The last week passed quickly, they arranged the teams, Jongho and Seonghwa kept on training Neil and Valerie was helping Yunho in his cabin getting ready if someone got hurt.
They finally arrived at Blackbalt Snow, the island was covered in snow, the sky was filled with clouds, it was so beautiful that they were in awww except Neil, he was clearly nervous, he started having second thoughts about this plan, Hongjoong put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him "it's going to be fine" he assured him and Neil nodded a little bit at ease.
Valerie used her compass in guiding them towards the east coast, when they arrived it was already sunset, they set ashore and landed on the beach "who's going to stay protecting the ship?" Jongho asked concerned, Hongjoong sighed and looked at Yeosang and gave him the shapshifting ring, he put it on his middle finger in his right hand and went to the ship, stood in the middle of the main deck, put his hand on the main mast and a yellow light came from the ring glowing strongly, blinding them, the ship turned into a small boat.
Yeosang hoped off the boat "Jongho, can you help me out?" Yeosang asked, the crew was still amazed and stunned in their places, Jongho ran towards him and pushed the boat towards the woods, hiding it between the bushes "I didn't know the ring could change the shape of objects too" Seonghwa said amazed "I did some research" Hongjoong told them and after Yeosang and Jongho finished, they went into the woods, following Neil.
They stopped in front of a ten meter wall "we have arrived" Neil said, nervous and trembling he pushed one rock and it opened a hidden door under them, Wooyoung and Mingi fell into it, Mingi was lying on Wooyoung's back "sorry" he apologized standing up "I think you broke a rib" Wooyoung told him standing up "I'm not that heavy" he whined "yeah yeah" Wooyoung said wiping the dirt off him.
The crew jumped in one after the other, with San being the last one to jump, they started walking in the tunnel, Seonghwa had torches ready, he gave one to Neil, Hongjoong and he held one, he lit them so they can see in front of them.
They started walking ahead of them, they noticed some blood stains on the wall, that freaked Mingi that he screamed, San was terrified but he stayed silent "don't worry, they are old, I was the last one to use it" Neil assured them "how do you know that?" Hongjoong asked him, he lowered his torch so they can see the ground, there were footsteps marks on the ground going in the opposite direction of the tunnel, there was also some blood drops next to them.
"Is this blood-" "mine" Neil cut Yunho off "as well as the ones on the wall" he said showing them the tunnel wall, he was trembling, he put the torch back in front of him and continued walking, the crew was still standing still that he stopped and looked back at them and smiled "I'm fine now, really" he told them, but he was clearly trembling, Wooyoung went and hugged him, Neil was surprised by his gesture "its ok, we are here with you" he assured him and kept walking ahead with the crew behind him, Neil was behind looking at them surprised "aren't you coming?" San asked looking back at him, Neil got back to his senses and ran to the front.
They walked a long way until they saw a couple of stairs heading upwards "we have arrived" Neil informed and started climbing up the stairs with the crew behind him.
They climbed a lot of stairs "I'm tired, Wooyoung, let me use your back" Yeosang said jumping on his back, Wooyoung was about to fall but he stopped "that was dangerous, get off me!!!" He yelled at him "don't want to" he said resting "I'm tired too" Valerie said lying on the stairs "isn't this more painful" Mingi commented tiredly "you guys are so fragile" Jongho said standing next Neil "there are lots of stairs, it wasn't in the plan" Yunho whined "bear with it just a little bit, we are about to arrive" Neil assured them and they continued walking "where is the ballroom?" Seonghwa asked curiously "it's behind the first door on the second floor" Neil told him.
They arrived at the second floor "finally" Wooyoung said and collapsed on his face, Yeosang stood up next to him "thanks for the ride" he said patting Wooyoung's back "you are not so welcome" Wooyoung said annoyed and stood up, Neil was facing the door in front of them and hearing the laughs behind it, he flinched when he heard a familiar voice talking, the words weren't clear, but he knew who this voice belonged to.
Hongjoong put a hand on his shoulder, Neil turned his head facing him "let's go" he told him and he nodded, they went to the right side of the hallway and stopped in front of the fourth door "I'll let you in now, and I'll come back after we are finished from the third floor" he said looking at Seonghwa, he nodded and put off the torch.
Neil opened the door and Seonghwa went in with Valerie and Mingi behind him, Neil closed it as soon as they went in, and continued walking.
The room they went in was vast, it had a lot of bookshelves with a desk on the opposite end of the door of the room "it's so huge, how are we going to find the documents in here?" Mingi whispered in loud voice panicking "we'll split the work, you go search in the right side of the room and Valerie on the left side, I'll search the desk" Seonghwa ordered them and they nodded in understanding.
Neil stopped in front of a small door "this will lead you immediately to the hallway, if you are finished before we come back, meet with Seonghwa and the others in the office room" Neil told Yunho and he nodded, he went in with San and Jongho behind him.
The hallway was as wide as a road, walls were filled with paintings, they were amazed "it must be nice having a lot of money" San commented "let's focus, there might be some soldiers and servants roaming around" Jongho told him hiding behind a large plant "Neil said we should look in three rooms next to each other, and I think these are the rooms" Yunho said pointing at the doors across of them "I'll take the right one" San said "the left" Jongho said "and I'll take the middle one, when you finish searching, meet me there" he told them and they nodded.
Neil guided them through more stairs "why is this castle so huge?" Wooyoung whined out of breath "it's a castle, what did you expect?" Hongjoong said clearly unbothered, Wooyoung sighed loudly and hopped on Yeosang's back "hey, what are you doing?" Yeosang asked annoyed "this is my pay back" Wooyoung told him smiling mischievously, Yeosang grunted and kept on climbing.
