The Puppet knights stood silently at the crossroads. The three corridors on their sides were completely dark, empty, and silent. Behind them, the archway and bridge dripped from the rain.

The cool wind fluttered their red and black surcoats but dashed helplessly against their steel bodies.

The twenty knights stared forward. The smiling faces on their gold masks gleamed eerily. One of them turned slightly as a silver glow broke the black and white monotone of this world.

A ghost in silver armor floated over the stone floors, groaning incessantly. A white bear tumbled from its helm, which only covered its upper head. It came from the left hallway.

All the knights tensed at the same time. Their weapons rose and they moved forward to attack.

But some of them stayed back. Only the six on the left moved quickly. The ghost quickly turned tail and ran with the knights following.

Then, just seconds later, another ghost appeared in the right hallway.

Another six knights gave chase.

So only eight knights remained. Their bodies froze as they adapted to the situation and began to move apart.

Staying close together would leave them open to a wide-range attack.

But they were too slow to catch up.

A low roar filled the central hallway in front of them. A dragon made of water rushed down the hall and smashed into the knights, slamming five of them back onto the bridge and rain.

The remaining three barely had time to react. Faust jumped out of the shadows behind them and cut them apart before they knew what was happening.

The other five rushed out of the darkness of the central hallway and past the archway quickly.

Zen’s water dragon had crushed the five knights onto the bridge, so they were still pulling themselves together.

Faust cursed as he stepped into the rain. It carried the taste and smell of salt as its cold sank into his skin. The horrible smell of sulfur was back as they ran across the bridge.

Zen looked down at the bridge, reading its magic circles. "Oh, this is definitely going to explode!"

They were really high up. The wind at the top of the spire was powerful enough to throw a normal human over, but the five of them pushed past it easily.

A blinding flash filled the sky close to them, and Faust felt static run over his skin like a bad itch.

’Did we almost get hit by freaking lightning?!’

The top of the black, block-like building in front of him was steaming and red at the point of contact from the lightning.

They crossed over into it just a second before the bridge exploded.

Too bad on the other side of the bridge was an army of knights waiting for them.

Faust didn’t put much thought into it. Greg charged into them with his shield raised, while Faust went without even defending.

The swords and spears of the puppets bounced off his body like he was made of steel. He swung his axe.

One had to appreciate how useful the Iron King Schema was.

’Flowing Viper!’

Silver energy arched through the air, cleaving almost seven knights in half instantly.

Nirvana slithered by him, summoning her ghosts and skeletons around to create chaos and finish off the knights on the floor.

Greg used his Jam skill to freeze the knights as the others came in, giving them time to get into the fight easily.

Soon they had decimated the entire squadron.

Faust looked ahead. They had to do that two more times, and any mistake could be their last. He fought back a grin.

◇◇◇

Faust listened to the steady rhythm of his footsteps against the cold stone floor as they walked past the final group of knights.

All three bridges exploded after being crossed.

Without Zen, they would have died countless times over to curses or traps. Time was also ticking. It had taken them around twenty minutes to get here. If they had to be slower, it would take hours.

Now the through-room was just up the stairs in front of him.

A wide hall spread around them. The candles high above brought a weak light to the dark space.

Within the castle, away from the black sun, the colors of the world were vivid, if not a bit dim. His skin wasn’t chalk-white, and his red hair wasn’t a deep shade of black.

He shook his body, spraying water all over the place until he felt just a bit less like a wet towel.

"Stoppp," Thalia groaned, "you’re not a German shepherd."

The somber quiet of the hollow castle echoed with laughter. But still, they stayed alert. Faust scanned every corner of the wide hall for enemies.

"This place is too empty," Spider muttered.

They got within thirty meters of the stairs when they heard a deep, ancient sigh. It was like the first breath taken after centuries.

Faust raised his axe and turned up to the ceilings of the castle. It was dark up there, the sharp edges of support beams and steel cages swinging and creaking above.

The howl of the wind might have made that strange sigh.

But Faust was sure. He was sure he heard a person breathe out.

Something dropped from the roof in a black blur. It was a person, who hit the ground softly, almost too silently. The figure was covered in a ragged, dusty black cloak. It rose to around seven feet tall on two feet.

’Appraise.’

[Name: Drekar(Villain)]

[Level: 8]

[Combat Power: 896]

’That’s a Player?’

Drekar’s face peeked from the shadows of his cloak’s hood. It was white and paper-smooth, striking and alien. His eyes were huge and black like others of his race.

’Drekar was the person Narla mentioned.... He’s in a gate, in another world. And what is that Villain tag?’

Drekar scanned the three of them as he swept over the stone floors slowly. His footsteps were nonexistent. Faust couldn’t see any weapons under that cloak.

But there was a distinct danger Faust felt when looking at him. Drekar was too loose, too careless.

Faust looked for passion and fear in his opponents when he fought. People led by passion were easy to predict, but people without enough passion fought feebly.

Drekar had nothing. He was like a ghost floating through the dark castle.

Faust hated that emptiness. His heart started pounding as he felt the fight draw closer.

Drekar coughed painfully a few times before he spoke. "Welcome, friends. Thank you for finally coming. You can’t fathom how long we’ve waited."