“Move!’ Suna screamed. The rugby player wrenched off his sword, splattering the dead Drow body to the ground. Before he moved further, though, he drove his blade deep into the Rogue Drow's chest. Annoyance flared inside of Suna, but he decided to let it go, considering the situation they were under.

  He was about to go inside a house, beckoning for Noa to follow. But the sounds of flapping wings came toward them. Suna spun, drawing his sword. The birds had split into three groups.

  Slea kept firing her spell, killing them in incredible numbers, but one group of the birds kept her busy, while the other provided a flesh shield for the beastmaster whom Min had targeted with her arrow. The last group decided to target Noa and Suna.

  Suna slashed down, his sword carving through the bodies of birds, but a dozen of them scratched at him. He activated Archer's backstep, making sure the door was behind him. At once, his body crashed against the door, and he let out an arrow, then immediately slung his bow over his shoulder, and got his sword ready again.

  “Rug–Noa!” Suna called. He held the stairs, slowly backing away upstairs as he warded away the birds. There were only about a dozen, but one of them managed to scratch at Suna across his cheek. Pain blared, and he realised he had narrowly avoided having his eye scratched out. He bludgeoned the birds with his sword, sending them crashing against the railing, flattening them like a pancake.

  “Coming!” Noa screamed, and the Hulk finally made his way in, with birds still trying to scratch over the warrior's back. The horror on the rugby player’s face was obvious. Suna was reminded of his shrill scream as the birds pecked him. If not for Slea, who knew what might happen… and to Suna too.

  He ran up, kicking open the master bedroom door. Suna immediately opened the window and began to climb up. As he was about to pull himself up, a hand shot out, gripping his arm, and pulled him. Reki was there, then he peeked downward. “Where’s the rugby lad?”

  Noa blasted through the window, and he jumped in, obviously distressed.

  “Pull me up! Please,” Suna and Reki grasped his gauntleted arm and heaved. The man was bloody heavy with all of his plate armor. Noa had to push himself off the balcony to get the burst of power necessary to get him up. The [Warrior] went spinning through the roof. Suna immediately got his sword up, and sure enough, the birds came.

  Two of them went into a dive at him. He smashed one with the flat of his sword, the other one with his shield.

  “Don't fight them!” Min shouted. “We slowly back away with Slea blasting them. Come on, shield! Reki! Noa!” She poured a Mana vial into Slea's mouth, while the young woman kept firing her spell. It might be a funny sight, if not for the situation.

  Reki and Noa ran to heft their shields together. Suna positioned behind them and began shooting, red blood splintered through the bodies of the birds as his arrow zipped forward. But his shot did not have any effect because of the overwhelming quantity of them.

  “Min! Slea! Come now!” Suna shouted. Both of them began to back away. Reki and Noa locked their shield, taking Slea and everyone else behind them.

  The birds now focused into one group again and swarmed over them like a tsunami of darkness. They descended in a wave of darkness, and Slea fired–creating a gaping hole with her magic. But just a mere hole.

  “Shield up! Shield, boy!” Reki shouted.

  Suna looked down to see that the warrior had dropped his shield, and his whole body quivered with an obvious fear. “How, we're gonna.. s–survive that!” He screamed back at Reki.

  Suna scowled. This was not the time for this. He pushed Noa away and picked up the tower shield. The birds began spinning around them. Their speed was unbeatable–at least to them currently.

  “We have to kill the Beastmaster!” Suna said. He tried to find an opening, but they were surrounded. Yet, the birds were not attacking? “Blow a hole in them and we char–”

  The birds that were caging them in a circle just flew away. Slowly, the heap of flying creatures fluttered away–toward the Beastmaster…

  “Now, we run!” Noa shouted, eagerly. And the warrior did run, his grave clanking against the rooftop.

  Suna looked at Min, who gave him a nod. They both drew their bow and ran toward the edge of the roof.

