They get ambushed

The training regime took Youngwoo nearly 2 hours. During that time, he practiced all his basic moves, like Link and Kill, all the while using different footwork to move around. He didn't feel like practicing fusion attacks like Pinnacle Kill or higher ones. He also didn't say the names of sword dances, so in fact, what Hilda was watching was 2 hours of Youngwoo just slashing with a sword in a weird manner while walking like he was attempting to dance.

However, Hilda wasn't thinking that what she was witnessing was stupid. Actually it was quite the contrary. 'He's not speaking names of the skills, but uses them anyway... he's indeed interesting.' She had already seen him practice while naming the sword dances. And as she watched them be done in silence, she couldn't help but see how refined his movements were. She recognized the stride of Link and Revolve, and was amazed by how precise the footwork was. It looked no different to what she saw before in the park in Safe Zone, she was sure it was down to last centimetre exact same thing. This proved that there were years of training spent perfecting the attacks he used.

Soon, Youngwoo decided it was time to stop. Dealing his final stabs and slashes, he soon made the final crescent moon around himself, unleashing the last Sky of the day. After that, he slowly recovered his sword and sheathed it on his waist. Hell, he was tired. Normally he'd make a small break at about 1 hour mark, but this time, feeling Dragon Witch's stare, he decided to push a bit forward. Well, that little forward took almost another hour, as it turned out. With exhaustion, he sat on the ground and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes, wanting to get a breather.

"Do you always train for so long?" Asked Hilda, coming a little closer to him. She looked at him with curiosity.

"Sometimes." He replied shortly, still breathing heavily. Slowly, he felt his heartbeat abate a little, and looked at her. "I must train everything I know to keep it in shape."

She looked at him with a little bit of what he understood was pity. Still, she didn't comment; after all, this wasn't up to her to choose. And, on the other hand, she found his determination to be quite amusing. There weren't many people who would go to such extent to just train. Meanwhile, Youngwoo swiped sweat from his forehead and asked:

"How much longer until the floor is opened for us?"

"...About an hour." She replied, checking time on her phone.

Youngwoo took a deep breath.

"Alright, then. I suppose we can set off to the exit. What do you think?"

"You should rest a bit first." Still, she nodded at his suggestion.

He didn't respond, instead closing his eyes and attempting to meditate. When he first begun doing this after training, he found it to be useless, but after repeating it over and over after every session, he soon found this to be quite a nice way to rest. It didn't restore sore muscles, but helped him control his breathing and heartbeat. Well, he liked what he got.

After a few minutes, he decided it was time to go. The night was going on in full, two moons shining above the forest, just barely visible between tree crowns, but still lighting up the inside a little. In a way, it even looked nice. Going on and on forward, he and Hilda traced back to where they had camped before. Once there, he quickly changed his clothes (after asking Hilda to look for threats around), and then they took their steps in the direction of Issar.

The way back was very quiet. Calm breeze swept through the fields, some of which had been cut by Hunters as parts of their quests, hay bales in the fields. Well, it was nice. Youngwoo thought about his own rewards for today. He earned a total of 4 gold and 80 silver pieces (100 silver = 1 gold), so the day hadn't gone that bad for him. He couldn't say what Hilda was thinking, though. Was she disappointed by the earnings? Surely that was the case, but she must've been worried about Ieva.

But, his pondering was halted when they heard a voice from up ahead:

"There you are, motherfucker." It was a heavy voice. Indeed, heavy as steel that was swung at them both.

"Get down!" Youngwoo just barely managed to register the attack. He grabbed Hilda and jumped on the ground. Then, he quickly rolled a bit from her, and got up, unsheathing his sword.

Visibly startled, it took Hilda a second or two to register what just happened. She recovered from her position, sitting up with some trouble (her backpack wasn't exactly helping her), and looked at what was happening in front of them both.

About 10 metres from them, there was a man. No, actually, there were 3 men, just barely visible in the moonlight. In the front, there was a huge one, undeniably the leader, holding what looked like a large spear, about 2,5 metres long. His face was hidden under a helmet with visor, an in actuality his entire body was covered in plate armor. Man's posture was powerful, as he had about 2 metres of height.

The second one was a smaller man holding a bow. Well, there wasn't much about him that Youngwoo could see, mostly due to the first one. There seemed to be light armor on him, and on his face, there was a mask.

The third one was a magician. Wait, on second look, wasn't it a woman? Oh well, gender didn't matter. What mattered was the staff she carried, and magic sigil that was already formed.

"Bind." Sounded her quiet voice.

In an instant, something shot out of magician's staff, and passed by Youngwoo at speed of sound. Before he could even move a muscle, Hilda was already hit, the woman quickly tangled up in a thick rope from her legs all the way to her neck. She couldn't move a muscle, and was only able to watch what was happening in front of her.

In the meantime, the commander took a stance with the spear. Without even explaining the reason for the attack, he charged forward. Hastily, Youngwoo unsheathed his sword. Just barely managing to dodge the charge by doing a stride of Revolve, he begun his sword dance.

"Pagma's Sword Dance, Flower." He spun the blade spirally, aiming for the attacker's hands on the spear.

However, the man unexpectedly let go of the spear. He instead rose his hands and caught the blade. Thanks to armored gauntlets, he managed to stop the attack, hell, he actually held the sword firmly. With his grip fixed on it, he yanked it from Youngwoo's hands and threw it to his right. Well, that was unexpected, to say the least. Lee was so surprised that he failed to register a bash of man's fist into his face. He stumbled back, his head spinning.

