“You know, I was expecting more ‘dramatic showdown in underground temple’ and not well, this. ”

SinB gestured all around her with the glass in her hand. The fizzing drink caught the pulsing strobe lights and reflected it back, even as music thumped like a living heartbeat in the club. Next to her, Yuju was watching the crowd with a wary eye, as if the press of humanity was making her skittish.

“It’s the 21st century, SinB. Even dragons can get with the times.” Yerin cut in sassily from behind. The pair at the bar turned, and Yerin twirled briefly before latching onto Yuju.

“How do I look?”

“Blonde.” SinB deadpanned. Then the gunslinger took in the rest of what Yerin was wearing and raised an eyebrow.

“This is not what you were wearing ten minutes ago.”

It really wasn’t. Yerin had started the evening in utilitarian grey slacks and black trimmed top, suitable for stealth operations or a casual night out. The girl was practical that way. Now though, leaving aside the sudden switch in hair colour that the rest of the team had gotten used to by now, Yerin had also undergone a significant transformation in terms of attire.

SinB wasn’t sure how the older girl managed to fit a dress and high heels into the tiny purse she had carried while entering the club earlier. The tight lines of the dress hugging the specialist’s figure, as well as the plunging neckline, left SinB wondering just where Yerin was hiding her knives. It wasn’t like the dress left a lot to imagination. And SinB was sure Yerin wouldn’t leave herself unarmed, despite them having to surrender any weapons on entry. SinB still felt slightly without her guns, but at least she had managed to sneak her knife in. Apparently Bo-geun had ensured that their bladed presents were undetectable on the usual scanners.

“How?” SinB had to ask. Yerin turned and winked outrageously.

“Let a girl have a few secrets.”  Yerin rested into Yuju, who had one arm around her waist to keep her from sliding bonelessly to the floor, with the way she was standing. The shaman looked resigned, as if this has happened a thousand times before. It probably had. Yerin giggled, twirling one end of her newly blonde locks with a finger.

“Think I’ll get enough attention like this?”

SinB snorted at that. “You look like a call girl, but sure yeah.” The plan was to get past the regular area of the already exclusive club, and into the back where only card carrying members were allowed access. Bo-geun had gotten them entry into the first area, but even he couldn’t obtain the access for the special areas. Fortunately, they had intel for potential marks who did have access, and at least two of them were in the club tonight.

Which was why the four of them were in here right now. SinB and Yerin could smuggle their knives in and still be effective in a fight, while Yuju and Eunha were their own weapons. Speaking of Eunha, SinB looked around curiously. The fire mage had been dragged off by Yerin earlier for a quick makeover, and was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

“You didn’t drown my best friend in the toilet, did you?”

Yerin flipped her hair nonchalantly. “Please, I’m a professional. I’d sooner have dropped her down a compactor chute. Look harder.”

It ended up being Yuju who spotted Eunha first. The shaman looked visibly surprised, staring wide-eyed at the fidgeting figure in the corner.

“Eunha…?”

SinB looked in the same direction, and her jaw dropped.

“What the hell?”

Eunha glared at SinB as she shuffled over, as if daring her to say another word. Unfortunately, SinB didn’t take the hint. One really couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t every day that something like this happened.

“Oh my god Eunha you look underage hahaha I haven’t seen you like this in years hahahahaha…”

Eunha scowled, but ended up looking even more adorable as a result. Yerin had taken the goth-punk look and ran with it for her, even adding extensions to the mage’s hair to soften the angles of her face. By the magic of makeup, Eunha looked maybe sixteen again, the slightly edgy fashion making her resemble an innocent girl trying to look like she fit in with the cool adults. The mage looked young, fresh and gullible, if one ignored the murderous glint in her eye at SinB bent double from laughing. If looks could kill, SinB would be a cinder by now.

“I assume there’s a point to this?” SinB wiped the tears from her eyes. Yerin blew into her fingers casually.

“Obviously. One of our marks likes his girls young, if you know what I mean.” Yerin didn’t seem surprised that SinB hadn’t read the files. The gunslinger never did. Then again, this part of the operation was Yerin’s show to run. Sowon had left it to her, while their leader escorted Umji in through another route.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Yuju frowned at the comment. Yerin glanced up at the shaman, reaching up to cup her cheek indulgently.

