Rhine and his party descended slowly along the spiral stone staircase, their footsteps echoing against the stone walls. Upon reaching the end of the dungeon, the scene before them left them momentarily speechless.
The prison was no longer dark; it had been transformed into a battlefield woven with raw magic. Light and shadow, ice and fire tore at each other, colliding and annihilating in overlapping layers of chaos, as if two tempests had crashed head-on deep beneath the earth. The very air shuddered with the impact.
Two identical, yet distinct Queens stood in confrontation.
One was draped in violet robes, her brows sharp as blades, her cold, murderous intent nearly palpable. The other wore crimson robes, her expression gentle and her lips curved in a smile, yet her eyes were unfathomable, as if she could see through everything.
"I see... so your contingency plan is a magical clone?" the Violet-robed Queen scoffed. Cold light gathered in her palm, and a massive ice spike rapidly condensed in the air, shooting out with bone-chilling lethality!
The Crimson-robed Queen remained unhurried. With a slight twist of her wrist, a stone pillar erupted from the ground, blocking the ice spike firmly. Shattered ice scattered everywhere.
"You are not me... then who are you?" The Crimson-robed Queen tilted her head, her tone gentle, yet her eyes held a hint of confusion and a subtle, teasing mockery. She flicked her finger, and a spinning water sphere flew out, trailing ripples as it crashed toward the Violet-robed figure.
"A mere clone, and you dare to cross blades with me?" the Violet-robed Queen roared. Dozens of ice shards instantly condensed in the air, firing like a torrential storm, freezing the water sphere layer by layer until it turned into a sphere of ominous, freezing ice.
The Crimson-robed Queen simply smiled and snapped her fingers—"Snap."
The ice sphere shattered on cue. Fragments scattered, transforming into countless sharp ice needles that shot back in return. The Violet-robed Queen manifested an ice spear, cold light flickering like lightning; with a few swift swings, she shattered all the incoming projectiles. The shattered ice and cold air exploded in the air like a hellish icy prison reborn in the mortal realm.
Right in the midst of this tense confrontation—
"A-choo!"
A sudden, sharp sneeze shattered the rhythm of the battlefield.
The Crimson-robed Queen paused slightly, turning her head, a meaningful smile curling on her lips: "Oh? It seems we have guests."
Both Queens turned in unison, their gazes landing on the dungeon entrance. On the stone stairs, seven figures stood shoulder to shoulder, their auras distinct yet equally grave.
Gareth rubbed his nose, spreading his hands in helpless frustration: "Sorry, sorry. The magic here is just too thick; I couldn't help myself..."
"It's fine." Rhine rested a hand on the hilt of his greatsword, his gaze as steady as a torch. "Regardless, this fight was unavoidable."
Rena, while stuffing a pill into Gerald's mouth, grumbled under her breath: "Couldn't you have held it for just a second longer? If we'd waited, they might have worn each other out, and it would have been easier for us."
Karl offered a faint smile, his tone calm: "Looking at the intensity of this, neither side is going to be winning any time soon."
Owen shrugged, half-joking: "If you ask me, we should have just tossed a blast grenade in there. Whoever lost their focus first would have been done for."
Gareth waved his hands with a bitter laugh: "Don't pick on me, it really is just a constitution thing..."
The Crimson-robed Queen calmly scrutinized the group, her gaze gentle and composed: "What an interesting combination... You are Lunethia's friends, aren't you?"
The Violet-robed Queen, however, had no time for pleasantries. Fury surged within her; she flourished her ice lance and dashed forward like a thunderbolt: "Are these mere ants worth your distraction?"
She lunged, her strike swift as lightning, aimed straight for the Crimson-robed Queen's heart.
The Crimson-robed Queen smiled as she sidestepped, a flick of her sleeve sending a surge of water rushing between them like a flexible barrier, parrying the strike.
The Violet-robed Queen let out an angry roar that shook the chamber, shattering the water flow into a cloud of mist. She did not stop, stepping forward relentlessly, her momentum growing more ferocious with every breath.
The Crimson-robed Queen simply snapped her fingers again. Her figure flickered like a phantasm, shifting to the side with effortless grace, seemingly always walking just outside the reach of the conflict.
Rhine drew his greatsword with a metallic rasp, the blade reflecting the fire dancing upon it. He roared: "Treating us like air, are you!? The least you could do is say hello!"
The Violet-robed Queen clicked her tongue impatiently, her tone bone-chilling: "How bothersome... Ceresta!"
The moment she spoke, a figure descended from above.
"BOOM—!"
The dungeon ceiling trembled as a crystal-clear puppet crashed down from the heights, slamming heavily into the ground between the group and the two Queens. Its body was like solid ice crystal, refracting a cold, eerie light, and its eyes glowed with a haunting blue radiance—it stood there like a heartless guardian, blocking their path.
