The archway deposited them into a furnace.

The heat hit Nathan first.

Dry, ashen air that scraped the throat and made the lungs ache despite the Winterhart cloak’s enchantment. The corridor ahead was narrow and winding, walls of scorched black stone veined with glowing red mana that pulsed like arteries beneath the surface.

The floor was uneven volcanic rock, sharp-edged and treacherous. Distant rumbles echoed through the stone, the Tower breathing, or magma shifting below, or something worse.

Nathan’s interface flickered.

[Tower of Ash: Floor 1.]

[Objective: Clear all enemies.]

The party settled into formation with ease. Mirko at the front, already in humanoid form, her sword shining in the crimson half-light. Elise’s Frost Golem beside her, eight feet of crystalline ice radiating cold that created a small pocket of tolerable temperature around the vanguard. The golem’s presence was a defiance against the Tower’s heat, a reminder that even here, winter could bite.

Dillon on the right flank, katana loose, Cloud Serpent coiling overhead, its scales crackling with faint static as it surveyed the corridor. Garrett and Red on the left, the Mad-Sheep’s crimson wool bristling, four black eyes blinking independently. Nathan at center-rear, borrowed bow in hand, [Hunter’s Insight] threading the darkness ahead.

Kuro on his shoulder. Small. Black. Silent. Watching.

"Our Standard formation," Nathan said. "Mirko calls engagement. Elise, freeze priority targets. Dillon, hit and run... don’t chase. Garrett, hold the left. "

"Let’s move."

---

The first floor monsters, Ember Hounds, came boiling out of the darkness like fragments from a shattered furnace.

Wolf-like creatures, lean and hungry, their skin a jagged hide of volcanic rock stretched over smoldering muscle. Their fur was fire burning from their spines in orange and red. Their jaws dripped molten saliva that sizzled on the stone. They hunted in packs of five, coordinated and deadly.

Nathan’s [Hunter’s Insight] painted their trajectories. "Four contacts. Left side, two. Center, one. Right side, one circling. Mirko! center!. Garrett, left. Dillon, the other side!"

Mirko met the center Hound with [Impenetrable Fortress]. It lunged, jaws wide, and bounced off her mana armor with a shriek. Her counter-stroke took its head clean off, the core shattering in embers.

"Left side! they’re fast!" Garrett braced as two Hounds came from different angles. Red intercepted the first, wool hardening to armored plates, catching the charge on its horns. The impact cracked the volcanic floor. Garrett’s mace crushed the second Hound’s skull before it could recover.

Dillon’s [Quick Draw] was a silver flash. The flanking Hound never reached Elise, the katana severed its core mid-stride, and it dissolved into drifting embers.

But Nathan saw something on Garrett’s side. Red was panting, not from exertion, but from the heat. Its crimson wool flickered between solid and soft states, struggling to maintain combat form. The environment wasn’t just uncomfortable for Red. It was actively hostile.

"Garrett... Red’s wool."

"I know." Garrett’s voice was tight. "He’ll hold. Let’s try to keep the big fights short."

Nathan nodded and pressed forward.

---

Floor 2 introduced the Cinder Bats.

They came from above, dozens of them, small and dark, wings trailing embers. They didn’t attack with claws or fangs. They dove like missiles and detonated on contact, each explosion a burst of superheated air and razor-sharp obsidian shrapnel.

Dillon’s Cloud Serpent was already airborne, meeting the first wave with crackling arcs of static electricity. The sparks disrupted the bats’ flight patterns, forcing premature detonations. Elise layered [Mana Shield] over the party, an angled canopy that deflected shrapnel upward.

The bats coordinated. Three broke off from the main swarm and dove in a staggered sequence: one, two, three—each aimed at a different point in the canopy. The first two weakened the shield. The third slipped through.

Mirko’s [Aegis Strike] met it.

