The tunnel narrowed, and heat pressed in from all sides, as if they were walking into a forge that hadn't cooled in years. Frank trailed two steps behind Tace, the soles of his boots grinding ash into the stone. Each breath felt heavier than the last, the air dry enough to scrape his throat. Orange veins pulsed along the walls—bright, slow, and steady like a heartbeat beneath the stone.
They didn't talk.
Mik moved ahead silently, checking the path with quick hand signals. Auri shifted her quiver higher on her back and wiped the sweat from her brow. Garna's steps never faltered, but the greatsword across her shoulders shimmered in the oppressive heat.
Frank opened his system with a flick of his fingers. The interface glowed faintly against the darkness of the tunnel. He navigated to his stat window and tapped through the allocation:
+2 Agility
+3 Perception
+2 Strength
His body felt tighter—more alert. The weight of his sword felt different in his hand.
『Stat Distribution Complete – Combat Rating Increased to 42』
He closed the panel and adjusted his grip on the Mercurial Cut. The blade responded as it had in the last fight—no drag, no delay. He shifted his stance once, then again, testing the new balance. It remained smooth.
As they turned the next corner, deeper lines appeared in the walls—veins glowing red now, not orange. The cracks pulsed faster. The ground crunched softly underfoot, like brittle shell over something that could break open.
—————————
They didn't need a signal. Everyone slowed.
Frank rolled his shoulders back and took a half-step to the side, creating an angle near Garna. His free hand flexed once, then settled near his belt.
Twin Fang Draw. The full motion played out in his mind: step, draw, slice—wait for the opening. Follow with Piercing Fang, if there was time. If not, reset. Stick close. Let the Queen make the first mistake.
The heat thickened.
The walls began to sweat—not with water, but with heat, bleeding off the stone in waves. The air shimmered ahead. Frank felt it first in his neck, then in the hollow of his chest.
Tace raised a hand.
They halted just short of a wider bend, one last curve before the final chamber. A faint thrum came through the floor—deep, slow, and steady, like a breath too large for the tunnel to contain.
Frank looked ahead. The light was brighter now, bleeding red through the cracks. Dust hung in the air like ash that never settled.
Tace turned.
His voice remained low. "Final chamber."
No one asked questions
Auri tightened her straps and moved forward. Garna rolled her wrists and shifted her stance. Mik checked the edges of both blades, flicked one, then faded back into the shadow behind Tace's left.
Frank took one last look at the blade in his hand before following them in.
The chamber opened like a wound.
A dome of scorched stone stretched high above them, wider than any room they'd crossed so far. The walls were blackened with ash, cracked in deep, jagged lines that bled red light with every slow pulse. At the center, a smoldering mound sat hunched and still—its surface layered in fused chitin and webbed shell, seams glowing faintly beneath thick soot.
The heat wasn't didn't rising; it pressed against their skin, slow and suffocating. The floor shimmered underfoot, the air bending in thin waves. Frank stepped carefully, the soles of his boots sticking slightly to the surface, as if the stone had softened just enough to pull him in.
Auri's voice came low and clipped. "Flame sacs. Walls."
Frank followed her gaze. Dozens of bulbous sacs lined the upper chamber, tucked into the cracks like hives waiting to rupture. They pulsed in rhythm—slow flashes of orange light beneath stretched membrane, liquid sloshing inside each one like it was alive.
Tace motioned for spacing. Garna shifted left. Mik faded wide, shoulders tight and low.
No one moved toward the mound. Not yet.
The chamber held still for three long beats. No wind. No twitch. Just the heavy drag of heat across skin and the quiet pop of stone contracting under strain.
Then it cracked.
The mound buckled inward with a sound like breaking bone. Chitin split down the center, and molten liquid sprayed from the seams—steam erupted across the front arc as the entire structure exploded outward.
Frank flinched back as hot fragments slammed into the floor.
The Queen rose through the center of it all.
Not fast. Not slow. Just inevitable.
She unfolded upward—massive, segmented and burning. Her armor was forged from heat—molten metal fused into chitin plates that shifted with each movement. The glow between her joints pulsed like lava under pressure. Her front limbs dragged long and curved, scythe-shaped and slick with a thick, fiery liquid that dripped as she moved. Behind her, a cluster of sacs pulsed under her abdomen—bright, swollen, leaking thin tendrils of heat into the air.
Her eyes—black glass, glossy and still—reflected every source of flame in the room. Seven in total, arranged in uneven rows, all fixed straight ahead.
She didn't roar.
She screamed.
The sound tore through the chamber—high and jagged, like glass shattering against metal. The floor shook. Flame sacs on the wall pulsed violently. A system prompt slammed across Frank's vision.
『Skill Interference – Concentration Reduced』
His grip slipped for half a second.
He clenched harder.
The pressure from the sound drilled into his head, dull and sharp at once. His widened his stance slightly. Not fear—just balance. His jaw locked. The edge of his blade trembled faintly in his grip, not from nerves, but from the vibration still echoing down the chamber walls.
Tace didn't shout orders yet. Garna held her position, blade raised. Auri backed to the higher ridge behind the right flank. Mik was vanished from sight.
The Queen lowered her front claws.
Each step she took left a smoldering print in the floor, heat trailing from her limbs in long wisps that curled upward into smoke. Her mouth opened—mandibles stretching wide. No more screeching now, just the sound of air pulling through flame.
Frank stepped to the right, aligning with Garna's off-arm. He adjusted his grip again, blade steady, his heel sliding slightly to find hold on the shimmering floor.
She faced them.
And nothing else moved.