The waves progressed slowly but surely, creeping up through the tens, and the twenties, within the span of an hour. The difficulty increased every five waves, with the level of the monsters increasing by five in turn. Now out of the danger zone, if the first ten levels could be called so, given that death was basically impossible, the fighters could really let loose, and see just how far they could reach.
The entire arena was painted red with blood, and more vile fluids beside, with the corpses having miraculously been removed at the end of each round. Otherwise, the ground would be invisible, covered by a carpet of the dead.
Jonathan’s armor was slicked with viscera, but he simply expelled a cloud of the Void, cleaning off the plates. All around him, the others did the same, with the Uthraki using their fire manipulation to burn it away.
The first change in the challenge came with the twenty fifth floor. There was only a single monster, but it was far larger than any before. A titanic drake, with scales the color of obsidian and a head that looked more like a mountain than anything else, it towered over the arena, its wings stretching for hundreds of feet. The creature roared, its wings expanding outwards, until it cast a vast shadow over the arena. Then it set its beady eyes on Jonathan and the others, opening its mouth to roar. Before it could do so, a spear of Voidlight sliced through the roof of its mouth, and entered its brain. Jonathan snapped his fingers, and the projectile exploded, scooping out the monster’s brain.
It swayed briefly, and then fell, crashing to the ground. Jonathan raised an eyebrow as the monster faded away. “Really?”
The next wave started unceremoniously, with two of the drakes appearing in unison, and dying just as quickly. Jonathan sighed. If even the bosses were this weak, then he would probably be here for a while.
The dungeon stretched on for hours, wave after wave coming, none of which provided much of a challenge. It was true to the wording of the challenge’s name, but it was also quite annoying. In addition, the essence gain seemed to have been reduced, as even after what felt like millions of kills, Jonathan had only gained two levels for his troubles. He was rapidly closing in on the ninety ninth level, and the only palpable difference was the time it took to kill his foes, not the difficulty of fighting them.
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A whole new species had been brought to the arena, which looked like rangy, humanoid wolves, their fur patchy and skin rotten. They wielded crude weapons, ranging from slings to clubs, and not with much skill either. Still, their stats were quite high, but as they had no idea what to do with them, it hardly mattered. More importantly, those stats allowed Jonathan to get something out of fighting them, in terms of martial prowess. While he was strong enough, and fast enough, to dominate the monsters without breaking a sweat, their movements were still fast enough to merit some sort of response, more than just allowing them to bounce off his armor. That was to be expected though, given that the average level of the monsters had risen to almost Tier 5, if not their strength.
The wave finished with a corona of nuclear fire, as Arkanon sent a collapsing star towards the center of the monster lines, carving out a crater into the ground. As the dust cleared, and the mist of blood produced fell to the ground, the world began to shift around them. The arena faded away, and out of the shifting space, appeared a vast plain, rivers of lava flowing across it, even as a volcano erupted in the distance.
On top of that volcano, a clattering serpent of bones rested, nearly a mile in length. Green stars burned in its eye sockets, and the air around it was warped, winds of decay whipping at the world nearby. Around it, thousands of its progeny rested, smaller undead snakes. That size was only relative to the largest one, though, as each of them was still around a hundred feet in length. It looked like a carpet of white had spread across the volcano.
As the party beheld them, the beast started to shift, and its brethren moved with it, a rattling noise resounding across the plain. The behemoth of a snake reared up like a cobra, and hissed at Jonathan and the others, baring its fangs, each dripping with viscous green venom.
All around, the smaller serpents exploded into motion, slithering down the sides of the volcano, towards Jonathan’s party. Jonathan himself raced forth, stamina burning through his muscles, and empowering his legs. The sound barrier shattered before him, and the distance between him and the monsters vanished into nothingness. He appeared before the monsters a moment later, and slammed his fist down, a hammer of the Void forming around it. His fist struck the lead monster, and a cone of force shot out from it, cutting a swathe through the monster lines.
He paid little attention to the others, trusting that they could hold their own. Instead, Jonathan barreled through the hole in the monster lines, heading for the massive serpent, still coiled around the volcano. The monster glared at him balefully, and flicked its fangs, sending droplets of poison that quickly grew and grew in size the closer they got to Jonathan. What had initially looked like specks were now the size of cars, massive orbs of virulent death that undulated menacingly as they arced through the air.
