She feels it before she sees it. A sudden shift in the air.

No, not the air. The wind.

In the same situation, a scholar might start bending mana to their will while a sharpshooter would notch an arrow on her bow. Even a fighter or a knight would adopt a fighting stance. But Hana has the benefit of using her shield for defense and offense.

It takes a split-second to raise her shield a few precious inches and leave enough space over the top to squint and peer into the shadowy gate-lock.

Hana's breath catches in her throat when the icy wind hits her. Her eyes burn with the chill and tears fill her eyes, but she struggles through it to keep her eyes open for what she knows comes next.

The thing that moves at her looks like death. The tattered cloth that covers most of its body is stained with soil, blood and all manner of material Hana doesn't even want to guess at.

THWAK!

She almost doesn't have to think when she raises her shield to block the blow, but she knew to expect it. What she doesn't expect is just how much her arm would rattle from the impact. Through the shield.

THWANG!

The second attack feels like she blocked a truck. So when she sees the next swing coming, she rolls instead.

Stay back, this thing hits like a ton of bricks.

Instead of backing away, Hana steps forward re-engaging the wraith. The last thing she wants is the monster to switch its attention and move against any of the others. If Jinyoung tried to block a blow from this thing, he was likely to lose an arm.

[Shield bash].

Instead of stunning it, the wraith barely flinches. It’s less than a second before it rushes forward again and Hana is back to blocking swings from the undead claw-hammer arm.

Just for a moment, she thinks of Jinyoung’s decision that led her to this moment. Not just that, but her brother’s juvenile recklessness is all too familiar to her.

THWAK!

The next strike hits her shield so hard that she feels the vibration in her ribs, stunning her for a second. Hana watches with wide open eyes as the wraith draws it’s long clawed hand back and swings it up, cutting grooves in the concrete floor.

Got you, you sonofabitch.

Instead of blocking, Hana moves sideways, pulling her weight and letting the claw sail harmlessly past her. But more importantly, the monster is pulled off-balance and left completely open.

“My turn.”

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Hana swings her sword hard, cutting a wide swath at its open torso. But when the sword finally hits home, instead of feeling any resistance, Hana feels her sword just fly through its body as if it weren’t made of solid matter.

“What the hell?”

***

It feels like it’s been ages since he was warm and there’s nothing he would like more than to stay in this warm bed. Everything tells him he should stay a while longer in this warm haven.

“...up.”

With the exception of the voice. The shrill voice that wants him to be cold again.

“Wa… up.”

He tries to wave the voice away, but it follows him. Shaking him, almost violently.

“Wake the hell up, Jinyoung!”

His eyes snap open and his entire body feels like it’s been dunked into a frozen river. The last thing he remembers is shadows, a death’s head, and then a sharp blinding headache. One that’s returned as a dull, throbbing ache.

“What the hell happened?” he heard himself croaked out.

“It used an AOE. Something like a force push that sent you flying straight into a concrete wall. Head first,” Willow replied.

Willow put her arms around him and slowly helped him to his feet.

His voice felt a bit stronger now. “Where are we at now?”

“Hana’s fighting it off, but she’s not having much luck,” Willow said. “I thought I should help you up first before I jumped in to help.”

Jinyoung nodded gratefully. “Good. You made the right decision.”

Feeling stronger, Jinyoung took stock of his surroundings. Willow had dragged him away from the concrete wall he had rag-dolled into and brought him outside into the cold, presumably so that the wraith wouldn’t target him when he was so helplessly unconscious.

"Where's Seunghyo, Willow?"

"He was just-"

Willow is surprised to see that their new party member is nowhere to be seen. Before moving in to retrieve Jinyoung, she had sent panicked signals his way, hoping he would come in and support Hana. But from where they stood, Seunghyo was neither in his previous position outside or inside helping Hana.

Sunbae, what should we do?

There was no response.

Jinyoung shakes his head. "We're too far away. It's just like the dragon from Seorak. The clan chat didn't work properly then, either.”

“Shit.”

From his vantage point, he could see things weren’t going well for his sister. The monster wasn’t just fast, it was strong and struck wildly. Hana blocked one blow after another until the monster committed to a wild swing and Hana dodged. It wasn’t a great opening, but it should’ve been enough for a counter-strike.

But instead of striking back, Hana simply raised her shield and waited for the next attack.

“Why didn’t she counter?” he asked aloud.

Willow shook her head. “Every time she tries to hit it, her sword just passes right through.”

As if to make her point, Hana dodged another blow but this time followed up with a running slash.

Jinyoung could see that Hana made a point of running straight through with her slash instead of pausing and keeping a close distance.

Willow had seen enough. It was obvious that she wasn’t making any headway against the monster and if this kept up, her sunbae would be dead.

“You move in and I’ll cover you-”

“No,” Jinyoung interjected. “Wait.”

After running through, Hana turned around and without waiting a beat moved back into to re-engage the wraith. From there, the cycle started again. The monster struck at Hana with Hana blocking some blows and dodging others. Her counter attacks passed straight through the monster and had no effect. But Hana took every instance to move in and keep the monster’s attention on her.

Jinyoung's voice was grim.

“She’s kiting.”