"Hey! Stop standing around frozen and help us!" Josh shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos as he danced away from another bone-cracking swipe of the undead wyvern.

High above, a colossal crimson flower loomed over the battlefield. The bloom at its peak remained tightly shut, glowing faintly with pulses of dark red energy. Thalion was inside, sealed away.

Josh, Jack, and Vorlok were still locked in combat with the wyvern, a grotesque amalgam of rotting flesh and dragon bone. Since the death of the vampiress, the rest of the vampires had scattered or been slain, and the tide had begun to turn. The witch responsible for most of the necrotic resistance now lay helpless, bound by blood-soaked vines that pierced through her limbs. Evelyn stood over her, torn between vengeance and hesitation.

Elsewhere, Kargul battled the red orc champion in a brutal one-on-one duel. The two titans refused aid, roaring at anyone who dared approach. Their isolated brawl forced the rest of the group to hold their ground and fight without backup, especially against the wyvern, which was proving more resilient than expected.

Josh risked a glance toward the final chamber. The central pillar was already active, its black surface veined with glowing crimson lines that slithered upward like living veins. The chamber was far from empty. Dozens of surviving vampires and fish-like aberrations waited behind the threshold, bracing for the inevitable clash.

"Should we cut him out?" one of the knights asked, sword drawn as he stared warily at the flower.

"No! Stay the hell away from it unless you want to get vaporized!" Josh shouted, his blade slashing across the wyvern’s leg. "Now get over here and help us bring this thing down!"

At last, Annie and Jakob arrived. Jakob hurled his hammer into the creature’s foreleg, shattering bone and sending it staggering. At the same time, Annie conjured a massive ice spike and launched it straight into the wyvern’s open maw just as it inhaled to unleash its undead breath.

Jack shifted into his eldritch squid form, and sent a burst of telekinetic force at the wyvern’s back. The impact sent the beast crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom. A sickening crunch followed as vertebrae gave way. The wyvern screamed, but its movements had slowed, its death imminent.

Vorlok took the opportunity, leaping onto the creature’s exposed underbelly. He tore into it with feral glee, ripping out chunks of decayed flesh with each bite.

“Gods, what a disgusting beast,” Jack muttered, reappearing beside Annie and Jakob, now back in human form and slick with gore.

“Kargul, finish it already or we’re stepping in!” Josh shouted, glaring toward the duel in progress. “We don’t have time for you to play hero while the pillar is charging up!”

“Speak again and I’ll make it take longer,” Kargul roared in response, locking weapons with the red orc. Their duel was a savage display of brute strength and sheer will. Blood coated their armor, and neither gave an inch.

Kargul drove his elbow into his opponent’s jaw. The red orc responded with a sharp kick to the ribs. Growling, Kargul grabbed him by the throat and delivered a brutal headbutt that echoed like a war drum. Both stumbled back, skulls ringing from the impact, but still the fight raged on without a victor.

“Three more minutes!” Josh called out. “Then we kill the red orc. Everyone else, get ready to push the final chamber!”

The fighters around him began preparing, weapons drawn, spells summoned, eyes locked on the dark hallway ahead.

“Why haven’t you killed her?” Jack asked, eyeing the blood witch lying at Evelyn’s feet. “I mean, I could do it. Just say the word.”

“We’re not allowed,” Evelyn replied in a low, bitter voice. “Thalion’s last words before that... thing grew around him. He said she has to live.”

“Then let’s be smart before we do something stupid,” Jack said, grinning with his usual lunatic charm. “Send her to Kaldrek and Maike. Bet they still have those slave collars. That way we don’t kill her by mistake, and she stays put. Plus, we can visit. And let’s be honest, when Thalion says he has plans, it usually means someone’s gonna scream.”

“You’re probably right,” Evelyn sighed. “Take her to them. She’s a prisoner now. Keep her alive until Thalion returns.”

A group of heavily armored warriors stepped forward. They carefully lifted the restrained witch, mindful not to worsen her wounds, and carried her up the corridor.

“Don’t worry. You did the right thing,” Jack said with a reassuring pat on Evelyn’s shoulder. “And we’re not done here anyway. Still need to blow up that pillar. Plus, Lucan’s new bombs are gonna make a glorious mess. He’ll cry tears of joy when he finds out his babies finally exploded.”