Gerald suddenly snapped his eyes open. He coughed, then gave a dry, helpless laugh: "Ugh... this guy again? I thought I'd get a moment of peace after waking up... Wait? Why are there two Witches?"
Rhine shook his sword, flames spreading rapidly along the blade. He looked impatient, his voice decisive and sharp: "It doesn't matter! Let's just burn them all to ash!"
Ceresta slowly raised its right hand, dark blue cold light gathering in its palm. The temperature plummeted instantly as it aimed directly at Rhine's party.
Gareth's expression shifted, and he shouted instinctively: "Watch out! It's an ice-shard attack!"
Before the warning had even faded—
Several sharp ice shards tore through the air with a piercing shriek, heading straight for their vitals!
"Good stuff—bring it on!"
Owen let out a boisterous laugh, the muscles in his arms bulging. He swung his massive hammer, creating a whistling gale, and met the attack head-on—
"BANG!!"
The ice shards shattered in mid-air, scattering into a shower of crystalline dust like a rain of cold light.
"Huh? I actually wanted to bat those back at it..." Owen frowned, his voice sounding genuinely disappointed.
Almost at the same moment, Rena seized the momentum. She stepped off Owen's shoulder and leaped into the air, her movement swift as electricity. Her lightning-spear pierced the air, slashing down from above toward Ceresta!
Ceresta reacted with terrifying speed. It raised its left arm high, catching that fierce strike with its bare hand.
The next instant, its right arm lashed out, a sweeping gale of freezing wind slamming into Rena while she was still airborne.
Caught in mid-air with nowhere to pivot, Rena was forced to pull her spear back and block. The impact hit like a tidal wave; she was sent flying back several paces, her boots skidding against the stone floor as she struggled to find her footing.
Before Ceresta could pursue, however, its movements suddenly froze.
Its legs had been forcibly "pinned." Milia materialized like a phantom from behind the construct, moving too fast for the eye to track. Her daggers plunged precisely into the joint of the puppet's knee, and with a leverage-filled kick, she locked its movement tight.
A cold glint flashed in Rhine's eyes. Seizing the opening, flames roared to life around him, rising like a churning, turbulent tide, threatening to engulf everything in their path.
"Prince, wait!"
Gerald suddenly shouted, his voice urgent yet controlled. "Don't waste your Divine Fire—save it for the Witch!"
As he spoke, he and Gareth charged out, flanking the construct. Simultaneously, they whipped out iron chains, chakra swirling around the links like twin gales, lashing toward Ceresta.
"This thing is ridiculously hard. We bind it first, then find a way to break it!"
The chains spun at high speed, tightening between the two as they coiled around the puppet's limbs like living things, attempting to pin it down.
Rhine adjusted his rhythm instantly. His greatsword slashed again and again, blade-light weaving with flames to harass and distract from the flanks, perfectly coordinating with the chains to avoid entangling his own team.
Owen roared as he swung his hammer again, his power unleashed: "You guys sure these chains will hold? They don't look thick enough!"
Gerald, while focusing on controlling the chains, laughed: "They aren't thick, but I've reinforced them with chakra—the durability is enough!"
Rena limped back to the front line, her breath heavy. She used her spear as a makeshift crutch, yet her tone remained sharp and clear: "Don't forget, we still have to save Thia, and deal with those two Witches... don't burn all your chakra on this thing."
While there were no visible injuries, the lingering impact of the puppet's previous strike showed in her slightly unstable stride.
Above, the Crimson-robed Queen smiled languidly, her gaze drifting to the battle below: "Aren't you going to look? Your toy... seems like it's about to be scrapped, hehe."
The Violet-robed Queen scoffed, her tone dripping with disdain: "Those ants? By the time I finish you off—they won't even have earned the right to scratch Ceresta."
Before she finished, the cold air in the chamber condensed once more.
A sky-full of ice shards appeared again, plummeting like a sudden blizzard, raining down on the Crimson-robed Queen. Cold light wove together into a lethal storm!
"The name sounds nice enough."
The Crimson-robed Queen chuckled, waving her right hand casually. A blazing tornado of fire erupted from beneath her feet, curling like dragon tongues, swallowing the incoming ice shards and vaporizing them entirely, leaving not even a speck of residue behind. "It's a pity... the crafting technique is far too clumsy."
The Violet-robed Queen's fury surged, the cold light in her eyes flaring with lethal intensity.
Her shadow suddenly writhed, extending like a living thing into countless pitch-black vines. They tore through the fire tornado from every direction, snaking upward and lashing tight around the Crimson-robed Queen!
"Now—you have nowhere to run!"
