The roar that split the chamber was primal—ancient—and filled the air with a trembling that could be felt in the bones.
The Flamebound Colossus rose fully from the magma pit, its molten form shedding rivers of lava that hissed and steamed as they struck the cooling stone. The air shimmered under its heat, light refracting in waves that made the world distort and blur.
It stood like a living mountain, runes etched across its obsidian armor glowing white-hot, and when its eyes opened, they burned like twin suns. The molten beast turned its head toward the intruders, its every movement slow, deliberate, and impossibly heavy.
Ethan felt Varyn thrum in his hands—the ancient sword's runes pulsing with icy light in rhythm with his heart. Even with the cold aura radiating from him, the heat clawed at his lungs with every breath. Sweat froze on his skin, then melted, then froze again.
He spoke with the steadiness of someone who had already faced death.
"Positions. Joseph, front and hold its attention. Dan, take the right flank—stay mobile. If it targets you, move and shoot."
Joseph's grin cut through the tension like a blade. "A walking volcano? Perfect. I've been needing a warm-up."
Dan rolled his shoulders, giving a short whistle to his wolf, which padded forward with its fangs bared. "Just don't get melted, muscle man. I can't shoot through your ego."
Ethan almost smiled. "Focus up. It's watching us."
The Colossus' chest expanded like a forge breathing in air. The runes across its body flared brighter—then it roared, releasing a wave of molten energy that swept through the chamber like a fiery hurricane.
Ethan thrust Varyn forward.
"Frozen Resilience!"
A shimmering dome of frost materialized around them, mist curling along its surface as the heat struck. The flames hissed, steam filled the air, and the shield trembled—but held. When it faded, the trio stood surrounded by scorched stone, the floor now veined with cracks glowing orange from beneath.
Dan coughed into his sleeve. "If it breathes like that again, I'm going to start roasting marshmallows."
"Move!" Ethan barked, and they scattered just as the Colossus raised its fist and brought it down where they had stood. The impact crushed the stone, sending shockwaves that nearly threw them off balance.
Joseph leapt forward through the debris, his eyes wild with excitement. "Alright, you giant bastard—let's see what you're made of!"
Mana surged through his arms, veins glowing faintly as his strength stat peaked. He clenched his fists, shouting,
"Colossal Fist!"
He charged in, leaping off a collapsing stone ledge, and slammed his punch directly into the Colossus' molten chest. The impact echoed like thunder.
The creature took one… single… step back.
Joseph blinked. "That's it?!"
The Colossus turned its head toward him—its movements smooth and deliberate. Then, with a roar, it swung a massive molten arm. The hit connected square with Joseph's side, the sound like a detonation.
He flew backward—helpless—straight toward a bubbling river of lava.
"Joseph!" Dan shouted, reaching out in vain.
Ethan moved instantly. Frost flared around his gauntlet as he extended his hand.
"Grave Bind!"
A spectral chain of ice exploded from his palm, snaking through the air and coiling around Joseph mid-flight. The warrior's momentum slowed, then reversed violently as Ethan yanked him back to safety.
Joseph crashed into the ground near Ethan, rolling twice before slamming to a stop. He groaned, smoke rising from his armor.
"Okay… new rule: maybe don't punch a volcano."
Ethan knelt beside him, offering a hand. "Stay behind me next time."
Joseph took it with a grin. "No promises."
Another tremor ripped through the chamber. Lava surged from the floor like geysers, and the Colossus' runes flared brighter—it was gathering more energy.
Dan took aim from a higher ledge, his eyes narrowing as he activated his agility-boosting ability. The world slowed for him—molten droplets hung in the air, each glinting like a star. He fired three arrows in rapid succession, their trajectories curving perfectly toward the creature's glowing runes.
Each arrow struck true, embedding deep. The Colossus staggered slightly, its chest runes dimming.
"Nice shot!" Joseph yelled.
Dan grinned. "You think that was luck? I'm just that good."
Ethan stepped forward, frost gathering around his boots. He could feel the rhythm of the dungeon, the pulsing heart of fire beneath the stone. Every instinct screamed to retreat, but something deeper urged him onward—the thrum of Varyn, a whisper that told him this was his crucible.
The Colossus swung its arm, smashing a nearby wall. Obsidian shards rained down, molten from the impact. Ethan dodged left, but a slab the size of a wagon broke free above Dan's position.
"Dan, move!" Ethan shouted.
