Bonded Summoner

Book 9. Chapter 32: Elemental Gauntlet

It had been a blinding, unbroken dash since the Battlegroup first phased into the Dungeon Raid Prime Instance.

After having experienced four, Jake had realized that they were never fully identical in their flow. Their first raid on Highlands had felt almost like a structured event, with timed floors and designated rest time in the shared rest area in between.

Serthune had been a grueling, contiguous slog through a parasitic gem corruption environment and greed traps. Morvalis was a lot like Serthune, an endless mausoleum or crypt with various undead bosses placed in rooms with a deadly miasma they had to fight against.

And Bramvalen... Bramvalen had been a bizarre, tactical escort mission where the Battlegroup had to stand in a tight circle around a glowing, magical payload cart. The cart slowly moved down a jungle and frozen wasteland track while the Battlegroup fended off endless waves of beasts between boss battles. It had been an effective, if oddly familiar, test of their mobile defense tactics.

The Burning Steps, however, was a Rapid Gauntlet.

The dungeon wasn't a natural cave system or external environment this time. Instead, it was a colossal, subterranean machine. Towering obsidian gears the size of houses ground against each other in the walls, powered by hissing magma vents and thick, pulsing arcane cables. Massive, exposed elemental cores hung from the ceiling like grotesque chandeliers or popped out of surprise trapdoors, tracking the raid's movements and raining hellfire, freezing geysers, and slicing winds down on them as they sprinted through the corridors.

Fhesiah couldn’t disarm any of it. It wasn't that the Kitsune Sage lacked the skill; it was a matter of the event shielding the mechanisms from tampering.

Jake knew the dungeon rules well. If a trap was designed to be instantly lethal–like a collapsing ceiling or a room flooding with lava–the Framework mandated that Tartarus provide a reasonable puzzle or physical mechanism to bypass it. But these magical turrets and floor vents weren't instant death. They were merely ‘environmental attrition.’

Because the damage was manageable and meant to be tanked or dodged while fighting the spawned clockwork-golem mobs, the system allowed their arrays to be completely encased behind invulnerable, untargetable dungeon geometry. There was nothing to hack or disarm. They just had to eat the damage and keep moving.

And moving they were. Jake understood the insidious nature of the design. A Rapid Gauntlet was faster and yielded fewer trash mobs–meaning the loot was heavily concentrated in Boss or hidden, difficult, and risky-to-reach chests. And on top of that, it was incredibly punishing. The Framework had recently given them more leeway by upgrading their resurrection mechanics, but Tartarus clearly knew how to snatch that leeway right back. In this event, the timer never stopped.

If a Battlegroup member died, there was no safe zone to sit and wait out their resurrection illness or even safely Resurrect them. They had to immediately keep fighting with weakened stats or risk wiping the entire raid or leaving their dead behind altogether if forced to rush. The other raids were a bit less punishing but still made it a risk to resurrect.

And now, as they tore through the final stretch toward the third and ultimate boss chamber, the dungeon was throwing everything it had left at them.

“Zero stops!” Blood’s voice cracked like a whip over the comms, echoing through the sprawling, brass-lined rooms from where she rode Garona. “Stay within Sanctum or keep pace with it. Do not fall behind!”

Garona marched through the gauntlet proudly, a living, crystalline battering ram and fortress for the raid. The titanic tortoise was almost completely unrecognizable from the sluggish beast they had first met.

Empowered by the Framework and Tanda’s hard-earned, tailored spirit-gem diet, Garona had transformed into an unstoppable...well, she was a lot like the siege beetle now. But she showed she was superior in nearly every way.

A torrential barrage of molten rock and howling wind slammed into the side of her shell, only to violently ricochet off the perfectly vibrating, spell-dampening crystalline nodes. She let out a deafening, rumbling bellow as her paw physically shattered one of the spawned automatons. Garona was carving a massive slipstream through the center of the kill zone.

Earth tore from the elemental mana left on the ground, joining some of the gems on her shell before vibrating and being fired off toward the barricade in the distance with a deep bass Thwump.

Her shots traveled slower than the near-supersonic weapons from the Siege-Beetle, but the increased mass from mixing it with stone had an undeniable effect. The giant earthen-gem bolts she formed pierced magical protections, and the mass times velocity result seemed even higher than what the beetles had produced. The attacks were truly deadly, and Garona was even more resilient than before, besides.

