The death of Runebearer was an enormous deal.

  The third Tiefling faction granted most of their attribute Runes to the strongest members. It was the reason James had the power he did. No matter how good the One-horned Tiefling was, he could not become strong unless he could scale differently from leveling.

  Almost every member of the faction was here, in a grand circular chamber with two exits–one apparently led to the depths where the gateway was. With that gateway, hopefully, it would be the resting place for the fourth and fifth.…

  The Tieflings laid Esca's body on a wooden raft and pushed her to float on the water, taking the chamber right in the middle.

  “Esca was brave,” James continued his speech. “With a record of thirty-five Drows killed and a dozen undead… A number most of us could only dream of. Her loss was great, and she will be remembered.” The Thiefmaster of the third stood with the four Thiefmasters.

  The other three Thiefmasters did not have any qualities to differentiate them from the rest of the Tieflings, except for the first. Two of them were female, the first and fourth.

  But, if something were to differentiate them, it would be their equipment. Suna noticed that their equipment was nicer, with the second Thiefmasters wearing leather with golden engraving across them—courtesy of Reki. The first Thiefmaster wore a rare mage cloak and dress, and in her hand was a staff almost as tall as herself, which split near its end, making it end up into two coiling woods.

  Suna heard Slea had trained with the first Thiefmaster and actually did sometimes go out to accompany her. Reki, on the other hand, was so drunk on his newfound importance.

  The office worker was beside Suna. James had positioned the humans further back among the crowd, a place of safety.

  “I can’t believe you actually gave them that,” Reki said, shaking his head, whispering to Slea.

  The young woman scowled at him, her mouth moving before she shut it. “I was tricked…” she growled. “They wore the third faction engraving, literally etching it with a knife! Suna! You get me, right?”

  Suna spared Slea a glance, and she discreetly blinked—begging him to support her. But he peered at the two Thiefmasters who were their opponents. On their hips were scabbards, incredibly decorated with alien lettering over them. Worse, inside them were swords with abnormal handles, with one curved like a thin bone, and the other one was dark, emitting some sort of evil aura around it.

  Those are a literal magic sword. And both of them got it by having their underlings trick Slea into cracking their most precious Rune, a palm-sized Sword Rune…

  “I must say,” Suna muttered. “Those looked pretty nice.”

  “Not helping,” Slea frowned. Then her mouth twisted, “Not that they will have it for long.”

  Beside Slea was Pito, who couldn’t hide how tense he was. It was hard to make out how the [Monk] looked because he had taken most of Noa’s armor, and he had that golden helmet with a dozen thin dots on its visor, completely covering his face. Yet his body was obvious in the way it shuddered.

  Suna wondered if he could take down Pito.

  [Monk. Lvl 16]

  Suna was a higher level, sure, but with all of that armor… He wondered who would win, and honestly, he wanted to try. Granted, he could request a practice match, but it wasn’t going to be the same…

  It wasn’t going to be the same as his battle against the Drow matriarch, against the Seeker.

  No… It would not be a genuine challenge, ?which is truly disappointing.

  Slea nudged Suna, “I’m the one who gave you that cloak for free, remember? This is how you pay me back? And what with that hole?” she scowled.

  “It's complicated,” Suna muttered. They got too loud for his liking. This was a funeral, for godsake. Also, Desha was currently speaking about bravery and such.

  “It's not complicated,” Min added absentmindedly. At least she kept her voice low. “He went into the Drow tower, alone.”

  “Alone?” Slea repeated, shooting him a questioning look, her lips drew thin, and she might as well speak again with that pissed-off expression. Why didn’t you tell me? The expression said. “Well, you won and survived. So I will not complain,” she sighed.

  “It's about time,” Pito muttered beside Slea. The [Monk] tensed again under his heavy armor.

  “Calm down,” Slea place her hand to Pito’s armored shoulder, sending the sound of steel chiming up. Within her fingertip was a green fire that lurched into a floating line by her index finger. Slea jabbed the fire into Pito’s armor’s opening across his shoulder.

  The [Monk] relaxed at once, the tension on his shoulder gone.

  “We just need to watch,” Slea said.

  “These past days, what happened?” The question was sudden. It was Noa who asked that. The [Warrior] stood behind Suna; it was clear he did not want to get into combat should it happen. So Suna offered him the safest position.

