[Novel] The Mirror [Chapter 7 (1/4)]

Minseong, Daesun, Daejoon and Eunkyung have entered the mirror world. It was pitch dark as they recognized their surroundings: they were in the middle of a huge desert. Only a few stars in the sky are shining their dim light, it's not helping much for their vision.

"Get ready with your weapons. I have a feeling they prepare a lot of things to make us busy," said Daesun.

The three other warriors are preparing their weapons. They're standing in a circle and are cautious about their surroundings. Slowly, they can see a group of people surrounding them, but it's not only human's shadow that they recognize, they are riding horses. Two steps in front of them, the two evil guardians standing with their weapons ready in their hands.

"Now all of you can't outnumber us," said the man in black cloak.

"So it's their purpose to bring us here. They're the ones who outnumber us now," said Minseong, "there are so many of them... twelve? And what are they? I have never seen them before."

Their opponents look like knights in black full armor riding their black horses. Even their horses have black armor around their body. The knights themselves bring a shining spear on their hand.

"This is not looking good," said Daejoon cautiously.

"Whatever they are, they might have a darkness element and we have no light guardian here," said Daesun, "try to stay close to each other while we are figuring out their weakness. Eunkyung noona..."

Even before Daesun finished his words, Eunkyung screamed and threw her javelin to the nearest dark knight: it stabs to the ground where the head of the horse was a few seconds ago before it ducks away. It looks like a sign of war, so all the horses neigh angrily and they charged towards the guardians. The two evil guardians jump out of the circle.

"I'll go after them!" decided Minseong and a second later, he jumps away too.

Daesun has no chance to reply to Minseong, he wishes Minseong wouldn't go alone but he also doesn't want the evil guardian to run away, he raised up his bow instead to raise up the sand behind the knights and aim it to the back of some black knights. The sand buried some knights and their horses are having a hard time. But it won't last long, Daesun thought, we must get this chance to destroy some of the other knights. Daejoon, in Daesun's other side, raising up his sword towards four other knights, creating an invisible wave in the air which make the knights' movement getting slow as if someone press on slow button on a video to them. Daesun's eyes widened as he witnessed how powerful Daejoon's time control ability and guessing on what level is Daejoon now. Eunkyung, realizing the knights' slow movement, aims at one of the knights and throws her javelin there. Her javelin stabs right into the chest of the knight, he let out a long painful scream before falling from his horse. Eunkyung raises up her hand and her javelin flies back to her hand. 

"One down, eleven to go," she said, feeling proud of her achievements.

"Attacking shields!" Daesun screamed, protecting him and Eunkyung in a big red bubble right before two knights charged towards Eunkyung.

The two knights scream in pain as they bump into the shield before they fall from their horses. 

"Charge!" screamed Daejoon, sounds so thrilled.

Minseong jumps in front of the two evil guardians.

"Don't think of running away!" He raised up his axe in front of them.

The two guardians are looking at each other before they nod and launch an attack on Minseong. The girl attacks Minseong using her chain and Minseong jumps at the right time to dodge from it before charging forward and aiming the girl's arm. When the girl dodge, her cloak falls and reveals her full face. 

"Kim Sunsook?" asked Minseong as he knows who exactly this girl is.

"Damn!" she cursed before she waved her chain in front of her.

Realizing something bad could happen, Minseong protects his face with his axe. The girl's eyes just turned red as she tried to hypnotize Minseong.

Damn, I know who this girl is, said Minseong as he sent a message to Daejoon, she is one of my friends at school.

Do you need help there, Minseong? Asked Daejoon.

No, I'm still okay here hyeong. How about there?

Only nine left, we'll finish them up soon. Give us more time.

Roger that!

Minseong turns around just in time to launch an attack on the man evil guardian but the guardian turns into a black cat once again.

"Wait! You... I know who you are! You're the cat in CAKE AND BISTRO!" screamed Minseong, "that's answering why you know everything about our plan!"

The black cat tries to run away but Minseong launches another attack with his axe towards it. He was sure he could attack the cat...

"Protecting shield!"

Minseong's axe only hit the blue bubble as the cat ran further. Sunsook stands in front of Minseong.

"Get away from me. Kim Sunsook, I don't wanna hurt you, you're my friend. And you know you're below my level, you can't beat me," said Minseong in a dangerously low tone.

"I won't let you step even one step closer to our oppa."

"Just surrender. You and him."

"Beat me if you can."

"Then don't blame me if you get hurt."

Daejoon slash the black knight which falls to the ground easily with his sword. He looks around him, there are only six black knights left. They are so persistent, Daejoon thought.

