The second stage of the raid began the moment the stairway ended.
The forest faded behind them, replaced by stone.
Jax stepped into the cavern and immediately looked up.
Then farther up.
Then around.
The ceiling was high. Probably thirty feet in places. More than enough room for most things.
Not enough room for a fifty-foot Flame Dragon with an impressive wingspan and absolutely no concern for property damage.
Jax had dispelled Dante before entering the stairwell.
"Yeah. No Dante on this Floor."
Jax shook his head.
Pixelle hovered nearby.
"Can we still clear the room without him?"
"Yep."
"But it will be more difficult?"
"Probably. A fifty-foot adult flame dragon on your side really helps."
"Should we be worried."
Jax looked around the cavern.
Massive stalactites hung from the ceiling. Stone pillars rose at uneven angles. Rivers of glowing amber sap flowed through cracks in the walls, pulsing faintly as they disappeared deeper into the stone.
"Not in the slightest. Yet."
Pixelle considered that.
Warden stepped forward.
His violet eyes moved across the cavern.
Fang slithered past him, the giant serpent tasting the air.
Gryph kept his wings folded tightly against his body.
The Shadow Knights moved into formation.
Mages and archers took their positions.
Jax looked toward Warden.
"Same group?"
Warden studied the cavern for several seconds.
Then shook his head.
"The terrain is restrictive, my liege."
Jax nodded.
"So fewer numbers. More power."
"Yes, my liege."
Jax smiled.
"Good."
He raised one hand.
"Come Forth."
Darkness spread across the stone.
Something enormous began to rise.
First came the head.
Then shoulders.
Then a body large enough that Pixelle immediately flew backward.
The Frost Giant emerged from Jax's shadow.
Loki straightened as much as the cavern allowed, towering nearly twenty feet above them.
Cold mist rolled from his enormous body.
His massive club rested against one shoulder, frost already spreading across its surface.
Pixelle stared.
She looked at Loki.
Then at Jax.
Then back at Loki.
"That's Loki?"
"Yep."
"The one you asked Warden about?"
"Yep."
Pixelle slowly looked upward.
Loki looked down at her.
She moved slightly closer to Nyxian.
"He's very large."
Bunny smiled.
"You should see him hit things."
Loki turned toward the cavern ahead.
Warden looked at him.
No words passed between them.
None were needed.
Loki moved to Warden's left.
The remaining shadows adjusted around them.
Pixelle noticed.
She was beginning to notice a lot of things.
Jax rested Peacemaker across his shoulder.
"Let's see what Floor Two has."
They didn't have to wait long.
The first attack came from the walls.
Pixelle heard the movement before she saw it.
"Something's—"
Thorn Vipers exploded from the stone.
Dozens of them.
Their bodies were made from twisted vines covered in hooked thorns. They had been nearly invisible while pressed against the cavern walls.
Pixelle raised her hands.
Warden raised his shield.
The effect was immediate.
Every Thorn Viper turned.
Not toward Pixelle.
Not toward Jax.
Not toward the mages.
Toward Warden.
Pixelle blinked.
"What just happened?"
The Vipers attacked.
Warden planted one foot behind him.
The first serpent struck his shield.
Then the second.
Then five more.
His sword flashed around the edge.
One head fell.
Another Viper lunged.
Warden caught it on the shield and threw it sideways.
The Shadow Knights attacked from the flanks.
Fang disappeared beneath a cluster of vines and emerged on the other side.
Three Vipers collapsed behind him.
Pixelle flew higher.
More were coming.
Every single one ignored everyone else.
"Why are they all attacking Warden?"
Bunny glanced up.
"He Taunted them."
"He what?"
"Taunted them."
Pixelle looked back.
Warden was almost completely surrounded now.
Vines wrapped around his shield.
Thorns scraped across his armor.
More Vipers poured over the bodies of the others trying to reach him.
"Shouldn't we help him?"
"No."
Pixelle looked at Bunny.
"No?"
"He's fine."
There had to be thirty of them around him now.
"That doesn't look fine!"
