The roar faded slowly through the frozen tunnels.
Stone trembled beneath their feet.
Ice cracked somewhere deeper inside the cave.
Then...
Silence.
Nyxian stared into the darkness.
"I've reconsidered."
Aurabelle rested World Breaker across one shoulder.
"Already?"
"I think that was a very large wolf."
Llandra smiled.
"Feeling cautious?"
"Intelligently cautious."
Jax looked toward the tunnel ahead.
Whatever had made the sound...
Was distant.
Very distant.
That somehow made it worse.
Warden stepped forward.
Shield raised.
His crimson cape moved gently through the cold air.
"My liege."
"Yeah?"
"Movement."
Everyone immediately quieted.
Jax hadn't heard anything.
Neither had Aurabelle.
Warden had.
The knight slowly turned his helmet toward the wall.
Not ahead.
The wall.
Llandra followed his gaze.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Get back."
Everyone moved.
The ice exploded.
A creature burst through the frozen stone.
Then another.
Then six more.
Long bodies covered in white armor-like scales poured from hidden tunnels in the walls.
Each was nearly twelve feet long.
Four legs.
Wide jaws.
Curved horns protruding backward from their skulls.
Frost rolled across the floor wherever their claws touched.
Aurabelle grinned.
"Now we're talking."
The first creature charged.
Warden met it.
Shield first.
The impact boomed through the tunnel.
Warden slid backward three feet.
Stopped.
Then drove forward.
His shield slammed into the creature's jaw.
Llandra fired.
One arrow.
Straight through its exposed throat.
The creature collapsed.
Another came from the right.
Fang intercepted.
His massive body coiled around it.
The creature twisted violently.
Claws tore into Fang's shadowed form.
Fang didn't care.
He tightened.
Bone cracked.
Then his fangs sank into the creature's shoulder.
Only briefly.
A scratch would have been enough.
Fang released it.
The beast staggered forward.
One step.
Two.
Then its legs locked.
Its muscles spasmed.
Aurabelle watched.
"Oh."
The creature collapsed.
Paralyzed.
Poison spread darkly beneath its pale scales.
Jax smiled.
"Still nasty."
Fang slid past another creature.
Its claw barely grazed his side.
Fang's tail answered.
Just the tip.
A shallow cut across the beast's hind leg.
It continued running.
For five seconds.
Then stumbled.
Another few seconds...
And it stopped moving entirely.
Nyxian watched.
"I really like him."
Jax looked toward Fang.
"He's efficient."
"That's a horrifying word for it."
Three more creatures surged through the broken wall.
Gryph launched.
The cavern was wide enough here.
Barely.
His wings beat once.
Then folded.
His entire body curled inward.
Talons tucked.
Wings wrapped around his sides.
He became a spinning mass of feathers, muscle, and shadow.
A flying boulder.
The first creature never had a chance.
Gryph hit it hard enough to launch both of them through a pillar of ice.
The pillar shattered.
Gryph continued.
He struck the second beast.
Then the third.
The sound reminded Jax of a wrecking ball hitting meat.
Aurabelle stared.
"...Did he just turn himself into a ball?"
Jax nodded.
"Apparently."
Nyxian smiled.
"I approve."
Gryph unfolded in midair.
Talons extended.
Steel-sharp claws carved through the final creature's armor as though the scales were wet paper.
It crashed into the floor.
Llandra finished it with an arrow through the eye.
Silence returned.
Aurabelle looked toward Gryph.
Then toward Jax.
"Can he teach me that?"
"You're not a gryphon."
"I have a hammer."
"That's not the same thing."
"It could be."
Jax decided not to encourage her.
They pushed deeper.
The tunnel widened gradually.
Then split.
Three passages.
Each descended.
Llandra stopped.
"Which one?"
Jax inspected the floor.
Tracks.
Old footprints.
Some human.
Some not.
The left tunnel showed signs of previous expeditions.
Broken torch brackets.
Scratches.
Boot prints preserved beneath layers of ice.
The center...
Almost nothing.
The right...
Claw marks.
Lots of them.
Nyxian pointed left.
"People went that way."
Aurabelle pointed right.
"Monsters went that way."
Zee looked toward the center.
"And nobody went that way."
Everyone looked at Jax.
He smiled.
"Center."
Nyxian sighed.
"Of course."
Llandra nodded.
"Agreed."
Nyxian stared at her.
"You used to be sensible."
"I've evolved."
"That's what worries me."
The center passage narrowed almost immediately.
Gryph had to walk.
Fang moved comfortably along one wall.
Warden remained first.
Two shadow wolves followed several paces behind him.
Llandra walked just behind them.
