Luke pushed forward through the battlefield, the air trembling with the weight of chaos. Every gap the soldiers carved into the undead horde brought them a step closer to the objective, but the castle still felt impossibly far, a mirage on the other side of that wall of rotting flesh. The metallic sound of his kukris slicing through bodies rang across the field as he advanced, boots sinking into mud thick with blood and ash.

[You have slain a…] [You have slain a…] [You have slain a…] [You have slain a…] [You have slain a…]

The messages flashed in his vision one after another, but they meant nothing now. Just static in the background of war. Charlie led the charge, a living fortress of steel and rage. Every swing of her weapon tore open a path, scattering reanimated corpses like broken puppets.

[Estimated Time Until End: 03 hours : 31 minutes : 42 seconds]

The timer blinked mercilessly, a reminder of reality. Two and a half hours gone, almost half the event's duration, and none of the three final bosses had even appeared, much less fallen. The situation was tilting toward disaster.

Evangeline raised her fingers to her eyes like makeshift binoculars. "We're getting close."

Luke spotted a forest ahead, and beyond it, a bridge leading to the castle, an ancient structure of weathered stone and cracked railings. But the way forward was blocked. A formation of Wardens stood guarding the passage, spears lifted and shields buried in the ground like a wall of iron.

"Open the way!" Ronan's shout tore through the noise of battle.

"Yes, commander!" the soldiers answered in unison.

"Activate skills!"

Luke watched as they dropped their weapons, which vanished into their inventories in flashes of blue light. A moment later, their skin began to darken and harden, taking on the dull shine of metal. It was the Epic skill of the Blacksmith class, one that turned ordinary men into living battering rams. Then came the buffs: overlapping waves of aura and energy, pulsing before settling into silence.

"Now!"

They charged like a tidal wave. The ground shook beneath their feet as they collided with the Wardens. Spears snapped like twigs, and armored bodies fell one after another, clearing a brutal, narrow path. The group pushed through, but Luke glanced back at the reflection of his blades. The soldiers were still fighting behind them, holding the Wardens at bay, and among them, something massive was moving forward. A towering figure, clad in black armor, eyes burning red like embers.

The Warden General.

"Stay sharp," Erza warned, her voice calm but cutting.

Luke drew a deep breath and activated his refined perception field. The world sharpened instantly. Sounds grew clearer, the faint crunch of snow under boots, the distant crack of steel, the rhythmic pulse of his own heartbeat. Ahead, the forest waited: thick, cold, and cloaked in mist. The trail narrowed as they entered, the air heavy with the stench of blood and iron.

"So the damn Midnight Lord isn't leading this battle after all," Mason muttered beside him.

"If all three bosses show up at once, that's going to be a nightmare," Luke replied.

He wasn't wrong. One Warden General was enough to break an army. Three final bosses appearing together would be a massacre. But turning back wasn't an option.

"Cinderella, as long as you and I take out the King, the rest will be easy," Evangeline said, still running effortlessly.

It was a reckless plan, but the only one they had. She would pin the King down using her Epic Shadow skill, and Luke would finish it with a concentrated mana arrow.

Simple. Suicidal. Perfect.

The bridge was close now, visible through the thinning trees. Beyond it stood the castle—the exit, the end of this ordeal. That single glimpse lit something inside everyone. Hope and dread tangled together.

Then the wind shifted.

A sudden gust swept through the forest, warm and heavy, breaking the sharp winter chill. The leaves rustled once, then went still. The silence that followed made everyone stop.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Stay sharp," Erza said, raising a hand. The maids froze beside her, falling into a defensive stance.

Her perception field was the sharpest of them all—a heightened version of Luke's skill. Where he could sense what was near, hers reached far beyond. Weapons came up. The group closed ranks, backs to each other. Nothing but breathing filled the air. Yet something was there. Huge. Watching. Luke gripped his kukris, ready to throw.

"Should we… head for the castle?" Anne whispered, eyes scanning the trees.

"It's circling us," Erza answered quietly.

A chill rippled through the group.

"Standing still is worse," Luke muttered, tension coiling through his voice like a drawn bowstring.

The sound came then—a low growl, deep and guttural, followed by a roar that tore through the forest.