Then Warden lowered his sword.
The pressure vanished.
Loki slammed the end of his club against the ground.
Every Thorn Viper stopped.
Their heads turned.
Pixelle's mouth fell open.
The entire swarm abandoned Warden.
They charged Loki.
"What are they doing?"
Bunny grinned.
"Switching."
The first Vipers reached Loki.
His club moved.
It struck one.
Frost exploded across the creature's body.
The ice spread instantly.
Vines froze.
Thorns crystallized.
The Viper struck the cavern floor completely solid.
Loki stomped.
It shattered.
The others swarmed him.
But they had made a mistake.
They had turned their backs on Warden.
His sword flashed.
One Viper split apart.
Then another.
The Shadow Knights followed him.
Gryph launched forward, smashing through the side of the formation.
Fang struck from beneath.
Loki swung again.
Three Vipers froze together.
Warden's sword cut through all three.
Ice and vines exploded across the cavern.
Pixelle stared.
The surviving Vipers continued attacking Loki.
More came from the walls.
Loki absorbed them.
Blocked.
Swung.
Froze.
Then his Taunt ended.
Warden's activated.
Every Viper turned around.
Again.
Pixelle watched in disbelief.
"They're going back?"
"Yep," Bunny said.
"But Warden is behind them now!"
"Yep."
Warden attacked.
Loki attacked from the opposite side.
The Vipers were trapped between them.
Every time they focused on one, the other tore through their exposed backs.
Back and forth.
Warden.
Loki.
Warden.
Loki.
By the time the final Thorn Viper shattered beneath Loki's club, Pixelle had forgotten she was supposed to be helping.
Warden lowered his sword.
Loki rested his club against his shoulder.
The Shadow Knights returned to formation.
Nobody celebrated.
Nobody even stopped.
They simply continued walking.
Pixelle hurried after them.
"You've done that before."
Bunny looked at her.
"What?"
"That!"
Pixelle pointed behind them.
"With the Taunting!"
"Oh. Yeah. But usually it's me on the other side. This is our first fight with Loki."
"You intentionally make everything attack one of you, then switch it to the other one so everything turns its back?"
Bunny nodded.
"Pretty much."
Pixelle stared at Warden and Loki.
"They're cheating."
Nyxian smiled.
"No, darling."
She held out her hand.
Pixelle landed on it.
"They're winning."
The next chamber contained Sap Elementals.
The creatures pulled themselves from glowing rivers along the cavern walls, burning amber liquid forming crude arms and bodies.
Loki went first.
His club struck the ground.
Frost raced across the stone.
The nearest Sap Elemental froze solid.
Warden didn't even look at it.
He pointed.
Two Shadow Knights shattered it.
Another surged forward.
Loki struck it directly.
The creature froze around his club.
A High Orc hit it from the side.
It exploded into frozen pieces.
Pixelle slowly lowered the spell she had been preparing.
They kept walking.
The next floor was Bark Sentinels.
Warden changed the formation.
The archers moved forward.
The mages spread wider.
Loki controlled the center.
Fang vanished.
Gryph disappeared into the darkness above them.
Pixelle stayed ready.
The Bark Sentinels attacked.
She never cast a spell.
The next floor had Root Crawlers.
She managed one.
Technically.
Pixelle fired a blast of nature magic into the creature just before Gryph hit it.
Gryph's talons tore the monster apart.
Pixelle looked at the remains.
"I helped."
"Absolutely," Jax said.
She looked suspiciously at him.
"You're making fun of me."
"I would never."
Nyxian snorted.
They found the stairs.
They climbed.
Another floor.
Then another.
The environments changed.
Narrow tunnels became enormous caverns.
Enormous caverns became twisting chambers filled with glowing roots.
One floor contained waist-deep water.
Another was covered in enormous mushrooms that released clouds of spores whenever anything touched them.
The shadows adjusted.
Warden changed formations.
Loki froze pathways.
Fang scouted ahead.
Gryph attacked from above whenever the ceiling allowed it.
