Limbs spread through the reddened snow, along with it were heads, innards, and the debauchery continued. Both the Undead and Tiefling clearly stood no chance. Suna and Wendy followed the trail of blood, and soon they crossed toward a clearing. Lying ahead of them was the stark, blocky castle, which held a giant gate; it would be a tough one to open, no doubt, yet it was broken apart. The gap revealed a dark entrance which was covered by shadow.

  Suna trailed his hand down the frost-trodden trunk of a tree. The Godknight was inside, and with it were Noa and Reki. He wondered if both of them had a Class Upgrade? Based on their confidence to storm in to save James, then perhaps they did…

  “Are we going to go, Suna? This place is too huge,” Wendy asked, craning her neck up.

  “I’m not sure,” Suna said. He had hoped they would encounter some Tieflings. Suna took a step toward the castle; no time to waste. Almost immediately, his Rabbit’s ears twitched. Something invisible gripped him, and Suna’s eyes zeroed in on the castle.

  In the middle.

  “The middle, that’s where the Godknight is,” Suna said.

  “The Spirit Cloak tells you?”

  He nodded.

  “Let's go in.”

  They walked ahead. Suna immediately drew his Sootroot arrow, not intending to use Emberwind unless necessary. They passed a bridge where, around it, a deep fall showed an endless abyss beneath them. Just how far was that fall? They planned to keep going until a distant clash echoed beneath.

  Wendy tensed beside him, and they held each other’s eyes. Suna, with one leg atop the bridge railing, aimed below. He strained his eagle eyes to see two figures clash in the deep darkness.

  A whoosh, the sound of wind parting, rustling, and cutting through the other figure's arm. But that was not enough to end the battle, it kept going, the shadows moved against each other.

  “Too far,” Suna said. He glanced back at the castle. There’s no guarantee James would be in there willingly. They might get into an unnecessary fight against the Godknight should they risk it. For now, they required information, and if they can save the Tiefling below—or what he assumed was the Tiefling fighting… then this should be easier.

  How should he do this? Does he bring Wendy with him?

  “I’m thinking of going down there,” Suna said.

  “I’m coming then,” she quickly said. “I have combat skills, I already charged my truth.”

  Her ability was a curious one. Wendy had been asking Suna and Jack random questions. That pendulum of her skill, the truth, had granted her a new source of power like the Pyreflame. She had some unique skills that were only usable from this new resource. Apparently, this made her other skills much weaker, so Wendy intends to change her class in the future.

  “Let's go, we’re going down with my wind magic,” Suna said. He wove an Emberwind arrow and dropped it down.

  Wrapping his arm around Wendy, he jumped without warning her. She yelped, and they went into free fall. Suna's eyes were intent on the light of his arrow. Darkness banished, and Suna used Gale Step to slowly descend with the Lunarian.

  As the arrow was about to hit the ground. He saw a scaled shoulder armor that had been broken into two. The figure held two shields, both were bucklers with sharp outer rims meant for offense as well.

  The Warrior—no, not Warrior anymore. Suna’s lips tugged into a relieved smile.

  There he is.

  [Shield Bulwark. Lvl 41]

  Another figure dashed around the [Shield Bulwark]. Circling him with flickers of shadows. The Bulwark turned and tried to smash its shield onto the figure, but then the figure dropped to the ground and melted into a pool of shadows. It reappeared again behind the Bulwark and struck with a dagger; however, the Bulwark turned in time and blocked with his shield, sending a loud clang up.

  [Undead Shadow Assassin. Lvl 40]

  Level 40? And probably with Drowfication too…

  “Wendy, I’m going to catch you!” Suna shouted in her ear.

  “What? Catch me?”

  Suna threw Wendy up, and she screamed bloody murder.

  He did not have much time, Suna quickly kicked his leg down, and propelled himself just enough so he could draw Gale Bow and aim a Sootroot arrow down.

  He released it, and darkness cloaked his arrow’s flight.

  This sure brings back memories.

