The next key materialized the moment I stepped out of the Maw's collapse. A jagged shard of violet crystal shimmered in my palm, colder than ice.
[New Dungeon Key: The Glass Wastes]
[Threat Level: Calamity+]
[Time Limit: 96 Hours]
[System Assistance: 10%]
[Objective: Destroy the Shardstorm Titan]
"Calamity plus?" I muttered, rolling it between my fingers. "Guess catastrophic wasn't enough."
The storm within me stirred, restless. My body ached, but my will didn't waver.
I pressed the key forward. The world broke.
The Glass Wastes stretched endless under a white sun. Jagged plains of glass shimmered in every direction, cutting the air with a heat so sharp it hurt to breathe. Shards jutted up like frozen waves, reflecting twisted images of myself back at me — some stronger, some weaker, some already dead.
The system warned me:
[Environmental Hazard: Body temperature will rise unnaturally. Prolonged exposure may cause heatstroke, dehydration, or death.]
And as if that wasn't enough, the wind screamed. Razor-sharp shards spun through the air, carried by invisible currents. One cut my cheek before I even moved.
"Lovely place," I muttered, brushing away the blood.
Then the ground trembled.
From beyond the mirrored plains, something stirred.
The first monsters here weren't like the shadow spawn of the Maw. These were crystalline horrors — half insect, half sculpture. Their bodies refracted the sun into blinding rays, their limbs sharp enough to carve stone.
They didn't roar. They didn't hiss. They just clicked — like knives tapping against one another.
Dozens rose around me, encircling me across the wastes.
"Guess the welcoming party's here."
I struck first. Storm Veins lit, my body moving faster than thought. Purple lightning slashed through the air, shattering one creature into shards. But the moment it broke, two more crawled from the fragments.
I clicked my tongue. "Of course."
Every kill split into more. Every strike fed the wastes with new enemies.
It wasn't about slaughter this time. It was about endurance. Efficiency.
I slowed down. I changed my rhythm. Every swing of lightning became surgical, aiming for the glowing cracks inside their bodies. Hit the core, the creature stayed dead. Hit anything else, and it multiplied.
Hours turned into days. My water ran low. My skin blistered from the sun. My throat burned raw with every breath. Still, I moved. Still, I struck.
The storm inside me grew calmer. Sharper. No wasted motion. No wasted spark.
I wasn't the storm tearing recklessly anymore. I was the storm honed into a blade.
On the third day, I found it.
The Titan.
It rose from beneath the glass, taller than towers, a living mountain of shards and mirrored plates. Its body caught the sun and scattered it into a thousand spears of light, each one cutting across the battlefield.
The system pulsed.
[Boss: Shardstorm Titan]
[Timer: 36 Hours Remaining]
It raised a hand, and the wastes screamed. A storm of glass shards whirled into the air, blotting out the sky.
I smirked, wiping the sweat from my brow. "Finally. Something worth hitting."
The fight was endless.
The Titan's body regenerated with every strike, shards reassembling faster than I could destroy them. My lightning cut deep, but its sheer mass was overwhelming. Every wave of its hand brought a storm of blades that turned the battlefield into a blender.
I bled. My skin tore. My storm screamed inside me.
And then… I let go.
Not in defeat. In control.
The storm inside me wasn't just lightning. It was will. Will sharpened by suffering. By survival. By promises I couldn't break.
Purple sparks cascaded from my body, shaping into wraiths — Rael, Veyra, and now a third, heavier presence.
Kaelith, the armored wraith, shield in hand, intercepting the Titan's storm.
"Hold it," I growled through bloodied teeth.
The wraith obeyed.
I pulled everything inward. Every strike, every scar, every hour under the burning glass. I called it into my hand.
[Skill Mastery: Storm Convergence – Level 2]
[New Skill: Thunderous Dominion – Create a domain where storm suppresses enemy regeneration and doubles attack speed.]
The Titan shrieked as my domain spread across the wastes, purple lightning searing into every shard, denying it the chance to rebuild.
One strike. That's all I needed.
The storm converged. The Titan's chest cracked.
And with a roar that split the mirrored plains, I drove lightning straight through its core.
The Titan shattered.
Glass rained for miles.
When silence finally came, I collapsed to my knees, staring at the fragments glimmering like stars on the ground.
The system chimed, almost gentle:
[Dungeon Cleared: The Glass Wastes]
[Reward: Active Skill – Thunderous Dominion]
[Passive Upgrade: Storm Veins now permanently enhance base speed and reflexes.]
[Reward: Elixir Ingredient – Titan's Prism Heart]
I lay back on the shards, laughing raggedly at the empty sky.
"Two down," I whispered. "Two to go."
And the storm hummed back, hungrier than ever.