“Puppy, if anyone should be worried, it should be the target.” Yerin turned to look at Eunha.

“Please don’t burn anyone in front of witnesses, okay? We don’t want them to know we’re here.” Yerin shifted back to Yuju, interlacing her fingers with the shaman’s.

“Come dance with me?”

Yuju didn’t budge, looking skeptical. Yerin tugged at her pleadingly.

“Please? I need cover, or you’re sure you’re okay with letting me get whisked away later without backup?”

SinB scoffed from the side. “Let me repeat what you just said: the only people who need to be worried are the targets.”

Yerin ignored that, whispering something into Yuju’s ear. The shaman nodded after a moment, allowing herself to be led to the dance floor. Eunha watched them go without a word, until SinB’s hand clasped on her shoulder encouragingly.

“Come on, let’s get you where you need to be. We don’t have all night.”

Eunha nodded, putting her game face on. The pair melted into the crowd, one more pair of girls out for a good time. The world would never know what hit them tonight.

Umji had been in more comfortable places before, but curled up in a laundry cart was a new experience. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, and logically being padded on all sides with freshly laundered sheets should have been comfy, but the moment Umji remembered the amount of firepower she was literally sitting on, any thoughts of comfort flew out of the window.

But she really shouldn’t be calculating the probability of accidental misfires and instead focus on breaching the wireless network here. Sowon had been a little displeased at having to stealth her way in again, but Yerin had managed to convince her that storming a building head on, even with military support from the Spartans, was unequivocally a bad idea.

None of them had counted on the dragon’s den being in the middle of Ulsan, and not just buried somewhere discreet where they could infiltrate the regular way. No, it had to be in the busiest, richest part of town, and when they had re-confirmed the coordinates, none of them could quite miss the soaring landmark at its exact location.

The Spire was a post-Awakening construction, reaching dizzying heights in its attempt to ‘touch the sky’. It broke up the skyline with its dominating presence, a lightning rod for everything unattainable to the masses. Massive and arrogant, it stood tall, a monument to the opulence of the elite and the soaring affluence that came with it, not unlike Babel reborn.

SinB and Eunha had remembered it well enough from their youth. Even far away in the ghettos, it had been impossible to miss. It glittered gold in the many sunsets of their brief childhoods, like a tower out of fantasy, impossibly and improbably out of reach.

On hindsight, a tower clad in gold was simultaneously the most obvious and the most impossible place for a dragon to make its lair. It was tooobvious, so it follows that it should have been impossible. However, that impossibility was also the reality.

It was also why Bo-geun hadn’t just used all his contacts to bomb the hell out of the place. It was in the middle of town for one thing, and while collateral damage was to be expected in their struggle with the dragon, the old soldier had drawn the line at sacrificing a city of civilians to his vengeance. The dragon hardly ever showed itself in public, relying instead on its minions to exert its will. It made getting close enough to do damage an uphill task.

Infiltration for direct confrontation wasn’t the best option, but it was the only one that didn’t involve massive casualties for civilians. Sowon didhave to veto Yerin’s suggestion of placing demolition charges with a certain bitter irony no one else understood. The specialist just shrugged and went with Plan B, which was what they were doing now.

It was a high risk operation for them still, and Umji was under no illusions for that. Even with the Spartans providing external support, they couldn’t quite invade Ulsan directly, in the heart of Hyeongdae’s seat of power. It said a lot about Mireu’s pull with the megacorp. An intricate web of lies, power and money tightened like a suffocating shroud all around them, and Umji could only hope their plans worked as intended.

But first they had to pull this off. Umji couldn’t see outside of the cart, but that was fine. Her digital senses were ready, and the local network was completely open to her. At least, the public one was. She had to find their private network, or they would have to locate a physical access point for her to jack in the regular way. Umji didn’t quite fancy that option. Not only was it slow, it risked exposure if Sowon-unnie, currently dressed as a chambermaid, went places she was not supposed to go. Umji couldn’t do that to her, and they were on a tight schedule to begin with.

