Flames danced across Zeke’s metallic forearm, casting it in an orange glow. It tingled a bit, but due to his nearly perfect resistance to fire, it was incapable of harming him. Beside him, Adara took a sip from a metal flask, saying, “I don’t have an infinite supply of this fire resistance potion, so we probably need to get through this dungeon as quickly as possible.”

“One second,” Zeke said, concentrating on the mana woven through the flame. It didn’t just suffuse the fire. Instead, there were tiny tendrils, almost entirely undetectable, flowing from the flame and into the sky. Those threads disappeared before he could track them more than a few feet, but he felt certain that they were somehow important. If he hadn’t progressed so close to the peak – and received the attributes that came with those levels – he never would have been capable of seeing those thin threads. But now, they almost seemed obvious.

“That’s your intelligence,” said Eveline. It wasn’t one of his highest stats, but it was still far more potent than average. To hammer that home, Zeke took a quick look at his status:

Name

Ezekiel Blackwood

Class

Arcane Colossus

Level

98

Race

Cambion (D)

Attunement

Earth (E), Demon (D), Death (D)

Alignment

Unchosen

Titles

n/a

Path

Arcane Destruction (C)

Strength (S+)

180

Agility (C)

40

Dexterity (B)

40

Endurance (S+)

160

Vitality (C)

40

Intelligence (A)

80

Wisdom (S)

85

Resistances

Fire

Ice

Water

Earth

Wind

Nature

Arcane

Poison

Disease

S+

D

E

S+

E

D

A

B

B

He felt a deep sense of satisfaction every time he looked at his status. Part of that was due to how high his attributes had climbed, but mostly, it was because he’d finally managed to manipulate those stats into even numbers. Obviously, that didn’t really affect his power, but he liked the way all those zeroes looked.

“I knew a demon once who wouldn’t increase his intelligence attribute past a hundred,” Eveline remarked. “He liked the way it looked on his status, so he just kept saving his free points until he could reach another ‘acceptable’ threshold. He ended up getting into a fight against another sorcerer and ran out of mana. Meanwhile, he had almost forty points saved up. That would’ve assuredly been enough extra mana to help him win the fight. A Memory Mage investigated it a few weeks later, and she saw that at the very end, he tried to shove all those points into the appropriate stat, but it was too late.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Is there a lesson there?”

“Don’t save points. It’s stupid.”

“I’ve never done that, and I don’t think there’s a situation where I would,” Zeke remarked.

“Good. Don’t.”

Zeke just shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. As he retracted his arm from the flame, he looked around the landscape. On the surface, it looked like a charred forest, though only a scattered few trees had survived whatever calamity had fallen upon the region. They were black and twisted, having adapted to their environment by growing leaves of dense, red flame. Meanwhile, rivers of fire flowed where streams must’ve once been, and in various places throughout the area, fire shot up in great plumes that reminded him of miniature instances of [Hell Geyser].

On a hill in the distance, surrounded by a moat of red magma, was a giant castle made of black glass.

“Obsidian,” Eveline clarified.

“Or some magical equivalent,” he ventured. Obsidian had historically been used for weapons, but it was historically quite brittle. Using it for building materials was probably impossible, at least insofar as Zeke’s understanding of the volcanic glass went. He was no geologist, though, so there was every likelihood that he was entirely mistaken. Regardless the construction, it featured huge, spikey towers that looked like jagged shards of black glass, a massive wall of dark stone, and a structure that looked like someone looked at Tim Burton’s design aesthetic and decided it wasn’t gothic enough.

Fire danced among the towers, and the air shimmered with intense heat.

To say that it didn’t look inviting was a massive understatement. However, Zeke was happy to see that the area didn’t seem to be populated by much in terms of wildlife. He’d caught sight of a few huge creatures shuffling along between the trees, but there weren’t enough of them to give him pause.

However, it did mean that he probably wouldn’t be able to grind out any levels within the dungeon. That had never been the purpose of the excursion, though, so it wasn’t a big disappointment. Still, he was eager to progress to the peak so he could attain his final skill. Once that was done, he intended to take some time to adjust a couple of his other skills before finally making his way to the demon realm and descending into the Pit.

But first, he had a lot of other things to take care of. Like his quest. And Micayne. And perhaps more importantly, the Imperium. Thankfully, Zeke wasn’t the only one working on most of those tasks, so he could focus on his personal development. Case in point, he asked Adara, “It’s enough to protect you, though, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “It’s not comfortable, but I have enough to protect me for a few days. After that…”

“I can still access my spatial storage, so you should be fine.”

Indeed, Zeke hadn’t entered the dungeon without making plenty of preparations. Not only were there plenty of fire protection potions in his storage, but he’d also received a lot of information on the layout, potential enemies, and how to conquer it.

“Don’t get complacent,” Eveline cautioned.

