Floors Thirty-Seven through Forty weren't as difficult as Floor Thirty-Six.
That didn't mean they were easy.
The creatures continued growing stronger with every floor. Higher ranks appeared more frequently. Attacks became more coordinated. The World Tree seemed increasingly determined to find some combination of monsters capable of stopping them.
It simply hadn't found one yet.
For the most part, Jax let the Shadows handle it.
Warden adjusted the army with each new encounter.
Sap Behemoths and Root Colossi formed the heavy line. Shadow Knights filled the gaps between them. Mages attacked from behind while archers searched for weaknesses. Loki moved wherever the fighting was thickest, freezing enemies and controlling their attention.
Flower had settled naturally into the formation as well.
Whenever Warden needed her somewhere, a small gesture of his sword was usually enough.
Whenever Nyxian wanted her somewhere else, Flower went to Nyxian.
Warden had apparently accepted that arrangement without complaint.
Grim and Steed remained close to Nyxian whenever possible.
Warden had stopped trying to move them elsewhere.
Instead, he simply built his formations around the fact that the two enormous Shadow Bulls fought considerably harder when something threatened their mistress.
Jax found that amusing.
Warden called it efficient deployment.
The Vixens mostly followed behind.
Mostly.
Bunny occasionally decided something looked particularly fun to hit.
Llandra eliminated enemies that threatened the formation from a distance.
Zee reinforced the Shadows whenever a defensive line began taking too much punishment.
Nyxian seemed incapable of walking past anything with tentacles without making at least one inappropriate observation.
Pixelle even managed a few kills of her own.
Jax joined whenever something interested him.
Otherwise, he watched Warden work.
He had developed another routine as well.
Anything potentially valuable went into Storage.
Hides.
Fangs.
Claws.
Horns.
Venom sacs.
Carapaces.
Bones.
Magical organs.
Anything from the increasingly powerful creatures that survived the fighting in useful condition disappeared into Jax's System Storage.
He had stopped trying to determine what everything was worth.
That was Grathok's problem.
If it came from something dangerous and had once been attached to a monster, Jax figured the troll would probably want it.
Crystals, magical cores, enchanted materials and other unusual components were a different matter.
Those were going to Merriweather.
Jax wasn't entirely sure what either merchant would do when he finally started emptying his Storage.
He was looking forward to finding out.
By the end of Floor Forty, the Shadow Army had become noticeably more efficient than it had been only a few floors earlier.
Not merely stronger.
Better.
The newer Shadows were learning how to fight beside the older ones.
Warden was learning what each could do.
And every floor gave him another opportunity to refine the army.
Then they reached Floor Forty-One.
And Floor Forty-One felt wrong from the moment they entered.
The staircase did not open into another forest path or cavern corridor.
Instead, it opened into a vast vertical chamber.
The entire floor was one enormous spiraling staircase winding upward around a hollow shaft so deep and dark it looked bottomless.
The steps clung to the inner wall of the World Tree, curving in slow circles toward a distant platform far above.
There was no ceiling in sight.
Only open air.
And the sound of wings.
Pixelle immediately stiffened.
"This floor is bad."
Nyxian glanced at her.
"Agreed. Do you see how many steps we will need to climb?"
Pixelle pointed upward.
"No, seriously. This floor is bad."
As if the Tree itself wanted to prove her right, something moved above them.
Long, jointed legs unfolded from branches growing along the inner wall.
Then the first creature leapt.
A Sky Mantis.
It was the size of a horse, with emerald armor plating, jagged forearms sharp enough to split bark, and translucent wings that hummed with murderous speed.
Then a second appeared.
Then five.
Then twenty.
Soon the upper staircase was alive with them.
They clung to walls.
Hovered overhead.
Leapt between platforms with terrifying precision.
Pixelle's wings fluttered nervously.
"These things tear apart full adventuring parties."
Jax squinted upward.
"More bugs."
Bunny groaned.
"Oh, great."
Before the first wave could descend, Jax raised his hand.
"Air cover."
Gryph launched upward instantly.
Several of Jax's lesser flying Shadows followed.
