"Hu Tao!"
Victor Wang stood at the spot where Hu Tao had vanished—in the looping maze hall—and called her name loudly, making one final attempt.
As expected, if she didn't answer earlier, there was even less hope now.
"Little Wen, are you there?"
["I'm here! I've been here the whole time."]
"So, it's just that I got separated from Hu Tao? She knows this place better than me—she'll be fine. Then I..."
Victor Wang stepped once more past the final mechanism gate before the Boundary, staring at the endless stairway that stretched downward.
Whether domain or ruin, they all obeyed a shared logic: the interior space is bigger than it appears; entry requires physical contact with the entrance and focused intent—body + mind; exit requires forming a triangle with both hands before the chest and silently invoking the exit command.
Even though death in a ruin was permanent while domains weren't as strict, regardless of which this was, exiting was equally simple.
Might as well go forward. Maybe I'll run into Hu Tao again at the end.
With that thought, he stopped hesitating, focused all his vigilance, and prepared to descend the stairs.
"Truth only exists within strength. If you're strong enough, going alone isn't suicide, right?" To avoid being mocked by his past self-two minutes ago, he muttered to justify his decision as he walked.
After just a few steps, the stairs behind him suddenly rose, forming a stone wall that pressed straight up to the ceiling.
"Hmph, just as I expected."
Since the looping maze hall, the architecture had ceilings. When he first saw this downward stairway, Victor Wang had already predicted tricks like "rising steps sealing off retreat" or "walls narrowing to crush the intruder."
It was a classic move—and now it had come true.
Still, a wall is just a wall. As long as Erosion Blast could break it, he wasn't worried about any tricks. He simply quickened his pace to reach the end faster.
"This outer shell of the Boundary was built by Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and the Adepti. If they wanted future visitors to pass through safely, there has to be an exit, right?" Two minutes in, Victor Wang muttered without much confidence.
The stairs he'd walked were still rising behind him, piling thicker and thicker. Not even Erosion Blast could carve a path back now. The only way out was to exit the domain entirely.
Just as the idea of retreat crossed his mind, the air began to heat up, like a giant fireball loomed ahead.
"Finally! I was getting bored of repetition!" The stairs ended, revealing a massive stone hall.
This hall had two exits: one was the now-blocked path behind him; the other, directly opposite, was also sealed shut. Between the two slumbered a massive creature brimming with Pyro energy—a Pyro Regisvine.
No, it began to stir the moment Victor Wang stepped inside. The entire hall was within its alert radius!
Time was short.
He quickly recalled the Regisvine's moves. Thankfully, it looked and fought much like the Cryo Regisvine, which he had once trained intensely against. That experience had built his confidence. Now, facing the Pyro variant, he wasn't scared—in fact, he was eager to test himself.
The Regisvine shook its head as it awoke. Its two 'arms' lifted, and the sharp spiked 'hands' tapped the air, placing several Pyro nodes into midair, which then transformed into tracking fireballs and shot toward Victor Wang.
These fireballs weren't as agile as the Cryo Regisvine's icicle shots. No sharp turns needed—Victor Wang easily evaded them by circling the Regisvine.
Then the beast combined its arms and conjured a giant fireball, which exploded with a larger radius than the Cryo variant's frost beam. But Victor Wang wasn't just standing still.
Back during his Cryo Regisvine training, he had focused on dodging—carefully balancing between attacking, blocking, and evasion. Now that his sword skills had advanced, he no longer needed to separate the three.
This was something he only understood recently while training in the reeds.
What's the difference between adapting your swordplay in a tangle of reeds and reacting to an enemy's unpredictable attacks? None.
Only swordsmen stuck in the form of techniques need to train dodging separately. Beyond that, attack and defense become one.
That was the realm he was striving for.
Dodging a large explosion, he still found an opening to approach.
At the Regisvine's root, a Pyro-formed core was fully exposed. It seemed to realize the danger and slammed its head toward Victor Wang, pressing its Agnidus Agate-like face against the floor and spinning.
Sparks? It was a wall of flame—mostly due to Pyro energy.
Victor Wang had to retreat under the barrage, dodging while looking for a better chance.
After waiting patiently, the Regisvine used its biu-biu-biu move—machine-gunning fireballs horizontally like a turret.
Victor Wang dashed diagonally to avoid the sloppy attack and finally closed in on the weak point.
Wentian Sword released Hydro particles from its hilt. A Palm Vortex with thirty winds spiraled in, triggering continuous Vaporize reactions. The weak point was almost broken.
The Regisvine suddenly straightened, pressed its head down, and spun its petals to block.
"Tch."
One or two seconds more and the core would've been destroyed. It was like Raiden Shogun shielding at one HP, or The Fair Lady turning into a firestorm just before defeat.
Victor Wang was annoyed. That unfinished strike gnawed at him.
He faked a retreat, pretending to back off. The Regisvine relaxed its guard, and thirty wind blades shot in from impossible angles.
Even without Hydro, Anemo chipped away at the Pyro shield. With that many blades, and the core nearly destroyed already—the Regisvine shuddered and collapsed.
"Now that's satisfying."
Victor Wang rushed in to blow open the core—but the moment it shattered, the Regisvine shielded it with thick petals. The leaves weren't as tough as its face, but they held for a while. In the end, he only managed to blast a crater, not a full rupture.
"Close... Just one more round should do it."
The Regisvine began concentrating unstable Pyro energy in its flower crown. Its thick root prevented a blowout this time and successfully formed a second weak point.
Victor Wang glanced up, intending to assess—only to recoil in shock.
"!"
Inside the Regisvine's ruby-like face had formed the visage of a Blazing Whopperflower. It sensed his gaze and slowly tilted downward for a 'loving' stare.
Then it raised its head. Four massive petals and its arms reached skyward. Pyro energy erupted from the ground beneath Victor Wang.
He ran. It chased. Fire geysers erupted at his feet—but none hit. The Regisvine burned through most of its Pyro reserves, and the battle returned to a battle of endurance.
Victor Wang didn't delay. He took every opportunity to strike the flower crown's weak point with wind blades.
That Whopperflower face—it brought back memories. He was certain it was the one that had once killed him. They all looked the same, yet he knew it was that one.
Was this revenge from beyond the grave? A soul chasing him at the edge of life and death?
Then let's see who's stronger. If you want my life—come take it!
But Victor Wang had the upper hand. The Regisvine was slower in both attack and defense. Its weak point had already suffered massive damage.
The creature seemed to realize that if it fell now, it wouldn't rise again. It stopped attacking—just stared at Victor Wang with that disturbing face.
Victor Wang's heart tightened. His instincts screamed danger, and he backed up against the wall.
Then the Pyro Regisvine began to swell—as if preparing to self-destruct.
The stone hall, large for humans, was tight for a beast this size. Its body pulsed with a bright red light. In a blinding flash, its life-force ignited into a massive fireball that exploded from the center.
A wave of flame swept out like an inferno, carrying a terrifying shockwave.
In an instant, the entire hall was engulfed in fire. Even without a Vision, one could feel the energy in that searing heat and blinding light.
The fire lasted five seconds before dimming, eight before fading completely.
Victor Wang trembled in the corner. When he sensed the explosion coming, he had poured every ounce of elemental control into forming a protective layer. Even so, the heat scorched him. Surviving such an apocalyptic flame within a sealed chamber drained half his mental energy.
"If you can't win, you just blow yourself up, huh?"
He looked at the now-empty hall and muttered softly, "Next time... don't run into me again."