Without wasting any further time, he sprinted towards the humming eye, intending to halt whatever attack it was building up to.


    Sage Period, activate! He thought.


    As he activated the altered form, he drew his daggers, using a [Blink Step] to throw the eye off before shing the air, sending a wave of purple, hissing energy cutting towards the eye with viscous speed.


    It cut through the street easily, bisecting the yellow car that was in its path beforending against the eye in a fiery, purple explosion that propelled a shock wave outwards.


    "Twilight Cutter", it''s a new skill I opted to learn through my skill tree to make up for myck of range, while keeping close to my assassin proficiency. I don''t think martial arts is going to be my best option against an enemy like this, he thought.


    [Amplification state initiated.]


    "Sage Period" itself had altered along with the awakening of his secondary system, taking on an evolved, more versatile form.


    The demerit of taking double damage from attacks was still present, however, alongside the baseline benefit of being able tobine skills, two more benefits were active: the ability to use skills and spells without invocations, and the reduction of spirit cost.


    It was a t "-100" to the cost of his skills and spells while in this enhanced Sage Period, making a skill like [Twilight Cutter], that took a toll of one-hundred spirit, free to use.


    Even so, that didn''t mean the skill would actually bear much fruition in an attack against the otherworldly eye.


    He continued this strategy; jumping and dashing around while sending the massive, energized forms of shes against the eye in repetition.


    "Watch out, fire-head! It''s lookin'' right atcha''!" Yeon-Un yelled out as a warning.


    It''s looking at me–? Is it nning to attack? Did my attack not have any effect? He wondered.


    Either way, he used a [Blink Step] to warp himself atop one of the traffic lights, taking a moment to regain himself.


    "Fire-head! Jump! Now!" Yeon-Un yelled out.


    Just as the warning came, he could feel an explicable heat press against his body,ing from the general direction of the eye as he leapt to the side, barely evading a sort of beam that intended to erase him.


    "Huh–?"


    He briefly opened his eyes while looking at what could''ve hit him; it was a golden light, condensed into a beam that burrowed into the highrise building behind him. The heat from theser caused the surrounding material of the tall building to bubble up and melt as the eye dragged the beam upwards, carving through arge section of the building in one go.


    What the hell is this…? This isn''t something we can fight–it''s at least level thirty-no, fourty? This type of attack power is in another realm, he thought.


    Hended on the ground in a roll to maintain his momentum, finding an opening as he sprinted with haste towards the eye while it continued to carve the highrise tower behind with its humming, destructive beam.


    I''ll cut it away now, with everything I have–! He thought.


    Approaching the enormous eye, which surpassed his size at least by a dozen times, he flipped his daggers to gain momentum as they became shrouded in absolute darkness, then bolstered in shining violet.


    "Dark Edge", "Twilight Cutter", and "Ripper"--this is "Death By A Thousand Harrowing Cuts"! He thought.


    As he reared his magically-enhanced daggers back, leaving a trail of swirling, chaotic power in their movement, he was stunned the eye suddenly halted its previous attack, spinning around with an unsettling speed as it contorted itself–staring directly at him with a dted pupil.


    "--!"


    "Fire-head!" Yeong-Un yelled out to him.


    Ah, crap–I messed up, he thought.


    A gathering of scorching heat coalesced at the otherworldly eye''s pupil, generating a blinding light that consumed his vision in that moment between moments.


    "No pupil of mine is falling today–!"


    –A familiar, boisterous voice.


    The blinding light dispersed as a massive wind pressure mmed against the eye, knocking its iris around as it seemed to be snatched from its focus.


    As he turned, he could see a familiar, muscle-bound man with ck-and-white, long hair kept into a ponytail, wielding arge, cobalt ymore.


    "Korain…!" He called out in surprise, naturally smiling out of relief.


    The hulking mannded with a thud on the street, resting his sword on his shoulders as he strode with confidence backed by a million-dor smile.


    "Miss me, my dear student?" Korain asked, patting him on the head as he towered over the crimson-haired adolescent.


    "Cut that out–I''m perfectly fine," he bashfully smacked the man''s hand away, thoughughed a bit.


    "What''s the situation with this creepy fe?" Korain asked, stopping his antics as he squinted with a serious look in his eyes.


    He looked back as well, seeing the eye still swirling as it readjusted itself in response to the hefty blow received from the man, "...Honestly, I don''t really know. It dropped down from beyond the clouds…and–make sure not to match its gaze–it did something with my mind," he exined, holding his face as he winced.


    "I see," Korain nodded, tapping the dull side of his cobalt ymore against his broad shoulder, "Leave this to us!"


    "..."Us"...?" He asked, confused.


    Just then, he saw two more figures arrive beside Korain, who seemed to only just arrive.


    "Eunji…!"


    The meek, short-haired girl stood, wielding a magical staff as she kept herposure beside the towering man.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Standing to the right of Korain, another man, though slender and pale with long, unkempt locks of a jet-ck shade stood, holding an expression as if wanting nothing more than to be somewhere else.


