"AAARGH!"

Darwyn's scream ripped me out of unconsciousness like a thunderclap. The world returned in fragments. Roaring flame, stone shattering, the stench of scorched earth. My ears rang with the echo of chaos.

"...Mister Bromir, help me…"

Orin's voice was weak, barely audible beneath the din. But it pulled me back to my senses. I forced my eyes open. Vision blurred. Every bone in my body screamed.

I pushed myself upright and immediately regretted it. Smoke filled the cavern like a living thing, thick and choking, coiling through the air in heavy plumes. I could barely make out the silhouettes of my team.

Elena was down. Orin knelt beside rubble, clutching her ribs. Even Muradin, our unbreakable wall, was bloodied and swaying.

We were running out of options.

It was time to play our trump card.

My mind raced. I rushed straight toward the beast, channeling Galestride, Tempest Shield, and Inner Strength before stowing my staff.

Horrogoth stood like a mountain wreathed in fire, its armor cracked and steaming, its breathing heavy but far from weakening. I spotted a gash along its flank. Still raw, still open.

Then, with all my strength, I punched Horrogoth's open wound.

I jumped, bracing my entire body behind the blow, and drove my fist into the wound with everything I had.

Horrogoth reeled back, its entire bulk jolting. Not from pain. No, that was just irritation. But it turned. Its burning eyes locked onto me, its nostrils flaring. I had its attention now.

Perfect.

"Come on, you molten bastard," I whispered, blood dripping from my hand. "Let's dance."

I turned and bolted, dashing through the smoke and rubble, leading it away from the others. I didn't need to look back to hear the ground explode beneath its charge.

Galestride's effect was fading. Fast.

Horrogoth thundered behind me, flames erupting with every step. The heat singed my back. I could feel it breathing down my neck.

Wait for it… wait…

I pivoted hard and dove sideways.

WHOOOOOOM!

The sheer force of our trump card triggered a massive explosion, sending me flying through the air.

But I had done my part.

"NOW!" I screamed, my voice cracking with strain. "DARWYN!"

A second of silence.

Then—

CRRRRAAACK!

The cavern exploded in sound as the ceiling gave way. Massive boulders, glowing with residual heat, plummeted from above.

They slammed into Horrogoth's body with thunderous force, pinning it in place. One. Two. Then a dozen. Smoke and fire burst outward in a wave of fury and dust.

Darwyn had used the 4-hour downtime well. Extremely well.

During those periods, he'd managed to rig dozens of Sticky Bombs in a single spot, something I had never seen done before.

In Dreadspire, those bombs had a strict ten-minute lifespan. Yet here, in this twisted, real-world version of the game, they had a long lifespan.

"This was either going to be brilliant," he muttered back then, placing a bomb, "or blow us all to hell."

***

We wasted no time. Just enough to drink a few potions and fall back into position. Every breath was borrowed.

Then, with a groan like mountains shifting, Horrogoth stirred.

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The boulders trembled, lifted, flung aside like paper. The beast rose, towering once more. Smoke curled off its charred hide. Fire licked up its spine. Its molten tusks glowed hotter than before, pulsing with rage.

And then it roared.

The sound hit like a shockwave. No, like a hammer to the chest. I flew back, slammed into the stone floor hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. The cavern groaned as if it, too, feared the beast.

I rolled over, ears ringing, vision flickering.

The heat pressed in like a wall of flame, thick with smoke and ash.

Its tusks, now glowing with molten energy, even when the beast didn't prepare its ground slam attack, burned even brighter. The fire on its back roared to life like an inferno, casting flickering shadows across the cavern walls."

Horrogoth charged, blind but furious, smashing through the haze and into the cavern wall. Stone cracked and split under the weight of its fury.

"Crap. MOVE!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet just in time to dodge the impact. The cavern shook violently, sending loose rubble crashing to the ground.

No pause. No breathing room.

The monster immediately followed up with Molten Tusks, slamming its tusks into the earth.