The chamber erupted into aerial combat.
Sky Mantises darted from every direction.
They were fast.
Terrifyingly fast.
But Gryph was faster.
The Shadow gryphon smashed into the first mantis mid-dive, steel-like talons tearing through its body before it reached the staircase.
Another swept toward the group from behind.
One of the flying Shadows intercepted it and drove it into the wall.
Below, Llandra calmly drew Starpiercer.
Her first arrow pierced the eye of a mantis descending toward Zee.
The second caught another through the throat.
Her third curved through the air and struck one just as it launched toward Pixelle.
Pixelle ducked anyway.
"They're coming from everywhere!"
Jax nodded.
"That's why we control the sky first."
To Pixelle, the chamber looked like death.
To Jax, it was another battlefield to organize.
The Vixens moved in formation as they climbed.
Bunny guarded the exposed edge.
Zee remained near the center.
Nyxian's whip cracked with lethal precision whenever a mantis slipped through the aerial defense.
Warden adjusted the Shadows continuously around them.
In less than twenty minutes, the staircase was littered with twitching mantis corpses.
Jax stopped beside one of the larger bodies.
Most of the creature had been torn apart, but the emerald armor covering its forelegs remained intact.
He touched the corpse.
It disappeared into Storage.
Pixelle looked at him.
"Why are you taking that?"
"Grathok."
Pixelle waited.
Jax continued climbing.
She fluttered after him.
"What's a Grathok?"
"A troll."
That didn't seem to help.
"What does a troll want with a giant dead mantis?"
Jax smiled.
"That's what I'm hoping he'll tell me."
They kept climbing.
Then the air changed.
Something drifted above them.
At first, Pixelle thought they were glowing seeds.
Then one dropped.
And exploded.
The staircase shook beneath them.
Zee stumbled.
Above them floated strange round creatures with roots dangling beneath their bodies and petal-like shells surrounding their centers.
Seed Bombers.
"They drop pods!" Pixelle shouted. "Don't let them get above you!"
The creatures drifted lazily through the air like harmless plants.
Until they released their payload.
Pods rained down upon the spiral staircase.
Each exploded with enough force to throw someone from the ledge.
Llandra and Jax opened fire immediately.
Starpiercer flashed upward again and again, striking the Bombers before they could reach ideal positions.
Jax drew Infernal Requiem.
The twin pistols erupted.
Each shot was deliberate.
Each movement flowed into the next.
Then several pods struck the staircase below them.
The first exploded.
The blast triggered another.
Then another.
The combined shockwave raced upward.
Zee lost her footing.
Her boot slipped from the edge.
For one horrible second, her body tipped backward into the void.
Pixelle screamed.
Lilith's Kiss snapped outward.
The whip wrapped around Zee's waist.
Nyxian planted her feet and pulled.
Zee slammed back onto the staircase.
Everyone paused.
Even Nyxian blinked.
Lilith's Kiss hadn't cut Zee.
It hadn't torn into her clothing.
It had simply held her.
Nyxian looked down at the weapon with mild surprise.
"…Oh."
She smirked.
"So you can behave when you want to."
Zee looked up from the stairs.
"Thank you."
Nyxian shrugged.
"Try not to fall. It ruins the mood."
Floor Forty-One ended twenty minutes later.
Pixelle had expected death.
Instead, she had witnessed another demonstration of exactly how absurd this group had become.
They climbed to Floor Forty-Two.
If Floor Forty-One had been dangerous, Floor Forty-Two was disgusting.
The entire chamber resembled a parasitic garden.
Flowers bloomed from the bark walls.
Massive petals opened and closed slowly, breathing mana into the air like lungs.
Among them slithered pale centipede-like creatures with too many legs and glowing maws that pulsed with anti-magic energy.
Pixelle recognized them immediately.
"Mana Gnawers."
She looked genuinely unsettled.
"They eat mana."
Nyxian looked toward Jax.
"That sounds rude."
The flowers around them opened.
Leech Blossoms.
Their petals glistened with nectar-like fluid, but every time one pulsed, Jax saw the Vixens react.
