The air on Floor 33 was different.
Serenya Korvelle's party felt it the moment they stepped through the archway. The tunnels were darker than they remembered, the moss overhead faint instead of steady, leaving patches of shadow where none had been before.
The stone beneath their boots felt rougher and more uneven, as if the dungeon itself had shifted while they were gone. Water dripped from somewhere unseen, each drop echoing louder than it should. The temperature had dropped too, not enough to see breath, but enough to make them pull their cloaks tighter.
Derrick muttered with his daggers already drawn. "This isn't how it looked last time. It used to be clear and wide open."
Liora pressed two fingers to the wall, feeling the rough texture beneath her palm. "The moss glowed brighter then and there weren't this many mana traces." Her calm voice wavered with unease.
Kaelen crouched low with his staff in hand, eyes scanning scorch marks burned into the stone. "Something fought here not long ago."
Even Garron adjusted his stance, lifting his tower shield higher. His grip tightened on the handle, knuckles white beneath his gauntlets.
Serenya didn't speak. Her golden eyes narrowed as she scanned the tunnel ahead. Her instincts whispered that this wasn't the same Floor 33 they had conquered before. The dungeon had changed, twisted, grown more dangerous.
Ahead of them walked Eron Vale. His old hiking pack bounced gently at his back. He looked almost casual, like a man strolling toward a village market instead of a battlefield. His Hovering Blaze circled him in slow, protective loops, casting faint orange light across the walls.
He showed no concern and no hesitation. Just steady footsteps echoing through the dark.
The first growl echoed from the shadows, low and rough, vibrating through the stone.
Then the ambush began.
From above, carrion bats poured down in a shrieking swarm, their wings leathery and torn, eyes glowing faint red. Lizards scraped out of cracks in the stone walls, scales glinting dull green as they hissed and lunged. Wolves padded from both tunnels, eyes burning faint green, fangs bared and dripping.
"Ambush" Kaelen shouted, staff flaring to life.
In moments, they were surrounded. The monsters swarmed with uncanny coordination, splitting the group in two. Eron to the left, Serenya's party to the right.
Wolves snapped at their heels, bats shrieked overhead, lizards lunged with armored jaws.
"Damn it," Derrick spat. "The floor wasn't this messed up before."
"Hold the line" Serenya commanded, swinging her greatsword. Sparks burst as steel struck scales.
Garron slammed his shield into the ground and braced as wolves crashed into him. The metal screeched but held. His boots slid an inch before he planted himself firm.
Kaelen swept his staff, sending arcs of flame into the swarm of bats. Several screeched and burned, falling smoking to the ground, but more kept coming.
Liora stood behind them with chants spilling steady from her lips as golden light wove into Garron's bruised arm. Her voice stayed calm but her jaw was tight.
They were barely holding. Wolves pressed closer, bats dove from above, lizards snapped with armored jaws.
Eron stood alone on the other side of the chamber, encircled by wolves and lizards with bats circling overhead.
He lifted his hand, voice calm and steady.
"Fireball No. 14 Ping-Pong Blaze"
A small orb of flame burst into life, compact and steady, glowing bright orange with a core of white heat. It shot forward, struck the ground with a thunderclap, and rebounded with explosive force.
The orb didn't fade. It ricocheted into the wall with a sharp crack, then the ceiling, then slammed into a lizard's side with a detonation that echoed through the chamber.
Each bounce was an explosion. Each detonation precise, controlled, devastating.
Eron's finger guided the orb with small movements. Wolves fell yelping, fur seared black. Bats shrieked as the fireball detonated in their wings. Lizards collapsed as the orb struck their legs and flanks in chain bursts.
The chamber flashed with each explosion, shadows dancing wildly across the walls.
From his shadow, Valerica's voice purred with amusement. "Ohh this is new. Why didn't you use it when we fought. Do not tell me you have been hiding toys from me"
Eron snorted softly, eyes never leaving the bouncing flame. "Toys. Last time I tested it, the ball almost blew my arm off. It ricocheted at me instead of the target. Not something you gamble with."
