Seeing the notification, Thorian smiled. "The other two groups should have cleared their respective chasms by now."

While Thorian contemplated his next moves, Nox and William were still astonished by the display of power he had just shown. Nox walked toward Thorian, surprise evident in his eyes. "What was that move just now? I've never seen anything like it!"

"Every time I think I've gotten a grasp of your powers, you show me something even more absurd," William admitted as he approached Thorian. "Never in my life did I think I would witness such magic. Had you used that move on a battlefield, you could have completely obliterated a couple of battalions at the very least."

"Well, this skill combination is certainly one of the strongest ones in my arsenal," Thorian admitted in a humble tone.

"So, are you saying that you still have abilities that are even stronger than this?" William asked, shocked. "Your power truly seems to have no limit."

"I know exactly the limits of my powers," Thorian responded. "As for more powerful skills, I cannot use them freely. My ultimate ability can only be used once per month, and other skills of the same caliber have similar restrictions."

With his new staff, the Elemental Scepter, Thorian had access to two new powerful skills. Yet, similar to his Elemental Domain, they had a long cooldown period.

Thorian surveyed the chamber, now engulfed in flames. He realized that if the fire burned much longer, the smoke would jeopardize William's ability to breathe. Without hesitation, Thorian conjured a series of Greater Water Balls, dousing the Royal Guard's lair and extinguishing the flames. He didn't stop there; with precise gusts of wind, he dispersed the lingering smoke and then, with a subtle manipulation of the air currents, purified the atmosphere within the chamber.

William took a deep, unobstructed breath and turned to Thorian, his eyes reflecting a mix of relief and gratitude. "Thank you.”

"You're welcome," Thorian replied, his smile genuine and warm. The simplicity of the exchange, the straightforwardness of the gesture, seemed to melt away any remnants of tension that had existed between them.

Thorian then looked around the chamber, searching for clues to the next challenge. The Royal Guard was certainly not the major monster that the quest had warned them about, and there was still the Shadow Queen. Thorian was half-expecting her to appear the moment the Royal Guard was slain, but it seemed she resided in a different chamber.

Using his Elemental Sight, Thorian scanned the room but found no major traces of mana. Even with his Predator’s Gaze, he could not find any hint of the next chamber.

Suddenly, Thorian had an idea. Remembering that the Royal Guard had tried to ambush them from above, he looked at the chamber's ceiling. Using his Elemental Sight, he could see a significant clump of mana above them.

"It seems like we have some climbing to do," Thorian commented, eyeing the mana clump.

Following his gaze, Nox asked, "Do you see something? I haven't sensed any weird presence."

"Well, she's not here, so you wouldn't notice her presence," Thorian replied. "But we should wait for the others before proceeding further. They wouldn't forgive us if we confronted the queen without them.

Nodding in agreement, the three bided their time until the additional parties regrouped. Given the anticipated difficulty of the battle ahead, Thorian led William and Tristan out of the chasm, delegating their safe return to the village to Alacritas and his team. The upcoming conflict with the queen seemed to surpass Thorian's confidence in his ability to protect them while also focusing on her defeat.

Returning to the chamber, Thorian cast his gaze upwards. "It appears we'll need to carve our own path to the queen's lair."

“In that case, allow me the honor,” Ifrit said with a grin as she approached Thorian. “My lord, where is she? I can blast open a path toward her.”

Guided by Thorian's direction toward a concentration of mana, Ifrit summoned a massive sphere of magma and hurled it towards the ceiling, which erupted in a colossal explosion.

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Warning: You have awakened the major boss of the area: the Shadow Queen.

Disregarding the warning, Thorian sliced through the descending debris with his Greater Gale Slash, while Ventus repelled them with gusts of wind. Simultaneously, a piercing screech echoed from above.

"It seems we've stirred the hornet's nest," Zogarth remarked, brandishing his enormous battleaxe with a grin.

Suddenly, a slender, arachnid creature of human stature plummeted from the newly created opening. Without a moment's hesitation, Zogarth enveloped himself in a red and black aura and charged, meeting the creature mid-air. After a brief clash, he flung the spider queen against the wall, where she left a crater upon impact before collapsing to the ground.