  Suna did not watch; instead, he launched himself down and grabbed Wendy, whose shriek would surely draw everyone's attention by now. But, that's fine, that's what he wanted.

  He let go of his bow and built air pressure in his free hand. As they approached the ground fast, he slammed the air down, and a draft of wind pushed them in recoil, forcing their body to turn up. Their weight resisted it, and they slowly descended to the ground safely.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Wendy's hair was a mess. The Lunarian offered him a glare with her purple eyes. Before she could say anything, a movement drew their attention, fast.

  Wendy turned to where his Suna's arrow was supposed to land, and she held her staff up. An invisible shield was erected in front of them, then something raked across it. The spell fizzled out in a sound that mimicked breaking glass.

  The Lunarian gasped and tried to retreat, because a figure in golden chainmail reached for her, wielding the Thief Sword. Wind began to build up on it, and Suna had already reacted.

  He dragged his feet forward, trapping the sword user that tried to lunge at Wendy.

  “Woa—” He rasped. But Suna was not done. He twisted and brought the sword user's body off balance, smashing him into the ground.

  The sword user did not give up; he tried to slash at him. Suna quickly drew Umbralline and met the sword, sending it out of his opponent’s hand.

  The sword rolled through the darkened ground, clanking into the darkness.

  “Reki!” Suna smiled.

  [Wind Orator. Lvl 41]

  “Y-you… Eyebag? No, it can’t be. He was…”

  “Dead?” Suna asked, he couldn't keep his grin from his face. He stood, letting Reki go, and the man squirmed away. Reki fixed his glasses and took him in.

  “What are you wearing? That translucent thing.”

  “It’s a cloak, long story,” Suna said. “Come on, stand up, Noa still…”

  “It's nice to see you again, Suna,” the familiar voice greeted. Suna turned to see Noa standing there, walking into his Emberwind's light, and he was… something was off about him.

  Suna raised an eyebrow, unsure what it was.

  So he decided to weave another Emberwind. As the darkness banished away, what he saw was a man with half of his face ruined by burnt wound. One half of Noa’s eye was completely white, with the dark retina struggling to hold its color.

  “The Undead Witch caused this?”

  Noa shrugged and smiled, tapping his wound with his gauntleted arm. “Yep, when Floundea, Slea, and her had a shootout. Let’s just say, I worked quite a bit to keep those two alive.”

  --

  “Here you go.”

  Noa dropped a rune on top of Suna’s hand. It was dark, almost unnoticeable to his eyes, and wouldn’t be if not for the light from his arrow.

  “You’re the one who killed it, Noa,” Suna said, pushing it back toward him.

  “Take it seriously, I’m building my skills for my next Class Upgrade. I would rather not get it muddy with a shadow-based skill that I might get.”

  “You already went for another Class Upgrade? Is this your second one?”

  “Yes, but Slea did it, figured I should too.”

  So Slea really did have another Class Upgrade. Meanwhile, Suna did not think he was any closer to getting one. He stared at the shadow rune. Maybe if he started to take shadow-based skills? The Pyreflame archer or the Rabbit one both had problems. The first one was that he did not have the skill to form the Resonance for it; the latter was that it would change his race, like what happened to Wendy.

  Speaking of Wendy, she awkwardly stood there, watching the three of them.

  “Eyebag! If you’re alive, then why couldn’t you try to find us! We have been with the main army the entire time!” Reki demanded.

  “It's nice to see you again, Reki, truly.” He stifled a sigh. “I had to fight the Undead Sisters.”

  “You what?” Reki asked. He peered at him like a startled chicken. “You do not need to make up a reason for being lost.”

  “Would I have reached this level if I lost?”

  “Tch, fair enough.”

  “Facing them? I remember two of them managed to run, with one stored inside that annoying lantern,” Noa said, scratching his burnt cheek. “Wait, you said sisters? Did you fight the Undead Witch also?”

  “He made a Pact with her,” Wendy suddenly added, adding to the confusion.

