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“Get up!” Blár grabbed her uninjured shoulder and pulled her to her feet. “There has to be something we can do!”

This was it. They would die in this hellhole. These demonic creatures would kill them all.

“Hey! Calm down! Why are you freaking out?!”

“How can I not freak out?”Kolfinna shouted over the sound of one of the half-hanging sails cracking with the wind as it snapped back and forth.

“Calm yourself andthink!”

There was no way she could think straight. They were being attacked by grisly half-deadmonsters. What was there to even think about? More and more of those beings were boarding the ship and they were already outnumbered. No matter how much Blár and the rest of the group killed off the creatures, more kept replacing the dead ones. It wouldn’t be long before everyone died.

“Do you sense anything? Any mana?” Blár scooped up a fallen sword and wedged it into the face of one of the beings. He yanked it out and stomped on the skeletal face, crushing it effortlessly. “Shit. These things just aren’t dying.”

Kolfinna realized with a start that the beings she thought were dead, were in factstill alive. Having their skulls smashed only seemed to stun them for a few minutes before their bodies convulsed and they pulled themselves up. Even headless,they weren’t dying.

“I don’t sense anything! I can’t use magic at all.” The ship swerved and she flew forward, tripping over a body. Blood stained her hands and she glanced at the body. That was a mistake. It was one of the soldiers. He had given her a dirty look at the start of the mission, but she could hardly think of that as she looked at his boyish face. His eyes were glassy, and there was a gash in his neck, revealing the shiny white bone underneath the flesh and blood.

“Watch it,” Blár shouted above the howling wind and the sound of clashing blades. He barreled another creature out of her way. “Pull yourself together. Now, do you sense anything or not?!”

“No! I don’t!” She was on her hands and knees, a crash of water dousing her and knocking her to her side.

“Try harder! There has to besomething!”

“I don’t—” The words were stuck in her throat when she realized there wassomethingshe felt. She had been trying with no avail to reach her own mana this entire time, but she hadn’t noticed that there was something faint pulsing in the background. She swiveled her head right, left, and right again. Where was it coming from?

“What are you looking for?” Blár tried to follow her gaze, but another creature was already on them. It jumped and latched itself on him, wrapping its rotting legs around his torso and gnashing its teeth into his arm. Blár gritted his teeth together and punched the creature with the pommel of the blade before its skull caved in.

Kolfinna could barely see in the distance due to the lashing rain and the swarm of bodies struggling onboard. She curtained her eyes with her hands and searched quickly until she found something. At the opposite side of the ship where the main mast was, she sensed mana thrumming on the wood.

“There!” She pointed at the mast. “I sense magic there! Rune magic!”

“Don’t just stand there—go!”

Kolfinna didn’t need to be told twice, but it was daunting. A sea of creatures fought with the military and the Royal Guards; she would need to weave her way through it to make it to the mast. But even then, she didn’t know what she would find there.

When she took too long, confused by the constantly moving bodies and flying swords, Blár grabbed her hand and yanked her forward,hard. She yelped in pain and surprise; her arm felt like it was going to be ripped out of its socket. She didn’t have time to protest because another being was on them, swinging its sword at Blár’s head. Blár let go of her hand and lopped the creature’s head off in one smooth motion.

“Keep going!” he shouted, thunder snapping above them, followed by a flash of lightning. “I’ll protect you.”

Those were the last words she expected from Blár, but she had to trust his word.

Kolfinna bobbed her head in agreement and ran forward, stooping low when a monster came toward her. Blár slammed his blade into the monster and kicked it, sending it reeling back. Kolfinna lurched forward. Water violently spat on her face, obscuring her vision. The cold bit into her bones, but she trudged forward. Men and women screamed all around her, and she made sure not to look at their faces. She didn’t want to see the terror coloring their faces, or see their grisly deaths.

A sudden, sharp pain shot through her back and she was launched forward, her forehead cracking against the slick floor. Her vision momentarily darkened before she came to. Her arms shook and she cried in pain as she tried pushing herself up, but her injured arm gave out underneath her. Sweat and tears and salt water stung her eyes. Her back throbbed and a sticky warmth trickled down her back. Had she been slashed? She craned her neck to see behind her and found a bloodied sword on the floor; had one of the creatures thrown it at her? Wasn’t Blár supposed to protect her?

That villain.Kolfinna shouldn’t have trusted him.

But Blár wasn’t behind her. He was instead on the floor, four different monsters clinging to him. One was biting his leg and the other was on his arm. He struggled against them and kicked them, swinging his sword. Kolfinna didn’t have time to worry about him as she pulled herself to her feet. She needed to go to the mast.Now.

But her feet had plans of their own. She rammed into the skeletal creature clinging to Blár’s arm. They both fell together in a heap of tangled arms and legs. Kolfinna hooked her fingers into the monster’s eye sockets and yanked its skull as hard as she could. She grunted as it clawed her chest and dug its sharp talon-like fingers into her flesh. The skull finally gave out and snapped off the neck. She chucked it with all her might at the water.

Blár was back on his feet. Kolfinna pushed herself up and didn’t look back at him as she headed to the mast once more. She held no warmth for him, but she acknowledged that he was necessary. He was strong, and she needed to use that strength. With the way he was fighting even without his magic, she saw clearly that any hope of them surviving lay with him, as much as she hated to admit it.

Kolfinna flung herself to the mast, her hands flying over the wet wood. She felt for the threads of magic, her eyes darting over it before she found it. Inscribed in glowing gold letters, runes were etched into the wood; there were two holes below the inscription.Magic will not enter this area. The draugrs will keep multiplying to no end. Find the rubies and place them here. Draugrs? That must’ve meant the undead demons.

“R-Rubies!” Kolfinna shouted, another wave crashing over the side of the ship and drenching her. Wet tendrils of hair stuck to the side of her face. “We need to find rubies and put them here! Then it’ll stop!”

“Rubies?” Even through the rain, Blár looked at her like she was crazy. “Where are we going to find rubies?”