Rain followed them for three straight days.
Not storms.
Just endless cold rain dripping through East Cloud’s forests while muddy hunter roads stretched endlessly between black trees.
Deep hated every second of it.
“My socks are evolving.”
“No one asked,” Deepika replied while checking the compass.
“I’m serious.”
“They feel alive.”
Robin quietly walked ahead beside Dhruv while reading the route map beneath her coat to protect it from rainwater.
The forest around them had changed again.
Less natural now.
More ruined.
Old watchtowers appeared between trees.
Broken roads.
Collapsed bridges.
Burned hunter camps abandoned years ago.
Signs of conflict everywhere.
Dhruv stepped over a cracked stone marker.
“People used to live here?”
Robin nodded slightly.
“Hunter settlements.”
Deep looked around.
“What happened to them?”
Robin’s expression stayed calm.
“Usually?”
“War.”
That answer killed the conversation for a while.
Only rain remained afterward.
And footsteps through mud.
By evening, the trees finally opened toward a ruined valley.
An enormous stone bridge stretched across the cliffs ahead, connecting both sides of the valley above a raging river far below.
Except… half the bridge was gone.
Destroyed.
Massive chains dangled from broken pillars while fog rose from beneath the cliffs.
Deep stared upward.
“…That does not look safe.”
Deepika crossed her arms.
“It’s the only path east.”
Dhruv stepped closer toward the bridge carefully.
Old battle scars covered the stone.
Sword cuts.
Burn marks.
Explosive damage.
A huge symbol was carved into the remaining center pillar:
A wolf skull with three vertical lines across one eye.
Robin froze slightly.
Dhruv noticed immediately.
“Nico?”
Robin quietly closed her book.
“…Hunter territory mark.”
Deep blinked.
“Wait.”
“Like gangs?”
“Stronger than gangs.”
Deep immediately looked less excited.
The wind howled through the broken bridge chains overhead.
Then—
CLAP.
Slow clapping echoed across the valley.
Everybody looked up.
Three figures stood atop the remaining bridge section beneath the rain.
Watching them.
The man in the center stepped forward first.
Tall.
Long white coat.
Dark red hair tied behind his neck.
A massive black blade resting against one shoulder.
Beside him stood:
– a woman wearing silver armor with lightning-shaped scars across her arms
– and a thin hunter with black tattoos crawling across his neck and jaw
Danger.
Immediate danger.
Dhruv felt it instantly.
Not like the Black Nails.
These people felt heavier.
Experienced.
The red-haired man smiled faintly.
“Well.”
“So the rumors were true.”
His voice echoed calmly through the valley.
“The mountain brats survived Disar.”
Deep quietly whispered:
“…Why does every dangerous hunter talk dramatically?”
The armored woman answered immediately:
“Because ordinary people die quickly.”
Deep regretted existing.
Robin’s eyes narrowed slightly now.
“…Iron Grave Squad.”
The tattooed hunter grinned.
“Nice to feel recognized.”
Deepika slowly pulled a knife from her sleeve.
Dhruv stepped slightly forward.
“You know us?”
The red-haired leader rested his giant blade against the stone bridge.
“Everybody’s beginning to.”
Then he pointed directly toward Harun’s map beneath Robin’s coat.
“We’ll take that now.”
Straightforward. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Dhruv respected the honesty.
A little.
Deep whispered:
“…Please tell me their bounty isn’t higher.”
Robin answered quietly.
“Fifty thousand crowns.”
Silence.
Deep stared blankly at the rain.
“…We are unbelievably cooked.”
The armored woman jumped first.
BOOM.
The stone bridge cracked beneath the impact as she landed directly before Deepika.
Fast.
Too fast.
Lightning sparks exploded around her gauntlets.
Deepika barely blocked in time.
CLANG.
The force launched her backward across wet stone.
Dhruv moved instantly.
Veyra unsheathed sharply.
The red-haired hunter blocked it effortlessly using the massive black blade.
CLANG.
The impact echoed through the valley.
Strong.
Way stronger than Raze.
The hunter smiled slightly.
“Good sword.”
Dhruv steadied his footing.
“You too.”
“Mine’s killed more people.”
Fair enough.
The tattooed hunter suddenly vanished.
Not invisibility.
Speed.
Robin reacted first.
Books exploded outward around her just as black chains burst from the hunter’s sleeves toward her throat.
CLANG.
Floating stone blocked the attack barely in time.
Deep yelled immediately:
“WHY DOES EVERYONE HERE HAVE TRAUMA POWERS?!”
Then explosions erupted beside him.
The armored woman punched directly through one of Deep’s gadgets before it activated.
BOOM.
Deep flew backward screaming.
“MY INVENTION.”
Deepika rushed forward instantly.
Her knives flashed through rain toward the woman’s blind spots.
Fast.
