Absolute Cheater

The sixth mountain was different from the others—as the more they climbed, the more hotter it became, and this astonished them as all three of them are powerful yet they can sense the rise in temperatyre, meaning the dungeon is laced with Fire laws.

As the group approached, the air itself vibrated with low, echoing rumbles. A steady rhythm of cracking rock and boiling magma echoed through the peaks. The mountain had a split down its center like a monstrous jaw, and within it lay the sixth dungeon: Molten Fangs Gorge.

From above, the gorge resembled the gaping mouth of a behemoth, with ridges of volcanic stone curving upward like serrated teeth. Every few moments, a plume of steam hissed from hidden vents, and flashes of molten light revealed clawed etchings across the canyon walls—remnants of something ancient and angry.

Asher glanced down at the dungeon map. "This place was once the den of a primordial beast. Something huge. Long before the war of dominions."

Valeris added, "The gorge became a battlefield later, when fire-spirits and ash-born titans fought over control. But none of them lasted. The terrain itself devours anything that lingers too long."

Veyra observed the glowing fissures and the melted ruins of ancient weapons buried in cooled lava. "So what's the boss here?"

Asher narrowed his eyes at the mark on the map. "A living fossil of the war. Part beast, part elemental. The name given to it is Furnacelord Drahzeth. Something between a draconic war-god and a living volcano."

Valeris nodded. "This one isn't cursed like the others. It's pure rage. Living heat."

Asher turned to Veyra. "He won't give you philosophical speeches or make judgments. He'll just try to crush you."

Veyra tied her hair up with a single flick and stepped toward the gate without hesitation.

The moment she crossed into the dungeon, the temperature spiked. She stood at the edge of a massive gorge inside the mountain, with molten rivers flowing along jagged channels far below. Ash rained from above like snow, and stone bridges crumbled under their own heat.

And from the center of the gorge, a rumble began.

Then came the roar.

It shook the very mountain.

The lava rose.

From beneath it, something titanic rose—Furnacelord Drahzeth.

His body was formed of obsidian plates glowing from the cracks, magma pulsing like blood through the fissures. His back was a jagged ridge of stone spines, and his limbs were thick and clawed like a great wyvern. His head was a molten skull crowned by flame, and his breath was not fire—it was plasma.

He emerged onto the central platform, cracking it with his weight. "WHO… DISTURBS… THE FLAME THAT BURNS FOREVER?"

Veyra's blood congealed slightly under the pressure. This wasn't a test of technique. This was raw force. But she didn't step back.

She summoned her glaive. "I'm the one who's going to put that flame out."

The fight began.

Drahzeth opened with a breath attack—not a wave of fire, but a focused beam of molten energy that turned rock into liquid instantly. Veyra darted across a crumbling stone path, her boots skimming above the surface with the help of her blood glide technique.

She hurled a spike of frozen blood at the beast's eye. It struck—but only left a glowing scar. Drahzeth's claws swung in a wide arc, crushing a stone bridge that barely missed her.

The heat was unbearable, so she adapted.

Using her blood vines, she summoned a canopy of frost, shielding herself from the ambient temperature. At the same time, she infused her glaive with Moon Bloom essence, turning it a bright, icy silver.

Her first major attack came in a blur—she launched herself forward, dashed across three burning ridges, and slid underneath Drahzeth's chest, slashing up through the soft magma-flesh beneath his plating.

He roared in pain and whipped his tail. She barely blocked it using a cross-guard of blood vines.

He then stomped, causing the entire platform to fracture into floating islands. The battlefield became unstable.

Drahzeth flew into the air—stone wings erupting from his back—and began launching molten meteors down from above.

Veyra countered by forming a lattice of frozen spikes across the air using her vines and jumped between them, closing the gap mid-air. She reached Drahzeth in the sky, whirled her glaive, and slammed it down into the beast's shoulder.

A massive crack formed along the plate.

Drahzeth fell, crashing into the lower lava pools—but not dead.

He emerged, angrier, now glowing red-hot, entering a second phase.

Chains of molten iron erupted from his body, swinging like whips.

She was caught once—sent flying into a spire of rock—but recovered fast.

Her hair singed. Her armor cracked.

But her blood was boiling in a good way.

She bled into the air and drew it back in—activating Empyrean Bloom, her blood technique enhanced with both cold and domination. Her next strike froze not only Drahzeth's limb—but part of the lava pool itself.

He tried to move, and his limb snapped from its own heat fighting her frost.

Veyra took advantage of the frozen moment—literally—and drove her glaive through the crack in his skull, spinning once, then detonating it with a frozen blood orb.

Drahzeth screamed. His flames went wild. Lava exploded into the sky.

And then… silence.

The titan collapsed, his glow dimming, his massive body finally still.

Asher and Valeris entered the battlefield as the heat began to subside.

Valeris gave a short nod. "That one looked rough."

Veyra let out a long breath, brushing dust and blood from her cheek. "He didn't talk much."

Asher smiled slightly. "You like that better?"

Veyra gave a small shrug. "I didn't say that."

Asher opened the map. "Only three gates left now."

They turned, moving toward the descending path.

The path to the seventh mountain was narrow and treacherous, with steep ridges and dense overgrowth slowing their pace. Cracked stones jutted out of the slope like jagged teeth, and the sky above had turned an odd violet-grey, tinted by a constant haze of pollen drifting on the wind.

This was the domain of the Violet Thorn Ravine.

Even before they reached the dungeon gate, they felt it—an oppressive stillness, as though the entire mountain were holding its breath. The air was thick with the scent of wilted flowers and bitter sap, and everywhere, vines curled along the cliffs, twitching faintly like they were alive.