Floor 40 was the first time the raid truly pushed back.
The cavern ended as they descended the staircase, opening once again into a massive forest chamber within the World Tree. But unlike the earlier floors, the canopy above was completely sealed by thick layers of intertwined branches.
Not even a sliver of sky showed through.
Jax looked upward and sighed.
"Yeah… Dante's still benched."
The dragon simply couldn't maneuver in a space like this.
Loki wasn't much better. The frost giant's towering frame would smash through half the ceiling just trying to move.
So Jax adjusted.
His army shifted.
Shadow knights formed the main line. A pair of shadow mages positioned themselves behind them.
And at the center of the formation stood the elite summons that could fit here.
Fang slithered across the forest floor, scales rippling with dark energy.
Gryph crouched nearby, wings partially folded to avoid the branches.
And Grendel stood at the front, his massive shadow club resting across one shoulder.
The ogre's glowing eyes scanned the forest.
Ready.
The first half of the floor looked familiar.
Root beasts.
Bark sentinels.
Spore wolves.
Enemies they had already crushed dozens of times.
The shadow army tore through them effortlessly.
Grendel smashed through the front lines.
Fang darted between enemies like a streak of shadow lightning.
Gryph dove from above whenever something tried to flank.
The Vixens barely needed to intervene.
Pixelle floated beside Nyxian's shoulder, watching the carnage.
"So this is what a raid is like for you?"
Nyxian smirked.
"This?"
She twirled Lilith's Kiss lazily.
"This is the warm-up."
Then they reached the second half of the floor.
The forest grew quieter.
Darker.
Heavier.
And then the ground trembled.
Massive footsteps echoed through the trees.
The first Ancient Root Guardian stepped forward.
Twenty feet tall.
A massive wooden giant clad in layered bark armor that resembled a knight's plate.
Its helmeted head turned slowly toward them as it lifted a spear the size of a small tree.
Then another stepped out of the forest.
And another.
The ground trembled with each step.
Jax didn't hesitate.
"Burn them."
The shadow mages moved instantly.
Fire magic had worked perfectly against the wooden enemies on earlier floors.
Flames erupted across the battlefield.
Three blazing fireballs slammed into the first guardian.
The explosion lit the forest.
But when the flames cleared…
The giant stood there.
Unharmed.
Not even a scorch mark.
Jax frowned.
Another volley of fire magic followed.
Still nothing.
The bark armor glowed briefly from the heat before the magic dispersed harmlessly.
Pixelle blinked.
"Why didn't that work?"
Jax's eyes narrowed.
Then he noticed it.
The armor.
Layered bark plates overlapping like knight armor.
The flames were hitting the armor…
But never reaching the wood beneath.
It's the armor.
Jax immediately shifted tactics.
"Strip the armor first!"
His voice cut across the battlefield like a command horn.
Shadow knights surged forward.
They slammed into the guardians in coordinated waves, their weapons hammering against the bark plates.
The giants fought back violently.
One massive spear swept sideways, sending several shadow knights shattering across the forest floor.
But the assault continued.
Grendel charged in from the side, swinging his massive club like a battering ram.
CRACK.
A bark plate shattered.
Another knight wedged a spear between two armor layers and ripped downward.
Splinters flew.
The first gaps appeared.
"Now!" Jax shouted.
The shadow mages unleashed their magic again.
This time the fire slipped past the broken armor.
The wood beneath ignited instantly.
The giant roared as flames raced through its body.
Within seconds the creature collapsed into burning fragments.
The others followed shortly after.
Once the armor was compromised, the giants burned just like the earlier enemies.
Jax watched the last one fall.
He nodded once.
Problem solved.
Simple.
Efficient.
Then the forest began to buzz.
A low hum filled the air.
Pixelle's eyes widened.
"Oh no…"
From the branches above them came a glowing cloud.
Thousands of tiny lights.
Each one the size of a fist.
Mana Hornets.
They descended in a massive swarm.
Their glowing stingers crackled with unstable mana.
The hornets attacked in waves.
Every time one was killed—
It detonated.
The explosions were small individually…
But hundreds of them together?
Devastating.
The swarm collided with the battlefield.
Fang struck first, slicing through several hornets in a blur of fangs and coils.
They exploded around him.
The blast sent the serpent crashing into the ground.
His shadow form shattered.
Jax snapped his fingers.
Fang reappeared beside him instantly.
But the losses were mounting.
Shadow knights exploded apart.
Mage formations broke.
The hornets worked together with terrifying coordination, pushing the shadow army backward while the Root Guardians advanced like armored tanks.
It was swarm tactics and heavy infantry combined.
Jax's shadows were dropping faster than he wanted to replace them.
He frowned.
