The stairs to the final floor were different.
No more rough stone. No more red veins pulsing through the walls. The staircase was smooth, almost polished, carved from a piece of black obsidian that reflected faint purple light from somewhere above.
The air changed too.
It was cold and damp, carrying a smell that made Renna gag the moment they passed the halfway mark. She pulled her shirt over her nose and tried to breathe through her mouth.
"What is that?" she choked. "It smells like something died in a sewer and then got set on fire."
"Necrotic Abyssal residue," Emric said, wrinkling his nose. "Something undead is up there."
"Everything is so worse with you, Emric," Renna muttered.
Lyra tightened her grip on her spear as they continued upward.
"An undead Abyssal at the top of an S-Class Spire. That's going to be something big."
Holden didn't answer.