"Barrier!" Erza shouted.

Christine clasped her hands, light flaring between them. A radiant dome formed around the group, sealing them inside just as hell itself descended. Fire ripped through the air, washing over the barrier. Heat exploded outward, suffocating and violent. Allison reacted instantly, unleashing bursts of ice to slow the blaze, but the dome trembled, cracking like glass under pressure.

"Shit! We'll be roasted alive if we stay here!" Evangeline shouted.

Outside, everything was light and destruction.

"Ten seconds!" Christine cried, her body shaking, her voice nearly lost in the roar of flames.

"I can try to cast another layer!" Jack yelled, but the heat was unbearable. Inside the dome, the air shimmered and burned the skin, scraping down their throats like smoke. Luke felt sweat pour down his face, mixing with the steam already choking the space.

"We're gonna fry in here," Mason shouted back.

"Then get ready to burn while you run!" Erza barked, eyes on the spreading cracks.

Charlie stepped in front of Luke, shield raised. Even against the inferno's glow, she looked like a living fortress. He tried to think—any plan, any trick—but every path ended the same way: scorched alive.

"Leave it to me," Allison said. Her voice was steady, but something in it carried weight. The ground beneath her froze, white creeping outward in jagged veins. The heat faltered. A chill began to crawl through the air.

"Five seconds!" Christine warned.

Outside, there was only fire—an ocean of flame pressing against their fragile shield.

"Four!" Her voice cracked.

Allison closed her eyes.

"Three!"

The fissures multiplied. Luke doubted they'd even make it to one.

"Two!"

Allison's eyes snapped open.

"One!"

She drew a breath that seemed to pull the air from the world—and exhaled.

What left her mouth wasn't air. It was power. The Dragon's Breath. A torrent of blue frost erupted forward, raw and merciless. The heat became agony, the fire vaporized in an instant. The surge of cold was so intense that Luke's lungs burned just breathing it in.

The barrier shattered, and Allison's frost collided with the inferno, detonating into a storm of steam. The clash of elements shook the earth. White mist rolled through the forest, swallowing everything, the sky erased in a wall of vapor. Allison didn't stop. She kept breathing, kept pushing, even as her body trembled. Her skin had turned pale, her breath growing thinner by the second. The fire vanished all at once. Silence fell.

Allison staggered and dropped to her knees. Luke rushed forward, catching her before she hit the ground. Her body was ice-cold, hard as stone. He could feel her lungs trembling with each struggling breath, the cost of that skill.

"Spread out!" Erza's voice cut through the fog.

Luke sheathed his kukris back into his inventory and lifted Allison into his arms. She was weak but still conscious enough to mumble something he couldn't make out. The group broke into a run, fleeing the rising curtain of steam swallowing everything in sight. Even the sound of their footsteps was muted, like they were running underwater.

"The bridge!" someone shouted ahead.

Luke turned instinctively, needing to see what had attacked them. The air still shimmered with heat, and dark shapes moved in the mist. For a heartbeat, he thought it was just an afterimage of the flames, but then something shifted. Fast. Too large to be human.

A shape burst from the trees, slicing through the air. The impact sent leaves spiraling upward as the creature leapt clean over them and landed with a thunderous crash on the bridge's stonework.

What followed was the sound of a furnace roaring open.

Everyone froze. No one needed to speak; their instincts already screamed the truth.

"We're screwed," someone muttered, and no one disagreed.

The thing in front of them was massive. Its body was covered in blackened scales and rotting flesh that reeked so badly it burned the throat. Its wings hung in tatters, like burned veils. A crimson light pulsed in its chest, throbbing like a dying heart.

The mist began to thin, revealing the full shape. Its claws scraped against stone, and the ground trembled with every step.

[Reanimated Wyvern (Midnight Lord) - Lvl 99]

Luke swallowed hard.

"It's a damn dragon," he whispered, unable to tear his eyes away.

The beast lifted its head, locking eyes with them, ancient, hungry, aware. The roar that followed shook the earth and sent waves of heat rolling through the snow, as if the mountain's chill itself had been burned away.

No one moved. No one breathed. They all knew what came next.

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