That evening, the party reconvened in the military barracks.
Over a small meal of dried wolf meat, Monica cleared her throat.
“So… about my second Class,” she began, passing a quick glance around.
Ted looked up from nibbling a strip of wolf jerky.
Monica continued, “I have four options, but one stands out: Phoenix Forge. The dwarven forging knowledge could be crucial. Even if we did wake some dwarven blacksmith with the dwarven blood from the next two vials, they will probably remain powerless—like Gromorlig was—and be unable to forge anyway. So if I have this forging Class, we could gather the Spear shards ourselves, reforge them… plus, I'd get the Vitality boost. It’s the only synergy that helps me keep using multiple Phoenix Feathers without dying.”
She paused, twisting a piece of cloth in her fingers. “I know it’s risky. A non-combat Class might limit me in direct fights. But we need that Spear to kill Machina, and we need better gear too. As you saw from the fight with the Black Widow that my gear isn’t enough anymore,” Monica flashed her broken up armor to them before closing her cloak. “Not even my bracers in good shape.”
“Well,” Ted cleared his throat. “You’d be too low leveled in theory to handle the bracers, but…”
“But?”
“Divine Items are usually repaired with Mithril if legends are true. And we found a lot of Mithril, Monica.” Ted’s eyes shone with curiosity. “Plus, dude… that could be so epic if you could make up equipment,” he said, though a note of concern threaded his voice. “But reforging the Spear of Dhoznil?”
Heidi fiddled with a piece of jerky, brow pinched. “Yeah, I’m not positive either. Are we sure forging the spear from scratch is even feasible? Class or not, you can’t just replicate centuries of craft, right?”
Monica exhaled, still weighed by doubt. “I don’t know. But the Class listing mentioned synergy with my flames, possibly unlocking forging techniques. I know that at low levels, I might not be enough to reforge a Divine weapon, but my Phoenix abilities might fill in the gaps.”
Heidi shrugged, lips pressed thin. “We can’t do anything else if the spear’s broken. And no forging means no Machina kill. As insane as it sounds, I guess it’s your best shot.”
The conversation continued, but ultimately, Monica deferred the final decision.
“Let me think on it a bit more.”
A hush enveloped the hall as they finished their humble meal.
Monica shifted, self-consciously checking the open Quest tab in her interface.
‘Eradication I/III’ – Completed.
But the second stage hasn’t appeared, she noted. Maybe it will once I descend…
* * *
Dawn—or its dwarven equivalent—came with an artificial glow from Viscera’s crystalline “sun” overhead. The group awoke to more dryness, meager breakfast scraps, and stiff limbs. Despite the universal bad mood after finding out that the Spear of Dhoznil wasn’t here, Monica was resolute.
She walked to the stone elevator they’d tested yesterday, the one leading deeper into the scorching depths.
Ted, Dotty, Heidi, and Sir Tristan lined up behind her, exchanging uncertain glances. The plan was simple: Monica would go alone to find a Blacksmith to teach them the necessary Skill to resist the crazy temperatures of Viscera’s Second Floor.
If she managed well, it proved her Phoenix resistances were enough for a deeper exploration. If not, she’d ascend again quickly.
“Dude, you good?” Ted asked as he saw Monica a little zoomed out.
Monica offered him a faint smile. “I’m fine.”
Dotty bit her lip, worried.
“I’m the Avatar of the Twin Phoenix,” she smiled at them as she approached the elevator console and pulled the lever down. “Worry about yourselves, and don’t worry about when I’ll be back. I might be away for a few days or more.”
Soon, the elevator descended.
In moments, Monica dropped below the city level, the floor above receding into gloom.
Her environment changed drastically: the corridor walls glistened as if doused in molten rock. Small rivulets of red-orange magma ran through cracks in the stone, illuminating the descending platform.
Monica felt the air get much drier than above, but she could barely feel the heat that had made it impossible for the others to come down.
After several minutes, the elevator clunked to a halt at a wide outcropping, a large platform of naturally formed stone that acted as a descending set of stairs.
Monica saw rail tracks in it that she supposed Dwarves might have used to ferry carts of ores either down or up.
Did they mine ore on the second floor, or was it in the lower parts?
After the lengthy descent of the elevator, she envisioned being several hundred, if not thousands, feet beneath the first level.
The air in this tunnel trembled with heat haze, and the temperature was borderline insane. She stepped aside and looked at a heavy stone gateway that acted as the threshold to the second floor. The pillars seemed half-melted, likely from centuries of exposure to extreme heat.
Or maybe, without the Dwarves regulating this place, it might be even hotter than it’s supposed to be.
The Mana down there was so thick that the pulsating magma that Monica saw around the cave shimmered full of it through her Mana-Sense-enhanced sight.
