CHAPTER 33: Crystal Biome and a Purple Shithead

The Sapphire Prism spat us back out onto the surface. We left the carbon dust of the Iron Forest behind and headed straight to the western armorers' guild with the heavy core of the Crystal Thorn in our pouch.

The workshop doors opened with a hollow creak. A dead silence fell inside immediately. At the sight of my coat and Shnee walking right behind me, the artisans stopped their work. The main master turned pale, reflexively glancing at the empty space left by yesterday's shattered anvil. All his aristocratic pride evaporated. The artisans bowed to the ground, shivering with fear of another display of physics.

I stopped in the middle of the room. I raised my left hand. I grabbed my chin with my hand and supported my elbow with my right arm. I thought in silence about our logistics. On logic, the "Golden Griffin" was a perfect forward base, but it remained an ordinary building. And I was a partial perfectionist. We left the girls on the surface, descending deeper. Our family needed a physical cover.

I lowered my hands and looked at the guild master with Brazen chill. I shooed away a spark escaping from a nearby furnace.

"Put aside the swords, shields, and the rest," I threw calmly, placing a few dense crystals on the counter as an advance payment. "You will forge steel reinforcements. Plates for the doors and solid bars for the windows. They are to be fitted to the 'Golden Griffin' tavern. You are to make this place a fortress in case of any riot on the streets. This is your absolute priority".

The master nodded frantically. He grabbed a parchment with trembling fingers to prepare orders for the blacksmiths. Iron submission was cemented. The city worked for me.

Half an hour later we crossed the threshold of our tavern. The interior smelled of warm wood and roasted meat. We shed the chill of the dungeon. Elena immediately placed steaming bowls of broth before us, and Luthia, Mina, and Ria sat with us at the oak table.

I ate in silence, loading calories into my Vessel. I chewed the hard meat, listening to the hum. The girls were relaxed. They smiled, free from fear. We built an unbreakable brotherhood here. Sitting next to me, Shnee leaned her shoulder against my side, completely quieted down, recharging her batteries. I gave them this foundation of protection without a word of complaint.

"Rest in peace and guard the bolt," I said with a protective voice, placing the empty cup on the counter. "Soon the armorers will arrive here with the iron. Shnee and I are going back down. Time to check how hard this dungeon is on the next ten".

The Sapphire Prism transported us deep underground. The climate change on the twenty-first floor was drastic. The carbon rawness of the previous ten disappeared, giving way to a shining cave. The walls, floor, and ceiling consisted of purple amethysts and gleaming quartz. The dim light of the dungeon reflected here at a thousand angles, blinding the eyes.

"Pure crystals," I muttered, looking around with Brazen chill and adjusting the collar of my coat. "I wonder what purple shithead awaits us at the very end as the boss of this ten".

Shnee smiled predatorily, placing her hand on the pommel of her transparent rapier.

Suddenly, from behind the bend of the corridor came a clinking sound, resembling glass panes rubbing against each other. A pack of Mirror Hounds emerged from the dark. The beasts were formed of hard glass and quartz. They moved with jerky speed, and their razor-sharp claws grated against the crystal floor.

One of the dogs jumped straight at my chest.

I yawned shortly. I raised my left hand, grabbed my chin with my hand, and supported my elbow with my right arm. I thought in silence while the beast flew in my direction.

On logic, glass and quartz are hard materials, but completely devoid of flexibility. Hitting them directly could simply slide off their smooth surface or merely chip them. The rigid structure had one critical flaw, however.

"Shnee, cool them down! Decrease their mobility!" I threw calmly, making a soft dodge. The glass dog flew past, crashing into the wall and immediately forming anew.

The elf jumped into action without hesitation. A wave of raw frost burst from her hand and blade. Icy air enveloped the glass pack. Extreme cold immediately settled on their crystalline bodies, drastically slowing their movements. The constructs' joints began to stiffen and creak.

"Destruction optimization," I said coldly.

