----Page 32----
Inside the tower, the first floor opened before the adventurers like a warped cathedral.
Dark stone stretched high, and shadows flickered along the walls as if alive.
From the corners, twisted creatures, half-formed, corrupted beings as they lurched forward, shrieking.
The Drahgorn raised his lance.
"Pathetic! Stand aside!"
With fluid motions, they cut through the mobs, the rogue striking from shadows, the mage casting lightning, the dwarf swinging his hammer. Within minutes, the first floor lay in ruins.
"Is that all?" the Drahgorn bellowed.
"This tower is ours to claim!"
°°°°
The adventurers stepped cautiously into the first floor, a warped cathedral of dark stone and flickering shadows. The air was thick with stale magic, and the faint sound of skittering echoed off the walls.
From the corners of the hall, skeletons clattered, their bones glinting under the pale torchlight, followed by snarling goblins that leapt from behind shattered pillars. The group tensed, weapons ready.
"Stay sharp," the Drahgorn growled, his lance glowing faintly with draconic energy. "They may be weak… but numbers can kill."
The Drahgorn charged first, his Dragon Fang Strike tearing through a line of skeletons, bones shattering under the force. He spun with Draconic Roar, a blast of wind that hurled goblins against the far wall, leaving them stunned.
His spear danced with precision, each thrust a deadly display of strength and skill, cutting through armored bone as if it were paper.
The rogue melted into shadows, moving with unnerving grace. Daggers flashed, slicing through goblins' necks and skeletons' ribs, disappearing and reappearing as if she were everywhere at once.
Her Shadowstep allowed her to vanish from one side of the hall and reappear behind an enemy, striking before they even realized she had moved.
The mage's hands crackled with electricity, weaving arcs of lightning that leapt between enemies.
One bolt struck a goblin's metal helm, arcing to a skeleton beside it and shattering the skull in a shower of bone fragments. With Chain Lightning, he cut through multiple foes in a single, precise burst, his eyes gleaming with concentration.
The swordsman swung his blade in wide, powerful arcs. Each strike carried momentum, carving through goblins with Whirlwind Slash, clearing pockets of enemies before they could surround him.
His steel rang against skeleton armor, sparks flying as he parried and riposted, fluid and unrelenting.
The dwarf stomped forward, hammer raised. His Earthquake Slam cracked the floor beneath the horde, sending skeletons toppling and goblins sprawling.
With Stonebreaker Spin, he swung his hammer in a wide circle, bones cracking beneath the immense weight of his blows. His presence was a wall, unyielding and devastating.
Finally, the youngest archer, eyes wide but steady, nocked arrow after arrow. Her shots were precise, exploiting openings created by the others.
Her Piercing Shot sent a bolt through three skeletons aligned in a row, while Rapid Volley peppered goblins leaping from the shadows, keeping pressure on the foes without pause.
Together, they moved as a unit—Drahgorn at the front, smashing the skeletons into pieces; the rogue dancing in and out of shadows; the mage raining lightning with surgical precision; the swordsman and dwarf holding the flanks; and the archer covering every blind spot.
Within minutes, the hall was littered with shattered bones and scattered goblin corpses.
Breathing heavily, they paused for a moment, realizing the first floor's enemies had been mere skeletons and goblins—weak individually, yet dangerous in numbers.
It was a reminder that the tower demanded attention, strategy, and unity.
The Drahgorn exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. "Weak… yes. But don't mistake this for ease. The tower tests us, and this is just the beginning."
The adventurers glanced at one another, knowing that the true challenge awaited on the floors above—and that their skills, honed here, would be their only hope against the horrors to come.
°°°°°
As they all climbed the narrow spiral staircase, each step echoing ominously in the tower's darkened shaft.
Sweat dripped down their brows, muscles tense from the previous battle. Their minds raced—not just from exhaustion, but from the gnawing fear of what awaited above.
The door to the second floor creaked open, revealing a chamber bathed in dim, flickering light.
Shadows clung to the walls like sentient things, writhing and stretching unnaturally. The air was heavy with stale magic, thick with the scent of ozone and charred stone.