She got closer to the threshold and saw that, on its side, there was some weird kind of coating. As she turned the corner to step into a massive tunnel, she saw that a paper-like, waxy substance covered half of the pillar and culminated at the top in two hexagonal cells.
“What the—”
Before she could say anything else, she heard a low droning hum from the cells.
Monica cracked her neck and took a deep breath, activating Phoenix Feathers and feeling the increased Attributes coursing through her body.
She picked up a faint insectile clicking and finally, a triangular-shaped head emerged from the one of the cells.
[Corrupted Molten Wasp, Scout - Level 115]
Monica instinctively stepped back as the triangular head pried the hexagonal cell wider, spewing molten resin in a slow, viscous dribble onto the scorching ground.
With a snap, one of its mandibles broke free of the waxy casing that clung to its torso. The heat wreathed the creature like a living aura, distorting the air around it.
A second wasp broke out simultaneously. This one, slightly larger, flexed its barbed forelegs and snapped its mandibles.
[Corrupted Molten Wasp, Scout - Level 120]
This one fanned its wings experimentally, sending shimmering waves of heat downward.
“Fire-based,” Monica mused, looking at the two monsters. “Better for me.”
Monica’s lips pressed together. Level 120. She’d faced worse the Black Widow at Level 160, but this was still a steep increase in levels. These monsters were bound to only get stronger. Not only that, but wasps were airborne—which would have been a problem under normal conditions.
Fighting creatures that could fly wouldn’t have been easy since they could maneuver in a tridimensional space and she could only go left and right—maybe jump a little. But, it just so happened, thankfully, that she had gotten the perfect Skill to deal with this situation.
A black cloud started forming in front of Monica as a small chunk of her Mana drained away, and she jumped on it, suddenly feeling her body being precipitously pulled upward.
Movement Skill - Phoenix Cloud
Call upon the airy essence of the Twin Phoenix to form a hovering platform of flame beneath your feet. This skill’s effect varies depending on whether you channel Golden Flame or Obsidian Flame at the moment of activation.
#1 Base Effect: Conjure a small, fiery cloud beneath your feet, allowing an immediate vertical or angled lift of up to 5 feet. The distance increases by 1 foot for each Level.
Current Lift: 6 feet
#2 Base Effect: Can be used up to 2 times in quick succession before requiring a brief pause. Maximum uses increase by 1 every 5 Levels.
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Current Uses: 2
#1 Special Conditional Effect - Golden Updraft: Use the Golden Updraft to hover up to 10 seconds before slowly drifting back toward the ground. During this time, you can adjust your horizontal position slightly without falling. One additional second of hovering is added for each Skill Level.
Current Duration: 11 seconds
#2 Special Conditional Effect - Obsidian Surge: When using the Obsidian Surge, you receive a 200% speed multiplier. The speed increases by 10% for each Level.
Current Speed: 210%
Cooldown: After using Phoenix Cloud, there is a 20-second cooldown before Phoenix Cloud can be activated again.
Monica barely had time to note the rising heat radiating from the molten tunnels before a hail of smoldering resin splattered toward her feet and forced her to cancel the Skill. The Level 115 Corrupted Molten Wasp screeched after releasing the resin from its mouth. With a sharp inhale, Monica activated Mana Sense, her vision filling with delicate golden echoes. She saw the large drops’ trajectory as if time had slowed. A quick sidestep onto another Phoenix Cloud combined with a Phoenix Step—this time mixing both Golden Flame and Obsidian Flame in a split second—carried her out of the resin’s path and back to the ground.
Cooldown, Monica started counting in her head the twenty seconds of Phoenix Cloud’s cooldown.
However, she was still rattled by this exchange in a way that she hadn’t felt in a while, not even when she had soloed a Corrupted Tarantula.
She was sluggish.
Ted’s Phoenix Song wasn’t there to amplify her speed and strength as he had done against the Black Widow. Not to talk about his ne Skill, Battle Conductor.
Maybe I’m growing too reliant on Ted, Monica realized. If anything were to happen to him before we reach Machina—or while we fight her…
By the time the cooldown was almost over, a second shape had blurred in her peripheral vision: the Level 120 Corrupted Molten Wasp dive-bombed from above, aiming its stinger at her back.
Thanks to Mana Sense, she pivoted and raised her Twin Phoenix Bracers, trying to gauge the creature's strength. The stinger struck the golden surface with a deafening crack, sending numbing vibrations through her bones and causing her to skid backward. She gritted her teeth and jumped to the side to avoid the monster's follow-through. The blow was heavier than she expected
They’re not normal monsters—Machina made these things, she reminded herself. Wasps are not normally made of stupid damn blazing metal.
Monica exhaled sharply. Normally, she would’ve unleashed a flurry of Obsidian Impact combos. But the first Wasp spat another stream of molten resin before she could even pivot, and once again, she had to abort her attack entirely.
