{Type: Dagger}

{ATTACK + 95 / STAMINA + 20}

This one, one of two, had been made from the leader of the bears' bones, specifically.

"Nice," he said. "The other ones are at least B-Rank good," Jin-Woo said specifically as Obito nodded. "Good weapons to boost your attack power made from some full of life magic beasts."

'So, they provide a boost to VITALITY,' Obito considered it all. '... Hmm,' he made sure to put one of the leader bear's large meat chunks in his pocket space. "Everyone, please, choose one of your liking," he said as he picked up a greatsword and longsword, taking them over Jin-Ah and Song-Yi. "I'll hold onto these ones for you two until we get back."

The two looked shocked, Song-Yi the most.

Said girl looked embarrassed as Obito chuckled.

"T-Thanks, sir," she muttered.

"No problem. Now, everyone, please put on the armor I made, too," Obito said to the group as Jin-Woo looked at one of them.

{Item: Ursine King Vest}

{Item Class: A}

{Type: Armor}

{ + 10% Physical Damage Reduction / STAMINA + 10

-IF YOUR STRENGTH IS BELOW 90, YOUR MOVEMENT WILL BE SLOWED}

Putting on the item, Jin-Woo grinned. 'With 130 STRENGTH, I'm good for any upcoming armor for a while,' he chuckled as the others followed suit with their one-Rank-lower armor pieces.

Obito adjusted some bone vambraces he referenced from a samurai's own, clenching his fists and nodding. 'This will be good,' he'd need to make the right amount of armor for this fight.

Looking at the bears' fur, he considered his next move.

'The clothes I'll be wearing that day,' he never considered it but he knew that he'd have his boots, vambraces, and orb on him. 'Pants? No, for one,' Obito sweatdropped. 'It'd be too tacky. I can dye them dark blue… Ah, a coat,' maybe he could use them for stuffing? "A robe with fur lining," he cupped his chin as Song-Yi perked up.

"Y-You're thinking about making more clothes?" She asked, kind of excited by the prospect as Obito nodded.

"For my fight… Ah, I'll also add fur lining to the back of the vambraces," he realized as she winced but still looked intrigued by the idea. "It'll keep the theme. Furred vambraces and the border of a haori. I just need the right material for the pants and top."

She blushed at the idea.

"Sadly, I don't think I'll find those here. I need special elastic material from a monster… I don't know what it'll come from."

"I'm sure we can find it," Jin-Ah said. "Hmm, how long do you think it'll take Mr. Baek to come back?" She asked the group.

"If the others are still alive," Jin-Woo said. "Then, it's been four days already and they haven't come back yet. I can't imagine we'll see him again until at least tomorrow."

"Sadly, that's the most possible," Obito said.

"Can't you get us back out, Obito-oppa?" Hee-Jin asked from beside the man.

"I can but I want to make use of our time dilation, apologies."

"No, no!" She smiled brightly as Jin-Ah snorted off to the side. "You're a man of wisdom and experience, it's just nice to see you work."

"God, is she that bad?" Jin-Woo asked in utter disbelief as he ate some more bear. "What the… I don't think I've seen thirstier women than that and, in the beginning, uncle got asked out for a month-straight."

"Damn," another man said in awe and horror. "I-I'd like a few admirers, myself, but that just sounds annoying," he continued nervously.

"Ditto," their other member said as Jin-Woo nodded.

"I can't imagine being that popular, you know?" He shook his head. "Seeing it in person just makes that feeling even more ironclad."

Song-Yi muttered something.

---

Time seemed to pass on by, the group speaking at length about the world's status at large until nightfall.

Laying down in sleeping bags, Obito casting a sphere-like net over them that'd inform him of any approaching beings, the man folded his arms behind his head from besides his nephew and niece, Song-Yi laying down mirrored to Jin-Ah, Hee-Jin to himself, and another of their members opposite Jin-Woo with the last laying perpendicular to the other men.

"... If you planned for every odd," Hee-Jin began. "Sought all powers, alternatives, and experience you have, and win, would that make you an S-Rank, Obito-oppa?"

The question got interest all around the tent.

"Well…" Obito considered the question. "In the eyes of the populace, that'd be the truth," the man lifted his hand and locked onto his vambrace. "At the moment, I know everything there is about Hwang Dong-Su. I'm aware of his bodily abilities, his strength capabilities, and even the man's Gate records. I've watched as many documentaries, noted all combat data, and even read his history to know what I need. I'm going to be honest," he said. "The ability to beat him isn't small. If I had to put a number to it… 25%."

"T-That's huge!" Song-Yi said in shock as the others agreed.

Jin-Woo frowned in thought. "Do you mean, with everything you'd need? Or now?" He asked.

"At present," Obito admitted as his nephew nodded. "Many people haven't seen it," he began as the others blinked. "But I've developed a technique for moments where I'm not sure I can make it out, where I'm literally up against impossible odds like now. That said, before I started preparing for him? I had a 10% chance. I'm going to keep raising that number and ensure that, at the very minimum, I defeat him."

"And at the worst?" Hee-Jin asked, eyes on him.

"... I'll ensure that, if they do want me as an S-Rank after winning, there won't be an increase in numbers from Korea."

He let that sit, the message within clear.

"Hmm… I-I don't know what to say, no offense," one of the other men said. "I mean, what'd happen if America tried to retaliate for you taking away one of their S-Ranks?"

"What are they really going to do? March in and attack me? On what basis?" Obito shot back. "The fact remains, Jin-Chul was there, my guild was there, and the people who were there earlier are aware. He's put himself in a situation where he can't back down or he'd be seen as a coward. America will have to accept he stepped into his own problems and finally expired because of them."

"T-That's a pretty cold way of looking at it, shuushuu," Jin-Ah said as Obito nodded. "I… I-I don't want anyone dead, y-ya know? I just want our lives to go back to relative normalcy."

"Relative?" Her brother asked and she shot him a knowing look. "Ah, right, relative," Jin-Woo realized. "For now, we've got a few more days, actually, more like six in real-time," Obito nodded at his understanding. "Basically, in here, we'd have six months before the dungeon is broken."

"But should we? The fact remains, people are gonna be worried as hell, oppa."

That was true, Jin-Woo suddenly grimaced as he thought about Joo-Hee.

"Uh-Oh."

"Exactly, we can't stay here for long," Obito admitted. "But we don't need six months. If we just took a day, it'd be fine if that's possible. For now, we're waiting for Yoon-Ho to return."

~NRK~

The morning came with morning routines, warming up, eating, and more overall waiting.

As they did, Jin-Woo and Obito went for a run.

Running in the crunchy snow, the duo hopped over a large fallen-over tree before skirting around the trunk with a single hand around the trunk.