Precise.
But the armored hunter blocked everything with reinforced gauntlets coated in crackling blue energy.
Lightning Ember.
Dhruv realized it immediately.
The red-haired leader swung his black blade downward.
Dhruv blocked.
Barely.
The force shattered stone beneath his feet.
Rainwater exploded around both swords.
“You improved recently,” the hunter observed calmly.
Dhruv pushed backward.
“People keep saying that.”
“Because it’s obvious.”
The hunter attacked again.
Heavy strikes.
Precise movement.
No wasted energy.
Disar’s training screamed through Dhruv’s instincts.
Move first.
Read movement.
Don’t panic.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
The black blade hammered against Veyra relentlessly while rain blurred across the battlefield.
Dhruv disappeared suddenly.
Invisible.
The hunter immediately stepped sideways.
Too easily.
Dhruv reappeared behind him mid-strike.
Blocked again.
The hunter smiled slightly.
“You vanish.”
“But your footsteps still exist.”
Damn.
Disar warned him about that.
The hunter suddenly kicked Dhruv directly in the ribs.
Pain exploded through his side.
Dhruv crashed across wet stone near the broken bridge edge.
Below him, the river roared violently through the valley.
Meanwhile Robin’s battlefield became chaos itself.
Pages circled around her violently while floating debris slammed repeatedly toward the tattooed hunter.
Yet somehow— he kept slipping through everything.
Too fast.
Chains burst from his sleeves again.
Robin barely dodged backward.
One chain sliced her shoulder lightly.
Blood mixed with rainwater instantly.
“NICO.”
The tattooed hunter noticed.
And smiled.
Mistake.
Dhruv moved before thinking.
Invisible again.
Fast.
Straight toward Robin’s attacker.
The hunter sensed movement too late.
Veyra slammed into his chains violently and launched him backward across the bridge.
Robin stared briefly.
Dhruv grabbed her wrist quickly.
“You okay?”
Robin blinked once.
“…You prioritized me again.”
“No time for psychology.”
Then the red-haired hunter attacked both of them simultaneously.
The massive black blade crashed downward.
Dhruv shoved Robin aside barely in time.
BOOOOM.
Part of the bridge exploded apart beneath the strike.
Deep screamed from nearby:
“WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO STRONG?!”
The armored woman answered while punching Deepika through a stone pillar:
“Because you’re children.”
Deepika coughed violently and wiped blood from her mouth.
Then smiled slightly.
Bad sign.
She threw three knives instantly.
One missed intentionally.
The armored hunter noticed too late.
The missed knife struck a loose chain overhead.
CRAAAAK.
A massive bridge support snapped violently.
The entire structure trembled.
Everybody froze briefly.
Deep’s eyes widened.
“…That seems unhealthy.”
Robin immediately understood.
“So that’s the plan.”
Deepika smirked slightly.
“We can’t beat them.”
“But gravity can.”
The bridge groaned louder.
Stone cracked beneath everyone’s feet.
The red-haired leader looked upward once.
Then laughed.
Actually laughed.
“You’re smarter than expected.”
Then he pointed his blade toward Dhruv calmly.
“We’ll meet again.”
The Iron Grave Squad immediately retreated backward across the collapsing bridge.
Fast.
Professional.
No ego.
The tattooed hunter vanished into the rain first.
The armored woman followed.
Then finally the red-haired leader stepped backward slowly while staring directly at Dhruv.
“One warning.”
Rainwater dripped from his blade.
“The map isn’t attracting ordinary hunters anymore.”
Then he disappeared into the storm.
A second later—
THE BRIDGE COLLAPSED.
Massive stone sections crashed into the roaring valley below while chains snapped violently through the rain.
The Red Threads barely escaped backward onto stable ground as the entire eastern half disappeared into darkness beneath the cliffs.
Silence followed afterward.
Only rain remained.
Deep slowly sat up against broken stone.
“…I would like weaker enemies.”
Nobody disagreed.
Dhruv steadied his breathing while staring toward the destroyed bridge.
Fifty-thousand-crown hunters.
And they still lost.
Not fully.
But enough.
Robin stepped beside him quietly while holding her injured shoulder.
“You’re bleeding too.”
Dhruv glanced down.
Yeah.
He was.
Again.
Deepika walked toward them wiping rainwater and blood from her face.
“We need another route east now.”
Robin slowly unfolded Disar’s map again beneath the rain.
Then pointed toward a smaller hidden marking farther south.
“There’s one.”
Deep looked exhausted already.
“Please tell me it’s not another death bridge.”
Robin stared at the route quietly.
“…It goes through Velkrith.”
Silence.
Even the rain somehow sounded worse afterward.
Because everybody remembered what Deepika said.
Hunters disappear there.
And now… the Red Threads had no choice but to enter it.
END OF CHAPTER 23