Contrary to what her companions might have assumed, the Lady Verin’Sylus was rather enjoying her time in the dungeon’s fire region. Gods only knew it was far preferable to most of the others she’d visited.

  No disease-ridden rats, biting at her ankles from the cover of darkness. No festering undead intent on disemboweling her for a snack. No toxic, muddy clouds or potent poison lingering in the air.

  Indeed, the fire region lacked all of that and much more besides. That was to say, it was rather spartan as most dungeon biomes went. Jagged black stone made up the ground beneath them, while to their sides, great walls of crackling flames climbed into the sky. All in all, it wasn’t that different a layout to the darkness labyrinth they’d delved into so long ago, though Verin found she vastly preferred the ambiance.

  Not that it couldn’t have used some sprucing up. Perhaps a few torches, or better yet, floating will-o-wisps to elevate the scenery. And after all this time, she still hadn’t regained her previous Perception, which meant the sky was still that same damnable empty black. Surely, the view would have been greatly improved had she been able to perceive mana once more and enjoy the sky’s chaotic patchwork beauty.

  But that aside, Verin found she enjoyed watching the raging flames. Her own favored element of ice lent itself well to sculpting and the artistic pursuits, but fire was properly mesmerizing from the onset. And while one might have wrongfully imagined that Verin would be too uncomfortably hot to appreciate her surroundings, overheating was never much of an issue for a competent frost mage.

  That was doubly true now, courtesy of her newest class skill. Tired of being compared to a bag of luggage, Verin had finally sunk some of her class points into a costly utility option.

  The Glacier Walks

  The Advancing Glacier now has a mobile form. When activated, grow a thin layer of protective ice. Rather than the ice slowly growing outwards, it now slowly increases its protective properties.

  Switching from the mobile version to the stationary version will rapidly consume your ice to build up a larger glacier. Switching from the stationary version to the mobile version will consume part of your glacier to form your mobile armor.

  It was, in a way, a situational skill for her. The mobile armor was far less robust than its larger counterpart, which made it less than ideal for most serious fights. It also, much to the protests of her aching feet, meant that her days of being carried about were over. As a much more minor complaint, she found the aesthetics of the skill somewhat lacking, too. Compared to the stylized frosty regalia of her previous Rime’s Ruler class, the mobile glacier was both plain and utilitarian, making her look like a roughly cut block of glass.

  Still, as she walked alongside her companions, able to turn her body of her own free will, able to speak her mind, Verin had to admit she’d made a good purchase. That same ability to converse soon came in handy as Tess called out to her.

  “Another one, up ahead. I know this is technically a deadly monster, but this feels like bullying.” As the trio closed in on one of the flamescape’s many denizens, Tess summoned a spear, gently prodding their next opponent. “You want this one, Verin?” Done poking the monster, Tess casually walked away before it could make its way onto her foot. “I’m thinking of stopping for lunch anyway, so we have time.”

  Gelatinous and undulating and with two thin stalks shooting from its head, the creature did not cast an imposing figure, save perhaps for the fire which comprised its form. Half corporeal, half elemental in nature, it was an unfamiliar sight to Verin, and her Identify only described it as a Flame-formed Slug. With each of its quite literal sluggish motions, it secreted some form of accelerant, causing a trail of intense flames to follow in its wake.

  A good opportunity. “I will gladly accept. You may leave the slug to me.” Seeing no need to shift to her static glacier, Verin instead walked directly over to the slug. Just like the base skill, The Glacier Walks allowed Verin to activate Glacial Zone in a short radius around her, lowering the temperature of and frost resistance of any enemies in range.

  She stopped once the skill fully encompassed the slug, and then she got to work.

  Flame-formed Slug has resisted Clinging Permafrost!

  Flame-formed Slug has resisted Glaciate!

  Flame-formed Slug has resisted Clinging Permafrost!

  Flame-formed Slug has resisted Glaciate!

  …

  The repeated battle notifications forced the shadow of a grimace onto her otherwise impassive face, but she’d known what she was in for. As to be expected, it wasn’t fast work to freeze a being partially made out of fire. While she’d come with the goal of fighting the creatures on her own to complete her class quests, unless she wanted to stay in the region for the next decade, Verin had to leave most of the fighting to the others.