They swung to the other side, letting go to fly through the air before their next steps brought them back into the world of superpowers.

The dashing scenery, magical alertness, and the feeling of empowerment brought the two back around to home base in a matter of minutes.

They nodded to the others currently going through their own little 'training' or exercises in Jin-Ah & Song-Yi's case.

"Welcome back," Hee-Jin smiled as she arrived looking fresh. "I-I'm thankful we could find a heated deposit," she looked down in awe at her gifted rings. "Thank you, Obito, these made life so much easier!" She grinned as the older Hunter nodded.

"I'm glad… And you just gave me an idea," Obito said as she perked up. "I wonder if there are any ore deposits here, you know? Perhaps we should go to a cave and explore," he said to the group. "Is everyone fine with that?!" He called out.

"Sure!" The group agreed.

Jin-Woo nodded. "You want to find some other ability for your weapons, right?" He asked. "Seriously, that concept alone is ridiculous," he grinned as Obito chuckled.

"If I can make it work, Woo, life will be interesting."

~NRK~

After leaving a really obvious amount of evidence, and signs, for both themselves and Yoon-Ho, they left towards the cave of the bears with Jin-Woo at the lead.

Getting there, they noted all the blood, ichor, and materials before just moving on.

"Igris got stronger?" Obito asked.

"They can level on their own, uncle, it's kind of ridiculous," Jin-Woo said with a shake of the head. "I'm sure that if I don't keep up, my own Shadow will be forever stronger than me."

"Sounds like good motivation. Do you think he's hit the next level of strength?"

"I don't think so, not yet. The thing is, their titles kind of relate to the Ranking System. He's a [Knight] who are usually Elite B-Rank to Elite A-Rank in difference from what I can tell. Honestly, they're the only good points of reference, you know?"

Obito nodded.

Going inside that large triangular crack in the cliffside, one of their male members lifted their hands and allowed a green ball of windy energy to light up the path.

"Oh, it's bigger than it looks," Jin-Woo said. "To be fair, those guys are huge, they'd need so much space," he hummed as they continued on.

Looking all around the area, Jin-Woo sending out Shadows to scout things to the far-off sides, the group made it all the way to the 'edge' of the cavern where they found a wall of broken-down rubble and the like.

"... Do you feel that?" Hee-Jin said, surprised as those with high sensory skills stared at the streams of magic coming out from behind the 'wall'. "There's something there," she told them as she raised her hands.

The pebbles slowly began to shift aside, the movement like clockwork and slowly revealing a small path within it that startled them.

As the energy form within doubled after being unmuffled.

"What… Is that?" Jin-Woo wondered before his eyes widened at the new screen.

{IMPORTANT QUEST}

{GRAND MATERIAL I: FROST REMNANT}

{OBTAIN THE LEFT BEHIND REMNANT, PROTECTED BY THE ICE BEARS AS THEIR GIVEN DUTY FROM THEIR LORD.}

[QUEST COMPLETION REQUIREMENT: 0/1 FROST REMNANT]

[REWARDS: -BONUS STATS + 20]

"... Oh no," Jin-Woo said nervously as Obito's face went blank.

"Let me guess, something is going to attack us?" He asked, arms quickly being covered by sparking black material.

"Yep."

The area rumbled as the dark cavern erupted into light blue light from above.

There, all the way across from them, sat an odd glowing… Essence?

It was odd and dark blue, a sort of spiritual 'crystal' that was transparent and seemed to release a limited amount of blue wind.

"... Alright," Jin-Woo sighed as he summoned his Ursine King Bone Daggers. "Where is it?" He asked.

And was answered by a shudder in the air, the group's eyes snapping up to see a lowering ball of light the size of an airplane.

"W-What?" Song-Yi swallowed in terror as the group backed-up while that giant light slowly lowered to the ground before floating feet above.

Then, the light began to fade as more of this creature, this boss, revealed itself.

Obito's eyes narrowed as Jin-Woo's eyebrow rose.

Its four legs slowly unfolded, their edges shaped like swords as its white body, bearing a cloak of white feathery snow, shifted once it landed.

Bearing a crown of four golden horns, their positioning being very reminiscent of the crowning jewelry, they watched as its pure white eyes looked out and around, its jagged mouth of skin-hardened teeth slowly cracking open.

That reindeer-like boss turned its head to them as misty frost left its lips.

[Sovereign Guard of the Hinterlands, Reika]

"Double-checking, do you see that?" Jin-Woo whispered and Obito nodded.

"Reika, right?" He asked and his nephew nodded this time. "Alright, so, quick question, who's wielding a blunt weapon right now?" Obito asked the group who all shook their heads. "I figured," he said as he removed the bone hammer he'd made earlier. "This thing's heavier than I expected," the Uchiha muttered as he hefted it over his shoulder.

It was quickly covered by black material that began to rotate around its head.

"Arise."

Jin-Woo's shadow widened beyond the ground as his Shadows began to slip out of it and stand around the group, at the ready.

"Hmph!" Jin-Ah hefted her High Knight's Greatsword and Light Wrath Shield. "A-Alright, boss time," she muttered as she circled the air in front of her. "Hi-Sense!"

Energy pooled out of that circle before slipping around the whole group, Shadows and all, and filling their minds with a sense of clarity.

"This is what it's like," Jin-Woo said in interest as he opened his Status menu.

And saw the whopping '202' he had for a SENSE stat?!

His jaw dropped as Obito took a deep breath before his Sharingan sprung to life.

And he saw something else. 'It's all coming from its horns,' he thought, seeing how the power of the boss only came from those antlers. "Go for its horns! Those are its power source!" Obito ordered.

The boss let out a screeching cry that nearly burst their eardrums, Jin-Ah grimacing as Song-Yi hit her knees with a tremble.

"I-I," she held her sides.

Obito and Jin-Woo saw something different as a screen popped up in front of the [Player].

{ALERT}

{REIKA HAS USED [SKILL: TERRAIN]}

{-'TERRAIN': FILLS THE AREA WITH YOUR MAGIC, DOUBLING MAGIC POTENTIAL}

"[Terrain]?" Obito's eyes widened in interest. "Good."

He and Jin-Woo vanished.

They skirted around Reika's sides before launching at the boss's flanks.

Jin-Woo's daggers sent out a pair of heavy slashes that carved into the crystal-like hide before he dug them in and tossed his body high, fist pulled back and aimed for its nape.

Obito, meanwhile, swung out with his hammer as his thread began to rotate before snapping.

The two blows rang out and cracked the boss's 'flesh', the magic beast squealing as they did before icy towers shot out from the ground and the boss's body towards them.

'That's what the skill does!' They thought in unison, Obito using his hammer in its crater as a fulcrum to throw his body up while Jin-Woo retrieved his daggers with a flash of his [Inventory].