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His grin widened as he looked at the looming shadows ahead. The air was thick with tension, blood, and rising heat. The final battle was about to begin, and the flower above them still pulsed with silent, ominous power.

“Probably, but i just wanted to kill the witch. Why does he have to turn into a flower now of all times?” Evelyn muttered, frustration tightening her voice. She seemed about to continue her complaint when a deafening crash shook the chamber behind them. A shockwave rippled through the air, brushing their hair back, followed by a victorious, bone-rattling roar.

“YEEEAAAHH! THERE YOU GO, WEAKLING! I SMASHED YOU FOR GOOD!” Kargul bellowed, standing triumphantly over the broken corpse of the red orc, whose skull he had just pulverized.

The orc warrior stood panting, bloodied but grinning, as he wiped gore from his brow and squinted toward the towering crimson bloom above. “What the hell is that red flower doing there?” he asked, confused, his breathing heavy.

“And where’s Thalion? Did he win?”

Everyone fell silent for a moment. It was clear that Kargul and the red orc had been too locked in their savage duel to notice the cataclysmic battle between Thalion and the vampiress.

“He won,” Josh replied with a tired sigh. “But now he’s sealed inside that... thing. We’re on our own from here.”

Kargul only grunted in acknowledgement and lumbered toward Vorlok, who was currently gnawing noisily on the undead wyvern’s remains. Every time he crunched through a large bone, a sickening snap echoed across the chamber like distant thunder.

“How are we supposed to break through their defenses?” Jakob asked, nodding toward the final chamber. A swarm of vampires and fishlike warriors stood between them and the pillar. Their formation was tight, their postures ready. “Looks like they’re prepared.”

It was obvious now that the enemy had been warned. The final assault wouldn't be easy. Many of the humans needed time to recover from the last fight—and Thalion’s absence left a hole none could fill.

“Look, Jack,” Josh muttered, half joking, half desperate. “If you take command now and make Thalion proud, maybe he’ll finally accept you as his apprentice.”

Jack paused, eyes narrowed in thought. Then, with sudden resolve, he teleported a few meters into the air, rising above the heads of the weary fighters.

“Attention!” he shouted, his voice amplified by arcane energy. “We’re almost done! Only one pillar remains, and we will be the ones to destroy it—because I, for one, do not plan to die today!”

His words thundered across the hall, stirring the exhausted soldiers to life.

“Back in formation! Ready your spells, your blades, your bombs, whatever you’ve got! And send a scout to the elves. I want to know where they stand. If they’re close to the core, we may be able to push together.”

The shift in energy was immediate. Warriors who had collapsed to the ground moments ago now rose, tightening armor straps, rejoining their units. A scout was sent, not to ask politely, but to see with their own eyes. They had lied to the elves before; there was no reason to assume the elves wouldn't do the same.

“Kargul, think you can charge in one last time?” Josh asked, turning to the orc who now lay sprawled on the floor, nearly unconscious from his earlier power boost.

“Of course...” Kargul mumbled through clenched teeth, eyes closed, as though fending off a splitting headache. Evelyn was already beside him, pouring healing energy into his battered frame, but even that would take time. It was obvious that he wouldn't be ready in time.

“Jakob, can you rush the chamber and draw their attention?” Josh asked, his tone serious. “I’ll be right behind you. I just need a distraction.”

Jakob hesitated. He was perhaps the closest thing they had to another Kargul, tough and nearly indestructible, but lacking the raw brutality. And those harpoon-wielding fishmen looked far from forgiving.

“I can try... but I won’t last long under that kind of fire,” Jakob admitted, unsure.

“Can’t we just throw in one of the bombs to make a hole?” Annie suggested hopefully.

“Too risky,” Jack replied quickly. “They’re unstable. We don’t know exactly when they’ll explode, and the torpedoes are too slow. The vampires would shoot them down before they even reached the target.”

“Then we wait for the scout,” Evelyn said, settling beside Kargul and sipping a mana potion with shaky hands. “Once we know what the elves are doing, we decide our next move.”

So the group paused again, the tension building like pressure in a sealed chamber. They rested. They watched. They waited. Eyes flicked constantly toward the final corridor, where the distant glow of the dark pillar pulsed ever stronger.

Time was running out.