    [yer Recognized…]


    [Moon. Level: 25 | ss: Magi-Summoner]


    "Moon!" He let out.


    It was rare to see the reclusive man out, who had grown a stubble that he scratched, wearing a dreary, baggy uniform as his equip with thin, blue gloves and a simrly colored mantle.


    "Let''s get this party started! If a "Boss" wants to drop down on our doorstep, I say let him! It''s free experience for Gangcheori!" Korain proimed, pointing his ymore at the colossal eye as it finally adjusted itself, surrounded by its rotating rings of ever-shifting visuals.


    "Yeah!" He said, joining in with the other three.


    "...Dontcha'' dare forget about me."


    Yeong-Un ced himself beside them with a smirk, wielding both of his different-handled des as he spit out a heaping of blood from his mouth.


    "Yeong-Un…Are you sure you should be fighting?" He asked.


    "The hell kinda question is that?" The wild-haired, scarred adolescent smiled at his ally, "If myrades are fightin'' their hearts out, ya'' bet yer'' ass I''m roaring right alongside them!"


    With an ensemble of five, even against the seemingly immutable eye, he couldn''t help but feel confident now, or at least, hopeful.


    "Any other pointers for us?" Korain asked.


    "It''s tough as hell," he answered, "...Sorry, that''s all I''ve got for you."


    "I can attest to that," Yeong-Un agreed, wiping the blood from his nose.


    "Hah! Good enough–I know I''ll have to hit it hard, then!" Korain yelled, flexing his muscles as they bulkened with veins protruding against his skin, "Let''s roll, baby!"


    All at once, the group set out, with Eunji and Moon staying at the backline due to their roles in the battle.


    "Come, Red Chimera!" Moon called out, tightening his blue, steel-embroidered glove as it shined in response to his call.


    A magical seal formed on the ground, spinning as a mystical beast rose from its unseen depths, roaring out as it revealed its full,rge form as a red-furred lion with the tail of a ck-scale serpent, and the wings of a dragon sprouting from its back.


    The multi-part beast withrge, de-like ws roared out before dashing out, running alongside the three who took to the vanguard.


    "Cast: Steel-Like Skin!"


    Eunji raised the ivory, wooden-wrapped staff up as she summoned a confident voice from the depths in her being to conjure her party-wide buff, granting a defensiveyer of unseen armor to each fighter on the vanguard.


    Even though they ran together, he was left in the dust by Korain, who being a considerably higher level, possessed immense physical stats–but that wasn''t quite it.


    Korain himself was an anomaly; he burst forward with such speed that the asphalt beneath his step, causing the nearby cars to bounce up, crash against the neighboring walls, or roll over as he propelled forth with an unmatched speed.


    A storm of dust kicked up from the aftermath of the man''s takeoff, leaving even Yeong-Un in his dust as the man coughed up from the overflow of sediment.


    Luckily, they were a good few blocks away from the hotel as the shock wave from Korain''s takeoff shattered the nearby windows of the towering buildings.


    "Talk about a show-off!" He coughed up.


    "Ha-ha! That''s the way a real man rolls! Let''s not be left behind–!" Yeong-Unughed, pushing himself to max speed as well.


    In a full sprint, he was able to match Yeong-Un as they ran with such speed that his vision curved, though it still wasn''t enough to catch up to Korain who swiftly arrived at the eye entity''s position.


    "Let''s see how "unbreakable" you really are, why don''t we?!" Korain shouted out, wielding his massive ymore as it became enveloped in a swirling wind.


    With both hands gripping firmly around the handle of the lengthy ymore that was nearly the height of the one who wielded it, Korain smiled fiercely before mming it down directly towards the mysterious eye, which watched him as he did.


    One of the rings, inhabited by countless eyes and flesh that disappeared and reappeared continuously, attempted to block the downward m of his swing, but this time–the eye''s defensive capabilities fell short.


    "Oh, crap–is he using that?!" He shouted out in realization.


    "Yeah, get back!" Yeong-Un called out, evenmanding the summoned chimera that seemed to understand his words.


    Korain held a wide smile as he sessfully shattered one of the seemingly unbreakable rings that orbited the eye, breaking through it with the wind-infused swing of his de that imposed a swirling tornado onto the ground.


    "...He''s not a team yer at all, is he?!" He shouted out, running in the opposite direction now alongside Yeong-Un and the chimera.


    "Ha-ha! He never has been!" Yeong-Unughed.


    "How is this funny?!"


    The force of the manifested, raging force of nature could be felt as abandoned cars were lifted from the ground, spiraling around the roaring winds that enveloped the eye.


    "How''s that?! I bet you regret messing with my students now, don''t you!?" Korain taunted, standing atop the colossal eye as he pressed his ymore against it.


    His temple of muscle was strained and reddened, bulkened as he forced himself to persist amidst the tornado, keeping it manifested at the terrible winds tugged at the orb''s constitution.


    "...One more outta do it…" Korain muttered, gathering his heavy breaths before raising hisrge de above his head again.