Again?

  The word echoed in her mind like a curse.

  Kana shuddered. The cold wasn’t what made her tremble—it was the feeling creeping around her, that quiet, unseen pressure that came before death. She’d felt it before, too many times to count. That faint shift in the air, that tightening of the world. The knowledge that someone—or something—had chosen her as prey.

  For some reason, she knew that feeling well.

  Death is so close.

  Her chest tightened. She wanted to fight. The urge burned through her veins like fire—raw, defiant, desperate. She wanted to see it through, to meet death head-on.

  But she also knew herself. She’d fought enough battles to recognize the truth that whispered beneath her courage.

  She wasn’t going to win this one.

  Not here. Not now.

  So she made the decision.

  Without hesitation, Kana reached into her [Inventory] and pulled out a set of small glass vials. Smoke bombs—eight of them, all that remained. She smashed them against the grow covered in thin snow in a circle.

  The glass shattered—

  A wave of thick gray smoke exploded outward, swallowing the trees, the snow, the very air. The haze was so dense it felt alive, swirling in currents that made the twins hesitate. Their silhouettes blurred, pausing, searching.

  Kana didn’t wait.

  She leapt. One heartbeat she was crouched on a branch, the next she was airborne—jumping from tree to tree, then dropping silently to the ground. Her feet hit the snow with the softest thud, already running.

  The forest bent around her, shadows and light flickering as the smoke spread.

  It must be her class that had something to do with the stats distribution. Like Boris who couldn’t outrun her yet in terms of destructive skills, Boris was above her. The twins must be the same, she could outrun them.

  Toward the Saltrain village, her instincts whispered. Search for allies.

  But halfway through her sprint, her mind caught up to her body.

  The twins will follow. They always follow.

  If she brought them to the village, others might die. Innocent people. People she knew.

  The village people would certainly help her.. but they would surely die. She wasn’t underestimating the warrior of the village she grew up with. But she knew their level was probably far from lvl 10. The twins were something beyond lvl 20. She even had suspicion that the twins' class had already evolved—a thought she came up with after hearing Zia’s strange class.

  From the strange otherworldly common knowledge that she had, promoting your class to a higher level was a pretty common mechanic. It was her speed that saved her this time, the reason it looked like she was able to seem to be on par with the twins but she knew herself—every strike they made could end her life. One mistake and that would be the end of her.

  Her steps faltered. She skidded to a stop, snow spraying outward. Her breath came hard, ragged, steaming in the cold.

  She turned her gaze back toward the horizon. Toward the faint glimmer of red that marked the Empire’s lands beyond the mountains.

  If she ran the other way…

  Not just the Saltrain village but the villages nearby would be safe.

  Her lungs burned as she pivoted sharply, boots crunching into snow.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Her path realigned. Not the village, not when innocent people might tangle up, but the border—the Empire’s direction.The suspected place of the enemy—where everything had started.

  She drank another stamina potion, energy surged again, dull light coursing through her veins. She ran, faster than before, the smoke still thick behind her, the twins’ shouts fading into the storm.

  ….

  Kana ran.

  Days blurred into nights. Nights blurred into something another day—something endless. She no longer knew how long she’d been moving. Only the rhythm of her heartbeat and the raw, burning command in her mind kept her alive.

  Run.

  Run toward the empire!

  She didn’t have a map—never thought she’d need one. Not to mention information about the empire seemed so scarce and cost a lot in the kingdom as if someone was deliberately doing it.

  Now, the horizon itself felt foreign.

  When she finally stopped, Kana realized the world had changed. The dense forest that had once cloaked her path had thinned into rolling grasslands. The trees grew sparse and stunted, their branches twisted from years of harsh wind. Patches of snow lingered in the shadows, but the ground beneath was soft and thawing. The air—warm, too warm—tasted almost sweet compared to the freezing breath of the north.

  She preferred this.

  Kana uncorked another vial and downed it, the sharp tang of the stamina potion burning her throat. But her body no longer responded like before. The energy surged for a heartbeat, then faded. Her muscles ached with deep fatigue, the kind that potions couldn’t fix.

