The Blast Doors didn't fail all at once. They died screaming.

The massive iron slab, welded together from the scrap of a hundred failed adventures, groaned under the assault. The center bulged inward like a crushed soda can. The glowing orange runes Grika had etched into the surface flared brightly, fighting a losing battle against the necrotic battering rams on the other side.

THOOM.

A rivet the size of a fist popped loose and shot across the cavern.

"Integrity at fifteen percent!" Grika shrieked, her hands flying across the control console. "The hinges are melting! They're using acid!"

Reed stood on the raised platform overlooking the kill box. The heat was stifling, sweat stinging his eyes.

"Terra!" Reed shouted over the mechanical roar. "Brace the door!"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

From the steam-filled center of the room, Terra strode forward. The Magma Golem was fully active, her stone plating glowing red-hot from the forge. She slammed her massive stone palms against the buckling metal of the blast doors.

She dug her heels into the obsidian floor.

"HOLDING," Terra rumbled. The doors stopped bulging. She was physically fighting the pressure of an entire army.

Kaelen stood behind the conveyor belt, her sword drawn. She watched the Golem with a mix of awe and unease.

"That construct," Kaelen shouted to Reed. "It is taking the full weight of a Siegebreaker! How?"

"She's built different!" Reed yelled back. "Grika, get the grinder ready! Terra can't hold it forever!"

CRACK.

The metal tore. It wasn't the door failing; it was the stone frame around it shattering.

A skeletal hand the size of a shovel punched through the wall next to Terra's head.

"BREACH IMMINENT," Terra warned. "PULLING BACK."

"Fall back!" Reed ordered. "Lure them into the belt!"

Terra stepped back, heavy footfalls shaking the ground. As she moved, the doors exploded inward.

A Siegebreaker smashed through the ruin, followed immediately by a tide of armored skeletons.

"NOW!" Reed screamed.

Grika slammed the button.

[TRAP ACTIVATED: THE INDUSTRIALIZER]

The floor roared. The conveyor belt lurched into motion, dragging the stumbling army backward into the machinery.

WHAM.

The first hydraulic piston smashed down, flattening a cluster of skeletons.

WHAM.

The second piston hit the Siegebreaker. The giant construct roared, trying to stand, but the belt dragged it down the line.

But the sheer volume of bodies was too much. The gears began to grind. Bones jammed the intake.

"It's clogging!" Grika yelled. "The torque is dropping!"

A Death Knight leaped over the jammed machinery. He landed on the catwalk, his sword wreathed in shadow fire.

"The living will perish," the Knight rasped.

Kaelen intercepted him. CLANG. White fire met shadow blade.

But more were coming. They spilled over the sides of the conveyor belt, bypassing the trap.

"They're flanking!" Reed shouted. "Terra! Clear the lane!"

"RECYCLING MODE: ENGAGED."

Terra charged.

She didn't use a weapon. She used herself. She plowed into the flank of the undead horde like a runaway locomotive.

She grabbed a skeleton in each hand and crushed them into dust. She swung a massive haymaker that took the head off a Ghoul.

A second Siegebreaker pushed through the door. It roared at Terra.

Terra roared back with a sound of grinding tectonic plates.

"YOU ARE IN MY HOUSE," Terra boomed.

The two giants collided. It was a clash of titans. The Siegebreaker clawed at Terra's stone skin, sparks flying. Terra grabbed the Siegebreaker by the ribcage and lifted.

With a heave that strained her hydraulic joints, she tossed the two-ton monster into the molten slag pit.

SPLASH.

The Siegebreaker sank into the lava, thrashing as it melted.

"Burn!" Seraphine cheered, thrusting her lance into a straggler.

For a moment, it looked like they might win. Terra was an unstoppable wall. Kaelen was holding the center. The traps were grinding.

Then, the temperature dropped.

A chill hit the air.

"Your lives are forfeit." a chilling voice called out.

From the darkness of the tunnel, the Lich bursted in, floating above the slaughter.

It saw Terra decimating its army. It saw the magma fueling her core.

The Lich raised its staff.

"Extinguish."

A beam of absolute zero cold struck the main magma channel feeding the room—and feeding Terra.

HISSSSSSS.

The molten rock flash-froze into black ice. The heat in the room vanished.

Terra froze mid-punch.

Her glowing orange eyes dimmed. Her movements slowed, then stopped. The magma in her core hardened.

"SYSTEM… FAILURE…" Terra rumbled, her voice slowing down like a dying record. "CORE… TEMP… CRITICAL…"

She locked up. She became a statue in the middle of the battlefield.

"Terra!" Reed screamed.

"She's frozen!" Grika wailed. "Her power source is solid rock!"

The light in the Foundry died. The steam traps failed.

The Foundry plunged into darkness, lit only by the faint, dying glow of Kaelen's sword and the cold blue eyes of the Lich.

The wall had fallen. The tank was down.

And the army was still coming.

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