Jax let her.
She had become good at this.
Very good.
Every few steps...
She stopped.
Listened.
Watched.
Not merely for monsters.
For terrain.
Loose stone.
Unnatural ice patterns.
Changes in airflow.
At the next bend...
Her hand rose.
Everyone stopped.
Aurabelle whispered.
"What?"
Llandra pointed toward the floor.
Thin ice.
Almost invisible.
Jax crouched.
Underneath it...
Runes.
Zee's eyes widened.
"Trap."
Nyxian leaned closer.
"What kind?"
Zee studied the markings.
"Ice."
Aurabelle stared around them.
"We're in an ice cave."
Nyxian nodded.
"Useful analysis."
Aurabelle elbowed her.
Zee ignored both.
"This is different."
She moved Sanctaris slowly.
Mana flowed.
The runes responded.
"They're connected."
Jax followed the pattern.
Floor.
Wall.
Ceiling.
Then farther down.
A chain.
"Pressure trigger?"
"Probably."
Jax looked toward one of the shadow wolves.
"Go."
The wolf stepped onto the ice.
The rune flashed.
Everything happened at once.
Hundreds of spikes erupted.
Floor.
Walls.
Ceiling.
The corridor became a tunnel of crystalline spears.
The wolf disappeared instantly beneath them.
Then...
A second layer.
A blast of freezing mist rolled through the passage.
Ice swallowed the spikes.
Encasing everything.
Silence.
Nyxian stared.
"...That's excessive."
Jax nodded.
"Very."
Aurabelle looked toward the frozen remains of the shadow.
"He's coming back, right?"
"Eventually."
"Good."
She looked toward the trap.
"Because that sucked."
Jax raised one hand.
The destroyed wolf dissolved completely.
Its essence returned.
He couldn't immediately summon it again.
Not yet.
But no life had been truly lost.
That mattered.
Llandra studied the corridor.
"Can we disable it?"
Zee nodded.
"I think so."
She crouched.
Mana flowed through Sanctaris.
Jax knelt beside her.
Together...
They followed the enchantment.
One node.
Then another.
Zee isolated the central rune.
Jax used Transmutation.
The stone changed beneath his fingers.
The magical circuit broke.
The remaining runes faded.
Nyxian looked impressed.
"Useful."
Jax stood.
"Let's remember that one."
"For what?"
"Security."
Nyxian smiled.
"Of course."
The cave continued throwing problems at them.
Sometimes monsters.
Sometimes terrain.
Sometimes both.
A bridge of natural ice crossed a chasm nearly seventy feet deep.
Halfway across...
Winged creatures descended.
White bat-like monsters with narrow heads and crystal teeth.
Gryph launched upward.
Llandra fired from behind Warden.
Nyxian's whips snapped into the air.
One bat swooped toward Zee.
She raised her hand.
Telekinesis caught it.
The creature stopped inches from her face.
Its teeth snapped uselessly.
Zee frowned.
"No."
She threw it sideways.
Straight into another.
Both slammed into the cavern wall.
Aurabelle laughed.
"I like angry Zee."
"I'm not angry."
Another creature dove.
Zee telekinetically redirected it directly into World Breaker's path.
Aurabelle swung.
The creature vanished into the chasm.
Nyxian looked toward Zee.
"You're getting better at that."
Zee smiled.
"I've been practicing."
A shadow knight slipped from the bridge.
It fell.
Jax felt the connection break seconds later.
Another temporary loss.
No one panicked.
That was the advantage.
A living adventuring party would have stopped.
Mourned.
Reconsidered.
Jax's shadows simply adjusted.
Warden shifted two knights inward.
One mage moved farther from the edge.
The formation changed without a word.
Jax watched.
Warden noticed everything.
The next chamber...
Was enormous.
The ceiling disappeared into darkness.
Ice columns the size of castle towers stretched upward.
The floor was covered in frozen mist.
Aurabelle stepped inside.
Then stopped.
Something moved behind the nearest pillar.
Large.
Humanoid.
A foot struck stone.
Then another.
The creature emerged.
Aurabelle slowly looked upward.
And upward.
"...Oh."
Nearly twenty feet tall.
Pale blue skin.
Thick white hair.
A crude fur-covered torso.
Hands large enough to wrap around a man's chest.
A stone club rested over one shoulder.
Llandra whispered.
"Giant."
The creature saw them.
Its eyes glowed.
Then it roared.
Not the roar they'd heard earlier.
Smaller.
But close enough.
Another answered.
Then another.
Five giants emerged.
Nyxian sighed.
"Apparently we've reached the tall section."
The first giant swung.
Warden planted his shield.
The club hit.