She had her crown, and sparkly gems encompassed much of her skin and shell, making her quite the sight to see. When her horns vibrated, she had tremendous control over the gems, almost exceeding her original strength with Earth mana.

Jake kept Sanctum anchored to Garona’s underside, providing protection to those who moved underneath her. Supports stayed protected from all angles, and it even defended Garona’s slightly softer legs. While her vibrating gems were a decent magical defense, taking all the damage for the entire raid would have been a little much. Jake’s enhanced Champion Aura within Sanctum helped cover her lower half, and this allowed Garona to truly earn her keep.

The Battlegroup moved through the gauntlet like an unstoppable machine of its own, the flying beastkin from the Ravenwolf Tribe firing arrows and taking down targets all around them. Trapdoors opened and enemies or elemental hazards spilled out, and warriors were there to protect against or attack what came out.

Fhesiah, Nessa, and Sati–as well as Ira in Jake’s mind–were quick to point out threats, allowing Jake to engage the best resource. Using their Divine Sense and Jake’s Umbral Gaze, they could see through the wall and know just what was coming.

The wall in front of them shattered long before they arrived, their ranged siege tearing through it. And the moment the line broke, the Ravenwolf Clan poured through the gap like liquid shadows.

Timone and Dahlia led the charge, moving with a kinetic, incredible pack synchrony to keep the momentum alive. They didn't stop to duel the multi-elemental golems ready to attack the flanks. Dahlia swept the legs with a brutal explosion of light and fierce wolf bites as she continued onto the next. Before the falling golems could even hit the floor, Timone was already in her wake, his crescent moon spear cleanly piercing their cores in a blur of deadly motion. The rest of his mates followed, including Aisling.

Ophelia on Valora speared the golems on the opposite side, and a superball smashed into one as well, exploding and destroying the automaton in a shower of shrapnel. A deadly arrow full of Avenging Flames from Tanda struck another.

The siege tortoise that Garona had become was far from the only siege specialist. Tanda and Bloodberri unleashed deadly attacks, destroying enemies down the range before they could truly become a threat. By the time Garona entered the next chamber, there were only the constantly spawning enemies on the flanks and the environmental hazards to deal with.

Ruby had set up her den near the front as well, her floating blood blades both protecting and lashing out. Jake was happy for her new gourd he crafted, as it allowed her to bring plenty of blood to her encounters, making her not reliant on the enemy having any.

When she wasn’t anchored to the earth, her sword formation became almost reminiscent of her old lotus formation, with five large swords floating around her and numerous smaller swords making a different formation than the rolling avalanche ones.

To Jake, the formation resembled...well, he had looked through a kaleidoscope as a child and remembered how twisting the focus caused the patterns to shift, like the facets of a gem. Somehow, this odd pattern seemed to match that on some level.

Off to the right, a hidden, elite wind-caster materialized on a high ledge, drawing back a massive, armor-piercing spell aimed directly at Tanda’s blind spot.

Before Jake could even raise a hand to intercept it, a jagged spear shimmered into existence right behind the caster. Davonius decloaked from absolute invisibility, seamlessly stabbing the automaton through its core, and kicking the collapsing body off the ledge. The Chameleon beastkin shaman-rogue offered a crisp, two-finger salute down to Jake as he fell back into the shadows, keeping the raid's breakneck pace entirely uninterrupted.

Jake smirked at that, and the Battlegroup moved deeper into the gauntlet. Tartarus wanted a frantic, breathless race to the finish line, and Hearthtribe was more than happy to oblige.

The final, grinding stretch of the subterranean machine was the most densely packed yet. Massive, multi-armed clockwork golems dropped from the ceiling gears, their brass-colored plating gleaming as they raised heavy, elemental cannons, while elemental cores rained hell down toward them.

Had they chosen to enter the Prime Instance at full strength, Jake’s wives could have easily unleashed their Champion authorities and spells to vaporize the corridor completely. But Clan Hart operated on strict risk-management protocols.

The decision of who fought at maximum capacity was made long before they ever crossed a dungeon threshold. By continuously cycling their roster and permanently locking two Champions into a ‘sealed’ status for the entire duration of the raid, they artificially suppressed the overall Framework difficulty scaling.

It meant sacrificing the absolute maximum grade of loot, but with wildcard entities like Avalara, Bree, Nessa–and maybe even Garona, for all they knew–already spiking the systemic threat, managing their number was the only way to ensure their Raid Group’s survival. As confident as Jake was in their strength, he was not willing to gamble with the world’s safety and future. He took the calculated, tuned risk versus reward.

