The wind swirled around him, pushing his cloak, fluttering as if it complained about being worn by him and tried to escape.

  Suna pulled the blue woolen cloak closer; he breathed out a cold fog, trying to reach for every single warmth this cloak could provide.

  This was a gift from Slea, who suddenly stopped him and wished him good luck when James decided Suna and Pito had trained enough under safety. There was something changed about her, like how she was not herself. She smiled, yet it was cold, and Suna got a sense she was angry at him. He couldn’t pin down the reason; they barely saw each other this past week. But now it was not the time to worry about that.

  “Combat can only truly be trained under threat of death; your body needs to recognize the danger to push you further,” Suna muttered, recalling the one-horned Tiefling word, and that was also James's reason to hold Suna and Pito from consuming Runes.

  He closed his eyes, and his heartbeat drummed. Not from fear, but excitement.

  Ashes dominated the sky, along with frigid cold that chilled him to his bones. Suna looked down to see a set of Four Drow Warriors, standing stout in front of their tower. His gaze moved up to the tall tower, spiraling toward the thick cloud that had returned to the night.

  “I think that was about enough of scouting,” Suna said.

  Beside him came a grumble, followed by another.

  Min and Noa were with him; they had been down on the Tiefling nest three times, perhaps, but their class was not the best for cracking equipment runes. Min rather trained tracking and scouting the Drow with the Tiefling's guidance, and she has been working on it for the past week, and her level…

  [Hunter. Lvl 15]

  She was close to Suna now—He was still level 16 and had been only focusing on his training with James instead of actual combat. The Tiefling had taught her ambush, traps, and various tricks in their arsenal.

  Noa meanwhile… The accident that happened not five days ago resulted in him being kicked out of the Tiefling nest. Had it not been for James' intervention, the [Warrior] would have been dead already.

  “You’re mad, Suna,” Noa said. Again.

  “Well, I’m not stopping you, kid,” Min said. She held up her bow and let out a smile as the night wind ruffled her hair. “Don’t die”

  Suna grinned, knocking his obsidian bow with hers. “Maybe.”

  He rose, and, like jumping down from the last set of stairs, Suna bolted down from the roof. His right foot found balance, and when the balcony of the second floor appeared, he tapped on it and hurled himself forward.

  Mana swirled in his hand--His blue cloak slicing through the ashes–as Suna propelled himself forward. He landed on both legs, sending a heap of ashes up in his wake. The sound of his landing shattered the quiet night, drawing the Drows' attention, all four of them.

  By the time they reacted, Suna's hand moved before the ashes could even settle down. Blue arrow had already manifested in his grip; he adjusted it and loosed it in less than a second. Zip of blue bludgeon through a Drow Warrior's head. Unlike normal arrows, however, the Mana arrow contained much more force; instead of containing its shape, it breaks due to Suna’s still low arcanery—so the moment the arrow disintegrates, it splits, splaying inside the Drow's head, sending its brain blowing open in an explosion.

  A burst of sound snapped, drawing an entire second of the other three's attention. Taking advantage of that, Suna ran forward—he drew a normal arrow and released it as he accelerated. The arrow whistles softly and thuds straight into another Drow's head.

  [You Have Slain Drow Warrior. Lvl 5]

  [You Have Slain Drow Warrior. Lvl 5]

  “Veyeh!” The Drow screamed. It tried to draw the Crossbow by his belt, but at that point, Suna had already gotten too close. Unfortunately for him, though, one Drow had already drawn her glaive, and she slammed it at Suna.

  He wrenched his body back, letting the glaive crush into the heap of ashes where he had just been. Suna raised his bow and, with a practice movement, he drew an arrow, firing straight at the Drow's throat. She gurgled as the arrow pierced through her in a silent whistle with the tearing of her skin.

  Suna lurched forward, and he smashed his bow to the creature's neck, slamming it down and killing it in an instant.

  [You Have Slain Drow Warrior. Lvl 5]

  “Yankin Yu!” The last Drow screamed. Switching to that overbearing two-handed sword, he slammed down at Suna, but before he could even bring that weapon down, Suna had stepped into his defense. With his gauntleted fist, he struck at the Drow's face, sending him crashing down with a broken nose.

  Suna drew an arrow and snapped his string off, finishing the creature with an arrow from the back of his head.

  [You Have Slain Drow Warrior. Lvl 5]

  Suna craned his neck; he had made plenty of noise already. Opening up his gauntlet palm, Suna pushed mana to swirl above. An arrow of blue light manifested, and he drew it, aiming at the gate.

  Not a second pass, the gate crashed open.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Yaka nan arjadi!”

  Suna blasted the Drow’s head; an explosion of blood spluttered inside the tower. If they did not know what was happening, then that would surely help.

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  [Level Up]

  A mix of screams grated inside the tower. Suna could hear chairs scraping and the clatter of equipment against each other. Instead of escaping, however, Suna rushed into the open gate of the tower and rolled in, passing several panicked bodies. He drew himself up, and an arrow was ready and drawn. Four Drow Rangers were running out of the tower, but now they had to turn with baffled expressions.

  Suna shot his arrow, taking one straight at her chest. He clicked his tongue as that one fell over, but not dying.

  The other three screamed out–in unison–they were about to draw their arrow, but Suna rushed in with his bow already slung and an obsidian sword glinting under the tower's darkness. He jabbed his sword deep into a ranger's throat. In a twist of the handle, Suna carved the Drow’s neck and wrenched his sword out, connecting the blade straight into another Drow’s shoulder.