Then raised his hand.
"New plan."
The battlefield froze for half a second.
"Formation Tango."
The Vixens moved instantly.
Bunny stepped forward beside Grendel.
Titanfall slammed into the ground.
Both tanks activated their taunts.
Grendel roared.
Bunny grinned.
"COME GET SOME!"
The swarm shifted immediately.
Hornets poured toward the two tanks.
At the same time, Llandra stepped forward.
Starpiercer flashed.
Illusions formed beside her.
Two copies.
Then four with her recent level ups.
Her duplicate archers unleashed a storm of arrows.
The sky filled with projectiles.
Hornets burst apart in the air before reaching the tanks.
Zee moved behind them.
Sanctaris glowed.
Golden barriers formed around Bunny and Grendel as healing magic flowed into them continuously.
The tanks held.
The swarm gathered.
And that was exactly what Jax wanted.
"Now."
Jax drew Infernal Requiem.
The twin pistols spun into his hands.
He walked forward slowly, firing in controlled bursts.
Each shot detonated clusters of hornets.
Explosions triggered chain reactions through the swarm.
Mage spells joined the barrage.
Lightning bolts.
Fire bursts.
Arcane blasts.
The concentrated kill zone shredded the swarm faster than the hornets could reform.
Within minutes, the sky cleared.
Jax spun the pistols casually around his fingers before holstering them again.
Nyxian watched with a grin.
"He looks so damn sexy when he does that."
Jax walked over and pulled Peacemaker from the ground where he had planted it earlier.
The massive double-bladed sword hummed in his grip.
He pointed one blade toward the Root Guardians.
"Don't kill them yet."
The shadows turned toward him.
"Break their armor."
Then he charged.
The battle exploded into motion.
Grim and Steed burst from shadow portals and slammed into one of the guardians like living battering rams.
The twin shadow bulls tore chunks of bark armor away with their horns and teeth.
Jax leapt into the air.
Air Walk activated.
A guardian swung its massive spear.
The attack crushed several unlucky shadow knights behind him.
Jax twisted in midair, flipping over the strike.
Peacemaker came down in a devastating slash.
The bark armor split open like a cracked shield.
Jax landed on the giant's shoulder.
The creature roared.
Across the battlefield, Bunny launched herself upward and smashed Titanfall into another guardian's chest, shattering its armor plates.
Another guardian anticipated Jax's next leap.
It swung perfectly—
But Jax kicked off the air itself.
Wind Walk activated.
He flipped upside down midair and sliced across the tops of three armored plates in a single motion.
The bark armor slid off like broken shields.
He landed behind them.
"Nyxian!"
She already knew.
"Recall Grimsteeds!"
The shadow bulls dissolved instantly.
Jax raised Peacemaker.
"Light them up!"
The barrage began.
Shadow mages unleashed concentrated magical blasts.
Shadow knights hurled spears.
Llandra fired arrow after arrow with impossible precision.
The guardians were trapped in the kill zone.
Pixelle screamed.
"Jax is behind them! Wait!"
But the attack had already begun.
Magic bolts flew past him.
Spears screamed through the air.
Explosions shook the forest.
Pixelle gasped.
But Jax was smiling.
He spun Peacemaker in front of him.
The massive blades blurred into motion.
The spinning weapon formed a rotating barrier.
To Jax it looked like the spinning blades of a helicopter. He always wondered what others would think he looked like when he did this.
Every incoming attack deflected harmlessly away.
The barrage ended.
And the five guardians collapsed into burning ruins.
Silence returned to the forest.
Every monster on the floor was dead.
Jax looked around the battlefield.
Peacemaker spun once over his head before he slammed the blade into the ground.
"Dang."
He grinned.
"That was fun."
Pixelle flew toward him, growing into her five-foot form midair.
She landed beside him and kissed him quickly.
"I was so worried about you!"
Jax kissed her back.
Then shrugged.
"Yeah, I was worried about Grim and Steed."
Pixelle blinked.
"But… they're shadows."
"You can resummon them."
Jax nodded slowly.
"Yes and no."
He gestured toward Nyxian.
"My mana pool is huge."
"Hers isn't."
"They're her summons."
"If they got destroyed, she might not have enough mana to bring them back quickly."
Pixelle paused.
"Oh…"
"That's actually very smart."
Jax looked across the destroyed battlefield.
Shadows fading.
Trees scorched.
Armor shattered.
He grabbed Peacemaker again and rested it on his shoulder.
"Well."
He smiled.
"Let's go crush the next floors."
That single battle had taken them forty-five minutes.
The longest fight of the raid so far.
But it had required strategy.
Coordination.
Every Vixen working together.
And those were the battles they enjoyed the most.