CHAPTER 52: ENOUGH

Inside another dungeon.

The portal spat out Jered and Sasha into a mountainous woodland—the kind from childhood fairy tales where the trees were too tall, the shadows too deep, and everything around them seems alive with malicious intent.

Jered cracked his neck. His emerald-and-gold flames flickered around his body like a halo. "Okay. I’ll go and draw aggro. You do the weird druid-lady thing."

Sasha Taras smiled sweetly. Her pastel green eyes glimmered with excitement. "You mean summon a monster stampede and farm like a goddess?"

Jered smiled back. "Exactly."

This was no ordinary forest.

The trees were giant mushrooms. The sky was a bio-luminescent canopy. Monster packs moved like militarized nature spirits—fungal warriors, venom-root hydras, and skybound wasps the size of chariots.

But Jered wasn’t impressed.

"Alright, who wants a beating?" he bellowed, igniting his Dauntless Flame, now evolved over the years of relentless training.

Every footstep left patches of smoldering earth, and his battle cries acted like war drums.

Taunting the monsters out from the shadows

A massive Basilisk-like monster reared up. But this one was made of wood.

Behind it, dozens of Mycoblade Dryads shrieked in ancient fungal rage.

Sasha didn’t wait for them to engage.

She whistled.

And the forest answered.

From the tree line, beasts charged: her personal bonded familiars.

A six-legged buffalo hybrid with armor-plated fur.

A sky serpent that trailed lightning from its wings.

And finally, the MVP: a moss-covered colossal war tortoise that moved like a glacier—and hit like divine judgment.

Sasha’s class—Verdant Shepherd’s passive skill Bloom of Dominions let her bond with and empower entire monster ecosystems. The longer she fought, the stronger her summons became.

"Thorn Frenzy!"

Spikes exploded beneath the dryads.

"Beastmark Accelerate!"

The tortoise teleported above, crashing down on the monsters.

Straight into the wooden basilisk’s face.

BOOM!

Crushing it instantly.

While Sasha’s monsters held the front, Jered charged in like a pro-wrestler dipped in holy oil and sarcasm.

"Flame Ring, Full Burn!"

A circle of fire surrounded him, igniting dozens of attackers.

A sky wasp stabbed down—

He caught it barehanded. "I respect the hustle," he muttered.

Then slammed it into a mushroom tree.

Every hit he took just empowered his passive skills. Dauntless wasn’t just a name—it was his lifestyle.

Healing surged into him with every blow.

"Bugs"

He punched a dryad so hard it exploded into pollen.

Sasha cheered from the treetop where she’d perched.

The Mini Boss of this dungeon Rotwood appeared before them.

It came walking on legs of bark, speaking in riddles, its eyes glowing with toxic wisdom.

"Your flame will burn out. Your beasts shall—"

"Yeah, yeah," Jered muttered, and shoulder-charged it.

Rotwood raised a defense barrier.

But Sasha raised her staff and summoned a creature.

Ironthorn Bloom

A gigantic plant burst from the ground, smashing Rotwood into the air. Jered jumped above it and held it in a tight grip.

Then he shouted "I call this Warden’s Descent."

As if asking for praises from Sasha.

He crashed into the cold forest floor, dragging Rotwood down like a meteor.

System Notification chimed their ears.

Mini Boss Rotwood Defeated.

After the fight, Jered climbed a mushroom cliff and planted a banner made of his shirt.

Sasha summoned a big bunny to sit on it like a royal squire.

"Why do you always do this?" she asked.

"It’s about branding," Jered said seriously. "You beat monsters, they forget. You leave a mark, they remember who beat their ass."

Sasha raised a brow and said. "Stupid."

But they still high-fived.

After making sure the area was clean with no monsters left.

They ventured deeper into the forest.

They found the boss.

Glorax.

A tree. A literal tree the size of a temple, with a face made of bark and horns that spewed spores. As soon as they stepped into the boss domain of 300 meter radius.The arena turned into a battlefield of corruption and flora.

But Jered and Sasha had fought together for over a decade.

This wasn’t a boss fight.

It was just another resource hunt for them.

Sasha buffed all her monsters with Nature’s Overdrive

Jered tanked everything and screamed "I AM THE WALL! THE SHIELD! THAT PROTECTS THE PRINCESS!" until the boss’s bark face twitched with irritation.

Jered sends an endless barrage of flaming fist against any roots or tentacles trying to hinder him.

"URURURURURURU!"

Sasha was used to Jered being Jered.

She just giggled it off.

As they delve nearer to the boss.

Thousands of roots shoot up from the ground constructing their movement.

And it eventually tried to absorb them into its root system.

But it was a big mistake.

Beast Merge

Sasha channeled all her pets’ abilities into Jered.

Making some part of Jered turned into monsters and boosting his stats.

Then he used another skill of his own.

Gigantification

Jered glowed and turned into a gigantic inferno titan over 12 meters tall.

He punched through the tree like it owed him money.

The hard giant tree Glorax stood still unmoving under the immense force of Jered’s punch.

But boss was already dead as the heat from Jered’s fist had burned through Glorax tree body leaving multiple holes so neat that the edges look well polished.

System Notification: Gold rank Dungeon Clear.

Special Drop Acquired: Seed of the ancient tree(Gold-Class Item)

They walked away as petals and embers drifted behind them, laughing.

"One dungeon down," Jered said.

"...Nine hundred ninety-nine to go," Sasha replied.

"You got what you want. What do you mean by nine hundred ninety nine to go" Jered stared at Sasha asking for an explanation.

Sasha looked at Jered with puppy eyes "Oh you won’t let a girl cry would you?"

"Enough I’m loyal only to Teach Elfalene, drop your acts" with that Jered turned to leave.

"Oh come on this is only just the seed we need the water and many more supplementary items" Sasha grabbed a hold of Jered’s hand begging him.

Her class verdant shepherd was a beast taming class which requires a lots of resources. And differs with what she is taming.

Then she added " And if we clear more dungeons we get to go home faster."

"Yeah right but I’m choosing the next dungeon" He grinned.

"Bet I clear more than Kaelen."

"Bet you don’t."