The Cragspike Colossus's shell scraped the cavern roof as it lunged, jagged crystal spikes gouging deep lines into the rock. The ground quaked under its weight, loose stones raining from above.
"Left flank! Now!" Eliakim's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. He didn't move from his vantage point atop a jagged spur of stone — eyes tracking every shift of the beast's massive body, mind dissecting angles, distances, and timing.
Gideon dove to the left as ordered, his twin axes gripped tight. The Colossus's front claw slammed where he had been a heartbeat earlier, leaving a crater in the stone.
From the haze of the fight, a cold mist began to coil low to the ground, heavy and laced with a strange metallic tang. Within it, something moved.
Your blades are too light for this siege, came a voice like frost hissing against ember. Let me take them.
Gideon didn't hesitate. His axes dissolved into ribbons of black-and-silver energy, twisting into the mist. The ground trembled under the weight of massive paws crunching over frost and ash. Out of the fog stepped Kaelvryn.
She was unlike anything they had seen — a Chimeric Riftborn, half fur, half crystal, steam curling from her jaws. Shards of ice jutted from her flanks, glowing faintly, while molten light pulsed along her shoulders and spine. Her mismatched eyes — one icy blue, one ember red — burned with a predator's focus.
The black-and-silver threads reformed in her grasp, becoming twin katanas, one long and one short, edges catching the faint glow from the cavern's crystals. She slid them back into Gideon's waiting hands.
"Perfect," he muttered, a wolfish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
The Colossus shifted, and the cavern became a trap. Narrow choke points formed where its shell scraped the walls, forcing the team to split and rejoin in coordinated bursts.
"Caleb, harry its left leg — tendon's between those plates," Eliakim called. "Ezra, frost the joints when it lifts the front claws."
They moved as one, each of the beast's slow, crushing motions answered by precision. Still, every blow landed with the weight of an avalanche, and a single misstep could flatten them.
Then the opening came.A deep crack echoed through the cavern as Caleb's arrow slipped under the shell rim, drawing a grinding bellow. The Colossus reared back, shell tilting just enough to reveal the faint glow of a crystalline core beneath layers of jagged armor.
Kaelvryn's mismatched gaze locked on it.That core will bind to me. With it, I awaken more of my strength — and your arsenal will grow.
"Do it," Gideon growled.
The plan moved like clockwork. Ezra's frost sealed the beast's rear claw in place, Caleb's rapid shots kept its torso twisted, and the opening yawned wide.
"Gideon — now!" Eliakim barked.
Gideon surged forward, blades flashing. The long katana carved a clean arc across a weakened seam, the short blade following in a brutal stab that pierced the core. Shards of crystal burst outward like frozen lightning, the beast's roar shaking the cavern.
The core's glow bled into Gideon's palm, searing but steady. Steam and frost swirled together as Kaelvryn stepped forward, lowering her head to touch the stone with her molten-and-ice muzzle. Light surged through her body, bright veins racing along fur and crystal.
When the glow dimmed, her voice came like a satisfied rumble:Twenty percent… unlocked. And the siege weapon in your hands grows sharper still.
The Colossus shuddered once more… and collapsed, its massive form settling into silence.
Eliakim finally descended from his perch, scanning the fallen beast."Well done. We move. The second floor won't wait for us to rest."
They gathered, weapons in hand, victory echoing in the still air — chased by the certainty that deeper below, Thornveil's heartbeat was only growing stronger.