When they arrived, Yeosang collapsed on the floor, Wooyoung stood next to him "thanks for the ride" he thanked him smiling widely "I'll kill you" Yeosang told him and stood up ready to attack "let's go" Hongjoong told Neil and he nodded, Yeosang and Wooyoung noticed them leaving and they ran behind them.
Neil stood in front of a small door ready to open it "should I go with you? You know, so we can end this faster" Neil asked Hongjoong worriedly "no, you stay here waiting for us, we'll finish this in no time" he assured him and put off his torch waiting for him to open the door, Neil opened it hesitantly letting them out "be careful" he told them and they nodded, Neil closed the door and sat, leaning his back against it, waiting for them.
Hongjoong and the rest didn't wait a second, they followed Neil instructions and went to the painting of the lady, she was so beautiful, she had a blonde hair with a small face and big brown eyes that was looking warm, and a little bit of freckles on her cheeks, Hongjoong looked around, and there was no one near, he ran towards the door of the room and opened it, letting the other two in.
After they went in, they inspected the room, the windows were locked with bars all around it, the fireplace was off so the room was freezing cold, there was a bed in the middle and beside it a small drawer, Hongjoong went to it immediately and opened the third drawer, he pushed its ground and it opened a hidden drawer, there was a small box inside it, he took it and put it in his bag "let's go" he ordered the two of them and they went towards the door.
Wooyoung opened it and only let his head out, no one was out, he motioned for the other two and they ran towards the small door, Wooyoung knocked on it, there was no response, Hongjoong heard footsteps coming towards them "why isn't he opening it?" Yeosang questioned, worried about him "Neil, hurry and open the door" Hongjoong said but still no response, the footsteps were coming closer "Wooyoung, do something" Hongjoong ordered him and he started searching for some button to open the door "hurry" Yeosang was panicking, and when the person was about to turn in the next corner, the door opened and they all fell in the hidden passage, Hongjoong closed the door immediately and sighed in relief.
They looked around, there was no light, Wooyoung immediately lit the torch Hongjoong had, when there was finally light, they saw Neil holding his legs close to his chest and buried his head in his arms "Neil" Wooyoung went next to him, he saw his torch on the ground next to him in water pool, he probably dropped it by accident "Neil, we are here now, there's no need to be scared, lift up your head" Yeosang said gently but no response, Hongjoong stood in front of him, leaned and grabbed his arms "No, don't touch me!!!" He shouted struggling from Hongjoong's grasp "no, I won't!!" Hongjoong yelled surprising them, Neil stopped and looked at Hongjoong "you need to pull yourself together, we are at the enemy's base" he told him starring into his eyes "we need you to stay strong so we can avenge you" he told him more gently, Yeosang and Wooyoung were worried about Neil from Hongjoong's strong behaviour, but Neil stood up and took a deep breath "ok" he said with a trembled voice.
Hongjoong sighed in relief, he didn't see his two angry mates attacking him, they held him by the collar "are you out of your mind?!!!!" Wooyoung yelled at him "you can't do that to a scared child" Yeosang told him, he wasn't that good at being angry "what if he started crying? what will you do then?!!!!" Wooyoung kept on scolding him "but he isn't crying, and he's completely fine now!!!" Hongjoong yelled back at them "how is he completely fine?!!!" Wooyoung yelled louder, Neil came and separated them "I'm fine, really, I needed that" Neil assured them "if you say so" Yeosang said and Wooyoung glared at Hongjoong "I'm letting you go because of him this time, don't expect me to do so the next time" he warned him "yeah yeah, let's go" Hongjoong sighed tiredly and they went down the stairs.
They opened the small door that led to the hallway but there was no one there, they moved to the office door, when Neil opened the door, the whole crew was about to fall on him, but Yeosang saved him in no time "get...off...me" San was struggling under them "we are saved" Mingi sighed in relief on top of them "then move aside" Seonghwa said under him, Mingi went off the top letting Seonghwa breath, they went down one after the other until San was finally freed "I can breath" he let out a long sigh in relief "did you find everything?" Wooyoung asked curious "yes, and lots more" Seonghwa told them "we surely worked a lot" Valerie said stretching her arms "good work" Yeosang told them, they looked at him surprised, he was hugging Neil from the back "why are you like that?" Yunho asked him "you were about to fall on him, and I saved him from the barbarians you are" Yeosang told them hugging him tightly, Neil had the same height as Hongjoong so it was a little bit cute, everyone was surprised to see Yeosang hugging someone especially when they know he hates skinship "should we move?" Neil asked them not bothered by Yeosang "ye..yeah, let's go" San said feeling betrayed for some reason.
Yeosang stayed next to Neil and whenever Hongjoong was about to come closer to him, he pulls Neil closer "you know I'm not going to eat him" Hongjoong said annoyed "no, but you did worse" Wooyoung said from behind "you guys are unbelievable" Hongjoong gave up on them and started walking next to Seonghwa "what happened that they won't let you close to him?" Seonghwa was curious, and so was the others "when we get to the ship, I'll tell you" Hongjoong told them.
They arrived at the coast safely, Jongho and San pulled the boat out and put it in the water "how do we turn it back to normal?" San asked Hongjoong "flick the wood" he told him, San went on the boat and flicked the wood, it was like an explosion, the ship went back to it's original shape, the crew hoped on it and lied down, it was a long night and the sun was about to rise "let's go to sleep now, we'll continue the work in the morning" Hongjoong ordered them "Aye Captain" they said burnt-out and each went to their cabin.