"No, Daesun!" Eunkyung screamed when one of the knights stabbed their spear to Daesun's back.

Eunkyung quickly ran toward Daesun.

"Hold on Daesun."

Eunkyung put her hand on Daesun's bloody back as he lay on the ground. Realizing how vulnerable they are, Daejoon jumps to their side and launches another time control ability towards four of the knights at once, before dueling with another two. Daejoon now knows what the knight's strengths and weaknesses are. They are good in charge when they attack you from distance, but they aren't that good in short distance attacks like dueling. Daejoon is swinging his sword here and there calmly before he spots the weak part of one of the knights and he slams his sword there, killing another knight. It's not much of the knights anymore, but if they keep using their ability, they will run out of energy soon. Daesun and Eunkyung are already in their position again.

"How do you feel, hyeong?"

"I'm fully healed. Let's finish them up," answered Daesun, "sorry to make you guys worry."

"Let's prevent using a lot of ability, we should save our energy to help Minseong," suggested Daejoon.

"Nice suggestion. Let's do that."

This isn't the first time for Minseong to fight someone with protecting shield ability. He has been counting the time inside his mind, it has been more than fifteen minutes since they are dueling, so he knows this girl will lose her energy soon. Moreover, she has tried to hypnotize him twice and cast the shield all over again. He has a feeling that this girl's level is below him, that's why instead of having a duel, she keeps avoiding him. If he waits for a while more...

"Protecting shield!" Sunsook cast her shield again.

This is the moment that Minseong waits, when her shield doesn't work anymore. He grabs her chain with his bare hands before holding it tight. The girl widened her eyes in shock as she didn't expect Minseong would hold her thorny black chain. His palm started to bleed, but he jumped, circling her body and even before she realized it, the chain was already wrapped around her body. It's not too tight, but when she tries to move her body, it wraps her tighter. 

"Don't move too much or it will hurt you," said Minseong, "Sunsook-ssi."

"I don't care. I better die than be captured," Sunsook stared at Minseong angrily. 

"I can just put you to sleep then," Minseong said as he held her arm tightly.

"Minseong!"

Daesun ran in front of Eunkyung and Daejoon towards Minseong. They look tired but no one is hurt. 

"Minseong, are you okay?" asked Daejoon.

"I'm okay, everyone. And I got her. I failed to catch the other one, sadly," said Minseong.

"It's okay, Minseong. The most important thing is that you don't get hurt," said Eunkyung.

"What should we do with her?"

"For now, I think let's just take her to our hideout," suggested Daesun.

"But we should cover her eyes so she won't find out where our hideout is," said Daejoon.

"Wow, we have a hideout? That sounds so cool! Where is the place?" asked Eunkyung in one breath.

"Hyeong, you haven't introduced her to me!" complain Minseong.

"Let's go to a safe place first," ordered Daesun.

They quickly walk towards a big mirror in the distance.

 

The dark druids aren't a match for Prince Soulling, Myungwoo, Bonhwa, Minsook and Kichul. Joochan is the witness of how powerful they are. The scene in front of him is moving so fast as he only can see the light from Myungwoo's axe slash the enemy; beside him, Kichul's trident shining brightly too as he enjoying doing mind-reading and hypnotize a druid then makes him fight over his own colony; Bonhwa is having fun too with his trident before turn into a hare sometimes to avoid the druid's spells, he is laughing hard when the druids are confused; Minsook casting different kind of spells and his spell and the druid's are dueling; Prince Soulling is moving his spike lightly just like he is having fun, hitting every druid near him. 

"This scene is even better than a movie," compliment Joochan while clapping his hands.

Joochan has nothing to do except watching his friends fighting. Soon, all of the druids die, but none of his allies are injured. 

"When all of the lights inside the crystal ball turns white, Princess Sungmi lets us all meet you, hyeong," said Minsook cheerfully, "hyeong did so well."

"Well, it won't be that easy if Prince Soulling didn't help me," said Joochan, "this forest is creepy."

"You convinced me that not all humans are just food," said Prince Soulling while laughing, "I'm just kidding. It's been years since I ate human flesh."

They walk towards the brighter part of the forest again where Princess Sungmi, Prince Bialaer and elves are waiting for them. Princess Sungmi smiles so brightly when she sees Joochan comeback, without any scratch on his body, he only looks dirty of blood. 

"You did so well, Warrior Leader," compliment Prince Bialaer, "here is your prize."

Prince Bialaer hands Joochan the transparent bottle which contains orange liquid inside. Joochan takes it with his shaky hand.