The Shadow Mages destroyed clustered enemies.
The archers eliminated anything trying to attack from a distance.
The knights held the line.
And when the monsters became numerous enough—
Warden and Loki started their game again.
Taunt.
Turn.
Attack.
Switch.
Turn.
Attack.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The Vixens remained alert.
They never knew what would be around the next corner.
Llandra occasionally raised Starpiercer and sent an arrow through something Warden's formation hadn't seen.
Zee created barriers when attacks came too close.
Nyxian's Lilith's Kiss occasionally snapped through the darkness and dragged some unfortunate creature directly into the Shadow Knights.
Bunny kept World Breaker ready.
And Jax fought whenever he felt like it.
Peacemaker left his hand.
The massive double-bladed sword spun through a group of Bark Sentinels, tearing through enchanted wood.
Jax drew Infernal Requiem.
The twin pistols came up.
Magic erupted from their barrels.
One monster fell.
Then another.
A third tried to attack from the side.
Jax fired without looking.
It disappeared in an explosion of magic.
Peacemaker completed its arc.
Jax holstered Infernal Requiem.
His hand opened.
The Godslayer sword returned to him.
Pixelle stared.
Jax looked at her.
"What?"
"Nothing."
She flew forward.
"I'm starting to understand why everyone talks about you."
Jax smiled.
"You should hear what they say when I'm not around."
"I have."
"Oh."
Nyxian laughed.
They kept walking.
Eventually Pixelle realized something else.
The notifications.
At first she ignored them.
The System had been chiming periodically since they entered the World Tree.
Then it chimed again.
And again.
Pixelle frowned.
Another group of monsters appeared ahead.
Warden's shadows engaged.
Pixelle didn't move.
A notification appeared.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
She blinked.
Another monster fell.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
Pixelle looked at Jax.
Then at the battle.
A Shadow Knight killed a Bark Sentinel.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
"Wait."
Nobody heard her.
"Wait!"
Jax turned.
"What?"
Pixelle pointed toward the battle.
"I'm getting experience."
Jax nodded.
"Good."
"I didn't do anything."
"You're here."
"That isn't how experience works."
Bunny looked over.
"It is with Jax."
Pixelle stared at her.
A High Orc shattered another monster.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
She looked at the notification.
Then at Jax.
"I'm getting experience from your shadows?"
"Looks like it."
"You knew this?"
"Yeah."
"And you didn't think to mention it?"
Jax shrugged.
"You were already coming."
Pixelle opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
"Are all of us getting this?"
Zee nodded.
"Yes."
Llandra smiled.
"A considerable amount, actually."
Pixelle looked at Nyxian.
Nyxian smiled.
"One of the benefits."
Another notification appeared.
Pixelle stared at it.
Then slowly looked at the army fighting ahead.
"So I can gain experience…"
"Yes."
"…from them fighting…"
"Yes."
"…while I walk behind them?"
Bunny considered it.
"You should probably still pay attention."
"I am paying attention!"
A Thorn Viper lunged from the wall behind Pixelle.
Llandra fired.
The arrow passed beneath Pixelle and struck the creature directly through the head.
It dropped.
Pixelle froze.
Llandra lowered Starpiercer.
"Pay more attention."
Pixelle nodded.
"Right."
Another notification appeared.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
Pixelle looked at Jax.
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"You're getting this too?"
"Yep."
"All of it?"
"Yep."
Pixelle's eyes widened.
"How much experience have you gained?"
Jax thought about it.
"A lot."
"What level are you?"
"One."
Pixelle waited.
Jax kept walking.
She flew after him.
"No. What level are you now?"
"One."
"You just said you've gained a lot of experience."
"I have."
"And you're still Level One?"
"Yep."
"How?"
Jax shrugged.
"System's weird."
Pixelle stared at him.
"Your System is broken."
"Probably."
Nyxian walked past her.
"You'll get used to that too."
Pixelle looked toward Bunny.
Bunny nodded.
"You will."
Pixelle sighed.
They kept walking.
Floor after floor.
Battle after battle.
