The guardian of the deep – called a cueyatl – emerged from the pillar of flame and corruption like a storm of tentacles. Zeke met it with an overhand hammer-strike. In his titanic form, he was more than twenty feet tall, but even so, the mass of furiously waving tentacles towered above him. And when his hammer fell, they acted as a shield against the blow, slowing the weapon down just enough to keep it from crushing the monster’s body to paste.

Still, the creature was strong enough to take the hit and return the attack with a barrage of tentacles that battered Zeke into the ground. Then, they darted out, wrapping around Zeke’s body, and before he could muster a reaction, they lifted him from the ground and threw him back into the garden.

Even as Zeke flew through the air, he twisted so he could keep track of the massive frog-like creature. Yet, when he laid eyes on it, he saw nothing but its backside as it retreated to the pond. Zeke tumbled through the air, hitting one of the meticulously cultivated bushes before rolling to a stop nearly a hundred yards away from the original battlefield.

“Don’t let it get to the pond!” he shouted, already using [Colossal Army] as he picked himself up. The group of golems emerged, then raced toward the fleeing cueyatl. Zeke followed, though he knew he wouldn’t catch it. The thing wasn’t fast on dry ground, but it had enough strength, agility, and dexterity to make up for the unsuitability of the environment.

But Zeke was more concerned with what might happen when it reached the pond. The task was to defeat the guardian of the deep, and it had already demonstrated that it could disappear within the pond. So, Zeke suspsected that if they allowed it to reach the water, completing their objective would be far more difficult. Perhaps even impossible.

That was the first thing on his mind as he raced across the garden in pursuit of the monster. However, it quickly became apparent that neither ne nor his golems would reach it in time.

So, it was a good thing that they weren’t alone.

Talia slashed in, moving almost too quickly for Zeke to even perceive, and she leaped upon the monster’s moist, rubbery back. Its tentacles – at least the ones it wasn’t using to drag itself back toward the pond – went wild trying to dislodge her, but Talia used her incredible speed to great advantage, deftly dodging the frenzied appendages. At the same time, she fell upon the monster’s back with all the fury she could muster. Her extended claws raked out, blurring with speed as she ripped into the creature.

Blood and blubber flew, but Zeke could tell that Talia’s claws did no real damage. Yet, that wasn’t really the point. Instead, each wound was merely a delivery mechanism for her other skills. One spread rot, while the other noticeably slowed the creature until it was barely creeping across the ground.

But it wasn’t enough to kill it.

Talia was deadly. However, her skills tended toward slow and steady, which meant that it would take her hours to kill such a powerful monster. That was more time than they had, because the creature hadn’t ceased its continuous crawl toward the pond.

Upon reaching the monster, Zeke swung his hammer with all his might, activating Voromir’s ability for good measure. Yet, when the weapon hit, it rebounded violently, bouncing back with enough force to overbalance Zeke. He spun around, almost falling over.

It was almost like jumping on a trampoline.

As he struggled to recover from the stumble, the golems fell upon the creature, throwing their javelins with unerring aim. The bronze weapons pierced the cueyatl’s hide, though their tips barely penetrated, and they fell free after the first tug.

Zeke’s mind whirled.

The creature felt almost invulnerable, especially to his brand of attack. Talia’s claws could barely wound the thing, but even that was better than blunt force. As he thought, he once again stomped on the ground, sending another [Hell Geyser] to bathe the monster in flames. But it wasn’t until they faded that Zeke came upon a viable strategy.

The thing was aquatic by nature.

“I think amphibious is the right word,” Eveline helpfully pointed out.

“Right. Whatever. But it needs water,” Zeke said, noting the steam rising from the creature’s rubbery skin. There were only hints of blisters – solidifying that it was a monster of incredible endurance – but their presence had provided fuel for a leap of intuition that Zeke felt certain would bear fruit. “It needs the water, I think. That’s why it’s so eager to get back.”

“Or maybe it just wants to escape.”

“Either way, we want to keep it away, right?” Zeke asked.

“That is true.”

