Fire and Ice don’t coexist. The thing that came out of the hole broke that rule.

The lift shuddered to a stop as the creature emerged from the dark tunnel, its body split down the middle into two distinct halves of energy. The left side of its form glowed a frigid blue that cast a frosty gloom over the area, while the right side blazed a fiery red, sending searing heat waves radiating outward. Sparks flew from the place where the two halves intersected. It stood two times taller than even the burliest of my teammates, brandishing a club of solid ice and a sword of burning flame.

Robin was in its direct path, but she held her shield high, ready to offer protection. The monster roared and slammed its weapons down on the metal shield with such force that she was driven to her knees. With newfound strength, she pushed the weight off and retaliated with her mace – her own fiery red energy sliced into its icy leg, eliciting an unearthly hiss of pain from the beast.

Yui saw the opening and jumped into action. She charged towards the monster with her agility and speed. She timed her attacks perfectly, aiming for the ice leg that Robin had just attacked. With each strike from the Ninjato sword, splinters of ice flew out in all directions.

The monster stabbed at Yui with its flaming sword but Robin was there the next instant, deflecting the flaming blade with her shield away from the foxwoman.

“Come on, big ugly. Let’s exchange pointers,” Robin taunted, using a line she’d gotten from a cultivation novel she’d told us she read.

“Han, focus your attacks on the fire half. Your water magic will do the most damage there. Burion, your shadow blades should have a disruptive effect on that lightning, make use of it,” my Handler barked orders, some of the military commander I first knew him as showing through. “I’ll focus my efforts on the cold side.”

With a determined nod, I ran toward the mutant, charging up my mana to form a long shadow blade. I swung overhead, reaching as far as I could, and felt my blade slice into the small of the beast’s back. The lightning wavered and flickered and there was a bellow of pain from the creature.

Before the mutant could turn, I retreated into the shadows while the others moved around me, attacking from different angles. Yui and Robin worked together, the former striking like as quickly as a deadly viperkin and the latter taunting to keep the mutant's attention. Han launched a barrage of magical assaults, aiming for its fire side with streams of water, and switching to stone bullets when necessary.

Barducci used any weapons he had on hand--spear, sword, axe, bolos, and even throwing daggers--anything to distract it from Yui and Han.

Unfortunately, it seemed like no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t make any real progress harming it, as we could barely break through its thick hide.

Resolving to give it one more shot, I charged up a larger and heavier sword. Then, I activated Shadow Cloak and crept into range of the monster and waited till its back was turned to me before striking with all the strength I could muster. I swung up and thrust into the same area of the beast’s back I'd injured before, the longer blade of my conjured weapon stabbing deeper, a spray of thick steaming blood shooting from the wound. I cheered that I had finally managed to inflict it with my Bleed Skill.

The mutant reacted with an enraged roar and spun around wildly, throwing everyone back in an attempt to shake us off. Some more violently than others.

I felt the jarring impact as I tumbled across the floor, my armour and Thick Skin barely containing the force of the blow. Jagged shards of pain ripped through me as I clambered to my feet and with a single thought a heavy shadow blade materialised in my hands. My job was to inflict as much damage as possible while Robin kept the beast’s attention locked on her.

What happened next was a sight to behold. The beargirl fearlessly charged the monster, slamming her shield into its chest before hacking away at its ice cold leg. It roared in rage and brought both weapons down at her in one fell swoop. She deftly dodged the club and deflected the blade from her body with her shield in one swift motion. But that wasn’t all she had in store for it. With a mocking cringe worthy taunt she challenged, “Is that the best you’ve got? You’re a thousand years too soon to be trying to take me on!”

I gritted my teeth and focused on my attack. I had to push harder, make the beast bleed more. I swung the heavy blade overhand again, barely managing to cut into its back. I missed the previous spot I had cut by a couple centralised, instead creating a new one and spilling more of the creature’s blood. I wanted nothing more than to climb the beast and make a clean kill but its skin was too hot, then cold, then hot again, making it impossible. So, I kept chopping at it, adding new gashes and widening the old ones.

Every time the mutant did its deadly spin move, tossing us aside with burning sensations and shocks, I hoped it would be the last time. But it was as if it wasn’t learning from its mistakes; it kept striking at Robin with the same double weapon strike.

Meanwhile, Han Shen was trying to freeze it with ice needles, Yui was whirlwind slashing with her sword and Teacher was attacking with his spears and swords but still, nothing worked. The monster just wouldn’t drop.

