The final passage led downward—slanted like a chute, carved in a slow spiral that funneled the heat like a living forge chimney. Raven moved with caution, his boots echoing softly against ancient metal plates. The walls here were different—not carved, but hammered, shaped by tools now long forgotten.
They bore scars, not just inscriptions. Deep gouges. Burn marks. Melted seams.
This wasn't a chamber of memory.
This was a grave for something that refused to die.
Raven slowed, hand hovering near his chain. Duskrunner padded beside him, unusually quiet. Phantom Seer didn't speak at all. Its glowing eyes were fixed forward, unmoving.
That silence again.
Thick, pressing. Like breathing in the edge of a scream.
They stepped through a final archway, and the temperature surged again—not heat, but presence.
At the center of the vast, circular arena stood a sarcophagus of blackened bronze, half-melted and sealed with runes that pulsed like dying embers.
Raven's foot touched the center plate.
And the forge answered.
The sarcophagus cracked, then exploded outward in a blast of molten pressure. Shards of metal and steam burst in every direction as a towering figure stepped forward from the fire—a monster clad in dwarven armor fused with flame, its beard of chainmail trailing like ash, its hammer still smoldering with soulfire.
Its voice—metal ground against stone, shaped into words by will alone—shook the entire archive:
"You seek our legacy? Then come burn in it!"
The flames surged. Runes ignited across the arena floor.
[Boss Detected – Forge-Herald Vhakis]
[Arena Phase Lock Engaged – Escape Disabled]
Raven's hand snapped to his chain.
"Positions!"
The battle for the third runestone had begun.
Forge-Herald Vhakis stood at the heart of the chamber like a relic of a forgotten war—massive, molten, and furious. His form wasn't just armor; it was a furnace, barely contained by dwarven engineering. Red-hot plates lined his shoulders, glowing with internal pressure. His massive warhammer radiated enough heat to warp the air around it.
The runes etched across his body pulsed like a heartbeat—one that burned.
"Combat formation," Raven ordered, eyes narrowing.
Duskrunner growled low, eyes fixed on the hammer. Phantom Seer hovered high, spectral tendrils curling in anticipation.
Vhakis lifted his hammer—and the entire floor shook.
Then he roared.
"I was the flame that forged kingdoms! Now I am the fire that shall bury them!"
🔥 Phase 1 – Shockwave Slams (100%–50% HP)
Vhakis slammed his hammer into the floor.
A wave of lava shockwaves rippled outward from the impact point—one ring after another in perfect timing.
"Spread out—time the gaps!" Raven barked.
He jumped the first shockwave, rolled through the second, and used Phantom Step to phase through the third.
Duskrunner danced between the pulses, Shadow Shifting past impact zones like smoke through steel.
Phantom Seer let loose Haunting Mirage, scattering flickering illusions across the arena. Vhakis's targeting rune narrowed on a false image, striking it instead of Duskrunner.
"Good," Raven muttered, moving in.
He lashed his Dominion Chain, anchoring it to Vhakis's arm. The chain bit into metal, holding just long enough for Raven to pull himself closer—he drove the dagger-tip between molten plates.
The boss reacted, roaring and dragging Raven through the air with a reverse swing. The impact flung him into a stone barrier.
His HP dropped by 19%.
"Still hits like a truck…" he muttered, coughing heat from his lungs.
🔥 Phase 2 – Magma Orbs (50%–20% HP)
The floor cracked.
Lava veins surged along the arena edges. The outer platforms began to split, the battlefield growing smaller.
Vhakis roared again, this time slamming his hammer into the molten floor.
Six floating magma orbs emerged, orbiting randomly—each one pulsing with explosive energy.
[⚠ Orb Stability: 5 Seconds Before Detonation]
"Duskrunner—orb priority!" Raven shouted.
The wolf vanished in a flicker of shadows, appearing behind one of the orbs. His claws slashed through the molten core just as it pulsed—neutralized.
Phantom Seer descended like a specter and released Mind Shatter into another orb—its unstable magic disrupted long enough for Raven to finish it with a quick chain whip.
Two left.
The final orbs shot toward Phantom Seer and Raven, primed to detonate.
"Too late to dodge," Raven muttered.
"Then do not dodge," Phantom Seer replied.
It activated Abyssal Nightmare.
Dark mist blanketed the arena. A field of black shadows and soundless echoes distorted vision and motion. Vhakis reeled, hammer swings slowed by illusion. The orbs faltered in their trajectory—caught in the suppression field.