I lowered my hand from my chin. I did not draw any weapon. Instead of striking the freezing monsters, I compressed a charge of kinetic energy in my right boot. With raw force, I stomped straight into the shining floor.

A roar of resonance spread throughout the cave. A hard vibration struck from below, penetrating the frozen limbs of the Mirror Hounds. Devoid of flexibility, the brittle bodies of the beasts were unable to absorb this sudden shock.

They began to crack. First their paws crumbled, and a fraction of a second later, their glass bodies simply exploded from the inside under the influence of growing vibrations. The horde shattered into millions of sharp fragments that fell to the floor with a clink, leaving behind only dull cores.

"Let's go smash the rest of this glass," I muttered, gathering the loot into the pouch with a predatory smile. "This biome is perfect for resonance".

We broke through subsequent levels at a murderous pace. The crystalline biome did not give us a moment of respite. With each floor, the architecture became increasingly aggressive. When we reached around the twenty-sixth level, the shining caves drastically narrowed into claustrophobic canyons. Purple quartz walls rose vertically upwards, and the dim light barely reached the bottom.

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Before we entered the narrow bottleneck, I stopped. I raised my left hand. I grabbed my chin with my hand and supported my elbow with my right arm. I thought in silence, narrowing my sapphire eyes.

On logic, entering a dark passage without checking the terrain was the easiest way to lose a head. My sight caught unnatural light refractions in the air just a dozen meters ahead of us.

"Step back, Shnee," I threw calmly. "We have cobwebs for aristocratic suckers here".

Across the corridor, at various heights, invisible threads woven from volcanic glass were stretched out. An ordinary mercenary, rushing blindly, would run into them with momentum and slice himself into bloody slices.

I had no intention of bending down, squeezing under them, or playing at careful bypassing. I yawned shortly, lowered my hand from my chin, and simply released a powerful wave of pressure ahead of me.

The condensed kinetic force struck the passage like an invisible ram. The collision with the glass caused a deafening clink. All the deadly threads snapped in a fraction of a second, showering the floor as sharp rain.

The sound of shattered traps provoked a reaction from the local fauna.

From the ceiling of the canyon, straight in our direction, a dozen Obsidian Spinners dropped down. They were giant spiders with coal-black abdomens. They aimed straight at our heads, ready to sink their fangs into us.

"Take them down," I ordered with Brazen chill, not moving from my spot.

Shnee took off with murderous grace. Her transparent rapier whistled through the air, leaving a pale streak behind. The elf did not waste strength piercing the spiders' obsidian armors. With surgical precision, she severed their jointed legs while still in flight.

Simultaneously, raw frost burst from her free hand. Extreme cold struck the monsters' open wounds, freezing their juices and blocking any movement. The spiders, deprived of legs and shackled by ice, fell to the ground with a rumble, turning into shivering husks.

I walked down the middle of the corridor at a leisurely pace, with my hands pressed deep into my coat pockets. I acted as a brutal executioner.

As I passed the mutilated spinners writhing on the ground, I lifted my leg and brought my heavy boot down straight onto their heads with merciless force.

Crunch.

The sound of obsidian crushed under my heel and cracking skulls echoed through the canyon. I squashed them like overgrown bugs. Our symbiosis was flawless – Shnee deprived the enemy of mobility and froze the threat, and I handled the physical utilization.

In just a few minutes, the passage was clear. Only puddles of frosty slime, crushed armors, and purple cores remained on the ground.

"Cleanly swept," I assessed coldly, gathering the loot into the pouch. "We have the last floor of this ten left. Let's go pay a visit to our purple shithead".

We crossed the threshold of the thirtieth floor. The corridor ended abruptly, and we entered a vast chamber. It looked like a giant geode hollowed out in the rock. A pale glow emanating from sharp crystals illuminated the walls and ceiling. I stopped right in the middle. I raised my left hand. I grabbed my chin with my hand and supported my elbow with my right arm. I thought in silence, scanning the smooth floor. On logic, a closed space without any side exits meant only one thing - a hard clash without the possibility of escape.

