The aftermath of Josh's appearance lingered in the air like a storm that had just passed.
Camp Stymphalian looked peaceful again on the surface. The chili rows swayed gently in the wind, the sunflowers glowed softly, and the moletatoes continued their slow underground work across the scorched patch of land.
But Rico had not recovered from the shock.
The raccoon had seen many ridiculous things since meeting Phong.
Exploding vegetables.
Mushrooms that healed wounds.
A chick watching soap operas.
But seeing Josh blink directly into the farm, watching the plants turn into a full-scale war machine, had shaken him in a way his raccoon ego didn't want to admit.
He walked up to Phong, who was kneeling in the blackened soil of the dragon-delivered land, carefully checking the moisture around the newly planted seeds.
The seeds Alex had bought in Lyon.
The ones rumored to come from the biome growing on the back of the Horns of the Earth.
They were already sprouting faint green shoots.
Phong didn't look up when Rico approached.
"What."
Rico hesitated.
"…hypothetical question."
Phong sighed.
"That means you're about to do something stupid."
"Possibly."
The raccoon scratched the back of his neck.
"Can I borrow some defensive plants?"
Phong blinked.
"For what."
"Research."
Phong stared at him.
"…research."
"Yes."
"Scientific advancement."
"Technological innovation."
"Defense development."
Phong sighed again.
He thought about that moment in Lyon.
Then what just happened with Emma.
And couldn't say no to the raccon.
"As long as you don't damage the crops."
Rico's eyes lit up.
"Excellent!"
The raccoon sprinted off immediately.
Phong shook his head and went back to work.
He assumed Rico was going to test combinations of chili explosives or something equally ridiculous.
What he did not know…
Was that Rico had a very different experiment in mind.
Behind the farmhouse.
The baby treant—the small sapling that had bonded with Rico—sat quietly beside the fence.
The little tree creature tilted its head curiously when Rico approached.
"Alright partner."
The raccoon crouched down dramatically.
"Today we enter Phase Two."
The sapling blinked.
Rico pulled out several samples.
A bonktato vine cutting.
A chili seed pod.
A tiny piece of garlic root.
The raccoon rubbed his paws together.
"Observation."
"Plants here evolve."
"Treants mimic plant traits."
He pointed at the sapling.
"You are plant."
Then he pointed at the weapons.
"These are plants."
The sapling leaned forward curiously.
Rico nodded solemnly.
"Therefore."
"We test compatibility."
The raccoon shoved a piece of bonktato vine into the baby treant's roots.
The sapling shuddered slightly.
Then a tiny vine sprouted from one of its branches.
Rico's eyes widened.
"OH."
He shoved a chili seed in next.
A faint red glow appeared along the bark.
Rico jumped back in excitement.
"Yes!"
He began scribbling notes in a small notebook.
"Conclusion."
"Baby treant may integrate defensive plant traits."
He stood dramatically.
"Modern Kamen Rider requires multiple forms."
The raccoon pointed at his wooden armor.
"Utility builds!"
Meanwhile…
Phong had no idea any of this was happening.
He remained focused on the scorched earth.
The soil had improved slightly overnight.
The moletatoes had already begun breaking apart the hardened crust of burned ground.
The seeds Alex had purchased were particularly interesting.
The sprouts had faint silver veins along their stems.
A subtle glow pulsed inside them.
Phong carefully adjusted the irrigation lines.
"If these actually came from Horns of the Earth…"
He muttered to himself.
"…they might become something special."
Far below.
On Floor 2.
Dominic's team had just finished repairing the outer barricades around the Wraith Fortress.
The canal from Lake Baratok was nearly complete. It took them a whole day. Long enough for Alex to recover from the backlash of Berserking Strawberry "extreme weakness".
The base was becoming stable.
Which meant something inevitable happened.
An apex predator showed up.
The warning came from Jake first.
"Movement near the river!"
Everyone turned.
Something massive stepped out of the fog rolling across the waterline.
An enormous wolf.
Its fur shimmered with frost crystals.
Cold mist flowed from its mouth with every breath.
One of its hind legs was wounded, a deep gash exposing bone beneath frozen blood.
But even injured…
The creature radiated terrifying presence.
Alexei whispered.
"…level?"
Joanne checked.
Her voice went quiet.
"Fifty-four."
Silence fell across the fortress.
A Level 54 Ice Wolf.
Dominic exhaled slowly.
"Well."
"Guess today's boss fight arrived."
The wolf charged.
Fast.
Even injured it moved like a blizzard.