Finally I got a lucky blow. There was one wound on the creature's back that I had deepened with every attack and this time, my blade sliced right through its other side.

The mutant howled in pain and I thought we’d finally done it. We finally killed it with that blow. But as the wound ripped open, there was no blood. Instead, what seemed to be a new layer of skin began to cover the split, morphing and expanding to form two monstrous creatures, each a smaller but still towering version of the original, one blue and one red. I recoiled as the new figures pushed aside the torn remains of the mutant's former body.

I shouted, “It’s dividing!”

In mere seconds we were faced with two terrors instead of one!

Robin was experienced enough by this point that taunting them both was easy enough. The problem came from their new intelligence. It was like, their forced combination had somehow dumbed them down. Robin dodged the downward swing of the club and moved to deflect the fiery sword when the club wielder suddenly turned and swung sideways. Crashing the massive weapon into her side. I heard the crunch of metal bending and bones cracking. She was hurt, but still fighting as she dodged the follow up slice from the fiery blade.

“Focus fire, take down the fiery one first!” my Handler yelled, getting everyone moving again.

I spread Shadow Caltrops under the two large beasts, hoping to slow them down and give Robin some reprieve but the magic proved to be little more than a nuisance to the monsters.

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I still had my Zhanmadao and had no interest in wasting the mana I used to create the weapon. I went for the knee. Trying to cut it in half again seemed like a bad idea. What if it just created more mutants? Could we handle that in our current state?

With a mighty swing, I chopped into the back of the left knee joint and felt my blade sink deep. I heard a howl and watched a geyser of dark red blood erupt from the wound as Bleed took effect and the beast lurched back. I had hoped my Sever skill would have activated and cut through the leg entirely, but no such luck. Worse, I had managed to distract the beast from Robin.

It turned so fast, I wasn’t prepared. In one swift movement it raised its blade and I barely had time to bring my own up in defence. Sparks flew as our weapons clashed, and then I was sent careening across the room. My arms burned with pain and when I looked down, I saw what had happened: both arms were broken, one with a bone sticking out of it, and the other at an unnatural angle. I knew then that my time in the fight was done.

I could feel the heat of the beast's rage as it pursued me. I heard Robin's attempts to taunt it, but the beast seemed to be beyond reason. I had done too much damage and it was now determined to make me pay.

Desperately searching for a way out, I saw the frost gauntlet and knew that the only way to survive was to lead the beast inside. As much as it hurt to move, I started running, trying to stay ahead of its snarling fury.

I felt both the warmth of the beast's rage and the cold of the gauntlet fighting each other as I stumbled on and onward. Feeling something inside me awakened as I sensed when to make my next turn, I shouted triumphantly over my shoulder, "Missed me!"

The beast only grew angrier and continued its pursuit, but I kept running, hoping that if I could just stay a step ahead of it long enough, it would eventually be consumed by its own anger.

I sprinted through the icy world, my limbs aching with every step. As I dove to the left, shards of light seared through my vision, intensifying the burning sensation in my arms. My dive was clumsy, and I face-planted into the ground, rolling desperately right and then left to avoid jets of searing cold that shot up from the floor and ceiling. Behind me I heard a roar of anguish and knew the mutant had followed me, foolishly, into the gauntlet.

I attempted to stand but a sickening whoosh filled the air. Instinctively I dropped to my knees and elbows just in time to watch a giant blade slice through the wall overhead. If I hadn't dove it would have cleaved me in two. Squirming forward on my elbows, a scream of pain contained in every movement, I escaped from the ice-cold protection of the blade and scrambled back onto my feet.

I flew around corners and over obstacles, pistons of frozen air barely missing me as I raced for freedom. The mutant was still relentless in its pursuit, but I could no longer feel its fiery grasp - only my own agony as I propelled myself forwards with shattered limbs.

I occasionally chanced a look back. The mutant was in bad shape. I had no idea how it was still moving. It was missing pieces of its face and skull. An arm looked like it had frozen solid and shattered at the shoulder, same for one of its feet. And yet, the monster pressed on, crawling along after me.

If it was going to keep chasing me, then I was going to let it. I just needed to keep moving forward. If I could get to the other half of my team, we had a chance . . . I had a chance.

I don’t know how long I ran before I saw the bend.

“What the hell is that?” a voice shouted.