At the center of the room, a massive statue loomed. Its jagged stone form twisted in impossible angles, and a faint, ominous glow shone from its eyes.
The adventurers instinctively slowed, gripping their weapons tighter.
Drahgorn narrowed his eyes, voice low and tense.
"Something about that statue… it doesn't feel right."
The rogue leaned forward, daggers poised.
"I've seen cursed things before… but this… this feels alive."
The mage swallowed hard, adjusting her cloak nervously.
"We need to be careful. One wrong move and—"
Suddenly, the statue shuddered violently, cracking along its jagged edges. Dust fell like ash from the ceiling as the cracks widened, revealing something moving beneath the stone.
The adventurers recoiled, hearts hammering.
A voice, deep and resonant, rolled across the chamber:
"I… am Dorgan. And I will show you pain worse than death."
The adventurers froze, the weight of the words pressing down on them.
"No… it… can't be," the swordsman whispered, clutching his blade tighter.
The rogue's eyes darted around the room, shadows shifting.
"This… this is worse than the first floor… much worse."
The dwarf grunted and tightened his grip on his hammer.
"Then we just smash through it. Drink or no drink, let's get to work."
The young eleven archer, swallowed hard, her hands trembling.
"I… I don't think I can hit it… my arrows won't pierce through on its body."
With a shuddering motion, the statue fully emerged from its pedestal. Stone and shadow twisted together, sinew and darkness knitting itself into a grotesque humanoid form.
Dorgan's eyes glowed with a cruel, calculating light. It moved with unnatural grace, each step echoing ominously across the warped stone floor.
The tower seemed to pulse around them, shadows creeping closer, absorbing their light, responding to Dorgan's presence as though the floor itself were alive.
"I am Dravion, a proud warrior of the Drahgorn clan."
He roared, spear raised. Then commands.
"Attack!!"
The rogue vanished into the shadows, blades flashing.
While the mage's chants spells as a crackled of lightning flash straight to dorgans stone body.
"Foolish mortals, your tiny sparks won't affect my stone armor."
Dorgan said in a mocking voice.
"Then try and eat this!!"
The swordsman spun his blade in wide, precise arcs.
But his blade, simply just bounce back.
"Damn it."
The dwarf followed he stomped forward, hammer cracking stone beneath him. As he summoned fissures of massive rocks.
While the young elven archer on a hood, nocked arrow after arrow, her eyes wide but steady, taking advantage of the openings the others created, as she aimed for the monster's joints.
However, Dorgan's hard stone armor make all of their attacks useless.
Dorgan's voice boomed again, deep, and echoing:
"Fools. You cannot hope to defeat me, with you pathetic attacks. Your struggles was futile.."
The adventurers pressed forward, each attack barely make and damage to Dorgan's solid rock body.
But each time the stone snapped beneath the force of their strikes.
Dorgan reassembled them almost instantly, mocking all of their efforts.
"No… it… it just won't die!" the swordsman shouted, staggering backward.
The rogue's daggers struck again, but the shadow absorbed them like water.
"This is… insane…" she hissed.
The dwarf slammed his hammer into the floor, sending a shockwave, yet Dorgan's limbs reknit faster than they could destroy them.
The Drahgorn's jaw tightened.
"You wanted a fight? Fine. I'll show you why I am feared!"
He unleashed a torrent of his signature skills in rapid succession. His Dragon Fang Strike shattered stone tiles beneath the monster's feet.
With a sweeping motion, he invoked Inferno Lance, flames spiraling around his spear as he drove it into the creature's torso. He followed with Draconic Roar, a blast of concussive wind that hurled debris and twisted shadows back.
Every move was calculated, precise… yet the creature regenerated faster than he could anticipate.
The rogue darted, blades flashing, but each strike seemed to be absorbed, leaving the creature whole.
The dwarf slammed his hammer, sending shockwaves, while the mage's lightning streaks struck with pinpoint accuracy, only for the shadow to reassemble itself, unharmed, mocking their efforts.