  He swung his sword through with his superior strength, carving out blood and finishing it with a decapitating motion, sending the Ranger's head flying.

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  “Rankin!” The last Ranger screamed out. Suna met its steel, the Drow smashed her sword with erratic movement, each easily he warded off. Suna twisted his body, letting the Drow attack skid over his obsidian sword. He swept the Drow's legs and jabbed down onto its neck the moment it hit the ground.

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  “Now for the annoying one,” he muttered. A Drow with black freckled skin dashed at him, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Sword scramble at him, Suna stepped back, and he parried a vicious jab that would have pierced his throat.

  The Drow brought her sword sideways, and she struck with her full body power. Meeting its challenge, Suna spun his body right with sword raised, his obsidian clashed against the Drow's inferior power, and he held quite easily. The Drowfication offered incredible power, enough to catch him off guard, but his level was twice hers. And the Drow was a ranger, not a swordsman.

  Suna grated along his sword and splayed open the Drow’s hand; he kept going before the Drow even could register the pain. Suna kicked the Drow, sending it crashing against the stairs with her upper body arced back atop of it.

  He sheathed his sword, drew an arrow, and shot at it, barraging it with three arrows before it finally died.

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  [Level Up]

  One thing that Suna had noticed was that the tower's length is proportional to the number of Drows inside. This tall tower was merely on the lower end of the spiraling tower in this city. Just like the first tower he had raided, which consisted of only five floors, this tower perhaps had six floors or so—it certainly was a bit taller, so he could expect more enemy…

  Suna manifested a blue arrow. He had learnt to rely on the Mana Arrow more, apparently, according to James–his Mana Arrow will be more effective compared to a normal arrow against the Undead since their magic resistance was weak. However, their physical resistance was off the charts.

  He focused, blue light glinting in his eye as he drew the arrow to his ear. He aimed at the end of the stairs. The estimation of Drows should be around seven to twelve, counting the matriarch.

  He waited.

  The tower inside was lit up by flickering torches on the wall. A flicker of shadow moved and rushed down, a Drow Ranger attempted to release her arrow—But Suna’s blue arrow sank into the Drow's head first, mana burst—her head exploded, marring the wall with red splatter.

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  He quickly drew another normal arrow, but none followed…

  Then he heard it, a sawing noise. Grating stone groaned above him. Suna looked up to see a chunk of stone flying straight at him. He skidded back, dodging the after pebble, but as the dust settled, he saw a figure above the fallen stone training a glinting arrow at him.

  Suna ducked, and an arrow whistled past him. He closed the distance and smashed his obsidian bow to the Drow’s face, knocking her back. As he drew an arrow, however, out of the corner of his eyes, there was another figure–that one must’ve fallen first.

  Another Drow Ranger released her arrow, catching Suna off guard. The arrow lodged in his gut. He winced, but the arrow did not make it far enough to draw blood. He wrenched off the arrow. Below his blue cloak is a chain of dim gold that he had gotten from Reki. The chain clanked as Suna moved. He drew and shot fast, piercing the Drow's throat. He was not done yet; he flowed into another draw and ripped apart the previous Drow’s head before she could draw and shoot her arrow.

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  Thud of footsteps rushed behind him. Suna turned in time to see a bowstring being drawn. In an instant, he skidded back with an archer backstep, and they both released at the same time. Both arrows met on the same flight, crashing into each other, but Suna's arrow rushed through the Drow’s and tore off her forehead.

  [You Have Slain Drow Ranger. Lvl 7]

  That was three Drow, bringing his victim tonight into ten. Now, where’s the matriarch? As he asked that to himself, a figure fell from above where the stone had been gouged out. Before Suna could register it, a tall Drow matriarch lunged at him, her hair splayed open as she rushed with her sword.

  Suna pivoted back, buying himself more room to read the sword movement. Obsidian sword not his own thrust in, Suna moved his bow and blocked the attempt, leading the Drow Matriarch into a corner before he spun away to trade position with her.

  The Drow matriarch's eyes widened. She pivoted and arced her sword down at him; however, Suna stepped back, dodging the strike, and he drew an arrow. The Drow–of course–recognizing the danger, lunged in again, but by then Suna had let his arrow pierce into the Drow's collarbone.

  The Matriarch skittered back, groaning. Suna clicked his tongue. He still had that jump of fear in close combat archery, and that made him miss his target.

  After figuring out she cannot rest, the Drow matriarch grunted and bit her lips. Her beautiful face contorted in pain, but she advanced, driving her sword into Suna.

  Still though… James was way faster than this. Suna deflected the sword with his bow in a side swing. The Drow, however, did not get knocked back as far as he would like. She shifted her weight and tried to scythe her sword at Suna’s neck. But Suna's hand flourished, a thousand if not ten thousand hand movements of drawing from his quiver and shot in less than a second, has hewn shut into his entire being.

  Suna let his arrow whistle through the air, and it landed piercing through the Drow's neck, or it should have been.

  The Drow's skin turned into mottled black. In a flash of movement, she parried his arrow, then she glared at Suna with those red eyes.

  Suna skidded back with an archer backstep, releasing another arrow that was easily blocked with one hand.

  He smiled, licking his lips. If he cannot take her down alone, then taking down the Seeker Drow and offering it to the altar will be just a dream.

  Suna huffed, excitement still swirled like a euphoria of heat inside of him.

  “Come on,” he whispered.