The sound startled me, and I missed the timing for a cold jet. I gritted my teeth and pressed my body so hard against the wall that it felt like my ribs were about to crack. All around me, cold jets erupted from the walls, slicing through the air like sharp daggers of ice. I started moving again, slower but still moving.

I saw Al and Rober. both were standing a dozen metres away, watching the gauntlet, me, and the thing behind me.

“Level boss!” I screamed as I hurled myself towards the wall, my broken arm aching in pain and my feet slipping on the icy floor. I could feel the cold seeping into my skin and paralysing me, but I kept running as fast as I could, every agonising step closer to safety. My team waited for me not far ahead, and with them was Al's healing magic.

Just as I reached them, I turned around to watch the horrific scene behind me. The mutant was frozen solid in the icy gauntlet, unable to move or fight back as the deadly blasts slowly chipped away at it until finally falling motionless-- it died just one metre short of us. My heart sank with relief as I realised I had made it out alive.

“What happened to you?” Al asked, his golden glowing hands working to repair my broken bones and the damage I suffered trying to get to them.

“Boss spawned when you flipped the last lever, comrade,” I said. “We fought it, waiting for you to come. Thought that we might have even killed it at one point. Then the boss split in two.”

“Is my sister still alive? Have you lost anyone?” Rober asked worriedly.

“Still alive last I saw. Hurt, but alive. No losses yet, but there have been some close ones,” I answered, wincing as my forearm snapped back into position. “What about you?” I asked, looking around. I saw Beau and Sam leaned up against the wall, both unconscious. But I didn’t see Plvoer or Coach Liv.

Al looked down sadly, tears glistened in his eyes as he recounted their sorrows. “We lost Plvoer at the first turn. The spawns got him before we could mount a defence. Coach Liv . . . He . . . He saved me . . . I don’t . . . In the last fire gauntlet, he saved us all. By the time we turned back, he was gone, consumed by the flames. We tried to save him, but there was nothing we could do. It's all my fault. If only I had been quicker."

"It's not your fault," I said, my heart sinking at the news and the thought of what they had endured, yet there was no time to grieve now if we were to live. "It's no one's fault, but we must go on. The rest of the team is still out there fighting that beast, and they need our help.” Al nodded, wiping away his tears and picking up his weapon.

“They are too hurt,” Al said, gesturing towards Beau, Rober, and Sam. “One good blast of cold and they are as good as dead.”

I shook my head. “I can get us through. I can see the path with my Magical Synesthesia skill. But they need to be up and moving.

Beau shifted and opened his eyes to look at us, “I can move.” With a great effort, he pushed himself up to his feet. He was wobbly, but able.

“And I can carry Sam,” Rober volunteered.

Al didn’t look convinced. He looked at me hard, “Are you sure you know the way through?”

I nodded. I was certain. I looked at the ice gauntlet and saw it was still weakened. I worried it would change on us mid run.

But there was nothing to do about it. “Okay, we move in two minutes, that’s when the path opens up. Follow me closely, move as I do.”

No one argued and minutes later we were moving with only forty-five minutes left on the clock. We raced as quickly as the traps would allow and only half an hour after that, we exited the gauntlet to find the blue monster dead and the rest of my team looking utterly exhausted.

My Handler perked up as soon as he saw me and smiled. “You made it. Thank the gods. And I see you found the others.”

I returned the smile in relief to see him and the others all alive and mostly well. Robin looked banged up but Yui was tending to her. Han also looked fine, bruised in places, but fine. I was utterly relieved to see my team intact. I was jostled when Rober shouldered past me to rush to his sister’s side. I couldn’t blame him. Alphonse shouldering past next was more annoying. He was small enough that he could have dodged past me without bumping into me.

Beau and I reluctantly told my Handler and the rest of the group everything that had happened in their gauntlet and the losses they had suffered. They solemnly listened, breathing a heavy sigh and gasping when we told them about Coach Liv and Plvoer.

“Let’s move everyone down to the next floor,” my Handler said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Assuming the lair follows the same pattern, the clock will stop once we’re down a floor.”

My eyes focused on the pedestal with a reward chest and a stairway just beyond it. There was a stillness in the air, like everyone was scared to move forward after their losses.

My Handler opened the chest and took six stones and a book out, quickly putting them in his bag and whispering that he'd distribute them once they'd stopped the clock. Nobody spoke. We were all too sad at the thought of Coach Liv and Plvoer to feel any excitement. We just wanted to get some rest.