“And even if it doesn’t kill it or make it more vulnerable, we’ll give Talia’s rot a chance to work,” Zeke explained.

“As good a plan as any. How are you going to do it?” Eveline asked.

Zeke answered, “You’ll see.”

The conversation had taken place over the course of a split second, and once it was done, Zeke rocketed forward. However, he didn’t follow his normal pattern of attack. He didn’t leap into battle, recklessly swinging his hammer. Instead, he veered off to the side, using his incredibly long legs to cover an incredible amount of ground in seconds. Circling, he didn’t stop until he was standing between the grotesquely tentacled, multi-headed frog-monster.

For its part, the creature was so hellbent on reaching the pond that it barely even noticed Zeke’s presence, much less altered its course. Zeke met it, not with his hammer, but with a shoulder tackle that stopped its progress cold. Then, he grabbed a couple of handfuls of tentacle, then wrenched dashed away.

All the while, Talia remained atop the monster, steadily attacking it with her claws. The creature went wild, slapping its tentacles around with reckless abandon. Zeke bore the attacks stoically, only stopping when the creature tried to encircle him like a boa constrictor. Even then, he paused only long enough to dislodge those tentacles before resuming his charge away from the pond.

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Leveraging his massive strength, Zeke dragged the monster away. It didn’t go easily or without reaction. However, in his new form, Zeke was capable of enduring an enormous amount of punishment. On top of that, his increased power made dragging even the huge cueyatl possible.

Zeke endured a thousand lashing attacks as he bent his back to the task, and with every passing moment, the blows grew weaker. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t take damage. He did. However, with [Cambion’s Awakening] fueling his regeneration, it was nothing more than what he’d experienced a hundred times before. By that point, Zeke was well acquainted with pain as well as the destruction of his own body.

Long minutes passed as the giant, hundred-headed and tentacled frog monster grew simultaneously more frenzied and weaker until, at last, it couldn’t muster the strength to lift its own tentacles.

But it wasn’t dead.

Zeke let the tentacles fall from his grip, noting that the thing’s rubber skin was as dry as parchment. Zeke also saw thick, black veins coursing just below the surface, hinting at the rot Talia had steadily inflicted upon the creature.

“It’ll probably die on its own, now,” Eveline suggested.

“Maybe,” Zeke said, summoning his hammer. But then, on second though, he realized that it was a poor tool for the job at hand. So, he dismissed it back into his spatial storage and leaped upon the creature’s bulbous body. Its hundred heads wheezed in pain, and a couple tried to bite him. But the attacks lacked follow-through or strength. As Eveline had suggested, it was already dying.

That fact hadn’t put a stop to Talia’s efforts, though. She continued to slice into the monster’s increasingly delicate skin. She’d yet to make it through the thick layer of blubber, but it was only a matter of time before she hit something vital.

Zeke considered letting her complete the task, but in the end, he chose to participate. Time was of the essence, and they’d already spent longer within the dungeon than either had anticipated. Who knew what the situation was outside? Talia’s friend was still dying, and the sooner they could complete their task, the sooner they could save Adriel.

So, without further consideration, Zeke clasped his giant hands around the first head he could reach, then wrenched it in the wrong direction. Twisting, he continued pulling until he heard bones cracking. That elicited a chorus of screeches that only grew more cacophonous as he continued his task. Eventually, without the bones holding it together, the head tore free, showering Zeke in blubber as well as blood.

He tossed it aside and set his sights on the next head. It recoiled from his gaze, clearly terrified. But Zeke couldn’t be bothered with empathy. Instead, he wrapped his arms around it, then continued his disgusting task.

As he did, he spared a thought for the sheer durability on display. The monster was on its last leg, with its vitality having been drained by the dry setting as well as Talia’s continued assault, and yet, it still lived. Even when Zeke had torn a dozen heads from its body, it continued to struggle. It highlighted the fact that, even with his enormous power, Zeke wouldn’t be rewarded with many quick kills. Going forward, his opponents would be capable of enduring well past the point where they should have succumbed.