Undoubtedly, Yerin-unnie and company were already moving to secure the inner access passes. It wasn’t like they hadn’t considered letting Umji hack their way in, but the additional layer of biometric security was a lot more sophisticated than any of them had anticipated. According to Bo-geun, he had just taken a strike team to bust their way in the last couple of times, and that had just contributed to the additional defenses on all levels.

They would have to work their way up, without bodies to sacrifice. The Spartans had traded lives for every step before, but they had been military. Umji smirked to herself. They, on the other hand, were shadowrunners, and there was none better at sneaking into places undetected. With Yerin as the chessmaster this time, they had spent the last few days putting together the pieces. It wasn’t perfect on such short notice, but it was doable.

Found you. Umji’s lips curved into a smile. Their floor plans were likely outdated, now all she had to do was slip in and figure out how to get past the public areas and into the private zones. The lower levels of the Spire were dedicated to entertainment and leisure, with a number of floors dedicated to a luxury hotel, which was how Sowon and Umji had slipped in and were planning to leave the latter in an unoccupied hotel room that would be mysteriously booked (once Umji changed their records anyway). They were in the upper-middle of the structure, high enough for Umji to remotely access the secured network above, and far enough from the thick of the danger once they shed their disguises and went into combat.

The club where the rest of the team were was several more floors up, and beyond that, precious few people knew. The last time Bo-geun had led troops into action against the dragon, the tower had only been half built, but his spies had kept an eye on Mireu’s movements ever since. More than fifteen years of planning and preparation led to this day, and none of them were going to squander this chance.

Umji squinted when the cover of the cart was removed, and she was physically fished out of it like a sack of potatoes. The hacker blinked rapidly, still entangled in her digital pursuits. Sowon had already shed her disguise as a chambermaid, to Umji’s regret, and was clad in a armored bodysuit that shimmered as she moved. Courtesy of Bo-geun, it came with advanced stealth capabilities that, when , would camouflage the wearer to some degree from scanners and even physical sight. It wasn’t quite invisibility, but it made melding into shadows much easier.

Sowon was going to need it. With Umji’s assistance, she strapped on the rest of the gear she needed, and then shouldered both her own vibro-blade, as well as the knapsack with SinB and Yerin’s guns and spare ammunition. Sowon couldn’t enter the club as she was, since she was too recognizably a warrior, and the rest couldn’t bring their heavier weaponry in, so she was going to have to bring it to them the unconventional way.

“I don’t like this.” Umji muttered, sinking onto the bed with her own gadgets laid out like a command center in miniature. Sowon was at the window, which was obviously sealed since they were at dizzying heights above the city proper. Sowon tested the glass cutter experimentally, then got to work.

“Can’t be helped, Yerin and Yuju aren’t really into heights, and I’m not sure Eunha is physically capable of doing this.” SinB probably could, but Sowon figured the mages needed someone to protect them in case of emergencies. Infiltration was a dangerous game, even with Yerin’s experience.

“It’s at least twenty more floors up, unnie. Are you sure you can do this?” Umji looked concerned. Sowon shrugged, stretching and testing her climbing gear again. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. They were already over 100 floors away from the ground. Falling would mean instant death. It was not unlike scaling a mountain, complete with a dragon waiting at the top. Sowon smiled grimly. A quest this was, and her an aspiring dragon slayer. A fine heroic tale it would make, if any of them lived to tell it.

She would make sure they would. With a final reassuring smile at the worried Umji, Sowon flexed her limbs and prepared for the ascent. She would not fail them. Her team was waiting.

SinB was going to kill Yerin the next time she saw her. It had taken every ounce of self control on the gunslinger’s part to not break the fingers of the lecherous old man that was their mark. Yerin had not warned her that she was considered fair game too.

And then there was Eunha, who did a remarkably convincing job of pretending to be a sheltered young girl that had faked her ID to get in. SinB felt mildly ill at the almost hungry gaze of their mark, even if it hadn’t been directed at her personally. How did anybody do this on a regular basis? She was never letting Yerin talk them into something like this again.