  What followed could only be described as a trial of patience. Resistance messages flowed freely as Verin targeted the slug over and over again, only for it to immediately burn off the effects of her skills. Whenever it decided to approach her, all she needed to do was gradually walk away to keep it out of reach. On the few occasions it grew frustrated enough to switch targets and assault her companions, Verin herded it back with some well-placed ice walls.

  To begin with, it was unlikely that Tess truly needed to stop to cook anything. With her storage ability, she likely had weeks worth of food tucked away. No, it was entirely likely that the Protagonist-turned-chef had manufactured an opportunity specifically for Verin. That was made all the more evident when she pulled out her enchanted cookware, taking her time to create a multi-course meal rather than a quick snack.

  For all of Tess’s allowances, however, by the time the food was prepared, Verin was still at it. Rather than give up or let the food get cold, Verin instead ate as she fought, pushing back against the protestations of her Etiquette skill. Only when her last bites were finished did she start to see real progress, with the slug’s flames dimming down. At last, her skills began to take hold.

  Flame-formed Slug has been afflicted with Clinging Permafrost!

  Flame-formed Slug has been afflicted with Glaciate!

  From there, its already-languid movements slowed down even further, its blazing body gradually dying down into glowing embers. When those, too, faded away, all that was left was a small, nondescript black lump.

  You have defeated a Flame-formed Slug!

  Despite the fact that she did not receive the desired class quest completion notification, Verin allowed herself a small grin for her hard-won victory. Through nothing but her own skills, her frost had vanquished a creature of fire.

  That sense of triumph lasted for all of five minutes until they encountered their next slug. Within a matter of seconds, Cal walked over, plunged her empowered blade directly into the smoldering mollusk, and the fight was over.

  “Cool. Got it. Let’s move on.” The princess seemed remarkably professional in that moment, an effect that was entirely shattered as she then stuck her tongue out, locking eyes with Verin.

  Unbidden, an icicle appeared in Verin’s hands. This may turn out to be a more trying region than I anticipated.

  The antics of one princess aside, Verin’s fears proved to be largely unfounded.

  It wasn’t a complete surprise -- many of the regions for the other basic mana types had been blissfully straightforward as well. The stonehide gryphons on the mountains were one of the simplest enemies they’d encountered in the dungeon, and if Tess was to be believed, the sea wasn’t hiding any difficult puzzles or quests either. Based on how often she served up calamari for dinner, Verin was willing to bet the squids weren’t the strongest combatants, too.

  That wasn’t to say that the fiery slugs were the worst the current region had to offer. Far from it, in fact. If nothing else, the region eventually proved to be one of the most diverse in terms of its monsters, though that took a while to discover.

  It was only after a full day of walking that the party realized that the region was curled into a spiral pattern. That revelation briefly had them considering trying to break through the walls of flame surrounding them, as cutting directly to the heart of the spiral would take far less time than looping around it over and over again.

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  Cal’s not-too-distant punishment from the dungeon stayed their hand. The dungeon had been exceptionally clear that it disapproved of bypassing its regions or simply flying over them back when it landed Cal in a curse-mana region. None of the three were eager to discover if pushing through its walls would similarly earn the dungeon’s ire.

  Not to say that they completely avoided the walls. Periodically, Tess would stop them, pointing to sections of the walls that looked entirely like their surroundings. Verin would summon her glacier directly against the wall in question, sending forth her ice to slowly snuff out the fire. Invariably, the fire would die down, revealing small alcoves packed with all manner of resources. Judging from the number of flaming weeds she saw Tess throwing into her storage, their garden would soon have a new set of plants to cultivate.

  It was once they completed their first full rotation along the spiral that the simple slugs were finally joined by a second enemy type. In keeping with the animalistic theme, the second monster was a terrier-sized salamander, once again formed of flames. Its reddish skin was covered in misshapen liver-spot-like patches from which continuous streams of flame shot out, and its every breath released specks of superheated spittle.