The archer looked up just in time to see the ceiling collapse.
Before he could react, Joseph was there—his gauntlets glowing white-hot as he caught the falling slab and pushed it aside with a roar. The impact sent him to one knee, his arms trembling from the effort.
"See?" he grunted. "Who needs a shield?"
Dan gave him a nod. "Remind me to buy you a drink—if we live through this."
The Colossus took another step, molten cracks spidering across its form. It raised both arms high, and the entire chamber pulsed with fiery energy. Rivers of lava began to churn violently, splashing against the frozen barriers Ethan had left behind.
Then came the Lava Vortices—whirling tornadoes of molten stone that spun into existence around the battlefield. They tore through stone bridges and platforms, leaving nothing but pools of fire in their wake.
Dan fired at the nearest one, but the arrow disintegrated before reaching it. "Those things are literal death!"
Ethan's eyes flicked toward the collapsing floor, then back to the monster. "Not if I can help it."
He raised Varyn high, runes blazing, and slammed the blade into the ground. "Frost Domain!"
A surge of icy energy burst outward, crawling across the floor and up the walls. Lava hissed and solidified into brittle, glowing glass. The nearest vortex froze in place before shattering into a thousand shards.
"Nice trick," Joseph muttered, gripping his sword. "Let's make it count!"
They moved as one.
Dan fired a barrage of frost-imbued arrows, Ethan channeling mana into each shot. Together, they formed Frostpierce Volley—a storm of freezing projectiles that slammed into the Colossus, covering parts of its molten shell in ice.
Joseph seized the opening, charging in and striking the frozen spots with everything he had. The sound was like a bell cracking—each impact sent fractures spreading deeper into the Colossus' armor.
The creature howled in fury, its body flaring with light so bright it turned the air white.
Then it exploded outward in a wave of pure heat.
Ethan was thrown off his feet, tumbling across the stone. His shield shattered. Dan fell to one knee, his wolf howling in pain as molten debris burned its flank. Joseph hit the wall hard enough to dent the stone, his armor glowing red-hot from the impact.
"Ethan!" Dan shouted, voice ragged. "We can't hold much longer!"
Ethan pushed himself up, breath fogging. Frost hissed from his armor as he rose, every movement slow and deliberate.
The Colossus towered before him, molten heart exposed, flames erupting from the fissures in its chest.
Joseph staggered to his feet, blood at the corner of his mouth. "We… can still fight."
Dan nocked another arrow, his hands trembling. "Yeah… yeah we can."
But Ethan could see it—their stamina draining, their mana flickering low, the toll written in their faces.
Then the Colossus moved again—faster than before. It swung its molten arm in a sweeping arc. Dan barely dodged, but his wolf took the hit, thrown violently into a pillar.
"NO!" Dan screamed, diving toward it.
Ethan's gaze hardened. The thrum in Varyn became a heartbeat in his skull.
He could feel the world narrowing—heat fading, sound dying.
All that remained was the pulse of his rage.
He stepped forward, voice low and trembling.
"I've had enough of you."
The Colossus bellowed, raising its burning fists. Lava erupted in geysers around them, the air filled with blinding light.
Ethan's voice became a roar that drowned everything else out.
"ENOUGH!"
He plunged Varyn into the ground.
The effect was instantaneous.
Frost erupted from the blade like an explosion of blue fire, racing outward in a storm of howling wind and crystallizing mist. The lava rivers froze mid-flow, their fiery glow extinguished in an instant. The walls, the air, the Colossus itself—all seized in a tidal wave of ice.
The heat vanished.
Silence followed.
The Flamebound Colossus stood frozen solid, mid-roar, encased in jagged frost that stretched to the ceiling. Cracks spread across its body as steam rose from the sudden change.
Ethan stood at the center of it all, his armor rimed with frost, his breath fogging in the still air. The light from Varyn dimmed, its runes flickering weakly.
Dan looked around in awe, whispering, "Holy hell…"
Joseph groaned, pushing himself upright. "Remind me never to piss you off, man."
Ethan didn't answer. His eyes were still glowing faintly blue, his hands trembling as frost crept up his forearms. The cold was spreading from him now—alive, almost sentient.
For a moment, none of them spoke. The only sound was the faint crackling of ice.
Then—
A low, rumbling noise echoed through the chamber.
The Colossus twitched.
Tiny fractures appeared in the frozen shell encasing it. The glow of molten energy began to seep through the cracks, brightening by the second.
