Floors sixteen through twenty-four felt different.
Not harder.
Denser.
The Crystal Cave adapted—but always a step too late. Enemies moved in coordinated packs now. Creatures reacted tactically. Ambushes were layered instead of obvious.
It didn't matter.
The Vixens were a well-oiled machine with Jax at its center, no longer needing commands. Movement was instinctive. Correct. Every role fulfilled without hesitation.
They had been pushing forward for nearly eight hours straight.
One more boss, they'd agreed. Then a break.
The massive doors at the end of the twenty-fifth floor opened with unexpected ease. Once they began to move, they continued on their own, grinding apart until the chamber beyond revealed itself.
The room was enormous—wide, open, cathedral-like.
The crystals embedded in its walls were different.
Translucent. Shimmering with a faint distortion, as if light bent wrong when passing through them.
"Temporal Crystals," Bunny breathed.
Jax didn't fully understand the distinction—but the word temporal carried weight. Anything tied to time always did.
They stepped inside.
Waiting for them was an army.
Roughly eighty figures stood in disciplined formation—humanoid, matador-like beasts clad in crystal armor. Each carried a sword and a small, arm-mounted shield. Capes hung from their shoulders. Their movements were synchronized, precise.
Jax's system chimed.
CRYSTAL CAVE SOLDIERS — B-RANK
Resistant to magic and standard melee.
Armor-piercing attacks deal double damage.
"Great," Nyxian muttered. "Fancy."
Gryph surged forward first, Lucy and Fang moving alongside him. The shadows struck hard—but Fang's venom had no effect, and Lucy's attacks barely scratched the crystal plating. Gryph's claws tore into several soldiers, but shields deflected strikes while crystal blades forced him back.
Llandra fired.
Minimal damage.
Bunny launched a Flame Tornado—soldiers flew, but several anchored themselves by driving swords into the ground, holding formation.
"Nothing's working!" Llandra shouted.
"Resistant doesn't mean immune," Jax replied calmly. "Hit them harder."
They charged.
Bunny slammed her hammer into the ground, sending rippling shockwaves that shattered footing and toppled soldiers. Two lost balance—and paid for it as her hammer came down, crushing crystal armor like glass.
Magic resistance faltered under pressure.
Llandra's armor-piercing arrows began punching through joints and seams, binding soldiers in crystal growths that locked them in place.
Then—
Jax moved.
To the Vixens, he vanished.
A blur crossed the chamber, then doubled back, then split again. By the time their eyes adjusted, the battlefield was silent.
Crystal soldiers lay in pieces.
Shields shattered. Armor split. Swords embedded uselessly in the ground.
Eighty B-rank enemies.
Gone.
In under ten minutes.
Jax reappeared beside them, Peacemaker humming faintly. "They resist most weapons," he said casually. "But Peacemaker qualifies as armor-piercing."
Nyxian snorted. "In your hands, a spoon qualifies as armor-piercing."
They didn't argue.
The door behind the soldiers opened.
And something stepped through.
The ground trembled.
The creature was massive—two adult elephants fused side by side. Bulls in form, six legs supporting the monstrous body, crystal armor layered thick over muscle. Nose rings gleamed. Power radiated from it.
Zee gasped. "Grimsteeds."
Jax inspected instantly.
CRYSTAL-ARMORED GRIMSTEEDS — A-RANK
Twin bulls capable of merging and separating.
Shared consciousness. Perfect coordination.
Highly resistant to magic and physical damage.
Formation OSCAR snapped into place without a word.
Nyxian and Zee ran interference. Llandra slowed and bound. Bunny destabilized terrain with focused seismic strikes.
Then the Grimsteeds split.
One body became two—middle legs separating into independent forms. The bulls charged opposite directions.
They adapted instantly.
Nyxian, Gryph, and Fang redirected one beast. Llandra pinned the other with clustered shots, narrowly missing Lucy as arrows screamed past.
Everything was perfect.
Until it wasn't.
Llandra loosed her armor-piercing shot—aimed true.
The Grimsteed stepped into one of Bunny's craters.
Just enough.
The movement down by one foot, changed the target.
The arrow ricocheted.
Upward.
It struck a massive stalactite already weakened by earlier combat.
Time slowed.
"Zee—!" Bunny shouted.
The arrow ricocheted off the Grimsteed and hit a weak point in the cave. The crystal mass tore free and fell.
Zee activated her barrier aura just as Bunny triggered Skybound Step—a burst movement technique that let her change direction mid-air.
She struck the falling crystal—
And it exploded.
Fragments rained down like shrapnel, pinning both Zee and Bunny beneath rubble.
Unharmed.
Trapped.
The Grimsteeds saw their opening.
They charged.
Llandra fired volley after volley—arrows bounced uselessly off crystal plating.
Nyxian realized she was the only one between life and death for Zee and bunny and stepped forward.
Nyxian snapped Lilith's Kiss around one neck, flipped over the back of the beast, and split the handle—
Two whips. Two bulls.
Both ensnared around their necks.
She pulled.
Hard.
Not enough. Their strength was massive.
They kept racing forward.
Jax was out of position.
Then he wasn't.
He crossed the chamber in a heartbeat, drove Peacemaker through one Grimsteed's back. It stopped inches from Zee.
He ripped the blade free, pivoted, and struck the second.
Both beasts staggered.
Nyxian's whips tightened.
The Beasts had given all of their strength to snap the trapped prey. But just short.
The Grimsteeds turned and leaned into the pull—not toward Zee, but toward her.
Toward the one holding their fate.
They moved to kill her.
And Nyxian didn't flinch.
She met their eyes.
Four eyes. One soul.
Regret.
Unfinished purpose.
Something clicked inside her.
The Grimsteeds died so close to Nyxian she could feel their breath washing over her. She watched as the light in their eyes faded.
When the beasts finally collapsed, Nyxian stepped forward and placed her hands on their massive heads.
"Your story isn't done," she whispered. "I can give you purpose. I can give you a new mission. Serve me."
"Summon."
Shadow poured forth.
The cave trembled.
Two Grimsteeds rose again—smaller, darker, obedient.
Jax stared.
She'd done it.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO NAME YOUR NEW SHADOW SUMMONS?
Nyxian smiled.
"Yes."
And the cave raid just go more interesting.