“Dammit,” she muttered, yanking her torso aside. Her foot slipped on a patch of half-solidified resin. She only avoided being trapped by launching herself onto a Phoenix Cloud—an airy swirl of black flames formed beneath her feet, letting her hop into a brief hover. The shift to a Golden Updraft slowed her descent, preventing a nasty fall.
Even as she touched the ground again, Monica felt her limbs lag.
Ok, fighting with Ted all this time is throwing me off now that he’s not here.
“Focus.” She forced a breath, flicking a residue of melted resin from her boots.
She dodged both monsters’ attacks, waiting for Phoenix Cloud’s cooldown to be over again.
She looked warily at the molten resin—the splash pattern was wide, aiming to lock her feet in place as soon it solidified or, worse, make her lose her footing. Instinct flared.
She kept relying on Mana Sense, letting the golden echoes highlight the resin’s trajectory and keeping an eye out for the strong Level 120 Molten Wasp.
Without waiting another beat, Monica pushed both the Golden and the Obsidian Flame into Phoenix Step and zigzagged away, jerking her body two yards to the side. She landed awkwardly on a chunk of broken cobble, but the resin splattered harmlessly onto the spot she’d just vacated, hissing and fuming as it hardened in an instant.
That wasp hissed and spread its wings, bracing for another volley. But Monica’s attention shifted instantly to the second waspfray. The label [Corrupted Molten Wasp, Level 120] flashed in her eyes. She barely pivoted in time to raise her Twin Phoenix Bracers in a perfect copy of the previous engagement. The Wasp’s stinger collided against the golden metal with a jarring impact, reverberations blasting up her forearms.
She ground her teeth, forcibly banishing the shock in her limbs. The wasps screeched in tandem, their fiery grey coloration running with molten streaks of liquid metal along their thoraxes.
As soon as the Phoenix Cloud skill came off cooldown, she tried to link it with Phoenix Step, hoping the combination would allow her to maneuver in three dimensions. In theory, she could jump up without Phoenix Cloud, then go even higher with bursts of Phoenix Step, and keep launching herself on one more platform or off the walls.
In practice, the wasps had the natural advantage of flight, and they used it well since Monica could only create two Phoenix Clouds.
For every smart midair pivot Monica performed, the insects scattered, flew away, and regrouped. She was used to enemies on the ground. Fighting fliers tested a whole new set of reflexes and instincts.
Her Mana Sense helped track them, golden trails painting arcs of where they’d move, but physically matching that with her own leaps was a whole other challenge.
She glimpsed the Level 115 Molten Wasp flying higher, resin glistening in its mandibles. Meanwhile, the Level 120 one circled low behind her. They were dividing her attention. She tried to pivot away from the upper wasp’s resin hail. She half-succeeded, skidding on half-dried lava and calling upon Phoenix Step to reposition, but her foot sank into a sticky patch of old resin on the floor. She felt it cling to her boot, halting her momentum for a critical heartbeat.
That was all the opening the Level 120 needed.
A flash of gray swarmed her vision and a needle-sharp stinger rammed into her abdomen. She heard herself scream more in surprise than pain, though the burning venom that erupted into her body made her vision swim.
Monica tried to summon the Golden Flame, but her muscles seized—something about this venom short-circuited her normal speed at channeling magic. Her arms sagged. She saw the Level 115 swoop in from her left, stinger extended. The next moment, it plunged into her chest, and the world went black.
Monica’s eyes snapped open to the feeling of grit under her cheek. The stench of roasting flesh made her stomach lurch, and she twisted her head to the side only to see one of the wasps gnawing on… a detached human leg.
Her detached leg.
The realization lit a fuse of anger in her mind, eclipsing the residual terror of death.
They maimed my body for a damn snack.
Her thoughts felt stark and bristling with fury. She pulled herself upright, her legs—both of them—intact once more thanks to her ability to come back to life. The wasp, the Level 120 one, noticed her, dropped the half-chewed limb, and buzzed its wings menacingly. Its mandibles were slick with her blood. Monica’s breath hissed through her teeth. Every fiber of her being burned with the desire to tear that thing apart.
She forced activated Fury of the Phoenix—the three Phoenix Feathers on her forearms flared, supercharging her Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance well beyond their normal range.
Then, she let out a low, feral growl.
Before the wasps could regroup, Monica locked her eyes on the bigger threat. The Level 120 immediately took flight and hovered a few yards above. Rather than letting it corner her again, Monica launched forward by pumping the Obsidian Flame in Phoenix Cloud and Phoenix Step.
She blasted straight up, only switching to Golden Updraft at the very last second to stall mid-ascent as the monster tried impaling her.
“You think you’re better than me?!” Monica shouted like a crazed woman.