He slashed apart the tower while Obito dodged his, both man shooting across Reika's body as it released more icy spikes from its form.

"Attack!" Jin-Woo ordered his Shadows as he flipped through a pair of jutting towers.

Obito, meanwhile, danced through arising ice spikes, hammer spinning in his hands before plowing through each one that tried to get close.

When he finally reached Obito, the older man reared back as Jin-Woo landed atop his hammer head.

He swung out while pulling his torso all the way back to dodge two more lancing spires before kicking back and off Reika's building-sized body.

Jin-Woo grinned as he shot up towards the very top of the boss's body, locking eyes with its turning head.

He saw the magic building into its mouth before rearing back with one of his daggers.

'With [Advanced Dagger Arts Lv.2], I can do so much!' Different moves filled his mind before he settled on one. 'An attack that aims for the vitals!'

He threw his left dagger with all of his might towards one of the boss's horns.

It hit home, digging into one of its four antlers and sent a spider web crack through that one.

The buck's form flinched as he grinned, rearing back his next knife.

{[Dagger Throw Lv.1]}

The next dagger hit its mark.

And the first of four horns shattered at the base.

The boss let out a pained shriek as he grinned in the air before flinching as its head began to swing around.

"Shit!" He crossed his arms-

And found his body shooting back not of his own power, the feeling of something pulling on his clothes alarming him before he was settled next to Obito.

"You're fine," the older man said as he lunged. "Good work!"

He lunged in between the rushing Shadows and Hunters, eyes glowing as they locked onto the boss's broken horn.

And then the sheer drop in the boss's aura. "It needs all of its horns!" He shouted as he shot ahead in a burst of speed that allowed him to scale one of the boss's legs. "Keep it distracted!" Obito ordered as an ice tower shot up towards his face mid-run.

His fist swung out and crushed it, the Mage continuing up the length of the leg, dodging more of those ice spikes. 'They're slower,' he thought as he flowed in and out of the jutting threats before reaching the boss's shoulder. 'I need better movement than this,' he thought as his eyes narrowed.

Black thread incased his legs.

Down below, Jin-Woo ran alongside Jin-Ah, eyes on Obito reaching the boss's shoulder-

Another horn fell?

His eyes widened in complete and utter disbelief. 'What?' How… H-How had he done it?!

Watching Obito land on the ceiling above, the Reawakened man's eyes narrowed in challenge.

"Go on, oppa!" Jin-Ah told him as she raised his shield. "[WRATH]!"

The power filled her body, the energy within her doubling in effectiveness as she and her brother took that next step.

Before the Sung siblings shot forward as startling blurs, her eyes widening before yelped and stumbled.

Jin-Woo's laughter got a pout out of her before she focused and ran once more, more prepared for the sudden increase in speed.

'I've never done it with my buff active before,' it was so odd.

It felt like her body could really use it with [Hi-Sense] active!

So, when she reached the sword-like tip of the boss's leg, she reared back before swinging with all her might.

The heavy slash carved through that pillar-sized limb and caused the shrieking boss to stumble.

Jin-Woo was lucky he'd already reached the beast's shoulder, stumbling a bit as the leg he'd just been on folded.

"G-Geez, what are we feeding her?!" He yelped before slashing out thrice with both daggers.

The quintet of oncoming icy pillars were destroyed before they could reach him.

He lunged up the nape of the boss as Obito's form shot down from below.

[SPRINT LV.1]

Jin-Woo vanished in an explosive burst, both uncle and nephew meeting by the third horn of the boss at the same time.

They swung out in unison, weapons crushing the middle of the third horn with ease from their combined attacks.

"Hah!" Jin-Woo grinned as Obito smirked, the two of them landing on the head before jumping off as Reika's head swung around in pain and rage. "One more left!" He shouted to the others as they landed, Hee-Jin smiling as she held out her hands.

And curled them in towards her sides.

The ice beneath Reika's right foot crumpled and the boss's balance followed, Song-Yi cutting into the still damaged left foot before three blurs shot past her and up the limb.

"T-This… Isn't… EASY!" Jin-Ah yelled as she leaned forward to keep her run going before growing nervous at some oncoming ice spikes. "Yikes!"

Obito shot ahead with a reared-back hammer, the thread rotating around the top snapping as he swung.

An explosion of heavy wind crushed the threats and cleared the way for the siblings as he followed behind.

They scaled the boss's body, already reaching the nape-

And then it sank into the ground in a sudden fashion.

"W-What?!" Jin-Woo's eyes widened as they found nothing beneath them, the trio mid-air as the boss vanished.

And a pair of white eyes sprouted from the wall at their side.

"Uncle!"

Obito swung out a hand, thread grabbing onto both siblings before he wrought the three of them to the side as Igris shot up in front of them, sword prepped in front of him.

They dodged as the strong Shadow was sent sailing across the expanse of the cavern, crashing into the wall opposite the one the boss was in.

Landing, the trio jumped back as icy towers shot down from the walls crushed Shadows in droves, Jin-Woo frowning as his MP dropped harshly.

Landing by Song-Yi, Obito swung out with another bursting swing, halting the icy spires that'd aimed at them in their tracks.

"I'd been wondering what it'd use its Skill for!" He said as the Hunters all grouped up. "It's hiding in the ice," Obito stressed.

Then, Jin-Woo got an idea. "I might have something for that," he said. "Come out!" He ordered.

And three pairs of clawed hands shot out around them before being followed by hooded-cloaked figures who floated in the air above the ground.

"Attack!"

The three Shadows raised their hands, the space between their claws filling with wicked coiling flames.

They jut out their limbs and the magical fire attacks shot towards the walls, punching through the icy spires and exploding on contact.

There was an echoing cry as the boss's eyes shot around the area.

"That hit it!" The Reawakened man declared as their eyes followed the spirit. "It's still possible to be hurt!" He swung out his hand in a declaration, returning his other weaker Shadows back into his own as Igris landed beside the group. "Keeping the others around is draining my MP, Igris, you and the magicians are who I need," he told his strongest subordinate who nodded with narrowed eyes. "Bring it out!"

The Magicians raised their hands and unleashed another series of attacks at the moving boss, the buck-like magical beast pretty fast inside the walls of ice as it dodged the trailing flames.

"Hee-Jin, you need to attack ahead of it!" Obito told the woman who perked up. "We might be able to 'trip it out' if it interacts with magic oddly in there," he explained as she nodded.

"I-I'll need to get close," she told him and the man nodded.

The woman's face hit neon levels as he lifted her up in his big strong arms.

"O-Oh, I can get used to this!" She said as he shot off, the others sweatdropping at her clear enjoyment.

"I'll never get women," Jin-Woo uttered nervously.

"Yeah, we're a weird side of the species," Jin-Ah agreed, gaining his worried attention.

