Chapter 135 – The Ash Line.

The basalt staircase leading to the third floor terminated at an open platform of molten stone.

The air down below was heavy, with temperatures climbing far beyond anything the squad had endured on the upper floors. The floor was no longer composed of set stone flagstones, but of thick plates of cooled magma that crackled beneath boot soles, intersected by channels carrying glowing molten lava.

Ahead of the platform stretched the main complex of the ancestral foundry: halls interconnected by arches of black iron, with thirty-meter-tall boilers venting steam at regular intervals and steel bridges spanning pits of liquid metal.

Diana stepped onto the first block of black magma, feeling the resilience of her Archdemon constitution. The soles of her combat boots barely registered the heat of the stone.

She looked toward the wide corridor ahead.

Her dark eyes with golden rings narrowed, and the grooves of her obsidian horns gave off a subtle crackle of mana.

Unlike the exhaustion she had felt during her initial weeks in the First Circle, when every dungeon felt like a desperate struggle against starvation, stepping onto this Level 50 floor stirred a different feeling in the depths of her chest: she was enjoying this.

Beholding formidable monsters, dense carapaces demanding pinpoint penetration calculations, and piles of high-value cores waiting to be harvested fed her Greed in a clean, direct fashion.

“The terrain here is unstable,” Diana said, her voice carrying firm over the hum of the lava. “Keep your eyes on the magma channels. Kael, center vanguard. Zarek, left flank. Seraphina, keep the crystal serpent ready to halt any monsters attempting to leap from the rafters.”

“Understood, Commander.” Kael locked his arm into the Volcanic Shield backed by his 1,020 hit points, descending the platform's three steps with heavy strides.

***

The first engagement took place in the central furnace courtyard.

Unlike the monsters on the upper floors that attacked in chaotic rushes, the guardians of the third floor operated with ancient infantry discipline:

A phalanx of eight Obsidian and Steel Sentinels (Level 50) advanced in tight formation, with two-meter-tall rectangular shields locked side by side and long cast-iron halberds leveled forward. Along the iron ceiling, two Black Fire Drakes (Level 51) crawled across the girders, poised to dive in a low swoop.

“They have a runic shield formation!” Kael warned, stopping ten meters from the enemy line.

“Zarek, draw the left flank! Aurelia, shatter their line of sight!” Diana commanded in the same second.

Aurelia-Elysia raised the Mana Crystal Staff with her 1,000 mana points.

ORB OF BLINDING LIGHT!

The lilac sphere of light detonated in the center of the sentinels' phalanx.

The blinding glare reflected off the monsters' polished obsidian plating, throwing the creatures' arcane sensors into disarray for three seconds.

Zarek did not waste the window of blindness.

The arachnid demon fired four cables of Moon Steel Silk from his chitin arms, snaring the tips of three halberds on the left. With a violent heave of 60 Strength, Zarek ripped the weapons from the monsters' hands, tearing a four-meter breach in the shield wall.

Kael surged through the opening with his volcanic shield leading the charge:

UNSHAKABLE STANCE + IRON TAUNT!

The vanguard slammed into the first two Level 50 sentinels. The impact of the heavy shield hurled one of the monsters into the lava channel, while Kael's heavy dragon armor reflected the heat and halberd damage in bursts of crimson flame.

Rhea blurred into a silver streak with 118 Agility.

PHANTOM STEP!

The wolf girl blinked into the open space behind the phalanx, appearing at the rear of the sentinels. Her Dragon Daggers slashed through the knee joints of four monsters in two rapid whirls of her blades, bringing the enemy line crashing down to the stone.

***

The two Level 51 Black Fire Drakes dislodged from the ceiling beams, dropping in a steep dive with talons bared to shred Aurelia-Elysia and Seraphina's backline.

Seraphina struck the third page of the silver grimoire:

Summoning: Level 38 Crystal Serpent!

The twelve-meter quartz serpent rose from the ground, intercepting the first drake in midair with a clean strike, coiling its mineral body around the beast's wings and sinking crystal fangs into the reptile's neck.

Diana claimed the second drake.