The Crimson-robed Queen's expression stiffened, her brow furrowing with a fleeting moment of hesitation: "Damn it... I almost forgot. This body—it has no shadow."
The black shadows laced tightly around her, binding her fast.
She raised her eyes slightly, her tone remaining composed: "Do you truly believe... that this shadow-bind is enough to destroy me?"
The Violet-robed Queen sneered, cold light gathering in her palm once more: "I don't need to kill you immediately... I only need to exhaust your magic—you will vanish on your own."
She formed a seal rapidly, and the frost exploded outward.
In the next instant, the Crimson-robed Queen was encased within a thick layer of ice. The crystalline sheets layered over one another, freezing her completely, until even the aura of her presence seemed sealed away.
However, this was not the end.
The Violet-robed Queen maintained her spell, channeling a constant stream of magic to reinforce the ice seal. Her attention was now completely locked, unable to spare a single thought for the rest of the battlefield, leaving the ongoing skirmish entirely to Ceresta.
——
"Damn it..."
Rhine gripped his greatsword tightly, flames flickering along the blade. He looked up at the frozen, crimson-robed figure, his brow furrowed: "It seems the fight between the Witches has reached a stalemate... we have to pick up the pace!"
He shifted his gaze, his voice dropping: "And—Lunethia, where in the hell is she!?"
"Thia..."
Owen gave a low growl, lifting his giant hammer high and smashing it down toward Ceresta's knee joint—
"Crack!"
With a clear, splintering sound, Ceresta slammed onto one knee, the ground beneath it shuddering.
"That's a heavy greeting, isn't it?" Owen grinned, his breath coming in ragged heaves.
"Cut the joking." Rena dodged an incoming attack, speaking coldly, her eyes fixed on the battle.
Seizing the moment of Ceresta's imbalance, Gareth drew his bow and fired in rapid succession.
Two arrows tore through the air, their shafts embedded with explosives and imbued with chakra. They struck the puppet's back with pinpoint accuracy—
"BOOM! BOOM!"
The explosions echoed through the cramped dungeon, making the stone walls hum. Firelight and crystalline shrapnel scattered everywhere. Ceresta's massive body shook violently, its already kneeling posture sagging further under the weight of the assault.
"Now!"
Gerald and Gareth pulled the iron chains taut from both sides, chakra flowing frantically through the links, locking the construct down.
Owen let out a thunderous roar, leaping into the air to add his entire weight to the hold—
"CRASH——!"
Ceresta could withstand no more; it collapsed to the floor!
Gareth couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Haha! Now all we have to do is find its core and destroy it—and it's all over!"
However—
The situation took a sudden, violent turn.
A blinding red light ignited within Ceresta's chest, like a heart burning inside the crystal. The radiance spread rapidly, carrying an oppressive heat and power.
In the next instant, its body swelled violently, the crystalline structure strengthening in a flash, and as the light flowed through its limbs, its power surged!
"SNAP——!"
The chakra-reinforced chains snapped like brittle thread under this sudden, overwhelming surge of strength!
With a backhand swipe, its movements were swifter than before—Owen didn't even have time to react, his entire body sent flying like a ragdoll!
"BANG!"
He slammed heavily into the ground.
At the same time, Ceresta closed the fingers of its right hand, and crystals rapidly extended, instantly forming a sharp crystal longsword. The heavy crystal armor that had covered its body began to decompose and peel away, transforming into several floating crystal shards that orbited it slowly—acting as both a shield and blades ready to strike at any moment.
"Cough—!"
Owen hit the ground hard, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, grinning instead, his tone a mix of excitement and helplessness: "This is bad... this guy just got—so cool!"
Rhine rolled his eyes, flames reigniting on his blade: "It's just glowing and has an extra sword, right?"
Rena chuckled, her tone tinged with teasing: "But seriously, its flame—it really does look better than yours, Boss."
Rhine's temple twitched, and before he could retort—
Gareth warned them with a bitter smile: "Stop chatting... usually when a magical creature changes its form, it means a qualitative change in its abilities—everyone watch out!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth—
Ceresta moved.
No warning, no buildup. A dash, its figure tearing through space like lightning, closing the distance to Rhine in an instant! The crystal longsword dragged a streak of light as it thrust forward!
Rhine had no time to dodge, forced to rely on instinct to block with his blade—
"CLANG——!"
A deafening sound exploded, sparks flying everywhere. The terrifying impact crushed down like an avalanche, sending him flying backward to slam into the stone wall, causing loose rocks to tumble down.
"Rhine!"
Rena's eyes tightened, and she immediately lunged forward, her spear striking like lightning, piercing repeatedly toward Ceresta's knee and shoulder joints. She had already judged that this monster's strength was beyond human resistance; only through speed and technique could they hope to tear open a sliver of an opening.