The World Tree kept throwing monsters at them.
The Vixens kept gaining experience.
The shadows kept killing.
Eventually, Jax stopped.
Not because Warden had detected something.
Not because monsters were coming.
He simply opened his System.
Pixelle hovered nearby.
"What?"
Jax checked the timer.
"Almost four hours."
Llandra looked toward him.
"And?"
Jax checked their progress.
"Floor Twenty."
Pixelle's wings stopped.
She dropped nearly six inches before catching herself.
"What?"
"Twenty."
"No."
Jax looked around.
"Yes."
Pixelle flew directly in front of him.
"No raid team clears twenty floors in four hours."
Jax looked toward Warden.
The General stood at the front of the formation.
Loki beside him.
Fang somewhere ahead.
Gryph watching from above.
"Apparently one does."
Pixelle crossed her arms.
"Well…"
She lifted her chin.
"It's a good thing those shadows were here."
Jax nodded.
"Definitely."
"I was prepared to save you."
Nyxian looked away.
Bunny suddenly became very interested in adjusting the grip on World Breaker.
Pixelle puffed up.
"I still am."
"Good to know," Jax said.
"If something happens, I'll be there."
"I appreciate that."
Pixelle flew ahead.
Nyxian waited until she was out of earshot.
Then looked at Jax.
"You're encouraging her."
"Of course I am."
"She thinks she's going to save you."
"Maybe she will."
Nyxian stared at him.
Jax shrugged.
"Anything's possible."
Nyxian smiled.
"Not that."
Later, Pixelle mentioned it again.
They had stopped briefly near one of the glowing sap rivers.
Jax was examining the route ahead with Warden.
Pixelle hovered beside Nyxian.
"You know, when it happens, I'm not going to say I told you so."
Nyxian looked at her.
"When what happens?"
"When I save him."
Nyxian smiled.
"You can't save Jax."
Pixelle blinked.
"What?"
"You will never save Jax."
Pixelle frowned.
Nyxian said it so casually that somehow it was worse.
"I absolutely could."
"No."
"I have magic."
"I know."
"I can fly."
"I've noticed."
"And I'm getting stronger."
"You are."
Pixelle crossed her arms.
"Then why couldn't I save him?"
Nyxian glanced toward Jax.
He was standing beside Warden, discussing something while Loki loomed behind them.
She looked back at Pixelle.
"If Jax ever actually needs saving…"
Nyxian gestured vaguely around them.
"…the world is probably already doomed."
Pixelle's shoulders sank.
Her dream.
Her fantasy.
The heroic moment.
Jax surrounded.
Defeated.
His enemies closing in.
Then Pixelle Starbloom descended from the heavens.
Powerful.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
She would obliterate his enemies.
Jax would stare at her in amazement.
Perhaps he would even—
Pixelle looked toward him.
Jax was now arguing with Bunny about whether they needed to stop and eat.
Her fantasy was becoming increasingly unrealistic.
Still.
Pixelle smiled.
Maybe someday.
Warden suddenly raised one hand.
Everyone stopped.
Jax turned.
"What?"
Warden looked toward the cavern ahead.
"Something stronger, my liege."
Bunny immediately stopped arguing about food.
"How much stronger?"
Warden looked toward her.
Bunny grinned.
"Finally."
The cavern widened.
Glowing sap ran down the walls in thick rivers now.
Flowers grew from cracks in the stone.
Large flowers.
Some nearly as tall as Jax.
The air smelled sweet.
Too sweet.
Zee noticed first.
"Don't breathe deeply."
Jax looked at her.
"Why?"
Pixelle's eyes widened.
"Pollen."
The flowers opened.
A cloud of golden dust drifted into the cavern.
Zee slammed Sanctaris against the ground.
A barrier appeared around the group.
The pollen struck it.
Golden dust rolled across the magical surface.
Outside the barrier, the Shadow Army remained unaffected.
Nyxian watched the pollen.
"Well."
She smiled.
"I like this floor already."
Llandra looked at her.
"Of course you do."