That was the case with the Knight he’d fought on the Mukti Plains, and the same was true of every powerful foe he’d encountered since then.

“The real issue is going to be when you can’t incapacitate a monster,” Eveline said. “Think about trying to finish this thing off if it was still capable of whipping those tentacles around.”

“I had a plan for that.”

“What?”

“I was going to tear them off first,” Zeke admitted. He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to, but if his plan to dry the monster out had failed, he was prepared to take those steps.

The situation also confirmed that dungeons were meant to be conquered. Certainly, doing so was no easy task. But there was always a way to overcome the obstacles. In most cases, Zeke didn’t bother with the contrived mechanics – he’d found that simply beating the problem to death was more his speed – but they were there, nonetheless. The real issue was that, in the outside world, there was often no established route to victory. No contrived situations.

Instead, it was a measure of power – be it personal, situational, or one of armies – that would decide conflicts in the real world.

Those thoughts occupied a part of Zeke’s mind as he slowly tore the monster apart. With every passing minute, the task grew easier – both by virtue of the dry environment and Talia’s efforts – until he was ripping the heads off without much in the way of difficulty. And finally, when the last one came free, he received a flood of kill energy that pushed him closer to the next level.

“At this rate, I’m going to reach level eighty before the end of this dungeon,” Zeke remarked inwardly. “I thought you said it was going to slow down.”

If anything, his pace felt faster than before.

“Most people can’t kill monsters ten levels higher than them, and if they can, they must do so with the help of an army,” Eveline said. “The Framework wasn’t built for someone like you.”

“Interesting.”

And it was. Perhaps he would reach the peak much more quickly than expected. Especially with [Titan], which made him feel almost invincible. Idly, he wondered how he would fare against something like the Blood Wraith, now. Its power had felt overwhelming back in Min Ferilik, but he’d gained so much since then.

“That monster would still destroy you. It is at the absolute pinnacle of power for this realm,” Eveline stated. “You’re powerful, but you’re at least ten levels from even standing on the same stage as that thing.”

“Maybe,” Zeke allowed, though his mind already whirled with the possibility of fighting something that could truly push him to his limits. The cueyatl had been strong, but it had fallen much more easily than Zeke had expected. As such, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by the encounter. He enjoyed the influx of kill energy, and he would never turn down a victory, but still – it wasn’t the epic battle he’d hoped for.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Eveline cautioned. “I suspect that this dungeon will throw something truly powerful at you before everything is said and done.”

Zeke glanced back at Talia, who’d managed to dig a sizable hole in the monster’s back. He called out, “Are you okay back there?”

Talia poked her head out of the hole, then pushed her hair out of her face before saying, “I am fine. The monster never touched me.”

“Oh. Good. Then, you might want to get out of there, because I’m going to loot now,” he replied.

After that, they both climbed down before Zeke used his looting ability to take anything useful from the creature. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much. A few bones. A couple of organs that might be useful for his crafters in the tower. But the meat had been completely ruined by Talia’s efforts. Or perhaps it had never been edible. Given the look of the creature, that wouldn’t have been surprising.

Whatever the case, the loot was disappointing, but that hadn’t been his goal. Instead, Zeke only wanted to satisfy the terms of the dungeon quest. And according to his notifications, they’d managed to do just that.

He and Talia approached the pond only to see that the water had completely drained, revealing a muddy expanse, in the center of which was a large staircase leading downward. The next notification made their path clear:

New Quest Acquired!

Quest: The Second Challenge

Objective: Navigate the Labyrinth and Reach the Stairway

Reward: The Key to Heaven

“Alright, then,” Zeke said. “Unless you see another path…”

“I do not,” Talia stated.

“Then off we go,” he stated.

With that, Zeke trudged forward, his feet squelching against the sticky mud until he reached the stairs. They were made of ancient stone and coated in algae, but otherwise, they looked normal enough. So, he stepped forward, with Talia following close on his heels. However, when they were both fully underground, the stairs disintegrated into dust.

Zeke flailed, trying to find something to which he could grab hold. But there was nothing but open air.

He fell into the darkness, his mind reeling.