However—
Ceresta rotated its wrist, the crystal longsword moving like a nimble snake. The blade's light flowed as it effortlessly neutralized all her attacks. At the same time, its other hand slowly rose, palm facing Gareth, who was already aiming his bow in the distance.
"Damn!" Gareth's expression shifted wildly, "It can lock onto me even like this!?"
The next instant, cold light exploded!
A massive volley of ice shards shot out from its palm like a torrential downpour, not only shattering his arrows in mid-air but forcing him to roll and dodge in a pathetic scramble, narrowly escaping death.
"Its speed and attack power have increased by more than one level!" Gerald's expression was grave, his eyes locked on the battle, "And this swordsmanship... it doesn't look like a magical creature at all!"
"Damn it!" Rena gritted her teeth, "How could it become a top-tier swordsman in an instant!"
She spun her spear again, sweeping like a gale, yet it was still effortlessly neutralized by that incredibly agile swordplay, as if all her attacks had been predicted.
Milia materialized once more, silent as a shadow.
Her figure pressed in close, her twin daggers blurring into streaks of light as she unleashed a relentless barrage of stabs against Ceresta. However, the ring of floating crystal shards encircling the puppet seemed to possess a consciousness of its own. They operated autonomously, intercepting every fatal strike with pinpoint precision, creating an impenetrable wall of defense.
"This isn't working!"
Rhine steadied himself against the wall, whipped out his flint, and struck it hard.
"Click!"
Sparks sprayed onto his blade. In an instant, flames roared to life, engulfing the sword and illuminating Rhine like a silhouette within a furnace.
"No more holding back!" his eyes burning with intensity. "While the Witch is still incapacitated—we have to finish this thing!"
"Ugh... fine, to hell with it!"
Gerald sighed, pulling a yellow gemstone from his vest with a serious expression. He hurled it high into the air!
"CRACK——!"
The gem shattered in mid-flight.
The next moment, amidst a brilliant flash of light, hundreds—no, thousands—of weapons rained down like a meteor shower: swords, spears, staves, whips, hammers... all shapes and sizes, descending in a chaotic, lethal downpour!
"Holy shit! Are you crazy!?"
Gareth shouted, scrambling to dodge a flying polearm while barely avoiding a mid-air collision. "Are you trying to wipe us out, too!?"
Gerald laughed out loud: "Don't panic! It's a magical artifact I've been hoarding for years—it's basically spitting out all the 'treasures' I've collected over the ages! You aren't going to tell me you can't even dodge this, are you?"
"Next time—could you give us a warning beforehand?"
Rena sidestepped a whistling iron hammer, her voice frigid.
Owen, meanwhile, swung his massive hammer, smashing two incoming longswords out of the air. He roared in frustration: "Are you suppressing the enemy or suppressing us!?"
Karl, who had been calmly observing the battle from the sidelines, frowned slightly. He reached out, grabbed the white rabbit beside him, and stepped aside just in time to dodge a rogue dagger.
"Rabbit," he said, his voice low and clear. "Based on your behavior earlier—you can understand me, can't you?"
The rabbit, which had been struggling to break free, suddenly went still. It looked directly at Karl with its ruby-like eyes, as if waiting for him to continue.
That momentary reaction sent a strange, indescribable feeling through Karl.
—It was too "human."
But there was no time to dwell on it now.
He pushed his doubts aside, his gaze sharpening. "This battle won't end anytime soon. Our objective isn't just to defeat the Witch—we have to save Lunethia."
He paused, his voice deepening: "Find her. Perhaps... she is the key to turning the tide of this battle."
The rabbit seemed to understand him perfectly.
It gave a single, slight nod.
The instant Karl released his grip, the rabbit bolted like an arrow from a bow. It threaded dextrously through the edge of the chaotic battlefield, leaping rapidly toward the depths of the dungeon, vanishing into the shadows in the blink of an eye.
Karl watched the white streak recede, his gaze narrowing slightly.
In the next moment, he snapped his attention back to the battlefield.
—Right now, there was no luxury to ponder anything else.
He had to quickly decipher the changing tide of the battle, and... Ceresta's true weakness.
A moment later, the rain of weapons finally ceased.
The aftershocks of clashing metal and magic still rippled through the air.
Ceresta stood in the center of the chamber, letting out a low, vibrating growl. Its body grew even more radiant amidst the interwoven fire and lightning, the crystals refracting a violent light, making it resemble a demon god descended from hell.
And on the other side—
Though battered and bruised, the group had ignited the last of their fighting spirit.
Their breath was heavy, but their gazes grew increasingly resolute.
In this battle—
There was no retreat.