Two streets away, on a rooftop that overlooked the market square, Jayden finally stopped running and looked down from the edge with a cold face. He told himself it was strategy, but the real reason was simpler, because he could still hear the fighting and had expected it to stop by now.

Varok stood beside him with his spear in hand, saying nothing. The giant Velhari had climbed onto a broken chimney for a better view, while Helen lay unconscious behind them with her staff dropped near her arm.

Jayden frowned when the noise from below kept going. Zich was still alive, and that was the first surprise, because Jayden had counted the undead, counted the distance, and made what should have been a reasonable conclusion.

The square was too loud to be normal now, but the noise was still Zich’s. That alone made Jayden’s jaw tighten, because the white-haired boy should have been dragged down already if the undead had done their work properly.

At the market square below, Zich was still holding his ground.

He cut what was in front of him and stepped around what he could not. The Elite Undead Knight kept handling his left side without being asked, and every time a Bone Claw tried to close in, the summon hit it back with a heavy sword swing.

Because he wanted to save mana consumption, Zich had returned Slimy and Blood Leech to the graveyard, and now he fought only with the Undead Knight, who was more experienced and capable.

Varok looked down at the square for a few moments before speaking quietly.

"He is still standing."

The giant Velhari scoffed once from the chimney.

"Of course he is. That human is stubborn."

Jayden remained silent, but his eyes stayed on Zich. The sight was irritating because the fight below did not look elegant at all, yet it kept working, and that was even more annoying than skill.

Zich’s shoulders dipped and rose again as he turned into another attack. Blood Arc flashed red across the square, the Elite Undead Knight crushed a skeleton against a wall, and the ring around him kept breaking just enough to stop it from closing fully.

For some reason, that ugly survival felt stronger than any clean victory.

Varok narrowed his eyes and slowly tightened his grip on the spear.

"The humans... they aren’t as fragile as we thought."

This time he was not being sarcastic. He genuinely meant it.

...

Zich and the Elite Undead Knight moved like they had practiced together, even though no word passed between them. When Zich stepped left, the knight shifted right. When the knight pushed forward, Zich cut into the opening without slowing down.

This was not beautiful fighting, but it was clean enough. Every gap that opened got filled at once, and the Bone Claws could only keep circling with their chains moving uselessly.

Just then, a courier dropped from the roof behind Zich and landed on his back with a dry crack. Zich did not even flinch. His elbow drove back into the bone ribs, then he caught the body by the arm and threw it forward into two advancing skeletons.

The courier hit them hard enough to knock all three down. Before the pile could rise, the Elite Undead Knight stepped in and smashed the group flat with one downward swing, the stone breaking beneath the impact.

The Bone Claw kept circling at the edge of the square, old and patient, testing every opening like it had all the time in the world. One chain snapped toward the backpack, another toward Zich’s side, and a third tried to hook his ankle, but each time either Zich’s Blood Arc or the knight’s sword was already there.

It was trying to wear him down, and that was the problem with this kind of undead. It did not need to be fast when it could keep pressing forever, yet Zich also did not need to be pretty when he only had to stay standing.

Blood kept running down Zich’s left sleeve, and the dark stain had already spread to his wrist. A skeleton finally got through and struck his shoulder hard enough to make his body turn, but he took the hit and cut the arm off in the same motion without stepping back once.

The severed limb spun away while the skeleton staggered toward him, and Zich’s eyes stayed cold. He was bleeding more now, but his pace did not slow, and that alone made the Bone Claw hesitate for a brief moment.

What bothered Jayden was not the fighting anymore, but the face below. Zich looked annoyed, almost offended by the whole thing, and he cut a bone chain without even looking at it, like he was swatting away something small that had interrupted his thoughts.

Varok’s eyes dropped to the backpack still hanging behind Zich. Even with the whole undead crowd circling toward it, even while he fought in a full ring alone, he had not dropped it once, and the way he moved made it clear he did not plan to.

Helen woke slowly and saw the square at once. Her gaze went to Jayden, and she understood right away what he had done and why she was here, but he did not look back at her.

She turned toward Zich instead and clenched her fist.

"We can still help."

"We can’t," Jayden replied, his tone firm and final. "If he wanted to, he would throw away that bag. But since he feels it’s more important than his life, then he should face the consequences."

Down below, Zich’s left sleeve was dark with blood. He took one more hit to the shoulder, absorbed it with a hard breath, and cut the attacking arm off in the same motion, as if pain was only another nuisance.

Right at that moment, Zich was kicked hard by an Undead Knight he had failed to notice, and he was sent flying back like a ragdoll, crashing into the ground.

BOOM!

Zich lay there for a few seconds, simply looking at the crimson sky. His entire body exploded with pain. The only reason he had lasted this long was because of adrenaline and something else...

[Ding! Blood Knight Commander Cloak has been fully charged.]

[Activating Crimson Overload!]