A shockwave rolled through the chamber.
Warden slid backward.
Ten feet.
His boots cut grooves through the ice.
But he stayed upright.
The giant raised its weapon again.
Warden struck his shield with the flat of his sword.
CLANG.
Magic pulsed outward.
Taunt.
The giant's eyes locked onto him.
A second giant turned.
Then a third.
All three abandoned their original targets.
Aurabelle grinned.
"Oh, that's useful."
Warden backed toward a narrow space between two ice columns.
The giants followed.
Exactly as intended.
He planted his sword behind him.
Blade driven into the ice.
One hand gripped the hilt.
The other braced his shield.
Three clubs came down.
The impact shook the room.
Warden didn't move.
Not an inch.
Jax smiled.
"Now."
Gryph dropped from above.
His wings folded.
Body curled.
The living battering ram of feathers and shadow hit the first giant square in the chest.
The creature staggered sideways.
Fang struck low.
His body wrapped around the second giant's ankle.
The tail flicked.
One cut.
Barely visible.
The giant kicked him away.
Then tried stepping forward.
Its leg failed.
Poison.
Llandra fired at the third.
One arrow struck the eye.
A second buried itself beneath the jaw.
The giant screamed.
Nyxian's whips wrapped around its wrist.
She pulled.
Not enough to overpower it.
Enough to ruin the swing.
Warden released his sword.
Moved.
Fast.
Far faster than something wearing that armor had any right to move.
His cape snapped behind him.
The giant swung wildly.
Warden ducked.
Shield caught the wrist.
Sword flashed.
A deep cut opened across the creature's thigh.
Warden was already gone.
The giant turned.
Too slowly.
Warden struck from the other side.
One slash.
Then another.
Never staying.
Never trading blows unnecessarily.
The giant grew angrier.
Slower.
Its movements became desperate.
Warden didn't tire.
Couldn't.
It chased him.
Swung again.
Again.
Again.
Warden parried.
Moved away.
Then returned.
The giant began breathing heavily.
Warden's pace never changed.
Jax watched with satisfaction.
That was what made him dangerous.
Not raw strength.
Control.
Aurabelle took the fourth giant herself.
Mostly.
It charged.
She Wind Walked.
One invisible step carried her upward.
Then another.
The giant looked up.
Too late.
Aurabelle spun.
World Breaker came around.
The hammer hit its shoulder.
Bone collapsed.
The giant dropped to one knee.
Aurabelle landed.
"Wow."
She stared at the damage.
The giant roared and swung its remaining arm.
She ducked.
World Breaker came upward.
The hammer struck beneath the chin.
The giant's head snapped backward.
It crashed onto the ice.
Nyxian looked over.
"Show-off."
Aurabelle smiled.
"Yep."
The fifth giant raised both hands.
Magic formed.
Zee saw it first.
"Move!"
A blast of pale blue energy erupted.
Warden turned.
Shield raised.
The magic struck.
Ice exploded outward.
But the shield held.
The blast split.
Two streams ricocheted away.
One toward Llandra.
Zee reacted.
Telekinesis caught the reflected magic.
Not stopped.
Redirected.
The blast bent.
Struck an ice column instead.
The entire column froze darker.
Then cracked.
Llandra fired.
Arrow after arrow.
Shoulder.
Chest.
Throat.
The giant staggered.
Nyxian's whip wrapped around one ankle.
Grim charged the other leg.
The giant fell.
Steed hit it before it could rise.
Aurabelle finished the job.
World Breaker struck the side of its skull.
Once.
Enough.
The chamber went quiet.
Five giants.
Five bodies.
Jax crouched near one.
"Interesting."
Aurabelle walked over.
"What?"
"Magic."
Zee joined him.
"The last one."
"Yeah."
She examined the giant's hands.
Residual frost magic still clung to the skin.
"Not just physical."
Llandra looked toward the deeper tunnels.
"So the stronger ones may be worse."
Jax smiled.
"Probably."
Nyxian stared at him.
"You say that like you're happy."
"I like knowing what we're dealing with."
"Normal people prefer less dangerous answers."
"Normal people don't raid A-Rank caves after honeymoons."
Aurabelle raised her hand.
"I do."
Nyxian looked at her.
"You're proving my point."
They continued for several more hours.
The fights grew harder.
Larger packs.
More coordination.
Ice creatures that burrowed through walls.
White apes with stone-like fists.
Crystal serpents that spat freezing venom.
Fang proved especially useful against anything with blood.
A scrape.
A bite.
A tail nick.
That was enough.
Creatures often kept fighting briefly.
Then limbs stopped responding.
Muscles locked.
Bodies collapsed.