Dan stepped back. "Uh… guys?"
Ethan lifted his head, eyes narrowing, the light from Varyn flaring once more.
The ice exploded outward in a storm of molten shards.
The Flamebound Colossus roared—burning brighter, stronger, alive with fury.
Ethan gripped Varyn tight, frost misting from his armor as he met its gaze.
"Round two," he said, voice low and cold.
The ground trembled as both forces prepared to clash once more.
And then—
The shards of ice hit the ground like glass rain.
Steam roared upward, filling the cavern in a blinding mist of heat and frost. For a heartbeat, no one could see — only hear the deep rumble beneath their feet.
Then came the light.
The cracks in the Colossus' frozen shell glowed white-orange, fissures spreading like lightning veins until the entire monster blazed with molten fury. Its roar shattered what remained of the ice as the ground itself split apart, molten fire bursting from beneath the frost-covered floor.
Joseph shielded his face. "It's still moving! How the hell do we kill this thing?!"
Ethan's voice was low, even, but his eyes burned with blue flame. "We will. Keep your distance — its heat's rising again."
The Flamebound Colossus stomped forward, every step a quake. It slammed its fists together, and sparks exploded outward like a storm of meteors. Chunks of flaming rock crashed down from above, forcing Dan and his wolf to dive behind a fallen column.
Dan rolled, drew, and fired in one motion. His speed was unnatural now — reflexes honed, senses sharpened. To him, the world moved slower, every molten fragment hanging in the air like drifting embers. His arrows traced glowing blue arcs through the steam, slamming into the monster's joints and chipping away at its molten armor.
"Ethan!" he called over the chaos. "That armor's breaking — but it's reforming too fast!"
"I see it." Ethan's grip on Varyn tightened until frost misted from the hilt. The sword pulsed with cold light, whispering in his mind, a voice ancient and commanding.
"Bind the flame. End its breath."
He planted one foot forward, channeling mana through the runes on his armor.
"Joseph! Hit its legs when I give the word!"
Joseph cracked his neck, pulling his gauntlets tight. "Gladly."
Ethan thrust Varyn skyward. "Frost Nova!"
A wave of icy wind burst outward from him, covering the battlefield in snow and frost-rimmed mist. The Colossus slowed, molten streams freezing mid-drip, its movements suddenly sluggish.
"Now!" Ethan roared.
Joseph charged through the mist like a cannonball. Mana flared around his arms, the air rippling with pressure. He swung both fists upward, slamming them into the Colossus' right knee.
The sound was deafening. The massive leg shattered, molten shards flying in every direction. The giant staggered, dropping to one knee.
"Ha! You feel that, you overgrown campfire!?" Joseph bellowed.
The Colossus slammed its fist down in retaliation, the blow cratering the ground beside him and spraying molten stone. Joseph rolled aside, narrowly avoiding being crushed.
Dan fired again — a rapid volley of arrows glowing blue from Ethan's frost buff.
Each one struck exposed magma, hardening it to black rock.
For a moment, it looked like they might actually win.
Then the Colossus' chest opened — literally splitting apart down the middle — revealing a blazing core within, brighter than the sun. The air turned blinding white. The chamber walls began to melt.
Ethan felt it before he saw it — a surge of energy building, a pulse that made Varyn hum in alarm. His breath caught.
"It's going to explode! MOVE!"
The three scattered, diving behind whatever cover they could find as the Colossus unleashed a beam of pure flame from its core. It carved through stone like butter, vaporizing entire sections of the dungeon floor. The shockwave threw Ethan off his feet, his shield shattering again.
When the light faded, half the chamber was gone — a sea of molten rock spreading outward where the floor had once been. The platform they stood on trembled, barely holding together.
Dan groaned, his arm smoking. "That… was way too close."
Joseph spat blood, grinning through it. "Close calls make good stories."
Ethan rose slowly, planting Varyn like a staff to steady himself. The ice at his feet began to spread again, crawling outward over the molten cracks. His voice came out colder than before.
"No more games."
Varyn's runes blazed, brighter than ever. Frost bled from its blade, coiling around Ethan's arms, shoulders, and chest until it looked as though he wore armor made of living ice. His shadow lengthened, and the air grew heavy.
Dan glanced at him, eyes wide. "Ethan… you good?"