"With your wisdom, I believe that you'll use it well."

"Long time no see," Prince Soulling said with a deep voice.

"Yes, it's been a long time," said Princess Sungmi while smiling, "what's your next plan, Prince Soulling?"

"I don't really know... maybe I'll wander around to find my clan and gather them?"

"I have heard about the minotaurs colony," said Prince Bialaer, "I can provide you the directions."

"And map, please. I'm not good with directions except inside my maze," Prince Soulling is laughing.

"I'll remember to provide a map too for you, then."

"Maybe you wanna teach others to become vegetarian like you?" Joochan suggested, "oh not really vegetarian but not a human eater?"

"That's right. I'll teach them to eat pork. Maybe they don't know their flesh is as good as human's."

Joochan chose not to reply Prince Soulling's words because he doesn't want to know how human flesh's taste and he is considering not eating pork for some time after this. 

"I have a request for Prince Bialaer," said Sungmi, "if I can rest until the morning comes in your forest? We should change shifts. The guardians and Joochan must be tired by now."

"We can provide you a comfortable place here," said Prince Bialaer, "and for Prince Soulling too. A feast before the next journey?"

"I wouldn't say no for it."

"Me, Bonhwa, Minsook and Kichul will stay here and join the next shift," said Myungwoo, "so can we stay here too?"

"Kitchen staff will be busy tonight but I guess they will like it anyway," Prince Bialaer replied with a smile on his face.

"Then I will go back and come back tomorrow night," reported Joochan.

"Rest well and nice to know you, Warrior Leader," Prince Soulling offers a handshake, "we might meet again one day."

"I hope we will. On a brighter day," Joochan shakes Prince Soulling's hand.

But everyone's attention now is on the shining backpack. They all know it might come from one of the mirrors inside it. Minseong appears a second after that, looking all tired but smiling to everyone.

"Minseong? It's not your shift yet," said Myungwoo, "what happened?"

"We have an emergency situation here... so we need Princess Sungmi to check on it," answered Minseong, looking a little shocked after making eye contact with Prince Bialaer and Prince Soulling.

Princess Sungmi is exchanging glances with Myungwoo before nodding her head.

Joochan and Minseong are the only ones who come back to the human world (they are awakened from their sleep) while Princess Sungmi appears out of nowhere just like she did teleport. In the house, Daesun, Sikyung, Daejoon and Eunkyung are present, even the sleepy Hyunki is there (he came almost an hour ago and was thinking of sleeping on Bonhwa's comfortable bed). But what's taking everyone's attention is a girl in black cloak tied with a thorny black chain, kneeling in the center of the living room, with eyes covered with black cloth. 

"Princess Sungmi, we caught this Evil Guardian," said Daejoon, "apparently they said this is the same guardian who was hurting Minjoon and she was following Minseong last evening."

"I see. She must be following Minseong to find our hideout," said Sungmi calmly while staring at her, "you are the youngest between them."

"We failed to catch another guardian," reported Eunkyung, "apparently that guardian can transform into a black cat. We have a theory that the black cat must have reported our hideout before in Myungwoo's place so they launched a sudden attack last time. This black cat... we are so familiar with it... it's always visiting CAKE AND BISTRO."

Sungmi is smiling for a second, "nice to meet you again, Water Guardian. The theory might be correct then."

"Her name is Kim Sunsook," said Minseong, "a long time ago she found me in school. Apparently she is my hoobae. So I guess she knows my identity as a guardian."

"Let me go," Sunsook said in a dangerously low tone.

"You know too much about us," said Sungmi calmly.

"Then kill me."

"To get your energy and share it with everyone sounds tempting but... I won't kill you either. So tell me where the exact position of your castle is now."

"Castle? They also have a castle?" asked Daesun.

"Yes they also have a hideout. The dark castle belonged to the Darkness Lord and it was protected by a powerful spell so people can't find it easily. We need to know the password to break in. I guess... Darkness General protected it."

"You will get nothing from me," said Sunsook.

"Then I will just lock you somewhere else. Everyone, now that we have her, I guess their side will try to save her. We need people to take turns guarding her too," explained Sungmi, "just like what I said, she is the youngest between all, so whoever tries to save her later must be the guardians who are way stronger than her. I'll arrange the place and guard for her."

"We'll listen to your instructions," said Eunkyung, "err... princess Sungmi?"

"Welcome to the pack, Eunkyung," said Sungmi while smiling, "now everyone needs to rest. However Daesun, can we go together to find a place to keep this girl?"

"Yes, princess, I'll go with you."