Without treatment...
None recovered.
Jax began using Fang differently.
Not as a finisher.
As a battlefield infection.
He sent him weaving between enemies.
Touching.
Cutting.
Moving.
Fang didn't need to kill immediately.
He only needed contact.
Minutes later...
Entire clusters became easier prey.
Llandra recognized it.
"He's weakening groups for everyone else."
Jax nodded.
"Exactly."
Aurabelle looked toward Fang.
"That's disgusting."
Nyxian smiled.
"Beautifully disgusting."
Gryph became the opposite.
Fang was subtle.
Gryph was a catastrophe.
When tunnels widened...
He flew.
When they narrowed...
He ran.
And when enemies grouped together...
He became the ball again.
Jax still didn't have a better name for it.
Gryph launched from a ledge.
Folded his wings.
Rolled his massive body.
Then hit a cluster of crystal beasts like a wagon dropped from a tower.
Bodies flew.
Ice shattered.
One creature bounced off the wall.
Gryph unfolded.
Talons came out.
One slash cut through armor.
A second removed half a creature's face.
Aurabelle watched.
"I definitely want that move."
"You still aren't a gryphon."
"I can Wind Walk."
"That somehow makes your idea worse."
"We'll practice later."
"No."
By the time the System clock approached evening...
Even the Vixens were beginning to feel the day.
Not exhausted.
But ready.
They'd been fighting for hours.
Exploring.
Mapping.
Recovering materials.
Marking the locations of bodies.
The cave continued downward.
And the cold continued increasing.
Their enchanted equipment made the temperature irrelevant.
But ice had grown thicker.
Entire walls were now blue-white crystal.
Breath no longer fogged because the enchantments kept the air immediately around them comfortable.
Zee looked toward the tunnel ahead.
"We should stop."
Aurabelle looked disappointed.
"We can keep going."
"We can."
Llandra nodded.
"That doesn't mean we should."
Aurabelle looked toward Jax.
He agreed.
"We're not racing anyone."
Nyxian stretched.
"And I'd enjoy a night without something trying to freeze my ass off."
Aurabelle looked toward her armor.
"You can't feel the cold."
"That's not the point."
"What is the point?"
"The phrase was good."
"Fair."
Jax looked around.
They'd reached a chamber with only one obvious entrance and one exit.
High ceiling.
Dry stone beneath most of the ice.
Defensible.
"This works."
The shadows secured it first.
Warden inspected both tunnels.
Fang coiled near the deeper passage.
Gryph settled near the entrance they'd come through.
Shadow wolves spread outward.
Mages took elevated positions along the stone.
Knights formed a perimeter.
Jax watched the arrangement.
"Anything gets through?"
Warden looked toward him.
"It will not."
"My liege."
Nyxian smiled.
"See?"
"Don't."
Jax opened his dimensional storage.
Then pulled out what looked like a folded bundle of heavy fabric.
Aurabelle smiled.
"Home."
They cleared a flat section.
The dimensional tent took less than ten minutes to establish.
From outside...
It looked like an oversized expedition tent.
Inside...
Space expanded.
A central living room.
Kitchen.
Bathing area.
Multiple sleeping rooms.
Comfortable furniture.
Storage.
Beds.
Heat.
The sort of thing that made traditional adventurers deeply resentful when they saw it.
Nyxian stepped through.
Then sighed.
"Civilization."
Aurabelle immediately dropped World Breaker beside the wall.
The floor groaned.
She froze.
Jax looked at her.
Aurabelle slowly moved the hammer into storage instead.
"Learning."
"Good."
Zee headed toward the bath.
"I call first."
Nyxian was already moving.
"No."
Zee sped up.
"Nyx."
"No rules in a Raid Cave."
"There absolutely are!"
Llandra watched them disappear down the hall.
Then looked toward Jax.
"Should we intervene?"
"No."
"Agreed."
Dinner became surprisingly normal.
Jax cooked.
Of course.
Aurabelle sat at the counter eating ingredients before he could use them.
Also of course.
He slapped her hand away from a plate of sliced cheese.
She immediately stole another piece with the other hand.
"You're making this take longer."
"I'm maintaining quality control."
"You've eaten six."
"Thorough quality control."
Llandra sat nearby cleaning Starpiercer.
Despite hours of combat...
The weapon looked pristine.
She ran a hand along it.
"My mana recovery is noticeable now."
Zee had returned from the bath.
Hair still damp.
She nodded.
"Mine too."
Nyxian emerged next.
"You cheated."
Zee smiled sweetly.
"I locked the door."
Nyxian looked offended.
"That's not how we live."
Jax laughed.