  Night had fallen again. In the distance, a soft glow pulsed against the horizon. She blinked, squinting. Light. Not firelight—but something steadier, stronger.

  As she crept closer, her breath caught. A wall rose from the plains, pale as bone, almost luminous beneath the moonlight. Strange symbols shimmered faintly across its surface—lines and glyphs that twisted in a language she couldn’t read.

  Even the walls were enchanted, the empire was known about this. Every city. No exemption.

  Even from a distance, Kana could feel the hum of power, something magical beneath her skin.

  The city beyond those walls was vast, easily half the size of the kingdom’s capital. Shadows moved atop the parapets—guards, bored and yawning.

  Kana crouched behind a ridge, eyes scanning the patrol patterns. She could already see the gate: closed, reinforced, impossible to pass unnoticed. She needed another way in.

  She would sneak in first thing in the morning when the gate opened.

  They will open it, right?

  Her fingers brushed against her belt, where her daggers hung. Then she spotted it—a thick old tree near the outer wall, its trunk hollow and scarred by lightning.

  Using her skill [Dagger Pierce], Kana carved into the softened bark, widening the hollow just enough for her body to slip inside. The motion was slow, precise—each strike followed by a pause to listen, to ensure no one had heard.

  Once the space was ready, she slid in, curling into the cramped hollow. With care, she pressed the loose bark back into place, leaving only a sliver of air to breathe. She sealed the rest with pieces she quietly tucked into her [Inventory].

  The scent of earth filled her lungs. Sap clung to her gloves. For the first time in what felt like ages, she felt hidden—safe, if only for a moment.

  Kana knew her body was way over past the limits.

  Exhaustion struck harder than any blade. Her eyes grew heavy. Her breath slowed.

  And before she realized it, sleep claimed her—deep and dreamless—while the distant city lights flickered like silent stars beyond the wall.

  …

  With the prince’s command echoing through the northern camps, soldiers and selected students scattered across the snowfields in search formations. The sky hung low and gray, smothering sound and light alike.

  “Kana!”

  “Kana!”

  Their voices carried—faint, desperate, fading quickly into the endless white.

  Suri stumbled, coughing hard enough to leave flecks of frost on her lips. Her eyes, usually sharp and clear, were rimmed with shadow. The faint tremor in her hands betrayed how much mana she had burned already.

  Rin caught her by the arm before she fell. “You’re suffering from mana exhaustion,” she said firmly, her voice cutting through the wind. “You need to stop.”

  Suri shook her head, the stubborn fire in her eyes refusing to dim. “Not yet.”

  Rin tightened her grip. “You’ll collapse.”

  “I will not fall,” Suri muttered, her breath fogging in front of her. “Not while she’s fighting out there.”

  Boris trudged up behind them, his fur-lined hood crusted with ice. “You should rest,” he said, forcing a smile. “Kana’s tougher than she looks. We should feel sorry for whoever’s hunting her.”

  Suri didn’t answer. Didn’t even glance at him. The air around her seemed colder, heavier, as if her anger was a physical thing.

  Boris stopped talking.

  From across the snowfield, a figure approached—Yuri, her usual bright expression gone, replaced by something grim. She looked at Suri for a long moment, and for the first time, felt a chill that didn’t come from the wind.

  Suri’s presence… it was different. Sharper. Like she could kill someone if she needed to.

  Yuri swallowed and took a deep breath before speaking. “Mica—her tamed beast, Shai—found something strange underground near the garrison’s entrance.” Her tone dropped lower. “You should tell Professor Wor-en. It might be where Kana was.”

  For the briefest instant, Suri’s weary eyes flickered with life. Her exhaustion evaporated beneath a surge of focus and dread.

  “She might have been there…” Suri whispered, almost to herself. Then louder, steadier: “I’ll notify Professor Wor-en.”

  She straightened, even as her legs trembled beneath her. The snow bit into her boots, the cold wind burned her lungs—but she didn’t care.

  Because for the first time since Kana vanished, there might be a trail. Whatever that was.