“This seems rather disappointing,” Forlune clicked his tongue, causing Thorian to internally wince.

As expected, the queen's eyes snapped open, and she unleashed a torrent of webbing, swiftly enveloping the chamber in silk. Before they could react, the shadow queen merged with the webbing, vanishing from sight. However, Thorian was well-acquainted with such tactics.

With resolve, he turned to Ifrit and commanded, "We need to burn all this webbing to force her out. Otherwise, we're caught in an endless chase."

Acknowledging Thorian's strategy, Ifrit unleashed her power, generating rivers of lava that flooded the chamber. Concurrently, Thorian invoked his Flame Fury spell, summoning multiple gargantuan fireballs and launching them at the densest clusters of silk, which shrank and dissolved under the intense heat.

As the silk dwindled, the spider queen reemerged, lunging towards Ifrit with astonishing speed. But Forlune was poised for her attack.

With a swift stroke of his blade, Forlune met the queen's scythe-like limbs in combat. Although he initially overpowered her, his sword gradually darkened, succumbing to the corruption of the queen's venom.

Without a moment's delay, Forlune repelled the queen with a forceful kick before collapsing to his knees. The leg used in the assault began to exhibit a virulent shade of green, a clear indication of the poison's rapid spread.

Thorian acted swiftly, launching a fireball at Forlune's poisoned limb, the intense heat from the flames cauterizing the wound. Although the flesh seared painfully, the progression of the poison was halted effectively.

At the same time, Nox seized the opportunity provided by Forlune's quick action to immobilize the queen with his shadows. This left her exposed and vulnerable, allowing Ventus to summon a lightning arrow and strike the creature squarely in the face.

Zogarth, sensing an opportunity to end the confrontation, advanced towards the debilitated queen. Yet, she unexpectedly freed herself from Nox's shadowy grasp and ascended the wall with astonishing agility.

Thorian's gaze followed her ascent, observing as the spider positioned herself at the edge of the broken ceiling. She began to spin a slender silk thread from her mouth, preparing to unleash it.

Thorian, anticipating her next move, bellowed, "Cover your ears!"

He hastily plugged his own ears with his fingers, but even then, the dulled echoes of her haunting melody permeated through.

Damn it!

Thorian internally cursed, his surroundings morphing as the ground, cloaked in lava, began undulating like an ocean wave. His peripheral vision succumbed to darkness, a clear sign he was ensnared in her illusion. Amidst the encroaching gloom, thousands of eyes emerged, fixating on him with unsettling intensity.

Determined to break free, Thorian took a drastic measure. Seizing his thumb, he forcefully snapped it. The acute pain obliterated the illusion instantly, banishing the myriad of eyes surrounding him. As clarity returned, he caught sight of the queen descending upon him with terrifying velocity.

Thorian didn't hesitate; he propelled himself upwards, aiming to confront the queen's dive head-on. Once at a safe distance from his allies, he unleashed his spell.

Quartet of the Ancients.

Elemental forces of fire, water, wind, and earth swirled into existence around him, hurling towards the queen in a formidable tempest. In a desperate counter, the creature released her mightiest onslaught—a deluge of webs accompanied by thousands of magically charged spiders. The two formidable powers collided, each vying for supremacy.

Yet Thorian wasn't bereft of strategies. The Quartet of the Ancients, being an innate ability of his staff, spared his own mana reserves. Leveraging his ability to dual-cast, Thorian simultaneously invoked two additional spells: Aqua Vortex. Lightning Strike.

A torrent of water surged beneath the Spider Queen, clashing with her barrage of spiders. Within this vortex, rocks from Thorian's previous spell were honed by the swirling currents, transforming into lethal projectiles. They spun through the air, slicing through the spiders and carving deep gouges into the Queen's exoskeleton.

At the same time, lightning struck, and the charged atmosphere exploded into brilliance. The enhanced bolt found its path through the vortex, magnifying its destruction upon contact. The queen, ensnared by the combined forces of water, earth, and lightning, suffered under the relentless assault. With one final cry, she finally perished.

Congratulations, you have defeated the Shadow Queen