The castle itself very huge. It no longer resembled the four-floored castle in the game. But it appeared to be so large and wide that it reminded Dyne of Helms Deep. It was a castle strategically placed in the mountains and had an impressive wall. 

The good thing was that the gate was open, and Dyne could enter it without a problem. Just like in the game, none of the humans could be seen wandering outside. The King had issued a decree, and all humans began to wear their Serus and allowed themselves to fall into the Mist.

The combination of Humans and Seru in the Mist allowed both Seru and humans to live.

Humans no longer aged and did not need to eat food. As such, they could live in the Mist for decades and not age a bit.

When Dyne saw the castle, he decided to lead his group to the sides. But before that, Dyne ordered Brud to steal one of the Skeletons that were walking around at the castle's opened gate.

Dyne used the Golden Compass to surprise the Skeleton, but it failed. As such, Dyne had to use himself as a diversion and even fought the Skeleton by delivering several blows.

Brod appeared and did a steal, and the group immediately ran away and sprinted towards the east.

There they found several Skeletons, and Dyne ordered Brod to steal until his MP ran out.

But as they made these surprise attacks, Dyne kept moving towards the East and finally reached the river.

As Dyne reached the edge of Drake Castle, the large dam that allowed the river to flow was there.

The large river dam was larger than Dyne imagined it. It was about three or four times larger than the dam as it was portrayed in the game. The rushing current was at its strongest as it left out the dam. It was so strong that jumping in was practically suicide.

This region was a place of little interest. As such, there were very few monsters that wandered to this part of Drake Castle.

Dyne knew that this was a perfect resting place.

Despite being without wounds, Dyne divided a healing leaf between the three of them and gave it to the team.

This helped the group recover their stamina, and Dyne took this time to meditate and dispel the Mist around him, and he began to train.

As they started to rest, a great amount of mental fatigue fell on to Dyne.

“It’s too much. I need to rest. We’ll wait for Bertugo and rush towards the inside. I need to go to that place to recover! The Mist here is too much!” Dyne complained.

As Dyne’s mental barriers were shattered and the idea of rest permeated around his mind, Dyne had accidentally caused the Mist that was attacking his soul to find a means to attack Dyne.

Dyne almost fainted and stumbled down, but Brod caught him.

Dyne was gasping for breath. He took out one whole healing leaf and swallowed it whole. 

As he felt the restorative properties spreading throughout his body, he realized that his soul was not replenished.

“Quick! The Jar! Dyne ordered weakly as he pointed to Number 2.

Brod noticed how Dyne was pointing to Number Two, and he quickly ordered Number 2 to bring out the jar with the water in it.

Dyne took it and drank a mouthful and finally sensed that it was somehow taking effect.

His mental faculties were slowly restoring, and he felt as if a heavy burden laying on his head was slowly lifting away.

Dyne continued to meditate and later gave a sigh.

“Luckily, this water has some Soul restoring properties. I was right.” Dyne had noticed this the first time he drank the water. This was also why he brought a few of it for the journey.

“That was dangerous! I can’t allow myself to relax just yet!” Dyne made a mental note.

“No wonder it’s too difficult to walk around without a Ra-Seru egg in this place! This means I need to get him as early as possible!” Dyne made a resolve. 

He looked at the Water Gate and had an intense urge to move towards it.

“Well, I guess that changes my mission. The earlier I get him, the better...” Dyne sighed.

The group took this opportunity to rest while Dyne continued to meditate casually, taking a sip from the water once in a while.

Dyne continued to ponder the mysteries of Strafe’s world. He knew that in order to get inside Drake Castle safely, he would need to analyze the ecology of the monsters and Serus.

Soon Bertugo and Number 1 could be seen running by the riverside.

Bertugo was surprised to see that Dyne and Brod were already there.

Dyne simply smiled and waved.

Bertugo couldn’t help but ask Brod what happened, and Brod happily recounted their journeys.

Brod had been so amazed at Dyne's feats that he was slowly accepting how Bertugo became willingly submissive to Dyne.

“Alright. For now, we find a way to move inside.” Dyne explained.

Knowing the elements of the game, Dyne knew that there would be a room in the castle protected from the Mist. Vahn would be able to sleep in that room.

“That should give me a spot to recover. I need to rest...” Dyne sighed.

It was then that Dyne took out the item that Brod managed to steal against the Skeleton.

“Apotropaic Incense...” Dyne revealed the item. With Dyne’s knowledge in the game, he knew that the Japanese term for the item Incense was Apotropaic Incense. But the strange thing was, instead of a typical incense stick, what Dyne had was a strange rock that could easily be crushed to powder.

“I wonder how this works...” Dyne glanced at it.

Brod and Bertugo continued to explain what happened.

“Alright. Let’s give it a shot first! Bertugo, Steal from Skeleton until you are empty of Mana. Brod, do the same.” Dyne then offered the two a sip from the water in their jar. With that, an entire jar was empty. There was only one more jar full of this water left.

“Let’s go!” Dyne then moved along with the team.

They fought several Skeletons along the way and managed to defeat them through a surprise attack. Brod was the one who stole an item, and then they met the rushing attacks of Dyne, Bertugo, and the two Slimes.

It was an easy kill. Dyne felt weird, attacking a skeleton, but their bodies were so hard.

“Weird. How can Bones do Spirit? No wonder they're hard.” Dyne observed the defeated Skeleton, and they were slowly dispersing.

Dyne took the experience but noticed that, unlike in the game, there was no Gold. Dyne expected this. If the Gobu Gobu would not chase or attack Skeletons, it must have been because there were no benefits.

As the figure dispersed, a small leaf fell. Unlike the Reddish hue of the Healing leaves, this one had a blue color.

Dyne knew what it was.

“Oh, lucky! A Magic Leaf!” Dyne was surprised. Magic restoring items were rarer than healing items.

“I wonder if we could plant them...” Dyne wondered. He saw how healing leaves were created and even knew that Gobu Gobu has their healing fruit plantation. He wondered if a magic leaf could also be planted and grown.

Dyne led his group until they were near the entrance. The entrance was the most challenging place to enter.

“If Vahn had a Gimard, things would be easier here...” Dyne frowned.

He could imagine summoning a Gimard and shooting several fireballs all over the place.

“You really upped the difficulty on this one...” Dyne laughed.

“As I said, you can’t survive without them, and they can’t survive without you. This stage should be something that requires you and Vahn. So get with the program.” Strafe wanted to say more, but secretly, he couldn’t exaggerate it. Dyne has shown significant progress than he imagined. 

“Oh well. It’s time to try this Incense thing. Hopefully, it could help me get inside!”

It was then that he began to take out the two Incense. It was a strange hardened grey-white rock that could quickly turn to powder if crushed.

“Do I burn it like the usual incense stick? How does this thing work?

Dyne curiously poked it, and the dust started to crumble.

“I guess I’ll apply this to everyone?” Dyne guessed and started to put spread the powder around them. Dyne was worried that because there were more of them, it would make the item ineffective.

“Alright. Here’s to luck. Bertugo... You go ahead and try to see its effects. Be careful of the Windhash technique. They might attack randomly.” Dyne gave his warning. Realizing that he might not have been understood, Dyne said it on the Gobu Gobu language.

Bertugo nodded and immediately moved inside. He ran at such an incredible speed.

The powder that was spread around Bertugo began to glow as he moved.

For some strange reason, the monsters ignored Bertugo as if he wasn’t a threat. Some even would step aside as they see him running.

“What’s going on?”

Bertugo disappeared.

Dyne glanced at his companions and signaled for them to move.

The entire group began to run.