The shockwave erupted in a crescent of green-and-silver energy, catching the bat mid-dive and detonating it early. The remaining bats shrieked and scattered.

[Floor 2 Cleared.]

The party advanced. Sweat glistened on every face. The Winterhart cloaks were working, the air around their bodies remained breathable, but the heat was cumulative. Nathan felt it building in his bones, a slow, insistent pressure that potions couldn’t fix.

---

Floor 3 changed the game.

Rivers of molten rock cut through the chamber, their surfaces glowing dull orange. Narrow stone bridges spanned the flows, barely wide enough for two climbers to stand abreast. The heat intensified sharply, the cloaks shimmered constantly now, enchantments working overtime.

The first Magma Serpent erupted from the lava without warning.

Fifteen feet of semi-liquid stone and living fire, its body undulating through molten rock as if it were water. It struck at Dillon, jaws wide, and he barely parried with [Quick Draw]. The blade sliced through its neck and the wound sealed with fresh magma.

"They regenerate! Find and Hit the core!"

Nathan’s [Hunter’s Insight] scanned. The core was buried deep in its chest, a pulsing point of brighter orange. "It’s at its Center! just below the jaw. Elise! freeze it!"

Elise’s Frost Golem slammed its fists into the lava flow. Ice erupted outward, freezing a ten-meter section solid. The serpent thrashed, trapped. [Mana Bolt] struck the frozen section around its core. The ice cracked and the serpent screamed.

Nathan’s charged [Focus Shot] punched through the weakened armor and shattered the core.

More serpents rose. The party spread across the bridges. [Aegis Strike] punished every lunge, shockwaves cracking molten bodies. Garrett and Red held the rear bridges. Red’s wool flickered worse now, the heat was wearing it down faster than combat could. Nathan noticed and filed it away. There was nothing to do but keep fighting.

Floor 4 escalated, larger serpents, narrower bridges, heat level ticking to High. Even the Winterhart cloaks struggled. Dillon’s Cloud Serpent descended to hover near his shoulders, scales dull, movements sluggish. Garrett’s swings slowed. Red panted heavily, wool barely holding.

But they cleared it.

[Floor 4 Cleared.]

Nathan checked the party. Everyone standing. Everyone breathing. But cracks were showing.

"Potions," he said. "Two minutes. Then Floor 5."

---

Floor 5 opened into a room of fire.

A vast chamber, ceiling lost in smoke and crimson haze. The floor was a maze of obsidian platforms separated by slow-moving lava. Heat vapour distorted distances. Sulfur and ash coated Nathan’s tongue.

At the center, coiled around a volcanic pillar, was the Alpha.

The Magma Serpent Alpha was three times larger than the ones below, black scales streaked with glowing red veins, eyes burning white-hot. Its body wrapped the pillar in coils that could crush stone.

A mid-boss.

The party spread across the platforms. Mirko and the Frost Golem advanced directly, drawing its attention. The Alpha’s first strike was a tail whip impossibly fast. Mirko’s [Impenetrable Fortress] caught it, the barrier flickered, cracks spiderwebbing through the platform beneath her.

[Aegis Strike] released. The stored force carved a gash across the Alpha’s side, shattering its scales. The Alpha roared, it’s eyes blazed brighter.

Dillon harassed from the sides, [Quick Draw] targeting its eyes, creating openings for Mirko. Garrett and Red held a secondary platform, intercepting smaller serpents that rose to aid their alpha. Red’s wool was fully armored now, a last-ditch effort but Nathan saw the Mad-Sheep’s legs trembling. It wouldn’t last much longer.

Elise layered [Mana Shield] over Mirko, timing each barrier to absorb the heaviest blows. Her Frost Golem was smaller than before, the heat was sublimating its mass, ice evaporating into steam. Maintaining it cost more mana than usual. Nathan saw the tension in her jaw, the tremor in her staff hand.

Kuro shifted to humanoid form.

