The Ashen Castle rose above the frost-trimmed forest, its edges with a murky ash color. It may be more accurate to call it a fortress instead of a castle; the blocky building looked cold, hard, and stout at the same time, like a prison. It was made by five connected large blocks, with one placed on top, as if the maker did not care for the art of architecture at all.

  Suna could imagine this whole part of the forest they were in would look like a dead zone if it had not been for the ice that freezes everything.

  They had made it in time before the blizzard came again, but the moment they arrived, what greeted them was not the human face like Suna had hoped for; instead, lying in the strewn cold, soft snow were the bodies of Tieflings, ten of them.

  “Suna!” Jack warned the moment they arrived.

  Suna immediately summoned Gale Bow and an Emberwind arrow in one fluid motion and drew it.

  Jack jogged ahead, with Wendy and Suna slowly approaching as backup. The Tiefling knelt and said:

  “Five bodies.”

  Suna raised his eyebrow. What was he talking about? When Suna got closer, it turned out the bodies had been cut into two, each of them. And perhaps worse of all was the thin blade laid near the Tiefling’s body.

  [Thief Wind][Rare]—A thief needed a sword that could keep up with it. With Wind Manipulation, this sword can guide wind to mask a Thief’s movement, to sense upcoming enemies, and to fight with the hidden force of wind should it be needed.

  “These are the Third Runebearers!” James shouted, and the Tiefling stood in a sudden jerk, moving his body in expectation of enemies.

  The Third Runebearers were the strongest group of Runebearers, even Jack would admit it. Well, now that he had the shadow spear, the balance had been tipped, but still, this means they would face their toughest opponent yet.

  “The Rebel leader went out, you think?” Suna asked. He tried to spot anything with his eagle eyes, for a sign of anything, especially deep in the forest.

  “No, no,” Wendy muttered. “The Rebel used daggers; this was probably done by something much more brute… A knight? No, by your information, these Tieflings should be able to take it down, right?” Wendy chewed his lips, still thinking, until her head snapped up, and her eyes opened wide. “Suna, Jack, I think we should consider a retreat; the only other one I could think of is the Godknight.”

  The Godknight is here…Level 70.

  Should they go back? They could take their time to level up against some of the Undead Peasants, but that still takes so long; he hardly doubted that this Godknight wouldn’t hunt them down.

  Suna did not want to retreat; there were several reasons, but mainly because the humans were present, including James and Floundea, who both had to be protected at all costs.

  “We have to see if the Thiefmasters and humans here first,” James insisted, echoing his exact thoughts.

  “It's both of your decisions,” Wendy said, and she clearly hesitated. “I will follow.”

  “Suna?” Jack asked, his eyes hard.

  “Let's go deeper,” Suna said. “But before that, might as well.” He crouched and grabbed the sword; five identical swords lay around. Suna closed the Tiefling’s eyes and took its sheath, placing it across its hip, hidden by his cloak.

  And the moment he touched the sword, there was a stirring. As if responding, saying it would obey his command. His class was connected to the attribute of wind, so perhaps this sword could fit him better than Umbralline.

  “This feels wrong,” Jack mumbled.

  Wendy, however, did not hesitate; the Lunarian took one sword and wielded it with her pendulum-like staff. “You probably did not need it anyway,” Wendy said.

  Jack grumbled under his breath before ultimately taking one too.

  They crossed into the forest, where crystalline snow encased the ashen complexity of the trees, and when the sun beamed down on it, the forest was bathed in a silver hue that pleasantly shone through what should be a dark forest.

  “Let me on the front,” Suna insisted. His Mana had recovered in their journey, and he felt…refreshed.

  They glided across, dragging over weaker snow; the trees canopy had held the bulk of them. But that had caused an occasional snowfall, and one bucketful made him flinch and almost caused him to release his arrow.

  Something was bugging him, the feeling that they had been watched.

  It's his Archer Instinct, but that was not all; something far more stirring caused a deep, uncomfortable hesitation creeping through his body as they neared the Castle.

  They found another corpse, a Tiefling and an Undead, and the hooded Undead was hung upside down across a branch, and the Tiefling’s body was impaled with a spear deep into the tree. A battle had happened here, not long ago, based on the still-dripping blood. Suna made out two arrows on the Undead’s neck.

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  “It's concerning this many of the Third’s Runebearers died,” Jack rumbled, agitated, and a perturbed look took over his face.

  “There had not been the Firsts,” Suna pointed out. He only spotted one spear, but those were completely black, unlike what the First Runebearers tend to use.

  A movement flickered, and Suna saw a deep yellow color of two gleaming orbs, eyes nesting beneath bushes.

  His instinct came alive.

  He quickly glanced around; they were surrounded. He had spotted three figures.

  Suna raised his spell bow and snapped his string loose before Wendy and Jack could even react. His arrow blazed forward and skewered one Undead that at the same time decided to jump forward and was rewarded by having its head sizzled in fiery flame.

  [You Have Slain an Undead Assassin. Lvl 35]

  “Wendy shield! straight behind me!”

  Wendy turned toward him and began casting with her staff. At the same time, Suna ran behind her and saw a hooded figure leap across in astonishing speed. He saw mottled black skin cross its ashen skull; this reminded him too much of the Drow.

  It was close; Emberwind would take too long. So instead Suna did not draw an arrow, no. He pulled his Arcane String. Pure wind danced at his fingertips, and he released. Pressure rushed forward, knocking the Assassin off and sending it skittering back. Suna quickly let out three Sootwood arrows back to back. It ducked one and, with its dagger, parried another, but the third one caught it in its collarbone, causing a vine to rise.