The ground under our boots trembled violently. The boss of this ten emerged from the hard ground with a deafening grate of breaking rock. The Amethyst Titan. He measured exactly three meters and was entirely formed of shining minerals. He had no face, and instead of hands, he wielded massive arms resembling crystalline hammers. I lowered my hand from my chin and smiled broadly, maintaining my Brazen chill. "Well, well," I muttered, adjusting my coat collar. "Let's see what this purple shithead is capable of".

The monster did not play with theatrical shouts and wasted no time on warnings. He struck with brutal mass. He took a heavy step forward and brought his crystalline hammers down with momentum, intending to crush us in one move. I jumped smoothly back, and Shnee stepped off the line of attack with predatory grace. The boss's hammers hit the ground with a deafening roar. The hard floor simply exploded, crumbling into sharp fragments that showered our coats with a clink. The force of this stomp made the entire geode quiver.

Shnee immediately jumped from the side. Her transparent rapier whistled in the air, executing a lightning-fast thrust into the monster's side. Clink!. The blade bounced off the thick armor with a loud squeak, leaving not the slightest scratch. I grabbed my chin again. I thought quickly, analyzing the material resistance on pure logic. "Leave him, Shnee!" I threw firmly. "This purple shithead has too thick armor!". "Blunt strikes or thin blades will simply slide off him". "We need sharp penetration right at the source here".

The Titan turned heavily, raising his crystalline hammers for another blow. A murderous fascination with slaughter ignited in my sapphire eyes. The time had come for the final change of tools. I raised my left hand. I grabbed my chin with my hand and supported my elbow with my right arm. I thought quickly, measuring his massive torso with my gaze. On logic, hitting a block of solid amethyst with blunt fists was a waste of calories and strength. The solid structure of this purple shithead needed brutal penetration right at the source.

I lowered my hand. I opened the valves in my right forearm. Sapphire Slime immediately poured out of my pores with a hissing sound. Instead of forming a glove from it, I forced the raw mana to change its shape. The slime instantly hardened to the density of solid diamond, creating a long blade in my grip. A perfect monolith pulled straight from my soul. The guard lowered his arms with a roar, intending to drive me into the floor. I took a smooth step forward. I entered straight into his zone with Brazen chill, letting the crystalline hammers pass literally centimeters from my shoulders. They collided with the floor, striking showers of purple sparks. Before the boss could raise them, I executed one horizontal cut from a full hip rotation.

My sapphire blade passed through the Titan's amethyst legs at the height of the knee joints without the slightest resistance. Like through wet paper. The monster immediately lost its support. The heavy torso crashed down with a deafening roar of breaking rock as his severed legs scattered to the sides. The beast dug his flat face into the floor right in front of my boots. I gave him no fraction of a second to react. I raised the blue blade with both hands and drove it straight into the middle of his chest. The blade entered deep into the solid crystal, piercing the armor all the way to the hilt.

“Time to break,” I muttered coldly. Through the embedded weapon, I pumped a raw charge of kinetic energy into his interior. Pure force struck within the tightly closed inside of the boss. A hollow sound echoed, resembling the detonation of an underground charge. The Amethyst Titan simply exploded from the inside. The thick armor and crystalline arms shattered in a fraction of a second, showering the entire geode with a rain of sharp fragments and turning into dead dust. In the place where the boss had laid a moment ago, a giant essence core fell to the floor with a hollow thud, pulsating with bright light.

The blade in my hand lost its hardness. The Sapphire Slime hissed and absorbed back under my skin, leaving my hand clean. Shnee approached me with a slow step. Her boots crunched on the broken quartz. She measured the pile of purple rubble with her gaze, and a proud smile bloomed on her lips, the smile of someone who stands alongside an absolute force of destruction. "Pure execution," she assessed, hiding the rapier in the scabbard with a quiet click. "Third ten closed," I answered with a free smile, bending down for the heavy core and throwing it into the bottomless pouch. "Time to wash this crystal shit off ourselves". "We are returning to the base to pack some calories".