Chapter 52 – Blood on the Bonfire.

The ground beneath Diana's boots shook with a violence that didn't stem from any monster's footstep.

It was a deep vibration, a screeching groan of fracturing rock echoing from the bowels of the earth. The heat of the underground rift spiked fifty degrees in less than three seconds, and the basalt walls began bleeding veins of incandescent magma.

The System interface exploded in midair in an emergency crimson hue that blanketed the entire squad's field of vision:

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

[DUNGEON DISASTER ALERT!]

[Critical Event: DUNGEON ERUPTION - LEVEL 32 DETECTED!]

- Status: Mana overload in Fourth Floor core.

- Condition: Structural collapse in progress. All escape routes sealed.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

—Diana! Get the fuck out of there now!

The System's voice shrieked in her mind, completely stripped of its usual sarcasm.

—The dungeon has entered a purge collapse! The fourth floor ceiling is coming down!

“FULL DEFENSE FORMATION!” Diana screamed.

There was no time to run toward the exit.

BOOM!

An apocalyptic boom tore through the cavern ceiling. Thousands of tons of solid rock, gigantic stalactites, and incandescent gravel plunged from above, burying the return tunnel beneath an insurmountable thirty-meter wall of rubble and molten stone.

The impact of the dust and shockwave hurled the Arcane Greed Faction into the center of a colossal black stone amphitheater: The Hall of Magma Titans.

And they were not alone.

***

Coughing amid sulfur smoke and basalt dust, Lord Cassius (Level 32) and his three elite Silver Legion officers pushed themselves up from the ground fifteen meters away, their armor dented by the collapse and their shields cracked.

Both teams were trapped inside the same sealed circular hall.

Behind them, the exit was completely blocked by tons of rock. Ahead of them, the lava lake in the center of the hall churned with fury, revealing dozens of glowing red eyes emerging from the incandescent depths.

A horde of twenty Blood Salamanders (Level 30) and four titanic Ancestral Magma Golems (Level 31) crawled out of the magma, surrounding the entire hall in a circle of death.

One of the Silver Legion spearman stepped back, breathing shallowly in panic. “We're buried alive… There's no way out!”

Cassius gripped his Silver Gravity Cleaver with both armored hands of Strength 68, his gray eyes staring at the advancing horde before meeting Diana's gaze.

There was no time for territorial disputes. There was no room for guild vanity or arrogance.

If they stayed divided, the eight hunters would be ripped apart and boiled alive in under ten minutes.

Cassius took two long strides toward Diana, extending his open left hand as he sliced his own palm with his cleaver's blade.

“A Temporary Blood Truce, Diana.” Cassius said, his deep, steady voice cutting through the magma's roar. “We split the vanguard and command. If we don't fight as a single army right now, no one walks out of this tomb alive.”

Diana drew her black steel dagger with her right hand, sliced her own palm without hesitating for a single millisecond, and shook Cassius's bloody hand.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

[SURVIVAL PACT SEALED!]

[Blood Truce Active: Friendly Fire Temporarily Disabled Between Arcane Greed Faction and Silver Legion!]

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

“Fifty percent command split.” Diana declared, her dark eyes flashing with steely coldness. “You and Kael hold central physical containment. I take magic suppression and the rear. Get ready!”

***

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

The First Wave - Combat Friction

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The horde of Level 30 to 31 monsters surged forward like a tide of fire.

The four Ancestral Magma Golems hurled incandescent boulders, while twenty Blood Salamanders scrambled swiftly along the hall walls.

The initial clash exposed the obvious flaw of two squads that had never fought side by side.

Kael pressed forward with his Volcanic Steel Shield, activating [Iron Taunt] to pull the left monster, at the exact second Cassius leaped to deliver [Silver Gravity Slash] onto the same target.

The two tanks crashed shoulder to shoulder!

The colossal power of Cassius's Strength 68 nearly threw off Kael's balance, making the boy's shield falter for a second and leaving a dangerous opening for two Salamanders to pounce.

“DAMN IT, KID! DON'T CROSS MY SWING ARC!” Cassius roared, spinning his cleaver to cover the breach.

Diana activated her Intelligence 98 [Command Eye] immediately, reading the battlefield clutter in a millisecond.

“Kael, fall back three steps to the left and lock down the rift edge!” Diana commanded, her voice sharp as a whip. “Cassius, advance along the center axis! Leave the left flank to the volcanic shield!”

Kael obeyed instantly, falling back the three paces and driving his shield into the rock. Kael's 490 HP barrier absorbed the leap of the two salamanders, while Cassius's cleaver crashed down the center like a meteor, splitting the first Level 31 Magma Golem in half.

Synchronization began to click into place.

***

On the right flank, another error nearly cost them dearly.