  If less pitifully slow than their smaller siblings, the lizards proved to be nearly as easy to dispatch. Even Verin managed to defeat two of them, though she was forced to retreat back into the static version of her Advancing Glacier. The lizards’ stout claws cut through her glacier, and their sheer heat managed to melt the very surface of her ice, but as fast as the damage was done, her glacier expanded, repairing it.

  Not that she enjoyed having a giant salamander frenetically thrashing against her glacier for an hour, intent on burning through her flesh, but such was life.

  Slugs and salamanders were soon joined by giant ants and beetles, followed by roosters, lions, and lastly minor drakes. The first sighting of the rooster had briefly rattled Verin quite badly, the noble mistaking the flaming bird for some cousin of the phoenix. The drakes, too, had her worried that they’d run into a genuine dragon eventually, but judging from the curvature of the spiral, they didn’t have much ground left to traverse. Unless the boss itself was the feared dragon, then there wasn’t much left for them to battle.

  It was around the lions when Verin had to give up on her class quest aspirations. While the great bursts of flame which shot from their manes wasn’t quite enough to completely push through her glacier, it was clear who would win in a one-on-one fight. The drakes were far worse, a single one of their raging breath attacks enough to banish half her glacier. Having to content herself to play support, she didn’t try to push herself into losing battles.

  Still, Verin had to admit she was in high spirits. Not once had she felt overly in danger, nor had she forced her companions to protect her in their fights or slowed them down in battle. If anything, Verin’s presence was a great boon, especially when it came time to set up camp. The region’s heat would have singed their flesh had the three been without some means to negate it.

  While that was well and good during the day, that made sleeping a much trickier affair. While Verin could sleep within her glacier, unable to maintain her frost enhancements while sleeping, Tess was only able to rest within Verin’s Glacial Zone.

  I was correct to join them. I am safe here. I do not hold them back. With any luck, she might still complete one of her hidden class quests, too. Annoyingly enough, Calilah had finally managed to catch up to Verin in terms of her level, although with one or two more class quests completed, Verin would pull ahead once more. I may not learn some mighty Legendary skill, but I will still be useful to the party.

  None of those sentiments were even marginally diminished when the trio finally reached the center of the spiral, coming up against the region’s boss. Not even when a curtain of flame rose from behind them, sealing off their escape, did Verin worry in the slightest.

  The boss’s domain was a relatively simple affair. The same flaming walls that had previously blocked them from the other side now fenced them in, forming a perfectly circular barrier, about 50 meters in diameter. The ground was the familiar black stone of the rest of the region, save for at the center, where a great dome of solid fire sat.

  Is the boss somewhere within the dome, then? Already, Verin was activating her Advancing Glacier, letting the skill gradually build up her defenses before the inevitable fight began. She erred on the side of standing too far away rather than running up to the boss, though if need be, she was ready to cancel her skill and move inwards at a moment’s notice.

  I will admit to having some minor level of curiosity as to what we might face. The animals had grown stronger as the spiral turned, as if the region was searching for the most powerful form for a fire elemental to assume. Drakes were already a high bar to clear. What would the dungeon come up with for the final boss?

  As if eager to answer her inner musings, the boss chose that moment to make his grand entrance, only not in the way that Verin might have expected.

  The giant flaming dome in the center did not disperse, nor did a boss walk out from it.

  Instead, a section of the flames peeled away to reveal a great black circle, surrounded by a barely-visible ring of white. The blackness scanned one way, then the other, before snapping towards the approaching party. At the same time, a second circle formed to its side, forcing Verin to admit what she was seeing.

  Eyes. What she had mistaken for the boss’s lair was indeed the boss itself. Roused from its slumber, it quickly began to uncurl itself from its previous spherical form, its features rapidly resolving before them. A short, red snout poked its way out from under the beast’s eyes, truncating in a coal-like nose.

  Ultimately, save for the creature’s size, nothing about it inspired much awe or fear, or at least that was what Verin thought until the boss’s final reveal. Its looming form shuddered, and with the motion, Verin realized that what she had mistaken for a perfectly smooth body was anything but. Countless flaming quills poked out from the boss’s back, each of them as thick as a knight’s lance.