Dominic stepped forward immediately.
He bit into a Stoic Garlic.
Activate the gauntlet he bought in Lyon to gain a strength boost.
Alexei also ate a Stoic garlic and raised his sword, armor glowed with an aura that super charged Dominic's durability.
The effect hit instantly.
The two tanks planted themselves in front of the gate like living walls.
The wolf slammed into them.
The impact sounded like a battering ram hitting stone.
Dominic's boots dug grooves into the ground as he held the shield.
Alexei's holy aura flared brightly as he braced beside him.
Behind them—
The team moved.
Alex and Jake took the right flank.
Both consumed Snow Limes. Every buffs counted in a fight against a level 54 boss, let alone Snow Lime whopping 20% buff to dexterity.
Alex summoned her psychic constructs instantly.
Seven weapons hovered around her like satellites.
She had only managed to control 7 once: during the fight against Olen's assassins. But now, after the fight with Josh and the defense against Mushroompires, she had leveled up enough to maintain 7 psychic constructs.
Jake darted forward with his ant-mandible dagger flashing.
On the left flank—
Séline and Camille moved in perfect coordination.
Séline's fists smashed with surgical precision.
Camille attacked aggressively with her claws, striking joints and exposed muscle with brutal efficiency.
They harried the wolf from the sides, forcing it to constantly turn.
Above them—
Jack and Joanne took the watch towers.
Jack hurled boulders and pointy rocks at the wolf using his strongest ability as a stone warden.
Joanne fired mana projectiles through an aiming scope ring she had modified herself.
Each strike forced the wolf to shift attention.
Janet hovered above the battlefield.
Her Valkyrie wings glowing faintly.
"Left side opening!"
"Jake, now!"
"Dominic hold center!"
She directed the entire battlefield like a general.
Perched on her shoulders...
Nyx and Bruno had become living turrets.
Nyx fired mana bolts with surgical accuracy.
Bruno leapt down occasionally to tear at exposed flesh before scrambling back up to safety.
The Ice Wolf roared.
Its breath unleashed a wave of freezing wind that coated the ground in ice.
Dominic's armor froze over instantly.
But the Stoic Garlic held.
He refused to move.
Alexei raised his shield beside him.
"Hold!"
Behind them the team pressed the attack harder.
Because even a Level 54 predator…
Could bleed.
And Dominic's team had something monsters rarely faced.
Teamwork.
And vegetables that broke the rules of the dungeon.
But mostly teamwork.
They hoped.
The battle with the Ice Wolf dragged on longer than anyone wanted.
What had begun as a coordinated defense quickly turned into a brutal endurance match.
The creature was wounded when it arrived, but a Level 54 predator in the dungeon was still something far beyond what most diver teams would ever dare confront.
Dominic's team had no choice.
The wolf had already claimed the territory around the Wraith Fortress as its hunting ground.
If they didn't kill it now, the fortress would never become a stable base.
The Ice Wolf lunged again.
Its massive paw came down like a falling boulder.
CRACK
Dominic's shield caught part of the blow, but the shockwave still blasted outward.
Alex and Jake, who had been closing in on the right flank, were thrown backward across the frozen stone courtyard.
Jake slammed into the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of him.
Alex landed on her feet but skidded several meters before regaining balance.
The wolf followed with a sweeping claw.
Séline tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough.
The claw raked across her side.
A deep scratch tore through her armor and left a bloody gash across her ribs.
She staggered back immediately.
"Falling back!"
Camille moved with her, covering the retreat while Séline pulled out a bundle of Sympathy Enoki.
The healing mushroom dissolved into glowing paste as she crushed it,
She swallowed.
The bleeding slowed almost instantly.
Meanwhile Dominic was still holding the center.
The Ice Wolf lowered its head.
Its jaws opened.
The temperature in the courtyard dropped instantly.
Dominic's instincts screamed.
"Brace!"
He threw a bundle of Sympathy Enoki into his mouth just in case.
A blizzard erupted from the wolf's maw.
A concentrated storm of freezing wind and razor ice shards blasted directly into him.
His armor turned white in seconds.
Frost crawled across his shield.
The cold stabbed through his lungs like knives.
Even with Stoic Garlic still dulling the pain…
He nearly froze solid.
Sympathy Enoki healed his wounds was how he survive tanking a boss legendary action. But even they could not do anything about the cold. Hypothermia could still take Dominic's life unless everyone acted quickly.
Dominic staggered back.
Janet immediately flew him behind a pillar. No words were exchanged between them.
