[The Frozen Spire – Floor 16: The Summit] [Time: 05:15 PM]
The stairs ended.
We weren't in a cave anymore. We were standing on an open-air platform at the very top of the Spire. Above us, the sky was a swirling vortex of auroras—greens, purples, and blues dancing in a hypnotic rhythm.
But I wasn't looking at the sky. I was looking at the throne.
At the center of the platform sat a throne carved from a single, massive sapphire. And on the throne sat the King.
He was huge—easily three meters tall. He wore armor made of black ice that seemed to absorb the light. A massive greatsword rested against the throne, covered in frost. His face was hidden behind a visor shaped like a screaming skull.
[Boss Monster: Cryon, The Fallen Guardian] [Rank: A+] [Status: Dormant] [Objective: Retrieve the 'Heart of Winter']
In the center of the King's chest, pulsating with a soft blue light, was a gem the size of a fist. The Heart.
"There it is," Seraphina whispered. Her voice trembled, not from fear, but from hope. "The Heart."
She took a step forward.
"Wait." I grabbed her shoulder.
She turned, her eyes flashing. "Ash, we're here. We can't hesitate. If we wake him, we have to kill him fast."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I needed to check something.
[Network Status: No Signal] [System: Warning. High Mana Density in the Boss Room is blocking external communications. You are currently offline. The Chairman cannot see you. The Chairman cannot hear you.]
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. This was my window. In a story this long, secrets rot relationships. If I wanted to survive past chapter 100, I needed a partner, not a victim.
"Seraphina, listen to me," I said, my voice low and urgent. "We have a problem. A bigger problem than the Boss."
Seraphina frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"The Chairman," I said the name. "The man who hired me. He's... he's watching. Or he was, until we stepped in here."
I held up the phone with the black screen.
"He has my mother," I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "He has an assassin in her hospital room right now. He gave me an order."
Seraphina went very still. Her eyes moved from the phone to my face. She didn't ask; she waited.
"He wants the Heart," I said. "And he told me that if you get it... I have to kill you."
The wind howled around us, tearing at our clothes.
Seraphina looked at me. She looked at the heavy hammer in my hand. She looked at the vulnerable spot in her armor where a single swing could crush her ribs.
"You could have attacked me from behind on the stairs," she said quietly. "You didn't."
"I'm not going to kill you, Seraphina."
"Then your mother dies." She stated it as a fact. A cold, hard equation.
"No," I shook my head. "I have a plan. But I need you to trust me. I need you to trust the 'Janitor' one more time."
She stared at me for a long second. Then, slowly, she nodded. "Talk fast. The King is waking up."
On the throne, Cryon's helmet shifted. Blue fire ignited in the eye slits.
"The signal is blocked here," I explained rapidly. "But the moment we kill the Boss and the mana dissipates, the signal returns. He'll see us."
"So?"
"So, he needs to see a tragedy," I grinned, a dark, dangerous grin. "He needs to see Ash the Mercenary betray Seraphina the Mage. He needs to see you die."
Her eyebrows shot up. "You want to fake my death?"
"I want to put on a show. We kill the Boss. You take the Heart. But then... I 'kill' you. You play dead. I take a fake Heart—I'll make one out of ice and light refraction—and I leave. You stay here, 'dead', until I give the signal."
"And the assassin?"
"Once I hand over the 'Heart' and get my payout, I go to the hospital," my grip on the hammer tightened. "And I introduce the assassin to the concept of terminal velocity."
Seraphina looked at the waking King. He was standing up now, the ground shaking with his movement. He grabbed his greatsword.
"It's risky," she said. "If he realizes it's a fake..."
"He won't. He's arrogant. And he thinks I'm desperate."
"You are desperate."
"Exactly. That's why it'll work."
Cryon roared. It wasn't a sound; it was a shockwave. The ice on the platform cracked.
[Boss Battle Initiated!]
"Deal," Seraphina shouted, her staff glowing with intense power. "But if you actually hit me with that hammer, I will haunt you!"
"Just don't forget to scream!" I yelled back.
We broke apart just as the Greatsword slammed down where we had been standing.
BOOOOM.
The impact was terrifying. The platform shook violently. Ice shrapnel flew everywhere, each shard sharp enough to slice through Kevlar.
"Scatter!" Seraphina commanded. "I'll draw his aggro! You hit the joints!"
She launched herself into the air, hovering on a disk of ice. "Ice Lance! Barrage!"
Dozens of ice spears rained down on the King. They shattered against his black armor, doing zero damage.
He laughed—a deep, grinding sound. He swung his hand, and a blizzard erupted from his palm, chasing Seraphina across the sky.
[System: Analyzing Boss Mechanics...] [Target: Cryon] [Defense: High (Physical), Extreme (Magical)] [Speed: Slow] [Weakness: Unknown. Probably the glowing blue thing in his chest, but that seems too obvious.]
I saw my opening.
