“I’m with you, Suna,” Slea said, eyeing him. Her brimhat lifted just enough that he could see her face.

  Suna could almost laugh. His two most trusted…what are they? Friend? Yes, friends. Both of them just walked out, and the person he doubted the most just said she trusted him.

  Perhaps separating for an entire week was a mistake. But at the very least, he did not doubt Noa and Min. In a way, both of them still maintained what they were before the separation.

  And Reki was Reki; he did not know what to think of the office worker.

  “You’re smiling,” Slea pointed out. She peered close to his face, eyes so curious they even sought his eyes, that their brim hats touched.

  “He really does,” Min mused.

  “Maybe he lost his mind,” the office worker said. “Honestly, we should go back too.”

  “We can help more Tieflings if we keep going,” Noa said, and the group's attention went to him. “What? We can, right?”

  Suna shrugged. Things just got so bloody complicated. He exhaled. So deeply that the group's attention shifted from Noa to him.

  “Suna?” Slea asked.

  “Please pardon me. I was a shut-in before, so I don’t know how to talk well,” Suna declared softly.

  “What are you talking about?” She chuckled, but her laugh cut short as she realised he was not joking.

  “I don’t trust you, Slea, and you, too, office worker.”

  There, he said it.

  Both Slea's and Reki's eyes widened, but Slea's eyes less than Reki's.

  “The hell! Eyebag—”

  “Good,” Min cut Reki's words. “Let's clear the air now. I also have plenty to say. First, these…” She laid her hand across the field of butchered Tieflings. “If anyone was behind these and knew something…”

  Min’s eyes scanned each of them, moving across Slea, Reki, and Suna.

  Suna shook his head and joined her in eyeing both Slea and Reki–not bothering to hide his obvious doubt.

  “My problem is only with the warrior clan,” Slea said firmly. “That's it.” Her eyes drew daggers at Suna. Maybe calling her out like that was not his brightest idea. But, well, he'd never been the best at talking to girls. He tried to learn from his brother to no avail.

  “Well? Reki?” Min asked.

  “No, absolutely not! Are you crazy!” Reki pointed at Min with a shaky hand that stuttered like a beeping phone, and that finger then moved, pointing at Suna. “And you too, Eyebag! Who says something like that?”

  Somehow, this gesture from Reki felt nostalgic, almost comforting in a weird way.

  “If you work in a office, you would already be fire—”

  “Noa, do you have anything to add?” Suna asked.

  He shook his head. The rugby player stared wide-eyed at Suna.

  “Good, now we’re going deep, right?” he asked again, this time to the entire group.

  Sure, he still doubted Slea and Reki, but at the very least, things are a little lighter.

  “Oh, right,” Suna remembered, “Min, you were saying something?”

  “Yes,” Min coughed. “I’m saying I don’t mind if you keep secrets, any of you. I think it's anyone's right to do so… But, if these secrets end up being something that would literally kill any of us… It's time to come clean.”

  Suna raised his hand.

  Min stared at him, her expression turning deadpan. “Seriously? This is not a time to joke. Especially since you’re the one who started this… awkward conversation.”

  “I’ve been keeping something, and it might get some of you killed,” Suna said truthfully. “I want the Drow Seeker corpses. So I can offer it to the altar. And honestly, I prefer it if you let me face it alone, if possible.”

  --

  Advancing through the ruined hive, it was like watching the horror of the battlefield. Suna could tell the crossbow-wielders' area was where they were standing, and the flying unit broke their formation, with some of them flung far away.

  And perhaps the most goriest of all was the line where the vanguards met.

  Mixing with the red bodies of the Tiefling was bones. Not the bones of the Tiefling, but literal bones. Suna reached down, ambling his legs through the spot where no green blood marred the ground. The nauseating miasma of death, followed by the scent of rancid blood and rot, cloaked this area. They won’t be able to stay long.

  He took a broken skeleton head, its hard, solid bone was so tough that it made Suna wonder how these things die. He remembered Pito mentioning that these things were on the first depth, and he killed some, so maybe it's better not to overthink it.

  “You sure we're going down?” Reki said, the office man holding a napkin to his nose, his face scrunching.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Where did he even get that? Suna wanted one.

  “You would rather we stayed up, unsure what was happening?” Slea asked. What she did to escape the stench was curious, to say the least. She used her brimhat and covered her nose with fire… Suna did not know how that helped. Was that a skill? Or just the brimhat ability. Maybe he could do the same, but to summon fire, he needed to draw an arrow first.

  “Yes, actually,” Reki admitted.

  “Go with Desha and Pito if you want,” Suna said. “I’m not stopping anyone.” He crossed deeper and spotted plenty of mana and health potions hidden by pouches of the dead Tieflings. Suna took two pouches and began filling them with it.

  The other humans did the same. They had brought their own potions, but more could not hurt.

  Noa, Reki, and Suna took the front, as they kept going deeper into the hives. They proceeded through the marketplace, and the corpses lessened. It looked like the major fight had taken place right in the middle. They still encountered some corpses, but not in great numbers.

  A huge opening that led to another tunnel greeted them as they reached the end of the marketplace. It led down into the intersection of three; if Suna remembered correctly, each passage would lead to the first depth. And the first depth lacked complete mapping.

  His anger at Desha for leaving them flared briefly as the confusion about which path to take started to settle in. Well, the Tieflings group must’ve left some kind of sign showing where they were going.

