Suna’s hand went into overdrive. The Drow’s kukris gleamed, each aimed at Noa.

  He drew an arrow–forgetting his neck was bleeding—his hand weakened, and Suna quickly released his arrow before his vision went blurry. The Drow saw his arrow and moved one knife to intercept it, but another arrow was also there, ricocheting in a sudden jerk. The Seeker then, in a split second, blocked both arrows, destroying them with one swing of each knife.

  She summoned wind again, and it propelled her up, but she was not fast enough. The [Warrior] crashed into her with his bulky body, that scaly shoulder guard rammed down on her first, deflecting the skewer attempt of the Drow. Both of them smashed straight into a low stone wall, sending up a heap of dust and scattered pebbles as if it had detonated.

  “Noa,” Suna croaked, and his neck flared with a searing sensation. Pain stung his brain, and he choked for breath. His left hand fumbled for the potion he had just looted from the Drow. Suna unsealed the cork with a spinning head and gulped the red vial down, letting the bubbly healing of the potion do its job.

  “Suna? Noa!” Min shouted from the roof, aiming her bow at the risen dust.

  “I’m fine!” Suna rasped, repeating his words, so Min could hear.

  Min released an arrow, and it streaked inside the dust–Suna couldn’t see where it landed or what was happening. He knew that Min was drawing another arrow, and he needed to help.

  With both hands, Suna uncorked another two health potions. He gulped them down and drank three mana potions in a hurry. The potions' vials splintered as he threw each of them down. He retrieved his sword, sheathing it and nocking his arrow again. As he ran, another of Min’s arrow flew through.

  Suna stood at full height, and he saw Noa with one Kukri knife stuck into his shoulder through his scaly shoulder guard. Noa screamed; his scaly shoulder guard appeared to absorb some of the Kukri's momentum, loosening it, so Noa's arm did not get severed. The [Warrior] held on to the Drow's left arm, not letting it go.

  The Seeker Drow's face contorted with anger, three arrows stuck near her neck, but that wound did not stop her. She lifted her right arm, and the kukri glinted cruelly. However, an arrow flew toward her, and the Seeker somehow parried it in a blur of movement.

  That was Min’s.

  And now Suna drew and waited a couple of seconds. His archer's sense screamed at him; they told him another arrow was coming. Min's arrow flew forth, it bent into the Drow’s neck again.

  He waited still.

  The Drow’s hand moved to counter Min’s arrow, and Suna fired. With extraordinary speed, the Drow blocked Min's arrow, and then her knife flowed to clash against Suna’s–causing her kukri to be knocked off, but the Drow was able to recall her knife to her hand again. But by then, Suna had launched another. His Mana Arrow hummed with the air behind it. The Drow moved her Kukri again; she was able to met his arrow, but it rushed through the Drow’s kukri. His arrow lodged into the Drow's head, and her body snapped back.

  Suna's heart leaped; now he had to make sure Noa—

  The Drow’s head snapped up. With the blue arrow still stuck on her, she was still alive. But, soon his arrow would reach the mana capacity and would explode—and it did. The Drow Seeker’s head was blown, but it was intact when the dust settled, with only slivers of blood going through her head.

  She was still alive.

  Suna drew an arrow and fired it in a hurry. Surely she had taken damage… Did their level difference matter this much?

  The Kukri sang in the Drow's hand, blocking Min and Suna’s arrows. As long as they could keep the Drow busy, she wouldn't be able to kill Noa at least—or so he thought.

  The Seeker bared her teeth and chomped on the [Warrior]’s cheek, drawing a tear of skin like a hungry predator. Noa's voice was shaky, as he rightfully should have been.

  “Noa!”

  The [Warrior]’s head lulled, and his body loosened his grip and began falling backward. Suna kept shooting; the Drow, however, with two knives free, began to stand.

  That was until her body suddenly jerked toward Suna's location, and her eyes widened.

  A burst of wind brushed up onto Suna's right side. His cloak pushed back, and he couldn’t help but let his body loose.

  James the Thiefmaster had finally arrived; his long sword blazed with wind magic. He zoomed across, bringing his sword down on the Drow. The Seeker, however, met the attack with both of her Kukris. She tapped her leg and flew up the roof. James did the same skill, and they clashed mid-air and moved to the rooftop, trading steel in the otherwise quiet night.

  Suna ran forward, and he opened two health potions. “Min!” He called. “I will need more.”

  He lifted his head to see Min descending. Where she was, though, now occupied by the Tieflings, some he recognized. Two of them, females with long hair, held swords just like James. Those were swords formed from palm-sized Runes opened by themselves with their [Thief] Class—The Wind Blessed Sword.

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  Min arrived as Suna finished feeding Noa, who thankfully was still responsive.

  “Stay with me!” Suna lifted his head, and the [Warrior]'s eye color grew weaker.

  “We need to close the wound first,” Min muttered, as she uncorked the vial.

  “I shall do it, human.” A female Tiefling suddenly appeared beside him, her long hair fluttered, and a tear of white marred her ageless cheek. She wore leather armor that hugged her body tightly, covered with a long blue woolen scarf that was tied in three loops around her neck.

  “Desha,” Suna said–her name. “Please do.”

  Desha, had been his and Pito's frequent training partner and another rune bearer, second to James. An individual who has been trusted with Stat runes because of their mastery in fighting. She tore her white paladin cloak and tied it to Noa’s neck wound and her cheek.

  Suna raised his eyebrow. That was a rare cloak.

  “I can get another,” Desha merely said.