  “Wait, both of you!” Slea shouted after them.

  They had to know what happened, and it was clear at once. A group of impish red demons with a thin, long tails surrounded a fallen figure, and their dagger moved relentlessly as they kept stabbing and stabbing. One of them managed to steal the Beastmaster staff. And beside the thief was another one, holding the white staff of the Cleric. Suna blinked. He had left it in the house… But before he could even get mad, he considered that they had just been saved by them.

  “We run now!” Reki commanded.

  Min tugged Suna's hand, and they began running. The path was unbelievably clear. They made a jump through roof after roof. A cry went behind Suna, and he skidded to a stop, seeing Slea had fallen on her feet.

  He heaved a breath of relief; he had thought the birds had gotten her, but none chased them so far.

  “You good?”

  “Just a strain,” she winced, massaging her ankle. The young woman breathed heavily. She was the most tired out of everyone. Perhaps mana usage had a direct link to stamina.

  Suna offered her his back, and she climbed up, muttering an apology. She was light, or maybe this was just because of his strength. He jumped across the building, unsure of where they even planned to escape to.

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  “Wait!” Suna called out. Min and Seki stopped, each grunting with exhaustion.

  “Slea?” Min just noticed. “What happened?" She ran to the [Mage] side.

  “It's no big deal, compared to being eaten away by piranha-bird,” She grumbled.

  “Where are we even running to?” Suna asked. “The graveyard and tallest tower were over here,” he reminded them. Well, the tallest tower was not their objective, but the graveyard was, since it linked directly to the Necromancer…Probably.

  “I don’t know!” Reki groaned. “The idiot kept running!” He pointed to Noa, who still jumped over roofs.

  “Don’t call him an idiot! He just traumatized,” Slea growled.

  “I did not insult people! I call them what they are!” Reki bit back.

  “Guys! Not the time,” Min cut in, glaring at both.

  “Noa! Stop!” Suna tried to call, but the big man did not hear him.

  It was then that the rugby player stopped, but he did not stop because of Suna's voice.

  A group of tieflings holding heavy weaponry surrounded him. They appeared from below, climbing up, and hefted their weapons at the warrior.

  A dozen, but each was merely level 3.

  Noa stumbled back, fell, and let out a yell. He was too panicked to even check the Tiefling’s level.

  Suna wanted to draw his bow, but he was carrying Slea. A blue Mana coalesced beside his cheek. Slea pointed her staff at the Tieflings. “I can fire, right?”

  “No, wait,” Suna said. “They can speak like us.”

  He approached and couldn't help but think he had made a mistake. More and more tieflings appeared, and some of them carried those crossbows. A dozen of them. That would be more than thirty bolts.

  “We should just blast through them while we have the chance,” Reki recommended, his shield was up, and the office worker's tension was palpable in his shaking shoulder.

  Min, on the other hand, remained quiet, her arrow still nocked.

  Maybe Reki was right, but Noa was right next to them, paralyzed with fear. Even now, the [Warrior] shielded his face as his body quivered.

  “Noa! Calm down,” Slea shouted, groaning in pain as she moved her legs suddenly.

  Suna eyed the Tiefling, all of these weapons--greatswords and glaives. Everything was from the Drow. And judging by the distance, some of those weapons were probably from the Drow Suna had taken down.

  “Human,” a Tiefling stepped forward, growling at him. The red lanky creature flapped its tail, its pointed teeth dripping with saliva. “Leave all your belongings. And you could go free”

  “Not happening,” a voice barked behind him. Slea still pointed her staff at the Tiefling.

  The magic would no doubt blow the creature apart.

  “I must agree with Reki here,” Min whispered. “We should take the chance to fight rather than lose our weapons.”

  “Those weapons you wore,” Suna spoke out. “You got them from one of the towers… Inside , there was a corpse of a Drow lying in their bed with a blanket over them. And a Matriarch with a striped red blanket over her. In the grand bed high above is a corpse of a half-drow.”

