The enormous, heavy-looking doors opened with a thunderous bang, the echo rolling deep into the chamber beyond. Darkness swallowed everything inside, so complete that it felt almost physical.
Arthur paused at the threshold and drew in a slow breath. Power poured out of him without restraint as he prepared himself, his presence swelling until the air itself seemed to vibrate.
His eyes flared as they reached their maximum output, every layer of perception stacking upon the next. At the same time, he activated his newly acquired Dragon Scales, and a black, translucent layer of overlapping scales flowed across his body like living armor, hardening in place with a faint metallic shimmer.
Only then did he step forward, his movements steady and deliberate.
The moment he crossed fully into the chamber, the doors behind him slammed shut with a deafening crash. The sound was final, absolute, leaving no doubt that retreat was no longer an option.
One by one, braziers lining the walls ignited on their own, violet flames roaring to life and casting long, warped shadows across the vast space. The chamber revealed itself slowly under the eerie light, wide and circular, with a ceiling lost somewhere high above in darkness.
Then the gates opened.
Four massive portals ground apart along the cardinal directions, stone and metal screaming as they moved. From within the darkness beyond them, red points of light flickered into existence. Dozens became hundreds, hundreds became thousands. Arthur felt it instantly, a crushing wave of hostility pressing down on his senses from every direction.
Footsteps followed.
At first, there were only a few, slow and deliberate. Then more joined them, until the sound swelled into a deafening storm of metal striking stone, armor colliding, weapons scraping together in anticipation.
They emerged from the shadows as one.
Knights clad in black metal armor marched forward in perfect formation, their movements unnervingly synchronized. Among them moved familiar shapes, the black skeletons he had fought before, now clad in ornate tunics and robes. Some wore garments resembling religious vestments, others carried the markings of mages, their empty eye sockets glowing faintly with arcane light.
Before Arthur could fully assess their numbers, the air ignited.
Hundreds of fire projectiles screamed toward him at once, filling the chamber with blinding light and heat. For a split second, he considered tanking the attack, confident in his defenses, but something deeper screamed at him to move.
He obeyed without hesitation.
Using Ruler's Authority, Arthur launched himself into the air just as the firestorm struck. The ground below him vanished in a series of violent explosions, stone shattering and melting under the combined impact. The shockwave slammed into him even at a distance, rattling his armor.
A bead of cold sweat slid down his back.
If he had stayed, he would have paid for it dearly.
There was no time to dwell on that thought.
Arthur twisted midair and vanished in a blur as he activated Shunpo, reappearing directly in front of the nearest knight. His fist crashed into the enemy's helm with enough force to bend thick metal inward, but the knight did not fall. Instead, a gauntleted hand shot out and clamped around Arthur's leg with inhuman strength.
Before he could react, another presence surged up behind him.
A mace struck his ribs with brutal force, the impact reverberating through his entire body. Arthur was launched backward, his form skidding across the stone until he dug his fingers into the ground and forced himself to stop.
He spat blood onto the floor and pushed himself upright, his gaze sharp and focused despite the pain.
"Looks like I'll need to take this completely seriously."
He summoned the Boosted Gear without hesitation.
Dark red flames erupted around him, spiraling upward like a pillar that scraped the ceiling itself. The heat distorted the air as the flames condensed, revealing Arthur encased in gleaming black armor, veins of crimson light pulsing beneath its surface.
"Boosted… Boosted… Boosted… Boosted… Boosted…"
Power surged through him as fifteen enhancements stacked in rapid succession, his muscles tightening, his senses sharpening beyond mortal limits.
He disappeared.
Arthur crashed into the enemy horde like a living weapon. His first punch obliterated a knight's head entirely, armor and skull shattering in a single motion. Two more approached from either side, only to be cleaved apart by the razor edges of his wings. A spear thrust toward his back, but his tail snapped out, wrapping around the shaft and ripping it free before swinging it like a club, crushing three knights at once.
Explosions bloomed behind him as another wave of magic detonated where he had been moments before.
Arthur used Shunpo to evade, only for metal bolts to tear through the air toward his wings. He twisted sharply, spotting the source mid-motion. A squad of knights wielding bulky, crossbow-like weapons reloaded with mechanical precision.
He reappeared in front of them and crushed two skulls before blades slashed toward him from all sides.
Surrounded, Arthur inhaled deeply.
Life flames surged through him, and he exhaled a devastating Dragon's Breath. The inferno engulfed the front lines, armor glowing red-hot before liquefying entirely. Knights collapsed into molten heaps, their movements frozen as metal fused around them.
Still, the darkness kept moving.
