The portal's heat washed over Nathan strong and hot.
Floor 1 materialized around them: the familiar volcanic corridor, walls of scorched black stone veined with glowing red mana. The air was dry and ashen, the kind of heat that made the lungs ache. Distant rumbles echoed through the stone.
But this time, Nathan felt no dread. Only focus.
His [Hunter's Insight] activated, threading the darkness ahead with tactical clarity. Six signatures. Ember Hounds, already boiling out of the shadows. Their molten jaws dripped fire onto the stone. Their cores pulsed through the gaps in their rocky skulls.
"Standard formation," Nathan said. "We clear through Floor 5 before lunch."
Dillon's grin was sharp. "Confident. I like it."
"Confidence earned," Elise murmured, her staff already glowing.
The Hounds charged. Nathan didn't call targets. He simply thought the marks... Three on the left, two center, one flanking right... and Mirko read his intention through the link.