Fiery geysers erupted around us, spewing molten flames high into the air.

Then came the quills.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Dozens of them. Searing hot and needle-sharp. One slammed into a pillar near my head and embedded itself with a hiss before exploding.

"Damn it, it's faster!" Muradin snarled, lifting his shield just in time to deflect one. Sparks flew.

The relentless chain of attacks left no openings. Every second, explosions erupted from the smoke clouds, forcing us to keep moving rather than counterattack.

We were on the defensive.

"It's getting more aggressive," Orin said breathlessly, gripping her staff.

I tried to think, eyes scanning the battlefield.

"This is bad," I muttered. "We're just running in circles."

***

For what felt like an eternity, we dodged, ducked, and scrambled to stay alive.

At this rate, we'd never be able to finish it off.

No strategy left. No clever tricks. Just desperation, and one pissed-off dwarf.

The dwarf grinned at us as Horrogoth prepared another Inferno Charge. "You lot really can't do a damn thing without me, huh?"

"Muradin, wait—" I called, but he was already gone.

Instead of dodging like the rest of us, Muradin stepped forward.

His shield glowed faintly, a dim but growing pulse of light, and his blackened armor thickened, as if drinking in the heat around him.

Darwyn cursed under his breath. "Stubborn, suicidal bastard."

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The impact was cataclysmic. Horrogoth's monstrous charge met Muradin's shield head-on, and the collision sent a shockwave of fire blasting upward, the sheer force scorching the air.

But before the dust even settled…

Another explosion. Molten Tusks.

Fiery geysers erupted from the cracks beneath Muradin, hurling his body skyward like a ragdoll.

For a heartbeat, he was weightless, suspended in midair.

Even as he was flung backward, his shield remained raised, aimed straight at Horrogoth like a final act of defiance.

Horrogoth twisted violently, its eyes locking onto the airborne dwarf.

A deadly barrage of jagged quills launched from its back, each one glowing like molten shards. They detonated the instant they struck Muradin's shield and armor, engulfing him in an inferno.

"Erynd, quit standing there like an idiot and HELP!" Muradin's voice was strained, his body trembling under the onslaught.

That snapped me out of it.

[Inner Beast cast]

[Bastion Strike cast]

A blinding surge of energy erupted from Muradin's shield. A searing, pure-white force radiating like a divine explosion.

The cavern was bathed in light, turning everything into a sea of white and gold. We flinched, instinctively shielding our eyes from the sheer intensity of it.

Horrogoth screamed, a shrill, soul-shredding howl of pain, as it was thrown back, crashing to the ground with a seismic THUD.

Silence.

Not even the sound of flames crackling. Not the low, eerie growl that had haunted us throughout the battle. Just silence.

"YAAAY, WE DID IT!" Orin cheered, her voice high with relief.

Darwyn, however, shook his head, dragging Muradin's half-conscious body over his shoulder.

"You're a lunatic," he muttered. "A suicidal, brainless lunatic."

Muradin coughed a smoky laugh. "Takes one to save you."

I let out a deep breath, my body finally slumping with exhaustion.

"IT'S STILL ALIVE! DON'T DROP YOUR GUARD!"

Elena's voice cut like a blade.

I spun just as Elena's arrow pinged harmlessly off a flickering shimmer around Horrogoth's hulking body.

A barrier.

"No—no no no—" Orin's hands moved fast, hurling Mana Bomb and a Frostbound Flask in a single, practiced motion. They hit the shield and fizzled. Like sparks vanishing into a storm.

Horrogoth rose.

Its body glowed a deep, furious crimson. The air warped around it, heatwaves blurring the monster's outline as if reality itself rejected its presence.

Wind and fire coiled at its feet, spinning faster, forming a vortex that roared like an incoming storm.

Every fiber of my being screamed that we were about to witness something far worse than anything it had thrown at us before.

Another phase.

A desperate, last-stand transformation.

"FUUUUUCK!" I cursed, my voice raw with frustration.

This wasn't over.

Not even close.

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