A black disc of Navi'N dust skimmed the flagstones inches above the ground. Zehrina stood at its center with her palms open, threads of black particulate rising to her wrists and pouring forward in a quiet flood. Wherever the disc slowed, the dust shaped itself into blades and hooks and fine nets. A lizard‑thing sprang from a crack and vanished mid‑leap. A row of long‑armed crawlers reached from a ceiling seam and came down as powder. None of it slowed her stride.
The others rode the circle in a tight ring. Presidroids watched the rim with a stillness that felt like pressure. Lutrian kept Warrex riding piggyback, strapping the bulging sack to Warrex's back instead. The weight was nothing new at this point.
Floor 274 ended at a boss door that opened on clean stone. No spoor. No bones. Not even dust in the corners.
Lutrian hitched Warrex higher. "Nothing. We cleared the floor above a moment ago. That rules out a boss heading up."
Jefferson signaled Eisenhower to sweep. "Check for cloaking."
Sensors passed across the room in a smooth arc. Eisenhower's tone stayed even. "Nothing. No thermal trace, no mana veil. The chamber's empty."
They dropped to 275 and found edge marks, the kind left by a heavy body scraping along a wall. No corpse. They crossed three sectors without fighting. The few things that showed themselves died fast and quiet under Zehrina's dust. 276 held two rooms stained dark, both dry at the edges. 277 stank of copper where a smear still glistened wet.
Jefferson crouched at the smear, rolled a finger through the tacky line, then listened to it stick and release when he pressed his thumb. "This part matches the Captain's report. Monster deaths are persisting like they do during a break. What does not match is sequence. Dry on 276. Wet here. The order of death runs downward. That makes no sense."
Grant grunted disapprovingly. "Bosses do not walk into stronger territory, downward is as good as suicide."
"Not for one floor," Lutrian said, though he did not sound convinced. "But three floors is unwise at the very least."
Floor 278 felt wrong in a way the others did not. The stone was clean, the air clear, the sound too steady. Everything was perfect up to the boss doors where a full mass of lesser monsters pressed into the antechamber. Four titans held the front like pillars left from another era.
"Hold," Jefferson said, more to his own curiosity than to anyone else. He raised a hand without looking away.
Zehrina's foot hovered above the disc. She let it fall and waited. The team slid behind a split shelf of stone twenty long strides from the doors. Grit bit palms and knees. The cover held.
From there, the monster leaders resolved. The first, man sized, wore green metal for skin and a skirt of darker plates that moved like fabric. A heart‑shaped gem hung behind its head and pulsed in a slow measure, each beat sending a faint lattice that settled over nearby creatures and thickened their outlines. The next dragged a long fish body the size of a bus, armed with two heavy arms. A spear in its grip dripped a fine thread of poison that smoked where it touched the floor. A third, no less than fifty feet tall, even crouched, had skin like a bear with mange. The creature's torso was covered in numerous mouths, supporting a smooth, jawless head. Its arms and legs were unnaturally long and many-jointed. With a spider's stillness, it patiently tested the stone with four points before shifting its position. The last towered above them by at least double the next tallest, a white spotted wolf until the eye reached the hands. Each ended in long, human finger‑shaped claws that flexed and unflexed in an idle rhythm.
Jefferson tapped Lutrian twice before speaking. "Hey, what are those things?"
Lutrian sighed long and hard, pointing them out left to right. "Must I always… Ugh, Flurfoak. Verto. Guamapir." His eyes held on the wolf. "That one is either a Bouyes or a… Whowo maybe... Ask me for the fine print when my brain is not soup."
"I do not care what the names are," Zehrina said, taking a step forward. "They die the same."
"Wait," Lutrian answered, palm on her sleeve. "Those three must be the bosses of the three empty floors."
Level as a metronome, Eisenhower scanned the crowd of monsters. "This is not random. They are building a formation to kill the boss."
Madison lifted his chin, slightly intrigued, and raised a single finger. "The first possibility is native intelligence and cooperation," he stated before raising a second finger. "The second possibility is external control, perhaps an adventurer who happens to be a powerful beast tamer?"
Monroe watched the way the lines firmed and held, tracking the shifts. "Coherence at this scale is new," he murmured.
Within the boss room's darkness, two red embers ignited. The four leaders herded the smaller figures forward. At the threshold, the spotted wolf paused, lifting a claw. It pointed directly at the rock where Team Two was positioned, followed by a harsh bark, too clipped and shaped to be simple human speech.
A quick snap from Jefferson toward Lutrian, "Lutrian, what did he say?!"
"What, you think I took Monster Gibberish in school?" Lutrian shot back. "Just because I am well read doesn't mean I'm some sort of monster whisperer!"
Narrowing her eyes, Zehrina said, "It sees us."