He had no intention of that. Dungeons were mostly static, but they could adjust difficulty based on the level of the challenger. There were ranges associated with each dungeon, but exceptions existed. According to Eveline, that was where his spark of divinity came into play. It was a signal to the Framework that he could handle exceptional situations, and as such, he would usually get the worst any particular dungeon had to offer. After all, the Framework had no interest in letting him skate along without any significant challenges. The point of the system it put in place was to push him to his limits so that he would grow into a powerful warrior and make a difference in the war against evil.

As such, he expected the dungeon to throw quite a few curveballs his way.

With that in mind, he and Adara set off through the charred forest. The terrain was uneven, with jagged outcroppings of obsidian and littered with volcanic rocks. The heat was so pervasive that, even in his titanic form, Zeke found it uncomfortable. It didn’t hurt him – his resistances were too high for that – but it was certainly no walk in the park.

Never was that more clear than when they met their first enemy.

The creature was the size of a locomotive, and it vaguely resembled a green-and-black hound. However, said canine seemed to have been crossed with a demon and a bear, giving it massive front shoulders, huge jaws, and a narrow backside. More importantly, it was obviously vicious and capable of breathing fire.

The moment it saw him, it let out a barking roar before bounding in his direction. Hissing steam escaped from between its forearm-sized fangs, and boiling saliva flew from the corners of its mouth. Its jaws gaped before a spark ignited, and a moment later, Zeke was buried beneath an onslaught of flames. Thankfully, Adara had the presence of mind to dive to the side, but Zeke stood his ground.

And to his surprise, he felt a bit of destruction within those flames. It wasn’t much – just a trickle – but against most other people, it would have made the fires that much deadlier. Thankfully, Zeke’s reflexive Will had no difficulty suppressing it, so when that barrage of flame faded, he remained entirely unharmed.

That seemed to surprise the creature, who attempted to halt its charge. Its momentum was too great for that, though, and it stumbled right into Zeke’s hammer. He hit it with a baseball swing that drove it sideways in a roll that didn’t stop until it hit one of the charred trees. That’s when Adara leaped in, hacking at it with her axe. The blade bit deep, and boiling blood spurted free of the wound. However, she’d read the same reports that had been provided to Zeke, so she knew better than to stand her ground. Jumping away, she avoided the worst of the spray, then used a skill to lash out a barrage of axe strikes that hit the same spot she’d just struck.

A second later, Zeke descended on the creature.

It was a strange thing, bullying a monster larger than an African elephant, and yet, Zeke managed it. His next strike came as an overhand attack that drove it into the scorched earth, and he followed that with a spinning backhand that sent it tumbling away. He didn’t let it recover, either. Instead, he followed it with dogged determination, adding more damage with every passing moment.

Adara contributed via the use of her skills, but they both knew that her efforts were largely unnecessary. The idea was to get her some kill energy, and that required her to participate. For some others, that plan might’ve seemed a bit patronizing. Yet, she had no issues with ignoring her pride. That was one of the things Zeke admired most about her. Adara was stronger than most, but she had no ego about it. More, she was more than willing to take advantage of her relationship with Zeke to climb ever higher.

But Zeke didn’t have the mental bandwidth to devote to that and kill the monster. It wasn’t that strong, but it was still powerful enough to make him pay for letting himself become distracted. So, he focused on the battle at hand, slowly pummeling the creature into submission, then finally destroying its brain with a massive overhand strike. Only then did he relax.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he said, “That felt good.”

Eveline asked, “What? Bullying some poor monster?”

“Would you think less of me if I said yes?”

“I can see inside your mind, Ezekiel. I know that you enjoy asserting your dominance,” she said with a mental smile.

It was at that moment that Adara caught up. “That was a lot of kill energy,” she said, her cheeks flushed from the exertion. “I’m on the verge of gaining another level. If we keep going like this, I’ll hit eighty-five before we know it.”

Gaining two levels in a single dungeon – especially one that was neither complex nor sprawling in its scope – would be an extremely good result. So, hoping to help Adara do just that, Zeke and Adara set out to rid the entire region of the monsters he belatedly identified as hellhounds. The following battles went much the same as the first, though Adara grew more confident with each one. Eventually, she felt confident enough to shoulder most of the burden herself, soloing the monster for quite some time before she had to admit that she simply lacked the offensive power to dispatch it. Still, it was quite a feat for her to endure its attacks for so long, and with a smile, Zeke stepped in to end it.

Like that, hours passed until, at last, they’d exhausted that area of foes. Zeke’s gains in terms of kill energy were less than impressive, and at that rate, he knew it would be some time before he managed to progress. However, Adara’s prediction that she might reach level eighty-five proved almost accurate. She didn’t quite attain that level, but she got so close that only a few kills would push her over the edge.

Once they could find no more foes, they approached the castle. And when they reached the gates, Zeke had to amend his previous estimate of the structure’s size. It was practically a city unto itself, covering many miles in dozens of jagged towers. However, the gate stood entirely open, which put him on edge.

“Just walk in?” he asked aloud.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Adara answered. “Everything I read said it was a straightforward dungeon with only one path to victory.”

“That’s what I read, too. Just making sure. You ready for this?” he asked.

She nodded with a wide grin that exposed her slightly sharp teeth. “I was born ready.”