  “What do you mean?” Slea tilted her head.

  “It just… You’re…” Noa tried to find a word.

  And Suna knew the word he wanted to say was ‘uncaring’. But instead…

  “Confidence”

  “I am?” Slea grinned.

  “Yes, just like Suna here,” Noa added.

  “What? I’m not confident.”

  “Who walks into Drow Tower alone and expects to win?” Noa asked pointedly at him.

  Well, maybe he was confident about that, but his level surpassed most of the Rangers and Warriors. It was not an unreasonable fight. Sure, the matriarch with her Drowfication could kill him, but James was way stronger, and he had been training for an entire week against such a superior opponent.

  So, it was all calculated.

  He was not suicidal.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  It was a bit annoying how Noa just coined his fight as ‘Suicidal’.

  “My master taught me a lot. I made a mistake giving those spell swords. Which is why I will redeem myself.” Slea's hand moved inside her brand-new red robe. She let out a wand made of polished wood that was circular, and in the length of her palm ended with a metallic component.

  Wait, redeemed? She did hear what Suna said about James' plan, right? How James and the Third will handle all of this…

  Did she do something with the first faction?

  No, no, no. That would be ridiculous. Why would Slea convolute the plan like that?

  Slea turned, and her robe swirled with her. She tipped her bright red brimhat, which looked straight out of a children's book, a hat that the evil grandmother would wear, but in red.

  “How do I look?” She flourished her hat like a butler.

  [Brimhat of the Fire Witch][Rare] – A Mage’s creativity and arcanery rooted in the brain. It's no understatement to say it’s the source of magic. The Ole Witch has awakened, and she danced across, with every move of her hand, and every shake of her hips—She strolled across the blazing Inferno of Ygradt, where most would have burned alive. The witch made it out alive, pushing flame as if it were her brethren. Grants the bearer a focused control of flame, arcenery shall be the limit of the bearer's creativity. + 75 Arcenary.

  [Dumadia Mage Cloak][Rare] – The Dumadia were a proud race of flame, they’re born as conqueror of it—That was until they were hunted down and their skin used by flame mages for their incredible affinity. Dumadia Mage Cloak did not stop the flame. No, it controls it—Let flame flow through this cloak, and they shall offer you protection and means of attack had you willed it. + 50 Strength, + 30 Arcanery.

  [Flame Wand][Uncommon] – A wand is an instrument, a right to control. Control flame-based spells more easily with the Flame wand.

  [Flame Mage Lvl 20]

  A class upgrade. Suna still couldn’t believe his eyes.

  He had just found out about this, and according to Reki, Slea did indeed just upgrade her class earlier.

  According to her, the key to doing it was to have your skill built up to lead into it. And then acting… He still needed to get her to explain that part.

  Slea had told him that she felt [Flame Mage] class calling her. When she slept, it was like she were just a mere thread, and there was a sphere begging for her to connect to it.

  According to Slea’s master’s teaching, to connect to the sphere, the key was Resonance.

  You needed to figure out what that class was, spend time in your mind, and figure it out…

  For one of these class upgrade spheres to appear. Skills were needed to connect and push your classes to start considering possibilities.

  Had that happened, and one had figured out what ?this class upgrade was, the next step was to resonate with it by leveling up using the connected skills and wearing equipment that resonated with the Class Upgrade. Also, your actions would play a part in it. Suna had no doubt; Slea had burned many Drows to get this Class.

  “Cute,” Min snorted, not registering the weight of what Slea had just said.

  Slea laughed, interlacing both of her hands with Min, and they talked in low giggles. The sight looked normal, almost concerningly so. But Suna could not get what she had just said out of his mind.

  “Slea,” Suna called.

  She looked at him, a lock of her blonde hair tumbled down her brimhat.

  The young woman smiled, but her eyes did not smile. Slea did not just look at Suna, but also at Pito.

  “What did you mean by redeem yourself?” Suna asked. “What happe–”

  “You two are not the only ones who went out to fight,” Slea simply said. “Let’s just say, I had some awful experiences, caused by my weakness… and some died because of it.”

  “So what are you planning to do?” Pito said, cutting to the chase. His greaves thumped against the solid flooring, echoing off the small space of the humans—only heard by them. “We have a plan.”