But they were in, and Eunha didn’t even set anyone on fire. Yet. SinB knew her best friend well enough to know that the fire mage was just one more attempted away from burning them to a cinder. SinB had managed to deflect enough of the attention by being her usual feisty self, and both girls did their best to not drink anything offered to them.

Eunha had an advantage in this, she quite literally evaporated the alcohol before it ever touched her lips. SinB had to resort to sleight of hand to dump the contents of her glass, a skill she had honed as an amateur pickpocket and never thought it would be thus applied. She did consider palming their access cards, but Umji had warned them that it was keyed to their biometric readings, so they needed to get those men to bring them up to the private lounges.

SinB never wanted to repeat the experience, and Yerin was going to pay for this, she swore. They were in luxurious apartments several floors up from the club proper, and SinB was definitely considering knifing someone if they tried anything. She didn’t hate men per se, but she was learning very quickly to dislike them in this particular context. Eunha had followed them into the inner chambers, and SinB was starting to get nervous as time ticked by.

She was about to bust the door down and rescue Eunha, when it suddenly slid open, and SinB almost drew her knife in response. She lowered her arm when she realized it was just Eunha, who looked perfectly fine and not even disheveled. The familiar whiff of smoke and ashes that followed her told a different story though. SinB raised an eyebrow. Eunha smiled serenely.

“Yerin only said not in front of witnesses.”

SinB tiptoed and looked over Eunha’s shoulder. No witnesses indeed. She was fairly certain the walls were not black before they went in. If there had been any cameras in there, there were probably melted by now. As for the men who brought them in…

SinB shrugged. Eunha probably needed to let off some steam. Her only regret was that she didn’t get to break any fingers. But there would be opportunity enough for bloodshed later on.

“How are we going to find the other two? There are a whole bunch of floors in this place.” SinB paced around the apartment, trying to find an access point into which she could jam the datajack Umji had given each of them earlier. It was a way to grant their hacker remote access despite not being physically present. They were all radio silent at the moment, for safety purposes. Eunha didn’t look concerned, toying with the talisman Yuju had given each of them before the mission.

“I’m sure they’ll find us instead.”

“Good guess. What took you guys so long anyway?” A voice said from the entrance of the apartment, making SinB jump. Eunha turned, seemingly unsurprised by Yerin leaning against the door. The specialist had shed her earlier disguise and was back in more practical greys, and her blonde hair had faded back to its original brunette. SinB scowled at her.

“Don’t start.” SinB eyed Yerin suspiciously. “Where do you even stash all your clothing changes?”

“Trade secret.” Yerin winked, entering the apartment and letting the external door slide close. Yuju was nowhere to be seen, and Eunha frowned, eyes going distant as she tried scanning for the missing shaman. Other than the familiar aural signatures of the three of them, she could see nothing.

“You didn’t leave Yuju outside did you?” SinB was also looking around, after casting a glance at Eunha’s worried frown. Yerin rolled her eyes.

“As if. Quit showing off, puppy. I know you’re there.”

SinB jerked visibly when the air next to her rippled, her knife slipping into her hand almost on instinct, and she almost stabbed Yuju when the shaman reappeared into view like a wraith tearing through the shadows. Eunha blinked rapidly in confusion, as if not quite believing her senses. Yuju remained cloaked in darkness for a second, seeming almost ethereal before the look of focus faded from her face and she became more substantial again. Yerin was smiling at her indulgently.

“Had fun?”

Yuju beamed. “I always wanted to try that.” She cricked her neck experimentally. “Can’t do more than myself though.”

“Pity. It would have made our lives easier if you could.” Yerin shook her head. “How far is Sowon from us?”

Yuju’s eyes went distant. “Not much further. We need to keep going up.”

Eunha was still staring at Yuju. “I couldn’t sense you earlier.”

SinB cut in as well. “How did you go invisible like that? I’ve never seen you do that before.”

Yuju returned back to herself, looking thoughtful. Yerin was also looking at Eunha in interest.

“You mean you couldn’t see her magical signature?”