The Wasp’s stinger whooshed by, missing her by a hair’s breadth. She felt the heat of the venom-laced tip brush past her waist. The creature clicked its mandibles, frustrated. Monica’s eyes, though, were on that same blood-slick mouth that had devoured her severed limb.
“No more freebies,” she hissed.
Capitalizing on momentum, she twisted in the air, slinging herself onto the Wasp’s back. Her left arm locked around the base of its thorax while her right fist crackled with Obsidian Flame. She targeted the base of the wing—time to ground this monster permanently.
Her first strike crashed into the joint, exoskeleton splintering with a sickening crunch. She felt the creature buck violently, almost dislodging her. But she clung on, driving a second strike along the exact same point, using the hidden effect of Obsidian Impact. The cracks deepened into a visible fracture.
The Wasp frantically twisted in the air, but Monica refused to let go. She roared, channeling a third strike with pinpoint accuracy.
Shatterpoint triggered. Its effect ruptured the wing’s anchor.
The entire left wing tore free in a bloom of burning fluids, molten metal, and gore.
Unlike the spiders in the first floor of Viscera, it seemed like there was something fleshy to these Wasps.
The Level 120 Corrupted Molten Wasp screeched so loud it hurt her ears. Monica felt gouts of flaming ichor splash her arms and torso. If not for her natural fire immunity, that molten liquid could have melted her skin to the bone.
The Wasp wobbled, spinning out of control. Monica felt gravity sink its claws back into them both. There was no time for a graceful landing—her Phoenix Cloud was on cooldown, and her last Phoenix Step had already been spent.
Fine. They’d fall together.
She seized the Wasp’s bulky head and pushed it toward the ground, bracing for the inevitable impact. The insect flailed its spiked forelegs, raking across Monica’s side. Blood sprayed from deep gashes in her flank. But it still couldn’t angle its stinger into her, not in this position. The ground rushed up in a blurred smear of red and black. Then everything hit at once.
The collision knocked the wind out of her. Her vision sparked with brightness as if she’d been hammered by a giant’s fist. Debris and dust enveloped them in a choking cloud.
But she refused to let go. The Wasp was pinned under her, body convulsing in its death throes. Another wave of black fire burst from Monica’s fists, fueling Obsidian Impact. She slammed them repeatedly into the monster’s skull.
Crack.
The Wasp’s head caved in, and the insect let out a final, wet hiss before falling limp.
Monica spat blood, ignoring the gritty taste on her tongue.
Her entire torso throbbed, bruised, and battered from that slam.
She forced a breath, about to breathe in relief, when her Mana Sense caught the attack coming her way from her blind spot.
“You wish,” Monica grunted.
She flung herself to the side, bones creaking in protest. Her battered body almost gave out mid-roll, but Fury of the Phoenix sustained her form as the Golden Flame started easily healing the damage.
The resin splashed where she’d been lying a half-second earlier, solidifying and trapping the corpse of the other Molten Wasp.
A shimmering warmth wrapped her core, knitting fractures in her ribs, sealing the deeper lacerations around her abdomen. Her breath no longer rasped so painfully, though a deep ache still lingered.
Overhead, the Level 115 Wasp circled lower, apparently sensing weakness. Its movements exuded confidence as if it believed she was nearly out of fight.
Monica let her shoulders slump, faking a deeper injury, encouraging the wasp to sink further. It spat again, only half as forcefully, trying to pin her half-healed body in place. She jerked aside, leaving a smear of her blood on the ground, and let it close in for the kill.
A sardonic grin curling her lips.
You think you’ve already won.
The wasp swooped mere feet above her head, stinger aimed for her throat. She sprang up in a final, savage burst of Phoenix Step, bridging the short distance in a blink. In a flash, she hooked both arms around the insect’s thorax.
Obsidian Flames covered her fists as she hammered them into a vulnerable seam. One, two, three times—again, focusing on the same exact point to trigger Shatterpoint. Even mid-panic, the wasp squirmed, trying to toss her off. But her mind was locked on delivering that critical blow.
The carapace gave, splitting in a fountain of molten gore that spattered across the floor. The Wasp pitched sideways, slamming into a half-crumbled dwarven wall. It attempted a final spit of resin, but its body was already shutting down, spasming from the internal damage. Monica finished it with a brutal punch directly through the weakened plating, feeling the shell shatter under her knuckles as she eviscerated the creature midair.
At last, the Level 115 collapsed in a dying screech and they fell to the ground, the monter’s legs twitched in frantic desperation before going still.
A wave of hot air ruffled Monica’s hair.
She sank onto one knee, letting her arms drop heavily to her sides as she covered her entire body in Golden Flame.
Just as the chamber fell silent, a familiar chime resonated inside her head, the System Notification.