For this specific gauntlet, Fhesiah and Tanda had drawn the sealed straws. But thanks to Jake’s new capstone covenant gear, they were provided a new option to fight as they would normally. A localized hardware backdoor–a way to emulate their divine spells by paying the cost entirely out-of-pocket using their Covenant gear.

Tanda’s Champion abilities would normally be locked, preventing her from summoning a dozen spriggons or using her Avenging Strike. To bypass the system, she channeled her mana through her Mythic Transformative Crescent Moon Halberd, runes on it lighting up as she used her alternate versions of the spells.

The Covenant enchantment on the weapon flared, siphoning a flat twenty percent of her maximum mana and auril pool and severely throttling her regeneration by the same. Combined with the fifteen percent she already reserved for Jake's Sanctum network, Tanda was fighting at about two-thirds capacity. But the sacrifice was worth it. Because even if they weren’t sealed, the weapon still did something special–it enhanced those same abilities instead.

Riding atop Garona’s massive, vibrating crystalline shell, the ravenwolf hearthian hadn't just been shooting arrows. She had turned the siege tortoise's back into a lethal, mobile garden. Two of her elite spriggans had been summoned since the very beginning of the raid.

They sat perched among the crystals, exhausting themselves to constantly shield Tanda’s meticulously planted seedlings from the dungeon’s ambient magma and slicing winds. Without the spriggans' constant care, the environmental hazards would have turned the soil and plants to ash.

But because the seedlings survived, Tanda was ready for the swarm of elemental golems, each firing various cannons of elements at Garona and the raid.

As a towering, Earth-aspected golem charged Garona’s flank, firing blasts of cutting wind from its cannon, Tanda stood her ground. She might not have reached the Tier necessary to summon giant treants or grove guardians yet, but her recent experiments more than made up for it. She pulled all the accumulated auril and nature mana the spriggans had cultivated and forcefully injected it into the hybrid seeds on Garona's shell using Rampant Growth.

The eruption was violent. The first plant to explode outward was the custom hybrid she and Jake had forged during their Fusion Ascension–a living, horrible manifestation of Jake's Tier 2 spell, Hearthtree Vines. Massive, highly durable, thorny branches whipped out, wrapping around the charging golem's brass legs and expanding anywhere it detected nutrients to absorb.

The carnivorous root system of the violent shrubbery began hungrily drinking the ambient elemental energy and auril from the battlefield. It converted the energy and fired it back out as blistering, ignited blasts from its massive flower buds, which tore into the surrounding elementals.

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Paired seamlessly with the hybrid was a chilling pale-blue vine–a dangerous frost-beast plant she had harvested from the Bramvalen boss–the Cyro-blight Terrorwood. Fed by holy death mana, the mixed plant-wolf creature had changed. The vines crept up the golem’s remaining limbs, flash-freezing its heated gears and rendering the massive automaton completely immobile as it lunged with its deadly plant maw. Tanda had several variations of each plant but had chosen these to run rampant.

The two plants that could be considered environmental hazards continued to grow, swarming targets and tearing them down in flames, frost, and thorns alike as the Battlegroup attacked the occupied golems. Bloodberri’s enhanced Twilight Monarch Aura mixed with Jake’s flames of Hestia protecting them meant they were nearly invincible.

On the opposite flank, Fhesiah moved with lethal, predatory grace. Hanging at her side was the Champion’s Celestial Flame Lamp of Bastet. Usually, as an unsealed Champion, the Kitsune Sage could effortlessly call forth ten of her lethal flame elementals to incinerate the battlefield.

Now, feeling the heavy, twenty-percent tax dragging on her Qi reserves, Fhesiah tapped the mythic lamp. The Covenant array flared, brute-forcing a large portion of the spell through the Framework's lock. Seven flame sprites burst from the ancient spout–a pale, bastardized echo of her true Champion-level swarm, costing the same amount of Qi to cast but yielding less of the output.

Yet, the seven sprites were still more than enough to blast the dungeon's defenders and aid throughout the battlefield. Some used Sati’s flames of compassion and mercy, able to heal just as well as block attacks. Others used draconic, kitsune, or radiant flames, blasting golems and turning them into shrapnel.

The sprites didn't fight alone, either. Fhesiah directed them to weave seamlessly through the Battlegroup's lines, bolstering the native Fire Temple leaders who had joined the raid. Elder Rashik, Tatiana, and Ur'Rena fought in perfect synchrony with Sati’s radiant flames and Fhesiah's summons.