Eunha shook her head. “I’m not the most sensitive, but I can read a familiar aura well enough. Didn’t see a thing earlier in the astral plane.”

Yerin raised an eyebrow. “Was that on purpose?” The question was directed at Yuju, who glanced over.

“I didn’t think it’d work that well…” The shaman paused. “ You knew I was nearby though.”

Yerin smirked. “Logic. I knew you wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Yuju couldn’t deny that. The shaman raised her head, and Eunha could see the currents of power spark in familiar patterns across her aura. Wisps of energy coalesced into canine spirits around her astral self, and Eunha watched with interest as Yuju sent out her spirit watchers to scout the place.

“Sowon’s fancy new suit gave me ideas. Sight is just light reflected, if I can bend it consistently around myself…” Yuju trailed off at the uncomprehending look on the others’ faces. “Basically it’s camouflage.” She explained as simply as she could, and missed Umji badly at that moment. The hacker would have understood. Hell, the two of them had been discussing it before the whole mission.

“You were invisible on the magical spectrum too though.” Eunha pointed out. Yuju frowned thoughtfully.

“I was masking my signature...didn’t think it would have been that effective.” The shaman shrugged. “I can’t really maintain it for long periods of time. Too much focus needed to hide while moving. Probably easier if I stayed still, but then it wouldn’t be useful.”

“I don’t know, it’d be useful even if you could only use it while staying still.” Yerin observed. The specialist checked her watch.

“We’re a little behind schedule, people. Let’s head up. I’ve already plugged Umji in remotely, so save yours for when we’re further in.” Yerin indicated the datajack in SinB’s hand. “She’s already got the cameras under control here, hopefully we won’t have to fight anyone too early.”

“Says you.” SinB grumbled, shoving the datajack back into a pocket for safekeeping. Not having a gun was inconvenient, but it wouldn’t stop her from being deadly in a fight. Besides, having a mobile flamethrower in Eunha meant that most people weren’t going to pose a threat unless they were heavily warded. SinB almost pitied any poor fools who might stumble into them.

“We’re clear for now.” Yuju reported, seeing through the eyes of her watcher spirits. Yerin placed a hand on the shaman’s arm, prepared to lead the other girl physically while her attention was divided. SinB went ahead to scout first, while Eunha fell back to walk on Yuju’s other side.

The night was still young, and they were just getting started.

Gale force winds ripped against her cheeks, the fine dust clogging her pores. If not for the rebreather and goggles she had had the foresight to put on before this climb, Sowon might have gagged or worse.

It certainly didn’t make her climb that much easier. The air was hot and muggy, even with the wind howling like a living beast around her. Distant thunder rumbled across the horizon, heavy clouds looming like a churning maelstrom. A storm was coming, but even that failed to fully obscure the light of the full moon hanging low and pregnant through the foggy curtain above.

There was a peculiar sense of weightlessness as she dangled about half a kilometer or more from the ground off the side of a building. Don’t look down, she reminded herself for maybe the twelfth time since she exited the window earlier.

The suction grips she had in her hands were in excellent condition. Wisely, Sowon attached anchors as she went, unwinding rope to ensure that even if she did somehow fall somewhere along the way, she would at least not plummet directly to her death. It was slow going, but she had gotten an earlier start than the others for this very purpose.

Sweat trickled down her brow and was whisked away almost instantly with the wind, leaving slick trails in its wake. Her hands were clammy, but she tamped down on her anxiety and soldiered on, despite the weight of all the gear she was bearing.

Her mind ticked furiously as she ran through their plans for the night. They had planned for every possibility regarding the infiltration, but even the best of plans never survives first contact with the enemy. And then there was the matter of the dragon, who, according to Umji, probably wasn’t even a real dragon to begin with, according to her research.

Proto-dragon or not, it was still magical and reptilian enough to cause problems. They had precious little to work on, but past experience suggested that mortals could wound, even kill a true dragon. The example in Germany had been a full scale military assault with mortars and artillery leading the way, and towns had burned when the Firewing retaliated against the mere mortals who had risen up against it. A German scientist had come up with a weapon to kill it when even the best the military had to offer only slowed the dragon down.

