"Embrace death!" The Death Knight swung its sword at Plum.

Sword of Corruption!

A black, sticky tar-like substance trickled down his blade.

"Take your own advice!" Plum extended her silver sword.

Honorable Strike!

Clang!

The two blades clashed.

White feathers flew into the air, an aftereffect of Honorable Strike. The Death Knight quickly withdrew its sword and attacked again. Plum immediately responded with her own blade.

Bam!

The two swords clashed once more, emitting a blunt 'bam'. Plum glued herself to the Death Knight, using soft, flowing movements.

"Haahp!" She swung her sword gracefully, as if she were performing ballet.

Swish.

Her silver sword cleaved through the center of the Death Knight's body.

"Ugh." The Death Knight grimaced in pain. A fistful of red shards of light spilled from its body.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Plum smiled. Her weapon was no ordinary sword; any successful attack against an undead or demon would be an automatic critical hit.

"Don't make me laugh!" The Death Knight angrily swung its sword.

"Hmph." Plum softly dodged the blow, and then thrust her silver sword.

Flash Thrust!

The fastest thrust skill!

Stab!

"Ugh."

The Death Knight hurriedly retreated back. Plum immediately gave chase and barraged it with attacks.

Ultimately, the Death Knight fell to its knees, Plum's silver sword piercing through its body. Plum then took a look around.

Her team was fighting well against the undead. However, she knew full well that this was nothing more than a battle of reconnaissance. After all, the one who'd summoned all these undead, Eclipse, was proudly standing by.

If it didn't actively take part in this battle, then the battle was largely meaningless. At the same time, she couldn't order her team to attack Eclipse, especially when the life vessel was still intact.

'Please, hurry and destroy the life vessel!' Plum killed an approaching skeleton with a single blow, and thought of the other two teams.

* * *

The Moon Tower.

Elite Dullahans, Butchers, and Death Knights blocked their way. There wasn't a single weak undead here, like the skeletons or ghouls.

"How much time has passed?" Rohan punched a Dullahan and asked.

"5 minutes," Viper curtly replied. He was cleaving through a Butcher's body with his dagger.

"Already..." Rohan furrowed his brow. 5 minutes had already passed, yet they hadn't gone up the tower as much as they'd expected.

"We'll have to take it up a notch. We can't be the reason this hunt fails, now can we?" Bart said.

He was one of the Numbers, while Rohan and Viper were high rankers. Obviously, they had some sort of trick up their sleeves.

"Indeed."

"Mm, I agree."

Rohan and Viper nodded their heads.

"Hoo." Bart took a small step back. The Death Knight he'd been fighting violently rushed at him and swung its sword.

'Skill Fusion!'

Ice Spear + Sacred Hammer!

Spear of Judgment!

Bam!

The luminous spear pierced through the Death Knight's body. After that, Bart placed his palm onto the ground.

Barrage of Light + Earth Strike!

Surging Light!

Like a shark cutting through water, a barrage of light rose from the ground and enveloped the Death Knight.

"Ugh." The Death Knight stumbled.

"Just die already!" Bart rushed at it and swung his sword. It was a simple slash. However, the Death Knight was so weakened that it was enough to finish it off. He then took a look around.

Viper pulled out another dagger and was hacking at a Death Knight. He was originally a duel-wielding assassin.

Rohan began adding kicks to his routine. For every kick he landed on the Death Knight, large shards of light would burst out.

A short while later...

They quickly overpowered the undead and made their way up the tower. Would the life vessel be in this tower?

* * *

The mysterious bird, or the Bringer of Misfortune, Kiba, chased after Kang Oh. It was even faster than Kang Oh. Thus, it gradually began to catch up to him.

"It'll catch up to us," Tasha said.

"We're close to our destination. Let's just keep going!" Just a little further, and he'd reach the window.

"Got it." Flap. Tasha flapped his wings as hard as she could.

Gyaaa!

Kiba's scream resounded through the air.

[You have heard Kiba's cry.]

[Some unlucky event may happen.]

All of a sudden, the rocks forming the tower's outer walls began to fall towards him.

"Tch." Kang Oh swung Blood and deflected the rocks.

Then, a powerful gust of wind blew from the top of the tower. Even Tasha couldn't help but slow down in the presence of a crosswind. Kiba, however, wasn't affected by the wind. Its speed hadn't gone down at all.

"Change of plans. We're taking it down first. Turn me around." Kang Oh spun through the air and flew towards Kiba.

Kang Oh and Kiba. The two quickly approached each other.

[You have closed in on Kiba.]

[Luck has decreased.]

[Unlucky events may occur.]

[The more time passes, the more your stats decrease.]

'I have only one chance.' Kang Oh concentrated.

Switch.

Kang Oh swapped Blood with Ubist. His body was no longer surrounded by blood red energy, but a jet-black darkness instead.

Since his Jet-Black Demon form lacked flight capabilities, Kang Oh began to fall to his death. Kiba got right in front of him.

[Warning: You have been struck by misfortune!]

[Warning: You have been struck by misfortune!]

'Right... now!' Kang Oh swung Demon Sword Ubist.

Everlasting Darkness!

[Stolen stats have been consumed as a price for using Everlasting Darkness.]

[Magic -3]

Spurt!

