CHAPTER 1185: GOING THROUGH THEM

They kept fighting without pause, killing monster after monster as the jungle roared and shook around them.

Every kill they managed to got released a faint trail of essence that spiraled into their bodies like drifting sparks, and the fighters felt the subtle but undeniable shift inside themselves.

Their muscles tightened with new strength, their breaths grew deeper and steadier, and their reactions became sharper.

Their senses expanded, their Magic stirred more easily, and their movements flowed with growing confidence.

Their attack felt a little lighter. Each impact felt a little heavier. This Level 2 was shaping them piece by piece.

Aurdis fought near the edge of the platform, her blades of lightning carving clean arcs through the swarm. But her gaze kept drifting upward between her movements.

Erend floated far above with Eccar and Aesa, a dark silhouette framed by a pair of Dragon wings.

From where she stood, Aurdis could only see him as something distant and powerful. Not the warm presence who held her hand, walked with her under the moonlit palace gardens, or softened whenever she leaned on him.

This Erend looked like a being who ruled the dimension itself, watching over everyone from above, surveying the battlefield like he was its master.

She had known he trained here. She had known he grew stronger. But seeing him now, not even needing to lift a hand as the others fought with full power, made her realize the truth that Erend had been pushing himself far beyond what she imagined.

He didn’t just grow stronger. He surpassed limits she never even knew existed.

And he still smiled at her like she was his equal when he saw her.

Aurdis tightened her grip on her crackling blade.

"He always tries to carry everything alone." The thought struck her in a painful flash. "Because he thinks I’m still too weak. Because he thinks I’ll break if I stand beside him. He is just too worried for me because I’m too weak."

But that didn’t make her step back.

It made her step forward.

"If I become strong enough," she said to herself, sparks dancing along her fingers, "he won’t need to protect me from everything. And he won’t leave me behind anymore."

Her determination flared. She lunged into the fray harder than before, cutting through the monsters with renewed fire in her veins.

More creatures surged from the glowing jungle below, replacing the fallen monkey like beasts.

Now came hulking lizard creatures covered in crystal plates, their roars shaking the vines.

The group worked together. Billy and Adrien blasted them with explosive heat and lightning while Aerchon shattered their armor with forceful strikes.

After that came serpentine wraiths slithering through the air, their bodies made of mist and bone.

Sylmira froze the air around them, solidifying their ghostly forms long enough for Saeldir to flick them apart with a wave.

After that, a swarm of spiny insect creatures crawled up the roots and platforms, clicking and screeching.

King Gulben unleashed sweeping waves of golden force, leveling entire clusters while Arty burned the rest into smoking ash.

Each wave was stronger, stranger, and more aggressive than the last. But they cut through them all without slowing down.

The group moved like a single beating heart. They stepped in where another left a gap, turning the chaos into a clean rhythm of destruction.

And above it all, Erend watched like a guardian waiting for the right moment to step in.

They kept fighting until the shifting light above them dimmed and brightened again, marking the strange flow of time in this dimension.

After what felt like hours, the sun anove them finally reached its zenith overhead.

None of them worried. They all knew the Dungeon World flowed on its own rhythm of time. Outside, time might not have even moved at all. So they allowed themselves a moment to breathe.

Erend descended from the sky and landed lightly near the others.

"We’ll rest for a moment," he said.

No one argued about that. They sat across the broad stone platform, catching their breath as the warm jungle wind passed through the glowing leaves above them.

Some stretched their arms, some leaned back, some simply closed their eyes for a short moment.

Then they opened their packs and began sharing small portions of their provisions.

Aurdis walked to Erend, Eccar, and Aesa with calm dignity and offered some of the food.

Erend gently shook his head. "You all fought. We didn’t. Keep it. We still have a long journey ahead."

Aurdis frowned. "But you’re here with us. It feels wrong if you don’t eat at all."

Before Erend could answer, King Gulben spoke first. His tone carried the weight of centuries of experience, steady and wise.

"What Erend says is correct," the king said. "We must conserve what we have. He knows this dimension far better than any of us. If he says the journey is long, then there is a reason. We must prepare ourselves."

