In Ergos Xenia on the 4th floor, a land of lava and fire. On the highest mountain stands the final boss, a being unlike anything the world has ever seen. A humanoid figure covered in smoke stands watching Flint's party as they head back to the path. The smoke clears revealing a female with the knee down being that of a bird, 6 fiery wings behind her, bird hands that moves just as human. The woman has bird tail with silver fur covering her chest and silver feathers covering her waist down, her eyes are silver with a blackhole at the center.
The woman walks to the edge of the mountain as it melts yet doesn't disappear, "Oh, I expected them to be afraid but not enough to flee. I guess it can't be helped." She looks at her hands covered in extreme heat, "Even though this is merely a toy, it's able to copy a hundredth of my heat." The woman looks at the party entering the path, "I wonder what they'll do now." She turns back to the center of the mountain, slowly the silver fur and feathers turn to red as the blackholes in the eyes vanish but the heat is still the same.
.............
Back in the path, the quartet are sitting by the wall depressed. Aella looks at Flint, "Flint...there's no way to get close to the boss, is there?"
Flint shakes his head, "The heat is too much, even the sight of the place shows we'll be turned to ash if we dare try to reach the top." He looks at the ceiling.
Chuck is silently looking at his shield, he looks at Flint. "Do you think System has a way for us to beat this floor?"
Flint opens his eyes, "Right, System!" he looks up, "System, is there a way for us to beat this floor?"
[No.]
The reply breaks them,
[However, it is possible to skip this floor to the next.]
They're surprised, Aella speaks. "That's not possible, it's impossible to just skip a floor of a dungeon."
[Ergos Xenia is a unique dungeon, every floor is equal with none being greater than the other. It is possible to skip this floor and later challenge it when you feel you are strong enough.]
They beam with joy, Aku stands up like a blur. "We can actually skip it without having to go through that oven?"
Chuck stands and tries to hug Aku in the moment, Flint looks at the roof relieved at the situation. Chuck passes before Flint's eyes flying over him, Flint looks at Aku and Chuck. He smiles wryly.
[WARNING: The level of the dungeon is reflective of the level of the challengers.]
They stop celebrating, Flint looks down. "So if we increase our level, the difficulty of this floor will increase."
[NOTICE: That is incorrect. The difficulty of the dungeon remains the same, however the level of the mob on it will increase to maintain balance. Having a higher level is not a bad thing since facing higher levelled bosses will grant even greater rewards.]
They look at each other, "That's not all bad." Chuck says, "We can level up till we're strong enough to beat the floor, then we beat it with higher rewards."
Flint rubs his chin, "That's not a bad plan. Since all the floors are equal, we can keep the boss orbs for when we really need it outside." They nod.
Aku smiles as she wraps her hand around Aella's shoulder, "So, how do we skip this level?"
[Walk towards the next floor and stop when the environment starts to change. You will be tossed back to the path with the current floor available and the next floor ahead.]
Chuck sighs, "It's that simple! I thought we'd have to search for a shortcut through that place. Oh well, let's get going!"
"YEAH!" they cheer and walk to the lava floor but stop when the surroundings start to change. It stops with the lava door appearing on their side and the next floor being open to them. A scroll appears beside them with history written on it.
Aku stares at it, "What's this?"
Aella's eyes run over it, "It appears it's the history behind floor 4." She looks at the previous floors and sees that beside each door is a stone tablet etched in the wall with writings on it.
Chuck stares at the boss' picture on it, "Waow, she's hot." Ake stares at his, He shrugs, "Literally." He points at the background of fire. Aku sighs.
Aella goes to read, "On one faithful day, the people of the land gathered to celebrate the union of the 2 villages. The bride committed and sin the night before the wedding, she was caught but her village still chose to continue with the wedding.
As they gather to celebrate the union, a second sun appeared in the sky. The people took this as a sign of the heaven's approval. They were wrong.
The second sun fell from the sky filling the entire land with scorching heat and unquenchable fire. At the center of the crash site, a woman unlike anything emerges. She's the embodiment of fire, every step she took burned the land around her.
The villagers were punished, they weren't allowed to die but to become creatures roaming this land."
Aella looks back at the trio, "That's it."
Chuck points at the scroll scared, "That's crazy! There's no way to beat the boss! She turned the entire land to fire from just walking? We need our fire resistance to be- " Aku smacks his head.
Flint chuckles, "Calm down buddy, it's just a history. I'm certain it was made to explain to us why that floor is made of lava."
Aella nods, "Yes, some dungeons often have history but they're mainly a puzzle that needs to be solved. I'm certain this is just to show us what to expect."
Aku shrugs, "Whatever, let's just keep going. We'll beat this boss when the time comes." She stands before them, "Now, who's ready for some Action!"
They all grin, "WE ARE!" the Aku points ahead of them, "THEN LET'S GO!" They run with glee since they don't have to the lava floor so soon and the chance of growing stronger.