The moment their boots crossed the threshold, Ael felt the change.
The air inside the chamber was heavier, pressing against his lungs with each breath. Heat rolled low along the ground, not violent like an eruption but constant, oppressive, as if the room itself exhaled slowly and refused to cool. The walls curved upward in a vast ring of blackened stone, scarred deeply by claw marks, burns, and impacts that had never fully healed. Fused rock jutted outward like frozen waves, veins of magma glowing faintly beneath the surface.
This was not a place meant to be transient.
It was a lair.
At the center of the chamber stood the beast.
It did not move when they entered. It did not roar or charge. It simply watched.
The creature was massive, easily twice the height of a man when fully upright, its body layered in thick, dark scales that reflected the chamber's glow like tempered steel. Molten gold lines pulsed beneath those scales with every breath it took, slow and deliberate, like a forge being fed from within. Two long horns curved backward from its skull, cracked and scarred from countless battles, and four eyes—set in pairs—tracked each Awakened as they fanned out instinctively.
Ael felt their gaze linger on him longer than the others.
Felicia raised a hand, flame gathering but restrained. Her voice cut through the chamber, calm, steady.
"Formation Delta. Don't provoke it."
Too late.
The beast's lips pulled back, revealing a mouth lined with jagged, uneven teeth stained black at the edges. When it spoke, its voice carried weight—not just sound, but intention, flooding the space like heat.
"So," it growled, each word measured, controlled, "more of you crawl in."
Stone cracked beneath its feet as it took a single step forward.
"You come armed and screaming in the name of survival," it continued, eyes sweeping the chamber, "but all you bring is ruin. You come into my world, slaughter us who are slave to it, and call yourselves heroes."
Its gaze snapped back to Ael.
"And you," it said, voice lowering, sharpening. "You reek of something older."
Ael's hand tightened around the spear forming in his grip, Ether flowing outward and shaping itself instinctively. Silver light traced the length of the weapon, then darkened as Ether-Fire coiled around it, restrained but eager.
Felicia didn't waste words.
"Engage!"
The chamber exploded into motion.
The beast moved first—not in a wild charge, but in a sudden, terrifying acceleration. It vanished from the center of the room and reappeared in front of Bram, its claw slamming down with enough force to crater the stone. Bram threw up his reinforced shield just in time, but the impact sent him skidding backward in a storm of shattered rock.
Ael moved.
The spear shot forward, aimed at a seam between two massive scales along the beast's flank. Ether-Fire flared as the tip struck, boring through hardened hide with a hiss that filled the chamber.
The beast roared—not in pain alone, but fury.
It twisted with shocking speed, backhanding Ael mid-air. The blow sent him spinning, Ether flaring automatically along his limbs to absorb the impact as he crashed into a pillar hard enough to crack it.
Before he could recover, the beast was already advancing.
"You stand closer than the others," it snarled. "Do you think that makes you brave?"
Flames erupted from its lungs, not in a wide blast but a focused stream, compressed and violent. The fire howled toward Ael, distorting the air itself.
Ael raised his free hand.
Etherbolt.
Silver lightning tore from his palm, cutting cleanly through the fire. The Ether didn't disperse the flames—it pierced them, forcing the stream apart violently. The residual heat scorched Ael's shoulder as he rolled aside, but the attack never reached full force.
The beast stumbled half a step, surprise flickering across its features.
"…Lightning," it muttered. "No. That is not lightning."
Felicia struck from the side, a concentrated pillar of crimson flame slamming into the creature's leg. The beast hissed and turned on her instantly, molten veins flaring brighter as it retaliated with a sweeping claw that forced her to leap back.
Ael was already moving again.
The spear lengthened as he ran, Ether reinforcing its structure while Ether-Fire thickened along the blade. He slid beneath the beast's next strike and stabbed upward, driving the weapon deep into its lower chest.
Molten blood sprayed out, sizzling where it hit the stone.
The beast staggered—and then laughed.
"You wound me," it said hoarsely, eyes burning. "Good. At least you are not weak."
It slammed both fists into the ground.
The shockwave ripped outward, throwing Rook and Calder off their feet and sending cracks racing through the chamber floor. Ael barely managed to leap free, Ether surging to reinforce his legs as he landed.
"Humans," the beast continued, rising again despite the wound still steaming. "Always reaching for power you do not understand. You will burn the world the same way you burn my kin."
Ael didn't answer.
He felt it again—the images from his dream, the sound of war without faces, the overwhelming certainty that something far worse was coming. The memory tightened in his chest, fueling him rather than paralyzing him.
He raised his hand once more.
Etherbolt.
The silver strike punched into the beast's shoulder, detonating outward and tearing away scales in a spray of molten fragments. The creature roared, staggered, and dropped to one knee.
Felicia didn't hesitate. Her flames surged, wrapping around the beast's pinned arm and forcing it down.
"Finish it!" she yelled.
Ael tightened his grip.
The spear condensed, the Ether-Fire spiraling tighter, brighter—but still controlled. He drove it forward with everything he had, straight into the beast's core.
Ether didn't explode.
It consumed.
Silver fire flooded inward, unraveling the creature from the inside out. The beast froze, eyes widening as the glow beneath its scales flickered violently.
"…So this is how it ends," it rasped, voice cracking. "Killed by a child, a human, but you don't understand that we are all slaves to someone and we are just his toys to play with…"
Its body began to fracture, stone and scale splitting apart as the core collapsed. With a final, defiant glare at Ael, the creature disintegrated into molten fragments that scattered across the chamber floor and cooled rapidly into lifeless stone.
Silence fell.
Ael stood there, breathing steadily, spear dissolving back into motes of silver Ether.
The system chimed softly in his mind.
[+300 EXP]
Felicia approached him slowly, eyes sharp, unreadable.
"…It's good that you didn't hesitate," she said at last.
Ael looked at where the beast had fallen, silver light still faintly lingering in the air.
"I won't, I want to protect my family, and for that I need strength." he replied quietly.
Ael felt it—an unspoken promise within him that was pushing him forward, with no time to look back.