Raven lunged through the veil of shadows and smashed both orbs with a spinning chain slam.
[All Orbs Neutralized – Arena Integrity Stable]
🔥 Final Phase – Arena Collapse (20%–0% HP)
Vhakis screamed.
His armor split, and molten light spilled from every seam.
"Final phase!" Raven shouted. "No safe zones. Keep moving!"
The outer ring collapsed into lava.
Only five platforms remained, each barely wide enough for a few steps.
Vhakis leapt from ring to ring, slamming his hammer, causing debris and flames to rise in bursts. Every strike forced new reactions. Every mistake meant falling into molten death.
Raven's health was low.
Phantom Seer's illusions were flickering.
Duskrunner was panting, his stamina nearly burned out.
Vhakis stood atop the central platform and raised his hammer, channeling the Flame Chain Grapple mechanic.
"He's gonna pull—move!"
The flaming chain launched toward Raven. He barely Phantom Stepped out of range, but the chain wrapped around a collapsing platform behind him, tearing it free and flinging it into the lava below.
"We can't keep this up," he muttered.
And then—he remembered.
The cracked rune tile.
A segment on the main platform was glowing—barely holding together. A trap-tile, part of the arena's secret mechanic.
"Get him on the rune!" Raven shouted.
Phantom Seer activated Haunting Echoes, pulling Vhakis's attention with a phantom projection. Duskrunner used Predator's Patience to bait a strike, lunging away just as Vhakis landed on the cracked plate.
"Now!"
Raven launched his Dominion Chain, wrapping it around the weakened edge of the rune tile—and held Vhakis in place.
The ground beneath the boss overloaded.
A pillar of lava surged upward, engulfing Vhakis in flame.
The molten pressure knocked the boss backward—his chest fully exposed, glowing like a supernova.
Raven activated Phantom Bind.
He teleported behind Vhakis.
The dagger-tip sank deep into the molten heart.
[Forge-Herald Vhakis Defeated]
The flames died instantly.
Vhakis staggered, one last gasp of heat escaping from his form, and then he crumbled—armor first, then molten bone, then silence.
A rune pedestal rose from the floor.
[Item Obtained: 3rd Runestone of the Forge-Herald]
[Special Drop: Forgekeeper's Core – Unique Item]
[Quest Item: Rune Stones]
He pick the drops.
[Objective Update: 3/3 Rune Stones Recovered]
Raven dropped to one knee.
His body throbbed. His hands trembled slightly.
He hadn't felt this alive in a long time.
And he hadn't been this close to death in even longer.
His HP bar blinked at the edge of crimson—barely scraping 10%. One more hit… even just a misstep into lava, and he would've dropped.
Raven's gloved hand reached to his belt pouch, fingers shaky as he unfastened a glass vial with a flick of his thumb. The moment he pulled the stopper, the potion inside pulsed with pale red light.
[Using: Greater Restoration Flask – HP +45% Over 6 Seconds]
He brought it to his lips, grimacing as the bitter liquid hit his tongue.
The warmth spread almost instantly—tingling up his throat, crawling through his chest, weaving through every ache and burn in his body. The pain dulled, the tremor in his hands slowed.
But it wasn't enough.
With his other hand, he popped a Stamina Recovery Elixir, its mint-green glow swirling like condensed wind. The taste was sharp, almost icy, but as it hit his core, he felt his limbs unknot, the fatigue peeling away like fog from steel.
[Stamina Restored: +30%]
He closed his eyes and exhaled—slowly. Deeply. Like someone who had been holding his breath for too many seconds, too many rooms.
"Not dead yet," he muttered.
Phantom Seer hovered nearby, watching without comment. Duskrunner, still catching his breath, finally sat back on his haunches and gave Raven a sidelong look that felt halfway between a glare and a warning.
Raven chuckled faintly. "Yeah, yeah. I know. That was too close."
Duskrunner huffed louder, as if saying, "Next time, YOU tank."
But as he leaned back against a broken pillar, letting the last of the potion do its work, he allowed himself a flicker of relief.
Thank God I set up that potion production line.
Preparation mattered.
Raven flexed his fingers. The tremble was gone. The pain was manageable.
He wasn't back to full.
But he was ready to move again.
And that was enough.
He stood, shoulders squared, his breath steady once more.
One final bellow remains. One final lock before the forge awakens.
"Let's go get our bad boy," he said, voice low and calm.
Duskrunner rose.
Phantom Seer drifted behind.
Together, they left the battlefield and walked toward the final chamber.
The final boss of the dungeon, Emberforged Titan, awaited.