For the next two days, we became relentless treasure hunters. Zone B was littered with the crumbling ruins of an ancient, warlike civilization. Forgotten armories, crumbling watchtowers, and collapsed barracks. And within them, guarded by simple traps and the occasional territorial beast, we found our prizes.
In a sealed chest at the bottom of a dried-up well, we found three items. The first was a pair of heavy, bronze gauntlets, etched with runes of resilience. I handed them to Jin. "The Gauntlets of the Unbroken Fist," I explained, the knowledge flowing into my mind from some unknown source, a perk of my immense mana pool. "They will dramatically increase your striking and blocking power. You will be able to parry blows that would have shattered your sword."
The second was a pair of iron-soled boots that felt as heavy as stone. "For you, Eric," I said. "The Earth-Warden's Greaves. When you brace yourself, they will mystically bind you to the ground beneath your feet, making you almost impossible to move."
The final item was a small, smooth, ever-warm seed that pulsed with a gentle, green light. "Rina," I said, placing it in her hand. "The Seed of Yggdrasil. Keep it on your person. It will passively and slowly regenerate your own mana, allowing you to sustain your healing for much longer without exhausting yourself." Her eyes filled with grateful tears. It was a simple gift, but one that would save countless lives.
Our next discovery was in the bell tower of a ruined citadel, guarded by a flock of vicious, armored gryphons. After Lana picked them out of the sky with her silent crossbow, we found another chest. Inside was a shard of glowing, orange crystal, still warm to the touch. "Erica," I said. "The Sunstone Shard. Wear it. It will help you focus your pyromancy. Your spells will be more stable, more efficient, and less costly to your own reserves."
There was also a simple, featureless leather mask. "Kael. The Eidolon's Mask. It will sharpen your senses, allowing you to perceive and replicate the signature of a skill with greater speed and clarity."
And finally, a beautiful, deadly crossbow made of a polished, black wood that felt as cold as iron. It was unstrung, with no mechanism to load a bolt. "Lana," I said, handing it to her. "The Serpent's Tooth. It requires no ammunition. It fires bolts of pure kinetic force, drawn from the user's own stamina. They are silent, invisible, and incredibly deadly." Her smile was a terrifying thing to behold.
Our final prize was the greatest. It was in the heart of a collapsed fortress, in the throne room of a long-dead king, guarded by a single, massive Iron Golem. The fight was brutal. The Golem was immune to poison and resistant to magic. It was a battle of pure, brute force. I was forced to summon Ouroboros, my Abyssal Shadow, to finally pin the creature down while Eric and Jin hammered at its joints.
When it finally fell, the sword it had been guarding was revealed. It was a longsword, but its blade was forged from a strange, black metal that seemed to absorb the light, making it look like a sliver of pure void. The hilt was wrapped in worn, grey leather, and the pommel was a single, unblinking obsidian eye.
I reached out and took it. The moment my fingers touched the hilt, I felt it. A deep, insatiable, parasitic hunger. "Soul-Drinker," I breathed, the name coming to me in a whisper. Its ability was simple and monstrous. It didn't need to cut. It didn't need to pierce. It only needed to be close. Any living being with a mana signature that came within inches of its blade would have their energy siphoned away, drawn into the sword and then channeled directly into its wielder. It was a weapon that fed its master by starving his enemies.
I turned to my team, holding the black sword in my hand. They were a fearsome sight. Each of them was now armed with a powerful artifact, their strength magnified, their confidence absolute. The wary, fractured group that had entered this zone was gone, replaced by a disciplined, elite killing unit.
Masha watched me, her heart a tumultuous sea of conflicting emotions. He had done it. He had taken them, broken and grieving, and forged them into something more. He was a tyrant, yes. But he was a tyrant who built empires. He was a monster who slew other monsters. And as he stood there, the black sword in his hand seeming to drink the very light around him, she could not deny the powerful, terrifying pull he had on her. He was the dark star around which they all now orbited.