"Oh, God."

Meanwhile, Obito ran alongside the boss's eyes, Hee-Jin gripping onto his very nice shoulders for dear life!

"C-Can we cut it off!?" She asked him, hair flying back from their run.

Obito's eyes narrowed before black coiled up his legs.

They shot ahead in an eruption of ice and stone, the brunettes leaving the boss's eyes trailing in the dust behind them.

"Do it!" Obito ordered as he skid to a stop by the wall.

Hee-Jin slammed her hands into the wall and sprouted stone spires that trailed up in a sort of 'divide'.

The eyes of the boss couldn't stop, it seemed, their eyes stuttering a bit before it made contact-

"Dammit!" Obito shot ahead as the boss came shooting out of the wall due to the now-collapsing stone divide, hitting the ground with a rumble that took them off their feet.

"Tsk!" He tucked the woman into his hold as he fell into a embracing roll while Igris and Jin-Woo shot past him.

Finally coming to a stop, Obito sighed in relief as he sat up with an utterly dazed Hee-Jin in his arms.

"Are you alright, Ms. Park?" He asked her as the sound of slashes came from behind. "That might have been a little rough…?" Obito had looked down to check her condition.

And found a white-eyed, red-faced, woman going limp in his arms.

"..." His eyebrow began to twitch at this development. "What?"

"Easy there, shuushuu," Jin-Ah grinned as he sweatdropped. "Can't be that charming," she snickered as Song-Yi raised a brow at this scenario.

'Adults are weird,' she figured out as a dying cry emanated from the other end of the room. "... Hyung's done," Song-Yi announced as the group turned to see the results.

And found a sitting Jin-Woo atop the unmoving corpse of the boss, the magical buck's body covered in towering cuts, scars, stab wounds, and crumpled legs, his other Shadows going away. It seemed like he'd just gone to town on the boss if that was the case.

"Done!" He called out with a grin as Obito chuckled and walked over with the others. "This guy was-Why is she unconscious?" Jin-Woo's grin melted in confusion and disbelief. "I don't think she got hit by an attack," he said unsurely as the others snickered around a flat-faced Obito.

"Let's not think too much about it, please?"

The Reawakened hummed before shrugging, dropping off the boss. "I wonder…" He muttered, preparing to raise his hand.

And found the boss erupted into motes of light that left him feeling robbed once more.

"M-My kill!"

"Turns out life ain't too nice to you, oppa," Jin-Ah smirked.

"Dammit!" Jin-Woo groaned before grumbling at the item in the distance. "Whatever, let's just get that stupid item," he grumbled as Obito chuckled.

"Come on, when we're done here, we are still in a Red Gate, you know? Let's get out of here," Obito smiled as they all walked forward towards that odd essence. "Hmm…" He looked intrigued as Jin-Woo walked up the Frost Remnant.

Grabbing it, breaking the two thick icicles holding it in place in a tiny cave, he held the item up.

{Item: Frost Remnant}

{Item Class: S}

{Type: ESSENCE}

{A POWERFUL REMNANT OF A BEING BEYOND COMPREHENSION, THIS ITEM BESTOWS ONE WITH ONE OF THE GREAT ABILITIES OF THE *******.

-'ICE': GRANTS THE ONES BLESSED WITH THE POWER TO CONJURE ICE. BECOMES MORE POWERFUL AS THE USER BECOMES MORE SKILLED}

His eyes widened at this damn thing! 'It's like it was made for uncle,' Jin-Woo thought in disbelief. 'And the Ice Bears were guarding this,' so, did that mean there were MORE magic beasts guarding these kinds of things?

The quest had a 'I' in it, meaning that there'd likely be more, no?

"Alright, here, uncle," Jin-Woo said, turning around before chuckling weakly at Obito's own weak grin, the man still holding the knocked-out Hee-Jin. "Um, right," he admitted sheepishly, putting the item away into his [Inventory]. "Let's go."

~NRK~

Getting back to their camp had ended up with a surprise.

Yoon-Ho blinked at the returning group, Kim-Chul, an A-Rank Tank with thick-looking yellow-bordered gray platemail, fair skin, short shaggy gray hair, and gray eyes looking alarmed at their survival.

And he currently looked like shit, his armor dented, his lack of his greataxe and greatshield he'd originally brought, and just the haunted, and frosted, look about him that had most of them wincing.

Obito strode forward before putting the slowly-awakening Hee-Jin down on one of the furry sleeping bags he'd made for everyone and sitting down by Yoon-Ho.

"What happened?" He asked the White Tigers Guild leader, the man grimacing with a solemn sigh.

"They got ambushed by Hyakki," Yoon-Ho said, the utterance of the word getting a jump out of Kim-Chul. "Dammit, that bastard held you up, Obito. We could have at least saved some of them," he hissed before sighing once more. "It was good that they stayed here in the forest, I'm guessing the Hyakki are roaming the lands outside."

"Were you able to get any of them?"

"Killed three of 'em, and their leader's horse, before rushing Kim-Chul back here."

Good. "Alright," Obito said with a nod. "For now, come on, I made some extra warm clothes you two can change into. Have some bear meat and just… Just rest."

Getting a nod from the S-Rank but no response from the downtrodden, clearly traumatized, Tank, Obito sighed before nodding.

The others hurried over and settled in, Yoon-Ho noticing the tired energy about.

"What happened? You left that tree bark with the message, 'We went looking for materials', so I'm guessing you found nothing?" He asked.

"Hmm, no, we found something," Obito said, Jin-Woo passing the Essence to him from under his cloak. "This."

Yoon-Ho looked alarmed. 'The energy coming off that crystal is insane!' And they'd found it? "That thing is basically drowning in mana, how?"

"We went to the Ice Bears' lair," Jin-Woo said as Jin-Ah fell asleep by his seat in a sleeping bag. "With them all dead, we went to see if we couldn't find more material for uncle to use."

Right, he'd forgotten about that. Yoon-Ho winced before frowning.

"Wait, who killed all the ice bears?"

"I did," Jin-Woo said, surprising the man. "It took a bit but with some proper strategy, I took them all down," he grinned at his vague but true words.

'I didn't know it before,' but this man, Sung Jin-Woo, felt downright ridiculous in power at the moment. 'He's not that close but he is strong,' well, good for him. "Hmm, for now, we need to go and find the boss, still, and with those Hyakki around, this will take a while."

"It's been five days, right?" One of the other men asked. "So, five hours outside."

"Correct. Right now, we have, what, 175 more days in here before the dungeon breaks? It's hopefully going to be dealt with by then but that's the situation at the moment."

"How long will it take to find it?"