  “Thank you,” Suna said. Min poured the potion into Noa’s mouth, and it worked almost wondrously.

  “He will be fine,” Suna let out a slow, relieved breath. Noa was really a strange one. In one way, he was a coward, but in another way, he was the complete opposite. Take when they faced the Rogue Drow, for example–Suna couldn't be happier that Noa was the one who fell together with him back then, and they handled the Rogue and managed to retreat against the Beastmaster Drow.

  When push comes to shove, he will be the first one to act.

  Suna remembered what Min said.

  “Good, I shall go help my master then,” Desha said, standing.

  “Thank you! Whoever you are,” Min said. However, Desha already tapped her foot and, in a similar skill to James and the Seeker Drow, she propelled herself upward.

  “You know her?” Min asked.

  “Yes, Pito and I trained with her a lot. She’s pretty much James' protégé,” Suna said, then he saw Noa stirring in Min’s arm. The [Warrior] opened his eyes groggily. “You really need to stop dying.”

  “That's what you said to someone who just saved you?” Noa tried to stand, but winced, and Min had to push him down.

  “Stay down. You will need more potions,” she fumbled in her pocket.

  “No! Seriously, there’s no need!” He squirmed. “You don’t need to spend any resources on me.”

  “Look,” Min cut him off. “I’m sorry for saying that shit about leaving you, all right? It was stupid, of course, I will be glad to have you along, Noa. You will be useful even if you’re not fighting,” she finished, tapping Noa's healthy cheek. “So just… relax, and let me feed you these.”

  Min clanked the potions together.

  “R-Right.” Noa sobbed, finally stopped struggling and accepted her potion.

  “What being rejected by a girl did to a guy,” Suna said teasingly, grinning, and Noa spluttered the red vial all over Min.

  “Shit, I’m sorr—No one rejects anyone,” he complained.

  “Don’t waste the potion, or I’ll shove them down your throat to make sure they will be emptied first,” Min growled, and Noa mumbled a sorry again before he drank a new one.

  Suna looked up–concern filled him almost immediately–as the echo of steel clash still rang through the night. They weren’t clear yet. He spotted more Tieflings; these were the Rune bearers. Not as strong as Desha and James, but they could give Suna a run for his money. They filtered through the roofs to wherever the combat was.

  “I think that's enough,” Noa said, as he finally managed to stand.

  “Let's go, we can’t lose James.” He opened the door, and the three of them began climbing up to the roof. Suna pushed himself up through the balcony. He quickly rolled and drew an arrow when he was on top of the roof. But he could not release it as figures blurred like the wind itself moved, each time the wind clashed--rings of steel followed.

  Four figures moved at a wind-enhanced speed against each other. The Drow took on all three strongest Rune bearers. According to the information, the [Seeker] Drow would run if she decided the target was too hard to kill, so she usually avoided the Rune bearers, but now… Did it decide it was strong enough?

  James swung his sword, and a scythe of wind rushed forward toward the Seeker Drow. As she was about to parry, the other two Rune Bearers—Desha and Esca–charged at the Seeker, occupying both knives with their swords.

  The Seeker parried both Rune Bearers, and she took James' skill head-on. The Seeker's gut was carved with a gash of blood, but it did not stop her from gathering wind on her feet and rushing forward at James. The Thiefmaster met the charge, and in a blur of steel, they exchanged blows, their steels clashed in swirling light.

  Suna released his arrow, and it flew straight at the Drow. She turned and warded it off before continuing to trade blows with James. Beside Suna was Min, and she fired her arrow up. This one bent and streaked to where the Seeker Drow was--similar to the creature’s knife throw.

  The Seeker Drow tapped her foot and sent herself up, breaking her engagement with James as she clashed her knife against Min's arrow.

  She landed, and this time she bent her legs while the wind was still running, her body jerked back—dodging James' wind attack, and launching herself at James’ two protégés. The Seeker regained her balance and ran, facing Desha, who had been charging her own wind magic. A circle of green wind manifested around Desha like a sphere; it was her domain skill–one that gave Pito and Suna so much pain as they were tasked to break it by stepping inside. The spell allowed her to launch a true strike, with all the magic inside the barrier coalescing into her sword the moment it detected a foe.

  The Drow brought her knives up, and she was about to meet the domain head-on. She threw one of her Kukri knives inside the domain, and Suna cursed out loud. She had already found the weakness.

  “Desha! Dodge!” James shouted as he was still rushing at the Drow.

  Desha’s hand and body moved on their own. Her wind-coated sword blocked the knife, sending it spinning through the air. A moment later, the Seeker Drow was there, right in front of her–about to drive her other knife into the Rune Bearer’s neck.

  However, someone pulled Desha down, sending her rolling back. Esca took the Drow’s attack, and her head was cleaved through by the [Seeker]’s slash. The Rune Bearer’s body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, headless.

  James arrived, and as if his protégé had not just died, the Thiefmaster fought calmly, not screaming in rage. He was just like calm water, his sword flowed as he launched a barrage of strikes at the [Seeker], who was on her back foot until she recalled her other knives and began to outdo the Thiefmaster.

  But by then, Suna and Min were there. They had separated just like earlier, positioning themselves to pin down the [Seeker].

  Suna conjured Mana Arrow and aimed it at the Drow. His fingertips were usually cool as he held this arrow of magic, but this time, heat blossomed on it, and Suna accepted it. His arrow turned red through its shaft while still retaining the blue in its arrowhead. Flame flickered, and they blossomed along the entire arrow, heating Suna’s shadow gauntlet.