  The lead Tiefling stopped growling, recognition mixed in his alien face. It stepped forward, peering at Suna closely.

  Slea yelped above him and pointed her staff at the creature's head.

  But it remained unbothered.

  “How?”

  “I kill all of them,” Suna said, meeting the demon stare. “Alone,” he added the last part.

  “Is this true?” The Tiefling asked, still glaring with its, red-like nose.

  “Yes, and I claim them.”

  The creature turned, and he shouted. “Call the human!”

  The human?

  They waited. One of the Tieflings around Noa jumped down.

  “There’s only one of us left, right?” Slea whispered against his hair.

  “Only [Monk] class left,” Min answered.

  “And he was with these…” Seki tried to find a word. “Demons?” He said slowly.

  “Let me down, Suna. Noa is still panicking,” Slea said. He let her down, and she plopped down beside Noa on one leg and began calming him down, caressing his back.

  The rugby player looked like a pile of trembling rock with his hulking body.

  “Tch, pathetic,” Reiki spat. He glared at the Tiefling surrounding them. “We can still get past them, just a bunch of Level threes. If only this bulk sad excuse of a–”

  “That's enough, Reki,” Min said, smiling with a cheek twitching at the office worker.

  Suna was about to snap at the man, too. But he could see the annoyance--hey were surrounded by literal demons and their [Warrior] having a mental breakdown.

  “Just promised me both of you!” Reki said to Suna and Min. “If this turned out to be a trap… then we will charge through them”

  “Of course,” Suna said, it was the only choice. “Which is why you shouldn't keep beating him down,” He motioned toward Noa.

  “Also, don't shout it out, you idiot” Min smiled, but her eyes were glaring at the office worker.

  “Tch,” Reki spat again. “Youngsters these days…” He was about to open his mouth, and Suna truly considered a way to shut him off before he went on a tirade. How does someone do that when they are currently surrounded by demons? Is this what an office worker is?

  “Human! You guys are human!” A voice screamed.

  Their eyes snapped to the newcomer, a bald man, quite young, probably between Min and Suna’s age. He was a man with an unreasonably lean body and an egg-like face. His eyebrow was gone for some reason.

  The man climbed up with the Tiefling that had gotten him; he carried a quarterstaff, and he smiled–no, he was full on grinning with tears streaming down from his eyes.

  [Monk. Lvl 11]

  “Slea?” Suna called. “Was there anyone bald back then?” He nocked his arrow, thinking it might be a trap.

  “No, I think not…” she grumbled, hefting her own staff, and it began to glow with pearlescent light. “Come on, Noa, stand!”

  The rugby player sniffled and, finally able to stand, he lent Slea his arm and the young woman did not hesitate to point at the bald guy.

  “You, bald one. Were you with us?” Slea asked, still pointing her staff, which swirled with Mana.

  “Yes! Yes, I was. Stop pointing that at me, and those arrows too.” The bald guy raised both of his hands, and his staff clacked against the rooftop. “Are you guys seriously doubting me because I’m bald?”

  “Yes!” Slea shouted. “I’m sure there was no bald guy.”

  “This was because of my class!”

  “That bull!” Reki shouted.

  “Look, I swear, the system identified me as a monk, right?”

  “Well? Can you tell us what we went through then? Before we came here?” Min asked, her bow still drawn.

  Suna watched as they were slowly surrounded, and more and more Tieflings aimed their crossbow at them in a circle. The longer this took, the harder the fight would be.

  The [Monk] went on explaining everything, and it was very accurate.

  “Well? Believe me now?”

  Slea looked back at Suna, and he gave her a nod. Slea lowered her staff, and the magic died in her staff. Suna and Min also lowered their bows, and the [Monk] let out a breath of relief.

  “You, the Archer. They want to make a deal with you, for every weapon inside that tower, you cleared.”