Aurabelle looked toward World Breaker's stored location.
"I don't think I got tired today."
Llandra looked at her.
"You did."
"A little."
"You're still much stronger."
Aurabelle smiled.
"I know."
No false modesty.
Not anymore.
Llandra noticed.
And liked it.
Zee sat beside them.
"The armor might be helping more than we realize."
"Temperature regulation means our bodies aren't using energy keeping warm."
Jax nodded.
"Makes sense."
Nyxian looked toward him.
"And tomorrow gets colder."
"Probably."
Aurabelle smiled.
"Good."
Nyxian stared at her.
"You're becoming him."
Aurabelle looked toward Jax.
Then smiled proudly.
"Good."
Dinner arrived.
Roasted meat.
Potatoes.
Vegetables.
Fresh bread brought from Burrowlane.
Nothing elaborate.
At least...
Not by Jax's standards.
Which meant it would have been an expensive meal almost anywhere else.
They ate around the table.
For several minutes...
Nobody talked about the dungeon.
Instead...
They talked about Burrowlane.
Auron.
The wedding.
Jonathan's reaction to the portal.
Arial's cooking.
Nyxian proposed three increasingly terrible names for the farming cooperative.
"Bunny's Bounty is still available."
"No."
"Belle's Baskets."
"No."
"The United Bunny Agricultural—"
Aurabelle threw a piece of bread at her.
Nyxian caught it.
Ate it.
"Thank you."
Zee laughed.
Llandra shook her head.
Jax leaned back in his chair.
Outside...
A dungeon waited.
Monsters wandered frozen tunnels.
Somewhere deeper...
Something enormous had roared.
But inside the tent...
The Vixens laughed.
Warm.
Fed.
Safe.
Aurabelle eventually rested her feet across Jax's lap.
He looked down.
"What?"
"My legs are tired."
"I thought you weren't tired."
"They've had a difficult week."
Nyxian nearly choked.
Zee turned red immediately.
Llandra closed her eyes.
Jax stared at his wife.
Aurabelle smiled innocently.
"What?"
Jax picked up his drink.
"Nothing."
Nyxian pointed toward Aurabelle.
"Marriage has ruined her."
Llandra opened her eyes.
"No."
She smiled.
"It has simply made her more confident."
Aurabelle nodded.
"Exactly."
Then she wiggled her toes against Jax.
"Massage."
Jax looked at her.
"That sounded like an order."
"Request."
"Didn't sound like one."
Aurabelle adjusted.
"Massage, husband."
Nyxian laughed.
"Much better."
Jax sighed dramatically.
Then began rubbing one foot.
Aurabelle melted into her chair.
"Best husband ever."
"You said that yesterday."
"It remains accurate."
Later...
The tent grew quieter.
Zee studied maps.
Llandra updated notes on the creatures they'd encountered.
Nyxian lay across a couch with Echo asleep on her stomach.
Aurabelle curled beside Jax.
Outside...
The shadows remained vigilant.
They didn't need sleep.
Didn't need warmth.
Didn't complain.
Warden stood at the deeper tunnel.
Shield beside him.
Sword drawn.
A statue in black armor.
Fang remained coiled nearby.
Gryph rested but never truly slept.
The wolves patrolled.
Nothing would reach the tent without going through them first.
Aurabelle listened to the faint sounds outside.
Then looked toward Jax.
"Do you think that roar was the boss?"
"Maybe."
"Big."
"Sounded like it."
She smiled.
"Good."
Jax laughed quietly.
"You're really looking forward to this."
Aurabelle nodded.
"Yeah."
She looked down at her hands.
"I spent so long wondering if I was actually good enough."
Jax remained quiet.
She continued.
"Llandra was always better at planning."
"Zee kept us alive."
"Nyx could handle things I couldn't."
"I was just..."
She shrugged.
"The strong one."
Jax looked at her.
"That's not how I ever saw you."
"I know."
She smiled.
"That's the point."
She looked toward the tent wall.
Beyond it...
The frozen dungeon.
"I know now too."
Jax's expression softened.
Aurabelle rested her head against him.
"Tomorrow..."
She smiled.
"...I want to hit something really big."
Jax kissed the top of her head.
"I have a feeling you'll get the opportunity."
Outside...
Far beyond the shadows...
Deep beneath layers of stone and ice...
Another roar traveled through the cave.
This one stronger.
Closer.
The tent barely vibrated.
Aurabelle's ears rose.
She smiled against Jax's chest.
"See?"
Jax laughed.
"Go to sleep."
And surrounded by shadows that could never truly die...
The Vixens slept peacefully beneath the frozen mountain.
Tomorrow...
Winter would get considerably worse.