Something moved beyond the flowers.
A massive figure stepped into the amber light.
Pixelle stared.
It was enormous.
A humanoid body formed from intertwined trunks and thick living vines.
Molten golden sap flowed through cracks in its wooden skin.
Flowers grew along its shoulders, arms and head, creating an almost beautiful crown of blossoms.
Its body had an unmistakably feminine shape.
Not human.
Not fairy.
Something older.
Something grown rather than born.
A System notification appeared.
SAP TITAN
FLOOR GUARDIAN
The Titan tilted its head.
Then smiled.
Nyxian's smile disappeared.
"That's unsettling."
The Sap Titan lifted one hand.
Molten sap exploded from its palm.
"Move!"
The Vixens scattered.
The glob struck the ground.
Stone hissed.
The sap hardened instantly.
Three Shadow Knights were trapped.
The Titan moved.
Fast.
Far faster than something that large should have been capable of moving.
Branches erupted from its arms.
They became spears.
Warden blocked the first.
The impact drove him backward.
The second struck Gryph.
The Shadow Gryphon shattered.
Pixelle gasped.
Another branch caught Fang.
The giant serpent disappeared into darkness.
Jax's expression changed.
Not worried.
Interested.
"Okay."
Bunny stepped beside him.
"Can I hit this one?"
Jax smiled.
"Yeah."
Bunny's grin widened.
"Finally."
The Sap Titan attacked again.
Warden Taunted.
Its head snapped toward him.
The Titan charged.
Warden raised his shield.
At the last moment—
His Taunt vanished.
Loki's activated.
The Titan twisted.
For the first time, its elegant movement faltered.
It hesitated.
Just for an instant.
But after watching them for four hours, Pixelle knew exactly what that hesitation meant.
"Oh, that was a mistake."
Warden attacked from behind.
His sword cut through the Titan's leg.
Loki swung.
His club struck the other.
Frost exploded across the creature's body.
The Sap Titan screamed.
Roots burst from the floor.
They wrapped around Loki.
The Titan ripped itself free.
Wood regenerated.
New vines twisted across the wounds.
Pixelle flew higher.
"It regenerates!"
Jax smiled.
"Of course it does."
The Titan released another cloud of pollen.
Zee's barrier flashed around the Vixens.
The shadows continued fighting inside the cloud.
Unaffected.
Nyxian watched carefully.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Jax."
"Yeah?"
"I want this one."
Jax looked at her.
The Sap Titan threw Warden through a stone pillar.
Loki froze one of its arms.
The Titan shattered the ice and regrew it.
Bunny cracked her neck.
Jax smiled.
"Then let's get you a new shadow."
Bunny launched.
Air Walk carried her upward.
World Breaker came around.
The Sap Titan looked up.
Too late.
BOOM.
The hammer struck beneath its chin.
The Titan left the ground.
Its enormous body flew backward.
Llandra fired.
One arrow.
Then another.
Then another.
Each struck a different root connecting the Titan to the cavern floor.
Nyxian moved.
Lilith's Kiss snapped forward.
The whip wrapped around the Titan's arm.
Then split.
The second lash wrapped around its opposite wrist.
Nyxian pulled.
The Titan roared.
"Now!"
Loki struck the ground.
Ice surged forward.
The remaining roots froze.
Warden appeared behind the Titan.
One swing.
The frozen roots shattered.
The Titan stumbled.
Its regeneration slowed.
Jax moved.
Peacemaker flashed.
The Godslayer blade carved through the Titan's torso.
Not enough to destroy it.
Enough to open it.
Golden light erupted from inside.
Nyxian saw it.
She released Lilith's Kiss.
Then drove both lashes directly into the opening.
The Titan convulsed.
Its body cracked.
The golden light flickered.
Then vanished.
The enormous creature collapsed.
Silence filled the cavern.
A notification appeared.
FLOOR GUARDIAN DEFEATED
Something struck the stone.
Clink.
Jax looked down.
A golden crystal rested near the Titan's remains.
He picked it up.