While they were unable to retrieve the exact weapon used to take down that particular dragon, the theory behind it was certainly within reach. The vibro-blades were a good first step, but in the absence of the soul splitter the German scientist had developed, the next best thing they had was to weaponize their mages to attack on the astral plane. Kill the body and the spirit at the same time, and leave nothing to chance.

Yuju was the cornerstone of that plan, though Eunha would do in a pinch as well. Sowon hadn’t told Bo-geun about what happened with the orb and Eunha, and if she had anything to say about it, no one beyond their team would ever learn about it. Eunha had become something entirelydifferent and unknown with her fusion, and Sowon didn’t want to finish off one enemy and then be targeted by megacorps and governments all over the world wanting to ‘collect’ the fire mage for research. She might have trusted Bo-geun, but not that much. Some things were better left unsaid.

Sowon refused to consider whether or not they would be capable of taking the dragon down in its own lair. Call it blind confidence or faith, but she trusted in her team. There were few other runner squads in Korea who were on the same level as them, and Sowon knew most of those people in the twenty odd years she had been awake and in business. Bo-geun had not been wrong when he had called Yuju the strongest mage in Korea. She had never seen anyone else with the same level of control the shaman exhibited, and this was without ever executing any combat spells.

Fact is, Sowon was still nervous about asking Yuju to deal the finishing blow on the astral plane. The shaman had rarely been violent even in combat, and asking her to kill something felt wrong somehow. But she had little choice, and Yuju had acceded to it after some convincing, even if she had looked a little pale at the idea. Eunha would have cheerfully taken her place, but despite Eunha having the raw strength, Yuju had better control when it came to finding the right weakness to attack. An all out attack from the fire mage on the astral plane would have nasty spillover effects into the physical world if things went awry. Magical backlash would hurt them all and likely explode the top of the tower, and that was the best case scenario.

But she was getting ahead of herself. She was almost to the top, and risked a look down despite herself. This far up, the city below sprawled out in a map of distant lights, seeming almost toy-like in proportion. Sowon reached out with one hand, and it was almost as if she could hold the heart of the city in her grasp.

She suddenly understood why the dragon had chosen this place to nest. If power was its motive, what better place to be than to tower above them all like a ruling monarch?

Dangling from the edge, Sowon calculated the best point of entry even as she evaded the magical traps littered around the top. The talisman Yuju had given her heated up in proximity to foreign wards, and it had been a lifesaver throughout the climb.

Sowon-unnie?

As if the thought had summoned her, Yuju’s voice echoed in her head, almost making the mercenary lose her footing in surprise. Dust joined the whirling winds that circled her and Sowon secured herself against a ledge while she thought up a reply.

“Are you guys in?” Speaking aloud seemed less weird. Yuju’s voice echoed with a silent chuckle.

We’re at the rendezvous point, follow my lead.

A spectral puppy wiggled its way out of a previously unseen crevice, panting happily as it ambled over to the dust-covered Sowon, tail swishing. Sowon bit back a chuckle and tentatively patted the puppy on the head, making it roll over with joy for a moment. It felt odd to touch something that wasn’t actually there, but Sowon had definitely felt a certain tactile sensation when her fingers brushed against the ghostly head. Yet another sign of Yuju’s potential, when even her watcher spirits would attain actual density despite not being meant for combat.

Having a guide helped. The ghost puppy led Sowon right past the traps, and even helpfully slowed down when Sowon had to navigate difficult sections during the climb. It took her another ten minutes, but she finally got to the right window. Her spectral guide vanished right through it, Sowon had to cut through the glass first.

Or she would have, if the entire window hadn’t suddenly decided to change in viscosity. Seeing solid glass suddenly melt and drip away in red hot slag was unnerving to say the least. Sowon met Eunha’s smug gaze evenly when the window pane ceased to exist as a solid.

“Save your strength for the real fight,” Sowon scolded automatically as she unslung the pack holding their gear and tossed it through first. SinB caught it eagerly, and she and Yerin swiftly re-armed themselves as Sowon swung herself precariously inwards to avoid the still red hot edges of the melted window frame. The heel of her boot hissed as she tucked herself in and bounced through, using the bottom ledge to give herself a boost to avoid the pool of melted glass directly below.