While he was focused on the fly buzzing around his head, the ant was at his feet.
I slid under the swing of his sword, activating [Friction: Zero]. I was a hockey puck, speeding between his massive legs.
I reached the back of his knee. The armor there was thinner, designed for movement.
"Hey, ugly!"
I slammed my hand against the black metal.
[Active Skill: Resonance] [Target: Armor Plate (Left Knee)] [Frequency: High]
I didn't try to break the armor. I just loosened the bolts. I vibrated the connection points until they rattled.
Then, I swung the hammer.
CLANG.
The impact rang like a church bell. The armor plate didn't break, but it dented inward, pinching the mechanism.
Cryon roared in annoyance. He tried to step back, but his left knee locked up. The joint was jammed.
"He's limping!" I shouted. "Seraphina, aim for the chest! The Heart is the power source!"
"I need time to charge a Piercing Spell!" she yelled, dodging a massive fist. "Ten seconds!"
"You've got five!"
The King looked down. He saw me. The annoying bug.
He raised his foot to stomp me into paste.
[System: Incoming Attack. Surface Area: Huge. Force: Lethal. Suggestion: Run.]
I didn't run. I couldn't. If I moved, he would go after Seraphina.
I looked at the descending boot.
"Physics," I muttered, sweat dripping into my eyes. "Equal and opposite reaction."
I slammed my hammer onto the ground, not to hit anything, but to activate the gravity drive in reverse.
[Gravity Hammer: Repulsion Mode]
I triggered the charge. A bubble of reversed gravity exploded upward from the hammer just as the boot came down.
THUD.
The boot hit the gravity bubble. It stopped mid-air, inches from my nose. The force of his own stomp rebounded up his leg.
Cryon stumbled back, off-balance.
"NOW!" I screamed.
Seraphina dropped from the sky like a meteor. Her staff was glowing with blinding white light.
"Gungnir of Frost!"
She threw the staff. It became a streak of light, bypassing the armor, aiming straight for the pulsating blue gem in his chest.
CRACK.
The staff struck the gem.
The King froze. The blue light in his eyes flickered.
A spiderweb of cracks appeared on the Heart of Winter.
[System: Boss Critical Structure Damage. Phase 1 Complete.] [System: Warning. Mana levels rising. He is not dying. He is evolving.]
"Get back!" I yelled.
The King didn't die. The black armor exploded outward, turning into shrapnel.
Underneath, he wasn't flesh and blood. He was pure, condensed Mana. A skeleton made of blue diamond, radiating an aura that distorted the air.
He grew larger, the ice fusing into a crown on his head.
[Boss Phase 2: Cryon, The Avatar of Winter] [Ability Unlocked: Absolute Domain]
He didn't roar this time. He just raised a skeletal finger.
The air around us stopped moving. The temperature plummeted from -40 to -100 in a microsecond.
Seraphina's barrier shattered. She fell out of the sky, crashing onto the ice.
I tried to move, but my joints felt rusted.
"He controls the temperature..." Seraphina gasped, trying to stand up. "He's stealing the heat... directly from our bodies."
[System: Thermal Regulation failing. You have 3 minutes before your heart stops.]
The Diamond King walked toward Seraphina. He didn't care about the pest anymore. He wanted the Mage.
I checked my inventory. I was out of tricks. Out of mana potions.
"Hey!" I yelled, trying to draw his attention.
He ignored me.
I looked at the [Kinetic Dampener] in my hand. It was designed to stop movement. But heat... heat is movement. Molecular movement.
If I used it, I would freeze us faster.
"Think, Ash. Think."
I looked at the King. He was made of ice. Hard, perfect ice.
Ice is brittle.
"System," I whispered. "What happens if you introduce a rapid thermal expansion to a super-cooled diamond structure?"
[System: It shatters.]
"And how do I create heat in a vacuum?"
[System: You don't. Unless you have a battery.]
I looked at my Night-Weave Suit. The battery pack on my chest was humming.
I looked at the King.
"Seraphina!" I yelled. "Freeze me!"
She looked at me like I was insane. "What?!"
"Hit me with your strongest freeze spell! Encase me in ice!"
"You'll die!"
"Just do it!"
She hesitated, then aimed her trembling hand. "Coffin of Ice!"
A block of solid ice formed around me, trapping me instantly.
I was stuck. I couldn't breathe.
But inside the ice, I was safe from the King's Absolute Domain. The ice acted as an insulator.
I reached for my suit's power core. I ripped the safety limiter off.
[System: Warning. Core Overload. Self-Destruct Sequence Initiated.]
"I'm not self-destructing," I thought. "I'm becoming a bomb."
I channeled the raw electricity from the suit into the Gravity Hammer.
The hammer began to glow red hot.
Inside my ice coffin, the temperature skyrocketed. The ice around me turned to steam instantly, building up massive pressure.
I was a pressure cooker. And I was about to blow the lid off.
[End of Chapter 20]