Ubist cleaved Kiba's body in two. Abyss Blade allowed him to cut through the immaterial like evil spirits! Moreover, it was devoured by the massive amount of darkness that shot out of his sword.

Bam!

A short while later, the massive pit of darkness spun like the vortex and then bam, it exploded.

[You have defeated the Bringer of Misfortune, Kiba.]

There was no trace of Kiba left. It'd been completely annihilated.

He extended his hand. 'Please work!' Kang Oh used Darkness Chain, hoping to wrap around an area that protruded from the tower.

Whoosh.

Kang Oh swung on the chain like Tarzan, and glued himself to the tower's wall.

"Hoo, hoo." Kang Oh caught his breath and began climbing the tower. He didn't have time to rest.

Fortunately, no more evil spirits appeared. Kang Oh finally reached the window and entered through there.

"An enemy!"

"Kill him!"

Two Death Knights discovered Kang Oh and rushed at him.

'I have to deal with them quickly!' Kang Oh swung his sword.

Tempest Tiger!

The golden tiger pounced on the Death Knights.

Boom!

The Death Knights slammed into either wall, but Kang Oh ignored them. He ran through them and began going up the stairs.

Guooh!

There was a pudgy Butcher blocking his way at the top of the stairs. Kang Oh transformed into the Jet-Black Demon. Then, he used Abyss Transfer and passed through the Butcher.

Guoh?

The Butcher looked puzzled. However, Kang Oh was nowhere to be found.

Kang Oh came to a large room, which contained several Dullahans and Death Knights.

"Get lost!" Kang Oh swung Ubist twice.

Abyss Claw!

And...

Lightning Breath!

The room instantly became scorched earth. Kang Oh kicked open the door and went up to the next floor. The top of the tower was almost in sight.

* * *

When they had killed about half of the undead army, Eclipse began to make his move.

Thud.

It slammed its scythe onto the ground, summoning many more undead. Fortunately, there weren't any Death Knights included in the new batch of reinforcements.

"Embrace death." Eclipse raised its scythe into the air.

AoE Aging Curse!

Bizarre light radiated from its scythe.

"Healers, dispel the curse!" Plum yelled.

"Oh light, repel the darkness!"

"Our father!"

The priests began to cast spells that would protect the team against the curse. The Kind Druid, Yericka, widely swung her staff from the left to the right.

Primitive Vitality!

They healed their team's HP to full and gave them curse resistance. A radiant, warm light spread out like an aurora. Due to the healers' efforts, Eclipse's curses had virtually no effect on the team.

"Death is your destiny!" Eclipse extended its other hand, the one not carrying its scythe. A lump of bone began to form in the direction his hand was pointed in.

"Guildmaster, it's finally starting to use bone magic," Plum said.

"Mm, then let's go at it as planned."

They'd already anticipated this.

"Ok."

"Mages, form around me."

Swish.

Five female mages, their robes dragging on the floor, quickly gathered around Helena.

"Give me your power."

"Of course, Unni."

A circular magic circle formed underneath Helena's feet.

Mana Link!

Helena immediately activated the spell, causing the magic circle to radiate bright light.

Mana Link allowed one to use other people's MP as long as they were within the magic circle. The five mages, who were already inside the magic circle, cast the Focus Mind spell, which allowed them to quickly regenerate their MP.

With this, they'd effectively become efficient batteries for Helena's use.

'Let's go.' Helena's eyes gleamed.

Overload!

This spell tripled her spell power, but in exchange, her spells cost six times the mana! A square crystal formed on her forehead.

Then...

"Die!" Eclipse shot a giant lump of bones at them.

Whizz, whizz, whizz!

Helena's staff began to radiate intense light.

Earth Wall!

A giant wall shot up from the ground.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The bones crashed against the wall and broke into pieces.

"Hmph." Eclipse clenched its fist.

Bone Bomb!

Bam, bam, bam!

The bones, which were embedded in the wall, blew up, causing the wall to crumble.

Reaper's Scythe!

A scythe made of bone formed in the air. Eclipse swung its scythe; the Reaper's Scythe mirrored its movements and flew towards the center of the team.

There was no way Helena would just let this happen. She quickly cast Giant's Arm. Two giant arms appeared in the arm and grabbed the Reaper's Scythe.

Eclipse tightly clenched its fist once more.

Bone Bomb!

Boom!

Accompanied by a 'boom', the Reaper's Scythe blew up into tiny little pieces. Because it blew up in the air, none of the team was injured by the resulting explosion. Instead, countless bones fell from the sky. Eclipse was planning to explode all of these bones again.

"I can't let you do that!" Helena pointed her staff forward, the crystal facing away from her.

Tempest!

Whoosh!

She called a mighty wind that swept away the falling bones. Eclipse didn't stop though.

Bone Spear!

Helena responded with an Ice Spear. But as time passed, things would get worse off for Helena. Eclipse possessed infinite MP, while Helena had a limit; though she was using Mana Link to make up the difference, it could only go so far.

Ultimately, their main priority was destroying Eclipse's life vessel. With its life vessel destroyed, the Lich would no longer be immortal, and it wouldn't have infinite MP either.

'So hurry!' Helena thought of Kang Oh and Bart, and gritted her teeth.