More knights poured in from the gates, replacing the fallen without hesitation. Arthur tore through them by the hundreds, his hands stained with ash and shattered steel, but their numbers did not thin. For every enemy that fell, two more took its place.
They adapted.
Mages raised a massive dome of darkness overhead, cutting him off from spatial movement. Chains flew from every direction, wrapping around his limbs and wings, dragging him down. Blows rained against his armor in an unending barrage. Swords, maces, spears, axes struck again and again, each impact adding another fracture to the black plates protecting him.
Arthur pushed harder, increasing his enhancements to thirty, his power skyrocketing, but even that was not enough to break their formation. They swarmed him relentlessly, pressing closer, tighter, heavier.
Then, without him being able to sense it due to the dome above his head, a massive sphere of explosive magic had been forming for quite some time.
Suddenly, an overwhelming pressure crashed down on Arthur's body as if the world itself had turned against him. His ears ruptured instantly, blood streaming down his neck as a deafening roar tore through the chamber. The sound was not merely loud. It was destructive, compressing the air into a violent shockwave that slammed into him from all sides.
The heat followed a heartbeat later.
It was unbearable, far beyond anything he had endured before. The air itself ignited, and for a brief moment, Arthur could see the knights that had surrounded him being erased from existence. Armor disintegrated into glowing fragments before evaporating entirely. Skeletons collapsed into ash, their forms ripped apart by raw energy.
Pain exploded through his body.
He felt bones crack under the force of the blast, fractures spreading through his ribs, arms, and legs in rapid succession. Instinct took over. Arthur gathered every remaining ounce of power he had and forced his Anti-Magic outward, wrapping himself in it, compressing it tightly around his body to form a cocoon.
Even then, it was not enough.
The Anti-Magic trembled under the assault. His armor began to melt, the black plates glowing red before liquefying and dripping away. He felt his flesh burning beneath it, muscles screaming as the heat cooked him alive. Every second stretched endlessly, each moment filled with agony that threatened to crush his consciousness.
Still, he endured.
When the explosion finally subsided, the chamber fell into a heavy, unnatural silence. Arthur remained standing at its center, barely holding himself upright. His armor was shattered beyond recognition. His body was covered in severe burns, skin split and blackened in several places. Blood poured freely from his nose, mouth, and countless wounds caused by internal damage.
Yet his eyes were still sharp.
He extended his senses once more, forcing himself to remain alert. Through the debris and smoke, he identified survivors. At least a dozen knights had lived through the blast, shielded by rubble and collapsed structures. The presence of mages was gone entirely, their signatures extinguished without a trace.
Arthur did not hesitate.
He moved.
With everything he had left, he charged the nearest knight. His fist slammed into the enemy's chest, the impact shattering the spine and sending the armored body crashing helplessly to the ground. He pivoted immediately, delivering a single, precise strike that severed another knight's head cleanly from his neck.
A third tried to retreat, but Arthur grabbed his helmet with both hands and crushed it inward. He tore it free and swung it like a blunt weapon, smashing it into the last remaining knight nearby until the body stopped moving.
Another enemy burst from beneath the rubble, attempting to strike from Arthur's blind spot. Arthur reacted instinctively, intercepting the attack and driving his knee into the knight's head with brutal force. The skull shattered on impact, and the body collapsed lifelessly at his feet.
He took a step forward.
Then his armor vanished.
The backlash hit him all at once.
The accumulated strain from the enhancements tore through his body, locking his muscles in place. His limbs refused to respond as agony surged through his nervous system. He stood frozen, unable to move even as his consciousness screamed at him to act.
The knights did not hesitate.
Three of them rushed him immediately. Two seized his arms, locking them behind his back with crushing force. The third wrapped an arm around his neck, tightening into a brutal headlock that cut off his airflow.
A fourth knight approached calmly, unarmed.
The first punch struck Arthur's face, snapping his head to the side. The force was enough to leave his vision swimming. Another blow slammed into his ribs, sending waves of pain through his already shattered body. He tried to resist, to break free, but his strength was gone, his muscles refusing to answer his will.
A punch to his stomach drove the air from his lungs completely. A heavy right hook followed, threatening to knock him unconscious. That was only the beginning.
The knight began to rain blows down on him relentlessly. Fists struck his torso, his face, his sides. Each impact carried enough force to stun him, breaking what ribs remained intact and further tearing at his damaged organs. Blood spilled freely from his mouth as his body reached its limit.
Arthur's vision blurred.
For the first time since entering the dungeon, he felt the shadow of defeat closing in.
He thought that this might truly be the end.
Then a voice reached him, cutting through the pain and dragging his fading consciousness back from the edge.