The wizened goblin launched purified fireballs that detonated against the clockwork armor, while Ur'Rena used her massive, fiery troll strength to physically rip the elemental cannons from the golems' hands. Tatiana, the sylph, darted through the air on her flaming butterfly wings, using the ambient heat of Sati and Fhesiah's flames mixed with some of her own to turn a final golem into slag.

It was a beautiful, chaotic display of integration. Even Elder Morak and a few of his disciples were fully engaged in the Battlegroup's momentum. The heavily armored Earth Troll chieftain had foregone running on foot entirely, choosing instead to ride atop Garona’s massive, gem-encrusted shell. Morak laughed a rumbling, booming laugh, acting as a secondary turret as he hurled devastating boulders alongside the siege-tortoise's earthen-gem bolts.

Elder Lethyrian and his disciples used blades of wind to ample effect, able to fly and follow the many beastkin as he rained death down and followed the flow of the battlefield. Even Elder Oram was present, sending healing balls of water or creating shields.

These natives had all partnered with Hearthtribe to gain slots in the Prime Instance. While not all of them would join Hearthtribe proper, they would fully cooperate with the empire they were trying to build.

As for Clan Hart, with the Covenant gear bridging the gap between their sealed and unsealed states, the core family operated with devastating efficiency, systematically dismantling the gauntlet's final line of defense.

With a final, deafening crack, Garona’s massive crystalline shell–aided by a massive boulder from Morak, a super baseball from Bloodberri, and a final gem-encrusted shot from Garona–shattered the last obsidian barricade. The howling elemental winds and grinding gears of the corridor instantly died down as the Battlegroup spilled out of the gauntlet and into a massive, domed antechamber.

Their Auto-Loot ability caught a ton of golems and cores, and Ophelia was excited about working with the high-end metals and elemental-aspected cores for various projects. The brass within many of the constructs was a high-end metal called Aether-brass, which was perfect for making hardened magical structures.

As the last member of the raid crossed the threshold, a shimmering, translucent barrier snapped shut behind them, sealing off the corridor.

In the center of the dome, a glowing systemic ring illuminated the brass-plated floor, projecting a massive, floating timer in the air:

[Rest Area: 30:00. Recovery is enhanced in this area.]

The raid immediately collapsed into disciplined, practiced rest. Healers began chaining area-of-effect mends, while the frontline fighters chugged high-grade stamina and mana potions, shaking off the brutal fatigue of the gauntlet sprint.

Jake didn't have a need to rest. He stepped up to the massive gateway at the far end of the rest area, dismissing Sanctum to passive mode. Through the shimmering, translucent barrier of the archway, he could see the massive, subterranean astrolabe arena beyond. Fhesiah and Sati flanked him, their senses already peeling back the layers of the room's defensive arrays. It seemed it really let them see in more ways than one, thanks to their limited preparation period.

Because they had reached the final threshold, the Prime Instance didn't wait for them to enter. A glowing Framework window appeared across Jake, Sati, and Fhesiah’s vision.

[Final Encounter: The Tetra-Forged Titan]

[Primary Mechanics: Elemental Attunement(Apex Slot), Aegis Monolith(Health Pool), Gyroscopic Overload, Ambient Manifestation, Domain Attrition.]

Jake and his wives digested the script, their eyes naturally lifting from the translucent text to the physical arena beyond the barrier to put the mechanics into context.

Through the metal and the barrier, they could all feel the sheer, suffocating density of the mana. It wasn't just one element. It was a perfectly balanced, terrifyingly potent maelstrom of Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind, all churning within the massive gyroscopic ring of an overhead astrolabe.

Beneath it stood the boss. The system called it a Titan, but looking at its four heavily weaponized arms and the sprawling, circular Aether-brass floor, Jake knew exactly what it was built to be: a towering, clockwork gladiator.

The Titan sat in the back-middle, the absolute North end of the arena, with a pulsing cable anchoring it to the Astrolabe above. As the massive elemental cores cycled through the ring and locked into the Apex Slot at the northern point, the Titan violently thrummed with that specific core’s power.

As Jake began to mentally map the rotation, High Prelate Lethyrian, Elder Morak, and Elder Oram stepped up behind them, captivated by the machine. Elder Rashik, the wizened goblin leader of the Fire Temple, followed closely, his eyes reflecting the warm, ambient light of Sati's presence.