Inspect activated.
GOLDEN SAP CORE
Rare Transmutation Catalyst
Properties: Regeneration — Healing — Organic Restoration
Jax smiled.
"Merriweather's going to love this."
Nyxian landed beside the Titan.
Jax looked at her.
"You still want it?"
Nyxian stared at the fallen creature.
Flowers still covered parts of its wooden body.
One small blossom remained intact near its head.
"Oh, absolutely."
Jax walked with her toward it.
He stopped.
"She's all yours."
Nyxian knelt beside the fallen Titan.
Pixelle flew closer.
"What is she doing?"
Bunny smiled.
"Watch."
Nyxian placed her hand against the Titan's wooden body.
Her eyes closed.
"Submit."
Darkness gathered beneath her fingers.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the cavern trembled.
Shadow spread through the cracks in the Titan's body.
Golden sap turned black.
The enormous wooden fingers moved.
Pixelle flew backward.
The Sap Titan rose.
Slowly.
Its towering body pulled itself from the cavern floor.
Then something strange happened.
It began to shrink.
Fourteen feet.
Twelve.
Ten.
Eight.
The enormous form condensed until the creature stood only a couple of feet taller than Jax.
The threatening mass of wood became something almost elegant.
Its body remained formed from living shadowed bark, curved into a distinctly feminine shape. Dark vines wrapped around its arms and legs. Flowers still grew through its hair and across one shoulder, their petals now carrying a faint violet glow.
Its eyes opened.
Purple light stared back at Nyxian.
Nyxian stood.
The creature lowered its head.
Nyxian smiled.
"Oh, you're beautiful."
The Shadow Titan looked at her.
Then reached toward its own hair.
It plucked one small flower.
Nyxian's expression changed.
The creature carefully placed it into Nyxian's crimson hair.
For once, Nyxian didn't immediately have something inappropriate to say.
She touched the flower.
Then smiled.
"Flower."
Pixelle blinked.
Nyxian looked up at her new shadow.
"Your name is Flower."
Flower smiled.
Nyxian stepped back.
"Go on."
Flower turned.
Across the cavern, Warden was already looking at her.
He said nothing.
Flower said nothing.
For several seconds, the two shadows simply stared at one another.
Warden raised his sword.
A small motion.
Barely more than a gesture.
Flower moved.
She crossed the cavern and took her place beside the other shadows.
The formation adjusted around her.
Pixelle stared.
Warden turned toward the path ahead.
Flower turned with him.
Pixelle looked at Nyxian.
Then at Jax.
Then back at Warden.
"Nobody told him."
Jax looked at her.
"Told him what?"
"That she's Nyxian's."
Nyxian smiled.
"Yes, she is."
"But Warden is yours."
"Yep."
"And Flower is hers."
"Yep."
Pixelle pointed toward the formation.
"Then how did he know?"
Jax looked toward Warden.
The General stood at the front of the Shadow Army.
Loki on one side.
Flower on the other.
The remaining knights waited behind them.
Jax smiled.
"He knew."
Pixelle stared at him.
"That doesn't explain anything."
"I know."
Nyxian held out her hand.
Pixelle landed on it.
"You'll get used to Warden."
Pixelle looked toward Flower again.
The newest shadow stood silently among the others.
A monster that had nearly stopped them minutes earlier.
Now part of the army.
Pixelle slowly realized something.
The army she had been watching for the last four hours wasn't finished.
It wasn't even static.
Every dungeon.
Every raid.
Every powerful creature they encountered...
Could potentially make it larger.
Stronger.
More dangerous.
She looked toward Jax.
He had already resummoned Fang and Gryph.
The two shadows emerged from the darkness and returned to their positions as if nothing had happened.
Warden raised his sword.
The army began moving.
Flower moved with them.
Jax rested Peacemaker across his shoulder.
"Well…"
He looked toward the next tunnel.
"Now we're leveling up."
Pixelle followed.
Another notification appeared in front of her.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
She stared at it.
Then at the growing Shadow Army.
"Oh, Goddess."