"It shouldn't be that hard, honestly," Obito said, confusing them as Jin-Woo nodded. "Myself, Jin-Woo, and Jin-Ah have pretty good sensory skills and my niece can enhance that. We could probably find it in a couple hours if we'd decided to leave the forest."

Yoon-Ho perked up, looking at the sleeping young woman for a moment before humming. "Is she a Mage?" He asked.

"A Healer, actually," Jin-Woo said, surprising him but the S-Rank nodded.

"That's a unique skill," Yoon-Ho said as Hee-Jin sat up with a hazy look before shaking it off in disbelief.

"W-Where am I?!" She nearly shrieked as Jin-Woo smirked. "I-I just remember being in amazing arms-"

"We're glad you're alright, Ms. Park," Obito said to her with a nod and smile.

The woman fainted again and his jaw dropped.

"W-What?!"

Yoon-Ho let out a snort.

~NRK~

The following morning, post-workout, the whole group sat in the campsite.

Yoon-Ho was intrigued as he looked at all the creations Obito had made in his short time there. "This is all rather incredible," he said, impressed, as he looked at the vest around his chest. "It's better than just my suit."

"Of course, any protection is better than none," the Uchiha said. "So, I'd ask everyone," he began. "What do we do now?"

"What will happen if we leave here?" Song-Yi asked. "Will we have to face the Hyakki?" She added, standing by Jin-Woo with a look of distress.

He pat her cap. "It's fine, we literally have all the strength we need to handle it," Jin-Woo said as she sighed in relief, Kim-Chul in the background with a dark expression as his eyes locked onto him. 'Is this guy being serious?' He almost groaned but ignored it.

Kim-Chul would have to suck it up and live with his bullshit mistakes, it wasn't his fault that the Tank left them all to die.

Tough shit, princess.

"That's true," Yoon-Ho hummed. "If Sung Jin-Woo can handle all the Ice Bears, you have a good amount of strength. We'll need yours, Kim-Chul's, my own, and Obito Uchiha's to get out of this. Despite looking fragile, Ice Elves, or 'Hyakki', are powerful, fast, and agile. They're mostly long-range but some can be close-range fighters and those ones you want to avoid."

"Hmm," Woo wondered if he could make one a Shadow. "They're A-Rank, aren't they?"

"They're on the cusp of being more, so you can imagine that, right?"

So, Elite A-Rank at the least? Or did he mean just the ones who could fight up-close?

"For now, we have two goals if we want to get out of here as soon as possible," Obito said, holding up two fingers as Hee-Jin yawned in her sleeping bag. "One, find and kill the boss," he declared. "Two, either avoid or kill the Hyakki."

"Wouldn't it be better to just do that last one, regardless?" Jin-Woo asked. "We can't keep running from those guys, right? If they catch us out in the cold, we'll end up down a creek without a paddle."

"He's got a point," Hee-Jin swallowed down one more yawn. "Terrifying as it sounds, sir, can we really leave the Hyakki alone?"

Yoon-Ho considered it. "... If I could, being honest?" He sighed. "I'd prefer we don't fight them, I do, but that's sadly not in our doghouse right now. We have four strong guys, a fifth in you, Ms. Park, but they have a lot of numbers," he grimaced as Kim-Chul hissed and trembled. "With the three that I killed they still have 20 on their side. And if they surround us, we're going to take casualties."

"I can handle the numbers game," Jin-Woo smiled as Yoon-Ho tilted his head. "... Ah, I have the power over the concept of shadows," he explained vaguely once more.

"Wait, you're a Mage?"

"Yeah. Despite how my knives might make you think otherwise, I'm actually not an Assassin Class Hunter."

The older man looked surprised by that fact. "Huh… Well, considering how Jong-In runs things, I'd guess you'd follow that example, especially with your uncle," he said as Jin-Woo nodded. "Alright, well, if you can actually handle the numbers game, then we'd move on to fighting their leader," he frowned. "That guy is a monster compared to the rest of them, scarily so."

"We'll have to attack all at once," Obito said. "You know how my magic works. If we're to attack them, might I suggest an ambush of our own?" He smiled.

~NRK~

They had blue skin, pure white eyes, and long white hair that fell around their long pointy ears for the most part.

Wearing blue pants, light brown knee-high fur boots, light brown waist belts or leather abdomen armor, baggy thigh-length robe-like attire, furred light brown vambraces, and some random additions in their equipment, the Ice Elves were terrifying in the snow.

Obito, Yoon-Ho, and Jin-Woo relayed this to the group hidden amongst the snowy dunes. Watching that moving 'caravan' of Ice Elves from half a mile away with their ice-blue cloaks hiding them.

"So, we'll circle around," the guild leader said. "... Are you guys sure this is the boss?" Yoon-Ho asked.

"Yeah," Obito and Jin-Woo said with narrowed eyes. "He has strongest magical signature."

"If you're sure, my senses aren't all that great here," he admitted, hair turning into a glowing white. "Kim-Chul," Yoon-Ho called out to the Tank at his side, the man's trembling grimace getting a soft sigh out of him. "It's fine, I promise," he told him.

"Tch," Kim-Chul grimaced, adjusting his bone helmet with a glare.

"Alright, let's move," Yoon-Ho whispered as they slid down the slope and ran, Obito's thread barrier keeping the snow away from them. "Your threads are truly versatile, the amount of magic coming off of them is downright miniscule."

"It's part of the advantage," Obito said, the group moving away from the behind of a dune. "I'm going to try and kill as many of them as possible with as many as I can," he added, turning to look at their enemies.

And found a single bounding figure coming down on him.

His Sharingan spun to life.

"Not so fast," Jin-Woo whispered at the elf's side, fist reared-back.

The punch sent the elf flying before he recovered with finesse and a grin, landing with a hissing forearm.

'He's not just fast,' that'd been too close, hadn't he? How had the monster blocked it? "This guy," Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed as his sister shivered.

"O-Oppa, his energy is…" She paled as he held her shoulder, never looking away from the elf who'd attacked them. "I-It's higher than even Reika," Jin-Ah whispered.

'If that's true, that means it's possibly Elite A-Rank or… Or S-Rank.'

"Dammit, they're coming!" Yoon-Ho growled as muscles enlarged, the man's stature going from six feet to seven, his eyes gaining a yellow glow as his hands gained claws and white fur. "... I have to be the one who fights the boss, he's too strong for you guys," he told them as Jin-Woo considered it all before raising his hand.

His shadow raged about as his eyes glowed in their depth.

"Arise."

Yoon-Ho's eyes widened as Shadows formed, black Ice Bears, knights, magicians, and… One that clearly stood above even those ones.

Igris removed himself and his blade from the shadowy depths, the Shadow's mantle flaring out.

'It's stronger than even its master,' it wasn't impossible, sometimes, your magic came with a sort of 'multiplier' of power compared to one's own. "This is what you meant," he said as Jin-Woo nodded.

