“Huh?”

  Luna suddenly felt the hairs on her rise shortly after she sensed a shift in the air that almost made her jerk from where she stood.

  On looking around, it came to her notice that all the attacking cursed creatures had come to a strange halt following this abnormal shift in the atmosphere.

  And then, as if the universe was giving her an answer, Luna felt a new and powerful presence that turned her blood cold in an instant.

  Her powerful gaze didn’t hesitate to travel to the siege tower as if her own body had come to notice that something stronger had emerged from within the tower.

  Mira also noticed this; her eyes quivered immediately when they landed on the ominous structure ahead. “Umm…Luna. Something’s wrong…”

  She instinctively swallowed her saliva and took a few steps away without taking her eyes off the structure. The feelings she felt towards the building were too many to break down all at once. But in simple terms, the tower felt like it had come to life…like its true master had just awakened.

  ‘But that’s impossible. It had to be the Undead King.’ Mira’s thoughts denied the possibility that they had just made things worse for themselves.

  Luna didn’t respond to Mira right away. Instead, she responded to her intuition after feeling an intense battle aura coming from nearby. On top of this battle aura, Luna also felt an insane amount of bloodlust directed at the pair.

  Quickly, her eyes started moving in every direction, and searched for where this bloodlust could be coming from. Then finally, her eyes came across a peculiar suit of armor that seemed to appear out of thin air and a few steps away from them.

  A chill ran down her spine as she gripped her sword with trembling hands. “Mira…we have company!”

  The young woman followed Luna’s gaze and she felt her entire body freeze when she caught a glimpse of the approaching knight. He held a cracked sword in his left and underneath his visor were glowing turquoise-colored orbs that served as its eyes.

  Her breath quivered as she started to sweat from dread. Her mind and soul were screaming at her…telling her to run. But for some reason, she remained frozen before taking a few steps back and falling on her bottom.

  Luna noticed the fear in her partner and realized that unlike her Mira was still a mundane human. While she combated this intense bloodlust and battle presence with her own, Mira was going to be affected by the knight.

  So…

  She decided to save the mundane human. “Mira!”

  The terrified woman faced the dark-haired girl with some faint recognition.

  “Run and call for backup. Tell them it’s very powerful. I will stay here and hold this thing off for as long as I can.”

  As if snapping back to her senses, Mira forced herself up and gave the creature one last look. As a coward, this was way above her pay grade. She was confident that this thing was stronger than Luna by far.

  It was suicide to try and fight this thing. Was she really choosing to play the heroine at a time like this?

  ‘Just like in the train.’ Mira gritted her teeth and nodded at her captain’s request. She could only help by requesting backup before this thing tore Captain Lunaris apart.

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  “Yes…captain.” After her reply, she turned back and ran towards the frozen wasteland in hopes that her suit would get a connection with someone as powerful as Gail or any powerful ascender with great speed.

  As she left, Luna sighed and did the unthinkable by switching off her limiter. Her gaze traveled back to the knight. Its tall bulky structure made it even more menacing. She wasn’t sure how she was going to fight someone this superior. But knowing Mira, all she needed to do was keep it busy.

  When she peered into it, she felt a lot of qi circulating through its metallic bits to keep it moving. And beyond the metallic bits, the cursed creature had no cores to match its nature as one.

  Could it be a corrupted deity?

  ‘No. Probably something connected to one.’

  Once it was close, the knight seized its motion for a second to observe her. Then, in what felt like a heartbeat, it burst into a spontaneous motion as it lunged at Luna. Its initial step shattered the earthen ground as it swung its sword.

  Luna also moved, her katana colliding with the greatsword. Now that she was using a good percentage of her real strength she could match the knight’s to a certain degree. And with the suit helping her, she could handle the strain of using a good amount of her physical power.

  If she were to assume, her output right now was about seventy percent. Meaning that she now on par with an ascender with level two of zenshi mastery in terms of strength.

  It jumped back and attacked again right away. This time, its swings turned into a brigade of blurry attacks that created shockwaves on impact. Her resilient sword absorbed each wave as blocked and parried each deadly strike from the knight.

  To her surprise, Luna could see through his movements despite the intimidating battle aura he produced. One thing was clear though; if she was inexperienced and slow, she would be already dead.

  She had tried using the whispering titan blade technique. But switching from the Dancing Maiden was proving to be a difficult maneuver. Changing styles now was similar to switching a gun while being shot at with nowhere to hide.

  ‘There!’

  She finally caught sight of a narrow opening in the knight’s movement. She dodged another of his deadly swings and then aimed for his lower body. She moved perfectly as she imagined her sword could slice through the creature’s steel armor. The enchantment awakened and swung the sword in a perfect low arc.

  …However, to her surprise, the sword didn’t cut through the rusty steel. Instead, it bounced off the surface and the powerful recoil almost shattered her wrist bones.

  She froze for a second before coming back to her senses and avoided a punch directed at her face. The steel fist hit the ground instead and both the red rock and sand exploded outward.

  Bits of it hit her face but barely managed to cut through her skin because of how tough it was. She then pounced at the Knight and let out a warrior scream and continued their deadly clash.

  Sparks flew each time they met, as their swords turned into a blur. Luna relied on the fact that the dancing maiden was capable of giving the martial artist the chance to anticipate the opponent’s next attack.

  The sound of steel dancing echoed throughout the battlefield. The air shuddered and sparks danced after each strike as Luna pushed herself to her limits.

  Luna fought with total concentration, her entire presence now could be compared to a deadly creature. However, it was still nothing compared to the Steel Knight.

  ‘One mistake and I’m dead.’ She reminded herself as she kept her eyes on the enemy. Deep down, she could feel the growing strain after using this much of her strength.

  Had a minute even passed?

  Her small muscles were already burning up and her stamina was falling rapidly.

  ‘Where the hell is Mira?’

  No sooner had she asked herself that question when another presence decided to join them. He appeared between her and the steel knight and stopped its greatsword with both his blades.

  Valentine’s wet dark hair waved as he struggled to push back the greatsword with just a small blade.

  As he held it back, Luna grasped the opportunity and rushed past him. She stopped right under it and drove her right fist into its center. Even with her strength and the nanoskin protecting her, Luna felt a great deal of pain when her hand connected with the creature.

  Unfortunately, the creature was only pushed back slightly despite the force and strength behind Luna’s blow.

  Now that he was no longer holding it back, Valentine charged at the knight—the edges of his blades now glowing a silver hue.

  The knight moved its gaze to Valentine. But before it acted, a golden arrow bounced off its helmet.

  …and then another. And another…and another. Each bouncing off its armor or shattering on impact.

  A smile appeared on Luna’s face when she saw the golden-eyed ascender floating in the air with a bright glowing bow in his hand. His handsome face had been scarred and filled with scratches from the flying horrors he had been fighting.

  Aside from that, he seemed unharmed.

  The steel knight didn’t regard Gail’s appearance. However, its strange eyes lit up when a certain figure appeared on their small battlefield.

  Ghost of Winter had arrived.