[You have been inflicted with 'Nauseous' status for 11 minutes.]

However.

[You are under effect of skill 'Emptiness of Mind'. You resisted the mental effect.]

...what was that? Youngwoo barely dodged another attack while attempting to assess his situation. Seeing the archer prepare for a shot, he instinctively used footwork of Revolve, striding to his right. Right now, he had to focus on the fight. Notifications could come later. His hand went for the sheath of the sword. Without even looking at it, he quickly undid the knot that held it to the belt. And then, whilst still avoiding next attacks, he gripped the sheath.

"Pinnacle." He slashed at the huge man, and suddenly stabbed. The hit did nothing to the man, but Youngwoo used the close distance to stride to his left, putting the leader between himself and the archer. The magician was not attacking anyway, so he assessed that she had no attacking skills. "Transcend." He spun around vigorously and aimed a hit. The very tip of the sheath hit man's helmet bluntly, but in return Youngwoo got it in his shoulder again. Landing on the ground, he suddenly felt shape of his sword underneath his body.

"Spear throw!" The man recovered from his state of confusion and picked up the spear, after which he threw it.

Youngwoo barely dodged it by lifting himself, the projectile sticking into the ground. Holding onto the sword, he felt that his motions slowed down a little. Feeling his ragged breath, he fixed his stance and awaited the leader to attack.

The huge man came at him with a shortsword he pulled out of a sheath on his side. Taking care to allow the archer to attack, he made a semicircle, attempting to circle Youngwoo from his left. However, the man didn't fall for it.

"Kill." He mostly used this technique to stop the leader's advance. Somewhere behind him, Hilda was lying on the ground, still bound and unable to either attack or defend. He needed to protect her. "Linked Flower Pinnacle." He swung his longsword as fast as he could, quickly switching between spiral pattern and slashing crescents, until he eventually simply stabbed forward again. This time, however, Youngwoo aimed his attack directly, and while he allowed himself to be hit in the shoulder, he managed to get between armor plates and stab at leader's leg.

[You have been inflicted with 'Heavy headache' status for 8 minutes.]

[You are under effect of skill 'Emptiness of Mind'. You resisted the mental effect.]

Wasn't this working out in his favor? Feeling his pained shoulder, Youngwoo was **** to change his hand wielding the sword, making the left one hold the sword tightly, and right one only served as support. However, this didn't mean his fighting power diminished by much. He might've been right-handed, but it didn't mean he didn't know how to swing a sword with left hand.

The leader hissed as he received a wound. Taking a step back, he stepped out of archer's line of sight. Immediately, the masked man shot an arrow at Youngwoo. However, he dodged, and suddenly sped up forward.

"Wave." He made a wide swing, and hit leader in the chest. Armor absorbed the damage, but it still caused the man to stumble backwards. Using this opportunity, Youngwoo shot forward at the archer. "Revolve."

One could wonder why didn't he just straight up attack when he was in range, but Youngwoo knew this thing well. If he were to attack the archer directly, he'd open himself for the magician's attack. Even if she only had a binding skill, no, ESPECIALLY because she had a binding skill, he had to be very wary of her. If he were to be hit, he'd end up like Hilda, and they'd likely die immediately after that. He couldn't get hit by it. And that was why he opted for a strike designed to block attacks.

As expected, his sword was hit by magical attack, but thanks to the blade also being magical, the attack dispersed harmlessly.

"Drop." Utilizing the fact that his sword was high up, he brought it down on archer's head.

"You'll pay for that!" Roared the leader as he charged at him.

Just barely blocking a strike that went for his head, he found himself in a struggle of strength against the leader. Using all his strength, he was only able to block the strike. Suddenly, he heard Hilda's voice:

"Youngwoo! Take cover!"

'What?' He thought for a moment. Was there another one attacking him? Forcing himself to heed her advice, he ducked and let the sword pass by his head. Gripping his blade, he ran for a few steps before he turned around, facing the leader who turned at him. But suddenly, he was hit by an earth formation, and sent backwards. Actually, same happened to the magician.

Youngwoo glanced at Hilda. Still tied up, she was forcing her head as close to her chest as she could, attempting to aim Earth Dragon Ascension. Well, at least she gave him heads up on her attack. Seeing that the attackers were only starting to get up, Youngwoo rushed to Dragon Witch and carefully cut the ropes. He then helped her up, and they both took a few steps towards the ones who attacked him.

The three people got up, but it was now clear who was the winner. Filled with some confidence, Youngwoo stepped forward and asked:

"Why did you attack us?"

"This... This isn't over." Said the leader through his teeth. "We'll get you for stealing our boars, motherfucker."

And then, all three of them started backing off, and soon they were running through the fields full of crops. Hilda rose her hand to cast Ice Dragon's Breath, but Youngwoo placed his hand on hers and brought it down.

"Don't. They're just NPCs."

"Still, they attacked us first."

"Killing them won't do any good for us. They're just some outlaws. Without a specific quest, we can't just kill them."

"..." She didn't respond. Instead, she took a step to the side, and picked up Youngwoo's sheath.

While holding it, she seemed to look as if something was amiss in it. Seemingly having found nothing, she gave it back to him.

"Youngwoo, you're hurt." She said, looking at his shoulder.

"It's nothing serious."

"Don't say things like that. We need to tend to it immediately."