  However, the Undead Assassin began cutting it with its dagger. That was the first time an opponent reacted so quickly to his Sootroot Arrows.

  Suna released another two, both flew and dug into the assassin’s throat, sending it reeling back.

  [You Have Slain an Undead Assassin. Lvl 36]

  He did not have time to celebrate, because, behind him Jack fought the last assassin. The Tiefling traded blows with it in a flurry of jabs, keeping it away.

  The Assassin tried to circle Jack, veering expertly, even throwing a couple of darts at Jack, who batted them with his spear shaft. In the last moment, the Assassin changed target to Wendy, bolting forward, only to be stopped by an invisible shield, crashing into it.

  That mistake earned it a puncture through its stomach. Jack twisted and killed it. The Assassin croaked, and it collapsed dead in the snow.

  “These are tough,” Jack huffed.

  “Tough? Are they?” Wendy asked, eyeing the three dead Assassins.

  “If not for my spear shadow, which can also be used to block strikes…”

  Huh, it can do that too?

  “It would have already entered my defense and killed me. James is insane, taking the human to train here!”

  “That he did!” a voice rasped.

  Suna Archer's instinct trembled. The voice was close. How did he not detect that? And his Archer Instinct also soared, just like…like it did when the Pyrebone came. Another archer snuck on them. Suna flowed into a stance and weaved Gale Bow, aiming it up onto another hooded figure.

  Where is it?

  Then he saw a figure, above.

  The figure, however, holds up an arm; she shows her hair, a ringlet of black that fell to her neck.

  She smiled, her lips curled into a soft, wry smile, and her eyes almost grew teary. Min knelt on a branch, and golden eyes stared down at him. “Suna, it's been a while, hasn’t it?”

  “Min?” he asked. He was about to lower his bow, but her skin. It was covered in mottled black.

  “Same spell as yours,” Jack tensed beside him.

  Min dropped into the snow, sending them splashing up in her wake. Then slowly her skin returned to normal, and she skipped across the snow.

  It’s really her, not an undead—

  She wrapped her body around him, and Suna could smell her, her tears against his shoulder.

  “I thought you were dead!”

  “I’m alive,” he tensed, unsure what to do, his arm awkwardly stiffened behind her.

  Wendy, seeing this, rolled her eyes. The Lunarian took his arm and wrapped it across Min’s back. His mouth opened in offense, then he saw smiles crack across Jack and Wendy’s lips even in this situation.

  “It's nice seeing you too.” he wrapped his hand around her more tightly.

  [Prowler. Lvl 41]

  --

  “Level 50, what had you been doing, kid?” Min asked, wiping her eyes.

  “I… fought against the sisters.”

  “Like the one running from us? And you're alive?” she asked, blinking in disbelief.

  “It's complicated,” Suna said. “Anyway, it's not important now. I will tell you all about it later. What is happening here, Min? Where are the others?”

  “Yes, we have to… Runebearer,” Min turned to Jack. “You got the quest?”

  “Yes, yes, I do, human, what happened to Floundea?”

  “She is not here, she is with Slea and other First Runebearers raiding villages. Actually, I’m heading there to warn her not to come here,” Min said, then her eyes settled on him, and they tightened. “Suna, the others, Noah, and Reki will try to save James.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “James, along with some of his Runebearers, went on a hunt. Their runes, Suna… they’re very valuable, their skill runes, if you get them. It allows you to get some shadow-based skills, which complement wind very well. My Class upgrade was thanks to the skill runes I had gotten from them. James had mapped out their patrol for our training, and he intends to make his Runebearers stronger as well. But then it came.”

  Min drew a heavy breath.

  “The Undead Godknight. Level 70. It broke the first line of defense so easily, and just rushed into the forest, straight to the castle. It might find James soon… So we split into two: Noah and Reki with all of the Third’s Runebearers, now racing toward James. Their bet is they know exactly where James is and hope to get there before the Godknight does.”

  Suna nodded along. Everything was underway, and he should not hesitate. “I will go to James; they might need my help. Min, can you take Jack here? He is Floundea’s wife.”

  “Husband!” Jack corrected.

  “My bad,” Suna muttered.

  “Yes, I thought so,” Min muttered, looking up and down the spear and Suna’s cloak. “Legendary items, you really need to tell me what's going on.”

  “Oh! Yes, there's an Altar you should use, it's located in—”

  “Suna, we need to hurry,” Jack warned.

  “Uh, where should I go?” Wendy asked, looking around them…

  “And who are you?” Min asked.

  “My cloak can turn a pseudo-undead into a different species. She used to be an Undead.”

  “What? Suna, slow down,” Min said, eyeing him and Wendy then to the endless snow behind them. “Ugh, look… I need to hurry, I've already taken too much time. I’m going now; make sure to catch up with us and the others… and don’t die again,” Min warned. “Come on, Runebearer.”

  Min turned, flashing him a smile and waving a hand before sprinting through the snow. Suna, at first, thought it was so sudden, but things are really ramping up now.

  Jack was about to follow Min, but hesitated. “Suna, Wendy, will we meet again?”

  “Of course, go, Jack,” Suna said.

  “Go!” Wendy cheered. “Better to win the world and have your wife alive too, right?”

  The Tiefling bowed deeply, “Thank you, both of you.” He lifted his body and rushed after Min, the two figures disappearing from their vision, and it’s time for us to go too.

  “Guess I’m coming with you.” Wendy said, still waving.

  “This Godknight, what are the chances we make it out alive?”

  “Depends on whether your friend can hide your Thiefmaster or not, I guess. But, if it comes to combat Suna, I think it's better if we run and protect the last Thiefmaster.”

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