One of the Silver Legion spearmen saw a silver blur streak through the smoke at terrifying speed and nearly hurled his shock spear at the target out of pure panic reflex.

“ENEMY AT THE REAR!” The spearman yelled.

“LOWER THE SPEAR, YOU IDIOT!” Diana screamed from the center. “THAT'S MY SCOUT!”

Rhea used [Phantom Step] with Agility 74, dodging the soldier's spear tip by a millimeter and materializing atop the head of the Blood Salamander about to bite into the legionnaire's back.

CRUNCH! CRITICAL DAMAGE: 410!

Rhea's Dragon Silk and Shadow Daggers severed the monster's neck, saving Cassius's soldier's life. The spearman turned pale, agape at the hybrid girl's invisible speed.

Aurelia-Elysia raised her Mana Crystal Staff with her Dragon Robe active.

With 470 MP points and casting time reduced by -40%, the priestess didn't hesitate: she didn't just heal Kael and Diana, she projected double [Protection Barriers] over Cassius's three wounded officers, upholding the enemy troop's defense line with her own mana.

Cassius, seeing Diana's priestess heal his own men in the middle of crossfire, felt a knot of respect tighten in his chest.

***

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

The Sovereign's Tactical Turnaround

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Three Level 31 Magma Golems attempted to merge forces to crush the central formation beneath a rain of molten stone fists.

Diana took two steps forward, her dark eyes glowing in black gold and silver-blue.

She activated her supreme skill:

GREED'S COMMAND - SOVEREIGN'S WILL!

A colossal black-gold aura erupted from Diana's chest, fueled by fourteen gold coins stashed in the faction vault.

The skill's effect spread across the hall, covering Diana, Rhea, Kael, Aurelia-Elysia, and the soldiers bound under the blood truce: +20% TO ALL ATTRIBUTES FOR 60 SECONDS!

Cassius's Strength surged to a monumental 81 STRENGTH POINTS! Kael's HP climbed to 588 HP POINTS! Rhea's Agility exploded to 88 AGILITY POINTS!

“THIS IS OUR TURN!” Diana yelled.

Diana used [Arcane Teleportation], appearing midair above the three golems.

With Intelligence 117 boosted by her skill, Diana fired a massive [Arcane Ice Lance] combined with an [Arcane Storm Orb] right into the middle of the monsters.

BOOM!

The thermal shock of pure ice striking molten stone caused the three golems' magma carapaces to crack instantly, while electricity stunned the creatures for three seconds.

Cassius charged like a titan with his new 81 Strength points.

He swung a devastating horizontal sweep with his Gravity Cleaver, taking advantage of the ice fractures created by Diana to shatter the waists of all three Level 31 golems in a single blow!

Rhea blinked through the shadows in a silvery whirlwind, finishing off the last Blood Salamanders with precise slashes to their eyes.

***

The final monster collapsed onto the hall's stone floor, turning into dust and glowing embers.

Silence descended over the Hall of Magma Titans.

All eight hunters were coated in soot, black monster blood, and sweat, panting heavily while the lava heat bubbled all around.

Cassius drove his Gravity Cleaver into the basalt floor, leaning his heavy body on the blade, his chest heaving heavily. He wiped blood from his forehead with the back of his gauntlet and looked at Diana, who stepped down gracefully from a rock, adjusting her Dragon Chestplate.

Cassius stared at the human girl for long seconds.

There was no longer the slightest shadow of doubt or petty rivalry in his gray eyes.

The girl had saved his spearman's life, healed his soldiers with her priestess's mana, corrected squad positioning flaws in real time, and granted him a Strength bonus he had never felt in his life.

“You read the terrain flawlessly, Diana.” Cassius spoke, his voice raspy and authentic. “If not for your ice cracking open those golems' carapaces, we would have lost two men in that initial clash.”

Diana looked at Cassius, then at Kael and Rhea, who were breathing sighs of relief beside the silver soldiers.

She sheathed her black steel dagger with a calm motion.

“Your men need to learn not to cross my scout's line, Cassius.” Diana said, her voice firm, but without her former icy edge. “Though your Strength held the center competently.”

Cassius let out a short laugh, the tired laugh of a soldier who had just survived hell alongside an equal.

However, before either of them could relax a single muscle, the lava lake in the center of the hall boiled with tenfold violence.

A fifteen-meter column of black fire and pure magma rose from the glowing depths, fracturing the amphitheater's basalt floor from end to end.

The first wave was defeated. But the true sovereign of the Dungeon Eruption was awakening from the ashes.

Final Notes:

In a short while we'll have a chapter focused on information about each person's stats in Diana's team! I know many of you want to know more specifically about what skills each person has. Don't worry, we'll have a chapter coming up shortly :D