The monsters ignored Team Two and continued to the boss room. The doors swung wide and the army went through. A transparent wall lifted from the floor and sealed the opening. Zehrina walked to it and slammed her fist to the field. The ward rang like glass, but it did not budge.
Lutrian stared past his own reflection. Two red eyes watched from a throne of broken stone, a beast draped its colossal form across the ruined seat, wings unfurled in a lazy sprawl three hundred feet across, while its shoulders hunched a hundred feet above the flame-charred ground. Crimson light pulsed slowly from the depths of its gaze, casting eerie rhythms across the rubble and sparse clusters of fire ringing its domain. Each heavy breath sent ripples of heat shimmering from fur matted with ash and massive leathery wings curled in casual menace.
"The… Zolinka," Lutrian said, voice almost a whisper.
Grant, clearly amused by the monster as much as he was by Lutrian's fear, slapped the prince on his shoulder. "Don't be scared, young prince."
"Uh...weren't you born this year?" Lutrian grumbled.
Grant ignored him and continued. "It is only a building sized demon bat that looks like it was born from the rage of a sentient wildfire."
"Thanks, Grant, I feel so much better now," Lutrian said sarcastically. "But, this thing is listed in only the oldest of texts. Before humans even made swords, this monster was worshipped. Which means this wolf monster is most certainly a Bouyes…"
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Jefferson asked.
"Though the texts are barely readable anymore, the Bouyes is the monster most commonly written alongside it. They are referred to as rivals, a hundred years they battled, or so the legend goes, legends always have things like a hundred or a thousand, could have been sixty-seven years for all I know," Lutrian responded.
After a few last minute spells the Flurfoak used on the whole horde of monsters, the enhanced swarm of lesser monsters ran. The Zolinka regarded the group without urgency, like a bored spectator barely entertained by the arrivals before it.
"I do not like that thing's attitude," Zehrina said.
Fire fell from the high dark in a merciless grid, each blazing stone carving a white streak through the air before slamming into the swarm with so much heat the bodies simply vaporized, turning the front ranks into drifting sheets of ash. The lesser monsters surged anyway, screaming through the gaps, only to vanish in second and third waves as more burning stones punched holes straight through them. Heat shimmered across the battlefield in rolling curtains while sparks rained over whatever scraps remained. The Zolinka watched the spectacle with a low, rumbling chuckle and stretched its jaws in a slow yawn, amused by how little effort it took to thin a crowd.
The floor bosses of the four upper floors gathered in a loose stance, nerves stretched thin. Three left the wolf behind as they rushed towards the Zolinka. A sudden bark from the wolf halted their breath; in that moment of stillness, a fresh hailstorm of meteors gouged the ground where they'd nearly stepped. Only after the shattered stone stilled did the Zolinka stir, unfolding wings vast enough to scare Lutrian into taking a few steps back despite being safe outside the barrier.
Without waiting, the Verto lunged forward alone. Overhead, stones formed swiftly, plunging downward in ruthless bursts. Twin spheres at the Verto's shoulders spun furiously, spitting blades of water sharp enough to fracture the air itself. Stones exploded into mist before touching earth. Gliding with unnatural speed, the merman dragged its spear, poison streaming like pale smoke, sizzling angrily on contact with stone. With a wide sweep, it flung a lethal arc of the corrosive fluid toward the throne.
A deep laugh rolled softly from the Zolinka's throat. One easy wingbeat reversed the deadly stream. The Verto's own ward refused to contest its nature, allowing pale venom to wash freely over chest and face, melting skin into thick ribbons that dripped away. Yet even as its flesh dissolved, the creature hurled its spear with desperate resolve. It bounced gently against the demon's chest, useless as a child's toy.
Now the Guamapir and Flurfoak advanced in lockstep. Behind the Flurfoak's head, light gathered silently, pulsed, then narrowed into a blinding beam. The first strike punched squarely into the Zolinka harmlessly; the second, twice as wide, followed without pause. A cold smile curved across the demon's lips, empty of humor. But as successive blasts continued to double in size and power and pummel its body, amusement melted slowly into guarded curiosity.
By the eighth shot, the Zolinka felt enough of a threat to raise a casual palm, deflecting the energy aside. Finally, blood dripped slowly from the hand which encouraged the Flurfoak to follow up immediately. The ninth crackled the air around it as it met a folded wing of the Zolinka instead, shattering the throne as it drove the monstrous bat backward step by grudging step, stone grinding beneath its clawed heels until it crashed into the back wall of the chamber.
Energy thickened in the chamber, the final charge building until the very air sang in pain. With a slow lift of its chin, the Zolinka summoned another storm of meteors. Immediately Guamapir stepped forward, shielding the Flurfoak, mouths splitting open across its massive form. Smaller stones vanished down hungry throats over the Guamapir's body, while the larger ones forced harsh pivots that ripped trenches in the stone underfoot to generate the torque necessary to shatter them with punches. Low, swift, and desperate, it charged towards the Zolinka.