Ethan didn't respond. His eyes were unfocused — glowing brighter, whiter, almost unnatural. The death-magic within him was stirring, cold and merciless.
"Stay back," he said softly. "I can feel its soul… burning. I can end it."
The Colossus turned toward him, sensing the shift. The ground beneath Ethan's feet froze solid as he advanced — one slow, deliberate step at a time. Steam rolled away from him, the battlefield splitting into two halves: flame and frost.
It roared and charged, the entire chamber shaking. Ethan raised Varyn, calling out a command that echoed like thunder.
"Grave Bind: Eternal Frost!"
Chains of blue light erupted from the ground, wrapping around the Colossus' limbs and chest, halting its movement mid-charge. It strained, molten veins cracking the frost, but the chains held. Ethan raised his other hand, and spectral mist swirled into a blade of ice above him.
"Joseph! Dan! Combine!"
Joseph grinned through the pain. "With pleasure!"
Dan loosed a volley of enchanted arrows that trailed frostlight — Joseph jumped into their arc, punching through them mid-flight. The arrows exploded on impact, forming a storm of ice shards that Joseph's fists carried straight into the Colossus' frozen chest.
The blow landed with a sound like a mountain collapsing. Ice shattered, magma hissed, and the Colossus screamed in agony as cracks spidered up its torso.
Its flames guttered.
For a heartbeat, it seemed to falter — then it broke free. The chains snapped, and its molten hands shot forward, grabbing Joseph and hurling him aside like a toy. Dan fired desperately, but the arrows melted before reaching their mark.
Ethan didn't move. He stood still in the freezing mist, his breath shallow. Varyn pulsed again — not urging this time, but warning.
"You will not control me for long, Deathborn."
He closed his eyes. "Then help me finish this."
He plunged the sword into the ground a second time.
"VARYN'S EMBRACE!"
The runes on the sword flared so brightly they cast shadows on the ceiling. The ground beneath the Colossus cracked — frost veins spreading like spiderwebs. Ice erupted upward in jagged spikes, impaling its molten limbs and torso, pinning it in place.
The flames dimmed.
The heat vanished.
Everything stilled.
Then Ethan whispered the last command. "Shatter."
A deep tone reverberated through the air — the sound of reality cracking. The ice exploded outward, consuming the Colossus from within, freezing it completely before shattering it into a thousand glowing shards.
For several seconds, there was only silence. Then the shards began to melt, fading into glittering motes of light that drifted toward Ethan. They sank into his armor, absorbed by the magic of Varyn.
The chamber grew quiet, save for the distant sound of dripping water.
Dan collapsed to one knee, letting out a long, shaky breath. His wolf limped over to his side, whimpering softly.
Joseph leaned against a cracked pillar, laughing weakly. "You… you have got to stop almost killing us every fight."
Ethan stood in the center of the ruined chamber, Varyn still planted in the ground. His eyes dimmed, returning to normal. The frost slowly receded from his armor, leaving him human again — but only barely. He looked exhausted, but the faintest smile crossed his lips.
"It's dead," he said quietly.
Dan pushed himself up. "That was insane, man. You froze lava."
Joseph gestured weakly. "And saved my ass from becoming barbecue. Again."
Ethan turned toward them, his tone softer than it had been all battle. "We won because of all of us. That's what matters."
Dan smirked. "Yeah, yeah. But let's be honest — you totally carried."
For the first time in what felt like ages, Ethan chuckled. "Maybe a little."
A rumble cut through the moment — deeper, older, from somewhere beneath the frozen floor. The cracks in the stone began to glow again, faintly red.
Dan's grin faded. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."
Ethan's smile vanished too. He lifted Varyn, its runes flickering weakly. "We need to move. Now."
The glow intensified. The air trembled.
Then, with a deafening crack, the center of the chamber collapsed inward, revealing a chasm of molten light far below — and something… moving within it.
Joseph cursed under his breath. "You have got to be kidding me."
Ethan's voice was steady, though his expression hardened. "It's not done yet."
He raised Varyn one last time, frost swirling around him once more as the molten pit erupted with blinding light.
And as the wave of heat washed over them, Ethan whispered coldly —
"Then we finish it."
At first, it was hard to tell what it was. The glare from the lava was blinding, searing through the haze of frost still lingering in the air. But then, the light shifted—rising, swirling, and taking form.
Massive hands of molten rock gripped the sides of the pit, claws the size of boulders digging into the stone as a second figure began to pull itself free.