Pixelle put a hand against her chest.
"They drain magical energy from anything near them."
Jax studied the floor.
The Mana Gnawers were clearly drawn toward magic.
The Leech Blossoms drained it.
An adventuring party relying heavily on magic would be fighting enemies that consumed their primary weapon while standing inside a room that continuously stole the resource needed to produce it.
Clever.
Jax looked toward Warden.
The Shadow General was already studying the battlefield.
Jax smiled.
"Your floor."
Warden drew his sword.
The Shadow Army moved.
There was no grand magical attack.
No overwhelming blast.
Warden simply changed the way his army fought.
He looked toward Jax and gestured toward the mages.
Jax understood.
The mages were recalled.
"Come Forth."
More Shadow Archers emerged in their place.
Sap Behemoths and Root Colossi advanced.
Knights spread into smaller formations.
Fang slithered through the gaps between them.
Gryph attacked from above.
Loki raised his enormous club.
The first Mana Gnawer lunged toward a Shadow Knight.
The Knight cut it in half.
No mana required.
The Leech Blossoms pulsed.
Nothing happened to the enormous fist of a Sap Behemoth.
It smashed through one.
Pixelle stared.
"Oh."
Jax folded his arms.
"Sometimes the answer to anti-magic is less magic."
Loki's club crushed another cluster.
Fang tore through the Mana Gnawers.
Gryph ripped blossoms from the walls.
Flower's roots erupted through the floor and dragged several of the parasitic plants apart.
The creatures had been designed to devastate magical adventurers.
Against an army perfectly capable of beating them to death—
They were considerably less impressive.
When the last Mana Gnawer fell, Jax walked through the remains.
Several intact specimens went into Storage.
A few of the larger Leech Blossoms followed.
Nyxian watched another corpse disappear.
"How much of this are you planning to bring home?"
"All of it."
"All of it?"
"Anything useful."
Nyxian looked around at the remains covering the chamber.
"You know, most people raid for treasure."
Jax touched another Mana Gnawer.
It vanished.
"This is treasure."
Nyxian smiled.
"Merchant."
"Always."
Floor Forty-Two took thirty minutes.
Pixelle no longer knew what to say.
Then came Floor Forty-Three.
And for the first time since entering the World Tree, the room was quiet.
At the center of the chamber hung a cocoon of roots the size of a mansion.
Thick silk-like strands connected it to the walls.
The air smelled damp.
Still.
Wrong.
No lesser creatures rushed them.
No swarm attacked.
Pixelle felt her stomach tighten.
"That's not good."
The cocoon trembled.
Then split open.
A monstrous body emerged.
Thirty feet tall.
A massive spider queen armored in bark-like plating, her abdomen swollen with eggs, her many eyes glowing with predatory intelligence.
She lowered herself with hideous grace and opened her maw.
Behind her, smaller shapes began crawling free.
Spiders.
Hundreds of them.
Then thousands.
Acid dripped from their fangs.
Their bodies were covered in thick, dark armor.
Zee stared at the rapidly growing swarm.
"Verdant Broodmother."
Her grip tightened around Sanctaris.
"She is spawning insects. Her power is multiplication."
Jax looked at her.
"Technically, spiders are arachnids. Not insects."
Zee slowly turned toward him.
Nyxian stared at Jax.
"Is this really the time?"
Jax smiled.
The Broodmother reared back.
More eggs split open.
More spiders poured into the chamber.
Thousands of legs clicked against bark.
Pixelle watched the swarm spreading.
Then she looked at Jax.
He didn't seem concerned.
Of course he didn't.
Jax spoke one word.
"Dante."
The cavern split with a roar.
Shadow poured upward.
The Flame Dragon emerged.
His enormous body filled the chamber, wings spreading as far as the space allowed. There wasn't enough room for him to fly, but for what Jax wanted, he didn't need to.
Fire built within his throat.
The Verdant Broodmother shrieked.
Dante answered.
Hellfire consumed everything.
The first wave of spiders vanished instantly.
Then the second.
Flames swept across the floor and climbed the walls.
Silk ignited.