The others exchanged glances. They respected their king’s judgment, and they understood. If Erend—someone who had climbed these levels alone before—told them to save their food, then the next trials would be far harder.

So they accepted it. Erend, Eccar, and Aesa sat with them, even if they didn’t eat.

The group talked softly, letting the weight of battle drain from their limbs while the glowing jungle hummed around them.

After they finished lunch and rested long enough for their breaths to steady again, King Gulben rose to his feet.

His golden aura shimmered faintly as he looked around at the others.

"Let’s move," he said.

Everyone stood.

Erend stepped forward and raised his hand. A ripple tore open the air once more, forming a tall black doorway carved with shifting markings.

The gate to Level 3.

Without wasting another moment, Erend led them toward the next challenge waiting beyond the door.

—

In his chamber of black and red walls veined with pulsing streams of blood-like energy, Zerathul still fought against Krono’s violent struggle inside his soul.

Outside, in the physical realm, his monstrous body looked as if it was being torn apart from within.

His flesh split open in jagged lines. Chunks of skin peeled away. Long, obsidian tentacles dropped from his face one by one as if sliced off by invisible blades.

Even his limbs trembled, cracked, and began falling apart in uneven pieces, scattering across the chamber floor with wet thuds.

Zerathul hadn’t expected this. He thought that once Krono realized he had no hope of escape, the Time Dragon’s spirit would collapse, making him easier to devour.

But he was wrong.

Inside, Krono’s soul still burned with a violent fury. There were roars of rage, snarls twisted by pain, fragmented shouts that echoed like distorted thunder.

"You... parasite—"

"I will tear you apart—"

"My soul will forever itself rejects you—"

He could still hear the words broken by agony, but still filled with wrath strong enough to shake reality.

Zerathul couldn’t make out everything, but he understood the emotion clearly. It was fury beyond reason.

And he laughed with it, embracing the agony ripping him apart.

"Hahaha... yes, struggle more!" he rasped through a torn mouth. "Break yourself for me, Krono! The more you fight, the sweeter your end becomes!"

His laughter echoed through the bleeding chamber while his body continued to fall apart piece by piece.

—

Level 3 greeted them with a sudden drop in warmth.

The moment they stepped through the gate, their breaths fogged in front of them. A vast landscape of frozen marshland stretched in all directions.

The ground was a mixture of icy water and cracked sheets of frost that splintered under each step.

Black, leafless trees twisted upward like skeletal hands, their branches dripping with icicles that rang softly when touched by the wind.

From beneath the frozen pools, long-bodied predators with translucent skin and needle-like teeth emerged. Frost Wyrm-Spawns slithered rapidly through the icy water, lunging at them in packs.

King Gulben led the charge, golden light melting the frigid air around him.

They cleared the level quickly and Erend opened the next gate.

Level 4 answered with heat powerful enough to sting their skin.

A desert of black sand spread out beneath a sky that shimmered like molten glass. Heat haze twisted the horizon, and each sands pulsed faintly with pockets of red light beneath the grains.

The moment they stepped forward, the dunes erupted. Lava Beetles with obsidian shells burst from beneath the sand, spilling molten liquid from cracks in their armor.

Their combined force carved a path through the scorching battlefield.

After the last shell cracked open and the air cooled enough to breathe, Erend raised his hand again, tearing open the door to Level 5.

A thick mist rolled out, damp and warm. They entered a dense swamp glowing with bioluminescent fungi now.

Massive trees rose overhead, their roots coiling in the muddy water. The air buzzed with deep growls and clicking sounds.

The mud monsters emerged. Theg were hulking creatures made of mud and swamp grass, their bodies reshaping every time they were hit.

When Aerchon sliced one horizontally, it simply knitted itself back together and roared. Saeldir countered with binding spells, freezing the mud in place long enough for Arty and Sylmira to annihilate them.

They pushed through the swamp’s glowing fog until the final beast sank back into the water, dissolving into drifting essence.

Erend turned toward the others.

"Level 6 next," he said, opening another gateway of black door.

No one slowed. Their journey had only just begun.

—