Armed with 213 Intelligence and the Crown of Sovereignty shining upon her brow, Diana did not step back.

She waited for the drake to close within four meters.

MANA PRISON!

Translucent chains bound the creature's wings and jaws, locking its breath of flames mid-throat.

Diana concentrated mana into the obsidian horns on her head.

OBSIDIAN HORNS' IGNEOUS FOCUS!

PZZZZT!

The thin beam of white fire lanced from the tips of the circlet with a deafening whistle.

The beam drilled through the Level 51 drake's skull from temple to temple, cauterizing the beast's brain in under half a second. The reptile crashed dead onto the gravel, crumbling to ash.

Diana pivoted and unloaded a [Greed's Flame] and an [Orb of the Arcane Storm] over the fallen sentinels at Kael's line, concluding the courtyard engagement in under four minutes of continuous fighting.

***

The advance through the intermediate galleries of the third floor pressed on for another two hours without long breaks.

The squad cleared three secondary foundries, gathering black iron ores and ingots of cooled magma left inside the ancient furnaces.

At the end of the main catwalk, before the sluice gates leading to the fourth floor, the squad came face to face with the lord of the sector:

The Ancient Foundry Commander (Level 51 - Floor Boss).

The monster was a four-meter-tall four-armed construct, forged from massive blocks of molten obsidian and tempered steel. In two of its hands, it wielded broad two-meter battleaxes, while in the other two, it held iron chains that dragged glowing anchors across the floor.

The appraisal from [Command Eye] confirmed the data: 3,600 hit points and 56 Strength.

“It has dual reach with those chains,” Diana pointed with her dagger. “Zarek, lock down the axes from above. Kael, brace against the anchor charges along the ground. Rhea, sever the waist joints once I freeze the base.”

The Foundry Commander charged, whirling the glowing anchors in wide circles that swept the entire width of the stone bridge.

Kael planted his volcanic shield into the rock, taking the impact of the first anchor with his thousand hit points without yielding ground.

Zarek vaulted into the air, launching cables of steel silk that coiled around the blades of the boss's two axes, pinning the heavy weapons with the strength of his six arms.

Diana seized the opening.

She did not fire from afar.

Using [Arcane Teleportation], Diana blinked eight meters forward, appearing precisely in the blind spot between the boss's lower arms.

The Commander rested her left hand upon the monster's obsidian plating and channeled mana into her horns thirty centimeters from the creature's core.

OBSIDIAN HORNS' IGNEOUS FOCUS + ARCANE ICE LANCE!

The beam of white fire punched through the obsidian shell of the automaton's chest, tearing an incandescent breach in the metal. In the very same millisecond, Diana drove the blue ice spike directly into the opened puncture.

The brutal thermal shock of ice against a two-thousand-degree core caused the Foundry Commander's chest to detonate from the inside out with the roar of a cannon.

The Level 51 construct vented one final blast of dark smoke through its mechanical joints and dropped to its knees upon the stone bridge, shattering into blocks of iron and rubble.

***

Rhea retrieved the Level 50 and 51 cores dropped by the boss and the foundry sentinels.

Factoring in the +30% Commander's Loot bonus, clearing the third floor yielded 25 pure Silver Coins and four ancestral iron cores.

The accumulated balance in the faction vault climbed to an untouched 540 Silver Coins (54 Gold Coins).

Diana dispelled the mana from her horns, feeling her reserve of over fifteen hundred mana points regenerate at an accelerated pace thanks to the Crown of Sovereignty.

Kael wiped the soot from his axe blade with his leather gauntlet, Aurelia-Elysia checked the healing vials in her pouch, and Seraphina tucked away her grimoire with a contented smile. Zarek sheathed both moon swords across his back, giving Diana an approving nod.

Diana wiped a streak of ash from her cheek with the back of her gloved hand.

Her dark eyes with golden rings gazed toward the massive iron gate opening at the end of the bridge, where stairs sloped down toward the dungeon's fourth floor.

The third floor had been conquered without casualties. And the Arcane Greed Faction was ready to continue their descent toward the final floors of the Pit of Embers.