Valerica's laughter curled low and delighted. "Yet now it obeys you like a trained hound. This is no longer Fireball. This is something else."
Eron smirked faintly as he guided the orb into another ricochet. "It is still Fireball. I forced the core to rebound instead of disperse. Every bounce is compressed heat waiting to burst. Effective but limited."
"Unstable, dangerous, and very flashy" Valerica purred. "I like it. It suits you."
"Flashy isn't the point" Eron muttered as the orb tore through another cluster of wolves. "I need more control."
"You will get there" Valerica said, almost fond.
The Ping-Pong Blaze ricocheted one final time, detonating in the center of a lizard cluster. When the smoke cleared, only charred corpses remained.
Meanwhile, Serenya's party fought with grit and desperation.
"Garron, shield left" Serenya barked.
Garron pivoted and braced his tower shield as two wolves crashed into it with a snarl. The metal screeched but held.
"Kaelen, air support"
The mage swept his staff, flames arcing into the swarm of bats. Several screeched and fell, but sweat poured down his temple.
"Derrick, backline"
The rogue darted past them, daggers flashing as he stabbed a lizard in the eye. "Too many" he hissed. "Too damn many"
Liora stood behind them, chanting steady as golden light spread across Garron's wounds. Her hands trembled but she forced them still.
Despite their coordination, they were being overrun.
Kaelen's eyes flicked sideways and froze.
Across the chamber, the Ping-Pong Blaze ricocheted violently but with precision, each bounce detonating with surgical force.
Wolves dropped in burning heaps. Lizards crumpled, split by heat. Bats fell in smoking spirals.
Eron moved with calm ease, one finger guiding the bouncing flame like a man drawing circles in the air. His posture never shifted. His expression never changed.
Kaelen's mouth fell open. His staff lowered an inch. "He is not even straining. He is playing"
Derrick snarled as he parried. "Then stop staring and help"
"That is not Fireball. It cannot be" Kaelen whispered.
"Kaelen" Serenya snapped as she cleaved through a wolf. "Focus"
The mage flinched and forced another burst of flame from his staff, but his eyes kept flicking back to Eron with fear and awe.
Everything he knew said what he was seeing was impossible.
Yet it was happening.
Eron exhaled slowly and guided the Ping-Pong Blaze one more time. It detonated in a cluster of wolves, clearing space.
His gaze shifted toward Serenya's side. Her party was being pushed back hard.
He frowned and flicked his wrist.
The bouncing fireball shot across the chamber, ricocheted high, struck a wall, then burst through a lizard and a wolf. The pressure on Serenya's side eased instantly.
Garron straightened. Derrick gasped for air. Kaelen stared, transfixed.
But the fireball sputtered as it reached the farthest group. It flickered, then dissolved into smoke.
"That is the range" Eron muttered. "I need to practice it more."
Valerica chuckled. "Still not satisfied"
"Never" he said, already thinking of adjustments.
The battle ended at last.
Bodies littered the floor, smoking and broken. The stench of scorched scales filled the air. The chamber fell silent except for ragged breathing and dripping water.
Serenya's party regrouped, battered and exhausted.
Garron leaned on his shield, chest heaving. Derrick wiped blood from his cheek. Liora patched her own arm with trembling hands. Kaelen stared at Eron, eyes wide, his voice barely above a whisper.
"That was not Fireball"
"Shut it" Derrick muttered without bite.
Liora spoke softly. "We would have been overrun without him."
Garron said nothing but his expression stayed wary.
Serenya sheathed her blade with steady hands. Her golden eyes remained fixed on Eron Vale. He calmly brushed soot from his sleeve and adjusted the straps of his hiking pack as if the fight had been nothing more than a warm-up.
Her instincts whispered the truth.
Without him, they would have died here.
And none of them wanted to imagine what waited above if Floor 33 was already like this.
Eron glanced back at them once and met Serenya's gaze for a brief moment. Then he turned and walked deeper into the tunnel. His Hovering Blaze drifted ahead, casting light into the dark.
Serenya's party exchanged looks. Exhaustion mixed with unease.
But they followed.
There was no other choice.