"No… it's… impossible!" the swordsman shouted, eyes wide as he was thrown back by a wave of darkness.
"It— it just… won't die!"
The tower itself seemed to pulse, absorbing their assaults, as if laughing at their arrogance.
Suddenly, the floor master lunged at the rogue and the dwarf in perfect synchronization. The rogue twisted, pulling a dagger free, but the shadow enveloped her completely.
She let out a scream as her body was crushed beneath impossible weight—but in that final instant, she drove her dagger into the creature's chest, shattering part of its shadow core.
The dwarf's hammer followed, smashing into the exposed tendrils of dark energy.
He lifted up the wounded rogue, and tossed towards the young archer.
"Keep her safe, you did great now it's time for the old man to show what he can do."
Then he immedeately, grabbed Dorgans massive body, halting it's movement with his dwarven's sheered force..
"I'm a proud Dwarven warrior.. no one can escaped my grasp even you monster!!"
Then he shouted to them.
"Go! what are you waiting for.. finish this monster once and for all! You lads must survive no matter what.."
However.. in an instant Dorgan's shattered body began reassemble once more.
Dorgan jumps high hitting the stone ceiling with the dwarf on his back over and over again. Until he cough with blood but his grip was only getting tighter.
Don't mock me Monster.. you can't shake me off like that..
But then... not before the dwarfs sentence was finished..
Dorgan's summons a stone spikes all over his body impaling him. His entire body was pierced through with a bunch of spikes killing him on the spot.
"Very commendable act. But your death was utterly useless.."
Limbs regenerated, tendrils reknit, eyes glowing with new malice.
The adventurers froze. The dwarfs sacrifice had achieved nothing. Panic and despair rippled through the remaining four.
"Impossible… all that… for nothing…" the swordsman whispered, staring at the fully restored monster.
"It's my turn.."
Dorgan dash forward after he tossed the dwarfs corpse to the swordsman..
He was caught off guard.. he manage to fend of with his blade on the last moment, Dorgan's massive rock fist.. but, the strength of the impact was too strong that his blade snapped like a wooden branch.
The monster fist squashed the swordsman head like it was nothing. Killing him on the spot.
"Puny little mortals, so easy to kill."
Dorgan said , as he tossed like a rug doll the swordsman headless corpse..
The Drahgorn's eyes burned with fury. Sweat and blood slicked his face, yet he gritted his teeth.
"How dare you, Monster!!."
He tightens his grip on his spear.. and attacks Dorgan..
His Dragon Fang Strike cut through the shadowy air like a tempest, spear spinning with ferocious speed, tearing chunks from the floor as dark energy rippled outward.
Without missing a beat, he followed with Inferno Lance, fire spiraling in a deadly coil around his weapon, scorching the stone walls and sending fragments of rubble cascading into the horde of regenerating shadows.
Then follows up with a force of his Draconic Roar erupted like a gale, hurling enemies backward and twisting the very air, rattling the floor and ceiling with a concussive impact.
Smoke and ash swirled through the chamber as Scorched Earth sent flames dancing across the warped tiles, igniting the shadows that dared to linger in one spot for too long.
Then, with a fluid, almost balletic motion, he spun his spear in the Draconic Spiral, a tornado of steel, fire, and wind that shredded the advancing darkness, every rotation precise enough to cleave multiple tendrils at once.
He moved like a storm incarnate, chaining each technique seamlessly into the next, leaving almost no moment for his enemies to counter, their regeneration barely keeping pace with the relentless assault.
The chamber shook with each strike. Sparks and shards of stone flew like hail, and a low, resonating hum thrummed through the floor, echoing the Drahgorn's fury.
Even the shadows themselves seemed to shiver under the onslaught, yet stubbornly, horrifyingly, they stitched themselves back together, mocking his skill.
"Hahahah.. not bad.. but still wasn't enough"
Dorgan's mocking laugh echoes as it's shattered each one of their resolve.
The mage fought beside him, exhausted, casting his most powerful spells. Lightning, fire, arcane missiles—yet the regeneration overwhelmed them.