"They'll handle the other Ice Elves. Call me crazy," his eyes narrowed on the boss. "But this one… He's going to need the strongest of us to handle him."

"Hi-Sense," Jin-Ah let out a breath, sword raised.

Yoon-Ho's eyes widened at this 'buff'. 'She opens the sensory channels further?' That was actually rather incredible. "Hmm," he clenched his hands into fist, aura erupting as he, Obito, Jin-Woo, and Kim-Chul stepped forward to stand before the boss.

He was a taller Ice Elf than the others with the longest ears, a white and black tribal mantle around his torso, and three purple gems arranged on his forehead, his large amount of wild spiky hair shifting as he raised a brow with a grin.

"Curious. You're not human," the Hyakki said to the group, startling them for different reasons.

Kim-Chul shivered in fear.

Yoon-Ho blinked as he touched his ear in shock.

Obito frowned.

And Jin-Woo's eyes widened as he heard the monster's words. "Who the hell are you talking to?" He frowned before blinking at Obito and Yoon-Ho's own looks of confusion.

"Wait, can… Can you also hear his words?" The S-Rank asked, confused.

"I can sort of tell what he's saying, by observing his aura," the Mage added as Jin-Woo shot the two weird looks.

"Well, I guess, no offense, Mr. Baek, your transformation might allow you to hear them?" The [Player] offered as the man suddenly looked uncomfortable. "It doesn't mean anything, I can hear it too… I guess because of my shadows?" He lied vaguely.

"Maybe your sister's buff gave us the ability to translate."

Wow, that was actually an incredible cover-up. "Maybe, we don't know. For now, we have to handle this guy," Jin-Woo said, his shadow flicking up and acting like he was pulling his Ursine King Bone Daggers out of it.

Obito considered their opponent before letting out a hum as he removed a weapon from his dimensional pocket. 'He'll be too fast for a hammer,' the Uchiha thought as he spun his newly removed weapon around his arm before flicking, and holding, it behind his back and widening his stance, his bone scythe gleaming in the sunlight.

Thread began to rotate beneath his feet.

Yoon-Ho took a deep breath before widening his legs and raising his clawed hands up in a stance reminiscent of boxing.

Kim-Chul grimaced as he hefted a new bone greatshield. "Damn you!" He roared at the amused-looking Ice Elf. "TAUNT!" He raised his shield.

And red flashed over the boss's eyes before it fell away, getting a trembling grimace from the A-Rank.

"Come now," the boss tutted an icy-white dagger at the Tank. "We know what happened last time," His eyes squinted as he grinned a wicked grin, one that slammed into Kim-Chul's heart and caused his spine to shiver, knocking the Tank to his rear. "Hmm but the other three, you are interesting," the boss said with a tilting bow. "My name is 'Baruka', what are yours?"

"Hm… Sung Jin-Woo."

"Baek Yoon-Ho."

"Uchiha Obito."

And then the three vanished in swirls of wind as Baruka grinned like a lunatic.

"Fantastic!" He spun at high speeds, his daggers, two, slashing out at the trio as they were either deflected, Jin-Woo & Obito, or barely dodged, Yoon-Ho.

The boss's feet skid below him in a circle as the others landed around him.

Obito's right hand came off his weapon and raised… Before unleashing a wicked slicing thread at Baruka's forces, the magic cutting through some arms, legs, weapons, or even scoring one lucky mortal blow to an Ice Elf's head as he fell short at the Mage's side.

"Can't have people interrupting us now, right?" Obito asked the snickering boss. 'Not a single care, huh?' What a, no pun intended, cold creature.

His form erupted at the boss, scythe swinging around at him before being blocked by one of Baruka's weapons as Yoon-Ho came down on the elf's head with a slash.

He disengaged and dodged that and Jin-Woo's crossing slashes, flipping high into the sky before landing far away with grace.

Obito sighed as Yoon-Ho removed his claws from the shattered earth, destruction tearing past the Uchiha for a good few meters.

"He's using his ears," Obito announced as Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed. "Remove them."

The three lunged at the boss once more, Baruka grinning as he stopped Jin-Woo's dagger with only a slightly tilting hand before kicking out at Yoon-Ho, Obito's scythe coming down on his head.

Dragging their locked weapons down and stepping in, Baruka kicked the Reawakened man away while dodging Obito's slash.

He spun down and around the former shinobi's follow-up slash before slashing at his chest.

Only to find the man going over him, his blade plunged into the ground as he pulled himself above it.

"Ohh~!" Baruka lunged at him only for a grasp on his shin to stop him, Obito's grin coming into view as he wretched the scythe out of the ground and up in a sideways spin. The blade aiming for Baruka's chin.

The boss leaned back to dodge it only for Yoon-Ho to slam into his side, tackling him to the ground and locking his waist between his thighs.

Jin-Woo came down from above, daggers aimed for the Ice Elf's surprised face before it let out a battle cry.

It threw them away, the duo shooting back into the snow with heavy crunches.

"Honestly, you all are decent," Baruka said with a frown as he flipped to his feet. "To think, even you could cause some mayhem," he told Obito. "Your magical signature doesn't even compare to these two yet you're quite the troublemaker. It's no wonder you're so interesting and could receive the ********'s power."

Obito blinked confused. 'Who's power?' What? "What are you talking about?"

"Please, it's not hard to feel it on you. That essence, I'm sure the Ice Bears were supposed to be guarding it after He went elsewhere with the others."

'The Frost Remnant,' Obito realized. "... You seem to know about it."

"Of course," Baruka smiled knowingly as the trio began to circle him as he spoke. "He is one of my own race, the strongest Ice Elf."

Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed before Yoon-Ho bared his fangs. 'The strongest Ice Elf?' Wait but he'd just said… So…

Did that mean there were monsters who were preparing? Why?

Obito took in a deep breath before holding his weapon's shaft out ahead of him, Baruka looking confused as he did.

And then black crawled up his legs.

"I'm going to get some answers out of you," he whispered as the color began to eclipse his abdomen. "But don't think there won't be some pain involved," Obito declared as it covered his face.

And the other three's eyes widened at the orb of blue energy vibrating around him. 'It's just like that time,' when fighting Cerberus, Jin-Woo remembered.

"One-Horned Oni," Obito whispered.

Wearing a black black mask of thread that ported a single neon-blue horn, jagged neon-blue eyes, and glowing pinwheel-like symbols on its cheeks, Obito's body seemed to have become encased by black and vibrant blue colors, even his cloak bearing the color changes with the furred edges being neon blue.

Bearing black boots with baggy-looking black pants, his torso's clothes seemed to have vanished, leaving the black thread to conform to his upper-body down to his fingertips, neon blue magic markings forming along his sides and more pinwheels sitting on his thighs and feet.