Eggs burst.
The enormous cocoon became an inferno.
The Broodmother managed one final shriek before the flames swallowed her too.
Then there was only fire.
And Dante.
When the flames finally receded, almost nothing remained of the army that had been preparing to overwhelm them.
Only smoking ruin.
And Dante.
Jax stared at what remained of the Verdant Broodmother.
There wasn't much.
"Damn."
Nyxian walked up beside him.
"What?"
Jax gestured toward the smoking remains.
"Not going to be much to salvage from that."
Nyxian looked at the ashes.
Then at Dante.
Then back at Jax.
"Grathok would be very disappointed in you if he knew you found an S-Rank monster and didn't bring him back the body."
Jax considered that.
"Yeah."
He looked around at the others.
"Let's keep this one to ourselves."
Bunny nodded solemnly.
"Agreed."
Pixelle looked between them.
"Are you afraid of this Grathok person?"
"No."
Jax paused.
"But I don't want to see a grown troll cry."
Something glowed beneath the ashes.
Jax noticed it and crouched.
He brushed aside the charred remains.
A dark green crystal sat beneath them, untouched by Dante's flames.
He picked it up.
Inspect appeared.
VERDANT BROOD CORE
S-RANK MAGICAL MATERIAL
PROPERTIES: ORGANIC GROWTH — REGENERATION — VENOM ENHANCEMENT
Jax smiled.
"Merriweather, on the other hand, is going to love this."
Nyxian looked at the crystal.
"So we disappoint one merchant and make another one happy."
Jax placed the core into Storage.
"That's business."
Another notification appeared.
VERDANT BROODMOTHER — S RANK
Pixelle stared at it.
S Rank.
An S-Rank World Tree boss.
Destroyed in a single attack.
No.
Not even that.
Jax hadn't attacked at all.
He had simply summoned something that could.
Another notification appeared before him.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD THE VERDANT BROODMOTHER TO YOUR ARMY OF SHADOWS?
Jax smiled.
"Yes."
"Come Forth."
Darkness spread beneath the ruined remains.
It gathered.
Rose.
Eight enormous legs unfolded from the shadows.
The Verdant Broodmother emerged again, her massive body now formed from darkness, purple energy glowing within her many eyes.
Pixelle took an involuntary step backward.
Another notification appeared.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO NAME THIS SHADOW?
Jax looked at the enormous spider.
He thought for a moment.
Then smiled.
"Charlotte."
Nyxian stared at him.
"Charlotte?"
"It's a good spider name."
Bunny nodded.
"I like Charlotte."
Pixelle looked between them.
"Why?"
Jax started toward the staircase.
"Long story."
Pixelle remained where she was for another moment.
She looked at Charlotte.
Then Dante.
Then the Shadow Army waiting behind them.
The World Tree was getting harder.
There was no question about that anymore.
Floor Thirty-Six had nearly overwhelmed them with exploding swarms and armored giants.
Floor Forty-One had tried to throw them into a bottomless abyss.
Floor Forty-Two had been designed to drain the magic from anyone foolish enough to enter it.
And Floor Forty-Three had unleashed an S-Rank monster capable of producing an army.
These weren't ordinary threats.
Any one of these floors could destroy a normal adventuring party.
Even an exceptional one might need days to understand the enemies, develop a strategy, recover and try again.
But Jax and the Vixens weren't slowing down.
That was what Pixelle was beginning to understand.
The World Tree kept increasing the difficulty.
But every time it did, something strange happened.
The Vixens gained more experience.
Their abilities grew stronger.
Warden learned more about commanding the Shadow Army.
The Shadows learned to fight together.
The army grew.
And whenever the Tree finally produced something powerful enough to truly stand out—
Jax took it.
Pixelle looked again at Charlotte.
An S-Rank floor boss.
A creature that could have ended the raid for almost any ordinary adventuring party.
Now standing obediently among Jax's Shadows.
The World Tree was supposed to become more dangerous the higher they climbed.
It was.
The problem was that so were they.
And somehow, the harder the World Tree tried to stop them…
…the stronger this group became.