  Rudely awoken and with its home invaded, the boss let out a mighty squeak before fully empowering its fiery nature. Where once it had been almost covered in the red and orange hues of the average fire, the tips of its quills erupted into a blue-white inferno, giving the beast an otherworldly aura.

  Even with its fearsome transformation, only Verin’s Etiquette skill kept her mouth from hanging open, aghast.

  This is truly the pinnacle of fire? The best the region could offer? As if disbelieving her own eyes, Verin hit the great beast with an Identify, the boss’s name doing nothing to dispel her incredulity: Colossal Flame-formed Hedgehog.

  A farce. All of Verin’s earlier assurances came back to her in full force. This was supposed to be on the same level as a poison-breathing hydra? An army of earth-empowered zombies? The Mind Reaper? Perhaps their party had simply outgrown most of the dungeon. Without a doubt, the three of them would tear through this new foe with ease, and if defeating it completed any of her class quests, the experience would likely launch her to the much-awaited level 19.

  From her vantage point deep within her glacier, Verin watched as Cal and Tess shot into action, the prior running forth before disappearing entirely, while the latter swerved off to the side as she began preparing one of her signature arrows.

  Cal’s strike arrived first as the warrior reappeared right at the great beast’s snout, hacking into it with her feathery sword. A deep rent formed in its flesh, but the boss’s partially elemental body seemed to lack any true blood, leaking only flames instead. Barely keeping herself from being cooked alive, Cal vanished the very moment her strike was complete, relying on her Apex Shroud to shunt off the worst of the heat.

  While slower, Tess’s opening salvo was considerably showier. From what Verin knew of her powers, it appeared that she’d imbued her arrow with both frost and water mana, and when she released her bowstring, a roaring river of icy water surged forth. Where it connected with the monstrous hedgehog’s back, dozens of quills lost their fiery glow, even as a great chunk of its fiery flesh was simply deleted, leaving a crater behind.

  Just as I expected. Nothing to worry about. The fight would not be like their first boss together, as skeletons and ghouls tore through her defenses, nearly killing her outright. Not like the mental region, where her mind had been shut off, leaving her body to slowly wither away.

  And it certainly would not be like the spatial region. Never again. We are strong, and just as importantly, I am strong. I am in control. We will blaze through the remainder of the regions. There is nothing to be afraid of. It is as simple as that.

  As if to contest Verin’s reassurances, the boss chose that moment to retaliate, and not in a way that Verin had anticipated.

  Rather than rely on its massive size to run them over, or use its mouth to release a blast of flame like much of its earlier kin, the boss instead relied on its quills.

  In a flash, dozens of its thick spines detached from its back, shooting out into the air with an ear-shattering explosion. Even as the boss released its pyroclastic fury, Verin was calm. Fear was beneath her. Ignoble. With her heightened Intelligence, she was easily able to map out the trajectories of the quills, and though one of them was headed straight towards her, she remained poised.

  My glacier is already considerably thicker than I’m likely to need to stop such a blow, but additional precautions cannot hurt. Intent on intercepting the quill, Verin summoned a wall of ice, and for good measure, a second.

  All the unshakable confidence in the world did nothing when the quill at last connected with the first wall, the overwhelming heat causing the ice to sublimate directly into steam. The second fared no better, and before Verin could process what was happening, the quill bit into her glacier.

  The noble had a split second of understanding before the thick lance burrowed through the remainder of her defenses, her glacier barely slowing it down at all.

  It was only after the quill had passed entirely through the glacier that Verin’s brain at last caught up to what had happened, and it was with mute horror that she turned her head to the side, fixating on the empty space the quill’s passage had created.

  Hidden Class Quest Completed…

  Even as the exact notification she’d been waiting for arrived, it was all Verin could do to stand there, staring. Much like the remaining ice around her, her mind had completely frozen, unable to get past the single glaring truth assaulting her.

  From the shoulder down, Verin’s arm was entirely gone.

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