  “What is happening here?” Reki cut in. The [Paladin] wore his golden chain mail and breastplate that looked like it was made of white marble. In his hand was a Warhammer, not that insanely huge one he cracked at first. This one was smaller, but it was also a Rare quality.

  Reki looked like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to commit to looking like a knight or not. So the chain covered his limbs, but that white armor protected his middle body.

  “Slea, something you did not tell us?” Min asked, softly grasping Slea’s hand.

  “Slea?” Noa called.

  Slea sighed, pulling ?her hand off Min roughly. She stepped out of the group with a wand in hand. “Relax, it's just my Thiefmaster plan.”

  Your Thiefmaster?

  Since when did they have factions different from one another? Was separating a bad idea?

  Suna's knee-jerk reaction was for him to draw his bow.

  His archer sense screamed at him.

  What the hell.

  But the moment his right hand moved, Suna hit it with his left. He quickly bit his palm, using the pain to overwhelm his archer sense.

  “Suna!” Pito's voice echoed in surprise.

  The rest of the humans stared at him, probably only Min knew what had happened to him. Her eyes widened—unsure whether to be happy that he surpassed his instinct or not.

  “I wonder…” Slea started. “Why are we just taking what Suna and Pito said for granted? They suddenly told this plan of theirs with James… and we’re supposed to go along with it?”

  “A bit too late to say that, is it?” Suna shot back.

  “Oh, that's rich, when both of you just ambushed us, not twenty minutes ago, with it.” she scoffed.

  Suna grunted, that’s fair.

  “It’s a mess, Suna, when the other faction also has their own plan. You know, there’s also a scuffle between the first and second”

  James did mention that earlier…

  Suna narrowed his eyes on James, along with the other Thiefmasters.

  And James, the one-horned Thiefmaster who was perhaps the strongest–appeared… hesitant? Suna recognized the body language, the slight jerk the Tiefling had, and how he looked at his feet when he was hesitating.

  “Let’s just say Reki and I cracking these runes had brought a lot of trouble.”

  “And jealousy with it,” Reki shrugged. He walked up and slung both of his hands on Suna and Pito’s shoulders. The office worker braced his shoulders on their necks, pulling them next to his side.

  Suna raised his eyebrow. He tried to move. But, he couldn’t.

  His eyes settled across his body to find a golden chain slithering down Reki's arm.

  “Reki?” Min muttered, and Suna heard a string snap. Noa was behind him, also calling to him. But the [Paladin] then merely said.

  “Lay down your arrow, Min, and Rugby Player, don’t do anything. I’m not going to hurt these two. Hell, these two could easily kill me when the binding stops…”

  Why? Didn't he just question Slea earlier?

  “You’re pretending to question her for this,” Suna said.

  “That’s right,” the [Paladin] replied. “Nothing will happen to the Third. None of your friends will be harmed, but I need to make sure both of you stay still, as a lot has happened this past week. I do not know if I can trust you two… Now watch.”

  James jerked back; he crouched, and his hand went to his sword.

  Suna’s heart leaped; This was it.

  James spun to his left and, with wind-enhanced speed, he seared through the Fourth and Fifth Tiefling leaders' heads in one lightning flash slice.

  It was a brief thing, barely a fraction of a second.

  Both Tiefling heads fell.

  The first to react after a whole second of pause was the Second Thiefmaster. “James? What?”

  The First Thiefmaster moved behind the Second; she tapped her wand, and a spear made out of fire was conjured out of thin air. She tapped her staff again, and the spear rushed straight down at the Second Thiefmaster.

  The Second parried the magic with his sword, but the flaming spear still seared through his shoulder–barely dodging the magic. He rushed into the first. She smiled with a glint in her eyes.

  “Slea, dear… If you please,” the First’ Thiefmaster called out.

  Slea waved her wand in a circle, and a thin serpent made of flame blossomed, becoming the sun in this dark chamber. She tapped forward, aiming her wand, and in a sizzling burst, the serpent zoomed forward, opening its jaw.

  The Second Thiefmaster turned, and wind was building up in his hand. But then the First slammed her staff into the second’s head—sending it lolling.

  The serpent of flame crunched through the Second faction’s Thiefmaster's head, burning his body in searing flames.