Chapter 134 – The Furnace Throat.

The descent into the Pit of Ancestral Embers began in a natural fissure that cleft the western mountain range in a two-hundred-meter precipice.

The air rising from the opening was dry, dense, and crackled with sparks of hot ash. Unlike the common dungeons of the Second Circle, the inner structure of that pit had been hewn directly into veins of blackstone by ancient clans of forgemasters who inhabited the Third Circle before the rise of Beelzebub.

Diana led the descent down the broad basalt stairs.

Her black leather coat hung straight over the Dragon Chestplate, and the Crown of Sovereignty cast a steady purple glow upon her brow. Beside her, Rhea moved without making a sound, both Dragon Daggers primed in their sheaths.

Kael followed right behind Diana, the Volcanic Shield held firm in his left hand with the unyielding strength of his 1,020 hit points. Aurelia-Elysia carried her staff charged with her 1,000 mana points, Seraphina held the silver grimoire against her chest, and Zarek brought up the rear with his six arms relaxed and both lunar swords strapped across his back.

The six-warrior formation entered the dungeon's first floor.

The initial hall was a sixty-meter-long gallery, supported by decommissioned iron furnaces and dark rock pillars coated in dry soot.

The first enemy pack wasted no time emerging from the fissures in the walls: twelve Blackstone Constructs (Level 48) armed with cast-iron maces and four Lesser Magma Drakes (Level 49) crawling along the floor with incandescent maws.

Diana activated [Arcane Domain Aura] and [Commander's Loot].

Runes of black gold enveloped the party.

“Kael, hold the central corridor entrance! Zarek, right flank! Seraphina, pin the rearguard with the serpent!” Diana commanded.

The squad's response was instantaneous.

Kael took three long strides forward and slammed the Volcanic Shield into the stone:

UNSHAKABLE STANCE + IRON TAUNT!

Six of the Level 48 constructs smashed their iron maces against Kael's shield. The collision produced a metallic clang that echoed through the gallery, but the vanguard with over a thousand health did not budge an inch. The passive of his volcanic armor reflected 35% of the blunt damage in red flames straight back into the monsters' chests.

On the right flank, Zarek made his move.

The arachnid demon fired [Moon Steel Silk] from his four chitin arms, snaring the four magma drakes in a web of taut cables. His lunar swords whirled with [Ascendant Fury], severing the beasts' limbs before they could vent lava.

Seraphina slammed her hand down on the third page of the grimoire:

Summoning: Level 38 Crystal Serpent!

The twelve-meter quartz serpent dropped from the gallery ceiling, crashing onto the remaining constructs and crushing their stone cores beneath its mineral bulk.

Aurelia-Elysia projected a [Triple Protection Barrier] with her reduced cast time, maintaining coverage over Kael and Seraphina without losing focus.

Rhea blinked through [Phantom Step]. With 118 Agility, the wolf girl materialized behind the drakes pinned in Zarek's web and drove her dragon daggers into the base of the reptiles' skulls in a succession of critical strikes.

Diana, at the center of the hall, operated with 213 Intelligence.

She concentrated mana into her obsidian horns and fired two continuous beams of the [Horns' Igneous Focus], punching through the cores of the final two stone constructs with millimeter accuracy.

The entire gallery was cleared in four minutes.

Not a single member took real damage. Kael chuckled behind his visor, adjusting his heavy shield, while Zarek reeled in his razor-sharp silk threads with his chitinous fingers.

***

The advance continued into the pit's second floor.

As the group descended, the iron furnaces in the walls ceased to be dormant ruins and became fully operational boilers, fed by rivers of lava coursing through channels in the floor.

At the entrance of the second floor's main chamber, the squad encountered their first major obstacle:

The Deep Furnaces Guardian (Level 49 - Floor Boss).

The creature was a colossal six-meter-tall cast-iron golem. In place of a chestplate was an open furnace roaring with liquid magma at two thousand degrees, connected to steel piping on its back that vented jets of corrosive steam with every stride.

The appraisal from [Command Eye] indicated 3,200 hit points and 52 Strength.

“It has cooling pipes on its back,” Diana pointed with the tip of her dagger. “If we sever the steam tubes, the internal furnace will undergo thermal collapse.”

The golem surged forward, bringing down a raw iron hammer blow against the center of the hall.

Kael intercepted the strike with his volcanic shield, locking the monster's mace with a roar of exertion as his thousand hit points withstood the pressure.

Zarek hurled cables of steel silk around the golem's legs, wrenching the iron structure to the side with his four chitin arms.

Diana took two quick steps forward.

MANA PRISON!

Translucent chains bound the torso of the Furnace Guardian, sealing its steam valves for four seconds.

Rhea used the stone shoulder of Seraphina's Titan as a springboard, leaped through [Phantom Step], and touched down on the monster's back. With her Dragon Daggers coated in corrosive venom, the wolf girl severed the four main steam pipes in a single spinning slash in midair.

The monster vented a deafening shriek of ruptured pressure, the furnace in its chest beginning to burn out of control.

Diana finished the boss.

Armed with 213 Intelligence and the Crown of Sovereignty shining, she thrust out both open hands:

DUAL ARCANE ICE LANCE + GREED'S FLAME!

The ice spikes slammed into the exposed furnace in the golem's chest. The violent thermal shock of ice against two-thousand-degree iron split the monster's breastplate in half with a grenade-like roar, while black flames devoured the beast's elemental core.

The Level 49 Furnace Guardian collapsed to the floor of the hall, crumbling into blocks of smoking iron and coal slag.

***

Rhea gathered the magma cores, cast-iron ingots, and coin pouches dropped by the boss and the troops of the first and second floors.

With the +30% Commander's Loot bonus, the haul yielded 25 pure Silver Coins and two rare furnace steel ingots.

The faction vault's balance rose from 490 to 515 Silver Coins (51.5 Gold Coins), officially crossing the historic milestone of fifty accumulated gold coins.

The party took a brief breather in a cool stone alcove just beyond the defeated boss's chamber.

Kael sat on a boulder, drinking fresh water from his canteen with a broad grin, while Aurelia-Elysia ran a damp cloth over her face to wipe away smoke soot. Seraphina checked the pages of her grimoire, adjusting her glasses, and Rhea sat beside Diana, sharing a strip of dried meat with the Commander.

Zarek leaned against the basalt wall, gazing down at the dark staircase descending into the pit's third floor:

“The third floor is where the pure Level 50 monsters begin,” Zarek said, twirling a lunar sword in his hand. “Obsidian constructs and magma beasts of the ancient guard.”

Diana finished her water, tightening the armguards of her Dragon Chestplate.

The squad was whole, the vault had surpassed fifty gold coins, and the synergy of the six members functioned without a hitch.

Diana looked down at the dark staircase leading into the heart of the dungeon.