Jake paused his tactical breakdown, listening quietly as the native leaders stared through the barrier in awe.

Elder Rashik said softly, “It’s a four-element construct. The same elements that made up our world. Including...the one we lost.”

“And it is flawless,” Lethyrian murmured, his wind-elven features pale. “Look at what Tartarus, our enemy, has built without a single drop of faith. There is no prayer here. Just pure, mechanical law.”

Elder Morak crossed his heavy, stone-armored arms, his rocky brow furrowed. “Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Our peoples spent centuries bleeding each other over pride. We were segregated by our beliefs, isolated by our temples. Even when the High Prelate tried to soothe the planet's leylines, my shamans were too stubborn to offer the earth to ground it. We secretly hoped the world would heal, but we refused to work together to earn it. And yet, this mindless machine achieves the exact elemental balance we lacked the courage to build.”

A low, rumbling croak echoed from Elder Oram. The Anuran mystic leaned heavily on his staff. “You stare so intently at the cage, Elders, that you ignore the birds flying freely right beside you.”

Morak frowned. “What do you mean?”

Oram gestured a webbed hand back toward the resting Battlegroup. “Look at our allies. Look at the disciples of Radiant Flame and the Blizzardblade Clan sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. Look at Clan Hart. They do not erase their differences to find balance. They embrace the friction. Their shared resonance and sacrifice for one another create a fire far hotter than the mere sum of its parts. That is true harmony, Morak. Not the cold perfection of a machine, but the messy, earned strength of a family.”

Elder Rashik nodded deeply, stepping forward to stand beside the Anuran. “Elder Oram speaks the truth, Chieftain,” the goblin added, his voice filled with a warm, measured wisdom. “For too long, we cared only for our own temples and our own kin. We let the friction of our differences burn us. But compassion and empathy are the balms for that friction. Do you not remember our history? Before the fall of the Water Temple and Moon, we were entirely divided by race. It was only when we stood together, sharing in each other's suffering during that first great war, that we found the strength to survive. Purism isolates, but empathy unites. Together, our potential is boundless.”

Sati smiled warmly, her radiant aura flaring in gentle validation of Rashik and Oram's wisdom. “The machine achieves its harmony by stripping away all variables, all choices,” she added, softly. “But the harmony you build here on the battlefield, and out there, under the sun and moons will have been earned through every spark of friction. It will be real, and what you built together. If you are deliberate in valuing and keeping this harmony, it will stand the test of time.”

Lethyrian and Morak exchanged a long look, the bitter awe in their eyes completely dissolving into a quiet resolve. The elf elder sighed. “Perhaps, we were too quick to forget last time, quickly reverting to our old ways.”

They bowed deeply to the other Elders and to Sati. They finally understood.

“We will rest and await your command, Champion. We can rest assured knowing we have someone watching over our shoulders, ensuring we walk on the path of improvement and true enlightenment this time,” Morak said, his voice thick with newfound respect. The native leaders stepped back to join the Battlegroup's recovery.

With the gallery stepping away to prepare, Jake turned his focus entirely back to Fhesiah, Sati, and the Dungeon Script.

The Aegis Monolith–the Health Pool–was obvious. The crystalline fixture above the arena, in the ceiling, was acting as an invulnerable, continuous healing beam. To kill the boss, they had to drain the fixture’s fuel.

Gyroscopic Overload, Elemental Attunement, and Domain Attrition clearly went hand-in-hand. The Titan was tethered to one core at a time in the Apex Slot. If it stayed on that core too long, the overload gauge would max out and wipe the room with the domain.

To drain the Health Pool and stop the wipe, they had to force theGyroscopic Ring to rotate by damaging the three Exposed Cores orbiting the arena. Meanwhile, Domain Attrition meant the Titan's active element would continuously suffocate the space, building as the Overload built.

Ambient Manifestation meant those same Exposed Cores would rain hostile elementals down on them to defend the Astrolabe.

But as Jake's Umbral Gaze locked onto the orbiting elements, he noticed the most difficult part of the challenge. The Exposed Cores possessed extreme elemental density. Standard attacks would be severely mitigated, acting like a brick wall against brute-force stats. However, his Gaze confirmed they still fully retained the fundamental physical and spiritual properties of their respective elements.