"Hunter Uchiha," Yoon-Ho's senses were shouting at him 'answers' and confusion.

Monster? Beast? Hunter? None of it fit, the man with the single horn had almost become indistinguishable with his own magic as the air around him shuddered.

"What did you do?"

Obito's head tilted to him as Kim-Chul's eyes widened in horror.

"Copy monsters." He'd said-

Before he vanished, the snow exploding around them before shooting away in a towering trail as Baruka vanished as well.

"What?!" That speed.

He was half as fast as Cha Hae-In?!

There was a battle cry from behind them, the duo turning and rushing towards the towers of erupting snow and trees in the far-off distance.

Jin-Woo could feel the magic on the tongue. 'It's so powerful,' really, how had the man done it?

Seeing how Obito's blows had reached levels where he could knock around Cerberus, Jin-Woo had always wondered where that form of his came from.

'Copying monsters,' that'd been what he said but the Reawakened man was confused. 'He couldn't copy Skills like [Wrath] but that doesn't mean there wasn't something he gained, right?' And the man had been fighting monsters over twice the amount of time Jin-Woo had.

Reaching the area where they heard the large number of heavy blows, they found Obito kneeing Baruka in the stomach before the boss slashed across his torso.

"Uncle?!" Jin-Woo shot forward with a slash at Baruka's offending arm, biting into it before the boss made to kick him away. "Tsk!"

Only for the hit to be stopped by that oni-like figure, Obito inside Baruka's guard bereft of his scythe.

He punched.

And the boss was sent flying through a rock formation before being drop-kicked by Yoon-Ho, the Ice Elf vanishing into a snowy dune in the distance with a rumbling explosion.

Jin-Woo moved to Obito's front, already holding a potion, only to blink in confusion.

That jagged mark on his chest revealed only the normal skin beneath, the rip even reknitting itself together as his glowing marks died down.

"Remember," Obito said as he pat his relieved nephew on the shoulder, voice normal. "I'm basically compressing all the strings' spatial boundaries together, I'm more durable like this but that's also why I can't keep it up."

"... It's compressing you?" The younger man grimaced as Yoon-Ho hurried over.

"I could hear you, that's some kind of Skill," he said. "How long do you have?"

"Less than a minute. Usually, it would last 60 seconds," Obito explained. "Thankfully, I have more control of my threads like this and can shut it off for a bit of time so I can 'travel'."

'For sixty seconds, his magical potential usurps an Elite A-Rank's,' the trade-off was honestly not that surprising when he considered it, especially when he remembered Jong-In's words from two years ago. "You can hit him well, now, that's good," he sniffed the air. "He's coming."

There was a burst of sound and snow ahead of them, the trio's eyes narrowing in unison.

Baruka rolled his bruised-looking shoulder with a scoff, the Ice Elf's clothing torn at the shoulders and left side, leaving him with a toga-like top as they noted his chopped-at-the-middle ears. "You… Your power is familiar to our own," he frowned. "And I thought there were only two monsters on that side, I should have seen this coming. You're also an issue if I let you absorb His essence."

'Absorb?' Wait, was that how he used the Frost Remnant?

Obito clenched his hand before his scythe flew into it by a nearly invisible thread, the transformed man holding it with both hands.

"Thanks for the information," Obito said, widening his stance and bouncing on his heels as his magic thrummed to life. "It'll be useful for later."

They lunged at the grimacing elf who jumped back while unleashing a series of super-sonic kicks.

Obito blocked them all with well-placed blocks of his scythe, the shaft absorbing the blows easily. 'Yes, the Ursine King's bones WERE worth it.'

Coming around at his sides, Jin-Woo and Yoon-Ho slashed past Baruka's sides, spilling blood.

Then, Jin-Woo's wound on him began to throb and color yellow with veins, the feeling of his body stiffening alarming the boss.

"C-Cheeky!" He still shot back and kicked away both men, sending them crashing through trees as Obito gave chase. 'He's like them,' to be able to just ensheathe oneself inside the energy of their world and release his presence.

It wasn't normal. Like that boy with shadow soldiers, this man's power set was growing familiar.

As the Uchiha came in close, he stopped short a meter, confusing the elf for all of a second as the man released a series three impossibly quick slashes.

"Wh-?"

His chest was scored by three clean cuts?!

Baruka's eyes widened in disbelief and horror, the ground behind him crunching, scarred by those far-reaching blades, and throwing up snow. "H-How-?" He whispered before a presence broke through the snowy dust. "?!"

Rasaka's Fang hit home, stabbing through the elf's abdomen, causing a second thrum of paralyzation.

Meanwhile, his bone dagger swung around as Yoon-Ho lunged with a raised claw.

Baruka grimaced the whole time, his eyes glowing as his body began to release a powerful magical pressure-

That fell away as a single thread slammed into his skull and he locked eyes with the Sharingan.

'I-I can't move?!' His body wasn't obeying him!? How?!

What power had this man been bestowed-

The ambushing duo swung.

And Baruka's eyes trembled in anger even as his vision flew through the air and saw his own beheaded body.

"Damn you… Humans," he hissed out, eyes going gray, as his head hit the crunchy snow. "..."

Watching Baruka's headless body hit the ground, Obito sighed in relief as his power began to recede, the man's skin showing several cracks in it.

"Ssss," he hissed a bit but nodded to the other two in relief. "Alright, we've won," Obito added as Jin-Woo shot him a worried look. "I told you, a minute," he reminded him even as his black eyes flashed red for a mere moment before dying down. "Hm?" He blinked before shaking away that odd feeling. "Let's get back to Jin-Ah and the others."

"Go on ahead," Jin-Woo sighed in relief, hitting his rear with a nod. "I'll be right there with you, in a bit."

Yoon-Ho looked ready to offer himself as a ride before Obito shook his head. "Come on, Yoon-Ho, we kind of left Kim-Chul to his own devices," the White Tigers Guild leader froze before he ran out.

"SHIT!"

"He's a kinder man than one would think," Obito said as Jin-Woo put his hand down on Baruka's dead body. "Take your time," he said before hurrying off.

~NRK~

Hurrying back to the others from their far-reaching fight, Obito and Yoon-Ho smiled at the collective group's 'alive' status.

"Huh? U-Uncle!" Jin-Ah hurried over, a couple cuts and bruises vanishing off her being as she reached Obito, jumping onto his chest.

"H-Haha," Obito chuckled painfully, holding onto her as she looked up at him. "Ahn, please, my body's killing me a bit."

"O-Oh, right, you guys fought the leader guy," she said sheepishly as he gave her one more deep hug before letting go, the young woman sighing in relief as she healed him. "Um, where's oppa?"

"He's just enjoying the forest we ended up in by accident."