  He scowled at her, and she whistled, pretending to examine her boot.

  “Really?” Reki asked, pushing up his glasses. "I have experience with Pact since I just made one recently. We should talk about it later, its a fickle thing."

  “And who is she?” Noa said, pointing at Wendy.

  “Before that!” Suna cut them off. “Where is James?” he asked, his voice turning grim.

  Noa and Reki looked at each other. The older man nodded his head, and Noa then said, “Inside, Suna, we planned to enter and engage in combat with the Godknight. But, we had to make sure we had everyone first.”

  “Everyone?”

  “By everyone, he meant the whole Third Runebearers, Honorable Archer,” a new voice said.

  Stepping into the Emberwind light was a Tiefling, and on its sheath was Thief Wind, the sword of the Third Runebearers.

  Another one appeared, stepping beside the first one, then, like clockwork, they slowly surrounded them. It was like they were prepared in the shadows themselves.

  Wendy shuffled close to him. She held a stiff posture and clutched her staff tightly.

  “They’re friends,” Suna whispered. Noa and Reki heard that. They stared at him and her. It was cold, far colder than he thought. Both of them had survived this harsh winter longer than him, and had faced Delia, Uzu, and Dua and came victorious. There must be a lot of deaths, too. He wondered what their journey had been like.

  For once, Suna wanted to sit and talk with them.

  But it was not the time.

  “This is perfect, Suna, we need all the help we can get,” Noa said. The Bulwark shook his shield and shoulder, like he was eager to go.

  “Hmm,” Reki mumbled. The office worker opened his palm, and a hammer made out of pure wind manifested like Suna’s own Gale Bow. “Yes, my mana is ready. Do you need a potion, Eyebag? We do have some, right?” Reki raised his voice as he asked the question.

  Soon, two Tieflings entered the circle and brought a basket full of red and blue potions. Suna reached for a blue one and examined the resources they had.

  “Yes, let's do this,” Suna said, resolute. “I assume we’re charging straight for the Necromancer after?”

  “Yes, precisely. Honorable Archer, and you, Truth Maiden. Both of your help might be enough to tip this upcoming fight,” a Tiefling said. It bowed, and soon all of them bowed at him.

  “This is too much!” Wendy exclaimed, “We had not done anything yet. Also, I would like you guys to answer questions for me. It… it’s important.”

  “Question, we do not have much time… More and more Runebearers have joined, we only miss five more.”

  “It's for my skills, please, it might make a difference,” Wendy insisted. She began talking with some of them, trying to convince them.

  Some agreed. Suna ignored the questioning, he instead focused on Reki and Noa.

  “Did you see it? The Undead Godknight? He was level—”

  “70.” Noa finished for him. “I saw him myself, Suna. I’m confident we could take it down if Min and Slea were here… But we need Min as a messenger; she is the only one we could trust to reach Floundea safely.”

  “Yes, I met Min. She did not say anything about going back here with Slea and Floundea,” Suna said. He wanted to point out how reckless this was. Also, he couldn’t help but think…

  If they abandon James here, the Tiefling probably would have a better chance of survival. If they, the humans, joined with Floundea, Min, and Slea, they could gang up on this Undead Godknight…

  “Just to make it clear, we are really going in, yes?” Suna asked.

  “Of course, we couldn’t lose James,” Reki said. “We still have to face the Necromancer after all.”

  Should he tell them? That the [Necromancer] was sealed? And the one they had to worry about currently, aside from the [Undead Godknight], was the [Undead King].

  Wendy overheard them. She held Suna's gaze, then she mouthed. ‘Whatever you decide.’

  “Honorable Archer, we would like to finalize our positioning to incorporate both of you.”

  “Before that, who is the Runebearer in charge? Is it you?”

  “Indeed, I go by John. This is my second in command,” John pointed to another one. “She goes by Amidela.”

  “John,” Suna said his name “The Necromancer was sealed. There was a coup done by the King…”

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