The cold inside the dungeon was not just temperature. It was intent. Every step we took made the air close in around our bodies, as if the environment itself were trying to convince us to give up before reaching the end. My hands were stiff, not from the ice, but from the pressure the flame inside me was under. It wasn't reacting with fury. It was alert. Like an animal that recognizes a larger predator.
We descended one more level.
The silence there was unlike anything I had ever felt. There were no echoes. No wind. Not even the sound of our breathing seemed to travel far. Everything was absorbed by the ice-covered stone, marked with demonic symbols carved like ancient scars.
Vespera walked just behind me, bow in hand, even knowing that missing was almost guaranteed. Still, she didn't loosen the string. Elara was breathing with difficulty, her mana already at its limit, trying not to show how much it was wearing her down. Liriel came last, gripping her focus of light far too tightly for someone who always said she wasn't good for much. In that moment, no one was useless. Being there already required courage.
The elf walked ahead.
His presence was absurd. Not in an exaggerated sense, but solid. Every step he took seemed to push the cold back, as if the world recognized something superior. His name was Aerendyl Vael'thir, leader of the elven guild and an SS-Class adventurer. Until now, he hadn't shown even a tenth of the power people said he possessed, and yet everything around him seemed to respect him.
He stopped.
I felt it before I heard anything.
A crushing pressure overtook the corridor. My knees nearly gave way. The flame inside me screamed without sound. Not from fear, but from recognition.
Aerendyl spoke quietly.
"We've arrived."
The chamber opened before us like a throne buried in ice. Enormous columns supported a distant ceiling, covered in frozen crystals that pulsed in a slow rhythm, almost like a heart. At the center, a throne carved from black ice.
And someone was seated on it.
The Sixth General of the Demons did not rise. He didn't need to. His presence alone was enough to dominate everything. He had a humanoid appearance, tall, his body wrapped in armor that looked like living ice. There were no cracks. No signs of wear. It was too perfect. His eyes were white, without pupils, deep like an eternal winter.
When he spoke, the entire dungeon answered.
"So you have come to me."
My body locked up. I couldn't respond immediately. His voice didn't enter through my ears. It went straight into my mind.
Aerendyl took a step forward.
"General of the Deep Ice. Your advance ends here."
The demon tilted his head slightly, as if curious.
"An SS elf. Interesting. But irrelevant."
Then he looked at me.
Everything stopped.
"You… are the bearer."
The flame inside me exploded in pain. Not fire. Pain. As if something had been torn out by force and put back in the wrong way. I fell to my knees, struggling to breathe.
Elara screamed my name. Vespera tried to move forward, but an invisible wall hurled her backward. Liriel raised her light instinctively, and for the first time, her magic truly responded, creating an intense glow that cracked the surrounding ice for a few seconds.
The General smiled.
"That flame does not belong to you."
Aerendyl moved.
I didn't see the strike. I only felt it. A colossal impact tore through the chamber as the elven blade collided with the General's arm. The shockwave hurled me backward, making everything spin. The ground split, columns partially collapsed, and for a brief instant, I thought it might be enough.
It wasn't.
The General was holding the blade with his bare hand.
Ice spread over the metal, freezing the weapon down to its core. Aerendyl tried to pull back, but it was too late. A single motion from the General sent him crashing into the wall with absurd force. The impact made the ground tremble.
"You are strong," the demon said calmly. "But not enough."
Desperation tried to rise in my throat, but I swallowed it down by force. The flame reacted chaotically. I stood up, even with my legs trembling.
"Elara, fall back!"
"I won't leave you!"
"You have no mana!"
Vespera fired an arrow. She missed. As always. But that missed arrow shattered a crystal in the ceiling, sending shards falling and creating an opening. It wasn't intentional, but it helped.
Liriel screamed, the light trembling.
"I can hold him for a few seconds!"
She couldn't. But she tried.
Her light enveloped the General for an instant. A single instant. He didn't even move. He only looked at her.
Even so, it was enough for me to advance.
The flame exploded outward along the blade. I attacked with everything I had, ignoring fear, pain, and warning. The strike hit his chest.
The sound was that of something indestructible being lightly scratched.
The General looked at the point of impact. A mark. Small. Almost insignificant.
But it was a mark.
The silence that followed was worse than any scream.
"Interesting," he said. "Very interesting."
The pressure increased to an unbearable level. My body was slammed to the ground. The world spun. I heard screams. Or maybe they were just shattered thoughts.
Aerendyl tried to rise, bleeding.
"Takumi… retreat… now…"
The General raised his hand.
Absolute cold consumed everything.
And I understood.
We could not win.
Not yet.
"Everyone fall back!" I shouted, my throat tearing. "Now!"
Something in the General seemed satisfied.
"Run," he said. "Survive. Grow."
His white eyes glowed.
"When you return… I will be waiting."
And in that instant, I knew.
That was not an ordinary defeat.
It was a warning.
And hell was only just beginning.