Absolute Cheater

Asher stepped closer, staring at the rippled ground where the creature had dissolved. "That wasn't just a dungeon boss. It fed on who you are—memories, pain, pieces of identity."

Veyra didn't respond right away. Her glaive was still in hand, faintly glowing with the last traces of her Thorned Eclipse. The frost-blood petals along its edge were slowly melting, droplets running down the blade like warm condensation. The obsidian walls around them had begun to crack and fall away. The strange pulsing from earlier was gone. Whatever power had sustained this place had vanished with the monster.

Valeris stepped up beside her and extended a hand. "Come on. We've still got another one to go."

Veyra took her hand, nodding. The three of them turned and left the collapsing chamber. Behind them, the gate to the Lurker's Cradle crumbled. The glowing runes that had once marked its entrance dimmed and peeled away like fading ink.

Ninth Mountain — Stormlit Crypt

The ninth mountain stood taller than the rest. Its slopes were jagged and sharp, and the peak was completely hidden beneath a thick layer of swirling storm clouds. The wind was stronger here, carrying a strange weight to it. Lightning flickered constantly along the cliffs, jumping from ridge to ridge like it was alive.

Near the summit, the entrance to the ninth dungeon came into view. It was marked by a massive stone gate embedded into the mountainside. The door was covered in layers of runes—some etched in stormsilver, others burned in with lightning itself. Around the gate, skeletal remains had been left in precise patterns. Warriors, monks, and robed figures sat cross-legged in circles, their bones undisturbed. Each had the same expression frozen on their skulls—some terrified, others strangely serene.

Valeris stepped closer, narrowing her eyes. "This is sealed… but why?"

Asher placed a hand on the runes. A low hum vibrated from the stone. "The Stormlit Crypt… the Ninth Dungeon. It always releases high-pressure winds. That's why it's sealed."

Veyra looked up just as a bolt of lightning struck the very top of the gate. It didn't make a sound, but it lit up the whole mountainside. The light lingered in their vision long after it faded.

Asher stepped back. "I'm releasing the seal now. Step back and be ready—the pressure is going to hit hard once it opens."

Just as they moved back, the gate began to open with a loud, thunderous thud and a sudden release of air pressure. A powerful gust of wind rushed out from the crypt, nearly throwing Veyra off balance.

Inside, the dungeon wasn't dark. Lightning bolts were suspended in the air, frozen in place, flickering but unmoving. The interior corridor twisted downward, made of scorched stone and mirrored walls. Their reflections in the glass were distorted—sometimes showing them older, wounded, or wearing armor they didn't recognize.

As they walked, ghostly images of past challengers flickered into view—some locked in battle, others screaming, but all long dead. The sounds were faint, as though heard through water, but the oppressive atmosphere made it clear that something powerful was waiting ahead.

"This dungeon's environment is creepy," Valeris muttered.

Veyra adjusted her grip on her glaive, still recovering from the last battle. "I'll handle it. Just like the others."

They moved forward.

The deeper they went, the stranger it became. The walls twisted more, the air grew heavier, and even time felt unstable. One step stretched into a minute; the next passed in a blink.

Eventually, they reached the central chamber.

At its center stood a massive figure.

It wasn't a typical monster. It looked like a knight—tall, clad in blackened armor veined with crackling lightning. Chains of clouded glass hung from its arms and shoulders, and its helmet was split down the middle, as if once struck by a thunderbolt.

The figure knelt in silence, hands clasped in a pose of prayer. For a moment, it didn't move.

Then its head lifted.

Lightning flared throughout the crypt.

Its eyes blazed with power.

The guardian of the Stormlit Crypt had awakened, sensing the presence of intruders.

"That's the Knight of Storm," Asher warned, narrowing his eyes. "He's your next opponent. He controls powerful wind and lightning Laws, and his swordsmanship is just as dangerous."

He and Valeris stepped back, giving Veyra room.

It was her fight now.

His armored frame towered over Veyra, each movement radiating controlled force. Lightning pulsed through the cracks in his plating, flowing like blood through veins of thunder. In his right hand, he summoned a blade—not of steel, but of pure, coiled lightning, stabilized by a hilt of storm-forged crystal. Wind coiled around him in concentric circles, howling with unnatural sharpness.

Veyra stepped forward, her glaive in hand, her breath steady.

He attacked first.

The Knight vanished with a burst of wind. Veyra's eyes widened—but not in fear. She dropped low, sliding across the slick floor just as the storm blade sliced through where her neck had been. Sparks trailed behind the knight's slash, carving into the mirrored wall and sending out a resonant shockwave.

Veyra came up spinning, glaive trailing a crescent of frost and bloodlight, but he parried effortlessly. The force of his block knocked her back five paces, boots skidding.

She grimaced. Strong. Faster than the Maw. More focused than the Flame Duke.

He didn't let her recover.

The knight lifted his left hand. Storm chains exploded from the floor, each crackling with unstable lightning. Veyra leapt high, but one caught her ankle mid-air, dragging her sideways. She twisted, severing the chain with a razor bloom of her glaive—but another one rose and pierced her shoulder.

Pain arced down her body. Her vision pulsed white.

She didn't scream.

Instead, she reached toward the wound, pulled the chain deeper—then used the embedded metal to anchor herself mid-spin. Her glaive became a blur, carving a wide arc that slashed across the knight's torso.

The impact threw sparks but didn't pierce deep. His armor was denser than it appeared.

He drove a palm into her stomach.

The world inverted.

Veyra crashed through two pillars of scorched stone, tumbled, then rolled to her feet—barely. Blood laced her lips, her shoulder sizzling with residual lightning.

But her eyes shone brighter.

She extended her arm. Sigils bloomed around her—red and white, interwoven with glimmers of deep violet.

She activated her hybrid form—Crimson Bloom: Empyrean Phase.

Her cloak unfurled into a mantle of blood-petal wings, her glaive transformed—now rotating with frost-chained blossoms that left trails of withering light.

She dashed forward, flickering between footfalls.