"I'm not done yet.." Dravion roared.
Finally, he decided to used his final skill, as he leapt high and screamed.
"Dragon's Descent!!!"
A crashing spear pierce into the solid rock chest of the floor boss.
Flames erupted. The chamber shook. The creature's body convulsed… and then, horrifyingly, it reformed, more monstrous than before.
The remaining adventurers were battered, broken. The youngest archer clutched her bow, trembling, tears streaking her dirt-smeared face.
The mage was drained out and almost out of breath, as her eyes hollowed and hopeless.
"I… I can't…" the Dravion muttered, chest heaving, blood dripping from his brow.
"Theres no way… all of my attacks weren't able to kill it... I-It's utterly impossible.."
"D-Dravion your..."
The mage voice stutters as she points out the Draghorns left arm..
"Damn it... when did it, happen?"
The Dravion asked to himself.
°°°°
And then... a crashing sound echoed through the tower—Kaien had arrived.
With a single, immense strike, he invoked Lightning Tempest, shattering the dungeon door and sending the shadow back with a deafening thunderclap. Dust and black mist scattered as Kaien's aura flared.
The Drahgorn looked at him, relief flickering briefly—then his eyes widened in horror.
And then, he suddenly remember, one of his master's teachings, that the continued used of Dragon's Descent has drawbacks.. for it was actually a double edge that can destroy the users body.
Normally as a Drahgorn race, his regenerative traits would heal anything even a severed parts, but the dungeon's corruption, a curse woven into its very structure, prevented regeneration aside from the enemy.
The wound remained, burning with unnatural pain.
The Drahgorn sank to one knee, spear trembling in his right hand. Rage coursed through him, but it was tinged with despair.
"I… I can't fight… not anymore… not like this…"
The mage, leaning against a shattered pillar, nodded weakly. They had survived—but only barely.
Two comrades lost. Two sacrifices rendered meaningless. Their arrogance, their overconfidence… it had led them to this brink.
Kaien extended a hand. "Get up. You're not done yet. But the tower… it's stronger than any of us expected. We move forward together."
The Drahgorn's eyes, dark with pain and grief, flickered at the youngest archer's terrified face. A quiet, bitter rage and helplessness mingled inside him. He lifted his broken left arm slightly, muttering,
"Why? …Damn it… why won't you heal damn it..?"
°°°°
As the dust settled slowly, drifting through the ruined chamber like falling ash. Blood stained the cracked stone. The bodies of two comrades lay motionless—gone forever.
The Drahgorn knelt, gripping his shattered spear with one hand, his severed left arm trembling as agony pulsed through the unhealable wound.
The mage collapsed beside him, barely breathing, sweat and tears mixing on his face.
The shadow of the regenerating floor master loomed behind the shattered door Kaien had destroyed to reach them.
Even broken, the monster twitched—already preparing to rise again.
Kaien tightened his grip on his spear, electricity crackling around him.
"Too bad we didn't make it on time.
Are you okay??"
Kaien asked the soul battered warrior in front of him.
The Drahgorn didn't answer. He couldn't.
His eyes were wide, staring at his lost comrades lying lifeless on the floor.
Every step seemed to pulse with the tower's mocking heartbeat.
"So your the floor guardian.. huh.
Well.. looks like you didn't held back on them didn't you?.."
Kaien said, as his eyes scans over the adventurers dead party members.
Then, the trembling rogue breaks the silence as she whispered, voice shaking.
"There's no way we can win against that monster."
And then, suddenly, a thunderous pulse cut him off, shaking the entire chamber. Dust rained from the ceiling.
Far above, something massive shifted, as if the tower itself acknowledged their existence… and laughed.
Kaien stepped forward, spear blazing with light, his voice was serious and sharp.
"Get up. Grab your friends and leave."
But the Drahgorn's hand slipped from his spear. His eyes dimmed. His voice cracked.
"…I don't know if we can."
The tower pulsed again, slow, heavy and cruel.
As the endless staircase stretching upward, disappearing into darkness… while the remaining survivors stand broken at the very bottom of a nightmare..