The journey from Zone C to Zone B was like stepping from twilight into harsh daylight..

This was a warrior's land. No time for the beauty of previous zones. It was a place of open battlefields and clear sight lines.

Their first encounter came within an hour.

A pack of creatures Edgar identified as Granite-Hide Minotaurs. Were hulking, B-rank beasts with skin like stone and had massive crude axes.

In Zone C, a single one would have been a major threat.

Here, ten of them charged across an open plain. Their roars were echoing off the cliffs.

"Contact!" Jin shouted. His hand going to his sword.

"I see them," Dante said calmly. "Eric, hold the center. Masha, ice the ground. Erica, Lana—take the flanks. Jin, Talia—with me on the leader."

'Ten B-rank monsters. In the past, this would have been a desperate fight. Now? This is a test to see how well my investments have paid off.'

They not only cleared the Zone C but also got some items that Dante our generous leader gave away.

Eric became a mountain. His new Earth-Warden's Greaves glowed with faint brown light as he slammed his shield into the ground.

The earth around his feet hardened. Rooting him in place.

The lead Minotaur's axe crashed against his shield.

BOOM!

The shield buckled. Dented. But Eric didn't move a single inch.

The Buckler of Sparks discharged. Sending a jolt of electricity up the Minotaur's arm.

It roared in surprised pain.

"Still standing!" Eric bellowed. "Come on, you ugly bastards!"

Masha, clutching her Grimoire of Hoarfrost, unleashed power colder and more controlled than ever before.

She cast a wide-arc spell from the book. Flash Freeze. The ground under the charging pack turned into a slippery glass like sheet of ice.

Several of the brutes lost their footing. Their charge collapsed into a chaotic pile-up.

"Now!" Dante commanded.

Lana, a manic grin on her face, fired her new crossbow. The Serpent's Tooth.

Thwip! Thwip!

Silent, near-invisible needles of pure force shot across the field. Striking Minotaurs in the eyes. The throats. Killing instantly.

"This is amazing!" Lana laughed. "No reloading!"

Erica's plasma lances punched clean, molten holes through stone-like hide.

Two more down.

'Efficient. Clean. They're finally becoming the weapons I need them to be.'

While the flanks were being cleared, Talia and Jin moved with Dante.

Jin, wearing his new Gauntlets of the Unbroken Fist, met a Minotaur's axe not with his sword, but with his armored hand.

CLANG!

The force barely made him flinch.

"These gauntlets are incredible!" He drove his sword deep into the creature's side.

Talia was a ghost. Her Viper's Kiss daggers a blur. Leaving a dozen poisoned cuts on the leader's legs.

The nerve poison slowed its movements. Made its swings clumsy and predictable.

Dante watched. Calculated. Directed.

"Talia, left knee. Jin, overhead. Erica, finish it."

They moved like extensions of his will. Precise. Efficient. Deadly.

The entire battle was over in less than five minutes.

Ten B-rank monsters. Slaughtered with ruthless efficiency.

No one was even breathing hard.

"That was..." Jin began. Looking at his gauntleted hands in wonder. "We're strong now. Actually strong."

"We were always strong," Dante said coldly. "Now we're equipped."

From the back, Masha stood silent. Watching.

She had maintained the field of ice throughout the battle. Her eyes fixed not on the monsters.

But on Dante.

He hadn't even summoned his puppets. Didn't need to.

He stood at the center of the chaos. Calm. Unmoving. His commands were precise and brutally effective.

He saw every opening. Predicted every move.

He wasn't just fighting a battle. He was solving it. And the answer was always victory.

A strange unwilling warmth bloomed in her chest.

The fear was still there. The anger at his tyranny. But now it was mixed with something else.

Awe.

'I hate whaat he is. But I can't deny what he does. In this world, his monstrous strength is the only reason we're alive.'

She crushed the thought. Refused to examine it further.

But it lingered.

"The mana cores are weak," Dante noted with disappointment. Absorbing the small energy from the corpses. "But the real prizes here aren't the monsters. They're in the ruins according to the maps."

For the next two days, they became treasure hunters.

Zone B was littered with crumbling ruins of an warlike civilization. Forgotten armories. Collapsed watchtowers. Crumbling barracks.

And within them, guarded by simple traps and occasional territorial beasts, they found artifacts.

In a sealed chest at the bottom of a dried-up well, they found gauntlets, boots, and a glowing seed.

In the bell tower of a ruined citadel, guarded by armored gryphons, they found a sunstone shard, a leather mask, and many to strengthen them from inside.

Each discovery was distributed. Each item carefully matched to its wielder.

Jin got stronger. Eric more immovable. Rina's healing became sustainable.

Erica's fire grew more focused. Kael's copying more precise. Lana's killing more efficient.

'They're becoming properly armed. Properly dangerous. Good. I need them sharp for what's coming.'

Their final prize was the greatest.

In the heart of a collapsed fortress. In the throne room of a long-dead king. Guarded by a single massive Iron Golem.

The fight was brutal.

The Golem was immune to poison. Resistant to magic. Pure brute force.

Dante was forced to summon Ouroboros. His Abyssal Shadow.

The seven-headed nightmare materialized. Its violet eyes burning. It pinned the Golem down while Eric and Jin hammered at its joints.

CLANG! CRUNCH!

When it finally fell with a loud metallic or robotic groan, the sword it had been guarding was revealed.

A longsword. Its blade forged from black metal that seemed to absorb light. Making it look like a sliver of pure emptiness.

The hilt was wrapped in grey leather. The pommel had a single unblinking black eye.

Dante reached out. Took it.

The moment his fingers touched the hilt, he felt it.

Deep, unending, parasitic hunger.

"Soul-Drinker," he breathed. He now knew its name its purpose through Edgar.

Its ability was simple and monstrous.

It didn't need to cut. Didn't need to pierce. It only needed to be close.

Any living being with a mana signature that came within inches of its blade would have their energy siphoned away. Drawn into the sword. Channeled directly into its wielder.

It fed its master by starving his enemies.

'Perfect. Absolutely perfect. A weapon that makes me stronger while making them weaker. This is exactly what I needed.'

He turned to his team. Holding the black sword.

They were a fearsome sight now. Each armed with powerful artifacts. Their strength increased. Their confidence absolute.

The wary, broken group that had entered this zone was gone. Replaced by a disciplined elite unit.

'I've armed them. Trained them. Molded them into proper weapons. They're ready for Zone A.'

Masha watched him. Her heart a storm of conflicting emotions.

He had taken them, broken and grieving and forged them into something stronger yet something closer to him monsterous but not that close to his self.

And as he stood there, the black sword seeming to drink the light around him, she couldn't deny the pull he had.

She hated it. Hated herself for feeling it.

But the pull was there.

"Zone B is cleared," Dante announced. His voice echoing in the ruined throne room. "Nothing left for us here."

He pointed Soul-Drinker toward the distant horizon.

"We move to Zone A. The final trial awaits. The Bone Dragon. The wish. And Edgar's resurrection."

He paused. Let his gaze sweep over them.

"Everything we've done. Every monster we've killed. Every artifact we've claimed. It's all been preparation for what comes next. And the next may be cruel may be painfull but we will win"

His smile was cold. Sharp. Predatory.

The team said nothing. But their eyes burned with determination.

They believed him. Trusted him. Followed him.

Just as he'd planned.

'Soon. Soon I'll have the wish. And when I do, I'll put a great act in front of them for the wish and if they caught me I will make sure only one hero survives from here.'

The tyrant led his army forward.

Toward Zone A. Toward the dragon. Toward the wish.

Toward his ultimate victory.

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