The passage from Zone C to Zone B was like stepping from a deep, purple twilight into a realm of stark, brutal clarity. The skeletal, chiming trees of the Crystal Labyrinth gave way to a rugged, windswept landscape of jagged grey rock and hardy, rust-colored vegetation. The air was thin and cold, carrying the scent of iron and ozone. This was a warrior's land, a place that had no time for the sinister beauty or oppressive gloom of the previous zones. It was a place of open battlefields and clear lines of sight.
Our first encounter came within an hour. A pack of creatures that my spectral Edgar identified as Granite-Hide Minotaurs—hulking, B-rank beasts with skin like living stone and massive, crudely-forged axes. In Zone C, a single one would have been a significant threat. Here, a pack of ten charged us across an open plain, their roars echoing off the grey cliffs.
They were met with a symphony of overwhelming, god-like power.
"Eric, hold the line. Masha, immobilize. Erica, Lana, Kael—eradicate the flanks. Jin, Talia—with me. We take the leader," I commanded, my voice calm, my mind a cold, calculating engine.
Eric became a mountain, his new Earth-Warden's Greaves glowing with a faint brown light as he slammed his ruined shield into the ground. The earth around his feet seemed to harden, rooting him to the spot. The lead Minotaur's axe, a weapon that could shatter boulders, crashed against his shield. The shield buckled, but Eric did not move a single inch. The Buckler of Sparks discharged, sending a jolt of electricity up the Minotaur's arm, making it roar in surprised pain.
At the same instant, Masha, clutching her Grimoire of Hoarfrost, unleashed a power that was colder and more refined than ever before. She didn't create walls; she cast a wide-arc spell from the book, a 'Flash Freeze' that turned the ground beneath the charging pack into a treacherous, glass-like sheet of ice. Several of the brutes lost their footing, their charge collapsing into a chaotic, flailing pile-up.
This was the opening the others needed. Lana, a manic grin on her face, fired her new crossbow, the Serpent's Tooth. It required no physical bolts. With each pull of the trigger, a silent, near-invisible needle of pure kinetic force shot across the field, striking a Minotaur in the eye, felling it instantly. Erica's plasma lances, focused and deadly thanks to her Sunstone Shard, punched clean, molten holes through the stone-like hide of two others. Kael, wearing his Eidolon's Mask, had copied her spell with terrifying speed, his own plasma lance taking down a fourth.
While the flanks were being systematically dismantled, Talia and Jin moved with me. Jin, wearing his new Gauntlets of the Unbroken Fist, met the parry of a Minotaur's axe not with his sword, but with his armored hand, the force of the blow barely making him flinch. He used the opening to drive his sword deep into the creature's side. Talia was a phantom, her Viper's Kiss daggers a blur, leaving a dozen shallow, poisoned cuts on the leader's legs, the neurotoxin slowing its movements, making its swings clumsy and predictable.
From Masha's perspective, it was a terrifying, breathtaking spectacle. She stood back, maintaining the field of ice, her eyes fixed not on the battle, but on its conductor. Dante. He hadn't even summoned his puppets. He didn't need to. He stood at the center of the chaos, a calm, unmoving anchor in the storm, his commands sharp, precise, and brutally effective. He saw every opening, predicted every move. He was not just fighting a battle; he was solving an equation, and the answer was always victory.
A strange, unwilling warmth bloomed in her chest. The fear she had felt for him, the resentment for his tyranny, was still there. But now, it was mingled with something else. Awe. A deep, profound, and terrifying admiration. He was a monster, a tyrant, a user of people. But in this savage, merciless world, his monstrous tyranny was the only reason they were still alive. He was their shield, their sword, their cold, calculating god. And as she watched him point a casual finger, directing Talia to a newly exposed weak point on the Minotaur leader, a traitorous thought entered her mind. He is magnificent.
The entire battle was over in less than five minutes. Ten B-rank monsters, slaughtered with ruthless efficiency. We didn't even break a sweat.
"The mana cores are weak," I noted with disappointment as we absorbed the meager energy from the corpses. "But the spoils of this zone are not in the monsters. They are in the ruins."
"Zone B is cleared," I announced, my voice echoing in the ruined throne room. "There is nothing left for us here." I pointed the tip of Soul-Drinker toward the distant, unseen horizon. "We move to Zone A. The final trial awaits."