A silent ripple of shadow. She materialized on the Alpha’s blind side, twin daggers drawn. [Invisibility] carried her across the platforms like a ghost.

She appeared behind the Alpha’s head. [Assassinate] drove both daggers into the soft tissue behind its skull. The Alpha screamed, KRRRRAAAAK-HSSSSSSHHH, a sound that vibrated through Nathan’s bones.

"Now!" Kuro called.

Nathan had been charging [Focus Shot] for a full minute.

The arrowhead blazed white-hot, brighter than the lava below. The Leyline Ring hummed frantically, mana flowing in a torrent. Eighty percent of his reserves poured into a single arrow. His arms shook. His vision blurred at the edges.

Kuro marked the Alpha’s core with [Weak Point Sense]. Mirko’s tenth [Unstoppable Force] strike crashed down, shattering the scales over its chest.

Then Nathan released.

The arrow crossed the chamber in less than a heartbeat. It punched through the exposed core, through the serpent’s body, through the volcanic pillar behind it. The Alpha froze. Its white eyes flickered. Its coils went slack.

It collapsed into the lava and dissolved.

[Floor 5 Cleared.]

[Massive XP gained!]

[Level up!]

Nathan lowered his bow. His arms trembled. His mana reserves were a hollow ache. The Leyline Ring worked to replenish him, but it would take time.

He did a headcount.

Garrett breathed hard, face flushed nearly crimson, his mace arm hanging limp. Red’s wool had collapsed entirely: soft, non-combat state, the Mad-Sheep panting grew heavily, with its eyes half-closed. Dillon’s Cloud Serpent wrapped around his neck like a living scarf, its crackle completely silent. Even Mirko showed strain, her [Impenetrable Fortress] had flickered twice during the Alpha fight. Nathan had never seen it flicker like that before.

Elise was the steadiest, but her Frost Golem was a foot shorter than at the start. The heat consumed it inch by inch. Her mana reserves were deeper than Nathan’s, but not infinite.

Kuro shifted back to bunny form and settled on his shoulder. ’That was costly.’

’Too costly.’

Nathan looked at the Floor 6 portal. It pulsed with volcanic light, promising more heat, more enemies, more strain. Floors 6 through 10 would be worse. And Floor 10’s boss monster: Pyre Wyrm was still waiting.

"Halfway," Garrett managed, forcing a grin that didn’t reach his eyes.

"We... can do... five more." He said through heavy breathing.

No one answered immediately. The party was standing, barely. But Nathan could see the math written in trembling limbs, flickering summons, sweat that evaporated before it could fall.

"We’ll rest here," Nathan said. "Ten minutes. Potions. Cool down. Then we push to Floor 6."

The party nodded, too tired to argue. They spread across the platform, Garrett slumping agaisnt the floor as he desummoned rex, Dillon kneeling with his katana across his knees as he desummoned his cloud serpent, Elise standing with staff planted and eyes closed as she desummoned her forest Golem. Mana potions refilled reserves but did nothing for stamina. The Winterhart cloaks fought a losing battle against the cumulative heat.

Nathan stared at the Floor 6 portal. The Tower wasn’t done with them yet. And somewhere above, in the smoke and fire and ash, the Pyre Wyrm was waiting.

’This Tower is harder than we anticipated,’ Mirko said through the link, she and Kuro had also been desummoned into Nathan’s summon mark. The best way for summons to recuperate and heal within that private space.

’We knew it would be.’

’Knowing and experiencing are different.’

Nathan didn’t answer. He finished his potion and checked his quiver. Half empty, most of the arrows shit her could not be recovered as they burnt or melted in lava. His borrowed bow held up, but he felt strain in its limbs. Vex’s upgrade couldn’t come soon enough. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Ten minutes," he said. "Let’s move. Floor 6."

The party rose. Slowly. Stiffly. But they rose.

Together, they stepped into the portal, and the Tower swallowed them deeper.