The air grew thicker as my group ventured deeper into the dungeon.
There were other battles following the first one, but as our teamwork increased, the group became more cohesive.
I used my upgraded skills in new ways as well, but there weren't many chances with the few battles that we engaged in.
'Since we had decided to take down the Boss monster, we decided to conserve some strength for later.'
And so, we avoided most of the dangers and ventured deeper...
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The air deeper into the dungeon wasn't just the usual moist chill anymore; it was a physical weight, pressing down on our shoulders with an almost sentient hostility.
The low, ever-present hum of the dungeon's mana was shifting constantly, as if a constant note increasing its frequency.
It was coiling into a deep, rhythmic throb that pulsed up through the soles of all our boots, a dreadful heartbeat echoing from somewhere up ahead, and everywhere around us.
"Eh... is this safe?"
"Shhh. Just keep walking."
The scent of wet stone was now undercut by something else... It was like a sharp, spicy tang of Mana and the faint, sulphurous promise of some superheated rock.
Borin's raised fist brought the party to an abrupt halt.
"This seems to be it."
We stood before an archway that was unlike any other passage we'd seen within the dungeon until now.
This place wasn't a rough-hewn stone; it was a frame of twisted, obsidian-like rock that seemed to have been poured into its current form, so intricate and unnatural that my Architect senses tingled just by looking at it.
The space within the arch shimmered, not with the familiar silver of a portal Cass and I saw yesterday, but with a heat-haze distortion, drinking the light from the natural mana-lamps and casting long, dancing shadows that writhed like dying things.
This place was different. My instincts were screaming to me, telling me about the potential danger, but the lead wasn't in my hands right now.
"This is it," Borin, as our party leader, had a low voice, almost a gravelly rumble in this cave, barely louder than the oppressive thrum around us.
He turned with his large shield to the side, his face a mask of grim focus in the erratic light. "The Ember-Maw Basilisk, that's our target.
Recall the brief we had and revise it once again.
It's not a pureblood that we find outside the dungeons, but its eyes… its eyes project a {Gaze of Dread}. It's a fear that gets into your bones, makes your blood run cold, and makes you a stable target.
Do not stare into its eyes.
A glance is all it takes for the abyss to gaze back at you."
I must say, the experience of this old bald uncle was too valuable for this party. Without him, we would have been in more trouble.
"Kaela, you're on high perch duty. Find a spot and constantly stay on the move.
Finn, the moment we cross that threshold, you dose everyone with your best anti-fear stimulant. It won't stop the creature's power, but it should keep your fingers from freezing on your weapons."
His gaze was as heavy as his shield when they fell on Cass and me. "Aria. The floor, the walls… they're your tools now.
I don't know how your skills work, but don't be limited to spikes and obvious attacks this time.
There's power in your attacks; they might be just what we need for this raid."
He was putting his trust in me right now. Those words meant more than what they said... his eyes, however, said far more than those words could convey.
"Cass, your fire is nearly useless on this creature's hide. Your only possible target is its open mouth when it draws breath to spew fire at the opponents.
You must disrupt the casting of its breath, understood?"
Cass gave a tight nod, his mind already racing ahead, trying to find ways to become useful to the team.
I, on the other hand, nodded with a look of understanding. "Understood."
With a final, shared look that was part resolve, part unspoken prayer, all five of us stepped through the sinister archway.
The boss chamber, as it presented itself to our senses, was a cathedral of fire and death.
It was vast, a circular cavern so large the ceiling was lost in a haze of rising heat and swirling, ash-thick air.
The floor beneath us was a mosaic of tragedy... scattered around us were blackened bones of different creatures whodared to wander these corridors.
The melted remnants of armor, probably of the unfortunate party who fell here before us, were embedded in the stone.
The scene was dreadful, and it should have made my weak stomach unstable... but my mind was a little too calm right now, and my composure unshaken.
Dominating the center of this hell was a serene, bubbling lake of magma, its orange-red light casting the entire chamber in a hellish, pulsating glow.
The air itself was hot enough to sear the lungs with each breath; again, however, I was not affected by it as much as my teammates.
And there, as if birthed from the very heart of the inferno, sensing the presence of the intruders, it rose.
The [Ember-Maw Basilisk], the behemoth of a snake, uncoiled from the lava with a sound like grinding continents.
"Holy... mother of snakes..."
It was a serpentine leviathan, its body thick as an ancient tree trunk and armored in overlapping scales the color of cooled magma, each one edged in a faint, glowing red.
Six eyes, not two, burned with the intensity of forge-fire, set in a horned head that was more draconic than serpentine.
When its maw opened, it revealed a gullet of pure, blinding incandescence, and... actual, freaking molten rock dripped from its jagged teeth, sizzling as it hit the stone floor.
The moment its gaze swept over them, so angry I almost felt like a thief that had tried to steal its feed, the {Gaze of Dread} hit us instantly.
It wasn't a magical effect I could analyse with my Guest powers; it was a primal wave of terror that slammed directly into our hindbrain.
'A mental disturbance skill...'
The battle wasn't going to be that simple.