trouble - evnne

9

At the crack of dawn, the hunters were gathered outside the dungeon. "I detest you all for choosing this time of all," Woongki groggily complained, "I'm losing out on beauty sleep."

"We couldn't sleep anyways," Yunseo replied, jittering with anticipation.

Woongki made an exasperated noise but his eyes fell down to the tablet in his hands. "It's predicted you'll be spending almost two or even three days in there, so there are supplies, you guys are familiar," Woongki absently gestured to a side, where staff had packed a few bags of equipment, first aid and snacks.

"Alright!" Woongki raised his gaze to meet theirs, "The dungeon is stable and ready to enter."

"Nice," Jongwoo laughed, "Let's close this stupid dungeon."

From the many trips in, they managed to put together a map of sorts, Jongwoo was clutching onto a large thin tablet bearing their carefully pieced sketches and annotations. Jay peered over his shoulder to study it, noting the new discoveries with the wonder of a child.

"It's all the way at the end," Jongwoo announced, "So it'll be a long trek."

"We have time," Junghyun shrugged, doing light stretches as he eagerly studied the dungeon.

When the dungeon was deemed stable enough to enter, Woongki bid them goodbye with a "stay safe", before they were immersed into the overwhelming rainforest environment of the dungeon.

Jongwoo was all-too excited to be the tour guide, being the hunter who had been in this particular dungeon the most, additionally he was gripping the map so tightly no one considered taking it from him.

They made their way through the dungeon wordlessly, most were a little tense, additionally, they stayed silent, conserving energy to tackle the dungeon boss. As they walked, a handful of beasts emerged, they had explored this dungeon so thoroughly, they knew the traits and weaknesses of every type of beast like the back of their hand, and they were dealt with easily.

Suddenly, a loud, familiar cry sounded above them, and there were those loathsome pterodactyl look-alikes. Not even wasting a second, every bird-like creature was torched by multiple strikes of lightning, until they landed dead on the ground. "Oh, right, this is the first time you guys are coming in since Jihoo," Jay casually remarked, as though they were sight-seeing.

"Are you gonna kill every single one you see?" Sungmin asked jokingly.

"Yes," Keita answered darkly.

"Alright then." Again, everyone fell silent. More flying beasts were sent toppling to the ground, singed and steaming, as they walked. Hours passed as they delved deeper into the forest, without the map, they were sure to be lost within the confusing terrain.

"It's a wonder you guys got out the last time," Haruto mused. "We were lucky," Jay sighed, "If we had taken a different route, we may have spent days in here."

"It would be more pleasant if we didn't have to fight a beast after this," Sungmin grumbled, "I didn't sign up to be a hunter for this."

"You can submit your resignation letter when we get out," Jongwoo joked.

And finally, after the multiple expeditions and hours of trekking, they found themselves crouched at the edge of a cliff, which dipped down to reveal the entrance of a cavern. What resides in the cavern was not obvious at first glance, large shimmering scales could be seen, a type of reptile, perhaps. The only thing they could truly gauge was the sheer size of it.

"Should we go down to check it out, or should we try to lure it out?" Haruto whispered.

"Throw a rock down," Junghyun suggested, and Keita obliged, flinging out the nearest palm-sized stone he could lay his hands on.

The rock landed on the hard, damp stone ground, a clear, light sound. Evidently, it was enough to pique the interest of the dungeon boss, the scaly body shifted and slowly lumbered out from its shelter.

Some hunters sucked in sharp breaths, others marvelled quietly at the sight before them. Reptilian was the closest thing the beast could be referred to, with a four-legged body coated with the same green scales, what was more unusual was how the thick neck of the beast branched out into not one, not two, but seemingly countless heads, weaving through one another gracefully so as to not tangle, all alert and intrigued by the disruption.

"Huh. That's very new," Keita finally said after a while.

"Looks like many big snakes attached together," Woojin very thoughtfully commented.

"It looks like a hydra," Yunseo breathed. "From Greek mythology?" Sungmin asked, cocking his head.

"In the myth, you had to burn the necks after you cut them off, to prevent the heads from regrowing, don't you?" Minseoung remarked.

"How hard could it be?" Jay asked, studying the beast carefully, "We should try our technique as well." He shot a quick glance to his fellow Onepact members, who nodded in unison.

"Okay I have the most fantastic, fool-proof plan," Jongwoo started.

"The last time you used that combination of words, we had the most disastrous raid in our entire career," Sungmin interjected.

"I will halve your pay."

"I'll transfer to T-guild."

"We won't accept you," Haruto quickly informed.

"Jongwoo, back to your plan."

"Okay, we'll focus on making the boss stay put," Jongwoo began, referring to his fellow Onepact members, "And of course, we'll try our best with it too. I think T-guild should focus on slicing off the heads, then Evnne's gotta strike the stumps. We don't have fire so lightning is the next best alternative."

Jay actually looked impressed, "That's pretty solid."

"I've never doubted you for a second," Sungmin added.

"I'll toss you down."

"Might as well, actually," Jay shrugged, "We should announce our presence first."

Without wasting a second, the trio of gravity manipulators leapt off the cliff, Jongwoo and Sungmin landed softly on the stone ground, Jay remained hovering in the air, deciding to keep out of the way. While all of Onepact's members were gravity manipulators, they specialised in different areas of manipulation, though Jay had the ability to make even buildings crumple down like the other two, his strength lay in his impeccable fine control, allowing him to fly by subtly tweaking the amount of gravity holding down every inch of his body.

After Onepact's descent, the T-guild hunters made their way down, save for Haruto, who instead scoured the surroundings, aiming to move upwards. Selecting a reasonably sturdy tree with sparse foliage, the crystal manipulator scaled the tree effortlessly, nestling himself up there to take action. The Evnne members too, stayed at the higher ground, spreading out to cover more ground.

"Ready when you are," Keita shouted to Jongwoo, who had not taken his eyes off the hydra. "Alright!" Jongwoo clapped his hands, gazing straight up at the multiple heads of the hydra, thrashing wildly, every pair of eyes gleaming murderously. "Let's get this party started."

an: lmao a little bit of explanation regarding onepact's ability