Janet told Nyx to warm Dominic up with her fire.
Then, she threw him a single mushroom: Relaxing Shiitake.
"Eat! We still need you on the battle field."
She rejoined everyone in the courtyard after that single sentence.
Within seconds the effect triggered.
His body shut down.
Not unconscious.
But entering the strange accelerated rest the mushroom granted.
His muscles were already partially healed by Empathy Enoki. A good night sleep in just 1 minute would immensely recover his ability to fight.
Meanwhile—
The line had to hold.
Alexei stepped forward.
The paladin raised his shield.
"Oi, wolf. Try me."
The Ice Wolf slammed into him.
Even with divine reinforcement his boots dug trenches in the frozen ground.
The wolf was simply too strong.
Claws hammered against his shield.
Fangs snapped inches from his face.
His armor bent under the force.
Alexei realized quickly—
He wouldn't last.
So he reached into his pouch.
Pulled out the berry.
And swallowed.
The effect hit instantly.
His stats doubled.
Strength surged through his arms.
His shield stopped moving.
The wolf slammed into him again.
This time Alexei held the line. And with a push, he even managed to push the wolf staggering back.
The lv54 boss eyed him, confusion flooded its eyes.
For one full minute the paladin stood alone against the monster.
Behind him the team repositioned.
Jake recovered.
Séline finished healing.
Camille returned to the flank.
Alex prepared her constructs again.
But the strawberry timer had to run out eventually.
The debuff hit.
Extreme Weakness.
Alexei's body suddenly felt like lead.
His arms shook violently.
"I'm out!"
He fell back just as Dominic stood up again.
Fully restored.
Dominic rolled his shoulders.
"Round two."
But this time he had eaten a strawberry as well.
His stats doubled.
The transformation was immediate.
He charged the wolf head-on.
His fist crashed into its jaw like a hammer.
CRACK
Two teeth shattered.
The wolf staggered.
Dominic followed with a brutal shoulder tackle that broke one of its front legs.
The beast howled.
Another punch.
Another crack.
The second front leg collapsed.
Dominic grabbed the wolf's head and slammed it into the ground.
More teeth shattered.
The monster tried to crawl away.
It was wounded badly now.
Its instinct was screaming retreat despite the hunger clawing at its brain.
The wolf had decided team Dominic costed too many calories to hunt.
But the team had already surrounded it.
Jake and Camille harried its flanks.
Séline slashed its hamstrings.
Jack and Joanne rained attacks from the towers.
The wolf turned to flee toward the river.
That's when Alex moved.
She had been waiting.
Watching.
Calculating.
Using the invisibility her armor granted to sneak up on the wolf/
All seven of her psychic constructs gathered into a single point.
The same technique she had used against the elite Mushroompires.
The psychic drill.
The weapon formed behind the wolf's blind spot.
Alex's eyes narrowed.
Then she thrust her hand forward.
The spinning spear of condensed telekinetic force drilled straight through the wolf's skull.
The beast dropped instantly.
Dead before it hit the ground.
For a moment nobody moved.
Then Alex dropped to one knee.
Her hand pressed against her temple.
A sharp headache pulsed through her skull.
Using a drill made out of all seven constructs back to back, without the strawberry's boost pushed her mind dangerously close to its limit.
Janet descended beside her.
"Easy."
She looked around the battlefield quickly.
Both tanks were shaking.
Dominic.
Alexei.
The Extreme Weakness debuff had hit them hard.
Janet raised her voice.
"Retreat."
Nobody argued.
They pulled back into the fortress courtyard.
The gates slammed shut behind them.
Only after the dust settled did the system notification appear.
The Ice Wolf had counted as a boss-tier kill.
Experience surged through the team.
Dominic checked his status screen.
"…Level 35."
Janet nodded.
"Same."
Alex rubbed her temples.
"Thirty-five."
Alexei blinked.
"Me too."
The others checked their menus.
Jake.
Jack.
Séline.
Camille.
Joanne.
All had reached Level 34.
They leaned against the walls, breathing heavily.
Jake let out a low whistle.
"Worth it."
Dominic laughed weakly.
"Yeah."
Alex glanced at her menu again.
Then she smirked.
"Yue Ting hit 37 recently."
Dominic nodded.
"But…"
He gestured around the fortress.
"We just caught up to where she was when she first set foot on Floor 3."
The Wraith Fortress stood behind them.
The second foothold of their growing territory.
And far above—
A farmer's vegetables had helped push them this far.