"Sup!" Came the man-in-question's call as he hurried up to the others, dropping Baruka's corpse on the floor. "... Alright, glad everyone's safe," Jin-Woo said after surveying the area, raising a brow at his lunging sister before catching her with a smirk. "Yep, we're all safe," he told her as she hugged him and he reciprocated.

Then, there was a swirling crackle that appeared in the middle of the area, everyone blinking at it before most of them cheered.

"YES!" Song-Yi cheered in relief as Hee-Jin held her shoulders with a smile. "T-They really did it," she said as the older woman nodded.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

~NRK~

Gina sighed in relief as the Red Gate turned blue, the sight of people's shadows popping up after it.

"Thank God," she said with a relieved smile alongside Hae-In and Jong-In, the three getting up from the White Tigers' borrowed foldable chairs.

"W-We're out!" Park Hee-Jin declared with a grin as she and Song-Yi came out before being followed by the other two men of her group. "Oh? What's the Hunters Guild Master doing here?" She asked as five more figures came out of the Gate.

Obito sighed in relief as he did, eyes locking onto Gina before he smiled and walked to the lunging woman.

Catching her and holding her close, they pressed their foreheads together before she smiled happily.

"God, it's really like one thing after another, isn't it?" She asked him as he smiled weakly.

"Yes, unfortunately," he admitted as she sweatdropped.

Releasing one another, she hurried to the Sung siblings as Obito nodded to Jong-In and Hae-In.

"Anything else happen while we were in there?" He asked the two S-Ranks, the Fighter smiling nervously for him. "... Oh God, Dong-Su's dumbass situation finally hit the public opinion, didn't it?"

Jong-In's smile was just as nervous as his Vice-Guild Master's own. "Yes, actually, the Hunters Association wished to speak with you in the morning."

"Well… Dammit, I didn't think they'd find out like… I forgot about Jin-Chul," Obito groaned. "Dammit, well… It'll be fine. It won't be the first time I've met Chairman Go Gun-Hee."

"Wait, what?" Jong-In blinked, confused. "Hyung?"

"It was before we met, before this whole Gate situation. I knew him from a trip I made from China back before I moved," Obito explained. "We were just men resting in an area. I didn't know who he was but we chatted for a time in a restaurant for a couple hours. We did that a few more times before I returned home."

"Is there anyone else we should know about, oppa?" Hae-In asked him flatly as Obito's eyes went blank before he cleared his throat. "Oh my God."

"It's fine, it's just… He's someone from my old Beijing neighborhood, we actually haven't spoken in a year or so. I should call him one of these days, well, after this whole mess… Unless he ends up showing up due to the news, that might be bad."

~NRK~

The 'Sung family' got home half an hour later with Song-Yi in tow.

"I'll drop you off tomorrow morning," Obito said.

"Actually, she can just follow me and Jin-Ah to Jin-Ho's raids," Jin-Woo smirked. "Might as well. During that time, we'll look out for magic beasts with elastic skin materials."

"Ah, of course," the older man nodded before removing the Frost Remnant from his personal dimension. "Now, this I want to do now," he said, observing it.

"Whoa, wait, what is that?" Gina asked as they all moved to the living room and sat down. "Obi, sweetheart, is that some sort of super-magic item?"

"Yes."

"Of course."

"I'm supposed to fuse with this, somehow," Obito said. "It's supposed to give me an understanding of a specific trait I can imbue onto things I make. I just don't know how this works."

---

[Good, he found it.] That floating winged being said. [Gaining that was more trouble than it was worth, apologies, Great Ice Lord.] But if he was going to make this work, he needed to ensure that the man was truly suitable for this task.

Now, how to ensure he knew how to use the Remnant…

[That other boy's System should be useful for this but taking the chance that he might just absorb it is a horrid thought. It is an essence, you fool, absorb it into your being.]

---

Obito's mind thought back to Baruka's words.

'Baruka had wanted to stop me from absorbing this,' Obito thought as he considered it. "This is an essence, one that needs to be absorbed from Baruka's own words…"

"Hmm, I mean," Jin-Woo cupped his chin. "Maybe you just need to activate it?" He offered and his uncle perked up. "If you think of it like an item, that might be how it's done."

Obito considered the crystal before clenching it solidly and allowing his magic power to seep from his skin… before he stopped. "Actually, I wonder," he said as his Sharingan activated. "Can I pull out more from this thing?"

"Like with the spirit cores?" Jin-Ah asked with a blink. "I mean, I don't see why not."

---

[What has he done?] Had this human done something else the few seconds he'd not been looking?! [...]

He watched the man's eyes become those powerful artifacts, those ones from his old world he's sure, and search the Frost Remnant for its 'Truth'.

The questions were: 1) Would he even find anything deeper? 2) Would he need to stop the man before he touched upon something not meant for him?

Curious and damning questions…

[What can you decidedly find? What Skill of them can you even skim in such a small fragment of power?]

As he watched the man's spirit and magic search inside the crystal… The floating being froze.

As something within the Frost Remnant stirred.

Something that shouldn't have been there!

~NRK~

"What is this?" Obito wondered as he floated in the mindscape and saw an odd light in front of him. "..." He reached out to it, floating ever-closer.

And it pulsed in resonance, a surprising thing.

'Wait, this doesn't feel like an ice-based power, though,' no, it felt far more spiritual than that. "It's not like the Cerberus's Fang, this is so open to me."

As his hand reached out for that 'possibility', they finally connected.

His magical power intensified as they made contact before a lighter shade took hold, that light siphoning energy into his body before finally dispersing.

Obito touched his chest, biceps, and head but felt… Nothing.

No different, no better, nor worse.

He felt normal.

"But it had to have done something," he considered before looking around some more for anything else. "... Nothing? That's certainly not what I wanted," Obito groaned but shrugged.

~NRK~

[...] He didn't know what to say.

That man… If he was right about the ability he'd just been granted by the Remnant.

[I knew I was right, Shadow Lord.] He grew confident. [This is actually perfect. Now, all I need to do is supplant his blood with Baran's own and his body should be ripe as a Vessel.]

---

Obito blinked back into the real world, the others shooting him surprised looks.

At the new white marking on his left bicep and the lack of the Frost Remnant.

"Well, this worked out oddly," Obito said even as he grew confused. 'My mind is filled with knowledge,' but it was confusing.

"How do you feel?" Gina asked him.

"Well, a little more powerful in an odd manner. So, fine?"

"Yeah, I know, we're all confused, too."

"Glad it wasn't just me," Song-Yi swallowed. "Um… Can we just go to bed?"

Jin-Woo checked his watch. "It's literally almost five o'clock and we just woke up, our time, around three hours ago so… Sure, let's go to sleep."

Jin-Ah snickered.

~NRK Out~