“The cores are dense and lack physicality,” Jake murmured, stepping forward with Fhesiah and Sati as the Battlegroup continued checking their gear behind them. “Raw damage is going to get heavily mitigated. If we just throw attacks and high stats at them, the Overload Gauge will wipe us before we force a rotation.” Surely, the beastkin’s spiritual-based ranged attacks would have some impact against the elemental cores. But he doubted the efficacy against the pure elements.

And it was obvious that sending the associated element at the core would be completely useless. Fire against the fire core would just heal it, and so on. Jake’s flaming aura would be a slight detriment here, but only with simple attacks. The Divine’s magic broke the rules and could be turned off with just a bit of intent. They didn’t have to worry about Jake’s Champion Aura turning their ice-based attacks into fire unless that was what they wanted.

Fhesiah’s golden eyes narrowed, her tails swaying as she analyzed the massive, spinning arrays. “But they still obey the laws of reality,” she deduced smoothly, a predatory smile touching her lips. “If raw force won't work, we use magical interactions grounded in physics. Thermodynamic shock. We hit the Water core with extreme plasma and flash-boil it until the internal pressure cracks the casing of the core. For the Earth core, we inject localized lightning and moisture deep into the stone, superheating the moisture inside until the expanding steam shatters the rock from within.”

“And for those who channel the soul, the spiritual cycle of the elements will pry their defenses apart just as effectively,” Sati added, her radiant aura humming in agreement. “Wood parts Earth. Water extinguishes Fire, and so on. We don't just hit the cores; we impose the conceptual weakness upon them.”

Jake nodded, the complete strategy locking perfectly into place. His Umbral Gaze lingered on the pristine, thrumming Water Core floating in the gyroscope. Its elemental density was breathtaking, embodying water on a higher level than they had ever seen. I want that, Jake thought, his heart giving a heavy thud. But first, we have to drain the machine that keeps it within its bounds.

The Sanctuary timer flashed down to its final two minutes. The Battlegroup rose as one, weapons drawn, auras flaring as final buffs were cast.

Jake turned to face them, his voice carrying the absolute authority of the Raid Commander.

“Listen up! It's an attrition war and a varied damage race,” Jake barked over the Battlegroup. “The Titan is being healed by that fixture in the ceiling. We force the gyroscope to rotate by hitting the Exposed cores. But the Titan's Domain will bleed us dry while we do it. Tanda and Avalara will protect with their Highlands Jungle and Swamp, and Ruby will protect with her Den on the opposite end. I'll anchor the Southern, center-front with Sanctum. Ranged units, you rotate between those three camps as needed, as the elements shift. We need to keep our damage high on all cores.”

“What about the melee, Chief?” Timone asked, spinning his crescent spear.

“Thirty people crowding the rear center, the North, is a death trap. The inactive cores are going to rain elemental adds down on us. Melee squads, you form a perimeter around the safe zones and intercept them. Keep the ranged artillery, our casters, and elemental specialists clear to focus on the floating cores, and help with them as needed with your ranged attacks.”

Jake turned to Ophelia, his expression grim. “Ophelia, Bloodberri and our treants will take on the Titan. We need a duelist who can match the warrior’s technique. Our large warriors will break its posture, keep it locked, and prevent it from chasing the raid. And take out a healthy chunk of its health, no doubt.”

Ophelia grinned, a fierce desire for battle igniting in her eyes. Her Mythic Hestia’s Winged Kite Shield floated eagerly beside her, her summoned valkyrie holding the shield. She was completely unsealed for this fight, her Covenant enhancements vibrating with power.

“I've got the Titan.” She went over to Valora, patting its neck. “You help our people get around and help by battering the elementals and cores. I know you can make a bigger difference that way.”

The Rest Area timer eventually hit zero. Within a minute, if they didn’t enter, the elementals would eventually begin spawning, and the Boss’s domain would start building in danger. They had to move.

The translucent barrier vanished, and the heavy brass vault doors ground entirely open, bleeding blinding light and the screeching grind of massive gears into the room. A heavy, metallic roar shook the arena as the Tetra-Forged Titan took a thunderous step forward, hefting its massive Earth-hammer. The central tether locked in, and a suffocating, gravity-heavy Earth Domain pulsed outward. Small rocks began to swirl around, like tiny pebbles that would grow as the overload built.

Jake shouted, “Let’s break this machine!”

The beastkin shouted and howled, and Ophelia didn't hesitate. She slammed her spear against her floating kite shield and charged, flaming lightning enhancing her speed as she and her Hearth Sentinel blurred forward.