  Suna was about to enter the tunnel, but suddenly an echo shivered against the cave ground and resounded through it softly. Shadow morphed into a figure. They were numbered at three; each was armoured from head to toe. They wore open-face helmets, revealing ?zombified faces with crippling skin and hollow black eyes.

  White hair fuzzed out of their helmets. Their chests and limbs were covered in armor that appeared to have been buried for years in dirt and remained uncleaned. A sword with the same condition was in their hand, along with a brown circular shield.

  [Undead Knight. Lvl 20]

  [Undead Knight. Lvl 20]

  [Undead Knight. Lvl 20]

  Without wasting any more time, Suna’s hand flowed to his arrow and bow. The undead each had two arrows stuck to their faces, causing them to stagger, but they were able to retain their balance and started to charge at them.

  “Hold them,” Suna said. Reki and Noa ran ahead, with their shields first. Suna formed mana above his palm, and it gathered into a Mana Arrow.

  Three fire serpents slithered around their shield-bearers and blasted into the knights just when they were about to reach Reki and Noa. They rattled against the heat, but in ?defiance of strength, the knights charged as the flame still consumed them.

  Clang of shield against sword rang out. Noa and Reki backed away as they let the knights’ attention focus on them. However, the third one did not select any of them; instead, it went after Suna.

  But an arrow that went past the knight then ricocheted into the knight's face, sending it reeling sideways. The Knight ignored the damage and kept charging at Suna. By then, he had already aimed, Reki and Noa now at a safe distance… Good, nothing impeded him.

  He released the Mana Arrow. Blue light disintegrated the knight's upper body, leaving its legs existing only to fall crumpled.

  [You Have Slain Undead Knight. Lvl 20]

  [Rune Of Arcanery]

  So this one had a rune unlike the dogs, skeletons, and zombies.

  That was good news. Suna drew another Mana Arrow and aimed at the other two. He clicked his tongue as both knights were close to both Reki and Noa.

  “Make some space!’ Suna shouted. But only met with a grunt as they struggled to keep the knight at bay. Both undead knights had the upper hand, even against Reki, whose equipment was designed to fight against them.

  Min kept shooting, and she focused her shots on the undead knights that were fighting Noa, he would need the most help.

  Slea and Suna, however, still held their magic at bay.

  Suna let the Mana arrow whisk away. He drew a normal one and decided to aim at Noa’s knight.

  He moved into the familiar routine. The feeling of releasing an arrow and then beginning to draw another just after your string twanged was satisfying proof of how fast you were. Suna carpeted arrows at the knight; three of his arrows streaked through the undead knight's throat, while the other three broke against its armor.

  The advantage tipped into Noa's favor; he could’ve backed away, but the [Warrior] howled and struck the knight’s neck, parting it, however, Noa’s bone sword did not carry through.

  “Noa, just leave it!” Slea shouted, with a wand ready.

  But, instead, Noa wrenched off his sword and prepared for another strike. The knight was about to do a downstroke at him, but Suna was not going to let that happen.

  He had realized something: if he hit the knight's flesh, then his normal arrow would not ?do anything, but against their armor…the pure force would knock them off.

  Suna unleashed a barrage of arrows at the knight's side plate. His hand moved like the wind; as a result, the knight stumbled like someone had just thrown fast-moving rocks at it.

  It began falling, and Suna spotted something before Noa’s sword went into its neck.

  That neck started to take color. Suna’s heart stopped for a moment before blood began pumping to his ears. That was a black mottled…

  “Kill it, now!” Suna screamed. Noa's sword rendered through, separating the knight's head with a slice of his bonesword.

  He did not wait until the undead knight fell; instead, Suna spun to find Reki with a sword in his gut. The office worker gritted and held the sword from going deeper; it was clear the [Paladin] armor had saved him. But how? He had expected Reki to win the fight.

  The answer presented itself in the knight's face that was wrenched like a crumpled paper—now full of life, with black dots covering it.

  Drowfication.

  Before Suna's mind could process this, the undead knight drew its sword from Reki's gut and surged toward him.

  Normally, he would use Archer's backstep. But Slea and Min were close by, and doing so would doom both of them.

  He suppressed his Archer Sense that was screaming at him.

  Suna instead drew Umbralline.

  He watched as the thrust came at him, like a flash of light. Suna pivoted and managed to block with his sword upright. His eyes skimmed, and Suna whirled his legs to trip the knight.

  However, the knight raised his right foot and stamped on Suna’s.

  He winced, anger and excitement mixed as he glared at their locked swords.

  The knight pivoted now, breaking the sword lock and whirling his sword into a side strike, taking advantage of Suna’s injured legs. Suna instead focused on the sword movement and clashed his sword with the knight’s. Both swords resounded, and they clanged against each other, knocking each other back.

  Suna gritted his teeth, steadying ?the recoil with a heavy grip. He planted his legs wide and struck down straight at the undead’s face, only to be parried. But it was not a good parry, his sword was not blasted back. So Suna connected his attack, only for his sword to be blocked by its rusted armor.

  The knight whirled and kicked Suna in his gut.

  He stumbled back; that kick was weak, but on purpose. It recognized Suna could blow it in one shot with his archery, so it tried just to create enough space for its next attack.

  But a weak kick is still a weak kick. Suna recovered quickly, and their swords once again intercepted each other. Every time, it was a race to connect more attacks, so their swords kept striking, each desperate to knock away their opponent's weapon.

  Suna's mind zeroed. He shut down his shouting friends and even his Archer Sense.