Dan's eyes widened. "Oh, no… tell me that's not another one."
Joseph looked pale for the first time all day. "That's not a boss—" he swallowed hard, stepping back. "That's the thing the boss was protecting."
The cavern shook again as the creature's full shape emerged. It wasn't just molten fire this time—it was ancient, alive. A skeletal titan cloaked in flame and brimstone, its skull crowned with jagged horns of obsidian. Each breath it exhaled sent ripples of molten wind rolling through the dungeon, bending the frost that Ethan had conjured only moments ago.
The Flamebound Colossus had been its guardian—its jailer.
And now, with that jailer destroyed, its master was free.
Ethan steadied himself, eyes narrowing as he peered through the rising heat. His body trembled—not from fear, but from exhaustion. The power he had channeled through Varyn was immense, but even the sword's runes now flickered weakly, dimming like dying stars.
"Everyone…" His voice was low, almost drowned out by the rumbling beneath their feet. "Fall back."
Joseph hesitated, his hand clenching into a fist. "You can't be serious, man. We barely made it through the first one."
Ethan's gaze didn't waver. "Exactly. Which means if we stay—" he gestured toward the creature pulling itself from the lava, "—we die."
Dan's wolf growled, fur standing on end, as if sensing the same overwhelming force Ethan did. The archer nodded, grabbing Joseph by the shoulder. "He's right. Move, now!"
The three of them sprinted toward the tunnel they'd entered through, the ground quaking violently with every second. Chunks of the ceiling began to fall, molten rock splashing across what remained of the icy floor. Ethan stayed behind just long enough to raise a wall of frost between them and the awakening creature—a desperate barrier of mana that hissed and steamed as fire licked against it.
The roar that followed shattered it instantly.
It wasn't just a sound. It was pressure, raw and physical, slamming into their bodies and echoing in their skulls. The heat behind them grew unbearable as they ran, the light flaring bright enough to paint their shadows against the tunnel walls.
Joseph shouted over the chaos, "What the hell is that thing!?"
Ethan didn't answer. He didn't have to. He could feel it—something ancient, something wrong.
The very dungeon itself was alive, reshaping around the power that had just awoken.
Lava surged up the tunnel behind them, bursting from cracks and vents, chasing them like a living tide. Dan fired arrows behind him, not to stop it, but to mark the walls—their only hope of finding their way back through the smoke and fire.
They burst through the last stretch of the corridor, stumbling out into the night.
The world above had changed.
The volcano that had formed the dungeon's heart now pulsed like a dying star, the sky painted in crimson light. Geysers of molten rock burst upward from the ground around it, and even from the distance, Ethan could see the shape of the monster below beginning to rise higher—its shoulders and head visible through the surface.
The mountain was moving.
The three collapsed onto the rocky plain, gasping for air, sweat and frost mingling on their skin. For a long while, no one spoke. The only sound was the steady thunder of the world breaking behind them.
Joseph was the first to break the silence, his voice hoarse.
"So… tell me we're not going back down there."
Ethan stared at the glowing horizon, his breath still uneven.
"No," he said finally. "We're not going back down there."
Dan let out a shaky laugh. "Good. Because whatever that thing was—there's no way we can fight it yet."
Ethan's gaze stayed fixed on the burning mountain. His hand rested on Varyn, the blade humming faintly, as if sensing the same dread he did. The voice inside it whispered again—quiet, almost thoughtful.
"You've stirred something that should have slept."
He closed his eyes, his mind replaying the roar, the molten skull, the way the world itself seemed to recoil at its awakening.
This wasn't just a dungeon anymore.
It was the start of something far bigger.
Ethan exhaled slowly, frost curling from his lips.
"Whatever that thing is…" he murmured. "It won't stay underground forever."
Joseph forced a grin, trying to hide the worry in his tone. "Yeah? Then we'll just be ready when it comes out."
Dan nodded, his expression grim but determined. "We'll get stronger. We have to."
Ethan turned to them both, the faintest smile flickering across his face—an expression not of comfort, but of resolve.
"Then we train. We prepare. Because next time…" He looked back toward the mountain, its heart still pulsing with molten light.
"…we're going to end it."
The ground rumbled once more, a low, distant growl that rolled across the horizon.
Above the burning crater, a single column of flame erupted skyward, twisting like a serpent in the dark.
And deep within that inferno, eyes the color of molten gold opened—watching them.