Sowon removed her goggles and breathing mask, eyes alert and focused as she swept over her team one more time. Yuju was standing off to one side, arms folded and a little distant, as if her mind was elsewhere, which it most likely was, scouting the way ahead. Eunha was not too far off from her, and was rechecking the pistol SinB had tossed to her as a backup weapon.

Yerin was absently cleaning off her knives in a methodical sort of ritual, as if it were second nature. Her heavy pistols were at her hip already, but there was something natural about the way she handled her knives, as if they were an extension of her arm. Yerin looked up when she felt Sowon’s gaze on her, and smiled idly, the illusions on her face wavering as if she were making an attempt to shred them as close to her real self as possible. Sowon didn’t envy her struggle. Just thinking about how no one could see her real face sounded like a huge pain in the , and was so very lonely a burden to bear.

Lastly, Sowon focused on SinB, who was disassembling and reassembling her guns in rapid succession, as if she were worried that they might have gotten jammed on the way up. It was good practice, and almost too familiar to Sowon. Hwang Eunbi had the exact same habit as well, and it felt...odd to see it here again.

“We’ve plugged Umji’s relays into every checkpoint so far.” Yerin reported, sheathing her knives after she was satisfied. “She should have the range to break through the last door into the penthouse.”

“Any encounters on your way up?” Sowon eyed her team speculatively. They didn’t look like they had been in a fight, but looks were deceptive. SinB smirked.

“Took out a couple of patrols the quiet way, just so they can’t get behind us when we least expect it.”

Sowon nodded. It was a good idea. Every unit they eliminated was one less that could rush to reinforce the dragon once they stormed the final chamber. Even if Umji could seal off the choke points strategically to cut them off, it was still better to eliminate isolated bands of the enemy before they could group together to form a legitimate threat. They would have problems enough facing the dragon, without also having to deal with mere minions on top of that.

“The last door isn’t warded.” Yuju announced suddenly, brows knitted together in a frown. She pointed down the short hallway where tall doors stretching from floor to ceiling yawned high and wide. Intricate carvings of dragons was done in gold, making it appear almost gaudy. The doors were closed, and it was locked, electronically.

Which wasn’t going to be a problem. SinB loped forward with the final datajack, and Yerin carefully unscrewed a panel for her to plug it in. As if on cue, the screen scrambled as Umji started accessing remotely, the short range relays allowing her to project her signal upwards. The magical interference in the air was too strong for the usual wireless signals. This was the best way to keep Umji out of danger and still close enough to do what was needed.

“Atta girl,” Yerin murmured when the red light turned green. Sowon had joined her at the door, with SinB flanking her on the other side as the mages hung back. None of them knew for sure what awaited them, and not even Yuju had dared to send her watchers in. She had only sensed power there, and wasn’t about to alert it to their presence prematurely, at least not until they were ready to bust in and take names.

“Ready, everyone?” Sowon did one last check, drawing her rifle. The vibro-blade lay balanced across her back, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice when necessary. Even with the skill mod uploaded, Sowon still preferred her first weapon of choice, and would only resort to the blade if she had no other option. It was just the way it was.

The sounds of assent were firm. Cocky came from SinB, assured from Yerin. Eunha sounded almost vicious, while Yuju was determined. Sowon closed her eyes, whispering a silent prayer to the souls of those long dead. I do this for you, guys. Your deaths will not be in vain.

Without further ado, the tall mercenary kicked the doors open and they sprang into action, Yerin and SinB instantly zipping in to find cover, zigzagging like twin parallel lines as they veered in different directions. Sowon stood sentinel to cover the mages behind her, but she already felt Yuju raising a shield as the temperature behind her spiked sharply, a sign that Eunha had already reached for her flames.

Not that they needed to bother. Sowon stared fiercely at the man-shaped figure lounged on the elevated dais at the end of the chamber, who did not seem at all surprised by their forced entry.

“Welcome, children. I have been awaiting your arrival.”

That was not a good sign, was it?