By that time, the Zolinka had already closed the distance, its red eyes face to face with the terrified monster. With no room to react, the Guamapir closed its eyes as a single wing blurred through the air, and in the next breath, it painted the far wall.
In the same heartbeat, the Flurfoak unleashed its final, devastating beam, a blinding torrent of emerald energy that tore through the air with a shriek, scorching the ground in its path. For the first time in the fight the Zolinka showed a shadow of fear on its face. The previous attacks had been mere annoyances, but this blast held a true, annihilating force. With a grunt of effort, it drove a fist down, its palm open, catching the searing energy just before it reached them. The impact shuddered through the chamber, the floor tiles beneath her splintering and fusing into glass. Light plunged into the depths, and several levels below, a distant glow ignited. A moment later, the chamber's rear wall erupted outward, stones scattering into the newly formed void, a testament to the power she had just barely contained.
Distracted by the destruction it caused, the demon didn't see the wolf strike. Claws raked viciously across its ribs, flattening the Zolinka to the ground. Rolling fluidly, the demon bat sprang upright again, unhurt, wings propelling it skyward. A single molten boulder coalesced in the air above, then fell toward the wolf like a tumbling moon.
A primal roar ripped from the throat of the giant wolf, a sound that seemed to gather the air itself into a destructive, concussive force. The stone floor groaned under the pressure as the released power instantly atomized the descending meteor into a fine, particulate mist. This power continued its destructive trajectory, unfortunately tearing the nearby Flurfoak into scattered, lifeless plates.
Lutrian's shoulders dropped, the rigid tension in his frame dissolving into a stunned comprehension. "That roar, its power… that confirms it," he whispered, his eyes wide with a dawning terror. "It is a Bouyes. We are lucky we didn't have to face it."
"You were lucky," Zehrina corrected.
The Bouyes resumed the fight after briefly looking for the Flurfoak.
It hit the wall, shattered the stone with its hind legs, and turned itself into a kinetic missile. Calculated violence replaced blind rage, the choreography honed over a century of losses. The Zolinka banked left, a move designed to clear any lesser predator, but the wolf twisted in mid-air, anticipating the dodge with sickening precision. Claws hooked the demon's shoulder, anchoring deep. The Bouyes swung its full weight, levering the demon's own buoyancy against it to slam the colossal bat into the ceiling. A sound like a collapsing mine shaft shook the room. Dust rained down, incinerated instantly by the heat radiating from the Zolinka's fur.
For the first time, the Zolinka looked alive. It took the impact with a grunt that bordered on a laugh, twisting its neck to snap at the burden clinging to its back. The Bouyes bailed a fraction of a second before jaws clamped on empty air, dropping to the floor only to rebound instantly. White-spotted fur streaked through the area, a relentless assault refusing to let the demon settle. Claws scored deep furrows across the Zolinka's chest, spilling magma-bright blood that hissed and evaporated before it hit the ground. The wounds knit shut seconds later, but the impact lingered. The demon hovered, wings beating heavy, rhythmic pulses that fanned the flames higher, eyes locked on the wolf with burning, arrogant satisfaction.
But the arena grew even more harsh. The Zolinka transmuted the atmosphere, turning the air gelatinous with heat. The Bouyes launched for another throat-tear, jaws gaping wide, but the snap lacked its earlier thunder. It landed heavily, stumbling on legs that had shattered stone moments ago. Ribs heaved, a frantic, bellows-like pumping that drew in nothing but ash and scorched nitrogen. The fire had eaten the oxygen.
The wolf froze, swaying, eyes wide and desperate, fixed on the hovering demon. A familiar tableau played out, the Bouyes fading, the Zolinka watching from above, untouched. The demon held its place in the superheated air, wings slowly beating. It watched its oldest enemy suffocate with a gaze that was terrible, possessive, and entirely patient.
The narrowing of the Zolinka's red eyes signaled the conclusion. A cascade of stones plunged from the ceiling, choking the Bouyes mid-roar. Its lungs simply could not draw breath. Three shockwaves managed to tear free, but the fourth died, a tremor in its own throat. The debris finished the kill.
Grant chuckled to himself and unfolded his arms. "Not much of a rivalry if you have a whole army and still get dominated without leaving any lasting damage."
Then, a deep silence. The outer barrier shimmered, then dissolved. Inside, the chamber reversed itself as stone flowed to re-form the walls, and the throne was whole and pristine. The Zolinka stood by the doorway, utterly untouched. It merely lifted a claw, curling a single finger, a plain, silent summons.
Jefferson exhaled. "Well, that was at least good entertainment."
Zehrina stepped to the line where the barrier had been. "We are done watching."