[Chapter 225. Inside the Caldera]

Searanox moved through the empty passage; there were almost no beasts inside this twisting tunnel, yet still enough to prevent him from taking a much-needed break. The darkness of the tunnel pressed in on him, the only illumination coming from the pulsating glow of his defensive drones as they followed him like loyal sentinels. Their hexagonal barriers cast elongated shadows on the rough volcanic walls, making the narrow passage feel like the throat of some ancient beast. Each step sent small pebbles skittering into the abyss, their faint clatter swallowed by the silence.

`Now I understand what the Stamina potions inside the shop are for.` He thought, leaning against the wall for a moment, his chest heaving with each ragged breath.

The cool surface of the rock offered a brief respite from the heat that clung to his gear, the metallic fibers of his suit radiating warmth against his skin.

`If it weren't for my high stats, I would be crawling on the floor by now.`

His muscles burned with fatigue. Each movement required conscious effort as the endless corridors began to blur into a monotonous procession of twisted rock formations and jagged edges.

After several minutes of walking, the tunnel sloped upward. The air grew cleaner with each step as the sulfuric smell of the lower levels gave way to something different—almost like fresh air after a lightning strike. He could see a bright light ahead of the tunnel, a bluish-white illumination that grew stronger until he had to shield his eyes with his hand. As he stepped out into the next open chamber, his breath caught in his throat.

Before him stretched a vast caldera, its ceiling opening up hundreds of meters into a strange sight. A blue and green vista behind clouds resembled the digital reconstruction of Earth from outer space he had seen in his past. A sky past the caldera of the chamber he stood in revealed a planet behind it. Swirling patterns of white clouds moved across continents of deep blue oceans and lush green landmasses, all bathed in the light of a distant sun. The sight was so unexpected, so incongruous with the hellish environment of the dungeon, that for a moment Searanox wondered if he had succumbed to heat exhaustion and hallucinated.

Further into the chamber, a platform connected by a narrow walkway to the ledge he stood on. The walkway appeared to be made of the same dark volcanic rock as the tunnel walls, but it glowed with a faint, internal luminescence that pulsed like a heartbeat.

He stepped onto the narrow bridge leading toward the central platform. Below him churned a bubbling sea of lava. Unlike the pools he had seen so far, this one looked almost liquid, its surface shimmering with iridescent colors as bubbles of superheated gas rose from its depths and burst with soft pops. The air grew warmer as he progressed, the heat rising from the lava sea in visible waves that distorted his view of the platform ahead.

As he moved up, something came into view on the center platform high above the hot yellow glow from below. Red scales. His first thought was that it was another Salamander, but something about its size seemed off even from this distance. The scales gleamed like polished rubies in the chamber's ambient light, each one larger than his hand and arranged in overlapping patterns that provided formidable protection.

As Searanox climbed higher, its full size came into view. What he had seen so far was just a fraction of an enormous wing. The wing spanned at least thirty meters, its leathery surface held aloft by massive bones that must be as thick as tree trunks. The creature's body lay partially hidden behind the wing, but what was visible spoke of a predator of impossible scale—a beast that could swallow a man whole without noticing.

Before him on the platform lay a beast large enough to fill a football stadium, its colossal body curled up on the platform's center in a spiral of impossible scale. Steam rose from somewhere within the mass of scales and flesh.

That thing is bigger than the Earth Devourer from that corrupted dungeon. He almost said out loud, the words catching in his throat as he retreated several steps.

The memory of that battle sent a shiver down his spine despite the heat. He remembered how its thick carapace had resisted his most powerful attack, how the team of the Golden Order had struggled alongside him. They had only managed to defeat it through the combination of their skills and sheer luck.

He took a few steps back and thought hard about how he wanted to approach something of that size.

`I'm clearly not taking any chances with that thing. I'll just blast it with all I've got and hope it is not as tough as the Gaia Turtle.`

The thought brought a bitter taste to his mouth as he recalled the endless hours chipping away at that creature's impenetrable shell, his resources dwindling to nothing while his mind fell consumed by blood frenzy.

With slow, careful steps he made his way back up onto the platform. Beside him, drones flickered into existence in rapid flashes of light. Their metallic bodies gleamed in the chamber's strange illumination, their energy cores humming as they assumed positions around him. His gaze drifted toward his TP, now back below three hundred, the number glowing in his vision. Each summoned drone cost precious resources he couldn't afford to waste, especially against an unknown foe of this magnitude.

He fixed his gaze onto the sleeping beast, which prompted the familiar system window to appear, the translucent text materializing in the air before him.

The creature's chest rose and fell with each slow breath, the sound like distant thunder echoing through the chamber. Each expansion sent a visible ripple through the air, disturbing the shimmering heat waves that rose from the lava sea below. The sound wasn't just heard but felt—a deep vibration that traveled up through the soles of his boots and settled in his bones, a constant reminder of the impossible scale of the beast before him.

As he watched, one of its massive eyelids twitched, revealing a sliver of golden iris beneath that glowed with an inner fire. The iris wasn't merely colored gold; it seemed to be liquid flame contained within a crystalline prison, swirling with patterns that defied natural law. Even the briefest glimpse sent a jolt of terror through his system, an instinctual recognition of something far above him on the food chain.

`A Dragon... I pray to all that is Holy that this thing dies in one hit.`

Searanox thought, pointing his rifle toward the Drake's massive form. The weapon felt inadequate and child-sized against such a behemoth. His Intermediate Offensive drones took their position around his rifle, their energy cores humming as they aligned their focusing crystals with his weapon's barrel. Each drone cast elongated shadows across the volcanic floor, their blue light creating an ethereal glow against the chamber's ruddy illumination.

Meanwhile, his defensive drones formed a stacked barrier in front of him, their hexagonal patterns interlocking like scale armor. The barrier shimmered and warped the air, distorting his view of the sleeping dragon as if he were looking at it through water. Sweat beaded on his forehead again, this time not only because of the heat surrounding him. His heart pounded against his ribs like a trapped bird as he took slow, careful breaths to steady his trembling hands.

The deep violet light grew more intense, the energy buildup visible as a crackling aura around the weapon and drones. The air itself vibrated with power, making the hair on his arms stand on end. The drones energy cores whined, straining against the sheer force channeled through them.

The beam shot forward, a spear of pure violet destruction that tore a hole in the fabric of reality. The light proved so intense that it bleached all color from the chamber, leaving everything in stark, blinding white. For a split second, the world fell silent, the immense power of the attack creating a vacuum that swallowed all sound.

The violet beam struck the Drake's massive form with the force of a meteor impact. A deafening roar, deeper and more primal than anything Searanox had ever heard, erupted from the beast. It wasn't a cry of pain, but of pure, unadulterated fury. The beam carved a deep, molten gouge into its scales, but it didn't penetrate. The Drake's scales, the color of cooled magma, shimmered and glowed white-hot where the beam had struck, absorbing the devastating energy of the attack.

The Drake's immense head whipped around, its burning golden eyes locking onto Searanox. It was awake. The ground trembled as the beast pushed itself up, its wings unfurling like vast, blood-red sails, casting the entire chamber in shadow.

"Well, fuck..." Searanox muttered, the words barely audible over the Drake's enraged bellow.